Why and how are Black Country chips orange?
They fry them in batter. Even the Glaswegians never thought to batter their chips.
Battered chips, eh? Well, colour apart, they were very nice.
My tomato plants have fruited* when the family is away, so are there any good ketchup recipes I can use to save wasting 5kg of toms?
*A combination of a very late spring and not having them covered.
Someone tweeted a link to a ketchup recipe a couple of weeks back. Unhelpfully, I can't remember any more than that...
Have a google, there will be loads of recipes.
Could you also make soup, and freeze it?
On the blackberries, I picked a couple of kilos (rough estimate) the other day on my way home from work, now in MFWHTBAB's freezer, minus the 200g or so I took out to make a micro batch of jam - I had one cooking apple, so I scaled it all down. Made two little jars, one to give Mum, one for my sister, who we are visiting next week.
I managed not to boil the jam over onto the hob, and it had reached setting point on first test, so I was proud of myself. Less proud now I find I've very slightly mismatched a jar and lid* so it's not a completely tight fit. Tight enough to keep mould out I think (I'll tell Mum it needs using up now, not keeping, it'll just be like a jar covered only with cellophane and a rubber band), but not quite enough for the jar to be transported in a rucksack, get laid on its side, and leak juice a little. Fortunately, I'd wrapped it up tightly in a plastic bag, just in case, so I've been able to just wipe the jar clean.
Of course, this means I've got another slight jar/lid mismatch in my remaining stock of jars.
*My jars are all recovered from the recycling, so are very variable. I've gone for mainly smaller prettier jars (good for gifts) so they aren't the standard sort of sizes. I think it might be a thread mismatch, as opposed to the diameter.
Already this year I've had free redcurrants and blackberries, and have my eye on apples, crabapples, rosehips and haws. I'm enjoying 'stalking' the fruits - checking them each time I pass, seeing them getting closer to ripeness.
