My entire day with the exception of a quick trip to Home base has been spent in the kitchen and very hot I found it. Once breakfast was over and my son and his comrades had departed to do battle, I girded up my loins for the marathon baking day and hoped for the best. My oven is still misbehaving and is the cause of much annoyance, but where there's a will and all that.
The first batch of baking was a test batch of orange lavender cupcakes. As a rule I make a large version of this cake but as one or two people at my sons place of work have expressed an interest in trying this unusual summer cake and a large sticky cake is difficult to slice individual cakes seemed a good idea. Much to my amazement the first batch of a dozen came out well ans so I soon had another two dozen in the oven.
This type of cake is so popular with my neighbours that I have to make sure that I send enough for both to have an equal share of there is trouble. Today I used toe fatless sponge recipe as the orange sugar syrup has enough calories without the addition of butter.
With four dozen of these little cakes cooling I washed up the clutter of dishes and started again. Soon I was chopping and toasting hazelnuts for a special roasted hazel nut short bread and again several trays were needed, luckily my oven will hold six trays at a pinch today I made three, a few of which will be served with strawberries and cream for a pudding at tomorrows dinner.
All afternoon the kitchen became hotter and hotter until at last I could stand it no longer, feeling faint and very dizzy I walked out in to the garden to cool off. It was pleasant to sit for a while on the oak bench silver with age and watch the birds doings from under the shade of the damson tree. I had taken with me a pint of beer, it was an enjoyable few moments and then the timer I had put in my apron pocket roused me from my day dreams and I hurried back top the kitchen to remove the shortbread from the oven and dust if with caster sugar
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By the time I had clear the kitchen again it was almost time to start dinner and although by now it had cooled down a little I felt that I should be very glad to have a good long relaxing bath. We had a simple meal of scrambled eggs on toast with pannchetta fried very crisply followed by some of the cakes I made earlier. It was exactly the right meal for tonight and we all enjoyed it .
Yesterday I had a surprise gift from my son, a DVD of a very old film called “The Ghost Goes West” starring Robert Donat, a brilliant actor of the thirties and forties. I have only seen this film all the way through once when I was five years old. By that time I had already met several real ghosts and young as I was I remember thinking that if ghosts were as good looking as this one I should not mind how often I was haunted. A few dats ago my lovely son tracked down a copy and it arrived yesterday evening. With all my chores done and everyone safe in bed I snuggled up with a cup of tea to watch this long lost treasure. I was not disappointed, it was even better than I remembered funny in places too, I enjoyed it so much that I watched it again and finally fell asleep watching it for a third time.... marvellous.
I do beg your pardon for last nights rant, not that I did not mean every word of it, to bend your ears in such a fashion was rather naughty and probably rather a bore. I have now become Aunty Avie again so for a while at least you are safe!
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