31 Days to Green Gables: On Raspberry Cordial. {Day 4}

All Anne-fans know the "Raspberry Cordial" scene....

well, okay, for those that DO NOT KNOW...Anne, the main character, is so smitten to have her best friend (or bosom buddy), Diana, over for a tea party. She is happy to go through all the "formalities" of such a party (the etiquette, the conversation, the dress etc) but this party comes to end when she mistakes Marilla's (her foster mother) homemade red currant wine for Raspberry Cordial. Her best friend, embarrassingly gets drunk on the wine, cuts the party short and goes home. Diana's mom is not happy (as she's trying to raise a "proper girl") and puts a (temporary) end to the girls' friendship.

Well now, I made a non-alcoholic version of Raspberry Cordial....
and it was fantastic!

Ingredients:

* 2 pkg (300 g) frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed
* 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
* 3 lemons
* 4 cups boiling water

The How to:

In large saucepan over medium heat, combine raspberries and sugar; cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes or until sugar is dissolved.

Transfer raspberries to bowl; using potato masher, mash berries well. Strain through fine-mesh sieve into separate bowl, pressing firmly to extract all juice. Discard seeds.

Squeeze 2 of the lemons and strain juice. Add to bowl of raspberry juice. Pour in boiling water; let cool slightly. Refrigerate until chilled.

Slice remaining lemon thinly. Pour juice into glasses; garnish each with lemon slice.

So that was the official "how to"...however, I didn't have a thin enough sieve or cheesecloth handy...so I literally was sifting through it with a cheese grater. Yes, a cheese crater with very tiny holes and trying to "pick up" the pulp! Also, as a result, I ended up adding more water to thin it out somewhat.

And the result --- very refreshing!!! Like a really good, natural juice, as opposed to the overly sugared, jelly-tasting "fruit drinks" you can buy in a store. It's real fruit juice. Well, more like a fruit spritzer, minus the fizz. But I guess you can add that to if you were making a punch.

I will have to try this recipe again....this time with a cheesecloth and proper straining....but overall, a definite winner!

Also, fun at my expense, here is a picture of me in 2007 on our trip to Prince Edward Island. Yes, I donned the Anne-hat/braids...kinda scary...

If you love this 31 Days to my Green Gables series, catch up on the previous posts!

Day 3: The Anne Mouth
Day 2: On Being Properly Educated
Day 1: The Gentle Island. The Inspiration.
Intro to the 31 Days Green Gables Series

31 Days Series: On Being Properly Educated {Day 2}

Anne, of the Anne of Green Gables books has a vivid imagination and a wonderful vocabulary. I think this is one of the coolest features of both the character as well as the books in themselves. It makes sense that Anne eventually became a teacher, doesn't it?

So I choose to do my second post of the 31 Days to My Green Gables series by choosing randomly some vocabulary words from the book that I didn't know and learn them.

GIMLET
noun
1. a small tool for boring holes, consisting of a shaft with a pointed screw at one end and a handle perpendicular to the shaft at the other.
2. a cocktail made with gin or vodka, sweetened lime juice, and sometimes soda water.

verb (used with object)
3. to pierce with or as if with a gimlet.
4. to rotate (a suspended anchor) to a desired position.

DRYAD
1. a deity or nymph of the woods.

PORING
verb (used without object)
1. to read or study with steady attention or application: a scholar poring over a rare old manuscript.
2. to gaze earnestly or steadily: to pore over a painting.
3. to meditate or ponder intently (usually followed by over, on, or upon )

ADDLEPATED
1. having a muddled or confused mind; foolish, silly, or illogical.

RIDGEPOLE
1. the horizontal timber or member at the top of a roof, to which the upper ends of the rafters are fastened.

TRICE
1. a very short time; an instant

FLUTTERY
1. fluttering; apt to flutter.
Pssst, tommorrow, is my first taste of Raspberry Cordial....

**This post is part of my 31 Days to Green Gables series....that's right, I am doing a series, y'all.....part of The Nester's 31 Days Event. You can get a glimpse of what I will be blogging about here.
If you love this 31 Days to my Green Gables series, catch up on the previous posts!

Day 1: The Gentle Island. The Inspiration.
Intro to the 31 Days Green Gables Series

31 Days Series: The Gentle Island. The Inspiration. {Day 1}

The setting and lifestyle of Prince Edward Island is partly the motivation for my "living off the land-homesteading-getting real simple but intentional with our life" vision....

How gorgeous and peaceful does this place look?

I've been there twice and at my last visit, one early morning, I went outside our back porch of the cottage we were staying at to sit on the private beach and think/pray/reflect and I have to tell you, I was just absolutely amazed at the stillness. The calm. The peace. It was overwhelming beautiful. I was reminded of the Scripture, Be Still and Know I am God.
As if I could doubt, looking at this....

So the vision is to have a farm here. To be intentional with our lives and to live off the land and start our homestead. Land and house prices here are amazing and the pace of life is simple and undistracting.

In fact, my husband and I have been discussing the monetary value today's society has put on houses....and we realize that we don't want to, literally, "buy into" that line of thinking. It's a fallacy....Why do we buy 200K, 300K (or more!?) houses? And then work so hard (usually at the expense of our families) to pay off that mortgage. It's a 15, 20, 30 year bind! Great, you get to say that you paid off your mortgage -- but you've paid two to three times more for that house? Not only can you not sell that house anywhere near what you ended up paying for it at the end of the mortgage, but would YOU have bought that house for three times as much? Because that's practically what you did.

No, we are not doing that.

The Bible talks about not being indebted to anyone, but if you do, to pay it off quickly. And we don't believe paying so much money for a house is actually good stewardship of our finances, time, families or giftings.

So we are revamping and being intentional and strategic. And who wouldn't want to wake up to skies like this....

What are your thoughts on this matter? What's your location of inspiration and calm?
**This post is part of my 31 Days to Green Gables series....that's right, I am doing a series, y'all.....part of The Nester's 31 Days Event. You can get a glimpse of what I will be blogging about here.