No place like home

Mini and Merky back out in the garden sniffing around and familiarising themselves - I missed them so much!

Back from a glorious 2 weeks in Italy for our honeymoon - more on that later once I've sorted through the 600-odd photos...Even though I had an amazing time, it's lovely to be back home - and to have the cats back after what feels like a lifetime away from them!

The garden has suddenly gone crazy while we've been away so today has been mostly spent pruning, tying back and generally tidying up the place. I can't believe how much everything has grown! Just look at my alliums too, they're monsters.

And this aquilegia is lovely - I'm not a huge fan of them in general but this one is so pretty!

I also managed to cut a few roses and lupins to brighten up the lounge

We had a mini harvest too - firstly some of our garlic...

Garlic hanging out to dry

...and also some tiny oranges from a tree that was a wedding present

The mini oranges were on the bitter side so I thought, why not try making marmalade with them? I've never done this before so I was a little bit nervous about how it would turn out. I looked up some recipes and decided on Delia Smith, I mean surely Delia knows preserves, right? It was really easy to follow, except that I did take my eye off it for a while and realised when I went back that all the water had evaporated, oops! Luckily it hadn't burned so I saved it with some more water. I then realised I didn't have enough granulated sugar so ended up using a mixture of granulated, dark brown and icing. Yep, not classic...

Jarred up

Anyway, my timing was a bit off with the boiling but it turned out ok - a really nice, orangey flavour; a bit sweeter than I would have liked (I think that must have been the icing sugar) and also a bit on the slightly-too-hard-side. I have a feeling that it might go rock hard once it cools and sets...!

Still, a good day all round. Home sweet home, eh?