The cake you have when you are having a drink.

We have been giving Christmas cakes as presents for over twenty years now.  The basic recipe has remained the same, but we have improved it  fiddled with it in that time.  The smaller portion keeps adding to the list of recipients.  I am not certain how many we are making this time, but have now made seven and have the fruit soaking in booze for the next batch (which will include a medium sized cake and five or six smaller ones).  Having made the cake we water it on alternate nights with caps full of rum and brandy.  The alcohol the fruit was originally soaked in disappears in the cooking process.  Not so the additions.  Hence the cake you have when you are having a drink.  It is seriously rich and I think that if you had a big slice you would be some danger from the breathalyser bus.

Booze soaked ingredients

In a recent post about the glories of fine healthy salads (which somehow got derailed) Spectra indicated that she would like the recipe.  Lou has also expressed an interest.

So here it is.

Traditional Christmas Cake


200g (6.6oz) raisins
200g (6.6oz) sultanas
200g (6.6oz) currants
100g (3.3 oz) glace cherries
100g (3.3 oz) chopped mixed peel
100g (3.3 oz) slivered almonds
about 250g (8.3 oz)of the marmalade of your choice - which works out to 1/2 a jar
300g (10oz) Wholemeal Plain Flour
60g (2oz) Wholemeal Self-raising Flour
250g (8.3 oz )Soft Brown Sugar (I use about 125g brown sugar and the same of dark brown sugar)
250g Butter (8.3 oz) (plus a generous extra lump for luck)
5 Large Eggs
3/4 cup Brandy/Rum/Orange juice (whichever you like - we go the mixed rum and brandy route)
1 dessertspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon]
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
approx 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Prepare the fruit at least the day before and preferably a week or so before you make the cake.  Mix all the fruits together, including the almonds and the marmalade and half the brandy/rum/ combination.  Cover the mixture and set it aside until you are ready.  This year we have also been adding generous handfuls of dried cranberries to the mixture - it is a remarkably forgiving cake.

The cake tin you use needs to be both greased and lined with greaseproof paper - extending the paper over the sides of the tin.

Melt the butter over a low heat.  Stir in the brown sugar.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift the flour and the spices.

Add a little of the flour and spices to the fruit mixture alternately with the melted butter, starting with the flour.  Lastly stir in the rest of the brandy/rum and vanilla essence.  The mixture should be stiffish, but not stodgy.

I have made it in a variety of cake tins, which should not be filled more than 2/3rds the way up the sides.

Cook in a slow oven (150C or 300F) until a skewer comes out clean.  Add a cap full of your chosen alcohol(s) as soon as you remove the cake(s) from the oven and stand on a cake rack until it is cool.

When the cakes have been cooked and cooled we water them with alcohol a capful at a time at least every second night.  Yes, they are a bit of a pain to make, but they are worth the effort - and they keep really well too.

Large and two small(ish) cakes

Meduim sized cake

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.

This week Kim has promised to treat us to a gala display from her daughter Veronica's wedding day yesterday.

I have said that I am going to devote Sunday Selections to my many, many bird photos for a few weeks.  Crimson rosellas are my chosen bird for this week. They visit us most days and are always welcome.   Another cheeky one.  Despite being considerably smaller than the King Parrots, they have convinced the Kings to give way to them.  They are also not above challenging the cockatoos, corellas or galahs all of whom are much bigger than they are.

The one with the mottled green back is an adolescent crimson rosella who is yet to come into his full glory.  That green is an astonishly good camoflague.

And the galah and the wood dove are pushed towards the back - where the pickings are slimmer.

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.

For the next few weeks I will post photos of a bird species a week in Sunday Selections. This week, for dinahmow, I am putting up some photos of wattle birds - which I finally managed to capture while they were not moving.  Wattle birds are another bird with attitude.  They are the first to wake in the morning - considerably before sparrow fart.  They swoop Jazz, more rarely Jewel and occasionally me if they think I am encroaching on their territory (which covers the entire yard, front and back).  They are also not averse to challenging the cockatoos, who are much, much bigger than they are.  When I finally managed to capture them not moving they were investigating the raspberry canes and scoffing unripe mulberries.  Grr.

If you can think of another bird you would like to see featured and I have the birds in one of my folders I would be very open to requests.

