Jools Holland

Settling Sophie into bed and fretting with Katie the babysitter as to whether there was anything else i should have done before going as this was the first time leaving her at night. Feeling a little guilty leaving Sophie and also a little relieved and looking forward that we were going out as a couple for the first time in a long time. We speed off straight into a 40 min tail back of traffic all heading to Waddesdon thank goodness we left a little earlier, a Sophie trained quality in us, as any parent knows you have to think about getting ready an  few hours before you actually leave.

Have hammock, will be some time

We have new hammock not any old hammock but a stripy utopia rainbow hammock which we recently bought from our friends at soulpad we have been waiting and waiting for it to stop raining and finally after weeks of rain the sun blazed out in glory, the hottest day we have experienced so far this year, it was so hot it zapped us of all energy and what a perfect way to loll about than chilling out in the hammock.

Butterfly iced cookies

I made some iced cookies for some people with lots of soul and love as a little thank you for all their kindness.  I really want to be good at iced cookies and need lots of practice as i'm still not 100% happy with my finished efforts as i want to be able to turn out professional looking cookies and the final set icing differs to my just piped finish, as over night the icing shifts and melts into each other, but i think i now may realise where i'm going wrong.  i think i'm to eager to do all the pretty bits and need to let the foundation of the icing set, unless i need a bit of blended icing that is.  But practice makes perfect and in the future i hope to get perfect cookies i'm happy with.  As a novice these are not to bad and i hope they got to their destination in one piece and i'm worried that the slow old royal mail may hold them up making them stale on arrival, which would be awful. i do worry a lot.

I made a vanilla bean cookie dough and used my favourite and very pretty butterfly cookie cutter. I made a few in case of mistakes and the kitchen looked like a production line. Being completely obsessed with the cooking times in case they turned to brown and just a minute or 2 would be to much.  Mixing up the icing choose 3 colours red, blue and yellow and got on with the outline and base and then here's were i went wrong adding the pretty bits.  I think i really should have left the base for about 30 mins to 1 hour then added the top layer.  I also don't think my dragging technique is mastered yet i think i will have to make a lot more cookies to practice.

Elderflower and Lemon cordial

Every year we go out foraging for elderflower's and we usually pick enough to make champagne to last us all summer, however this year has just been awful with the weather with nothing but rain and it has put a real dampener on the foraging, especially as you need to pick the elderflower's when they have had a good mornings sun on the flower to make them taste so scrummy.


Ingredients
20 heads of elderflower's
3 unwaxed lemons
1 kilo of sugar
1 liter of boiling water
75g citric acid

Lucky for us we  have 1 elderflower tree in our garden that we use to help us tell us when is the right time to pick.  we also had 1 day of sun so i took advantage of this and picked 20 big heads of flowers to make some cordial.  Make sure you give the heads a little knock upside down to get rid of bugs but don't what ever you do wash them as your loose flavour.

First off i put 1 litre of boiling water in a pan and add 1 kilo of sugar and melt, i then zest 3 lemons and slice the lemons adding all into the boiled water.  i tend to leave this for about 1 hour just to cool a little and let the lemons seep a bit, after this i add 75g of citric acid and stir this in adding the elderflower's afterwards and give it a gentle stir then cover and leave for 24 hours.  I leave a wooden spoon out by the side and instruct everyone if they walk past give it a mash and a stir to help release the flavours.

After 24 hours of the elderflower and lemons doing their thing get ready by sterilising your jars that you want to put your cordial into, when sterilising you can either sterilise them in sterilisation tablets which we always have about as we make a lot of wine, or wash in hot water then place upside down in an oven and turn it onto 150c mines a fan assisted and when it comes up to temperature turn off the oven, where they will stay warm ready for you to use them, i wash my lids with boiled water from the kettle, or if i need just 1 or 2 i use the steam form a boiling kettle so careful not to scold yourself.  Also sterilise some muslin a jug and a sieve by pouring boiling water over them from the kettle.

