Woad and Jam

On Sunday I got to pick raspberries. They were just starting to ripen but there were enough to make a batch of jam. One jar didn't seal properly so that became the tester. It's pretty darned good. Hopefully there will be enough raspberries ready tomorrow so I can make another batch. This time I'll try sieving part of the berries to remove some of the seeds. I didn't really notice them in the jam when eating it, but it looks really seedy in the jars!

I picked some early woad leaves. With the cool, damp and somewhat dull weather, I was curious to know if they had much pigment in them this early in the season. I found some silk habotai that I'd hidden away and decided to try dyeing it. The colour I achieved was really pale turquoise shade of blue. I added a tiny bit of dried woad powder and let it reduce a second time. I tossed the silk in the pot for less than 30 seconds and pulled this out! Darker than I'd expected but absolutely gorgeous.

Today my daughter and I did a practice run for her wedding cake. We made every mistake that we could have and ended up with a 17 lb, 3 layer monstrosity of a cake that shows promise for being wonderful next time round. My son hoped I'd bring him some cake home. I did.... all of it. I hope he's hungry 'cause I can't bear to eat the cake after I've iced it!