Gardening, mending and cooking

The weather forecast today is for fine and mild weather.  I am here in my home and I am going to make the most of my time and the weather.  I called in to see a friend on the way home from work yesterday and she gave me some cuttings from a beautifully fragrant pink flowering shrub she had growing in her yard.  At the moment, they're sitting in a glass of water on the kitchen sink, later I'll plant them in potting soil and hope they strike.  They'll make an ideal plant for our front driveway garden.

While I'm outside I'll pot on some tomato seedlings.  I have about 10 healthy seedlings there that I've grown from seed.  I'm hoping they'll be ready to plant when our current tomatoes are finished.  I like to keep tomatoes in pots, moving them to larger pots when they need it, and plant them out when they're ready to flower.  The tomatoes we have planted in the ground now have suffered because of the rain and have not grown many flowers yet.  Hanno applied sulphate of potash to encourage flowering but so far it's not made much difference.  We may end up growing only cherry tomatoes - they grow like weeds here - and if we have to struggle with the larger ones, it might be an easy alternative.

Awaiting another session on the sewing machine.

After a lazy lunch, and probably a short nap, I'll be in my work room mending some clothes.  I think I might have one of the oldest. still-in-use nighties in Australia.  I have a nightie that has a rip in the side seam, a little white cotton number, that I've worn, on and off, for about 20 years.  The cotton is so frail now, it rips easily, but I reckon that with this mending session, I'll give it at least another summer.  I wonder if anyone else keeps their clothing in use so long.  I love to hear your story if you mend things to keep them going a long time.

And finally, I was asked by quite a few ladies for the recipe for my egg custard.  Well, get ready for one of the easiest pudding recipes you'll ever cook.

BAKED EGG CUSTARD

Break four whole eggs into a mixing bowl or jug, add ½ cup cream, 1 cup of milk, a splash of good vanilla extract (or one vanilla bean, scraped) and two tablespoons of sugar.  Mix everything well so the egg whites are broken up and everything is well combined.

Pour into an oven-proof dish, sprinkle with nutmeg, and place in a slow oven 170C/340F for about 30 minutes or until the outside is set and the middle is still a bit wobbly.  AMENDED TO ADD: place the oven-proof dish in a water bath/bain marie so the boiling water comes up to cover the bottom half of the over-proof dish.  Make sure the water is boiling. You need this gentle method of heating, not straight oven baking, for this recipe.

This is the most delicious pudding that may be eaten either warm or cold.  You could also use this as the filling in a pastry flan to make custard tarts.

This is our cat, Hettie, in the late afternoon sun, waiting for her dinner.

I am looking forward to my day today. It will be full of gardening, baking and sewing with some cooking in the afternoon.  I'll be doing some cleaning up too, a little bit of  home maintenance to keep on top of everything, but if I don't get around to it all, there is always tomorrow.  I hope you're having a lovely week too.

Seth Godin's blog is one of a very few I read every day.  Please read his post today about consumer debt.  It makes a lot of sense.