Well what a start to the new year! Have been flat on my back with some virus since New years Day. Horrible feeling, couldn't eat (that's a killer!) and dreadful headaches. Feel much more alive now - a bit washed out and "foggy" in the head but thankfully it's almost gone. Another quiet day today I think.
To date this year (3 days) my girls have given 10 eggs. I'm going to keep count and see how we go; they're really very reliable layers so far. I couldn't imagine having any more chickens - I'm flat out using up the eggs I get. I have a dozen for Mark to drop to a friend tonight on his way to a meeting and still have a dozen left in the fridge. Mark cooked some up last night for an easy dinner for himself and Kim but with another 4 this morning I'm going to have to get baking this week.
I'm going draw up plans for the girls new home that's being built on Wednesday. I saw a great name for a chicken house on another blog just recently -Chookingham Castle - lol love it.
A friend offered us some great sheets of tin for our raised beds so there's another job for this week hopefully.
Our other house finalises in a couple of weeks so its time to clear the garage out where we've been storing a bunch of stuff. Mark and one our sons got everything down from the rafters the other day. Son said Carter hadn't found that much stuff in King Tuts tomb. lol. Major de-clutter coming up.
The ginger beer was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn't nearly as "bitey" as I'd hoped. I'm going to start a new plant with fresh ginger as soon as I'm finished here; hopefully that will be a little zingier. And my first foray into meringue making wasn't a complete disaster. I've only ever bought them because I couldn't be fussed making from scratch but with so many eggs thought I'd give it a go. According to Jamie Oliver they can be "tricky buggers" and he's right. You wouldn't think just a couple of ingredients would be a problem really. :)
I shied away from making meringues for years but after seeing Maggie Beer make her pavlova i'm now a convert lol So very easy and if i do say so myself, no-fail :)
ReplyDeleteIngredients
4 egg whites
1 ½ cups caster sugar
1 teaspoon corn flour
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Method
Preheat the oven to 150C. Choose the small bowl of the mixer and beat the egg whites on a high speed until fluffy, about a minute. The bowl should be clean with no grease in it, the eggs room temperature and you should be careful not to get any of the yolk in the white. Still beating slowly add the castor sugar until the mixture is thick and glossy with a hard peak, then beat in the corn flour, vinegar, and vanilla. Pile up high to get a marshmallow one or thin for crusty
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Pile on the meringue, hollowing out the centre to form a nest, but if you like a lot of marshmallow centre, pile the meringue up high, rather than flattening it out. Bake the pavlova for 50 minutes until quite firm, then turn the oven off but leave the pavlova in it to cool completely.
Thanks SJ you've convinced me. :) I have an abundance of eggs as usual so I'll give it another go. Will let you know how it goes. :)
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