Cake

 The dog work is still going on. Quite amazing really. But I was stepping in and helping a friend who does dog walks. I particularly enjoyed walking a Cocker Spaniel, that she normally walks, I have known her since she was a puppy playing with a dog I was looking after. I visited a friend of mine, who had a cocker, this one I just mentioned looks a bit like her dog, now sadly passed away, and after a walk with me, she lies between us, so my friend can stroke her. It’s a magical moment. 

Meanwhile back to cakes. This is a boozy fruit cake, but I did not feed it with booze, it’s really a fruit cake with walnuts. It was a bit crumbly but still very nice. 

The jigsaw is getting sporadic activity, but bit by bit, progress is being made. I am still trying to fit in the Pilates during the day.

The next job was to marzipan and ice the Christmas cake. Apricot jam goes on the cake to glue down the marzipan and then more jam before the icing layer is put on that. The top  is easy, but the sides, you have excess material to try and flatten out so you get smooth sides. It took a bit of work, you may remember my neighbour showed me how to do this last year. I am going to take a slice for her to try.

Meanwhile at the allotment, I have done three of the four edges, it’s probably doesn’t look very different in the photo. At the front there is an area of land outside the cage, which I plan to sow flowers in. There is a rusty water tank, my allotment friend suggested I grow mint it, as you need to keep it constrained. As I have been doing the edges, I have moved excess soil into the raised beds topping them up. Talking of which many have rotten sides, so that will need replacing. I have some extra raised beds which have come from another allotment friend, these come from a factory, surplus to requirements, they can be opened up and used as raised beds. I plan to reuse the paving stones as a pathway through the plot, as I create garden rubbish I take it away home to go in our green waste bin. There will be another tip visit, there is some other rubbish like rotten wood and the weed block fabric I am not going to use to remove..

Finally another cake. This time an orange chocolate one. This has orange rind in the cake, the chocolate icing is made from the chocolate that has an orange essence in it. It’s very rich but nice.



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