Well, I'm certainly not doing well in the update-the-blog department. However, I promised to make the pomegranate jelly and have just now finally done so, two months after the supplies were purchased. And, yes, we moved the juice and pectin. Did you think I'd throw it away?

Because I can't do anything according to the instructions, I ended up combining a couple of recipes. The basic idea is to take four cups of pomegranate juice (I'm pretty sure you can't use grenadine, but then again maybe you can and it would make a really great jelly, too), mix it with 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 6 cups of sugar and 3 oz. of commercial liquid pectin, boil for a minute and pack into hot, sterilized jars, seal and process in a hot water bath for 5 minutes. Here's what I actually did: mix four cups of juice (at a cost of, gasp, $5.97), the juice of three lemon halves (which is what I had with me at the time), 2 cups of sugar, 4 teaspoons of calcium water and 4 teaspoons Pomona's Universal Pectin in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil, stirring, for one minute. Pack into jars, seal and process for five minutes while listening to Sinead O'Connor's "The Lion and the Cobra".

The jars are still cooling, but I can tell you that even warm this tastes amazing and it started to jell a bit as I was packing the jars, so I'm sure it's all going to be fine. Now, the question is: what can I do with this stuff? I'm thinking maybe those little bite-sized tarts, lined with a bit of marzipan, thumbprint cookies or maybe even a glaze for a roast of some kind. Any ideas?