Just for fun: Recipe sharing
What's your fave cake? Mine is pear and rum cake. I am a huge fan of lemon anything, but have yet to find a lemon cake recipe that is moist enough and doesn't over-colour when baked.. one of my life's missions (I lead a sorry little existence hehe)
Here's my recipe for Pear & Rum cake:
1&1/2c sultanas
1c water
3c peeled and diced pears
1/2c marsala or rum (I’ve only ever used rum or masala – rum you can taste in the cake, marsala not so much)
1&1/2t baking soda
190g butter
1c and 3T sugar
2 large free range eggs
1t vanilla essence
2&1/2c plain white flour
1T baking powder
1t cinnamon
1t ginger
1t mixed spice
1t ground cloves
Bring the sultanas and water to a simmer, let them bubble away for 5 mins. Add the pears, baking soda and booze then turn off the heat, cover and leave to cool.
Cream the butter and sugar before adding the other ingredients.
Gently combine the wet with the dry and bake in a pre-heated 180 deg oven for approx 45 mins til cooked.
I line my baking tin but don’t think it’s critical, greasing it would be tho!
(No idea what size tin I use sorry, it's just "the pear cake tin"!) ;)
Serve dusted with icing sugar and with soft whipped cream as a dessert. Or cold with just the icing sugar dusting.
I have put pecans on the top of this before baking, that was a fab touch.
I have subbed in apples and they're good too!
This recipe never fails and even people who don't like pears or rum will scoff it happily.
PS If you wanted to share your fave recipe, I know I wouldn't complain - I am *that* person who tears a page out of a magazine with a recipe on it (well, not so much now, I tend to take a photo of it but before I had a cell phone you'd see me carefully watching everyone in the room to see if anyone could tell I was nicking off with the page I wanted) :-D
Poll: Do you think NZ should ban social media for youth?
The Australian Prime Minister has expressed plans to ban social media use for children.
This would make it illegal for under 16-year-olds to have accounts on platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X.
Social media platforms would be tasked with ensuring children have no access (under-age children and their parents wouldn’t be penalised for breaching the age limit)
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Do you think NZ should follow suit? Vote in our poll and share your thoughts below.
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85.6% Yes
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13.3% No
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1.1% Other - I'll share below
Cleaning a heat pump
Hi everyone. Can anyone recommend a reliable and reasonable company to clean our heat pump. We used it on cold for a couple of days and when turning it back to warm it has a smell. We get it serviced yearly but the firm we use is expensive.
What's your favourite recipe for courgettes?
Kia ora neighbours. If you've got a family recipe for courgettes, we'd love to see it and maybe publish it in our magazine. Send your recipe to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, and if we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of our January 2025 issue.