Silent Sunday

Limoncello

A recent glut of lemons, found me looking for something new to make.  It didn't take me long to discover a recipe for Limoncello.  I started off with a cheap bottle of Vodka, some lemons and a preserving jar.

I very carefully peeled only the yellow from the skin of the lemons.

Popped it into the jar

And glugged the bottle of Vodka over the top

It went into a cool dark place for two weeks

And came out a lovely yellow colour.  I then removed the lemon peel, added a vanilla pod and about 250 mils of sugar syrup

This was placed back in the cupboard for a further 2 weeks, strained, bottled, refrigerated and enjoyed!

Of course, with the freshly peeled lemons, I just had to knock up a quick Lemon Meringue Pie

Would've been rude not to really wouldn't it?

Sign Making

We decided that this summer was going to be a summer of arts and crafts, if they are acitive, they don't tend to fight so much ;-).  And, in part it was.

Rooting round some of the crafty blogs I decided I wanted a sign for my field gate, and once I realised how easy it was, we were off.

Girlie # 2 was on a sleepover at a friends house, so Girlie # 1 and I started.

Find piece of scrap wood and sand it down
Paint
Print lettering and pictures on PC
Trace on to wood with a ball point pen
Colour in with acrylics
Sand in places to give that distressed look
Wash over and wipe off a wood stain
Varnish
Hang
This is what we ended up with, and needless to say we were both very pleased with how it turned out.

The following day Girlie # 2 returned home, along with aforementioned friend, indignant that we had made this without her!!!

So, off we went again. 
 

They decided that as it was their daddy's birthday coming up soon, that they would make some for him, and this is what they came up with



and

 Now, we need to do a couple more to be hung around here.

This Years Dance Festival Part 1

This years dance festival was in to halves, first up was The Nutcracker - now who doesn't love a bit of Tchaikovsky ♥

Charlotte with a bit of the giggles

   

Pointes ♥

 

Looking very elegant

The littlies - how cute

Chinese Tea Dance

Arabian Coffee Dance

Russian Dance

Not sure what has happened to the little girl on the right!!

Jazzing it up Benny Goodman style

And just before the interval, as has become a bit of a tradition now, two Michael Jackson numbers

Heal the World - so moving and goose bump giving ♥

And as a finale for the first half, Dangerous - absolutely fantastic and they must've worked really hard on this.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, please return to the auditorium at the sound of the bell for the second half of the show...

The Communion

Well, now that I've finally handed over the disk, I can actually show you some of the pics I took at the commnion.  It was a lovely day and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Thank you Susi and Tomas.

The two cousins on their special day

The Beautiful Isobel

Table Decoration

In the Garage!!

Walking Back from the Church

What a wonderful sight after the walk from the church

With her Big Sister

Big Sister and her Godmother

A (very) quick kiss and flowers for Granny

A Little Guest

Another Little Guest

Tomas showing us how it's done!!

The Rhinoceros I found in my Shed

I know you're waiting for communion and end of year dance show pics, and they are coming.  But, I just had to show you this.  Rather stupidly, I decided to clean out the garden shed today.  Well, it was 30°+ and the shed has a metal door and no window, when I came across this

I think it is a European Rhinoceros Beetle or Oryctes nasicornis.  If you know differently, please let me know.

The Old Barbecue - Re-Made

Lurking in the garden was this old barbecue, the grill part still works and will be used in another project later.  But the "trolley" had definitely seen better days.  I should've taken a picture of it in it's entirety, with it's naff plastic wheels and all.  Too good to chop up for firewood, I decided to give it a make over.

As you can see, it was well sunburned and also with the removal of the griddle, very unstable.

 

We leveled the legs off after the removal of the wheels and created a new mid level shelf with some equally old and weathered timber I had lying about.

 

A light sanding and a coat of varnish and I now have a pretty shelf to put my plants on.

I originally had the Bizzie Lizzies on the top, only to discover, that they don't actually do too well in the full sun.  Hoping they will recuperate here down below.  If not, they'll go to the front terrace to recuperate and I'll have to find some sun hardy plants to put in their place. 

Look What I'm Having For Christmas

Maybe...

 

Mouse Trap

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that we have a lot of animals, ponies, dogs, chickens, rabbits etc.  This in turn means a lot of animal feed, which also means a lot of mice, like 100's of mice.  It was time to get tough and a run of the mill mouse trap was not going to work, there were far too many.  Poison was not a good idea, with fed about and those sticky mat things - yuk!!

