I started the day badly, well, it actually started well with Peter volunteering to drive Romas and Linas to Braunton to meet up with the chap who was giving them a lift to MIA in Bude for a day of airsoft games, but when I went downstairs I found the kitchen looking like a bomb had hit it. Dishes and saucepans from several meals, plates brought down from the bedrooms, dried mud all over the floor and all Romas' cymbal stands cluttering the place up. It took me about an hour to clear up the mess. I wasn't that pleased when Peter failed to be sympathetic with my annoyance saying ' They're only teenagers.' and then that made me very cross with him. However a good blogging session reading about people who are content with their lives and others like me having a good old rant soothed the frazzled nerves and before escaping to the outdoors I actually baked 2 Christmas cakes. I used an old recipe that I copied out of a book when I was 16 years old and and on holiday with my mother in Pendeen near St Just. I don't think I actually copied it correctly because there were no spices in the list of ingredients, no instructions to add flour and the final instruction was to finish with a 2" thick layer of almond paste. I made my own adjustments including upping the alcohol content from 1 spoon of brandy to about 6 of whisky and 4 of spiced rum, ( the brandy had been used up in previous years). My main problem when baking Christmas cake has been that the rayburn temperature was always too high but last week someone mentioned that you could get a special cake baker for aga like a biscuit tin that you put the cake tin in, I improvised using 2 roasting tins and I think it did the trick though we haven't tasted them yet. After all this house wifely stuff I got outside for more leaf clearing wrapped up well against the cold.
I remembered to take a before photo.
Da da! all nice and tidy.
Another view of some tidy stones.
A little winter sunshine brings these grasses to life.
Some young riders coming back from a ride up the hill.
