snowed in!Read a good book or two.
The image above is from a fantastic book "Birds Britannica" by Mark Cocker & Richard Mabey.
It is full of amazing facts & pictures -in Tudor times "the London population of kites was protected by statues for its valuable refuse-disposal services.." and "together with penguins and owls, puffins are the birds most often found in the baby's cot"-toy ones that is!!
Or ....
I've opened it at random to give a flavour -"Herefordshire Orchards" & "Strid Woods" (in Yorkshire) & in the chapter about Formby Point (a man-made landscape to stablise a dune system) "From the beginning of the twentieth century, there were around 200 acres of ground among the dunes, divided up into small "pieces", where local growers cultivated splendid crops of asparagus"!
I've just baked a brilliant chocolate cake...can't wait to try it with custard. It's a really dark colour & very moist.
CHOCOLATE BEETROOT CAKE
Serves 6 (in your dreams!!!)
Prep: 20 min Cook: 50 min
75g cocoa powder or powdered drinking chocolate
180g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
250g caster sugar (I used 200g)
250g cooked beetroot
3 large eggs
200ml corn oil
1tsp vanilla extract (I replaced this with ginger)
Icing sugar for dusting
METHOD
Heat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and lightly butter a 20cm (8in) round or square cake tin.
Sift the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder into a bowl. Mix in the sugar, and set these dry ingredients aside. Purée the beetroot in a food processor. Add the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla and oil, and whiz until it is smooth. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the beetroot mixture and mix it all lightly. Pour into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean (cover with a loose sheet of foil if it starts to brown at about 30 minutes). This cake will not rise a great deal, and the top will crack. After removing from the oven, leave it for 15 minutes before taking it out of the the pan. Cool on a wiore rack and dust with icing sugar before serving.
Jill.dupleix@thetimes.co.uk Very Simple Food by Jill Dupleix is published by Quadrille at £20. Order from Times Books First for £16, plus £2.25 p&p. 0870-160 8080
Some more serious stuff
The above cake is apparently an Australian favourite. My heart & healing thoughts go out to those who have suffered as a result of the bush fires. Especially those who have had to watch others suffer & die &, those who are being treated for burns & related injuries. Truely horrific.
An old work colleague sent me an e-mail that caused me some thought. In this age & back through the ages, in every country & amongst every race, so many families have been unwillingly seperated. The pain this causes is carried through the generations -so remember this little girl - she must be somewhere & someone must know something - Madeleine McCann http://www.findmadeleine.com/2008/
