RSS Feed

I did it !!!!!!!!!

I managed to set up a feed. :-D :-D

Prep time

The rain is pouring down and my garden is flooding. We put a new step in last year to keep us elevated a bit - and if you stand there in the dark and rain and wind it looks like a stream flowing through the garden. It's not - just a giant puddle - never buy a house on a flood plain with clay soil.....

I have spent the day wrapping. New labels, new packaging, new soaps. I have also found two batches that just don't cut it. There's absolutely nothing wrong with them, but they just don't look good. I blame it on the central heating ;-) Anway i had a thought. I'm in Oxford on Sunday the 9th at a craft fair at the town hall and I thought I would put all my end of lines and bits I'm not happy with into a big tray and ask for some money, I think 50p to a £1, or more if people want, and then at the end of the day I will give it all the the Royal British Legion.

I think that's fair. And the soap will be used and not wasted.

Oops

One of those days.

Driving home at 4 in the morning. Filled up on fuel only to have my card refused and no cash on me. Luckily I think the lone lady worker thought i looked pretty harmless and let me in to use the cashpoint. Why though would the cashpoint give me money on the same card that wouldn't let me pay?

Woke this morning to a letter from the fraud department with a list of transactions, explaining why the card was stopped. Not all my bills. Tesco online £600? I haven't shopped that way for over 2 years. So have to now check everything and wait for a new card. Do you think that was why I kept spending more money than I thought?

Then school run, and I reversed into a transit van who was reversing at the same time. i thought I got away with it and breathed a huge sigh of relief as it was my husband's car. Big Saab I thought, built to last, no problems. I picked up one little bit of plastic and drove away. The wheel arches had been thoroughly cleaned by the collision and the other van was intact. DH gets home to tell me I've actually ripped the bumper off.

Three things. No more now, I can't afford it!

Matroyshka

I've been making matroyshka charms in one form or another for a while now. They sell well. But they're always different as I scavenge them from vintage pictures and suchlike or hand draw them. So I thought I'd try and get one into the computer - quickly. I can't find my tablet so thought I'd try paint, but as ever my hand just isn't steady enough. So...I tried basic circles and ovals and lines and came up with the matroyshka below.

The idea is that I change the pattern on her tummy to go with different colour combinations. I grabbed the nearest available image.That's why she has a goldfish there. Sheer laziness and not a view of her dinner.

Herbal infusions

I love herbal infusions. They can be a way of using a herb well past the date that you would normally throw them out. Foodwise they can add an edge to your cooking and for making soap they can add fragrance, but also means that you can utilise the qualities of the herb without having the lumpy bits of the herb (which all tend to blacken up after a while).

To make an oil infusion you need approx 500g of your oil and up to 8oz of the herb you've chosen. A double boiler/bain marie pot makes life so much easier, but if you don't have one you can use a normal saucepan with an upturned tin in the bottom - or something solid that won't be affected by boiling water.

Measure your ingredients and place in bain marie over continuously simmering water. Make sure the bain marie or bowl doesn't touch the bottom of the pan (which is where the tin comes in) and that the water doesn't bowl dry. Allow the infusion to cook for approx 1 hour, making sure the herb doesn't cook - deep fried infused herb tends to leave crispy bits. When infused you can start again with the same oil and a new batch of herbs to make a stronger batch. Basically, the longer and more often you can keep the process going the stronger the infusion.

When you're happy filter the oil through ever decreasing filters. I tend to do the last pour through a coffee filter to make sure no bits are left, but it takes a long time to filter through – patience and a good book is needed, as you'll have to keep topping the filter up.

Alternatively you can pour the oil with the herb into a glass jar and leave it on the windowsill. It works best if you can leave it in the sun, but, if that's not possible then a warmish room will do. This kind of infusion takes between 24 – 48 hours, but some people will leave the infusion for weeks.

When picking herbs for soap making I like lavender (soothing), peppermint (aching muscles), calendula (skin rashes and inflammation), annato (colour), nettle (astringent), rosemary (scalp itching). You can use fresh herbs from the garden, but for longevity of the final infused oil it is best to use fully dried herbs to make sure that no moisture remains mixed with the oil.