Every time we shop things seems to be more expensive. Vegetables have increased in price because of the storms we had earlier. I am so pleased that our brassicas, in particular, have done well this year. When I was in the Supermarket the other day white cauliflowers were $8.00 and coloured $10.00 way more than I would want to pay for them.
This is the recipe as I copied it. It is for cupcakes but there is mention of a cake as cooked by her mother at the bottom. The recipe seems very forgiving. I only used 250g of brown sugar. When I made it a week or so ago I only had a 220g tin of pineapple. I only use pineapple in juice not syrup. The last one I made I was a bit short on banana but every time it has come out fine. Obviously, the shape of tin would make a difference to the cooking time. I always add a pinch of salt to my cakes. I hope you make and enjoy it.
HUMMINGBIRD CAKES
Cupcakes:
270g brown sugar
400g Healtheries wheat and gluten free baking mix
1/2t cinnamon
1t baking soda
1 tin 439g crushed pineapple in syrup – drained
50g coconut
350g (peeled weight) ripe bananas – mashed
1/2c walnuts – roughly chopped
3 eggs – lightly beaten
280ml canola oil
Sift flour, spice and baking soda into a large bowl. Add sugar,
coconut and walnuts. Mix well. Add drained pineapple, banana, eggs and oil.
Stir to combine – don’t over-mix. Place 1/4c mixture into each greased muffin
tin. Bake at 180*C for 20-25 minutes . Allow to stand in muffin trays for 10
minutes after cooking. Ice when cool, if desired.
Icing
100g cream cheese
50g unsalted butter, softened
1t vanilla essence
225g icing sugar
Beat all ingredients together
until smooth and creamy.
Note from my Mum: Sometimes I use this
recipe to make a delicious cake. Bake it for 50 minutes, or until a wooden
skewer comes out clean.
Today I picked some of our New South Wales Waratahs. I have three in a vase, have given 3 to a new neighbour across the road and will give 3 to our lovely next-door neighbour.
A bucket full of flowers
Even though she had been looking frail it was still a shock to wake to the news of the Queen's death early this morning.
We put the television on for the news and saw our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern talking. She was asked about finding out about the Queen's death and said that she was woken in the early hours by a Policeman shining a torch in her bedroom.
Everyone who spoke of having met the Queen mentioned how down to earth she was and her sense of humour. She will be a great loss to the whole world. She worked right to the end having only just received the outgoing and incoming Prime Ministers of Great Britain.
Every so often there is talk of New Zealand becoming a Republic and this conversation will, obviously, crop up again. I do hope that the final decision is to keep the Monarchy.
So now Prince Charles is King Charles III - he has spent his whole life in preparation for this moment. I still remember watching him on a balcony with his Aunt and Grandmother watching his mother being crowned and now it is his turn.
This is a walk we have done several times with the Parkinson's group. It is close to home and, as I had to collect a repeat prescription from the Chemist in Kamo, we decided to do it on the way home. It is a lovely sunny day but there is snow further down the island and in the South Island so the wind is quite cold but it was sheltered walking alongside the stream.
We didn't look at our watches when we started our walk so are not sure how long we took but we were in no hurry and did the full distance of the walk - first to the end at Gillingham Road then as far as it goes in the other direction and back along the street.
When we got to the Gillingham Road end I looked down and there was a patch of clover. Both my late mother and I used to collect 4 leaf clovers as we always seemed to find them whenever we looked at a clover patch and the first leaf I looked at was a four leafed clover.
I decided to put it in my old Pitmans shorthand book and what should I find but an old leaf from many years ago.
