A country life… all you need is patience

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About 18 months ago, I decided we needed a retaining wall built behind our garage.  I was reluctant to call the guy who had built another wall for us.  It was not that the garden wall he had built was not good – in fact, it was bloody good.  The problem was he took ages and ages to come.  I remember ringing him on a regular basis until, finally, he arrived.  When he did come, he came with a smile, did a good job and did things over and above what was called for.

In the end, I decided to risk it and called, let us name him, ***.

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Green Tomato Chutney

2013 05 20_0406 copyI succumbed.  I couldn’t bear to see all those green tomatoes go to waste so I used one kilo of them to make Maggie Beer’s, Green Tomato Chutney and I am glad I did.  It tastes very nice indeed.  A little sharp, but sweet.  The apple comes through quite strongly so it would be perfect with ham or pork and Maggie recommends teaming it with chicken pie or adding it to curries.

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Preserved Apples

Waste not, want not…

The other day, I visited my neighbour, Renate, to check out photos of her new grandson (he is very cute) and, as usual, I left with a bag of goodies.  This time my bag included some windfall Royal Gala apples.  A friend of Renate’s had allowed her to pick up windfalls from his orchard.  These apples were destined to rot on the ground.  Renate was making all sorts of goodies with her bounty.

I decided to preserve mine, otherwise it would have been stewed apples for breakfast for several days in a row which can be a bit tiring. Continue reading