Sticky Toffee Pudding

David and I had intended to go up to Waitara Holiday Park (managed and run by my sister Dee and her daughter in law Charlotte) and stay at a powered site so we could join in the large xmas dinner that they host. But David's eye appointments have got in the way of that plan, so we are staying in Waikanae for xmas instead.

The Waitara xmas is, like many NZ xmases, an organised pot luck, where everyone brings part of the dinner - saves one person doing all the work and being exhausted. So I think it's a great idea.

I volunteered carrot and beetroot salad, as well as sticky toffee pudding. As all of Dee's family just love STP she was going to take on making it instead. But given she has been spending a lot of time down at Palmerston North Hospital while Murray is undergoing treatment, even though she has access to a kitchen at the Ozanam House home they are staying in, she doesn't have a lot of time and has loads of other tasks on her plate.

So I decided I would make them and deliver them to her before she and Murray headed back to Waitara. Waikanae and Palmerston North are only 1 hour 10 minutes apart, so driving there and back was no biggie.

So on Friday I made enough STP to hopefully satisfy 25 people's hot dessert desires - Charlotte is making mini pavlova sliders which will be a hit, I reckon! So there may be a fair bit of STP left over.

Two aluminium roasting trays (roasting trays, I say, so rather large!) of STP. Dee is going to make the sauce and provide the custard. If anyone is interested, the recipe is from the BBC Good Food site, and each of those trays was double the recipe quantities.

That's 450g of chopped dates soaking in boiling water - that was enough for one of the puddings.

Dee also likes my homemade bread, so I made 3 loaves of that for her too.

Three loaves of bread set to rise among the chickens. Apparently I wasn't meant to tell her kids I was doing bread, as she wanted to keep it for herself ...

So yesterday, David and I headed off to Palmerston North, leaving home at 5.30am to beat the holiday traffic - NZers tend to head away before Xmas and I understand that the traffic out of Auckland and Wellington was extremely heavy on Friday afternoon, and expected to get heavy mid morning around Waikanae.

We were a bit later arriving than intended because about 15 minutes from home the fuel light came on - and it said there was only 55 kms of fuel left. Dammit! Not enough to get to PN where there is a cheap fuel place. So we took a bit of time getting some petrol at the BP station, the only one open in Otaki.

Note to self: Do NOT go to BP early in the morning! The only till that is open is the cafe one, and the choices are interminable: type of coffee, size of cup, do you want chocolate or cinnamon, marshmallows yes or no, sugar or not, OK - how many? Aaarrrggghhh!!!

Add to that the pump note says it's on Prepay at the pump. So out comes my fuelcard and I give it a go. But NO it isn't; so in I go to find out what is happening. Nope, Prepay doesn't apply to fuelcard (so why doesn't it bloody well say so on the notice, I fume inside my head.) So out I go again, get $40 of fuel - their pumps are VERY slow to start delivering fuel (about 30 seconds - which is snail's pace), and take ages on the last $2 worth in case it dishes out 1 millilitre more than it should - and then I go inside and wait and wait and wait for the coffee order to be taken. Aaarrrggghhh!!

Puddings and bread were delivered along with a bag of groceries Dee was going to drop off for the Women's Refuge for me (that she subsequently topped up with a donation from the holiday park).

A cup of tea for us, Fortesip for Murray (he had blood tests and a Pic line change coming up before they were to head home) and a chat - longer than we had intended, of course. Murray sloped off for a sleep and we headed away back to Waikanae - we had intended to go to the outdoor market on arrival but were a bit late, so headed straight for breakfast with Bruce and Gary and Leith. Yummy food at the Olive Grove Cafe in Waikanae!

After doing the vegetable market shopping, I went back to bed for a snooze - we had a busy afternoon coming up - a garden party at Madeline and Bevan's place. (We went to the party, I stayed a couple of hours, David stayed on and on and on ... At about 9pm Bevan phoned and asked if I wanted to come and have omelette and salad for dinner. I was sure it was to make sure David would eventually leave ...)

I'm doing beetroot and carrot salad, a green salad and STP for xmas dinner at Bruce and Gary's place, so more dates and demerara sugar are required. Another trip to the supermarket coming up!

Not a good selfie, but necessary to show you how we push the boat out for xmas presents these days - a new grater for David (diddums complained that he hurts his fingers doing the beetroot and carrot salad and I was definitely NOT buying a machine for him to use) and a new cake tin with detachable bottom for me (my current one needs a bulldog clip to hold the ring part closed. This one just has a lifting base).

I have resumed playing 5 Crowns with just David - it is on condition that cumulative scores are not recorded and NO competition is undertaken of Best of 5/15/23/etc. However this scorecard had to be photographed - I got 7 excellent hands in a row ...

Make that 9 excellent hands in a row. I did get a bit caught on the last hand though.

Here is my playing partner - impersonating (??) a rhinoceros using the phone holder. Is it any wonder I despair at times?