but not so far

Yesterday was Auckland Anniversary Day and a public holiday where I live. So, in my quest for more holidays this year, we spent the day with friends on beautiful Waiheke Island. We walked the sculpture trail, tasted a little local wine, bought local produce - olive oil, honey, lemons and plums - and swam in the sea. Hoorah to that!

The minty drink is nimbu pani made from lemons I bought up North last week and some sugar and salt. It's an Indian summer drink similar to lemonade. Some of my work colleagues just love it so I had to try it for myself. I made this recipe from Sailu's Kitchen. It did taste a little bit electrolyte-sports-drink but I think the lemonade lemons I used are sweeter than regular lemons. Apparently they can be eaten straight off the tree like an orange so probably not a good choice for nimbu pani. We drank it all, but next time I might try limes or, perhaps, Waiheke lemons.

Baking and sewing

After a brilliant start to summer the rain has settled in so what better time is there to bake? This is my mother-in-law's variation on a coconut chocolate slice. It's one of those very simple melt the butter and add the dry ingredients recipes. It was one of her morning tea staples back in the day when she baked for the shearing gang when they worked on the family farm. It has become a family favourite and my mother-in-law called it Ross's Special after one of the shearers who loved it so much.
Here's the recipe so you might get to love it too.
125 gms of butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1 cup of flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 crushed Weet Bix
2 tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix dry ingredients together. Melt the butter, add vanilla and stir into the dry ingredients with a fork. The mixture is fairly dry. Tip into a tin* lined with baking paper and press the mixture down to fit the pan. Bake at 180 C (350 F) for about 15 mins. Ice with chocolate icing while it's still hot. Leave to cool before cutting into bars or squares.
*I use a square tin 19cm x 19cm.



Last week - when it was sunny - I finished these napkins. I'm especially proud of the mitred corners.