Crab Apple Jelly???

My Saturday started with me playing Runescape, chatting to my friends including the lovely Funnyhare and the lovely Mommapeel (these are the names of our characters in the game, that we quite often use to refer to each other)

I was playing a game within the game and suddenly relaised it was 2 am! yikes! Bed followed shortly afterwards.

I slept through till about 9, and very slowly Douglas and I woke, had breakfast and went shopping, then on to visit my younger brother Thos, his wife Katie and their lovely kids - M&L (twins, one of each, aged 8) and C (aged 4 I think. Boy) L (the boy) demanded to have a go on "Mrshappyanna" as he calls runescape - so we had a quiet hour whilst the roast potatoes were cooking. M came and joined us. Yes.. I know.. Im corrupting them at an early age, but I will only let them play when Im there, and how to get onto "the game" remains a mystery to them! (Probably a good thing as L seems to adore it!)

C was a tired little poogle, and was falling asleep at the dinner table, so I picked him up and carried him up to bed - I asked him "would you like me to read a book to you?" and got a shake of a head, so.. I turned the tables "how about you read a book to me?" that got a smile and an affermative nod lol. He was quite happy to lie in bed whilst I read "Big Pigs Birthday" to him, and he pointed out cake, and a monkey and other things in the illustration. I closed the curtains, gave him a kiss, and closed his door.. and I think he must have fallen asleep about 2 seconds later as not a sound was heard (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)

Thos organised a crab apple picking session, then loaded us, loads of jam jars and a huge cauldron of the fruit into our car - guess what we offered to make!!!

Crab Apple Jelly

Makes: 6 x 500ml jars

Ingredients

4 kg crab apples
1 kg caster sugar
1 lemon, juiced

Method

1. Wash the apples, remove the blossom heads and cut out any bruised bits. Put in a saucepan, fill with water to cover the apples and bring to the boil. Simmer for 25 minutes until the fruit is soft. Pour the pulp into a jelly bag or several layers of muslin and let drip overnight into a pan beneath. Don’t squeeze the bag, it will cloud the jelly.
2. The next day, measure the juice, and combine with sugar at the ratio of 10 parts juice to 7 sugar. Add the lemon, then bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar. Keep at a rolling boil for 35–40 minutes, skimming off the froth regularly. To test, chill a dessertspoon in the fridge. When the jelly is set, it will solidify on the back of the spoon. Pour into warm, sterilised preserving jars and tightly seal while still slightly warm. Store in a cool dark place.

We have got to the end of stage 2.. more tomorrow :)