Perfect quilting weather!

After a week of rain and hats and scarves weather it was no surprise to wake to grey skies this morning. Were our St Mark's Quilters bothered? Not a bit! 

We turned up the heating in the church hall and, fuelled by Gail O's delicious passionfruit cake and banana and walnut loaf, settled in for a day of stitching and chat.

Sophie and Susan have been absent for a couple of months, but they've have definitely not been idle. Susan brought along three finishes - a sweet little Blanket of Love,

A bright and cheery cot quilt, which it was quickly decided is to be given to a sick little bub in the Prince of Wales Children's Hospital,

And this cute little row house quilt which we'll add to our next bundle for for The Marcia's preschoolers.

Margaret has done a fabulous job with this soccer-themed quilt, which is also backed with a pattern of giant soccer balls. 

Gail loves a scrappy quilt (don't we all!) and brought along this cheery I Spy quilt. We're always being asked for a few extra boys' quilts, so these two super finishes are really appreciated.

Finally, Barb brought along a Blanket of Love as well as a kindy quilt.

For the kindy quilt Barb has used one of Linda Hungerford's original Stitchin' Mission beginners' quilt patterns, Loaves and Fishes. Those meandering quilting lines almost look like the flight paths of the butterflies, don't they?

We love our quilters to bring along their works-in-progress for "show and tell", even if it's not St Mark's Quilters related, and today Gail D had us open mouthed with admiration for the French themed quilt top she's making for a little girl who, at the age of eleven is already a Francophile! 

We each spent time picking out our favourite appliqué vignette. Can you guess mine? Of course it's the pink "ribbon" on the Eiffel Tower!

Unfortunately I was too distracted by the food and chatter to take photos of our busy hands at work, but rest assured there are some simply lovely quilts in the making, just like these finishes from today, to be revealed as they are completed in the next few months.

Tasting all the foods

Warning! Calories ahead! Just reading this post may cause drooling, lip smacking, food cravings and a serious case of the munchies.

On our weekly Saturday morning trips, in the golf cart, to the produce markets at Brownwood, Linda and I have bought farm-fresh veggies and fruits for her to juice for our breakfast each morning. So healthy!

  

In fact, from my very first day here in the USA, eating and drinking has featured highly among my holiday adventures. Linda's husband, Dan, an excellent home cook, has made it his mission to expose me to the widest assortment of dishes, drinks and sweet treats possible, and I've willingly co-operated!

Here's just a sampling of Dan's home cooking... Texan lasagne, Cajun salmon, Chicken Tetrazini, Waikiki meat balls, and breakfasts of pancakes, and eggs with hash browns (not shown 'cos I ate them too fast!). Linda's salads, a meal in themselves, and her amazing home made bread, have been mouthwatering accompaniments!

 

 

Here's my favorite, pizza with pastry made from scratch.

 

However, I confess, dear reader, this isn't the whole picture, and my sweet tooth needs a serious reprimanding!

With only a nanosecond's hesitation I've gobbled up warm roasted cashews covered in cinnamon, waffles an inch thick(!) and maple syrup, and big, soft sweet pretzels studded with crushed almonds. 

I also have a serious crush on the king-sized pecan pralines we found in Savannah. The Savannah Candy Kitchen a little too obligingly gives away free samples, and with one bite of these warm, sugary, nutty candies I knew resistance was futile! Alas, it's destined to be just a holiday romance....sigh.....because I doubt if I'll find any back home.

 

I'm not much of a drinker (I only drink on days of the week ending in 'y'). However, my drinking horizons have been widened with margaritas (at Universal, Orlando), Yuengling beer, 'Two Men in a Glass' (a mix of Arnold Palmer Iced Tea and Jack Daniels), and pina coladas. I've also had Cuban coffee and an old fashioned chocolate milkshake at Johnny Rocket's here in The Villages.

  

They said I mustn't pass up the chance to try a Cuban sandwich, and they were right! This one came from the Cuban Cafe and Bakery in the historic part of St Augustine, and was a delicious toasted bun filled with ham, mustard and cheese.

 

Then there were the BBQ restaurants, where you ordered your pulled pork, beef etc by the quarter pound! I passed on the Fried Gator Tail, but did have the pulled pork with 'Damn Good Corn Puddin' from the menu pictured below. It lived up to its name!

 

Are you ready for dessert yet? How about flan, a Cuban caramel treat, pies of every kind from a roadside shop in North Carolina, or pineapple soft serve ice cream from St Augustine.

 

Or a really, really special treat, enjoyed at Linda's neighbour Becky's home, cannoli filled with whipped cream and chocolate chips from Ferrara, a New York Italian pastry shop.

 

The least said about how much chocolate I purchased at Chocolat by Adam Turoni in Savannah the better. 

'Mouth-watering' about sums it up!

 

I've also conducted extensive research, in the name of science of course, to find the best Key Lime Pie. 

 

And I hereby declare the winner .....(drumroll).... the Publix supermarkets Key Lime Pie!

