Chillies and Rosellas

I am not a natural cook, but I try, lordy do I try!I finally committed to making jams and sauces today...and I am exhausted! This morning I collected recipes from the net. I had a full day planned and so concentrated on the recipes with short cooking times,  the most stars given and those with the most kudos, by well known chefs. "The guys on Masterchef can do it, and so can I!" I self talked myself.

The recipes I chose stated the cooking time for Sweet Chilli Sauce was 15 minutes and the Rosella Jam was 45mins. "Yahoo", I thought "Finished before lunch, so I can paint the bathroom and spend a couple of hours gardening and then do soemthing with the mountain of beans that I picked yesterday."

Well good intentions sometimes don't pan out. I started at 9.30 and have just finished at 2.30! That's five hours! My back aches, I have washed the dishes three times and there is still a pile in the sink, and I am sticky all over...in my hair, my elbows, my clothes. I ran out of jars. Why did we have twelve jars with seven lids? A total mess! Nothing like those calm and organised women on the tele who just seem to whip up a batch of jam without batting a eye.

Of course, one of the problems is my maths skills. I had so many chillies I had to double the recipe...which meant four kilos of sugar! Luckily I hide quite a bit of basics like flour and sugar around the kitchen and pantry (in case of the war!) ...and in case I run out. Regardless, every type of sugar went into that Chilli Sauce: white, brown, raw, castor and even jam making sugar. It didn't help though. Four and a half hours I waited for that sauce to thicken! I think I made a wrong calculation somewhere. The cost in gas will be phenomonal! So much for saving money and making your own at home. But on the positive side, I have got an awful lot of sauce...twelve jars of Sweet Chilli Sauce and two of Rosella Jam, and they will look nice and 'Shakerish' in the cupboard alongside our honey, pickled cucumbers and marmalades.