Out and About and Lemon Honey

 I've certainly been out and about lately, meeting up with friends.  Firstly with Louise and Robert who came down this way in their motor home to attend a country and music festival in Marton.  Then they had people to see, family to catch up with, and arranged to meet me for lunch too.  There was a communication breakdown about where we were meeting, as my text message didn't get sent, for whatever reason.  After a bit of telephone tag later in the morning, everything was smoothed out, and arrangements confirmed.   We went to a favourite of mine, Salt and Pepper Cafe.  There was plenty to catch up on, we pondered the menu and ordered our lunches.  There was only one choice for me, with soup on the menu - mmm, delicious leek and potato soup, so tasty.  Louise and Robert only wanted a light meal too, as they were moving on after seeing me and meeting up with family for dinner that night.  And then driving back to Papamoa over the next couple of days.

Lunch at Salt and Pepper

Once they arrived safely home, there was really sad news from their home town and nearby Mt Maunganui.  The severe rain had triggered landslides.  One in Papamoa, which buried a house, killing a grandmother and grandson.  And another which came down at Mt Maunganui at the motor camp, burying caravans and damaging the toilet block, with the loss of another six lives.  So very sad

Then several days later I had a big (for me) drive down to Paraparaumu, I'm not too keen driving along the expressway, especially in the rain.  But I made it, and needed a coffee to recover!  Then I had a couple of things to do on my list, including going to the local Spotlight to purchase some wide backing for the blue heart and and star quilts I'm working on.  That was a  bargain, luckily it was on special at one third off the price!  I had arranged to meet friends Bill and Val for lunch at nearby Waikanae.  Bill and Val went out of their way to help me that day I lost Robin, towing the caravan safely home for me from Hastings, I will be forever in their debt.  We met at Relish Cafe, such a very popular place with great food.  I enjoyed some pate and toast for a change, delicious indeed.

Relish Cafe

Then I had an unexpected invitation to meet with my daughter Nicky and her husband Robert for breakfast.  They were staying in Foxton Beach for the weekend, and the weather had turned bad, so I think they were bored.  Once again, I set off in the pouring rain, luckily the traffic was fairly quiet.  I enjoyed the most delicious mushrooms and bacon with blue cheese sauce, served on toast, so nice and tasty.  Nicky had her favourite Eggs Benny, and Robert had the Big Breakfast.  

Robert and Nicky

So what else has been happening here as well as me being a social  butterfly?  Gemma has been her beautiful self, and here she is getting some treats out of of her little plastic mousie.  She bats it gently with her paw and mousie wobbles about, releasing a couple of treats.  What fun for her, and she soon gets them all.

I think she's got most of them out

And I've also made some lemon honey (lemon curd),  so delicious.  And really easy to make in the microwave.  The recipe just makes a couple of jars which I store in the fridge.  Mmm, so tasty on a slice of toast, or fresh bread.  I think it can be used in desserts too, I'll have to check that out.

Microwave lemon honey