Tuesday, December 22, 2020

RAIN AND OTHER THINGS

 Well, I always seem to plan too many jobs for the day.  I had intended to make my fruit cake, the trifle, roast a chicken and some beetroot, potatoes and kumara in the morning as we had appointments in town in the afternoon.

The cake (cooked in a loaf tin) is basically a boiled fruit cake and I got all the fruit ready, sultanas, raisins, chopped cherries, chopped apricots, boiled with butter, sugar and water with a little brandy.  This all took longer than I had expected and it was time to get the "chook"(chicken) ready for the oven, pull and prepare half a dozen beetroot, some spuds and kumara and roast it all.  I must have done some other things as well, I usually do.  The beetroot leaves were cooked with some fresh beans for a vegetable and I did not have time to do any more with cake.  

We had lunch, and headed to town.  It was 26° again and when  we got home we had a cuppa with a piece of sultana cake and put our feet up to read for an hour.  Then it was time to water as, although it looked like rain and rain was forecast we didn't want to rely on it and things are so dry that a double dose will not hurt.

We were just finishing when it started to rain, nice and steady and, hopefully, it will go on for a couple more hours.

Some good news was that Jean's beans have started to flower, an unusual cream/white flower.




So, tomorrow, I will have to get the fruit cake mixed and baked and prepare the trifle.   That doesn't sound a lot to do does it - we will see what else eventuates.

12 comments:

  1. Your kitchen activities are similar to mine today. I have just simmered the fruit and spices for the fruit cake and I'm going to make beetroot and apple relish, a NZ recipe..
    I also have to either buy or make, make probably, a cake for our trifle.
    Enjoy your beetroot leaves. They love them here

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    1. We prefer beetroot leaves to silver beet or spinach.

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  2. Planning jobs? I gave that up when I retired!

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    1. Necessary when there is a certain amount of jobs to be done before Christmas.

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  3. You sound very busy. I love fruit cake but I have to be careful these days because of my diabetes but I do allow myself a small piece now and again during Christmas.

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    1. I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2000 but was told recently when I was having a diabetic eye check that I was most likely pre-diabetic as I am still under control with just diet. I do try to be careful but fruit is my downfall.

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  4. Good to water before rain, then the earth can use all the rain.
    So easy to plan a reasonable list of jobs...but then it grows! It will all be done, eventually!!

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    1. The rain was wonderful even though there could have been more. Some of the drier areas are still dry but most beds look watered. A shower forecast for tomorrow morning.

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  5. It’s good to stay busy these days. We only have so many hours of daylight on our end and so we have a tendency to cram a lot a day. We start a slow period tomorrow with chemo again. Stay safe you two.

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    1. Good luck for MeMa with the chemo - it seems a funny time to start it but then I suppose they keep going right through.

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  6. It will be interesting to see what sort of bean you get. It is a healthy looking plant.
    Hope your fruit cake got cooked with no more hassles.

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    1. I gather it is delicious as a whole bean in the pod although is usually used as a dried bean.

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