Chinese Orange Marmalade

• Slice the Chinese oranges, with skin, into pieces.
• Remove the seeds and put them in a small square gauze bandage and tie a knot.
• Add exactly the same amount of sugar to fruit, i.e. 1 cup fruit = 1 cup sugar.
• Put the mixture in a thick-bottomed pan. Cover with just enough water.
• Turn on heat. Stir until all sugar is dissolved.
• Turn off the heat. Keep overnight.
• Next day, boil on slow flame.
• When it thickens slightly, drop the gauze bandage in.
• Continue to boil on low flame until right consistency is reached.
• Remove the gauze bandage and pour the marmalade into a sterilised bottle and seal immediately.
• Enjoy!

This is the recipe for making marmalade with Chinese oranges, just in case anyone is interested. You don’t really have to keep it overnight, if you don’t want to. Continue boiling on low flame till the desired consistency is reached and transfer it to a bottle immediately.

I’ve been planning to make the marmalade for a long, long time but didn’t get round to doing it till today. And, even if this means blowing my own trumpet, it has turned out really well! Last time, it was even better. In fact, I’d go so far as to say, it was something to die for - absolutely perfect consistency and sweetness!!

I guess this isn’t the ideal subject for a post, and maybe it isn’t even interesting, but, in my opinion and recent experience, at least it’ll be safe from prying eyes and overly curious minds. Hopefully, it won’t fuel their hunger to know more. Unlike my last post, I doubt it’ll prompt anyone to do a Google search for anyone and then post the results of the search and details of the person on my blog.

Anyway...it was Eliot, I think, who said that April is the cruelest month. It was said in a different context, I know, but all along I’ve had a good reason to disagree with the notion. Because this is the month I was born in and, even though birthdays aren’t such a big deal with me, I’ve always felt a certain illogical sense of proprietorship over it. However, the events of the last three weeks or so seem to suggest that the great man was right after all. It is the cruelest month.