I am not an organised person. Nope. I shatter everyone's Mum-of-Big-Family illusions. A friend of one of my daughter's said on her first visit here "my mum says you must be super organised". She went quiet when she walked into the house. Yeah, your mum was wrong sweetie.
So it came as no surprise to anyone, not least myself, to find I couldn't go to bed (even though I was desperate) the other night because a huge pan of water was heating on the Aga. And I had to stir 1kg of sugar into it.
Yes, I had decided to make elderflower champagne. Oh, and elderflower cordial. I've always wanted to make these and completely missed the boat last year. But not this year, oh no.
On the way back from a celebratory family meal for the new teenager, I kept spotting huge bunches of elderflowers frothing on the trees. Luckily for us, or perhaps not, we live in the country and it is everywhere.
Hubby obligingly pulled into a lay-by off the road and picked and picked and picked bunch after bunch far from any car fumes. And so we drove home with the car full of elderflower scent. It made my kitchen smell nice too.
Of course I didn't have the millions of lemons I needed, nor the kilos of unrefined caster sugar or the white wine vinegar so it was another late dash to the supermarket. And then home to chop, squeeze and stir.
Hubby gave up half-way through but I had to use the flowers then and so there was nothing to it but stay up. It didn't take long. The hardest part was finding an airy and cool place to store the pans while the elderflower worked its magic. I managed though and climbed into bed thinking that maybe the champagne might be ready for my fortieth.....
