It is one of THOSE days when a hat is necessary if you don't want brain freeze.
It was cold enough in the bedroom this morning for Waz to reach out and turn the heater on while keeping the blankets up around his chin. He stayed in bed and warmed up while I came up topside and turned the heater on in the Salon. The thermostat up here said 52F. There was so much condensation on the windows and water dripping in places it isn't supposed to, that I spent the next half hour wiping windows, surrounds and those drips up.
Waz took off in his cotton PJs towards the Marina shower, into a brisk cold wind, and I started some lemon muffins...partly to keep moving, but also to use up the large lemon we managed to finangle out of the Coffee Shop owner at Mexico Beach two weekends ago. Having the convection oven on provided the necessary warmth in the galley, at least.
Opening the blinds on the inside of the windshield brought sunshine in this morning, in distinct contrast to yesterday's rain and gloom. We face almost due west, so we get the sunsets straight in the eye as it were.
I took the southerly curtain down at the back of the boat to allow sunshine to flood the cockpit deck all day, and it has just gone from there at 3.30pm.
Look at that sparkle!!! lovely to look at but even the birds are flying more vigorously today because it is so bloody cold out there.
Clear skies after yesterday's horrid grey and rain and cold and wind.I don't know what compels me to mix things up (who in their right mind messes with a sure thing??) but I had a 6 oz container of plain greek yoghurt in the fridge, so thought I would put that in the muffin mix this morning. I don't usually use recipes, and I surely had none for the muffins, but I did it anyway.
Lemon Muffins....
Preheat oven to 200C or 400F
2 cups high grade plain flour
2 heaped teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar...
finely zested lemon rind of 1 large or 2 smaller lemons. I don't mind LOTS of zest.
Mix together
*Save the lemon for juice.
***If you want to, you can add finely chopped nuts of choice to the mix at the dry stage. I love pecans, so that would be my choice.
In a glass jug (for microwaving), place 2 oz, or 2/3 stick of butter and cover and zap to liquid form
Crack one very large egg into the butter and whip with a fork until integrated
add one 6 oz container of plain greek yoghurt (whip it up a bit first)
and combine by whipping together
add enough cold milk to make 1 3/4 cup of liquid (total)
Whip it all up together with that fork.
Add the liquid to the dry mix and using a fork or spatula/ spoon, FOLD the liquid in until the mix is DAMP but not totally overworked. The mix should have a cake batter consistency.
Drop heaped spoonfuls into the muffin tins.
Bake until golden brown and muffin bounces back when depressed lightly.
WHILE WAITING for the muffins to cook...
Juice the lemon or lemons in a glass or small jug and add one heaped tablespoon of white sugar to it. Stir to dissolve most of the sugar.
****As soon as you take the muffins out of the oven, drizzle a spoonful or two of lemon/sugar mix over them while still very hot. The muffin absorbs the liquid and steams then at the same time. The sweet/sour is fantastic.
The muffins should be light and fluffy and not need any butter for serving.... but go on, indulge!:)
They are also lovely spread with lemony cream cheese frosting if you want to take these somewhere special to share.
(to make said frosting....use half a slab of room temperature cream cheese, juice of half a lemon, 2 heaped tablespoons of powdered sugar (icing sugar) and a knob of soft butter. Whip it up in a frenzy and make it smooth. Taste! You can add zest too if you wish. )
Where was I??
Seeing as the day is fine, we decided to take a long walk.
We can usually find a dozen ways to go, even though it might look like our choices are one or three. We decided to walk down Hwy23 for a change, and see how far we felt going. As it turned out, we felt very comfy going quite a long way. I guess this was helped by the fact that we got to stop at some Used Car yards along the way. Well, one actually...we looked across the hwy at the others, though we could read the $ signs on the vehicles.
The one place we stopped, they had an Alfa Spider (brought back memories of my first year on Maui where we (the ex and I) had a red one that leaked when it rained...hasn't everyone who ever owned a sports car got one or more of those memories?). The other cars included a replica MG TF. It's tires wouldn't have gotten you out of the parking lot and a few other aspects of it were a bit dodgy, but fun to look at. There was an A4 Audi, three Volvo of various pedigrees and a cute red 230 Kompressor Merc.
The Car Dealer looked like he didn't care whether he sold anything or not...as did most of the cars, which looked like they had been there for an eternity. Looks like most people are buying new FORD trucks, if you believe the statistics!
Our next stop was the Winn Dixie supermarket. I needed a pit stop, and other than the Taco Bell that was on the other side of the Hwy, this was my best bet. While there we decided to get a couple of things...bananas, Italian bread (like French bread only Italian!!), 2 potatoes...which I couldn't believe the price of..$1.72 per lb. TWO potatoes cost us $2.27!! sheesh! and a couple of other items. We were hampered in our choices by the fact that we would now have to schlepp them all the way back to the boat. We did ask the bagger to double bag them which she was happy to do once we explained that we were walking a long way. I don't think she had ever heard of walking, though:)
The walk back was into the wind, and by now it was afternoon. We had left the marina around 11am, and we finally returned around 2pm. Lunch of last nights cooked turkey breast with cranberry mayo (this is Thanksgiving, you know!) and cheese on Italian bread, toasted hit the spot.
We finished off the meal with some lovely crunch red seedless grapes.
Eating lunch so late means we will now have a late dinner. I have one turkey breast in the fridge and one sausage. I think I can probably be creative with the sausage and make a fried rice(have rice in the fridge too:) )and keep the turkey for Thanksgiving tomorrow, even if it is already cooked.
I cannot get over the elaborate Thanksgiving Day prep. going on all over these United States. <My Facebook friends are concocting all kinds of dishes that defy description, let alone imagination. I am not in favor of putting marshmallows on top of yams or sweet potato..yuk! but then I wouldn't eat it either. And what is with vegetables in sweet jello (jelly, for the kiwis)...heavens! and putting marshmallows in THAT too. Hmmm.... Waistlines will expand yet again...and just think! Christmas is just one month away. WOW! another opportunity to let the belt out, and so soon!
Waz just told me he has a new hobby! Sleeping!!!
Well, that's actually not how the story goes....
Mon said "Wow! look at the light on the bridge...isn't it lovely!"
Waz moves in his seat to take a look. "Yes, and another day down", he said.
"We need to find you a hobby", Mon says....
"I have one", says Waz..."Sleeping"!
He insisted that I reveal the WHOLE story! I don't think it looks any better told this way than the one sentence at the beginning! do you? :)
You will note how many of my posts remark that Waz is snoring again...well, maybe sleeping. He says that's because I stay up so late at night recording the days doings. Well, I'm not ready to sleep at 8.30pm, and he is awake 5.30am...so go figger!!!lol
He is now threatening to wake me when he wakes up in the morning. Ha! This story will continue, no doubt.
So, he has now reclined beside me...yes, I should take a photo...hey! good idea!
it is only 4.30pm!!!Ciao!
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