Keeping my spirits up after a bad batch of jam!

So.....it turns out everything’s not going to work perfectly every time and the important thing is not to let it get to me (which of course I did - similar to the time I made some lovely chicken stock and after letting it simmer away merrily for 4 hours - popped a colander in the sink and poured the lot down the sink - all I’d needed was a pot under the colander - nope - instead I was left with some very tender giblets and veggies in a colander - this episode led to a bout of crying in the corner of the kitchen much to Tony’s amusement!!).

Both my marmalade and my second batch of cherry jam were imperfect - I was incredulous - how could this be?  We arrived in mid May - picked some cherries and without scales or a recipe to speak of I popped some cherries in the pot with some lemon rind and juice and voila!  I had cherry jam.  Having ordered kitchen scales which arrived yesterday I was thrilled to be making my final batch (of this season) of cherry jam with the gallons of cherries picked the other day and carefully measured everything out and diligently stirred the pot to discover this morning that it’s overcooked and although tastes ok, is almost impossible to spoon out of the pot and onto one’s toast.  I have the same issue with the marmalade which although tastes pretty good (not being a marmalade fan I have to rely on Tony’s feedback and of course at this point he may simply be trying to avoid another ‘crying in the corner’ episode to say anything other than that!), has almost completely caramalised.

So, back to the drawing board - if we were going to market with jam today the stall would be looking very sorry indeed!

The upside is that at least where the cherry jam is concerned the cost of this mistake was minimal - having only added 2 lemons and some sugar from my 20kg bag which only set us back EUR12, thankfully the cherries, normally the biggest expense in a cherry jam, were simply picked from our field, so although disappointing at least it hasn’t been a costly mistake which is something to be thankful for and perhaps focus on in order to lift my spirits because I was attacked momentarily by the thought that perhaps jam making wasn’t for me and was pleased to realise that I was saddened by that thought!

Onwards and upwards - Tony was seen successfully ‘tractoring’ again yesterday removing tree roots in a complicated and potentially dangerous manouver that saw the tractor lean over onto only 2 wheels on one side before dislodging a particularly stubborn root!  We have also discovered a design fault with this particular tractor in that there’s no holder for Tony’s beer........how does one manage to both tractor and have a light refreshment without a cup holder?!!  It boggles the mind!  We’re thinking it is a design fault in this part of the world given the police were recently threatening to strike as it was being discussed that legislation might be passed banning them from having wine or beer with their lunch whilst on duty to which the initial response was that this was a little “heavy handed”!  (see article link below).

http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=2687