These are the kipfler and nicola potatoes H dug up yesterday. They grew in a small corner of the garden about 1 x 2 metres and will keep us in potatoes for about 3 weeks.
H and I had a wonderful day yesterday; a good mixture of work and relaxation. We both started off in the garden, he digging and preparing a bed for planting and me in the bushhouse sowing seeds. Among those seeds are 40 rosellas that I'll grow in the hope of having enough rosella jam or cordial for the entire year. I intend to treat H's high blood pressure with it. It's supposed to be a gentle way of lowering a higher than normal BP. The dogs were with us and wandered between us both, sometimes sitting, sometimes looking at what we were doing. At 10am we all went and sat on the front verandah with cups of tea and walnut biscuits (cookies). It was a lovely day yesterday. An early spring day that was to be enjoyed for the sunshine after the recent heavy rain we've had.
It was very nice sitting there with H and the dogs. The wisteria is flowering and gently falling over an archway in the front yard. Tiny wrens were darting through it as we sat, and when I went over to look later on, there was a little nest in there. It was empty and I wondered if the wrens were reacting to an earlier attack by a bigger bird.
I finished off another dishcloth for my sister and went inside to check the computer. I was still procrastinating then so I wrote the Procrastinating post and went outside again. I talked to the chooks, gathered some eggs and lemons, watched as H dug up some potatoes and wandered back inside to my sewing room. I started looking at my fabric to choose some thing suitable for my napkin swap partner, Deb. I have about ten fabrics out and will make my choice from them on Wednesday.
We had lunch and watched the absolutely delightful TV program about CWA cooking, and the women who do it, called Not just Tea and Scones. For our international friends, the CWA is the Country Women's Association. The organisation covers Australia, they fund raise for various causes and lobby the government on behalf of women and children in particular, and country people in general . There is some more information about CWA cooking here. I watched the program when it was first on the ABC and now it's being repeated on ABC2, so I have been watching each week, trying to soak in as much of those wonderful women as I can. That 30 minutes goes too fast, it's like two minutes and it's all over. But seeing those women cooking their recipes for ginger sponge, chocolate marble cake and, of course, scones, just takes me back to earlier times, reminds me of my mum and grandma, and gives me a real feeling of friendship with those unknown ladies. It's also a real treat to look at their old fashioned kitchens and watch as they fire up their wood stoves to bake their delicious looking cakes.
The rest of the afternoon was taken up with another post here, ironing, writing a check list for work today and then making tea and toast for H and I at about 6 pm. Neither of us was hungry enough for a meal. That's one of the pleasures of this post-children stage. We eat when and what we like. It's a good life.
CWA SCONES
INGREDIENTS
3 cups SR flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup cream
1 ½ cups of milk
METHOD
Sift dry ingredients together. Mix in the cream and milk with a knife - it will be a wet dough. Work quickly into a dough on a floured bench, don't over-knead as it will toughen the scones. Flatten the dough in a rectangle shape about 2 inches high. Cut into squares with knife or into rounds with a cookie cutter or glass. Bake on top shelf of very hot oven (220-230C) for about 10-12 minutes. Serve warm with jam and cream.
Sift dry ingredients together. Mix in the cream and milk with a knife - it will be a wet dough. Work quickly into a dough on a floured bench, don't over-knead as it will toughen the scones. Flatten the dough in a rectangle shape about 2 inches high. Cut into squares with knife or into rounds with a cookie cutter or glass. Bake on top shelf of very hot oven (220-230C) for about 10-12 minutes. Serve warm with jam and cream.
