Recipe for Jonathan's Fizzy Fruit Jelly

***This post is adapted from one I wrote on Facebook dated 29 September 2016. Since I have this blog now, I decided to transfer it here to complement my other recipe entries like my Berry Blast mocktail. Also, the weather has been terribly hot recently so this would make a nice treat.***

I love watching cooking and mixology videos on YouTube for fun, and my favourite channels are Jamie Oliver's Food Tube and Drinks Tube, as well as Mobile Home Gourmet by Dennis Viau. Recently I came across a recipe for Summer Fruit Prosecco Jelly. For those who are unfamiliar, Prosecco is a sparkling Italian fruit wine. Adding it to jelly gives the jelly a nice fizz on the tongue.

I dislike the taste of alcohol, so I wanted to try making a similar jelly with a soft drink instead. Using Jamie's recipe as a base, I experimented with replacing the Prosecco with 7-Up, and discovered that it works just as well. Jamie used gelatin sheets to make his jelly from scratch, but I used Tortally premix, which is readily available in all major supermarkets at an affordable price.

Image from Boon Supermarket

Below is a description of how to make my Easy Non-Alcoholic Fizzy Fruit Jelly.

Ingredients:
One 1.5-litre bottle of 7-Up
2 packets of Tortally lime flavour premix
250ml hot water
250ml cold water
A box of grapes

Serves 8-10 (I used the colourful plastic cups from IKEA. Depending on the volume of your cups,  the number of servings yielded might be slightly different.)

Method:

1. Place the 7-Up and grapes in the coldest part of your refrigerator for at least eight hours. Alternatively, put them in the freezer for about four hours. This makes the ingredients very cold and ensures that the bubbles from the 7-Up will not escape when you add the drink to the jelly mixture later.
2. Boil 250ml of water. Take it off the boil and add it to a bowl. Add both packets of premix and stir until all the granules are dissolved. Add 250ml of cold water from the refrigerator. Stir until the mixture is at room temperature.
3. Portion the mixture equally into serving cups, making sure to leave about a third of the cup free. This should give you eight to ten servings.
4. Take the 7-Up and grapes out of the refrigerator. Add two grapes to each cup. Top up each cup with the 7-Up. Do this as quickly as you can - you want to avoid letting the ingredients warm up or the 7-Up go flat.
5. Give each cup a gentle and brief stir - make two slow rounds in each cup with a spoon - so as to get all the ingredients mixed uniformly together without driving out too many of the bubbles from the 7-Up. Place all the cups in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.
6. Enjoy your jelly!

Possible variations:

• Try out various soft drinks to replace the 7-Up
• Experiment with different base flavours for the jelly mix
• Use other types of fruit

Did you make this dessert? Let me know how it went and what suggestions you have to improve the dish!

Plans for Jonathan's Junkyard: The second half of 2017

As I mentioned previously, I will be starting university in two days.

Of course I hope there will be work-life balance. Common sense tells me that as long as I manage my time decently, I should have time to pursue interests other than studies. After all, many students work part-time, participate in extracurricular activities, maintain boy-girl relationships (before I get lynched, let me amend that: "maintain romantic relationships regardless of whether it be between members of the same or opposite gender, or individuals of nonspecific gender, or any other human being not covered by the above categories"), and still graduate with Honours.

But the online horror stories are difficult to ignore. I worry about staying up till the wee hours every day, struggling to keep up with the myriad of readings, tutorials, assignments, and test preparation, skipping meals and surviving on stale air and my own tears. Am I just overthinking and being dramatic?

One thing is for certain: this first semester will be an uphill battle. Before writing this post, I read a 24-page chapter from Cruz-Ferreira and Abraham (2011) which is the required reading for Week 1 of the module EL1101E: The Nature of Language. To be honest, it was an easy read compared to some of the psychology readings I have done in the past, but I felt like poking my eyes out with a fork.

The problem is that I have been away from the full-time academic life for about a year now. Last September, I went on a full-time internship, after which I did my Major Project before graduating in May this year. The last time I did five or six modules in an academic semester was in the April 2016 polytechnic semester, which was a lifetime ago.

So frankly my skills for coping with academic readings and other tasks have gone a little rusty. They will return but it will take a while, during which I will probably struggle.

With this in mind, I have prepared a series of blog posts in advance which are now sitting in the system awaiting automatic publishing. I will not let this blog go dark. Even if I have no time to write new content, the ones in storage should be able to last until my next holiday in December at a posting frequency of about once or twice a month.

To the handful of followers I do have, thanks for supporting and reading my stuff, and this announcement is mainly for you. The next few posts you see here, in the months of August, September, October, and November, are scheduled posts UNLESS they are preceded by a statement to the contrary. Nevertheless, they are written exactly the same way and I hope you will continue to enjoy them.

See you on the other side.

National Day 2017

It's Singapore's 52nd birthday!

I look forward to National Day every year. The whole country just seems so alive!

My favourite part about National Day is the annual theme song. I have a weakness for them! Some of them got panned quite badly but I love them all.

Of course there are some that I like more than others. I tend to associate certain songs with key events in my life, which always seem to happen around this time of year. So you'll notice that a couple of the songs I particularly enjoy are there simply because something important happened to me that year.

What Do You See (2009)

This holds a special place in my heart because it was the soundtrack to my intense preparation for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), which is a defining milestone in the life of any Singaporean child. And I scored 271 to top my primary school cohort to boot, making the memory all the sweeter.

Tomorrow's Here Today (2016)

Last year's theme song is also pretty cool as it provided the backdrop to me getting my first job at Adecco Singapore. As I mentioned in another post, that internship was fun, fulfilling and enriching all round. Good times!

Because It's Singapore (2017)

And of course, this year's coincides with me entering university, also a significant event.

My Island Home (2006)

This is here on its own strengths. I just love the melody and lyrics!

Home (1998 and 2004)

Dick Lee is the best local songwriter in my opinion, and Home is hands-down the best National Day song of all time. It's evergreen and can be sung by normal people, but most importantly, its words hold so much meaning and emotion. I remember being in Primary 1 when the version performed by the children's choir was shown on television. The sound was so soulful and left a deep impression on me.

One United People (2003) and We Will Get There (2002)

Both are upbeat pop numbers by local singing sensation Stefanie Sun. They are notable for being among the few National Day songs with a fast tempo. I like their cheerful and positive tone.

I got a little carried away with the list! But really, I seriously adore these songs and listen to them again and again to soak in the festive spirit. Hopefully this post has reminded you of all the wonderful music we've had over the years, and inspired you to go look them up on YouTube just in time to participate in this very special day.

Once again, HAPPY NATIONAL DAY!!!