Jams induced exhaustion. Random strikes again.

Originally posted 28/7/9 (for CGBF's benefit 28/7/09)

I started this on Sunday
I. Am (was). Exhausted.

So much so I stopped and lay in a heap.
I (we part time) have however increased the jam stash by 5 jars. Its Raspberry and since claming the first lick of the rather dubious (self appointed) reward of licking the ladle (CGBF got the spoon) I have no intention of EVER having any more.

Why?... Pips.
Should have filtered, but I don't have the kit. It also (here is the cunning part) makes you look like you've made more than you have .

It tasted nice though, not too sweet, had a glorious ruby colour with excellent clarity. The instructions were excellent and we managed to avoid getting the jam separating. I distinctly if distantly remember my parents making some and the first (why doesn't this thing have spell check?) few jars were nothing but pips and the last being like perfectly clear jelly from and CGBF. We started with 4 punnets of fruit that we got at the farmer's market yesterday (this bit was typed on Sunday). 3 Raspberry and 1 Loganberry.
I got 2x 500ml Le Parfait (I keep thinking of Donkey from Shrek 1 dribbling and asking for a tissue when he "hears Parfait") bottles of raspberries in brandy syrup, 1 mixed fruit (raspberry, Loganberry and strawberries I rescued from CGBF who is the all devouring when it comes to the latter). I also ended up with the low sugar Raspberry jam (bringing some into work along with pancakes because the admin girls asked me to bring some in) and some tropical fruit in syrup.

Peaches, pineapple (tinned in its own juice) and apricots in a mixture of the pineapple juice with some Malibu rum with sugar dissolved in it. I was obsessed with it being nectarines. The fact they were fuzzy and had PEACHES written in bold block capitals didn't really twig. I was looking at the fruit and thought they were nectarines.
It all started well, clean and sterilise the jars. I do the latter in my slow cooker. Pour the water into it and leave it on high. Place and leave them in there until needed. The long low oval shape helps make it easier to get them out with a wooden spoon. Heated the pineapple juice with the sugar to make the syrup and added Malibu. Trust me when I say it stinks when you get it on the hob. Sugar and burnt coconut is nasty and leaves little lumps on the ring as well as brown stringy boogy (ewwwww ) like things hanging off the bottom of the pan . I rapidly cleaned that up before CGBF got back from getting pineapple. It'd upset him too much. Peaches, or maybe more accurately these peaches didn't want to give up their skin. They won. After 20 odd minutes of dropping them into hot water then flinging (oww hot hot hot Eeek) them into cold they (unlike the apricots) weren't giving them up. So I sliced some up and left others whole and mixed fruit up and packed it into 1x 1Litre and 1x 500ml Le Parfait jars (which went awol, I spent ages hunting around flinging obscenities the flat about the thing buggering of on a roam when it had no business doing so. Only for CGBF to find it within minutes of coming with the pineapple). Poured the syrup in and sealed. Woohooo. Few minutes preparing and sealing the excess syrup in the final Le Parfait jar. Then basked and nursed my slightly scorched fingers (those seals and the glass itself really do hold the heat).

Proceed the fight. The Maslin pan will not hold an upright 1L jar. Could it go sideways and could I fit the other 2 sealed jars in? No. Could I get the syrup to sit upright? Hahahahaha. Every chance it got it went pinging upwards from the bottom of the pan and started bobbin upside down at the surface. Forcibly ripping its sick little self out of my hands to do so like the sadistic little jar that it is. I cried and after fighting with it for 10 minutes had to repeat the heating process for it on its lonesome later. Thankfully the other 2 with the fruit filled and formed a seal. Pushing the clasp down helps bubbles vent out and since the flat didn't start reeking of coconut and more than it was already. I considered it to have not leaked. Exhaustion based collapse beckoned so I staggered into the living room and barely budged. I do this willingly and have 2 matches of stuff this week. Am I mad?

Well I am working on the sock so yes, I suppose so. I got asked by a very hyper person on the bus, I couldn't hear what she was saying well though. The bus was noisy and she was power speaking. Or maybe skim speaking. She was a veritable road runner (mep mep/sock sock) of words. Wonder if she'll be on the bus some time in the future?

Has anyone seen Pink's video "So What"? I've just seen it and it is hilarious. Jigging around on a lawnmover singing away while driving down a busy road. Considering how stupid H&E is I'm suprised it didn't have a "Don't do this at home" disclaimer. Its probably has (happened I mean). With a golf buggy.

My initial thoughts somewhere you are going to get someone who'd been dumped, was drunk who is singing would then get in the mood and go looking for a fight on a Friday or saturday night (maybe with their exes and co., who's to say). Stupid I know but there you are. People hurt or kill each other because of the colour of a t-shirt or what football team they support and in so proving there is no end of stupidness people indulge in. Anyway. Moving on and back to whence I came, I didn't or really listen to it. Not deliberate, we were busy and noisy at work and couldn't have the radio on. But when you consider it, I'd put money on somewhere people believing that there are dancing milkmen chocolate milkmen/spaceships and spacemen/cavemen hitting each other with chocolate rocks in their cereal. I predict there'll be tears when these kids (I feverently hope its kids)realise its not true, its in fact fictional. It'll be like finding out that Santa's lost weight after going on a diet because chimney's are thinner and smaller than the big Medieval Germanic farmer's ones that they used to hang whole haunches of meat up in to smoke. I cannot find a picture but lets just say that they are big enough for to fit a double bed in that thing. It was HHhugggge (also had a corridor that went around the entire house, acting like a giant cavity wall because they had no glass for windows and having windows directly outside from the living quarters would have been unwise when its -32 (-25.6 according to the online conversion website) Celsius the snow could be 12 feet high. The inside wall had little windows, the outer had larger to allow enough light to illuminate the inside. Smart huh? I thought so)

Actually I wanted to cover the instruction for the Maslin pan.
First it is the usual initial bla bla bla don't use it on children. Metal gets hot don't touch/lick/wear it when you've just put it on the heat.
Don't walk with it in a traffic jam or a teenager's bedroom (make sure path is clear its hot and heavey etc etc)
don't let boil dry (hmmm, fairly normal state of affairs that, average behaviour that bit. But little was I to know that from here it got interesting) as this can deform be base (hokay no quazimodo pans desired), and in severe cases turn the almunimim sandwich (looks at the base for a sandwich, hmmm, nope, its totally incased, on we go then) into molten metal (Eeeep bloody hell). If this happens switch heat off and allow to cool before removing ( If its molten and somehow you failed to notice(what were you doing? watching the entireity of the Lord of The Rings with all the extended versions?) I can only imagine if the sandwich (I did peek at it when I read the molten sandwich bit) was molten, you'd be moving the cooker out, complete with twisted metal to make space for the new one.
Well its a great piece of kit (Kitchen craft). Good weight, nicely made and easy to handle. Almost the most important factor.... EASY to clean. Really glad I got it.

Right, thats me blathered out. Its late and I need to spin and have my tea.