Looking Out To Sea

Squared circle tea cup
© Ben Haldenby

We were invited out by a friend for “a cup of tea” last night. The cup was actually made of glass and the tea of the Sauvignon blanc variety from Chile. A bit bold for a Tuesday night but there you go.

After the second “cup of tea” I moved onto actual tea, and a slice of lemon, basil and poppy-seed cake. I’d never tasted a cake with basil in it before. Really good stuff. When I get a free moment maybe I should make some more cake.

In fact, Nick mentioned the other night that The Breadwinner are doing classes in cake, pastry and breadmaking. So maybe I’ll just get Nick to make all the cakes instead. How’s that sound, Nick?

I need to concentrate on the breadmaking anyway. I had intended to do some last night, but found I was short on flour and had the above invitation, so put it off. I did bake two more pains de mie on Sunday night, which make good sandwiches for lunch.

Finally, on the subject of food and cooking, this is how the Nigella challenge looks at the moment:

Recipes to go      103
Days to go         126

We’re not quite at the one-a-day stage yet but we can’t afford to start slacking. We are 46% through the book and 66% through the year. We got through two recipes last night and there will be at least another one tonight. At this stage we have to start planning things with a bit more precision. It would be very easy to end up with some very awkward banquet dishes to work through in the last few days of the year.

We will probably be calling on volunteers. If you think you’re up to the challenge, of course.