Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone. Thanks for reading and a special thank you to everyone who comments. It's lovely to have some feedback and interaction, especially when working from home which can feel a bit lonely. Here's to a happy, healthy & creative 2015.

Sunday morning

We had a family get together on Sunday, which was good fun but quite a bit of preparation was needed in the morning.

Celebrating . . .

Yesterday we celebrated the Queen's Jubilee. We had a tea party at a friend's house and I ate my bodyweight in sandwiches, scones and cake, it was delicious as you can see. I'm not particularly a royalist but I cannot help but admire the Queen at 86 and the 60 years of her reign.

Celebrations

It was my Mum's birthday at the weekend and as a family we always make a big deal of these days. After all, they are kind of special. It was the first truly hot day of the year and so we were able to be outside for the evening - a real treat.
My sister made her 'speciality pudding/cake' which is simple and delicious - I am going to have to share it here:
She buys a ready-made large sponge flan base which she cuts into 3 - horizontally - you are left with 3 thin layers. Don't worry if you muck this up - it is very hard to do - you can easily patch it up later! 
If it is an adult dinner, douse the sponge with peach liquer (Archers). If not just layer it with sliced strawberries and softly whipped double cream. When the final top of sponge goes on, cover with more cream and decorate with strawberries. Leave for a while before serving to go all gooey.
As you can see - 3 of us contributed to this and we had drunk too many glasses of the pink liquid on the left! Plus my nieces were throwing strawberries at it from all angles. Rather artistic I think, and my Mum loved it!