recipes of my own

rose notes . . .

Published on May 17, 2022October 5, 2022 by Jen6 Comments

One of my rose bushes has so many blossoms on it this Spring, heavy cupped peach colored blossoms so fragrant. It is an English climbing rose I planted in the garden for Emma’s fourteenth birthday, when we were living in the tiny house while our house was being rebuilt. I am a real fan of highly fragrant roses, loving particularly the varietals with fruity scent, because when I pick a small jar of them and bring into the house, they just fill the room with a fragrant natural beauty. And this afternoon I made myself a rose “soda” and drank it while calculating notes for a future rose-themed sweater design. After picking a few blossoms it occurred to me to try to steep the petals in sugar syrup, making a rose syrup. And it doesn’t take long at all, really just a few hours, for its now the late afternoon, and I’m enjoying the most unusual refreshing drink, with delicious rose floral notes. Here’s how I made rose syrup, which you can just mix with sparkling water and have a winner drink:

Pluck petals off of a couple of roses, and place fresh petals in a pyrex liquid measure.
Boil up a small amount of simple syrup, equal parts water to sugar, enough to cover the petals.
Pour over petals and let steep for a couple of hours, after which you’ll really begin to taste the rose infusion, which always surprises me.
Pour through fine sieve into a jar or bottle, and store in the fridge (into one of the bottles I put some dried rose petals too)

quiet bliss

Published on March 20, 2020May 24, 2024 by Jen7 Comments

jenjoycedesign© kitchen bliss

Sun streaming in, warming and brightening a corner where pizza dough rises every Friday late afternoon, as always. Trying to keep busy in the kitchen, if in the very least to boost morale in these pandemic days, and feeling a little more relaxed today while sheltering in and waiting for the next rain storm. Laundry flapping in the wind, inanimate and yet seeming alive…

Yesterday, apple butter . . .

jenjoycedesign© making apple jam 3

♥ ♥ ♥

My Apple Butter: 1 bag of dried apples, with just enough water to cover dried apples, and adding sugar & spices to taste. I use piloncillo I get at one of the local Mexican markets, or raw turbinado sugar, a little cinnamon & allspice, and cooked over a few hours adding water as it absorbs a lot, until the dried apples break down into little tasty clumps.

Make small batch and preserve in sterilized half-cup jars.

Bergamot

Published on September 10, 2017June 2, 2025 by Jen9 Comments

I noticed this particular blend of Earl Grey tea has blue flowers. Blue flowers? Not knowing what flower this could be, I did a tiny bit of research on Earl Grey tea, and of bergamot too, wondering if those petals could be bergamot flower? My findings enlighten me to the fact that there are actually two kinds of bergamot in the botanical world! First, the European grown Bergamot Orange , botanical name is Citrus Bergamia.

Second, the North American herbal plant Wild Bergamot, also known as Bee Balm, botanical name is Monarda …
This was confusing to me, because the herbaceous bergamot has a purplish flower, which some of the Earl Grey tea blends have. Now, reading up on ingredients in Earl Grey blends, I found that the dried petals in my tea could very possibly be cornflower petals !
The type of blue flower petals in my tea blend is still a mystery, however, there is no debate that the signature flavor of Earl Grey tea is the citrus kind of Bergamot, the essential oil which is extracted from the aromatic skin of the sour fruit.

I have also discovered that Earl Grey tea is one of the most varied blends of tea, and that “Earl Grey” as applied to tea is not a registered trademark, thus numerous tea companies produce their own blends of Earl Grey tea, using a wide variety of tea leaves and additives. Aside from black tea, obviously, ingredients vary enough to make me dizzy; there is foremost the essential oil of the citrus bergamot, but may also citrus rind, licorice root, lavender, mallow flower, monarda flower, cornflower, jasmine, rose petals lemon grass, vanilla ~~ just to name a few ingredients I have found so far. What are the ingredients in your favorite Earl Grey blend?

All very well & good! Actually, the reason for my curiosity is that I have been thinking about making Earl Grey ice-cream lately, among other forthcoming tea-inspired ideas, so I finally did, and here’s how I made a small sample batch, including a little photo slideshow…

Heat to scalding, 1 cup of heavy cream with 2-4 tablespoons of your favorite Earl Grey blend in the cream — no need to boil.
Add 1/2 cup sugar, and let it sit a couple of hours at least, to get the Earl Grey flavors exuding into the cream.
When completely cool, stir well, and strain through sieve, then and add 1 cup milk.
Churn freeze & enjoy!

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Served up in a little espresso demitasse,

and let me tell you,

the ice-cream is every bit as fragrant as the tea,

absolutely delicious …

jenjoycedesign© Earl Grey icecream — Earl Grey tea ice-cream

… and I think that the Earl himself would approve!

The Right and Honourable Earl Charles Grey 2nd

moody monday

Published on January 9, 2017March 11, 2019 by Jen18 Comments

jenjoycedesign-butter-toffee-with-almonds

Emma and I are moody.

When feeling under the weather (on the eve of a birthday)…make candy!

Emma wants some …

( See her nose? )

Honestly, I have not gone on a candy-making jag in years. I used no recipe, just tossed ingredients ( about a cup of org. sugar, a bit more than half cube of salted butter, a glob of corn syrup, and a dash of cream) in a small saucepan over a low flame while cold-water testing until it was right. Poored in a buttered pyrex dish over a bed of chopped toasted almonds, then sprinkled more on top. I ate a ton of it, it shook off the blues, and then I felt better.

jenjoycedesign-butter-toffee-corrugated-ribbing

Oh, and knit something really amazing !!! Anyway, the rest of it is just cozy, dark drizzling dank gorgeous wintery day, while drinking coffee, munching butter toffee and knitting. I will be home in my hermitage for the week just working on forthcoming design. 🙂

jenjoycedesign-corrugated-ribbing

jenjoycedesign-emma

jenjoycedesign-edison-lights-globe

jenjoycedesign-fireside

jenjoycedesign-emma-hunkering

Sweet As A Rose

Published on July 20, 2015March 11, 2019 by Jen8 Comments

This morning a lovely fragrant rose bloomed in the garden, and promptly I cut it off to put it in a vase on the table of the big open room of our house hoping to make the house smell lovely. Now, usually that is fine enough, but being a bit of a striving dessert chef, my tongue could just taste that fresh fragrant blossom. Yes, perhaps in a bath of whole cream, and barely sweetened with some fine crystals of organic sugar. My creative inner cook loves a challenge, and my nose and mouth can be jealous friends.

While this blossom was still opening it’s amazingly fragrant coral pink petals, I got out copper pots & spoons, and began to whistle a tune while a steam bath started to tremor. And this is how I made my rose ice-cream. . .

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I broke off only petals of a very fragrant variety of (organically grown) rose flower into bath of full cream ~~ about a cup, in preferably a glass or stainless steel bowl. Heated over simmering water as a double boiler, and when cream was very warm, added about a half cup of sugar (less is more) , stirred and let cool until room temperature. All that lovely rose essence leeches out into the full cream as the fat and the sugar really help the process. After it cooled to room temperature, I strained the petals out of the cream and added a little whole milk, not quite doubling the volume. Into the churn freezer it went.

I must say, it would be perfect if I learned how to sugar preserve rose petals and garnished with them. As the summertime drones on with mercury rising, its a real treat to be enjoying a little taste of rose ice-cream !