With jars i'm a bit thrifty i re-use food jars and i don't see why not either, the jars are jolly useful and you have paid for them when you bought the food stuff that was inside them, and to me they are a valuable for all sorts of storage solutions. I even have a special cupboard in the garage where i store and save them up through out the year for projects like this.

Once your ready discard all the lemons and elderflower's which is pretty good to go on your compost heap.  Put your muslin inside your sieve and your sieve over your jug and pour the delicious elderflower and lemon cordial through this to capture any zest or stray flowers.  The use your jug to fill the jars make sure you fill each jar all the way to the top so there is no air. Pop the lids on and store in a cool dark place ready for when you need to use it.  We think it taste nice with sparkling water or Ali likes it with lemonade, its pretty nice in gin vodka and cheap white wine that you can turn into flavoured spritzers, you can even use it to make salad dressings and marinades for chicken.  It tastes so nice like a glass of summer and really refreshing.

Kissmet at Wychwood

Massaging Scar tissue

Of course i am no Dr but everything i have research is found on-line and i recommend you see your Dr for advice.  Consequently if you know of any other tips and advice on scar tissue we would love to hear about them.

About scar tissue

When skin is damaged it wants to heal itself but cannot re create healthy skin tissue so puts together new granulation fibrous tissue that grows in the base of wounds and fills them with thicker inferior connective tissue, eventually causing scarring 6 to 12 weeks after injury.   The scar tissue acts as a barrier but does not perform the same function as the original tissue.   Scar tissue has limited sensation, movement as well as circulation.  Sweat glands are damages and hair follicles and hair growth are destroyed.  Resistance to the sun is also very low.  Scar tissue is generally lighter and denser in colour as it has restricted blood flow.   Fair skinned people may find that scars are more obvious and exposure to sun can cause scar tissue to darken

There are misconceptions that scar tissue may fade off after some time but scar tissue is an injury which will always be visible to a certain extent but can be worked with in order to re-heal as effectively as possible with massage or later on surgery.

There are many factors that influence the healing of scarring, if genetically parents scar easily or conversely they are able to heal quickly and easily will influence how the offspring heal.  Age is a big factor due to elasticity and collagen, the older we get the less fat tissue and elasticity we have meaning more scarring.  How large and deep the damage is and if there is a lot of movement around the area of damage, the longer the healing process the more scar tissue.

Smoking or other negative environment and lifestyle choices.  For example drinking alcohol and caffeine dehydrates the skin, but eating proteins found in meat, fish and dairy products give the body the building blocks to restore itself.

Massage scarring

As said previously scar tissue fills the wound becoming thicker and lumpy, or shallow and stretched while forming.  The first 12 weeks the scar is considered immature and can be manipulated.  After 12 weeks the scaring is considered mature which means permanent hardened scar tissue.   Once the wound has healed and the skin is closed and scabbing disappeared and there is no inflammation massaging can take place, however if there is any reddening, massage should be reduced.

Massage helps to work out the lumps and thickness and keep the tissue soft and pliable relining collagen fibres into organised tissue.  Performing massage as a minimum of twice a day but preferably more times with scar removing oils for up to 6 months can help reduce scarring considerably.    

How to massage

Start with larger circular strokes to warm the area and bring blood flow to the surface which will moisten the surrounding tissue making the massage more effective.  Then use circular motions with a firm finger motion along the lateral grain and then parallel grain of the scarring.  When massaging pay extra attention to tender and lumpy parts of the scarring to work them out as this is a landmark area where scaring and adhesions are trying to form.  Always make sure your fingers are well lubricated so not to cause dragging on the skin.

Wychwood Festival, Sophie's dog attack

The reason for writing this post is because we have already had to relay the information of what has happened many times to authorities and loads of people at the festival and anyone that sees Sophie's face and each time relaying what happened is extremely emotional, and we haven't even got round to telling all the people that we love and all our friends which would mean having to relive the experience again and again to pass the information, so to be able to say this just one more time would make this a lot easier on us and the horrible ordeal and memory we hold.