I had a busy day yesterday, but there wasn’t a lot of work-work involved.
I was up on time, I fed the dog, made the poet and me a cuppa (not-so-dirty for me; squeaky clean for him), put 2 washloads through, folded and put 1 washload away, and fed the birds. My exercise hour and my house & garden hour merged together a bit, with me doing things out of sequence. And when I started to bake, I couldn’t leave the house for my dog walk hour until the baking was done.
The poet’s back was much better, but he had had an asthma attack in the night, so he was feeling a bit rough still. But he went off to work and did what he had to. I put the 2 washloads through the tumble dryer as rain was forecast, and I was so glad I did when we had a massive hail storm. The rain was that hurty kind of rain that strikes like daggers, and I felt very smug that I’d put the washing in the tumble dryer and not on the washing line.
The poet had made a loaf the day before. I thought it was wholemeal, but it was half-and-half. We’d had strawberries again for our pudding the day before and I held off baking anything until we’d eaten those and some raspberry doughnuts I’d bought for the weekend. Now, during my sort-of housework hour, I made an Eve’s pudding for our puddings for the next 3 days and a banana & sultana tea bread.
Eve’s pudding is a great way to use up old apples. I usually use fresh cooking apples but if we have eating apples going a bit wrinkly in the fruit bowl, I’ll use those instead. This time I used a mix of Braeburn apples and Pink Lady apples, both eaters. I’ll make it with pears too, either culinary or dessert, but I do stew the culinary varieties first, as I do when I use cooking apples. The sponge on top is the best kind of sponge cake: it’s a Victoria sandwich recipe.
We’ve been throwing a few old bananas out for the past couple of weeks, but this time I saved them from going in the bin, choosing to use them in a banana loaf instead. The recipe I used includes walnuts, but we didn’t have any walnuts, and I don’t like them much anyway. So I used sultanas instead.
We’re using up a lot of cupboard staples so we don’t have to cart them to the next house, and we’ve also decided that we’re only going to eat home made cakes and puddings where possible, rather than shop-bought. We do buy nice cakes as a treat at the weekend, and we’re still buying biscuits (English) and cookies. But we’re going to aim at making our own biscuits and cookies too in the new house, and probably more of the poet’s bread too.
I had to sample the tea bread, which I did when it was fresh out of the oven and with real butter on. It was delicious, even if it did have a slightly under-cooked look to it. That would be the mashed bananas.
While those were cooking, the tea bread taking longer than the pudding, I didn’t want to leave the house. So I found out what time the poet was coming home and asked if he’d like to come for a walk with us. The weather was being very April showers again, but we just had to go for it.
The rest of the day was going to be spent on replanning the rest of the month. With the client pulling out until the end of the year, I can suddenly fit a lot more things in. Instead, I received an email from the editing client with the final proofs for one of the jobs I completed recently. We were in a bit of a rush with this one, so I pushed the planning to today and quickly rattled through the 2 pdfs: the one with my mark-ups on and the new one, side by side on my screen.
I’d just started this when the poet reminded me we hadn’t taken the dog for his walk and did I want to go to Langold Lake. I did, so I fired off an email to the client letting her know it would be with her by the time she logged on again this morning. While we were out, she emailed back with her appreciation.
The poet took his stick again on the walk, just in case. But his back held out, which was good. The dog was VERY funny, though. Every time he saw someone where there isn’t usually anyone, such as on a fishing peg, for example, or if it was a different person to the one he normally sees, he barked at them! As though this was HIS lake and he was guarding it. He did that a couple of times. We made it all the way around the lake without getting drenched in a downpour, and headed home.
While the poet did a bit of mixing in his studio and, after, made us a cheese and mushroom omelette for tea (meat-free Monday), I finished the pdfs. I sent the book back first, then started work on the 3 files of Plates. I’d sent it all back before tea made it to the table. We had the Eve’s pudding with pouring cream on after our tea. Then we settled down in front of the telly again for the evening, me feeling very satisfied that I’d delivered *another* job.
Today, then, will be that planning work. I also have this week’s video to watch for the WMG workshop on making a living with novels. If the rain ever stops, I’ll take the dog for his walk, as it’s unlikely the poet will be home in time to take him before tea again.
Sounds like a really solid workday!
I so prefer the baked goods at home, but going into summer without air conditioning, I won’t bake much.
Yuck on the hail.
There are ceiling fans installed at the new house, which suggests it might get a bit balmy there too. At least we can throw the windows and door open if we need to. Son #1 works in renewable energies, and we’re toying with having him sort us a heat pump and underfloor heating. I’d bet he can do air con too, which will be the first time we’ve ever had it.