Is There Such a Thing as Too Many Limes?

Yesterday we had a busy day including a trip to the neighbours to harvest some citrus.

The previous owners had planted a mandarin, an orange and a lime about 10 years ago and had had their chicken run built around them.  Well at ten years old and well fertilised these trees were going gang busters.

Our current neighbours wanted to lift the canopy of each of the trees and were happy for us to come and pick all the fruit off the pruning instead of it going to waste.

So what should I do with 22 kgs of Limes?
I will be making some lime cordial, some Indian lime pickle and some sweet treats.... lime meringue pie, citrus tart, lime spice syrup cake this list goes on.
But if you have any ideas/recipes please let me know.

Yes that is a laundry basket overflowing with limes.

There is also 5kg of mandarins and 11 kg of oranges but these will be a little easier to manage.

I have promised my neighbour some home made goodies in payment for all the fruit and he is happy with that  but I am pretty sure I got the better end of the deal.

The Harvest and a Home Made Feast

Yesterday I did my usual walk around the garden to seething if there was anything to harvest.
There was the usual cherry tomato's and the beans are still producing a few each day.  There was a couple of button squash, a couple of mini white cucumbers, a capsicum and some basil.  But most exciting of all there were 2 figs and 2 raspberries.  I know that 2 raspberries are not that exciting but I had 2 last week too and they only got planted back at the start of January and the fig has not been in for a year yet either.  There are more figs yet to ripen and now I just have to be patient.  Hubby also informed me that he is not that taken with figs so lucky me I can have them all.
Any thoughts on what I should do with them?  They are ripening a couple at a time.

Because it it a rare treat that Hubby and I get to spend an entire day just pottering about together I decided that   I would make us a nice lunch to have enjoyed with a bottle of red wine Turkish bread, and some dips, basil pesto, hommous, guacamole.  Then we had olives, my bread and butter pickles, olive oil and dukkah  a bit of cheese and a pesto, tomato and salami pizza.

It was a lovely long lunch shared late in the day after a few hours pottering in the garden. 

ANZAC Day

Today is ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) day here in Australia and New Zealand.
Today we remember all the the young men and women who so bravely fought so that we could have the freedoms we enjoy today.
Thank you to all those who paid the ultimate price for us.

Home Made Liquid Soap

We use this soap as hand wash in both the bathroom and kitchen at our place and it is very cheap to make.  The first time I made it it ended up very goopy and stringy and it would not break off from the bottle after you pumped it so there was long strands of soap being stretched between your hand and the pump bottle.  I think it was because I added too much glycerine. I have since adjusted the recipe and I am much happier with the result.
The glycerine can usually be found in the supermarket near the medicinal things, in my local it is next to the Tea Tree Oil.  You can also sometimes find it near the cake decorating items as it is used to make royal icing pliable.  I am not sure it there is any difference but the one I use says "can be used and an emollient to soften roughened skin, chapped hands or sore lips".
I make this in 1 litre amounts because there is only the 2 of us, and even then it lasts for ages.  You will need a stick blender, food processor or some other method of breaking the mix into a liquid.

Liquid Soap

1/2 cup of Lux or grated soap flakes
1 tsp Glycerine
1 litre of water

Into a saucepan place soap flakes and glycerine.  Add your water and heat on the stove on a low - medium heat.  Stir occasionally until all the soap has dissolved.

Once it has all dissolved and you have the clear soapy mix in the pan you remove it from the heat and leave to cool.  At this stage you could add some essential oil for fragrance if you wanted.
It will cool and solidify into a thick jelly like substance that now need to be blended to form the liquid soap.

Once you have blended it into a more liquid state you can pour into your pump bottles and you are ready to go.

I store mine in plastic water bottles one under the bathroom sink and one under the kitchen sink.

I do find that with very grubby hands you may need to use more than 1 lot of soap but it is so cheap that even doing that you still come out miles ahead of the shop brought liquid soap.

Stiff Competition at the Show

Well another year of the local show has come and gone.
I spent a day working as a show steward setting up all the handcrafts.  There were lots of crochet, knitting and sewing entries as well as quilts, toys, and hand made cards.

Judging 

It was really interesting to hear what the judges were looking for in each entry and I took away a lot of pointers for any future entries, I might even help out in a different area next year (produce, flowers, or cookery)so I can hear what the judges are looking for in each section.  The ladies doing the judging were from the CWA and the few things that I can pass on to anyone else who might be entering something for CWA judging are:
Make sure there are no loose threads on any sewing,
If you are crocheting an edge on something make sure all your corners are the same,
Make sure you stick to any size limits specified,
And the more work involved the more points you get.
I am not sure that I would be in with any sort of a chance based on what I saw.  I am only a novice sewer and have only just learnt to crochet, so if I start now I might be ready for next years show.

A very cute entry in the "made from recycled materials"

On the day of the show my first port of call was the poultry exhibits.
I love the colour of this bantam she was very cute with very fluffy feet.

This rooster had the most striking colours and the pattern even affected his legs where he had both black and yellow scales.

 There were some lovely fluffy Cochin chickens.

And check out these strapping lads.They had such long legs and I am sure would not have looked out of place strutting down the catwalk, or is that the chicken walk?

And what of my entries?
Second for both my Bread and Butter Pickles and Cherry Chutney, third for my Eggs, sadly I missed out on placing with my other entries but there was a lot of competition and that is not really why I entered.  It is all about getting into the spirit of the event and having a go.  Every year I enter a few more things and I am already thinking about next year.

Do you enter in your local show?  What do you enter?