Tuesday 9 September 2014

Seeing stars

Bratch Locks is now Sarah's new favourite place. 
We take our lunch there and watch the boats going up and down. We like to see the names of the boats. This pretty boat is called 'Etoile du Nord' or 'North Star'. Coincidence or an emerging pattern, along with Pegasus? What with Sarah's love of the moon, there's got to be a future project in there somewhere.  
We also discussed how to spot the difference between live-in and holiday boats. We decided that holiday boats tend to have less 'stuff' on top (eg. plants) and they have lots of scratches down the sides. The hire company name and telephone number are also a give-away. I noticed another difference which I didn't mention to Sarah. Holiday boats seem to have a plentiful supply of alcohol on board, in particular, Old Speckled Hen. I suspect live-in boats also have their own fair share of alcohol, but they probably  store it more carefully, at least until after 5 o'clock. 
Don't worry about the Loopsies, by the way. 
They're always there, sometimes it's just a matter of spotting them. 
Sarah decides on her own timetable each week. After she has done her maths, writing, and now Spanish each morning, and completed her household tasks, we can carry on and do the fun stuff. Here's what we're doing this week. 
Now back to those damsons. We've found a cool way of stoning them. 
Make a cut in each one down to the stone. 
Crush them under a plate. 

Remove the stone easily
Much better than fishing them out from your hot jam, or breaking your teeth on a stray one. Sarah says she's going to share her damson crumble recipe with you soon. 
Meanwhile, for my own reference, here's my damson gin recipe:
Pierce 500g damsons liberally and place in an airtight container. Add 125g sugar and 70cl gin. Agitate (easily done in our house), pop the lid on and forget for 3 months. Alternatively, just drink the gin straight off and forget everything. 


1 comment:

  1. Loving the damson de-stoning invention. Going to try that one myself. And the crumble looks fabulous Sarah.

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