Elderflower Cordial

Okay, so yes this post is way overdue but I figured I would type it up anyway, at least you can get yourselves prepared for next year.  Plus the fact I took great pleasure in taking lots of pretty pictures of the ingredients, it seemed a shame to keep them all to myself.

I have never made Elderflower cordial before and have often drooled over fellow blogger's pictures of the pretty stuff in years gone by.  When we moved into our little house I was delighted to discover and Elderflower tree in our very own garden, but what with one thing and another I seemed to miss the Elderflower season last year.  Although the Elderberries were lovely, I was determined not to miss the flower this year.  I've not been doing my seasonal bucket lists recently but if I had of been this would definitely of been on my summer to do list (makes mental note....Must start doing those lists again).

It has such a summery smell, very floral and fragrant, providing it isn't too over-powering, then I'm not so keen.

The sugar helped with the smell, boiling that up for a while made the kitchen smell very sweet.

Then of course there were the lemons.  Not many things say summer like lemons.

And washing all the flowers was a pretty job.  I felt like a proper country housewife making this I can tell you.

But then I had to boil it all up together and then I really wasn't too sure.  It looked very pretty but the smell, hmmm well I didn't like it.   It was so strong, it made me feel a bit sick.  I stuck with it though.  After it had boiled I had to leave it for 24 hours so it the pan it stayed.

  

I bottled it up the next day and took my first taste.  I was gutted, I hated it.  James quite liked it though, unless he was just being polite.  At least I can say I've tried it, I'm glad I made it but I shan't be doing it again, I'll just stick with the berries in future.  In the excitement of it being finished I forgot to take photos of the actual drink, sorry, but your really not missing all that much.

I found the recipe on the BBC Good Food website, I have used many of their recipes for various other things before and have always been impressed.  Give it a go, you may like it and if not, well you can say you tried as well :)

Gem x x x 

 

A General Round-up

The past few months have been a bit of a whirlwind.  There seems to be so much that has gone on and so little that I have blogged about.  So asides from my trip to Edinburgh, training for the Race for Life, pottery painting with some IG ladies, college and the other things I have blogged about recently, what else have I been up to?  Well here is a little round-up.

A fancy dress party to celebrate some friends birthdays, a 30th and 40th.

Fishing.  OK so I didn't actually fish myself, I just sat and read my book, but in my opinion I was there fishing hehee.

Picking flowers from a cutting patch that has been grown especially down the road to us.

A visit to Greensted Church.  the oldest wooden church in the world.

A day out with my aunt.  Gorgeous cream tea at Papermill Lock,
Followed by a boat trip and then a walk along the prom in Maldon.

A day spent with my niece after she stayed with us the night.  I took her for her first cream tea, again at Paper Mill Lock.

Then we got lost in a maze.

I'm sure there is more I am forgetting about but this generally covers most of what I've been up to.  Now you can see what I mean when I say it's been a whirlwind.  Looking back it has been a great summer.  A chance to cross off some bits from my summer list, Discover someplace new and go fishing.  Just a couple more to go and another list will be complete.

I'll be back soon with some news on a new arrival hehee exciting stuff :)

Love Gem x x x x

My Summer List

A bit late I know, especially as all this sunshine we have been having recently probably means that we have now had our summer. I'm hoping not though as I have been loving this hot & sunny weather.

So there you have it my summer list for 2013.  I have already crossed one of them off, earlier in the year on a trip to Dedham, row a boat on a lake.  OK so it was a river not a lake but that is good enough for me.  It wasn't me rowing either but again I can live with that.  I suppose if the opportunity arose to do it again I would row next time but for now I can happily say it is one thing ticked off the list. 

I've been keeping busy over the past few weeks and have lots to catch up on, that includes crossing another 2 things off my list.  I'll be doing a few catch up posts hopefully over the next week or so.  At the same time I'll be catching up on all your posts.  I'm still struggling to find the time to read all your blogs, I'm currently 5 weeks behind :s I'm determined to get there though, I promise I'll be catching up with you very soon.

Until then,

Gem x x x x

Catching Up In Dedham

I'm still here, I've not disappeared.  It seems as though Instagram has taken over from my blogging days but I really miss this place and I need to allow myself more time to blog.  As much as I love Instagram for how quick, easy and convenient it is, it doesn't have that personal touch that blogging seems to have, you know, like the chatty side of things.  Well I don't seem to think so anyway.

I often find that I don't have much to blog about, when in truth sitting here now I can think of a dozen posts that I could publish on here.  I tend to put too much pressure on myself when in reality I really shouldn't.

A couple of years back I started writing lists, kind of like a bucket list but seasonal ones.  I did one for Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.  You know what, I still write those lists, but because they never seem to have much on them I haven't been blogging about them.  The truth be known that I have actually been achieving near enough everything on the lists, I suppose because it is more manageable.  Well I'll blog about this years lists another time.

For now I wanted to share with you a little day trip me and James took a couple of weekends ago to Dedham.  It truly is such a beautiful village, so picturesque.  We stopped off at Chapel Train station on the way there.  We have been there a few times for their annual beer festival.  This time we didn't go inside, I just wandered about outside  taking a few photos (the secret here is that I was actually feeling travel sick and we had to stop so I could take my mind off it for a while.  it was either that or me spewing all over the car!  Now that would have been a sight!)  

Chapel itself is another lovely place, even the viaducts look lovely.  All of those photos were taken while driving along.  I plan to make a visit especially to Chapel, where we can view the station properly without it being packed out with loads of people for an event.

I feel like I'm becoming I right anorak with all these train posts what with my previous post about Bodiam haha.

So by now, feeling a bit better, I got back in the car and we drove the short distance to Dedham.  James had never been before, he was a little disappointed as there isn't really a huge amount to do, but it is just so pretty.  I am quite happy wandering about looking at all the lovely houses covered in wisteria, or on previous visits a stop in the tea room usually makes my day :) (we didn't stop there that day though)

We spent a good half an hour to an hour wandering around the streets, spotting different things that catch your eye.  It was nice just having quality time together without any other cares in the world.  And for a change the sun was shining so we made sure that we made the most of it.

I don't know about anyone else but the photo above reminds me of the film The Notebook (love that film, the book is brilliant too)  It isn't that clear but the white blob next to the lake is a small rowing boat.

I could wander around this village for hours, it really is so beautiful.  I would love to live here one day.  I can't honestly see it ever happening, but hey, you never know.

One thing I was really pleased that we got the chance to do while we were there, was hire one of their rowing boats.  It was such a glorious day it seemed a shame to waste the opportunity.  It is something I have wanted to do for some time and funnily enough it is on this year's summer list which I mentioned earlier and will blog about more another time.

I haven't got any photos of us in the boat, James wouldn't pose for a photo so the ones I have got are not really very flattering as he is the one doing all the hard work and rowing.  We attempted to swap places but it rocked the boat somewhat I panicked and so he carried on haha (I'm pretty sure we looked quite comical to anyone else that would have been watching).

I love days like this and I hope there are still plenty more to come later this year.  Thank you Dedham for having us :)  It was a pleasure as always.

Love Gem x x  x