Day Two

So, palmiers are all finished and baked. Egg washing did improve the appearance, but I think just egg yolk may have worked better.

Posted thorough my letter box yesterday was a flyer for the "Village Fruit and Produce Show" - the standard village flower show where the locals attempt to out-compete each other with the longest runner beans, best potatoes and lightest sponge cakes. The garden's looking pretty good at the moment, but I have mistimed all the vegetables to be ready at the wrong time, thus any options to enter into the fruit/veg categories are limited.  The Spaghetti Squash which I planted specifically with the squash category in mind have grown really well, however the actual squashes are failing to form on the plants.  They get to a couple of inches long, then rot or fall off - I have yet to work out why.  However, I'm not one to turn down an opportunity to bake competitively! (Baking  categories include: Jar of Jam, Jelly, Marmalade, Chutney, Pickles, alcoholic drink, non-alcoholic drink, scones, brownies, sponge cake, quiche and bread).  With this in mind, today I skipped forward to Larousse on "Jams" and made the Apricot Conserve.  Worked out really nicely, however I used underripe apricots, so needed to add more water than the recipe stated.  Was also surprised by how much it foamed up in the pan - I have made jams before, but none of them foamed up nearly as much as this did Adding Amaretto to the jam was my own addition; it's delicious with apricots.  Amaretto is made from the kernels inside the apricot stones, so adding them together in jam just seemed to be a natural partnership.  Hoping that the show judges think so too - it's now just over a month away, so still got time to prepare.  However, Maths exams are just over a week away, so preparing for these seems more pressing at the moment...