Wednesday 30 October 2019

Pear-Shaped

 Look at these! We planted 3 fruit trees here at Cornerstones five years ago. We've never had any fruit until this year - Bob spotted over the weekend that some pears had dropped onto the grass. 
One had been eaten by wildlife, but three were intact. 
I decided to make a cake and found this recipe


I had 500g of pears, so made half the quantity, in a tin half the diameter (correction below, thanks Nana Gogo) . Things were looking good. I kept back a couple of pieces of pear, and we agreed they tasted juicy and sweet. I put it in the oven to bake, and set the timer. Then I got out my sewing machine. 
Then things "went pear-shaped" as they say. There was somebody knocking frantically at the door. It was our neighbour, asking for Bob's help. "We need a strong man" Another elderly resident of the close had tripped and fallen and could not get up. Bob and I both went over the road and found two other friends with the injured party. We helped her to her feet, and walked her home [only 3 doors away] Fortunately apart from a few bruises, and a sense of embarrassment, she was OK. I settled her into her armchair, whilst her friend made a cuppa Then I came home. . 
And remembered the cake! The timer had gone off whilst we were outside. I estimated the cake had been in the oven for 75 minutes instead of 50! 
It tasted OK, if a little dry. I served it with custard as a pudding. I must try it again and reduce baking time. But I'm glad our friend is OK and that we were on hand to help. 


10 comments:

  1. Oh dear! Half the diameter does not result in half the volume!

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    1. You are absolutely right. What I meant to say was that I used a tin with half the base area, so I would get the same thickness of cake. Using 0.5(pi x r x r) this gave me an approx value of 16cm. But I didn't want to put all the complex maths in the post! I should have said "half the volume"

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    2. Also, did you mean 'NanaJane'? It was nice to see my old name again though!x

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    3. Oops. Apologies to you both!

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  2. At least the cake didn't burn to a crisp! I'm glad your friend is OK, too. :)

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    1. Yes, I'm glad she's OK (and glad it wasn't raining at the time)

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  3. You were lucky , we went to pick the pears on out tree only to find that while we were out someone had helped themselves to every single one .

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    Replies
    1. That's terrible. One house in this village had an Apple tree laden with fruit... And the owners have let them all fall and rot on the grass. That seems equally sad.

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  4. Did you watche the Bake Off final? Poor Steph became completely overwhelmed. I was almost crying with her. I'll miss Noel and Sandi, they were a good team.

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    Replies
    1. Not seen it yet (altho I do know who won)

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