Thursday, February 17, 2011

Lovely Neighbours

I was at a wonderful 21st birthday party for a young lady in our village.  I have known her since she was a tot.   It always startles me when I see her and others her age from the village.  In my mind, they are still chubby cheeked primary school kids and the picture I carry around of them in my head doesn't match up with the elegant young adults I am often confronted with.  It was a fun night.  It is always nice to have a reason to dust off a party dress.   There were so many of our local gal's friends from the University of Edinburgh where she attends that they needed a coach to get them here!  

One of the best things about this party was not only did all the university lads wear their kilts, there were some elders from the community at the party as well.   I got to have a nice long chat with Geoff,  semi-retired farmer in our village and father of the fabulous Tina, a dear friend of mine.   During our conversation I said that the potatoes he had given me the last time I popped by to say hello were simply delicious.

The very next day, this arrived at the house.
 Dear dear Geoff brought us an entire sack of potatoes!
I love gifts that come in big brown burlap sacks!  I do not know the variety of these potatoes, but the pale yellow flesh has a floury texture when cooked and are really tasty.  Being embarrassed by the generosity of my neighbours, I tried to pay for them.  I have been assured that the potatoes would have just gone to waste otherwise and he was happy to give them to us.

On Wednesday nights I go into Dumfries.  The dive club meets at DG1, the fancy new swimming pool for training.  I have started the custom of bringing in a cake when it is somebodies birthday.  Alex, the club's equipment officer and all around good egg is having a birthday on Sunday.   Alex is a great guy and would do anything for his pals at the dive club, but it is widely known that he is a little accident prone.  So it was no surprise when making his cake, I dropped it on my newly cleaned kitchen floor!

By some freak of luck, I actually had enough ingredients and TIME to bake a second cake.
 The shattered first cake was left here at the house - we're not proud - it's broken but still delicious.  The second cake was iced and made it to Dumfries in perfect condition.

I also wanted to show you one of the things that is currently in bloom here at the house:

This lovely clivia - given to me by Elizabeth, the mother of another dear friend, Anna.   Isn't it beautiful?

5 comments:

Jay said...

That's a lot of potatoes. Luckily there is a variety of ways to to prepare them. And they're all yummy!

Betty said...

The cake looks yummy, even though it gives new meaning to the phrase, "the cake fell." lol

Anonymous said...

Good story! My parents still tell about the time they had a party in their basement for all the neighbors. A ham was part of the refreshments, and was being toted to one of the next houses for a breakfast in the wee hours when the carriers dropped it in a gravel driveway. Everyone was so cheery by that time that they simply brushed it off and set it out with the scrambled eggs. Cousin Susan

Anonymous said...

Peggy

Not only can you eat those delicious sounding potatoes, but you can 'chit' some and plant them - then you will have more.

I loved the look of the cake, broken and as new.

Clivia's are so lovely.

Sarah said...

Dropped food is a fact of life and so far this year we've had dropped onion tart (before the goat cheese was added) and dropped muffins. I see you're a good housekeeper and that helps!

Love the houseplants. My mini orange tree is about to blossom- yeah!! Your citris tree was my inspiration to get one!