Student Dollmakers and Jam

Is there any connection between student dollmakers and jam? I guess both can be sweet? The real connection is these were two of my activites this week.  I went back temporarily to high school teaching this week in inner Sydney, teaching in a Links to Learning program - a program essentially for high school students having some difficulties either at school and/or at home. Although I was a high school principal, I have always thought that schools are not always the best places for learning for everyone, so it was good again to teach outside a school setting and doing something involving personal development. We made wrapped stick dolls and it was designed to be both a fun  and serious exercise, with the girls writing personal messages inside the doll, and then wrapping them with fabric and embellishing madly. I thought the results were great, and the exercise uplifting for all of us.

So, back at home, with an abundance of home grown mandarins from my sister-in-law's tree, I set out to look for recipes using mandarins. I found many including mandarin martinis, mandarin curd, mandarin syrup loaf, mandarin and chocolate muffins and a myriad of almond and mandarin cakes . However I settled for the "Exquisite Mandarin Jam" from Sally Wise on the ABC site. If you like the look of what I made ... here's the recipe.

Exquisite Mandarin Jam  ( Sally Wise)

Degree of difficulty: Low
You need: 8 mandarins, Water, Sugar, Juice of 1 lemon (optional but advisable)
Method:
Place (whole) mandarins and lemon juice in a pot and barely cover with water. Bring to the boil and then simmer till mandarins are tender. Remove from liquid, then chop or puree. Return the fruit to the pot. Measure the fruit and water mixture, then add equal part of sugar. Bring back to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil till setting point is reached (about 20 minutes) - the seeds will rise to the surface during this time, so they are easy to remove. Pour into sterilised jars and seal when cold