Yesterday i got an aloe vera plant from friends living in my street. Last week i took care of their cats, while they were on holiday. They have many aloe vera plants in their house, so i asked for one. Very happy with it. Need to read more about its uses. For now, i love the way it looks, so i won’t be using it that much.
It is cold today. The first day of the wintertime. A long day. It still feels like it should be later right now. Only 21:11.
There was a Pot Luck this evening at the Vredestuin. I didn’t expect many people. We joked beforehand, Jorinde and me, that maybe it would be just the two of us. But it was quite busy! Around twelve people turned up. We chatted. Sang a few songs. Sat around the fire, which made it feel not that cold. Our behinds were cold though. And the few moments i walked away i felt the chill in the wind.
I made a potato, onion, courgette and green tomato dish to cook upon the wood fire. Someone else bought a dessert, a thick sweet semolina porridge with currants. Vegan. I still had some quince cake i baked this morning. I’m still full.
A lovely evening!
I love quince. Last year was the first year i ate them. Here in the Netherlands they are not well known. But we have them in the garden, so i started to look for recipes. And there are plenty. The membrillo i made two weeks ago. Jams and jellies. And cakes!
I’m taking a Nigel Slater cake as inspiration. I didn’t have golden syrup, so i added a bit more muscovado sugar and some honey i still lying around. This week i saw quinces on the market at a Turkish stall, for 80 cents a kilo. I bought four big ones.
Ingredients
water 1.5 litres
caster sugar 150g
quinces 3, medium
lemon 1
For the cake:
self-raising flour 250g
ground cinnamon 1 tsp
ground ginger 1 tsp
bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp
salt a pinch
honey 200g
butter 125g
dark muscovado sugar 125g
eggs 2
poaching syrup from the fruit 240ml
Method
First you need to boil the quinces until they are soft in the water and sugar liquid. I let mine boil for around an hour. The recipe said to core them afterwards with a teaspoon. That didn’t work for me. So i halved the quinces again so i could cut out the cores. It worked reasonably well. Some bits broke off. To me it still looked good.
Pre-heat your oven at 180ªC. Use a round cake tin with a diameter of around 24 cm and butter it.
For the cake you mix the dry ingredients. Then you warm up the butter, muscovado sugar and the honey (or golden syrup if you have that). The two eggs and 240 ml of the poaching liquid are mixed separately. Add the butter and sugar mixture to the dry ingredients and mix them. Then add the egg and liquid mixture. This leaves you with a slightly runny cake mixture. Pour this over the quinces in the tin.
Bake the cake for around 40-45 minutes.
Enjoy!
Tomato harvest is going towards its end. Last weekend we picked most of the tomatoes from the plants. Green ones. Around a month ago i made green tomato chutney. I likd it, but it was too sweet for some people. So i searched for another recipe. I found this one on the BBC Good Food website.
In the comments there are some variations mentioned. So i’m adding some spices and chili’s. I will add the old chutney i made, simply add less sugar and taste a bit more.
The courgettes are for a pickling sweet sour courgette recipe. I ended up not making it. Another day.
Ingredients
Method
above CH’IEN THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN
below K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER
The upper trigram, whose image is heaven, has an upward movement; the lower trigram, water, in accordance with its nature tends downward. Thus the two halves move away from each other, giving rise to the idea of conflict.
The attribute of the Creative is strength, that of the Abysmal is danger, guile. Where cunning has force before it, there is conflict.
A third indication of conflict, in terms of character, is presented by the combination of deep cunning within and fixed determination outwardly. A person of this character will certainly be quarrelsome.
THE JUDGMENT
CONFLICT. You are sincere
And are being obstructed.
A cautious halt halfway brings good fortune.
Going through to the end brings misfortune.
It furthers one to see the great man.
It does not further one to cross the great water.
Conflict develops when one feels himself to be in the right and runs into opposition. If one is not convinced of being in the right, opposition leads to craftiness or high-handed encroachment but not to open conflict.
If a man is entangled in a conflict, his only salvation lies in being so clear-headed and inwardly strong that he is always ready to come to terms by meeting the opponent halfway. To carry one the conflict to the bitter end has evil effects even when one is the right, because the enmity is then perpetuated. It is important to see the great man, that is, an impartial man whose authority is great enough to terminate the conflict amicably or assure a just decision. In times of strife, crossing the great water is to be avoided, that is, dangerous enterprises are not to be begun, because in order to be successful they require concerted unity of focus. Conflict within weakens the power to conquer danger without.
THE IMAGE
Heaven and water go their opposite ways:
The image of CONFLICT.
Thus in all his transactions the superior man
Carefully considers the beginning.
The image indicates that the causes of conflict are latent in the opposing tendencies of the two trig rams. Once these opposing tendencies appear, conflict is inevitable. To avoid it, therefore, everything must be taken carefully into consideration in the very beginning. If rights and duties are exactly defined, or if, in a group, the spiritual trends of the individuals harmonize, the cause of conflict is removed in advance.
Today i took a bus towards Maassluis. It passed the following streets:
Station Schiedam Centrum – Delflandseweg – Broersvest – Koemarkt – Oranjestraat – Warande – Sint Liduinaplein – Burgemeester van Haarenlaan – Vlaardingerdijk – Vijfsluizen Metro – Mr. L.A. Kesperweg – Vlaardingen Oost – Verploegh Chasseplein – Stadsgehoorzaal – Liesveldviaduct – Van der Driftstraat – Westlandseweg – Floreslaan – Maasland Viaduct – Vermeerlaan – Mesdaglaan – Mgr. W.M. Bekkerslaan – Korte Boonestraat – Rozenlaan – Mozartlaan – Uiverlaan – Koningshoek – Maassluis West – Nachtegaallaan – Korhoenstraat – Einthovendreef
The bus drove past the house i am born in. Past the old trainstation, being rebuild now as a tube station. Past the street i walked on towards lower school. Past the trees i played around with a friend. Past the city centre i went to and bought my records, my clothes, my shoes. Almost everything.
Memories, memories, memories.
A week in which i did a lot of reading. I slept better, didn’t watch anything on my iPad in bed. Thinking a lot. About when i will publish my videoclip. Right now i’m thinking the end of this year, Monday 31 December 2018. The last day of the year. The first day of the week after Christmas. The week before i’m taking off. Christmas and all. It feels good to me.
Now i am going to take a shower. Wash my hair. Going to bed early. I will look tv on my iPad this evening in bed. Expeditie Robinson. I don’t have any desire to participate in this show myself. Like, never. But it is interesting to watch. Ooh and the Keuringsdienst van Waarde is on tonight as well. One of the few television programs i watch every time it is on.
A good weekend to you. Salute!