My Card of Thanks

My mum passed away while i was on 3 weeks holiday from work. On the day  i was to return,(Monday 16Th) i rung the pay clerk explaining what happened, and to ask her for 3 days bereavement leave. Less than 3 hours later a beautiful bunch of flowers arrived from staff and management

Trish, the pay clerk said she would let my team leader in my department know so as i didn't have to have another phone conversation.On Wednesday morning the courier arrived with another beautiful bunch of flowers from the girls in my department with a card signed from them all (about 26 girls over 3 shifts)

So over the weekend i got a few things together

And made this card to put on the noticeboard to thank everyone.

I'm not much of a card maker (my sister got that side of the family craftiness)
but i am very pleased with the result and I've had a few positive comments from workmates

Best Ever Chocolate Cake

This is a recipe that has been posted on TradeMe numerous times so i thought i'd give it a go, using the Breville Scraper Mixer that i received from Dad after Mum died.

1 3/4 cups Flour
1 1/4 cups Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup oil
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup boiling water.

Put all ingredients (except water) into a mixer and mix well.
Add the hot water and mix well again

Pour into a cake tin and bake for 60minutes at 160*C

I made the cake yesterday before heading to work and when i arrived home at 11pm i then iced it.
This morning i took it over to Dad's and we ( including my brother and sister) had it with a cuppa as we were sorting throu more of mum's stuff. It was only as i got the leftovers home that I'd forgotten to take a photo of it iced.

This recipe can be used to make muffins, it is an excellent cake if you want to impress people and it gets moister by the day so stays nice and fresh, very similar to mud cake.
The original recipe was double the above amounts but i knew all the ingredients wouldn't all fit into my mixer so i halved it.

Our Son Turns 6 today

OK so the title may be abit misleading.. John and I don't have kids.

"Who" i am talking about thou is our fox terrier dog Mac

John's sister Jennifer breeds foxy's and Mac was born not breathing. After 10 minutes trying to revive Mac, the vet assisting Jennifer told her there was no hope for him. Jennifer refused to listen because as a pig farmer she know how to save a piglet so she wouldn't give up on him.She got his heart going and nursed him round the clock. He came home with us at aged 13 weeks (which is ironic both, our birthdays being the 13th) Jennifer sells the puppies on Trademe and when asked about the firstborn male Jennifer was honest and would tell them about Mac, no-one wanted them because they all thought he'd be brain damaged. 

But all the tricks he has learned...bringing the mail in, closing the back door, sit, beg, rollover, shake heads etc,etc.He knows that when we're out walking and we need to cross the road, when i say "wait", he'll sit and wait until i start walking again.

He loves going out fishing and rabbiting with Dad (John) and if a car leaves home he just has to go too.

John quite often has to go to the coast for work and when he packs his bag, guess where you'll find the dog lol

 He even has his own ride on lawn mower, the only problem with that is he knows that he's not allowed out the front gate so he cant mow the front lawn lol

There are just so many photo's of Mac that I would love to put up here but i just can't choose which ones and it would take me forever.

He may be small in size but he certainly is a guard dog in every sense of the word. He's very protective of Mum when I'm home alone so if we ever have the pleasure of meeting at my place there is one very hard obsticle course to get thou first.

Floundering @ Ellesmere

Yesterday after work John went out to Lake Ellesmere to put the flounder net in. I didn't go as i was over at Dads sorting through some of mum's stuff with dad and my sister. The last time i went out on the lake it was blowing a gale, i swore black and blue i was never going out again.
But tonight we brought the net in ( wind wasn't as bad ). I counted 24 as John was pulling the net in and as John idled back in i cleared the net and measured the fish.
The dog made my job harder cos as i was getting each fish out of the net all he wanted to do was try and bite them (one ended up slapping him in the face but that didn't stop him lol)
24 in total and only 3 were undersized
17 sand flounder

and 4 (i think) are lemon sole (don't quote me on that i had to do a google check for New Zealand flounder species and i think thats what they are.

John tells me" no more meat for the freezer" (we received some pork for Xmas from John's sister, who is a pig farmer plus John did a foreigner for a guy who gave us some lamb) and he goes and tops it up (actually it's overflowing ) with fish.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining cos when you can go outside and pick home grown veges to have with home grown meat for tea. You just can't beat that.

Rhubarb Champagne

A few years ago dad gave me a couple of rhubarb plants
I've found a number of recipes to use the up the fruit (John's favourite being rhubarb and apple crumble), mine (and dad's) is rhubarb champagne.
You'll need:
2lb rhubarb
1.5 lb white sugar
2 Tbls white vinegar
2 lemons, cut into chunks
8 pints water
Cut rhubarb up fine or put in kitchen whizz.
Put all ingredients into a new,clean plastic bucket ( or other safe container) and cover for 48 hours

 Strain twice

Then bottle, cap with an airtight cap (recycled screw capped wine bottles are great)

Ready in 7-10 days
Chill well before opening
This recipe makes nearly 4 litres so make sure you have enough bottles on hand before making it

A Little Bit About Me

My names Jocelyn, I live in Belfast Christchurch with my partner John. We've been together since June 1996
I have an older sister and a younger brother. Not forgetting Dad of course
Mum passed away on Boxing Day (2011) so I started this blog for her ( I love you mum )

I work in the afternoons/evenings so during the day is what i call "me time"
I have too many U.F.O's that i would like to complete and things i like to do in the garden so i thought I'd start a blog to help me get things done ( abit like a pull ya finger out and a kick in the pants)
I love gardening and growing my own food, from there i make my own preserves ( mainly tomato sauce and jams)
And i love knitting as well as baking

Reading this makes me sound like a nana lol.But thats just me, if you don't like what your reading then feel free to buggar off