Hoppy Bird-day to Me!

Categories: life-in-general

Tags: Food, making stuff, Friends

Date: 24 October 2009 12:06:10

Well I've reached the Big 5-0 and to celebrate (?) today we're going to be cider making up at the family home of our friends. We've already picked the apples

[caption id="attachment_115" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="Here are all the apple pickers (except me)"]Here are all the apple pickers (except me)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_112" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="Steve looking balefully at me & Alyssia as we throw rotten apples at him!"]Steve looking balefully at me & Alyssia as we throw rotten apples at him![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_113" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="Jean standing at a strange angle. He shook the tree right over my head. I will get revenge."]Jean standing at a strange angle. He shook the tree right over my head. I will get revenge.[/caption]

After the cider making we're going to Jean & Clare's for dinner. I have made my birthday cakeIMG_0322 (chocolate chip and coconut)

...which we will have with fizzies and quince syrup - an interesting twist on Kir Royale. I wasn't mad keen on quince, but I'm hoping the syrup will be nice.

I was going to walk down to the Municipal Goats-and-Donkeys to feed them my apple peelings and rejected quince this morning, but on the way met friends who invited Mr D and I to the local café for a Birthday Cup of Coffee. Which then turned into a Birthday Couple of Glasses of Kir. So I was a bit squiffy when making the Melty Cheese on Toast for lunch. And the M.G-&-D. will have to wait for their apple peelings.

The apple peelings were from a Scandinavian apple cake  that I made to take this evening. I thought it was suitable for a Cider Making Party. A dead easy recipe: Stew apples, raisins and cinnamon together. Melt butter and crumble madeira cake (or, in this case, madeleines) into the melted butter. Layer the crumbs and apple in an ovenproof dish, finishing with crumbs. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Bake at about 180° for 30 minutes or so. Serve hot or cold.

And finally, I had a nice e-mail from a friend who I haven't met yet. Let me explain: Mr D (and I, but less so me) are fans of Radcliffe & Maconie on BBC Radio 2  . They play "Our Kind of Music" with gentle humour in between tracks. For some mad reason, the day Pumpkin died, I e-mailed the show asking for a Big Shout Out for Pumpkin - a bizarre tribute to a much loved, bizarre cat. The following day I got a phone call from a lovely English woman, who lives not too far from here, who had heard the Big Shout Out , and who wanted to phone and commiserate with me. We had a lovely conversation (finding out that she also originally comes from Liverpool. Like me and my best friend here. How likely is that? Three Liverpool Lasses living within 30 km of each other in France!?) - apparently her husband had told her that I'd  think she was mad. Which I didn't, at all. Anyway, Mr D asked R&M for a Big Shout Out for me for my birthday (which I got. You can hear it for yourselves if you're quick, on Listen Again, for Thursday 22nd, at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/the-radcliffe-and-maconie-show ) (I tried to make this a link, but didn't succeed. Tant pis!) and My Friend heard it, and sent me an e-mail. How kind. We really must try and go over and see them sometime. I like the idea of communities and friends  being made and growing over t'internet. The comments that people have made about this Blog plus the comments and posts made on Ship Of Fools make me begin to think this WWW- thingy isn't such a bad thing!!!