peak whimsy

There is much to be said for tidying up. After spending a good three months with my sitting-room-office in Edinburgh strewn with various research notes awaiting filing; an upside-down table awaiting mending; various bits of clothing awaiting mending and a fancy Danish shelving system awaiting assembly ... I finally snapped. Turns out it took just an afternoon and a morning to assemble the shelves (I ran out of the crucial rawlplug and had to wait for the shops opening the next morning). Once assembled they do look very sleek and Scandinavian which may or may not fit in with the Oriental maximalism on the other two walls. It was then the satisfying work of mere minutes to get my research notes placed up on the shelves; the table fixed (since I had my tools to hand) and my clothing tidied away into the sewing box. I even rediscovered my poor drought-stricken swiss cheese plant.

There was then a long but gentle drive to Drumbuidhe via Inverness (bumped into my old colleague, Mike, waiting for a haircut in the mega Tesco) giving myself a dinner at the Whitehouse on the way so that I arrived well fed, watered and socialised at 10pm as the summer sun was setting behind Ben Hiant.

The fine sailboat Bessie Ellen was moored in the Loch as I arrived and, with a fine spring tide in the early morning, I was half considering taking my new inflatable canoe out to say hello. It turns out that was unnecessary as they came visiting to me. One of the sailors was John, a charming surveyor who worked alongside me on boatbuilding at Galgael. It was lovely seeing him again. Although the crew caught me in my Sunday-morning-dressing-gown mode, leaving the cottage tidy when I head south meant that I could rustle up tea and biscuits for the Bessie Ellen hordes with ease.

Sunday afternoon was then spent making rose petal syrup. This may be a sign that I'm reaching peak whimsy but it did allow for a very decent rose martini that evening.

rose syrup

* 120g scented rose petals
* 3 stalks rhubarb
* 3 cups granulated sugar
* 1.5 cups water
* 2 tsp citric acid

Add one cup of sugar to the rose petals and rhubarb, mix thoroughly by hand (crushing the rose petals) and leave in a covered bowl for at least 2 hours

Bring the remaining 2 cups of sugar and water to boil, add the rose petal mixture and citric acid and boil for 5 minutes

Strain the syrup into sterilised bottles




It turns out that rhubarb and rose petals contain quite a bit of pectin and I boiled the syrup for a wee bit too long so I now have a very thick syrup but it still tastes very fine.