From Blue Skies To Grey

 

This morning began with sunshine and azure blue skies, without a breath of wind to disturb the peace.

At lunchtime we had a thunderstorm pass over, and the skies stayed grey and murky afterwards with the odd shower of rain.

My Apple Blossom rosebud geranium (reportedly a favourite of Queen Victoria's)
has begun to flower

I hope everyone had a pleasant Christmas Day.  I certainly did, although I admit I ate too much! 

On Boxing Day I enjoyed a Zoom meeting with my daughter (it was Christmas Day for her in the USA), once we got it all up and running.  Modern technology is wonderful when we can use it to stay in contact with loved ones.

Boxing Day is also the day of our biggest annual retail sales, and we heard reports of our local malls being thronged to the maximum with people.  Not my scene at all – I dislike crowds at the best of times.

There is a corned beef steadily cooking away in the slow-cooker, and the smell is bringing flies into the house.  Not very keen on flies either!

Happy holidays everyone 😊

Margaret

A NOTE ABOUT CORNED BEEF.

It seems that a goodly part of the world has corned beef in a can – we can buy canned here as well, and it is a horrid fatty lump that is not very nice.

Our corned beef is usually a piece of brisket or silverside that was originally kept for several days in a strong brine solution, similar to the corning of an ox tongue.  Today I believe it is injected with something to “corn” it and the meat is nowhere near as salty as it used to be – it now also has a jelly that sits around it in the bag and this must be washed off before cooking.

I cook mine in simmering salted water along with a splash of vinegar, some brown sugar, peppercorns, whole allspice and a couple of sprigs of thyme.  In the crockpot it takes several hours on High to end up with a product that is tender and succulent to eat.

It is cheaper to buy than a roast cut of meat so has become popular with a lot of families, and is equally nice whether eaten hot or cold.