Macaroons

I am making coconut macaroons after a late night trip to the supermarket. I love a moist chewy coconut blob. These ones are a little too toasty, as our oven has a notorious hot corner. But, still, alright for 11pm on a monday, we'll see how they survive in the morning, it is humid, still.

This is my effort to write something, anything. I've had blank brain, I blame hayfever.

A few pictures too, pretty flowery, I've been feeling the spring in other ways than just hayfever. Tonight as we walked around our neighbourhood, I said, 'it's a really good year for roses', Adam nearly fell over laughing at me.

This is from a late friday breakfast at New Day Rising. Yum.

The Plant Journal.

I rescued all the buds off the broken poppy plant, and this morning they had bloomed.

Friday afternoon, killing time picking flowers in the backstreets of Brunswick.

And, those very same flowers, 6hrs later, a little squashed after a ride home under my bike helmet. You can see what I did there with the colours in my Dahlia top, I dug out some hidden summer clothes.

I am happy about a day off with everyone tomorrow. Poor horses.

glühwein

Now that it's not cold enough to drink it, a recipe. This is not in the least bit technical, and we pick and mixed from about three recipes, going heavy on the spices, but it tasted delicious.

2.5 litres of dry red wine
150 grams of white sugar
chopped apples
sliced oranges
zest of half a lemon
one cup of orange juice
12 cloves
3 star anise
3 or 4 cinnamon sticks
a little freshly grated nutmeg

MacGyver* a spit over the fire in your backyard or simply put it on a low heat til its warm, not too warm mind as there was panic about what temperature the alcohol evaporates, maybe 70 or 80 degrees? Like I said, not terribly technical.

*MacGyver employs his resourcefulness and his knowledge of chemistry, physics, technology, and outdoorsmanship to resolve what are often life-or-death crises.



Try not drink a whole clove or worse, a star anise. Also be warned that after 8 litres you may end up with a hoe-down in your backyard with two lagerchairs, coconuts, tambourines and somebody playing the phone book. After this racket you may also end up with blood blisters on your fingers from playing the coconuts and a tambourine shaped bruise on your thigh or bum, depending how you play. Be warned!

mmm monkey eat sticks

This is what you get when you run around the supermarket looking for treats to make staying up working late into the night OK when all you really want to do is go to bed and rest those achey bones.

So you buy Trappist beer and caramelley stroopwaffels and weird spongey molasses ginger cake and pretzels. After drinking lots of beer and no sleep, pretzels are amusing. They really make you thirsty. Especially while cracking up at your love, muttering, "monkey eat sticks, mmm... monkey eat sticks..."


See also the pleasing similarity to the pile of sticks I have been making.