Going down a Rabbit Hole

With all sorts of ideas and inspiration in my mind at the moment, and hopefully getting to start some of the prospective projects too as soon as possible. Forever the Dreamer me, but I do bring things into fruition eventually if I have not over-thought things in the creation process.

Friday night I started a small project that has been hanging around for ever.  I went wrong and ended up pulling out the work I had managed to achieve as I had read the pattern incorrectly.  In my possession I have a couple of wooden sewing tables.  One of them belonged to my Great Aunty Ivy which needs restoring and I also managed to pick up a mini version (also on legs) which also needs some TLC.  Quite a while ago I bought a wooden pincushion kit where you work what appears to be a cross stitch with a solid colour backing of some Pansies. The pincushion base itself is well padded, and in a similar colour wood to both of my needlework boxes.

In reality the piece is worked in tent stitch and not cross stitch (which is where I went wrong last night)  In fairness though I did not start very early and at a time when everyone is considering winding down before settling for the evening.  I am therefore hoping to re-start this either Saturday or Sunday evening and try and get that worked and out of the way with.  I have a thing about Pansies.  I just love them and have several lovely pieces with them as the focus point.  Some cross stitched pictures, some Pansy Cushion Covers or cushion centres that have been worked including some lovely china bits and bobs as well.  I will need to use my magnifier though. I cannot work without this these days. I just fancied a little change from the knitting.  I am trying to regain my focus and concentration by doing little bits and bobs here.  I have been well pleased with how the pumpkins have worked up as well as the fingerless mitts.

Tonight though I have 1kg of Shallots to peel, then brine and then finish off with vinegar tomorrow.  Hopefully will get some more Shallots to add to these in the next few weeks.  I have dried Chilli on the shelf all ready and waiting to go in with the onions.  The Bay Tree is just outside the kitchen window and I use these fresh and I also dry them.  I need to do a new pile of the Bay leaves for use during the winter months.  I tend to use two to three whenever I make a gravy or soup.

Tomorrow I have a pile of apples to peel both eating (variety unknown) reduced from the Veg shop and the 4kg of Howgate Wonder apples (also known as the Diabetic apple as it hardly needs any sugar) to also peel.  Then popping all the apples into a pot and cooking down in readiness for water bathing.  That will be a good project out of the way with as I am low on apples at the moment. At the minute I have a fancy for a spiced sponge cake with layers of apple and fresh cream served like a Gateau for pudding.  I will need to do more apples in any event and so if I can stretch to it I will try and buy in another 4kg of the Howgate Wonder to make sure I have plenty going into the winter months.

Will see how I get on with the apples before I plan anything else to preserve.  Want to get these out of the way with.  Things have not gone as planned on the Preserving front for the past week or so.

I do however want to try making ACV from the apple peelings and maybe some jelly. "Waste not, Want not" and if I can get a bonus out of the ingredients used, then I will be quite happy to achieve this.  The peels will go straight into the fridge in a bag whilst I finish off preserving the apple. Will see how it goes as to what else I try and get out of the way.  Need to find a resource on how to do this first preferably before I peel the apples.

In the interim I found a box of jars that I had forgotten about.  Some of them Kilner jars, some of them 1 litre jars that will be ideal for making soup - I just need to source some new lids.  Also found some small square jars that need new lids too, some "Bon-Maman" jars,  need new lids for these too.  I need to source these as well as I have about another eight jars on the Pantry shelf which are a larger jar, for which I will need replacement lids as they will also be recycled.  Have Apricots and Cherries in these.  There are also some small indeterminate jars that also need some lids.  As per my usual way I re-use and recycle as many bottles and jars as I possibly can. Some you cannot get the replacement lids for as they are often a specialised bottle order with different size to standard but they do not get wasted they get recycled at the Bottle Bank.

I have therefore spent a couple of hours this afternoon wading through the large box and bringing out the jars and giving them a good scrub.  I spent about two hours doing this as there were quite a few of them.  I have the Kilner jars to set about tomorrow. There are about eight of them I think.

I have also developed a taste for Starbucks Caramel coffee.  The bottles from these are going to be recycled for syrups, fruit juice, cordial, and sauce.  I have two saved so far (not many I know but the start of a new bottle collection - this is what preserving does to you!), hopefully will manage to collect quite a few more yet.  One of my ulterior motives in expanding the preserving section of my Pantry is trying to minimise wasted food and paying it forward for another day if  you like; doing a lot of pre-cooking to maximise my time management and fuel costs.  These bottles for instance will be used for water bathing fresh orange juice /other fruit juices so that there is no wastage from the bought in fruit juice especially with the prices being as they are at the moment.  Sometimes you cannot always use up stuff within a couple of days without becoming bored, so rather than waste it I am going to preserve it.  Same with any meat, veggies and gravy left over from a Sunday dinner that you just cannot face anymore which however would be welcome to eat on another day and different time.  I am hoping over time to end up with a very well stocked Pantry, with minimum waste and cost to produce and which will be a saving on many fronts as well as a more stream-lined way of managing the Pantry.

I find my Pantry changes from one season to another and from one year to another.  In reality although there are very busy periods of preserving ingredients, I often find that I am making things all year around.  Primarily because I rely on finding bargains in shops and sometimes the supermarkets, making the most of reductions on items and turning them into something else.  Ideally I would be growing the food myself, but you have to have the land to do that and then you cannot grow everything. I had a few fruit trees in planters but lost them last year whilst we were away in Cornwall due to the extremely hot weather.  Really they need to be in the ground to spread their roots. I would like a proper fruit garden and orchard also something that is not possible here.  One day!  I am not giving up on my dreams just yet. One day!

Right have things to deal with.

Catch up soon.

Pattypan

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