Wine Making

Today's Weather: Sun and Cloud

View From My Window:

Looking down at my shed this morning I knew there had to be lots of things in there that I hadn't seen for a while, despite frequent trips inside. I had to go in there anyway to get the bits of wood which will form the trestle's for my crafting table, so I decided to have a good snoop around after breakfast







Added to my 'Things to do over Winter' list, is the art of wine making.

I browsed the web to find out exactly what equipment I need to get brewing and found these plastic demijohns for £8 Now, I accept that I'm no expert when it comes to wine making, but aren't these just water bottles that you can pick up from any supermarket?
Or are they made from stronger stuff to account for the expansion during fermentation?
If they do turn out to be nothing more than the standard water bottle, I shall be adding a cork, a stick on LCD thermometer (cheap as chips) and retailing them on eBay for £5

Tomorrow morning we are going into town to take care of a few admin things, so a trip around the charity shops is inevitable. It's also really easy because they are all located down the same street. We start at the top of the street at the cafe for a quick coffee and then into the first charity shop and zig zag our way to the bottom of the street, calling in each one. Jules is still looking for a new handbag and I am on the lookout for, well anything really. I will let you know what I find tomorrow evening.

I made a Jelly/Jam/everything, straining bag last night in a moment of boredom. I'm quite pleased with it and it should do the job (we will find out when I make some apple jelly later this week)
Jules looked at it whilst I was making it and asked why I don't just lay the muslin inside a colander and strain things like that, but I wanted a dedicated bag so that my colander is free for other use.
She's probably right but I'm in a making mood at the moment so there was no way her advice was going to deter me, besides the fact that I have plenty of muslin to do the colander thing as well.

Having thought about materials for my fluffy slipper boots, I decided to use up the duvet remnants from the dogs bed project and an old beach towel. I can just feel my toasty little feet whilst I wander round the house in them. I will let you know how they progress.

Made a batch of apple chutney, but it went wrong again. Sometimes when I make things like this I end up with a burnt flavour, despite being very careful and not letting it stick to the bottom or sides of the pot. Anyway, I got two jars from it and the juice that was left, I will pour into a sauce bottle and try and convince myself that it's a smokey barbecue sauce rather than the remnants of burnt apple chutney.

Commercial Break - cue adverts with music that make you want to spend

Actually I just dipped my finger in the chutney now that it has cooled and it doesn't taste half bad if I say so myself. Recipe on my Craft Blog

2 jars of Apple Chutney and a Bottle of Chutney Sauce

The recipe called for the juice and rind of 2 lemons and you will be pleased to hear that I didn't waste the Lemons. I popped them in a pan, brought them to the boil and poured into a little spray bottle to use as kitchen cleaner. Christine's Grime & Lemon, if you will.



I had a bit of a Tupperware Trauma earlier today when it all spilled out of my cupboard as I pulled out the weighing scales, but everything happens for a reason and as I bent to pick it all up I realised that my kitchen floor needed a clean and couldn't wait until tomorrow. Actually I'm lying, it WILL wait until tomorrow, I just said that so that none of you leave comments saying "Look at the state of your floor you filthy cow"

It's free listing weekend on eBay so I posted a couple of things on there,
started to make a little web site ready for Mum's Tea Party, dug a few items from the shed and moved them to the top of the pile, ready to be recycled and now I'm thinking what to have for tea.
Other than that, my Sunday is nearly at an end. Time to go and watch River Cottage Veg.
See you all tomorrow. Take care.