soapdragon

And the sprouts are not cooking yet! Clearly far too late and we will be sproutless this year Should have remembered by the end of September.

I've just bought some more brandy (only 1/4 bottle - honest!) and my task this weekend is to peel off the icing and marzipan, test and refeed. Not sure if I will ice and marzipan again though.......I'd prefer to leave as is, if poss, as that would then be closest I could get to MIL's original handiwork. I'm hoping that FIL won't get too emotional about it (also that I don't offend/upset step MIL!) Good God...it's only cake but fraught with politics nonetheless! I need to get cracking on our Christmas cake soon too....for some reason my boys have requested a fruit cake, iced and marzipaned, this year. I've not covered a round one before so will be a learning curve (quite literally!) the square was easy peasy but the round presents a challenge. Not sure when 'Stir Up' Sunday is. Or is that just the deadline for puddings? Does anyone know?

We are not very adventurous (and anyway have boys at school so can't dash off 'abroad') but I did look at the Oxford Christmas Market website as we thought it would be a treat for said boys to be out and about late and it's open till 8 Thursday to Saturday! Having looked through the list of 'exhibitors' though there don't seem to be very many specifically Christmas ones. The German and Eastern Europe ones all seem totally Christmas orientated. Anyone planning on visiting a Christmas market and, if so, which one? Or did anyone go to one last year and how was it?

Well, yes, the fruit was pre soaked too (as, probably, was the cook!)

I've decided that the best way to tackle this will be to turn the cake upside down so that I can get a knife (of whatever description ) between the marzipan and cake and hopefully prise it all off. The cake was well soaked in brandy before icing so I am hoping it has stayed moist; probably pickled! I think MIL used a whole bottle between the three tiers!

I think we have been lucky here in south Oxfordshire then. We have had some heavy rain for sure but mainly at night (so nice to listen to when you are tucked up in bed even when OH's snoring nearly drowns the drumming rain out ) A couple of showers during the day yesterday but I still managed to dry the bedding (love that outdoors, line dried smell!) and today has been cold and crisp and bright. With the heavier rain I am hoping that the garden is now soft enough to dig over sometime next week - its been rock hard for ages and I've not really been able to get more than an inch or so down since the Spring!

I have found today a very thought provoking one. YS and I went to the village service at our War Memorial (as we always do) but ES (14) was still in bed at 10.30am in spite of us all having talked about going to the service yesterday and him saying that he wanted to come. OH was in the middle of baking bread and said he'd mistimed it so couldn't go either; I felt very upset that neither of them made the effort (which was, after all, not massive.) 12 men went to war from Chalgrove and didn't come home again - 3 brothers amongst them. This afternoon I made some ANZAC biscuits; my maternal grandfather was an ANZAC and fought (and lost a leg) at Gallippoli . To say that I am 'looking forward' to watching the highlights of the day later this evening sounds a bit odd but certainly I do want to see as much of it as possible (I should have recorded it - stupid me!) It does seem that this 100th anniversary of the Armistice has really captured people's hearts and minds. Its so incredibly touching to watch contemporary footage and to think how easy we have it all nowadays. Not a cheerful, jolly post but I did feel that I wanted to mark the day.

Thank you - I may yet take it to the next Antiques Roadshow! I'm not too confident about taking the icing and marzipan off but guess I could just cut it off? What I can't do is just to bin it.....never thought I'd get so emotional over a cake!

We needed to move a huge cupboard in our sitting room this afternoon and so had to empty it. Amongst the myriad bits and bobs squirelled away over the years (ahgggh!) we found a box with the top tier of our wedding cake in it. It is looking very sad tho not mouldy as was fed with much brandy! Our first thought was to bin it as the icing and marzipan are showing the cake through. However, it's FIL's 80th in a few weeks time and I wonder if the underlying fruit cake will be edible? MIL made it 30 years ago and died 20 years ago so, to have this at FIL's 80th would be really special. Has anyone experience of this? I know it's traditional to keep the top tier for a christening cake?! Really unsure as to what to do so, if anyone has used their wedding cake as a christening cake years after, I'd be keen to know!

Don't think you'd get that in a Cube let alone a Classic! Sounds as though you are having a wonderful time, PL!

They gave you EYE drops for your EARS Hope the new ones work very soon.

Wow, amazing pic! How are your 'Japanese' family? Has the baby arrived yet?

After a few nice, warm and sunny days it's been very odd so far today! Sunshine and showers but the showers come out of a sunny, blue sky! A nice rainbow on the drive to school which sparkled beautifully; I resisted the temptation to follow it and try and find the crock of gold though

Isn't it always the way!? Why can't fitters just listen to what the client wants and GET ON WITH IT!

We have always had dwarf Russians until last year, when YS fell in love with a Syrian (at Notcutts ) so we needed a bigger cage than the ones we'd previously used. We decided to go for one with three levels and wire for him to climb although the wheel it came with did seem small. So we bought the biggest wheel that we could find - it may even be one for rats?! - and replaced the original one. The hammys stretch out length ways so much when on the wheel that they do need lots of room. Can you buy a bigger wheel (non Omlet) that will fit the Qute and just change it over? Pets at Home do a good range (or did the last time we were there) and there's one opposite the John Allen Centre in Cowley. It does seem a huge faff to have to move hammy to another cage each night and then have to clean out two!