chiffon cake and raspberry jam

Remember the raspberry bush I mentioned a while back? I made a small batch of simple raspberry jam yesterday afternoon for some friends coming over for lunch today. The recipe itself is very simple, just use the same amount of sugar as you are using berries and a bit of lemon juice if you like a more tart flavor. To be honest I didn't bother to check how much of the raspberries I had and it turned out just fine; I'm thinking the ratio of ingredients is more important than how much you make at once.

前にうpした我が家の庭のラズベリーの写真を覚えている方はいますか？

その大事に育てたラズベリーで昨日ジャムを作りました！

かなり簡単なレシピです。果物と砂糖を１：１、そしてレモンジュースを少々。。。

大体ジャムが冷え始めれば果物に元々含まれているペクチンで勝手に固まってくれます。

家ではなるべくよけいな物を使わない料理をめざしています！　まぁ、その方が意外と簡単に作れるんですけど。。。

For lunch we did a mini potluck. We had some tomato and basil pasta salad, grilled lamb, and a simple mussel dish simmered in white wine and various veggies. A friend brought some delicious breaded chicken and an Asian-style leek side-dish. For dessert my mom baked a chiffon cake which we had with fresh whipped cream and a spoonful of my raspberry jam. I must say, it was delicious with a nice cup of coffee.

今日は友達を呼んでちょっとしたランチを。。。

ラム肉のグリル、ムール貝と野菜の白ワイン煮込み、トマトとバジルのパスタ、チキンのマリネなど。

我が家で「ランチ」と言えば皆が適当に料理を持ってくる事になってます。

今度は色んなおいしい料理が集まりました。

そしてデザートには母が作ったシフォンケーキに生クリームと先ほどのラズベリージャムをそえておいしくいただきました☆

最近、いかにおいしい物が食べられるかが毎日の目標です♥

It's storming outside like crazy right now, it was so sunny this afternoon though. Weather is not predictable these days. I do appreciate the rain though, it will help the plants in my garden but when it's stormy it gets so DARK in the house! My house gets a lot of natural light so we're not accustomed to turning on the lights until it's past 6PM. It was just fine while I was working at my desk, then it became visibly darker so I look up at the window and BOOM it's thundering. Crazy huh? I guess I'll be using my time tomorrow to pick up the fallen branches from my lawn from the giant willow tree by the edge of my yard...

I haven't accomplished much lately craft-wise, I've been busy making a plush roll-cake pincushion for my friend's 22nd birthday. I really want to get back into drawing soon though! :)

felt sweets

I've been having issues with my laptop overheating too easily lately, so I've been doing more crafting than anything else. I've been on a donut craze recently and I've made a bunch of big donuts for purse charms and keychains as well as mini donuts for cellphones. The donuts themselves are brown fleece (personally I think they are stronger this way) with felt frosting and seed bead sprinkles. The mini donuts are the same size as those tiny powdered donuts like Hostess Donettes, and they really remind me of my childhood when I would save my lunch money to buy them in the cafeteria at school.

I think I'll attempt to make life-size macarons next! And maybe cakes too, but not too complicated ones.

summer bracelet!

I've been experimenting with hemp lately and here's one that I came up with. It's up in my Etsy shop now! I hand-dyed the hemp to be a smokey gray to match the gunmetal of the rhinestones. I saw some macrame bracelets with rhinestones at American Eagle but I wanted one with a more natural look, so I made my own. :) This one has small orange and pink rhinestones but I think I'll make more with different colors.

アメリカンイーグルで見たブレスレットが気になったので自分で作ってみました。

お店で見た物よりちょっとエスニックな感じなのが欲しかったんですけど、ヘンプを自分で染めるところから始めることに。。。

ヘンプを染めるときこのような薄い色はあまり好ましくないらしいんですけど、これくらいの色が一番自然に見えるかな〜。

ラインストーンは夏らしい渋めのピンクとオレンジ、金具は金属じゃなくてガラスとブロンズのランプビーズで作りました。

私のEtsyショップで売る事にしました！いろんな色のラインストーンも使いたいな〜。。。

Fireworks and Hydrangeas

I went over to a friend's place for fireworks and barbeque last night! I met some friends that I haven't seen in a long time. It feels nice to do something simple with friends for once, no going to restaurants or whatever but instead hanging out over a grill and just talking and eating... and throwing water balloons lol. Hotdogs burgers and s'mores in the yard are all I need to have a good time with friends, I don't need to go to nice restaurants and go shopping to have a good time. :)

One thing I like about summer is watching the hydrangeas bloom in my yard. At least all that rain came in handy, although it kept me immobile for a while the water definitely helped the flowers. It's also interesting how the flowers change colors, last year the flowers were more green-ish and they made good dry flowers, but this year they are pink!

Raspberries!

I went to pick some raspberries from a bush in my garden (showed above! it's my favorite plant in our yard lol) while the weather was nice. It's so sunny today but with such a cool wind! It's very refreshing. I plan to get enough berries to make some jam soon. They are also very good if you freeze them and drop them into some pancake batter for a quick berry pancake breakfast. Also good for baking too! I guess they don't have to be from your garden, I freeze fresh fruit to use in cooking all the time. This method works great with blueberries. :)

今日は天気がとてもよかったので庭のラズベリーを少し収穫しに。。。

我が家自慢のラズベリーの木は私が小さい頃からたくさん実をつけてます！

でも今年はちょっと実の数が少ないかな。昔は実の重さで枝が折れたくらいなのに。。。

取れば取るほどたくさん実がなる木なので一生懸命実がなってないかチェックしてます。笑

たくさん集まったらジャムを作るつもりです。

冷凍すればかなり便利！ホットケーキを作るとき凍ったまま生地に入れるとジューシーなベリーホットケーキになります！後マフィンなどの焼き菓子を作るときにもいいです。

家ではこのために大体ラズベリーとブルーベリーが冷凍庫にはいってます。

一人暮らしを始めるときには絶対この木を持って行きたい！なんとか株を増やせないかな〜。

I've heard before that if you don't pick the berries often, you get a smaller harvest. I did notice that the last few years I rarely picked the raspberries except for quick snacks, and the number of berries this year is saddening. I remember in my childhood how every summer the branches of the huge bush would sag from the weight of the fruit and my dad had to put wire supports under them. I'm trying to pick more and take better care of the plant to ensure bigger harvests! When I move out of the house I'm definitely taking a sapling of this bush with me. I don't know if this will produce good fruit but it's the memories that count.