Poppy's Apple Pie

We have a day at home today and I want to do some work outside. It won't be anything exciting just some mowing, pulling out some sensitive weed that sort of stuff. Maybe I might get all enthused and move those rocks that are annoying me and put them around the tanks, I usually have to be really fed up with something to do a big job like that alone and I don't' think I am there yet :)



The other day we made "Poppy's Apple Pie", it used to be called "Eric's Apple Pie" for years but has now been officially renamed :) It is the easiest recipe ever and the yummiest and even I have never ruined it (though I can't say the same for the jam tartlet thingys we made), and you would never go back to a store bought pie again.

POPPY'S APPLE PIE

Pastry

1 3/4 cups SR Flour
1 3/4 cups Plain flour
200grams butter/marg
pinch salt
2 teaspoons sugar
200 ml (approx) water leave moist

Stewed Fruit

4 cooking apples (or pears, peaches, apricots, plums or nectarines
2 tablespoon sugar
2 cloves

Peel fruit and cut into quarters and remove cores. Put 1-2 cm if water into a sauce, add sugar and cloves and bring to the boil. When boiling add fruit and cook gently with the lid on until tender. Allow to cool, remove cloves.

Rub marg/butter into flour, add salt and sugar. Mix in water but do not over beat, use fork. Knead lightly on floured board and roll to required thickness. Put pastry into pie dish and add the stewed fruit, place cover pastry on top and join using milk (we cut strips and use a criss cross pattern as that is what Poppy told me years ago). Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Cook 180 degrees for 40min.



Of course when it came out of the oven we had apple pie and ice cream for lunch, and then after dinner that night we again had apple pie and ice cream. Then last night, as we had run out of ice cream, I made custard and we had apple pie and custard YUM.


Yesterday my partner in crime and life came home with two chook eggs and four duck eggs which had been given to him by a mate from work. He has all these free ranging chooks and ducks at his place and my partner in crime and life can't wait to have the same (though we are waiting a bit before we do this).

To finish off this post I have to say we are very proud of our number one and only son, he now officially has his Junior Open Water Dive Licence. He did all his theory and stuff last Sunday and yesterday he went diving on the reef and completed the open water part of the course. He has been diving since he was 8 years, so about four and half years, with a dive school that teaches kids and now we can go out together without an instructor.

He had the best day, and even though he had to do all his skills at about 12 metres down, he barely thought about that part as he is so familiar with it. All he could talk about when he got home was about the really big turtle he saw and they swam along with, the stingrays they saw, sea cucumbers and star fish, mauri wrass fish with a shark bite, clown fish, bat fish, trevally.

He is now talking about what is the next thing in diving he can do, and can't wait till he is 18years so he can do his masters, it opens up a whole new world and gives him more options. It is just a wonderful thing for him to do, and I am really glad we have been able to give him this experience.