Practice makes perfect

The Italian giant onion seeds have finally germinated. They have a long way to go before they will barely fit in my hand but acorns and oak trees eh? 


This Labrador is a very different kettle of fish. I like different, it’s good. He is like the black Labrador I know who lives in Oxford now as he like cuddles and he doesn’t eat things I don’t want him too! But the chocolate one is lovely I am missing her already. There was a day of overlap where they were together. They got on ok, but the chocolate one wanted to be super friendly and this one wasn’t so sure he wanted to reciprocate her advances! Back at his this house, he loves helping me eat my breakfast and as the chocolate one does he spits out the apple pips after eating an apple core. He has a bit of a drooling problem, but nothing as bad as the St Bernard. He also doesn’t like walking in straight lines, he zig  zags.  But no dog is perfect and humans even less so. At night he loves leaning into me and resting his head on my legs. He then gives out a contented sigh.


I had another go at the Battenberg cake and like a lot of things being careful and precise pays dividends. I only divided my battenburg cake tin in two and cut each baked piece into two, cooking a larger cake mix meant it was less prone to overbaking. The cake naturally rises to a ridge shape and I using my cake cutting wire I sliced the top level  and then making sure each piece was square cross section wise. A different technique for wrapping the cake in marzipan. Roll out a piece for the base, spread apricot conserve on that and build the cake up using more conserve to glue it together. Then roll a larger piece of marzipan out, more conserve on the outside edges of the cake and drop the marzipan over it. Careful folding, pinching and it was done. I will possibly make one more test one before I do the show entry one later in March.

Had a productive morning moving well rotted horse manure onto the new plot. I did three car loads, about eleven bags in each run. It’s hard to see on the photo where I have dumped it and my friend who is donating the stuff might run out before I cover it all over, which I probably should not do, some crops should not be grown on freshly manured land. 



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