Thursday, January 11, 2007

Recipe : Candied Kumquats

I enjoyed my candy oranges so much, that the other day, while eating kumquats with my daughter, I realized that we could try making candied kumquats.

I followed the same basic recipe as for the candied orange peel, slicing the kumquats into about 4 slices each, but since the kumquats are much thinner skinned, and already edible raw, I brought them to a boil only twice, for 4 minutes each, and boiled in the syrup for only 8 instead of 10 minutes. Even that cooked them pretty good, so when I turned them onto the sugar the first time, they were pretty soft. But they dried out nicely, and have a great flavour and consistency.

This time, I had my 5 year old son help me flip the slices in the sugar, but I wouldn't advise it. The slices are extremely hot, as I found out while trying to help along one which fell. Most kids of that age would not understand how hot, and I was fortunate that he was careful, and we had no mishaps.

He was very proud of his achievement, as I am of my two little candy makers.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Garden Painting Day 18 & 19 : Cat

It has been some while since I started on the cat in my garden painting, first colouring in basic sections (not worrying too much about colour at this point)...
Cat painting - first step

...adding in some details of the back and paws...
Cat painting - back and paws

...and then finishing up the face, chest and tail...
Cat painting - final step

I was happy to usher in the New Year doing what I enjoy most (next to gardening, anyhow), and finish up the cat. I'm now estimating that my painting is 1/3 of the way. 1/3 more for adding in more plants to the remaining blank area, and the final 1/3 to add in missing flowers, a bird or two for the birdbath, butterflies and bees.
Garden painting with cat