Feijoa Jelly

Making jams, jellies, chutneys, and preserving in general, is so satisfying.

To make feijoa jelly really couldn't be any more straightforward. Get a great pile of washed feijoas and cover with water in a large pot. After boiling for a couple of hours the fruit will be extremely soft. Strain the contents of the pot twice - first through a kitchen seive, then again through muslin. Don't squeeze or press the fruit while seiving/straining.

With this strained liquid back in a clean pot, add one cup of sugar for every cup of liquid. Add the juice of one lemon. Stirring, bring the liquid to a simmer. Continue to stir occassionally - skim any scum off the surface of the liquid throughout the cooking time. Test as you would jam, and take from the heat once it is ready.

Pour into sterilised jars and cool. Label and take photos - blog and tweet about your gorgeous feijoa jelly!

A little bit of Glasgow in Taranaki

My Grandfather is in the Hospice. I went to see him today. I haven't seen him in about a month as we've been busy birthing babies and looking after wee kiddies. In that meantime, he's had an asthma attack and has spent some time in hospital until a bed at the Hospice became available. He's become much frailer since my last visit. 

He's kind of - fading away. His body hasn't been working right for some time. It can't hold his weight; it's not giving him cues such as appetite or hunger; his eyes are failing; his hearing is going; he has trouble staying asleep. Trouble is, his mind is as perfect as it ever was. 

He is a complete expert in how sickness is affecting his body. He knows what he wants; knows what he needs; has opinions and requests and articulates them all. Sometimes he only hears what he wants to hear, but we all do that sometimes. He knows how important it is to eat so he tries to keep doing that too. He is still up for a visit and a good chat - so that's not changed.

Today two nurses came in to help him from his chair back into bed. The dark haired nurse asked him if he still wanted to get back into his bed and her lovely Glaswegian accent reminded him of a song. He sung quietly - he doesn't have the lung capacity for any volume - the nurse joined in, and together they sung Old Glasgow Town.

He's still quite the party animal. He's coming home tomorrow.

After he was tucked under the quilt on his bed, we noticed the CD player and asked Granddad if he wanted to listen to some music. He likes to watch TV but the remote is different from his one at home and it confuses him. There was only on CD in the room - Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits. My Aunt went out to the nurses station to see if she could score a different one.

I mentioned to Granddad while we were waiting that I had never considered him a "Kenny Rogers" sort. He said he wasn't, but that he'd met him once.

Now, I had to remind myself that this man is as sharp as he's ever been, so he wasn't making stuff up - well sometimes he does so I questioned him further, just to make sure. He told me the story of having a party at the house they lived in Rotorua. A (then) local talent (later a national treasure) Howard Morrison came along to the party and brought with him this shaggy-haired American called Kenny Rogers. Granddad said he didn't talk to him much but he seemed nice enough.

It's amazing you know, of all the hundreds and hundreds of stories my Grandfather has told me over the years - he can still come up with a new one (and apparently even true ones) at the ripe age of 95.

Check out the first section of Rolling Through New Zealand With Kenny Rogers and the First Edition for the fashion and the decor, then check out the second one for the dancing.

Update on Sunday, May 20, 2012 at 9:21PM by Michelle

The ambulance brought Grandad home on Saturday afternoon. They wheeled him in on a stretcher and helped him into his chair in the lounge - he didn't want to go to bed.

He sat in his chair and watched TV. He's always followed the horses, and he did so all afternoon with the volume on one million! but we didn't mind. He ate some dinner, and he had a cup of tea, and he watched TV and talked to us and just generally hung out.

We were really surprised at how late he stayed up - past 11pm. My Aunt asked him how come he could stay up so late now when he couldn't at the Hospice, and he said because here he has company.

Brother-in-law: Grandad, you're looking really good today.

Grandad: Looks aren't everything.

Brother-in-law: Oh I don't know - they're what made me fall for your granddaughter.

Grandad: That's what I mean.

Today he seemed really happy. He was chatty, and ate two boiled eggs for lunch. Two!

After watching Walk the Line on tv, and noting that the movie ended in "a funny spot" he made a joke about the temperature of the room. My uncle had a new fire box installed and it's been so super hot we've been sweltering. 

Tonight was the first time in a long time I heard my grandfather laugh.

It's nearly half past 11pm again and he's only now getting ready to go to bed. My Brother-in-law and my Uncle lift him into his wheel chair, and he's being made comfortable in his bed, will take his medicine and will sleep.

