Tadpole B&B

I had a strange text at 11 last night - 'can you tadpole sit if I bring them round?' I spent a good half hour in panic mode, thinking that 'tadpole' actually meant 'children', and that they were going to deposited on the doorstep because there was some great crisis, which is why they weren't answering the phone... 

... turns out they did mean tadpoles. Our friends went on holiday this morning, and realised last night they'd not asked anyone to look after the tadpoles. I didn't know they had any, and I still have no idea where or why they got them in the first place, because it was all in a bit of a rush. But hey, this house is home to whoever (or whatever) wants to call it home, so the tadpoles are here for a week, feasting on organic, home grown lettuce from the garden, and being stared at. I've never seen one this close up before, strange creatures, they look like something out of a monster film.

It's been a funny sort of day, I've spent most of it staring at the computer trying to fill in a couple of job applications. I filled one in last week, really quickly and easily, and that was for a full time, much better paid and high up job than these two, but it just wasn't coming easily today. I sat in the garden and persevered though - if I get either of these jobs I'd be working just three days a week for twice the money I'm on now, so it's hard to resist. 

I had another go at making yogurt last night, and it worked! I put a couple of spoons of natural yogurt in, and a couple of spoons of dried milk powder, and left it in a flask overnight, wrapped up in an old fleece and a couple of towels. It was mostly set this morning, and once I'd whisked it, all the lumps disappeared, and it looks and tastes gorgeous. So that's two large pots of yogurt for 84p worth of milk :) 

I've also made some jam today, for only the second time (and the first time it wasn't really me). Friends gave us some rhubarb, so rather than make it into a crumble to stuff our faces with, I thought I'd make it into jam instead (we love jam, did I mention that?) 

I got a recipe from this old book that Peter found in a skip :) I love that it's shaped like a pot of jam, and the pages are so pretty. This one's rhubarb and orange. 

I cooked it for much longer than it said, and ended up using the sugar thermometer to test the temperature. The house has smelt of rhubarb and oranges for the last three hours - absolutely gorgeous. Here's the result - three jars of jam, some very sticky pans, and two very happy people. I'll definitely be making jam again.

A lovely end to a rather trying day!