kittycafe

A very difficult photo shoot when the stylist (cough) keeps eating the props.

 So I went back and finally picked the lilacs. The old fellow on the other corner? His lilacs were far superior but I didn't. No, I didn't. I stuck with the difficult to reach wild ones at the dog meeting corner. They smell just as sweet.

I did pick even more flowers earlier in the week.

Violets.

 

We have a lot of violets.

 I had been reading up on the medicinal uses of flowers and violets caught my eye. (high in vitamin A and C) I had been outside hanging laundry and the violets were literally under my feet. It got me thinking. I'm big on 'use what you've got" these days. At the same time I kept finding blog posts and recipes everywhere for syrups and jams.

I chose jelly.

I have no picture of the gorgeous indigo infusion,  as it was a very dark, rainy day and my camera did not cooperate in capturing the colour. When photography fails always blame the camera.

As soon as you add the lemon juice there is an explosion of colour and you have a jewel-like translucent magenta. ( whoa! I think I'm channelling Nigella today) This was a very easy jelly to make. I definitely have to save one jar for the fall fair.

 

It's colour was so captivating, so girly, it necessitated the baking of scones and getting out grandma's china tea cups. I found a violet patterned one, no less! No sturdy pottery mug this time. This is tea party fair.

And the taste? A subtle violet, a little lemon, a little honey-like. Delicate, like the flower itself.

The weather didn't cooperate for the wearing of dresses and a picnic on the lawn (amongst those violets....and dandelions!) but a girl can dream.

 

Violet Jelly

For the infusion:

2 cups violet blossoms, lightly packed

2 cups boiling water

Pour the boiling water over the flowers and cover.

Leave 24 hours. Strain the liquid through a cheese cloth-lined strainer to catch the flowers. You should have about 2 cups.

The jelly:

2 cups infusion

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 pkg. powdered pectin

4 cups sugar

Put the infusion, lemon juice and pectin in a large pot and bring to a boil (one you can't stir down)

Add the sugar all at once and bring back to a rolling boil. Let boil 1 minute.

Remove from heat, wait until the jelly stops boiling and then skim off any foam.

Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Hot water process.

Makes 4.5 cups.

Blogiversary, Contest And Cake!

I'm having a blogiversary!
My first post was April 27, 2004.

And what have I learned so far?
Silly little things and important internet user friendly things.
Silly things like even though I am right handed my left hand types faster than my right and therefore I often end up with some dyslexic spellings. Oh and I'm hopeless at editing my own posts.

And if you don't want quite so many google searches for images from your blog, you must not name your photos 'Curiouscat' or 'canoe at dusk.jpg". I did this at first for my own ease of finding and refinding them on my own computer. Now I use my own abbreviated code.
And I can't forget another favourite search with a certain type of internet user on this title post: "Furry babes"
Clearly they were not expecting this

It wasn't long after I first started using a computer regularly that I started blogging. The Husband, who had used one for work for years kept encouraging me.
" But why?", I would ask, again and again.
"You can find anything on the internet" he would say. "Recipes, for example" The man knows how to lure me in
I can't remember now how I found knitting blogs but I just followed link after link and this whole new world and more importantly, new people came into my living room.
People who were like me. And I didn't find a lot of those around me.

The Contest.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. If you could mention how or when you found me, that would be interesting to me. If you can remember. The deadline will be May1 st. This seems to be a lull time, computer-wise, as it seems quieter than usual with folk getting outdoors more I guess, so I will give a full week from this post.
I will pick by Random Generator ( most likely one bowl, one hand and small pieces of paper) and send the chosen a gift from the KittyCafe. All I know for sure is that there will be chocolate and something I made myself.

There is interesting post for thought at the link Blogging Without Obligation above , which I thought was appropriate for this post. I think it's pretty accurate to how many feel about blogging.
But as much as I have enjoyed blogging and do it for me, I wouldn't be truthful to say I don't like comments. It's not nearly as much fun when nobody comes to play.

So I will throw this out for all you lurkers out there, too.
You can come out of the shadows just once, yes?

And my Blogiversary Cake?
I was experimenting with a can of mango puree again. (A partial can. I have a feeling mango lassies are in our future.)
This time, cupcakes. I think they came out rather well.
You just can't have an anniversary without cake! *

KittyCafe Mango Cupcakes

In mixer, beat
2/3 c softened Butter and
1 Cup Sugar
Beat in 2 Eggs,
1 C canned Mango Puree
grated rind of one Orange (or Lemon)

In another bowl, mix dry ingredients together:
2 C Flour
2 tsps Baking Powder
Pinch of salt if using unsalted Butter
1/2 chopped Walnuts
1/2 C Coconut

Add dry mixture to mixing bowl alternately with
1/2 C Milk ( I used buttermilk to use it up)

Spoon into greased or lined muffin cups and bake at 350'F for 20 minutes.
I filled one muffin tin, quite full and 3 ramikins.

Icing

Half pkg of Cream Cheese, softened
I Tbsp Butter
1 tsp Lemon Extract
about 2 C icing sugar, or until you have reached glazing or spreading consistency, whatever you like.

Beat until smooth and spoon over cooled cupcakes.
Dust with icing sugar when set.

* The timing for the aroma of baking worked out perfectly because no one told me every farmer in the county spreads manure on his fields the same day!