Friday 11 May 2012

This Moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. Inspired by soulemama at www.soulemama.com

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.


Have a great weekend.

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Rosehips at Dawn

The kinder run in the morning is normally pretty routine.  That is, until I found these beauties growing on the roadside.  We stopped the car and inspected the bounty - it was an exciting moment.  I am a big fan of rose hips and have been wanting to make syrup for some time, but could never find a source.  Until now.  We have discovered a lone bush that provides us with the best rose hips I've seen!
 So I set about finding a recipe to turn these into syrup.  The River Cottage Cookbook provided all the information I needed to transform these rose hips into something special.  After washing them carefully..
I blitzed them in the blender.  They don't look particularly appealing at this stage!
Then into a saucepan of boiling water.  Remove from the heat allow to steep, like tea, for half an hour.
Then strain through a muslin lined sieve and repeat the process above - (into boiling water, steep and strain). 
 Boil the strained syrup (it started to smell amazing and filled the house with a rosy perfume!) until it's reduced by a third.  Then add golden caster sugar and simmer until it is thickened and reaches a syrupy consistency.
Pour into sterilised bottles - isn't the colour just amazing!
Enjoy on pancakes or ice cream - divine!