Having him home, and being here with him, is really good.

Road Trip: Taranaki

I took my blog on a roadtrip - 375km south from Auckland to my family in Taranaki, New Zealand. It took flipping HOURS but it was a lovely way to spend a day.

If you decide to take your blog with you on a trip, drop your web address in the comments - I'd love to see your journey.

Now: my journey, in reverse chronological order and dodgy phone connectivity.

6:00pm

THE FARM!

5:26pm

Have i ever taken so long to do this trip?

Top of Mt Messenger - spent a lot of time puking up here but not these days. The winding road is miles better - hard to believe we used to navigate this unforgiving mountain on dirt tracks.

30 mins to go.

4:56pm

Mokau Beach and my phone is dying. Seems it likes blogging but it uses all its power to channel Merlin Mann's Back to Work podcast.

So the beach is awesome. Full of awe for the sea and then some.

Windy as flip though - tried to do a video but after seeing myself in the viewfinder can safely know that no one noticed my maladjusted fly earlier as i was too fascinatingly unkempt for them to care.

ONWARDS!

4:15pm

Okay now - humungous wet boulder, in the side of the road, slippery with moss and red berries- climbing up to its summit (yes it was big enough to have a summit) to stand looking staight down a couple of hundred feet to get a poor picture of an unknown river.

This is what i do for you.

3:34pm

Fat Pigeon cafe in Pio Pio has the most delectable display of their fare. I could not resist the raspberry and white chocolate muffin - but the maccadamia brittle sure did give it a run for its money.

3:07pm

Here i am in good old Te Kuiti . A wee town I lived in for a year or so. A country town where i gave birth for the first time. My oldest, Simon, was born in this foggy valley.

Stopping to use the Roro Street Public Toulets which are about half way to my destination. It's times like these I wonder how long the fly of my jeans has been down. Has it worked its way open with all my jumping in and out of the car? or has it just been gaping open all day?

2:29pm

Otorohanga turnoff - man the Waikato (countyside I've been driving through) is so green. The cloud breaks the sunlight into great shafts of light and the fields take on this really vivid hue - almost unbelievable in their saturation of colour.

Next stop - The Fat Pigeon in Pio Pio for a cup of coffee.

Okay so it takes me a while to actually get going but now I'm on the road. Traffic is moderate on the motorway - even though it looks kinda empty in the picture.

And then the rain blew in.

Again. Just as well I took all that extra time getting three loads of washing on the line before I left, hey?

10:20am

I'm packing my car - with far too much gear but hells, it's not like I don't have the room - and about to head off on the 375km trip to North Taranaki and a few days at The Farm.

Because the SquareSpace app is so awesome, and I have a couple of gig of data I'll be a) listening to NPR's All Songs Considered via their iPhone app in the car* and b) blogging photos** along the way.

So if you're at work and want to see how 'freelancers' get around, check back over the next four hours and you'll find out.

*without a band-expander for the radio I can only get ZB Talkback and sure as flip I don't want to be listening to *that* for any length of time.

** just occured to me I might try posting a video from the app too :)

Mother's Day: Reasons for the Season

Interview Notes: Ana White

Yesterday, I listened in on Darren Rowse, of ProBlogger.net fame, interview Ana White.

Ana is an American living in Alaska, and blogging about her passion for home improvement, with a particular emphasis on carpentry.  After discovering what a blog was, she created one over at blogger.com and started sharing her plans on line. 

After only a few months, she was linked to by the popular Apartment Thearpy site, and her traffic increased dramatically. With high quality content, Ana's site community grew and grew, and today she has over 3 million page views per month.

With so many readers-eyeballs, the advertising she displays on her site now supports her family and lifestyle in Alaska. 

Isn't it great that ordinary people who work hard and share their passion online can sometimes get to make it their day job? Her site is really helpful and the community that has grown around it are also passionate about DIY and improving their lives and style.

Ana seems to be a down-to-earth, hard-working, honest-to-goodness person. It makes me super-happy when I find successful stories like this happening to ordinary, extraordinary, people. Check out her site - she's going through a chicken-coop phase at the moment, but I'm thinking of giving this laundry hamper organiser a go.

[PS: WILL INCLUDE A LINK TO THE INTERVIEW AS SOON AS IT'S AVAILABLE]