The invention of the beach microwave

I can’t remember if I have told you dear reader, but last year I invented low-fat butter (some may call it lemon curd). It doesn’t have as much butter in it as butter but can be used in much the same way and is therefore really low-fat butter. Well, in true Wallace and Gromit style I have been inventing already this year, due to necessity. In order to heat up the mince pies on the beach it was necessary to develop the beach microwave. It may just look like holding the mince pie in the sun and slowly rotating it for 2 minutes (and then saying “ping”), but it’s a pretty close simulation.

Anyway, welcome to this brand new squeaky clean year with the moniker 2014. Even though it is still all sparkly and fresh, things continue as with the old year. Monday was a battle with the weather to get the washing dry, as it couldn’t decide if it wanted to rain or shine, so did some of both. I also did shopping and baking, making a cake with some lobs which turned out not to be fantastic, but OK. Claire and Ryan popped over to sort out some of the things in Claire’s wardrobe ahead of their move to Dunedin.

New Years Eve was a much better day with lots of sunshine. I wanted to make something from my new Paul Hollywood cookery book which Katharine and Ben sent me for Christmas, so this required another shopping trip (as I had forgotten to get ingredients on Monday) before making the smoked fish tart. It turned out very well and we thoroughly enjoyed it with some salad. I did my last ironing of the year (yeah!!). Nicky was too tired to see the New Year in after two days at work, so I walked down to the reserve to watch the Sky Tower fireworks. They were good but very distant.

New Years day started clear and sunny, so I did my first washing of the year and got a couple of loads on the line before the rain came. It didn’t last too long and the rest of the day was fine and sunny. We had lunch on the Ratigan, did some sunbathing, and started a jigsaw (from our collection).

Thursday was a public holiday. Nicky spent the morning writing to my mother while I did some more laundry and jigsaw. The weather was hot, sunny and gorgeous so we picked Stella up after lunch and went to Bethalls beach. I have never seen it so busy before. The car park was absolutely stuffed and as you can see from the picture, the beach was busy!

I enjoyed going in the sea but the current was very sting and after about 15 minutes I was feeling quite tired, so was in great need of a reviving mince pie and invented beach microwaving in order to warm it up. We had a grand afternoon just enjoying the weather and the beach.

Nicky was back at work on Friday. Bruce and Wendy Eggertson invited us over to the holiday home they were renting for a few days in St Heliers. They had been trying to get a birthday cake for Curran but had been unsuccessful, so I made them a carrot cake (his favourite) and took it with us. We had a great evening with B&W, Curran (their son) and his girlfriend Erica, and Wendy’s mum Marnie. Friends of B&W’s, Brian and Sue. also joined us.

Saturday started wet which didn’t bode well for Stella’s birthday picnic at the Corban Arts Centre Reserve. Andrew drove up from Tauranga and had rain all the way, but by the time we got to the reserve at lunchtime it was hot and sunny. Paul and Jenny also joined us and we had a lovely afternoon. There was plenty of shade, and we had another selection of excellent food which was all quite different from what we had done at Christmas, and the Austrain coffee cake which Nicky made was just gorgeous. The reserve was very quiet and it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon and mark Stella’s birthday. We managed to finish the jigsaw in the evening.

The weather was cooler and cloudy this morning, and we had some rain this afternoon, but it didn’t stop us enjoying having Bruce, Wendy, Marnie and Jancis over for lunch. B&W had taken Curran and Erica to the airport for their flight back to Canada so arrived mid-morning and had a late breakfast with us. For lunch I rustled up a bacon and mushroom flan and Nicky did a big green salad and we finished off the cassata for dessert.

Claire and Ryan popped over again later in the afternoon, looking very tired. Claire finally finished at Whitcoulls yesterday, after just over six years. 2014 is a whole new adventure for them, which we hope goes really well.

Take care, and have a brilliant 2014.

Rick