Mary and Bill

When these two lovely books arrived in the post I could not wait to tuck in! 

First, I made Duck Soup from Bill's Everyday Asian.  The photography and styling in this book is just exquisite.  Sadly, my duck soup 'snap' shows my presentation is not in the same league (perhaps I need to place the food with tweezers or something?!) but it did taste pretty good!  My duck was still extremely bloody after the stated cooking and resting time so I heated it up for about another three minutes. 

From The Great British Bake Off I tried the oat and raisin biscuits, although I used sultanas as that's what I had in the cupboard.  These are DELICIOUS! Extremely quick and easy to make and extremely moreish. Just right for an after-school snack.

Dahlias

After a visit to the dahlia beds at Wisley, I now know that the collerette style is pretty...

 Ken's Rarity

The waterlily style is charming ....

 Parkland Rave

The semi-cactus is glorious too but ...

 Blyton Royal Velvet

 Pembroke Levenna

 Wigo Super

the pompom is just perfect!

The After School Energy Booster

 

 

My little girl now attends three hours of nursery school each day.  She loves putting on her school uniform, picking up her book bag and setting off on her birthday scooter.  I too am loving her going to nursery.  It's like reclaiming nap-time but now with the added bonus of being free to leave the house - yippee!  Another bonus is that she is exhausted so falls to sleep very quickly and sleeps right through to 7am or beyond.  Yippee again!

I've been thinking that it must be my motherly duty to have some kind of cake or biscuit to offer when she scoots back home after a hard afternoon of playing (although she always claims to have done "nothing" when I ask her what she's been up to).  

When asked what cake she would like, she said strawberry so my first after-school offering is a strawberry pink fairy cake, with a white icing and glace cherry topping applied by my little helper / taste tester. 

Unseasonably Warm!

 

It is very hard to believe that last weekend we were at the beach, basking in the sun, swimming in the sea and building sandcastles.   Just one week on and I am wearing my coat and contemplating putting the heating on!