 

Now, in case you're imagining I'm the size of a house after a month on the 'Florida diet', I'm mighty relieved to tell you that both Linda and I have actually LOST weight! I think it has something to do with all the walking we've been doing as we've travelled around Florida, North and South Carolina and Georgia. 

 

More on those travels soon!

Easy Peasy Apple Sour Cream Slice

Ingredients

A plain vanilla packet cake mix. The cheap ones work just fine, or you can substitute a gluten-free cake mix.

1 cup coconut

125g butter

1 egg

250g sour cream

440g can of pie apples 

Nutmeg to sprinkle on top

Directions

Set your oven to 180 degrees C.

Melt 125g butter and combine with the coconut and packet cake mix in a bowl.

Line a greased slice tray with Glad Bake and press the mixture evenly into the base. I use a cool, dry metal spoon for this.

In another bowl whisk an egg with the sour cream.

Add a 440g can of pie apples. If the apples are too chunky you might like to mash them first, but not too finely.

Mix gently to combine.

Pour this over the base in the slice tray, and sprinkle with nutmeg.

Bake for approximately half an hour.

This yummy slice can be enjoyed warm as a dessert, served with ice cream, or cold cut into smaller pieces to nibble with coffee. Enjoy!

Good food, friends, family, and a little fabrication

That was my Easter, a million times better than the last one.

Only in retrospect can I appreciate how truly wretched I was feeling at this time last year, still numb with shock from Boak's untimely death, surrounded by towers of removalist boxes, tearfully watching pieces of precious (to me) furniture leaving my home in the hands of eBay buyers, and rattling around in a large rectory with draughts, dust and overflowing drains, the collateral damage from major bathroom renovations.

As an unashamed non-cook these days, I can't believe how much food came from my kitchen over the course of the four days of Easter.

First was a crockpot of pumpkin soup, my contribution to our church's Maundy Thursday supper. With the help of Glad Wrap under the lid and my 'old lady trolley' I managed to wheel it down to the car and get it there without losing a drop in transit!

Easter Day's morning tea at church called for something sweet, and with Anzac Day approaching I baked a batch of our Aussie favourite, Anzac biscuits.

My sister and I have started a tradition of bringing afternoon tea to our mother on Easter Day, and this year our brother Phil, and sister-in-law Judy, joined us. My other brother, David, was unavoidably detained on Mount Everest :-)

The Easter Bunny even put in an appearance. 

Someone might have gone a little crazy with the yellow chickens - and there wasn't a child in sight!

More of my Anzac biscuits and an Apple Sour Cream Slice were my contributions to the fare. I just had to share this picture of one of my two pretty Prue Trollope oven mitts, a housewarming gift from Di B last year and pressed into service in a big way this weekend.

The Apple Sour Cream Slice is my easy, go-to recipe whenever something sweet is called for. Its crunchy biscuity base combines well with the soft, creamy apple topping and as it cooks the aroma of nutmeg wafts through the house in such a comforting way. 

On Monday I made it again, this time in a gluten free version to take to an informal dinner party. I'll post the recipe shortly.

In between all this cooking (and eating) I managed to put the finishing touches to my knitted Peppa Pig. Appropriate, eh?

To top it off the sun shone for an Indian summer, and the wonders of modern horticultural trickery gave us potted golden daffodils blooming in autumn.

How was your Easter?

Super-cool Sunday

It's Sunday night, we've just enjoyed a home cooked meal of fish cakes, gem squash and fresh boiled beetroot, and now we're ironing our underwear to kill the putzi flies.

After a week of information exotic animal overload and excitement it was relaxing to just put my iTunes playlist on at top volume, bop to the strains of tunes like "Happy", "Riptide" "Corner of the Earth", "Night Fever" and "Get Lucky", and become acquainted with this little gadget.

We weren't alone in the garden as we washed our clothes. There was a camera shy warthog. Probably just as well since warthogs have faces only a mother warthog would love.

A pretty little bush buck and her mate who were quite happy to graze nearby.

This one just stood and watched me, even when I walked back and forth past him.

Families of banded mongoose scurried through from time to time.

Finally the cheeky baboons had to get in on the act, checking out the washing on the line.

Sarah lives in a very basic little house in the spacious grounds of a safari lodge, well away from the guest accommodation. The lodge is currently closed, this being the quietest time of the year for tourism. So in the afternoon, with no one around, we walked down to the river front.

It's ok, Sarah's house is well back from the water where neither crocs nor hippos wander. Still, I don't think I'll be venturing down there after dark.

We walked back via the Nature Trail.

I didn't get bitten by a snake, but I did step on a prickly acacia branch and managed to skewer my foot on a long thorn, right through the sole of my joggers. Not a problem (so far).

You're wondering about those putzi flies, aren't you?

It seems these nasty bugs like to lay their eggs on washing left out to dry on the line, and the only way to kill them is to iron every piece of clothing that will touch the skin before wearing it. If this isn't done the eggs burrow deep into your tissue where they cause boils. Then the larvae hatch and move around beneath your skin causing you grief until they're mature enough to dig their way out (or can be excised).

Nice 😟