Recipe
I received an email today from Oscar asking for a homemade peanut butter recipe so here it is.
Enjoy.
HOMEMADE PEANUT BUTTER
500gms of raw peanuts
½ teaspoon sea salt
peanut oil or olive oil if you prefer
Put roasted peanuts in a food processor and turn it on. Pulse if need be. Don’t panic you can’t go wrong.
Then add the oil slowly but carefully through the feed tube.
Blend until the mixture is consistently creamy, adding a little more oil if the mixture is too dry.
Add the salt and process for a few seconds more.
Spoon peanut butter into sterilized jars and store in the fridge.
How to roast peanuts:
Heat oven to 180 degrees or 160 degrees Fan Bake.
Place peanuts in an oven pan and roast for about 10 minutes or until until golden brown, then remove.
Tip them into a shallow bowl and the rub peanuts with a paper towel to loosen skins and take outside and blow in the wind.
Wait until totally cooled down before making peanut butter.
Note: I only make peanut butter on windy days.
Peanuts in the shell can also be used but patience is required as it takes forever to shell!!!!!!
Wind
What a windy weekend!
Sam tells me we only suffered one casualty; that being a Roxburgh Red tree.
Of course there is a pile of little fruit on the ground but as he hasn’t started thinning, the problem isn’t as great as it could have been. A true blessing.
The winds are picking up again today but a cool change is on its way, which will probably bring a bit of rain and zero is predicted for tonight.
We could do without another frost! But not the end of the world if it does eventuate.
One must have nerves of steel when in the Orchard game.
Ask Aunty S
Dear Aunty S
My husband has taken a position in a ghastly small town without telling me and I don’t want to sell up and move as I could think of nothing worse than living in the country as I am a city girl.
I have lived in this house for twelve years and my gardens are exquisite as gardening is my second love after my family.
He says he is tired of working long hours to pay off our mortgages and wants to spend more time with the children and me.
He didn’t expect my negative reaction as he thought I’d be happy as our financial situation especially would drastically improve so now he is sad whilst I am angry.
I agree things have to change but not as drastic as moving us to the country.
Am I being unreasonable?
Aunty S responds
I am a country girl and could think of nothing worse than living in a city or a small town!
How about a compromise?
As your city home is a garden paradise, I checked out this small town, which by the way isn’t ghastly, and it so happens that there is a gorgeous house for sale set in a fantastic garden setting on the outskirts and it comes with a pool and a spa. The local school has an excellent reputation and is only a walk away.
You will be mortgage free and think of how this factor will impact positively on your lives.
I have sent you the details of the house.
Of course your husband should have told you how much he desperately wanted to escape the ‘mortgage drowning trap’ but he didn’t and now you must keep positive and show your kids you are willing to adapt to the changes that have been thrust upon you all.
Remember always his intentions were admirable as all he wanted was more family time and the mortgage noose around his neck, loosened.
You are a lucky girl my darling so count your blessings.
Hug him tight and reassure him that everything will be okay.
We are the stronger sex my dear.
More Spring Photos
Ruby and Lugs in deep concentration.
“If that stupid rabbit on the deck is playing possum Ruby, I want you to go after it and finish it off with your teeth. I’m too tired to play its game anymore. Cheers Ruby you are a faithful friend.”
Give Me a Break!
Why would anyone want to put a nude photo of herself on a phone or a computer?
Who exactly is their target audience?
Isn’t it a wee bit narcissistic?
Is it for a show and tell?
Oh goodness I feel so old.
We used to call this kind of behaviour vulgar?
Is it so acceptable that nobody is shocked?
This worries me.
I thought ‘selfies’ were bad enough but nude selfies.
Oh give me a break.
I could possibly understand some pimply faced 15 year old doing it as a dare and then Dad finding out and humiliating him/her by having a print made and sticking it on the fridge for all to see to shock some sense into him/her.
But look at the age group of these idiots?
They should be ashamed of themselves and where are the apologies from them to their fan base?
They are only famous because folk pay to watch or listen to them!!
Youth is fleeting but immaturity is forever.
End of bleat.
Over and out.
RIP Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers’ one-liners and self-deprecating humour made us all laugh and she will be remembered and missed.
“I don’t exercise. If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor.”
“People say that money is not the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.”
“I’ve had so much plastic surgery, when I die, they will donate my body to Tupperware.”
“I am definitely going to watch the Emmys this year! My make-up team is nominated for best special effects.”‘
“When a man has a birthday, he takes a day off. When a woman has a birthday, she takes at least three years off.”
“You know why I feel older? I went to buy sexy underwear and they automatically gift wrapped it.”
“At my age, an affair of the heart is a bypass.”
“Boy George is all England needs – another queen who can’t dress.”
“My daughter and I are very close, we speak every single day and I call her every day and I say the same thing, ‘Pick up, I know you’re there’.”
“My face has been tucked in more times than a bedsheet at the Holiday Inn.”
“I was getting dressed and a peeping Tom looked in the window, took a look and pulled down the shade.”
“It’s common courtesy; he’s doing most of the work; you’ve got to encourage him.”
“A child can be taught not to do certain things, such as touch a hot stove, pull lamps off of tables, and wake Mommy before noon.”
“I have flabby thighs, but fortunately my stomach covers them”
“The first time I see a jogger smiling, I’ll consider it. ”
“I told my mother-in-law that my house was her house, and she said, ‘Get the hell off my property.”
“I use a smoke alarm as a timer.”
“You make the beds, you wash the dishes and six months later you have to start all over again.”
“I was so ugly that my parents sent my picture to Ripley’s Believe It or Not: they sent it back and said, “We don’t believe it.”
Old Friends
Living only two kilometres off the State Highway and with this being the main route from Dunedin to Queenstown/Wanaka/Haast, we often have folk pop in for a cup of tea.
Whether it be a fleeting or lengthy visit it is always nice to catch up with friends.
Yesterday an old friend popped in and for the first time since Alex’s death, I could reminisce without the overwhelming sadness that used to prevail.
Of course we will miss Alex forever but time has now given us an acceptance of his death and we can smile and laugh about old times.
There will be tears occasionally but this is to be expected, as we were married for over twenty years and naturally a huge amount of wonderful memories were made during this time. Thankfully we have photos to record so many of them.
Shortly after his death an elderly widow customer told me of how she felt so cheated when her husband was accidently killed four years into their marriage. She went on to say how she wished she’d had twenty years and all the memories that went with those years…..words that helped me immensely even though I felt so sad for her as she was indeed cheated.
Sam found the following photos last night , which shows “time does indeed go by fast, Ross.”
Ross; reflecting on life in our back garden. 1994.
Ross & Trudy Gordon; Sandra, Sam & Ruby Hobbs. 1997
R.I.P Robin Williams
I am too upset to write of my love, gratitude, respect and admiration of this truly wonderful man who has left our world prematurely so I have posted President Obama’s tribute instead.
President Obama issued a touching tribute to the actor and comedian, and said: ‘Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan and everything in between.
But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien – but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit.
‘He made us laugh. He made us cry.
He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most – from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets. The Obama family offers our condolences to Robin’s family, his friends, and everyone who found their voice and their verse thanks to Robin Williams.’
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