Current work: outlines
Listening to: various
Reading: Kristan Higgins, My One and Only (fabulous – made me have a lump in my throat in places – great characterisation); Annie West, Girl in the Bedouin Tent (enjoyed); Lynn Raye Harris, Strangers in the Desert (superb – she’s an autobuy author for me. Love her voice; has warmth as well as passion)
Had a lovely girly Saturday morning with daughter. Started with perfume (as I was down to about two squirts in my current bottle). I nearly, nearly bought a different one, but I did it the sensible way: try perfume, do rest of shopping and have a coffee, then see if I like the perfume’s drydown. Daughter declared that Cool Water was just about OK, but CK1 Shock had gone soapy and the vanilla component was sickly. So it was a another bottle of Addict for me. (Slight panic as Dior has changed the packaging, but very relieved to say that the perfume is that that lovely, non-sickly vanilla bomb.) We also bought new bedlinen and a couple of girly cushions for Madam’s room, and had a lovely bookshop browse (DH, if you’re reading this, please note that I didn’t buy anything for me and I am working through my TBR piles. Really).
And then it was a baking session, mainly because some of my Aussie mates (particularly Amy Andrews and Anna Cleary) have been tempting me with tales of Hummingbird Cake. I looked up a few recipes, but the one that really caught my eye was a BBC recipe (as well as the banana and pineapple, it included mango and passionfruit) and daughter agreed. The icing was a total disaster (first time I’ve ever had icing go runny on me – hmm, perhaps there was a reason why it said full-fat rather than low-fat cream cheese) but the cake was beautiful, very moist.
Listening to: various
Reading: Kristan Higgins, My One and Only (fabulous – made me have a lump in my throat in places – great characterisation); Annie West, Girl in the Bedouin Tent (enjoyed); Lynn Raye Harris, Strangers in the Desert (superb – she’s an autobuy author for me. Love her voice; has warmth as well as passion)
Had a lovely girly Saturday morning with daughter. Started with perfume (as I was down to about two squirts in my current bottle). I nearly, nearly bought a different one, but I did it the sensible way: try perfume, do rest of shopping and have a coffee, then see if I like the perfume’s drydown. Daughter declared that Cool Water was just about OK, but CK1 Shock had gone soapy and the vanilla component was sickly. So it was a another bottle of Addict for me. (Slight panic as Dior has changed the packaging, but very relieved to say that the perfume is that that lovely, non-sickly vanilla bomb.) We also bought new bedlinen and a couple of girly cushions for Madam’s room, and had a lovely bookshop browse (DH, if you’re reading this, please note that I didn’t buy anything for me and I am working through my TBR piles. Really).
And then it was a baking session, mainly because some of my Aussie mates (particularly Amy Andrews and Anna Cleary) have been tempting me with tales of Hummingbird Cake. I looked up a few recipes, but the one that really caught my eye was a BBC recipe (as well as the banana and pineapple, it included mango and passionfruit) and daughter agreed. The icing was a total disaster (first time I’ve ever had icing go runny on me – hmm, perhaps there was a reason why it said full-fat rather than low-fat cream cheese) but the cake was beautiful, very moist.
I did tinker a bit with the recipe – used walnut oil rather than sunflower, added a teaspoon of ground coriander to the cake, and swapped the orange zest for lime in the icing – and we’d definitely consider making it again. It’s very rich and filling, though (and I speak as someone who can be very greedy when it comes to cake). Next time we’ll experiment with it in muffin format. It all goes with the ‘Method Writing’ stuff – unless my ed nixes it…
Plan for today: practise the Mozart piece for lesson tomorrow; finish outline for Vienna book; and work on some other new stuff. I do like this stage of a book – it’s full of delicious possibilities.
4 comments:
Yum. :)
I'd never heard of Hummingbird Cake but yum...
Hey Kate - that does look delish! Just like a bought one :-)
I would like to taste it once.
Shirley - it's very yum!
Amy - LOL ;o)
Laurence - takes 5 minutes to make, 30 mins to cook and 10 mins to cool. Go for it! ;o)
Post a Comment