G'day, people.
Sharon/LDM, I'm glad you're getting some respite from the heat. Take it easy, let your sciatica ease up. Enjoy the nail appointment. You know? I've never been to a manicurist!
Sharon/WO, if you've got to take it easy for a while, it will be worth it. If you exercise too soon, you could be sidelined for a lot longer. Enjoy the alibi, take the break you need and do what you're told. It's your fastest chance of getting back to workouts.
TM, you and I are both getting ready for our girls' parties at the same time. Although my girl is a bit older!
joneshockey, enjoy your girl time. And you too are having a birthday party tomorrow? That's three of us! And Star too, maybe.
I've had today mostly at home. At least in the village. I scooted to the shops this morning to buy some ingredients for cooking, chatted to people on the way there and on the way back. As usual a half hour trip turned into two hours! But I got home ad got cooking. difficult child 3 had found a cake recipe he's always wanted to try (or me to try) so I used that to check ingredients but I played with it a fair bit. It was a standard devil's food cake recipe, but it has sour cream in it, and I added three over-ripe bananas to it as well. I had some Belgian chocolate left over from easy child 2/difficult child 2's wedding cake last year, I used some of that in this cake. Then later on when easy child 2/difficult child 2 dropped in briefly with friends (to grab a couple of my painkillers) she seemed disappointed that I wasn't making a Black Forest cake. So I rummaged in the cupboard tonight, found a jar of cherries at the back, and voila! The cake has metamorphosed again. First chocolate cake, then choc banana, now Black Forest! I used the liquid from the cherries and some strawberry liqueur at the back of the bar, to make a syrup to soak into the cakes.
I loaded the bread machine to knead brioche dough while I was working on the cake. I had the last of the three cakes in the oven when the brioche dough was done and ready to set in the moulds to rise. One is in the garage fridge (hopefully it won't make a break for it overnight) and I baked the other one tonight at mother in law's, it's in a plastic bag in her fridge. The egg wash is also covered, in mother in law's fridge.
So we're just about ready. I bought a couple of second-hand jigsaw puzzles at a garage sale on the way home today, I'll give them to SIL2 to give to his wife, he was upset that he's broke and can't afford to buy her a present. Now he has something.
So tomorrow morning about mid morning, we head to mother in law's. I'll use the scooter because I'm going to need to zip back and forth between our houses, I know I will forget stuff. I'm aiming for lunch at about midday. We'll put the roast on at about 11 am (a big vat of vegetables to roast separately) and when the roast is done, I'll put the second brioche on to bake. The cake - I just need to spatula on some cream on the sides, and cover it with chocolate flakes. Quick, easy. So all I will need to do while family is here, is my knitting. And take photos.
I was a bit worried I was trying to do too much, but this has worked out. Tomorrow now should be easy. It was a bit of a surprise to find out that we suddenly have extended family visiting - they didn't know we were having a family birthday party for easy child 2/difficult child 2, they just invited themselves out. We could have said no, but it will be lovely to see them. But the only way we can afford it, is to cook it all ourselves from scratch. Much cheaper.
Weather-wise, it's definitely close to spring. The jasmine is budding, the peach is flowering. The sky today was clear, blue and cloudless. The sea looked beautiful and a classic sapphire blue. Yesterday there were wild seas, today it looked a little calmer.
Enjoy your Saturday, everyone.
Marg
