She's an 1850s throwback

There is (was?) a British comedy quiz show called Shooting Stars hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer and often starring Mark Lemmarr. Why do I bring up yet another obscure television reference? Because today when someone commented that I was like something out of the Victorian era, all I could think of was the catchphrase from Shooting Stars that they used to describe Lemmarr; "he's a 1950s throwback."

Apparently I'm an 1850s throwback due to my obsession with writing letters, knitting, preserving, sewing and other such things. I think the comment was meant as a compliment, and even if it wasn't I certainly took it as one. I love writing letters (know me for a length of time and you will eventually be inundated by my postcards), now that I know I can make preserves I am revelling in it. I am also proud of my new-found knitting skills and will happy sit on the bus knitting row after row of N's long overdue scarf without shame. Also, I had promised I would finish the scarf over the weekend, it completely slipped my mind.

Things are slipping my mind quite a lot at the moment. I think the smell of boiling oranges is getting to my brain and in my marma-lady haze I keep forgetting things. I have such a back-log of stuff to post, stuff that is pre-River Cottage and pre-brownie. So pre-brownie in fact that I fear it will get lost in the depths of the hard drive forever.

I have a soup recipe, which was "quite good," (probably not worth posting in hindsight - or foresight actually since I haven't actually written about it), a recipe that came in a jar(!), and some tasters of the big project I talked about, all floundering. They will come (some of them) I promise. I also have all sorts of preserves to talk about, and even more oranges arriving on Wednesday (so many in fact that Abel and Cole rang me to check they had the number of kilos right and that I hadn't pressed the button by mistake!) Oh yes, bring on the marmalade production!


In the meantime I shall leave you with pictures of the orangettes I am in the process of making. I decided to have a go with Seville oranges because I thought the bitterness might balance the sweetness of them being candied. They're still not quite dry yet, so I haven't gotten around to coating them in chocolate, but I snuck a tiny piece that was aching to be eaten and to me they were good. They've got the bitter tang that I love about Sevilles, and yet they are sweet too.
I think they will definitely benefit from being dressed in chocolate. I plan to do them in very dark chocolate to compliment the orange without the cloying nature of milk. I have to say that oddly I think white chocolate might work well too. I know that sounds contradictory, but I think the creaminess will slightly subdue the tang, and so make them a little more delicate for those who don't adore the sharpness quite as much as me.

Speaking of which, I have lemongettes on the way too. I know they ought to be lemonettes, but N likes the "gettes" part and it's stuck!

Oh, before I go, some more housekeeping: I've finally fixed the comments. Apparently I'd left the old private settings on that stopped some comments. It should allow all comments now (although they are still moderated). Anybody out there want to say hello? Well now you can!