The Coolest Place

What better place to survive 40+ degrees weather than in the pool.

Thank goodness for the cooler reprieve from the hot temperatures -- and that we've escaped potential bushfires.

Plum Heaven

PLUMS GALORE! Thanks to expensive netting, we have managed to save our plums from crafty birds that have, in the past, quickly devoured the sweetly sour treats.

Nona will be making some plum sauce and jam. I continue to try different plum cake recipes trying to find something similar to what Mom has bought for years at one bakery in the German-Polish area of Toronto. I've found some recipes online that might be spot on, with streusel on top of the plums and a yeast-based cake. Will try two and report back on the results. In the meantime, I made Nigel Slater's plum cake (that I gleaned from David Herbert's The Really Useful Cookbook) yesterday and it was a hit when we took it to a party yesterday. I used regular caster sugar, though, rather than the unrefined golden caster sugar that he calls for.

M requested that we make Chocolate Fudge Cookies from David Herbert's cookbook and they were gobbled up by all the kids at the party. We kept a few in an air-tight container at home to try out Herbert's assertion that after a day or two they soften slightly and become more chewy. Well, we couldn't wait more than a day to find out he is correct. Yum! You'll have to wait until tomorrow for me to upload the recipe.

Today I made banana cake but wasn't thrilled with the outcome. It's fine but not something I would make again.

In the next few days I'll be freezing plums -- cut them in half, de-seed, freeze on a cookie sheet then place into sealable freezer bags and into sealed containers in the freezer for up to 3 months. Then I can keep trying plum cake recipes for when Mom and Dad visit soon.

It's a sweet, juicy start to 2010!