A tale of two cakes

The black Labrador sit is over, the two weeks flew by. We did not have the best of weather, but we did about ten kilometres a day. He became a local of the Cosy Nook and the TRHA shop open days on Sundays. I got to know him well and he me. He is a very easy dog, food, walks and love was all he needed in that order probably! The last day I lost our car keys in their sofa, so had to use our spare set, the original ones were soon found thank goodness. There was a day off before the next sit, to clean the house, do some chores and have two neighbours around for dinner. 

The first cake was a crystallised ginger cake, with a lemon icing topping and chunks of that ginger atop. There were grated bits of the ginger in the cake itself. It was a bit disappointing but my cake testers did not all agree. I don’t think I will bother making it again.

The allotment is now manured and the raised beds have been turned over as best as I can. I have decided on the piece shown, I am going to grow potatoes, I have them in the garage chatting. I will get more manure to earth then up so there should be no excuse for a poor potato crop! There are shallots in one raised beds, which will have garlic in their soon. I have bought some herbs for the bed in front of the plot.

The next cake was a triumph. Even I said it was good. It was slightly overdone, but not by much. I have said before loaf cakes seem easy to over bake, so I found a round tin version of a lemon drizzle  cake and it worked a treat. I used three lemons for the zest which goes in the cake and gives it that lemon taste. 

The next sit was in Waltham St Lawrence a pretty and largely unspoilt village near us. It has an ancient pub in the centre and the house I was in is near there. It’s a real old fashioned British pub. In winter, log fires, wonderful beers, very good sausage sandwiches. Unfortunately one of the dogs I looked after doesn’t like pubs! They are both Cairns which look a bit like Westies. They have fun characters and both know me from a sit last year. The walks are nice around here, you often meet other people with dogs. The house is very old too.  The weather was mixed, cold with sharp showers, so the landscape can quickly change appearance in with the weather.




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