Pavlova

When Sensible K came for tea, I wanted to make her a lovely pudding, (that just happened to be coeliac friendly)  One step up from Eton Mess, a pavolva is something I hadn't made before.  Its a bit retro, but a total classic at the same time.  It must be the perfect mix of cream, meringue and berries- it's sweet, creamy and fruity all at once- and therefore healthy. ahem.

Birthday brownies

It was Sensible K's birthday recently, which happily coincided with something of a mini school reunion for me and my girlfriends.  It was like the past 15 years hadn't happened.  We spent the whole afternoon sat around my folks kitchen table chatting, laughing and boozing, to moderation of course, as we did have bambinos to look after, some running around the house like loons, and other still as a bump, as with the lovely looking Sensible K, whose mini-me is due in just a few days time.

After a long lunch, I piled up dark gooey chocolate brownies into a tower and lit a candle on top.  After a badly sung chorus of Happy Birthday we tucked in to the coeliac friendly goodies, covered in double cream with a side helping of raspberries.  Darling boy and his chum, dressed as Buzz Lightyear, rushed in and managed to find a few moments in their busy schedule of whatever it is 2 year olds do, to cram in as many chocolate brownies as they could get away with, before zooming outside for more conker collecting and running about screaming, now powered by chocolate.

Packages from India

Sensible K, my wonderful chum from way back when, recently returned to India for a 6 week stay.  But before she went, she stopped at ours for a weekend visit.  Whilst she was here, we put in our orders for exotic Indian goodies and Sensible K did not forget us on her travels.

On hearing how lovely and cheaporama the cinnamon sticks were, I had requested a handful of these.  Im also fond of baking with cardamon, but haven't been able to find ground cardamon anywhere down here in Devon.  But it seems you cant take a step without falling over the stuff in India, so a pack of this fragrant green dust found its way here.  There were also yummy cloves snuggled into the box too.

But perhaps most exciting of all was a surprise little toy for Darling boy.  As a fanatic of anything with an engine, Aunty Sensible K came up trumps and Darling boy was delighted with his tuc-tuc.  He listened to tales of mummy and daddy going in tuc-tucs on their holidays (pre- Darling boy of course) but mostly he enjoys carrying it around the house saying 'tuctuctucutuctuc'  Ahhhhhhhhhh, the simple life.

No such thing as too many aunties

We recently has a visit from my Sensible K and the Lovely P.  They are two of my oldest friends- we went to school together (that sort of old, not 'I remember the 1960's and in my day all this was fields' old)

Neither had been down to visit since we had moved to Tivvy and we had a great time together, lots of laughs were shared over vino and homemade chocolate ice-cream over the course of their visit.

Being British we were naturally drawn to the great outdoors- and in particular, to have a picnic in traditionally cold weather.  We weren't expecting the fog to roll in over the sea as we drew nearer, but it simply added to the romance of it all.

Darling boy adored his aunties and was asking for them long after they left to go back to the big smoke.

Sweets for my sweet

My oldest friend, Sensible K has returned to London from a 6 month sojourn in India with her boyfriend. He was working and she was sampling the delights that India had to offer- it was an amazing trip and you can read all about it on her totally brilliant blog http://figsandlavender.blogspot.com/

Sensible K earned her nickname when we were at school together, as best mates knocking about together, Sensible K was almost a full year older than me, and, it has to be said, much more grown up and responsible. ‘Sensible K’ grew about as a silly nickname we used, if Sensible K was going to a particular party, then it was ok in my parents eyes if I went too.

It must be said that Sensible K has since grown into a remarkable woman, someone with the courage to go against the grain and not only carry on, but flourish where others might give up. She is an inspiration and a very good friend.

Sensible K was diagnosed with coeliacs, a wheat intolerance a few years back (find out more here http://www.coeliac.org.uk/ ) Although it understandably took her a while to come to terms with it, she is now a complete whizz and it seems like the whole world has opened up to her, and I salute her for it. Much of my blogging about cakes is, stupidly, off the menu for Sensible K as she is off the wheat, oats and barley. Whilst this rules out anything cakey with flour, it does leave a wide range of delicious delights that skip the white stuff in favour of unusual ‘flours’ made with rice or potato, amongst other things, and the good old almond.

So, on a recent work trip to the big smoke, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to catch the late train home after my meeting and hook up with Sensible K and another old darling friend from school for dinner and giggles. It is Sensible K’s birthday soon, so as an offering, alongside a present and home-made card, I baked up a batch of citrus scented goodies, these orange and almond cupcakes. They are made with almond and potato flour, with eggs, but no dairy also. With the zest of an orange and toasted almonds on the top, these cupcakes were very tasty- I thought (naturally I had to taste one to make sure there were ok). Handsome husband was most put out that I had baked something that he couldn’t eat (as he is sworn off most nuts due to an allergy, almonds being one of them) However, Sensible K thought there were tasty, and that's all that counts.