Baking cookies for Chocolate Day

Rutherford folks visit

JOYCE WYLLIE

A bus load of Ernest Rutherford Lifestyle Village residents enjoyed visiting Golden Bay for a day.

Each month Roni Little from Travel Connections organises an adventure somewhere in the top of the South Island and this time was a trip over the hill.

Morning tea and time in Tākaka was followed by a drive to Pakawau where some locals joined them for lunch at the Old School Café. Roni reported back that the Rutherford folk “were amazed at the venue, the delicious food and of course, the company of ladies of the region and did not stop talking all the way home. "I am sure they are still telling all their neighbours at the village of the fun day out we shared.”

When Roni thanked everyone for coming to “dine in class at the Old School“ she added that “it was a pleasure to escort the residents over to the bay, you really made our day and they will be back”.

JOYCE WYLLIE

World Chocolate Day on 7 July is an annual celebration of chocolate, observed all over the world since 2009.

But the anniversary it celebrates, of chocolate being introduced to Europe, goes way back to 1550. Before that, chocolate was available only in countries across South and Central America.

One day late for this official international event, I baked some chocolate goodies on a wet Saturday afternoon. Pregnancyscanning all our ewes – a big job in our sheep farming calendar – is coming up this week, so biscuit tins need to be full to provide smoko for the ultrasound guy and team of helpers in the woolshed.

I like easy recipes and will share one we made often when our children were young and keen on helping in the kitchen. Called “Magic Cookies”, the introduction states, “these biscuits can be poked, pushed, prodded, rolled, dropped, sliced, put through a biscuit press, or thumb-printed with jam in the centre.”

Any flavouring or decoration can be added to this basic recipe, so this time I chose cocoa. My batch were fancy, because I used a biscuit press; after Mum died, I inherited her's. Dad gave it to her for a birthday one year and she often used this wonderful apparatus. It was the gift that kept on giving, as she made many yummy treats with it over the years. Screwing