h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*preparing to survive the night, -36C/-33F expected here*

It's still autumn here...

When it comes to jelly recipes, (and keep in mind that I am a novice) I think the best thing it to use the recipes that come in the package of pectin--they're usually just pectin, sugar and the fruit in question. Although I wasn't there when the mint jelly was made, so I have no idea if it has sugar in it. Come to think of it, what else is in jalapeño jelly besides the peppers??

for Tony Hillerman! Did anyone else see the PBS/BBC Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of his "Skinwalkers" in late November? The writer, Robert Redford's son, changed some of the plot but according to Hillerman it was a great adaptation and an even better movie. I thought so too. Wes Studi, normally a bad guy (think "Last of the Mohicans") played an urban-refugee Joe Leaphorn.

I love the Tony Hillerman books, though I have only read a couple of them.

Jelly - most fruit jellies that I have made have have included apples; though that may be because England used to sink under millions of apples every autumn. (Not any more - the trees have all been cut down and the land turned into housing estates called 'Orchard Mead').

I didn't do any proper work, but I did open and sort out a vast amount of post (everything that was not Chrimbo cards which arrived since mid November!), and I checked out a local gym (the one I liked the best is the only one in walking distance, which is great), and I booked myself a ticket for the Vagina Monologues at the local theatre. So I didn't do nothing!

First Tai Chi lesson tomorrow...

Ben

This whole jelly/jam thing gets confusing, 'cos normally your jelly is our jam and your jello is our jelly, but mint jelly although set firm isn't used liked either.

I'm getting quite excited at seeing a few snow flakes overnight and there's Sporky, elbow deep. Oh well, perhaps I had better go to Vermont again in the winter. It might get down to -3 here.

Cassie has worn us both out with her playing. She has stretched the cat teaser so much it's about 10ft long now! I have taken out insurance for her today and shall be phoning the vet tomorrow to make an appointment for her combined flea/worm/ear tick stuff. I have said 'vet' to her several times and she hasn't batted an eyelid, so I'm hoping it will a lot easier to get her there than Sadie.

Insurance? On a cat? I wish they had such a thing around here...

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(Insurance on your cat?!? )

Good point about the terminology.

By 'jam' I mean a mixture of sugar and fruit which you spread on bread and butter, it quite often has seeds and whole fruits like strawberries.

By 'jelly' (as in Mint Jelly, Quince Jelly, Bramble Jelly) I mean a smooth jam (usually dripped through a jelly bag) with no pips or pieces of fruit in it, which is ususally served as a condiment, Mint Jelly with roast lamb for example. Bramble jelly would be made from blackberries, but I would expect Mint Jelly to be a mint flavoured apple jelly. Is this what you are making? Or am I in the wrong part of the forest entirely?

Then there are pudding jellies which I make from cubes of condensed flavoured jelly with water or (shhhh!) vodka. These are served for pudding, and are used in trifles and things like that.

*feeling hungry now*

Oh, I went to visit the kittens, and I may end up having a boy and a girl or two girls instead of the boys. The girls have a tad more personality...

Ben

In Sweden we have sort of 'medical' insurances for house pets - if your pet should become really, really ill and require expensive treatment or surgery, the insurance covers most of the costs

It's the same in the UK, the policy I have covers emergency surgery due to trauma or illness but not routine flea, dental or innoculation visits. I shall probably pay way more in monthly charges than any emergency treatment.

'My' mint jelly (Sainsbury's) does have chopped mint leaves, just to add to the confusion

Don't apples have natural pectin? I think that's why they're used in so many jelly recipes. And because so many people have apples. As for the mint jelly my sister makes -- she steeps the mint leaves and makes an extract. It's too strong for my taste. Maybe I'm just not a mint jelly person.

The easiest jelly I ever made was with fresh figs and Jello. The Jello (I used strawberry) gives it a fruity flavor and causes it to set and the figs added the fruit pulp so that it seemed like real strawberry preserves, even down to the seeds. Course unless you live in a climate where you can grow figs it would be cheaper just to use strawberries.

Best of luck Phil. And congrats on your union, B4. Most folks aren't so lucky.

Just to make things more confusing --our jelly is smooth, with no chunks of fruit or seeds. Our jam has a bit of fruit and seeds. And then we have preserves--whole fruit with very little of the jelled stuff. Those are the best. Last year I made wild plum jam and wild blackberry jelly.

The mint jelly we sent to MR is mint extract (mint leaves from a backyard plant boiled down with fresh water) and pectin. So it's neither sweet nor savory--just minty like gum or breath mints. I'm not sure I would like a bit of leaf in mine--though to be honest I don't like mint jelly at all.

Don't forget the Continental conserves or compotes which tend to be runnier but are delicious, particularly over vanilla ice cream.

All this jam discussion is giving me a craving for raspberry jam spread on buttered toast. I think its time for bed, I've eaten far too much over the last fortnight

All this talk of jelly or jam makes my teeth hurt.

So I think that it is time to retire my desk chair for a new one that is in better shape.

[{Courtesy}]

What is marmalade?

Marmalade is more like preserves, I guess. Is there any other flavor besides orange? And we haven't discussed the fruit butters yet. My grandmother made apple butter and pear butter.

There are days when I hate my job. Like when I am kept 20 minutes late talking to a man who thinks that he shouldn't have to pay finance charges on his credit card because they are "bad customer service".

Other than that, I think that there is pet insurance that is available just about anywhere. And I definitely prefer preserves to jams and jams to jelly and think that the entire state of Utah has an unnatural obsession with jello.

*curls up on sofa under a blanket and sips *

i envy your patience, G7.

i've heard of pet insurance. i ought to think about taking some out on the ferrets. little critters get sick so often....

did i mention them yet? no, i don't think i did. D and i bought ourselves ferrets for xmas, along with one for my friend natalie, one for D's roommate, and one for my sister. there are 4 living in D's apartment, and i've been nominated to handle the dragging of five wiggling baby ferrets to the vet for their shots.

they haven't figured out the word "vet" yet, but i'm pretty sure they will have by the time they've gotten their third distemper shots in 6 weeks. poor dears need 3 in the span of 3 weeks!

had my wisdom teeth out today... no fun. on the bright side, though, D has promised to wait on me hand and foot for the next 2 days, as he's off of work. i shall *enjoy* this...

[] <-new calling card

I just tried to add a bunch of textures together and broke my planet. (MojoWorld) I have turned out some stupendously alien places that nobody in their right minds would want to spend time on, and I have also made some very boring worlds with lumpy green islands. I want to find the middle ground, a planet with nice calm live-able bits interspersed with stupendous scenery. Like Earth but different and, I hope, bespoke. As Magarathea is evidently out of business, I am going to start a new virtual business.

Lil's Discount Planets.

The cool thing with MojoWorld is, they offer a free transporter, so although you can't build worlds you can tour pre-built ones to your heart's content. The world itself is only a few hundred KB when zipped, so they are no trouble to ship.

How much should I charge? I will be allowing a certain amount of specification by the customer, along the lines of
I really like cliffs!
Islands make me nervous; may I just have a few major continents, please?
Make all the rocks orange.

That sort of thing. I will be able to offer settings that the user can vary, like sea level and cloud cover...

Meanwhile, I have a lot of learning to do to get some of these effects under control!

*sits down with a cup of tea*

By the way, would any one of you salonistas like to launch the next conversation?

sorry, that should have been "3 in the span of 9 weeks".

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