Fold. . . Lettergramme - no envelope necessary

Following on from my Love. . . Snail mail post, I bring you a thrifty (bargainaceous) and fun stationery idea: The Lettergramme. It's a bit like an aerogramme and it saves you from having to find/buy/use an envelope. You write your letter on a rectangle of paper and then fold the letter up to become its own envelope! A4 paper is a really good size, but the only limit is your imagination (and your country's postal regulations on allowable sizes for letters in the mail!) You can use one sheet of paper or more, but above two or three sheets folded as one, it gets too bulky to fold and secure properly. I first saw this idea in an origami book many years ago. I think it was a Nick Robinson book, but am not sure of its title. I just found instructions for a more complicated "3D" envelope here on his website, but the version I am familiar with is much simpler. I have used it countless times over the years, and I hope you find it useful too.

Here's a photo tutorial for you. . .

First write your letter (here using my Lamy Safari fountain pen).

Fold your letter in half, like a book, with the words inside.

Unfold, and then fold two edges to the middle crease as shown.

Fold the top and bottom edges inwards, parallel, to make a (nearly) diamond shape.

Take the bottom right point and tuck it in under the top right diagonal flap.

Repeat the same on the left side.

Although it holds together well on its own, secure with sticker/sticky tape if sending through the mail.

Pop it in the post, and do your bit to keep Snail Mail alive!

Eat. . . "Bargainaceous" box of plums

A week ago I was at the fruit and veggie shop when my eye was caught by something on the "Reduced to clear" table. That something is pictured above - a ten kilogram box of Hawkes Bay "black amber" plums for only NZ$2.99. That's about £1.40 or US$2.26 for 10 kg/22lbs of plums! Incredible value or what?!! "Bargainaceous" even!

Needless to say, those plums came straight home with me! Although the plums were obviously past their best (hence their vastly reduced price) I managed to retrieve approx 6kg of plum flesh after the stones and rotten/mouldy bits had been removed. I froze just over half for use another day, and set about making jam with the remainder. This might seem inconsequential, but what you probably don't know is that I haven't actually made any jam since I was about 12 years old, back in the early 1980s. Chutney, marmalade and lemon curd - yes, but jam? Nope!

I used the plum jam recipe in the NZ classic Edmonds Cookery Book …

Plum Jam

2 kg plums, halved and stoned
1.5 cups water
7 cups white sugar

Put plums and water into a preserving pan.

Boil until soft and pulpy. Add sugar. Stir until dissolved. Boil briskly for 15 mins or until setting point is reached. (I used my cooking thermometer to make sure the temp got to 105C, by which point most jams will set.) 

Pour into sterilised jars, a few of which I have photographed below. . .

Makes about 6 x 350 ml jars. 

This jam has so far been pronounced delicious by all who have tasted it, even Sonny Jim, who is usually monogamous to raspberry jam! So there may just be a few more jars of jam gracing these pages at some point now I have rediscovered my inner jam-maker!