Productive Wednesday & Tomato Jam

Today was my day off work. I got up early and after breakfast started making a few of my home-made Christmas presents.
I started by making Tomato jam (recipe below), which will be my contribution to the Christmas presents we put together for the Doctors at the clinic where I work. All the receptionists make some goodies and we package it into a nice container and give to each doctor.

When that was ready, I make Laundry Powder and then Laundry Liquid. I have bought some nice glass jars to fill with either the powder or the liquid, and they just need to be labelled and will be ready. I will post some photos when all my things are ready.


Just before 12, I drove to Fremantle to join Gill and Jan, two of my former work colleagues, for lunch at  Zephyr Cafe -  a restaurant by the river Swan. A pleasant place, next to a tiny strip of sand and a park with a play area for kids. A few mothers and toddlers sat under some trees having a picnic...the day was just beautiful.

I received my first Christmas present, home-make goodies lovingly made by Jan - a jar of Lemon butter, Sweet Onion relish and a jar of spicy nuts. I love the little jars!

You might want to try the recipe for the Tomato Jam, it was taken from a Portuguese cook book - "Cooking the Portuguese way in South Africa" by Mimi Jardim. After Marmelada (Quince jam), Tomato jam follows in the popularity polls.

TOMATO JAM
1,5kg tomatoes (use very ripe tomatoes for best results)
1 kg sugar
1 stick cinnamon
(I also added a few dried cloves)
15ml lemon juice

Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water, skin them and remove seeds. Cut into pieces and place in a colander to drain. Place drained tomatoes, sugar and cinnamon stick in a large saucepan. Bring to boil and simmer until thick. To test if ready, place a spoonful on a saucer and let it cool, if it crinkles when a finger is drawn over it, it is ready. Add the lemon juice and bring back to boil. Bottle in sterilized jars removing the cinnamon stick and cloves.
Enjoy it!!