A Restful Day

Work last night was hectic, there had been a 3 hour breakdown and the Domino effect kicked in. Only 1 cooking line was affected but because the Engineers had to work in the area all cooking had to stop and all materials removed from the cookhouse. Food safety is paramount. Once the problem had been resolved the area and equipment had to have a deep clean, we all joined in but lost 2 more hours, over 4 lines that is a whole shifts worth of work.

2 of the first shift stayed on for 3 hours and Michael worked opposite to me. we worked hard but sensibly and only left 2 hours worth of work to be picked up. Will we get thanks for this? Don't be so silly, we did not even get a request from management to keep them updated.

I had to pick some more apples today before the branches broke under the weight. My freezer has enough for pies and crumbles so I took a lead from Sue at Our New Life in the Country and made a batch of Apple Sauce and popped into some jars.

7 jars, all the seals have popped so they should keep, but I will keep a close eye on them. I will repeat this process until I run out of jars.

While getting my jars out I found these, Smooth strawberry jam, made last year for Francesca. She hated seeds in anything and this makes a good sauce if you heat it gently. It gives an edge to any fruit pudding and is sublime poured over Eton Mess while quite warm.

I have been watching these ripen on one of my walks with Ben and today we stopped and picked some, I will keep them in the fridge till Friday before turning them into syrup. I have time to pick a load more and when they have softened down in the maslin pan I will add elderberries. Once strained through a Jelly Bag the juices will have an equal weight of sugar added and be boiled until the right consistency and then bottled. The syrup is lovely when diluted with hot water, very soothing. It may not cure a cold but it does perk you up.

I have the four quarters of the Jelly Roll Jam quilt made and am just waiting for Francesca to decide if she would like them sashed or just sewn together, once done I will show and tell.

I won a give away last week and have selected my fabric £60 worth! Once it arrives I will share it with you.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Yet more goodies filling up my larder.

2.  Misty early mornings slowly turning into sun drenched days.

3. The smell of wood smoke drifting round the village. 

4. A new quilt plan in my head.

5. My village shop, flourishing and saving me a car journey at least once a week.

I do plan ahead and keep a good store cupboard but when you drop the milk on the floor as you take it out of the fridge,  as you do ..........................you need a shop on the corner rather than a car journey and a 30 minute wait.

All in all a gentle restful pottering day, it was so good I may just repeat it tomorrow.

Until tomorrow               TTFN                    Pam