It's beginning to look a bit more like Christmas!

It really is beginning to look a bit more like Christmas in my wee house!
On Thursday I went shopping with my sister. I love spending time with my big sister and we had lots of fun looking at some great ideas for Christmas decorations this year. We went to a florist wholesaler and shared the cost on some bits and pieces: cinnamon sticks, dried orange slices, pine cones. I have put some of them in a couple of square shaped glass vases for instant seasonal pot pourri effect.Simple!

I decided that to do a tree this year would be asking for trouble this year with my kitten, Tudur. He likes to leap around and has sometimes set the burglar alarm off(he is clearly a cat burglar!) I have some lovely, treasured glass baubles for my Mum and Dad's tree and my Gran's which I would love to be able to continue to use for years. I have had visions(or would that be nightmares?)of Tudur leaping and swinging from the top of a tree... So, instead of a tree, I bought a big glass cylinder and put all my glass baubles in it. I love it and it was much easier to do.
At the moment, all baubles are still intact and beautiful.
My Christmas cards have all arrived! I only ordered them as postcards the other day! VistaPrint were very quick. The printing is great so I am very pleased and impressed. I need to put them in envelopes and post them now.

My marmalade has worked, for the most part!
The fruit peel seems to have risen to the top, though, presumably that is because I poured it into the jars too quick?
I really love the funky shaped jars I got from the jam jar shop!
My big wooden spoon arrived too, so now I can make more yummies for Christmas gifts!
One of my friends suggested that the difference between marmalade and chutney is marmalade gone wrong. We'll see, Richie!

My Jam Jars Arrived! Yeah!

My Jam Jars arrived!
They were very quick. I only just ordered them over the weekend and Tada!
Here they are!
Unfortunately, I had rather too many jam jars arrive, as my order came with someone elses too! After a quick phone call, we decided that I can have the box collected tomorrow from my work and hopefully they will deliver my big wooden spoon too, they forgot to send!
I am now making marmalade - citrus marmalade is the recipe, with orange, grapefruit and lemon.
I found this lovely recipe on the internet.
900g of mixed fruits: oranges, grapefruit.
2 lemons
1.75kg sugar
1. Wash and squeeze the fruit. Put all the pips, membranes in a muslin bag and cut the peel into thin strips. (I used scissors!)
2. Put it all in the big pan with 2.25 litres water
3. bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours, or until reduced half and peel is tender. Remove muslin bag, allow bag to cool and squeeze any liquid into pan.
4. add sugar and stir til dissolved over low heart. Bring to boil 15 mins, or until setting point is reached. (It will quickly from a skin when small amount is put on a cold plate.)
5. Remove from heat and skim off any scum. Leave to cool for 5 minutes and stir to distribute the peel evenly.
6. Put into sterilised jars, cover and seal. Serve with tea and toast!

My kitchen is smelling very citrusey as this is simmering. I will let you know how it all turns out!
I am going to put them in the lovely shaped jars and save the hexagonal shaped jars for my chutneys.

Today I made yummy things!

I have had a very productive day today!

First I made bread in my lovely breadmaker. Today I followed a softgrain loaf recipe and just used 1/2 white flour and 1/2 wholemeal flour instead of softgrain flour. This works and produces a soft and light loaf.

Then I made some more cupcakes!
I had some of the pudsey bear cupcake holders that Rachel gave me, left over from the cakes I made for Children in Need day on Friday. I will take them to my local church tomorrow and see if any of my friends wish to make a donation to Children in Need. For these cakes, I used a gluten free recipe from cupcake magic book.(apparently!)It was a cherry bakewell cupcake type recipe. I used ground almonds, egg whites and yolks separated and pushed a cherry into each one. I still have to ice them in the morning.Quickly.

Then I made jam.
I used an old recipe of my Mum's for apple and blackberry jam.
I used 3 lb apples, 1 and 1/2 lb blackberries, 3 lb sugar.

Tudur supervised, of course. He patiently watched the softening of the fruit, waited for the sugar to dissolve whilst I stirred it in and then seemed fascinated to see the steam rise as it boiled for 10 minutes.Test the jam is setting, by putting a small blob on a plate.(It will form almost a skin quite quickly.) Put the fruit jam quickly into sterilised jars. I use a jug to do this. Add waxed seals and seal the lids. Wipe jars and any spillages quickly with a clean cloth. This will save having a sticky kitchen. Wash the pan immediately in warm soapy water.It was enough to make 5 assorted sized jars!
I didn't have many jars and lids that matched!
I have just placed an order with this jam jar shop that sell jars! Thank you Abbie for telling me about them.

Some of these jars of jam will be some delicious Christmas gifts! Others might just be for me!