Oh well, I think a shopping trip is in order during the first few days which is a real treat to someone who doesn't do that very often. We do have shops here, of course we do, in Queenstown and in Cromwell but no department stores really. 'The Warehouse' in Frankton sells everything and is a bit like Woolworths used to be and the only other one really is H&J's and they only sell high end stuff so I don't go in there often. Our biggest shops in Cromwell are Mitre 10 (B&Q) and the New World supermarket which caters for a population of 4,000 people so are not that big and fairly predictable! I will be like a kid in a candy store for the first week I am home.
Winter officially arrives in 7 days and the ski season nine days after that. They are already making snow on the mountains in Queenstown and in Mt Hutt ski fields so we will soon have the joy of thousands of young Australians filling up Queenstown for a few months, joy! The last few weeks have been blissfully quiet and it is when the locals take a deep breath and enjoy the peace before the bedlam begins. After 4pm you can't walk along the pavements in town for the young people gathering in great impenetrable groups carrying their snow boards and thumping around in their ski boots so I can quite happily say that I am glad I won't be around for most of it!!!!
Recipe to follow courtesy of "Annabel Langbein: The Free Range Cook, Simple Pleasures". Go on, have a go!
Birdseed BiscuitsIngredients
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 c sunflower seeds
- 1 c pumpkin seeds
- 1 c sesame seeds (I used more sunflower seeds as I only had half a cup of sesame seeds plus ginger + walnuts)
- 120g butter
- 6 tablespoons golden syrup or honey (I did 3 of each)
- 1/2 c raw sugar (white or brown)
- 1/3 c peanut butter (or you can use condensed milk, the same amount)
- 1 c raisins
- Toast oats and seeds in a baking dish at 180 deg C for 15-30 mins, or until golden
- Melt butter, golden syrup, raw sugar and peanut butter, then bring to the boil while stirring; boil for 5 minutes at low heat until caramelised
- Add raisins to seed mixture in a bowl
- Add caramel mixture; stir, and quickly pour/press into a lined tin (I used a square flapjack one)
- Refrigerate for 3-4 hours
Advisable to partly cut into bars before refrigerating (I didn't but Derek had to cut them!!)
They lasted until Thursday!
I have to share something else with you too. On Saturday mornings sat at the breakfast bar eating our porridge, we read through the ton of free papers that get shoved into our big letter box; it has become a bit of a ritual but also lets you know what's going on in the area (lots of rugby, football, netball and hockey at the mo by the look of it all played on the town pitches at the top of our road). This first article just tickled Derek ......
Derek has given me the day off again today as he has an early finish to see clients. He is going to spend most of the day preparing a sales course for a team in Auckland where he is going to be for a few days at the beginning of next month so it will be my turn then to man the office single handed. I don't like it as that is usually the day we have lots of 'software' issues in and I can't do any of that.
We have been looking at new premises as we will have to move in December and that has been keeping us awake at night, we are both bad at decision making and so it just goes round and round and round in your head most of the night. Am sure many of you have had to go through the same thing, it just keeps you awake for longer the older you get!
Right so as I have the day off, I am now going to do an hour in the garden weeding as it is warmer out there than it is in the house.
Will leave you with a good book to read though. A friend of ours, Jeff, leant this to me and what a harrowing read it is but so full of hope too, tis a good book!