So, I let it be generally known that I was looking for a cat :-)  One day, these two showed up

They settled into the feed store nicely and not a sign of a mouse.

Then my friend Susana turned up with

He/she joined in with the other two and although they were a little standoffish to start with quickly made friends.  Still no mice and threee kittens, perfect.

A few days later, Saturday morning and I was in the shower, the door bell rang and the girlies went to get it.  A few minutes passed and they came thundering back in - Who was it? I asked - Oh a man in a grey van with two cats for you, we've put them in the shed with the others!!!

 

So, there we have it, me, a completely no cat person, now the owner of five gorgeous kittens and a mouse free feed shed.

Apricots

So, my trusty Apricot Tree has had another fantastic crop this year, I think it's possibly my most favourite tree in the garden.  When it blooms it's just beautiful

This year I managed to crop seven carrier bags full of ripe apricots and there were still some left on the tree as I couldn't reach them all even with a ladder.  We have been testing them for about the last 10 days, and eventually we decided that they were ripe enough.  Fresh apricots are really quite tasty, but I prefer them cooked, it seems to bring out the flavour a lot more.

I frantically scoured the internet for ideas and managed to donate a few bags too, as the problem with apricots is they just don't keep for long once they are ripe and there are only so many tins of beer that can be slung out of the fridge to make room. 

Apricot Jam was of course an obvious choice, so I boiled up 6kg of apricots to 4kg of sugar, added a touch of lemon juice and let it bubble away until it very nearly reached 220 degrees.  Popped it in some jars and it is now sitting in a dark cupboard for a week.  Don't really know where I got that idea from, but I'm sure you're not meant to eat it straight away.  Will let you know later how it tasted.

Next up was Apricot Upside-Down Cake

Bloody delicious if I say so myself.  I found the recipe on Epicurious.com

Ingredients

For topping

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 10 or 11 small (2- to 2 1/4-inch) fresh apricots (1 1/4 lb), halved lengthwise and pitted

For cake

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes
• 3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
  
• Special equipment: a 10-inchwell-seasoned cast-iron or heavy nonstick skillet (at least 2 inches deep)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Make topping:
Heat butter in skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides. Reduce heat to low and sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter, then cook, undisturbed, 3 minutes (not all of sugar will be melted). Remove skillet from heat and arrange apricot halves, cut sides down, close together on top of brown sugar.

Make cake batter:
Sift together flour, baking powder and soda, and salt into a small bowl.

Beat together butter, sugar, and extracts in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes in a standing mixer or 3 to 4 minutes with a handheld. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then beat until mixture is creamy and doubled in volume, 2 to 3 minutes.

Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 batches alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and beat just until combined.

Gently spoon batter over apricots and spread evenly.

Bake cake:
If your skillet isn't ovenproof, wrap handle with heavy-duty foil (or a double layer of regular foil) before baking. Bake cake in middle of oven until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.

Wearing oven mitts, immediately invert a large plate over skillet and, keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together, invert cake onto plate. Carefully lift skillet off cake and, if necessary, replace any fruit that is stuck to bottom of skillet. Cool to warm or room temperature.

I followed the recipe as it is and if I make it again, which will probably be next year now, I would half the quantities of butter and sugar for the topping as there was far too much.

Next up, was "Apricocello", basically I have  scored into about a dozen apricots, popped them in a kilner jar and left them marinating in vodka.  In about 10 days time I shall remove the apricots, add a sugar syrup, bottle it and leave it in the dark for a further 10 days.  Hopefully at the end of this I should have an Apricot liquer.  Will definately report back.

 

My freezer is now crammed with lots of stewed apricots, ready to be eaten as compote, pies or crumbles with ice-cream and I still have a few raw ones in the fridge.  Phew!!!

9.52.2011 - Finish every day and be done with it...

As the girlies where staying with their Dad, I was able to have a midweek evening down at Guardamar beach and port with one of my spanish fotografer friends.  It was most pleasant and a welcome break, a stroll, a beer and a sunset - even better as I didn't have to drive.

This is my choice for finish, I was thinking of where reality finishes and reflection begins, but as it was laet in the evening as the sun was going down, I used the first line of a Ralph Waldo Emerson Poem

 

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities
no doubt have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.

Tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely
and with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with
your old nonsense.

This day is all that is
good and fair.
It is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on yesterdays.

 Here are a couple more pictures taken that evening