As usual, clicking on any of the photos will enlarge them.

Graffiti

On my way to LifeLine yesterday I saw some graffiti at the bus interchange which has haunted me ever since.

I WOULD RATHER CUT MYSELF THAN CUT YOU.

With a drawing of a hand and a knife beneath the words.

The Smaller Portion's response was a glib 'I would rather he/she did as well'.  I would too, but just the same I have been thinking about it ever since.  What do you think?

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files.

Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.

I have decided that for the next few weeks I will post photos of a bird species a week in Sunday Selections. Next week, for dinahmow, I am thinking about putting up some photos of wattle birds - which I finally managed to capture while they were not moving.  If I have the birds in one of my folders I would be very open to requests.

This week I am featuring corellas - birds with attitude.  They are not as vivid as some of our birds, but they have won my heart with their swagger.

Between the Storms

We have had some very welcome rain.  The garden, the smaller portion and I are grateful.  The cats?  Not so much.

The night before last, after a grey and wet day, the skies briefly cleared.

Beautiful wasn't it?  And then the skies closed in and we got more rain.  Still welcome.

The week that was

The feelings of inadequacy are moving off centre stage in my head.  They are still present, but as a bit player.  And I don't think they ever completely leave me, so I can probably cope with them in the wings as it were.

I have swum more, probably about 2.5 kilometres last week (over two sessions).  Thanks to DJan I am still working on the kick while breathing caper.  Harder than it sounds.  Drat it.  Given their druthers my legs would simply come along for the ride and let my arms do everything.  So I take along a kickboard and one lap in ten is just kicking.

I went to the dentist.  Firstly because I was due to have a check up, and secondly because I have been having significant shooting pains in my mouth.  The pain can come on either side of my mouth and doesn't seem to be triggered by anything in particular.  The result of the dentist visit was a very mixed blessing.  My teeth are all fine, and she took x-rays to ensure that there was nothing untoward happening out of sight.  Sadly, this means the pain is neurological.  I never thought that I would see the day where I was hoping for the dentist to find a decayed tooth or teeth.

I have finally made contact with the farmer that I was to talk to as part of the MS Peer Support Program.  He is doing it tough at the moment and for the next little while I will be talking to him each week, making sure that he is OK and just touching base.

I did a Lifeline shift last week and deserve brownie points for not telling one of our callers that he had behaved like a complete prat and was reaping what he had sown.  And yet more brownie points because I saved my laughter till the call had ended.  The poor possum had behaved badly for a number of years, was found out through his own carelessness and was appalled at being called to account for his actions.  Though I can't really climb too far up the path to the moral high ground myself without risking a fall.  The rest of the shift was the usual mixture of grief and pain.

On Friday I went to an exercise class at the local MS centre.  While I am a member there I try and avoid the place because I want my life to be about more than MS.   A lot more.  The class they were offering meets my needs though.  It is designed with people with MS in mind, is relatively gentle, and should improve both strength and flexibility.  And it was cheap.  There were only two of us participating which meant that I got all the attention (and then some) that I needed.  Sadly the other participant is showing strong signs of wishing to stick to me closer than glue.  Being moderately antisocial I am not happy about this.  Time will tell.

We have planted the Sumo Liliums, Calla Lilies, Columbine, Hollyhock and Sea Hollies  I ordered.  It is expected to rain gently for the next few days which will be good for them and also for the dahlias currently sitting in a box on the kitchen floor.  Or it will be good for the dahlias when I get around to putting them into the ground.  I have weeded.  More required.

The smaller portion bought me a book of logic problems so that I am compelled to exercise my brain.  I am currently reading 'The Chocolate Wars - from Cadbury to Kraft; 200 years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalries' and 'The Brides Farewell'.  I usually have a novel and a biography of some sort on the go at any one time.  The novel for reading in bed.  I cannot go to sleep without reading at least a little.  Paperbacks only.  Hardbacks hurt when they fall onto my face. 

It was a busy week, and probably too busy because I feel a little like chewed string, but I did at least get quite a lot done.  Not forgetting taking time out to watch the birds.

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files.

Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.

My theme for this week is King Parrots.  There have been a lot visiting us this week, mostly the males.  The males have red heads and the females green.  Though, just to be tricky, a green headed bird with a red beak is a juvenile male.

Captured in mid scratch