I had a fairly well balanced weekend. I drove through to East London on Sat for another study session. Better than the last one so it was worth it; even though I really didn’t feel like going when I got up at 6am on Saturday!
I bought some prickly pears on the way home. They are delicious! Have you ever tried them? They are the fruit of the Opuntia cactus. Unfortunately pricky pear cacti are invasive in this country so there is a drive towards elimination of them. For the moment though, when the fruit is in season, you’ll see lots of people selling buckets of them on the side of the road.
Prickly Pears
Now, as the name implies, the fruits are prickly. Covered in fact, in fine sharp hair-like spines which are a b*tch if you get them in you! So there is a trick to peeling these fruits so you don’t end up with a mouthful of spines!
First you get a plastic bag, a fork and a sharp knife. And a clean bowl to put your peels fruits into.
The three cuts
The you cut the ends off the fruit and make a shallowish cut lengthwise down the fruit, just in front of your fork.
You then have to sort of roll the outer flesh away from the inner flesh that contains the seeds. The inner flesh is the bit you want to keep. The important thing is not to let any of the inner flesh or your utensils touch the plastic bag. Put the peeled fruits into the clean bowl and throw away the plastic bag containing all the peelings.
Peeling...
Just be careful not to eat too many! The can cause constipation! A few chunks in a fruit salad give a lovely exotic twist…
The fruit and seeds
On Saturday night we ended up at a braai at a friend’s place. My Gin & Dry Lemon’s were going down verrrry well; especially as it was a hot hot night and we were sipping them in the pool. Lovely! A great braai followed by by 11pm I was asleep on my feet so I dragged John home. Shame; I felt bad about that.
On Sunday, John and his Dad went off to watch cricket in East London. His Dad had an invite to the President’s Box at the grounds so it was jacket & tie and blazers all round. John loved it though! I spent the day baking and cooking. And I have a loose end to tie up for you!
I made a batch of Banana Bread and I have enough bananas to make another 3 batches. That particular recipe freezes really well and it’s so nice to have the loaves on hand. Bananas are on special at the moment as well so it makes it really cheap to make.
I also made some Ginger biscuits and a chocolate version of my Aunty Ann’s biscuits, but I was a bit hungover so completely forgot to take photos. They are delicious though!
Remember that Limoncello I made a few months back? Well I FINALLY got around to tasting it. Hey, it can only improve with age right? Well, it’s really really good. It has to be ice cold though, with several block of ice and sipped slowly…but it’s goooood!
Limoncello
And now I must rush off to Pilates….byeeee!
“Don’t pick the prickly pear by the paw. When you pick a pear try to use the claw. But you don’t need to use the claw when you pick a pear from the big pawpaw…” (Baloo on Jungle book)
I have never actually seen a prickly pear, let along tasted one! But the photos are beautiful! :)
Tee hee! I started humming along with that!
Pingback: Cliff Notes 2011 Edition « C'est la Vie