Equilibrium!!

Yesterday we increased our carbon footprint by embarking on a major expedition to Bedford to visit Jerry's family. It had started out as a "why don't we go and see..." and then became "maybe we could take so-and-so to see..." and THEN "while we're there why don't we go and see..." We ended up seeing six relatives in all and had a very jolly time. Leo was a total nightmare most of the day demanding everyone's attention ( though he was very sweet about his late birthday presents) and by the time we got back home we were all a lot frazzled. Tired and emotional!!!

This gloriously decadent day was rounded off by watching Film Four - it looked OK in the brief, but turned out to be a dire parody of Matrix meets Bladerunner. It's name? "Equilibrium"! We went to bed and read... instead.

Today was time to restore the balance of nature! Mounds of washing, mending, wood to be collected, leaves to be cleared, bathrooms to clean... the list goes on. And it's Sunday too!!! We definitely had an appointment with the allotment and once a couple of folks had picked up their Freecycle bits and we'd had a good lunch of Cream of Celeriac Soup (butter, onion, celeriac, vegetable stock, milk, seasoning - cook, mash, blitz, done) bread, cheese and chocolate chip cookies we schlepped down there with three trays of purple sprouting broccoli seedlings and a number of toilet roll centres. WHY???? Well slugs hate cardboard - it's like sticking them on desert sand. Hopefully it'll keep the little blighters off me brassicas!! I spent over two hours planting 46 seedlings after hoeing and raking 40 square metres of soil (and lobbing trowel-loads of doggy do over the railings onto the railway embankment) and felt very smug for it. I will undoubtedly feel ruddy peed off if something(s) small and slimy takes a fancy to them!!! Jerry got to grips with the raspberries (I just can't do the spiders!!) and trimmed the grass around the edge of our plot. Leo had been used to excavating the new broccoli bed so he had to be relocated to the now defunct legumes bed. He was quite happy for most of the time and "helped" me pick the last of the pumpkins, but went a bit bananas toward the end.

Yesterday had been a good opportunity to give out a few bottles of last year's sloe gin and a few pounds of potatoes and in return we received (apart from a very nice lunch) a few pounds of cooking apples. I had a yen to bake Eve's Pudding for dessert and it was a HUGE hit particularly with vanilla ice-cream:

Apple base Sponge topping

Two large cooking apples 4 oz caster sugar

2 oz caster sugar 4 oz unsalted butter

Large handful mixed dried fruit 2 large eggs

Powdered cinnamon 4 oz self raising flour

2 tablespoons water 1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to Gas 4, 180 C, 170 fan

Peel and chop the apples and place in a greased 8" oven-proof dish.

Sprinkle over sugar, cinnamon, dried fruit and water and place in oven while making topping.

Beat sugar and butter together until light.

Beat in eggs one at a time and add milk.

Fold in flour and pour mixture over apple base.

Return to oven and bake until sponge is golden and firm to touch - about 45 minutes.

Serve with creamy custard or vanilla ice-cream. Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!

So after a very lazy day of playing a gentle game of one-up-womanship with my very lovely sisters-in-law and lazing about like a very lazy thing I feel that I've atoned for my sins by working my ladybits off!!