Hot Air

 

Noreen and I enjoyed the Hot Air literary festival this weekend and found Emma Bridgewater's talk inspirational.  The place was buzzing...just what Stoke needs!

 

If you get chance to visit the factory in Hanley there's a shop full of goodies, a cafe, and loads of events going on this summer.

 

There's just one word for it!

 

 

Orange and ginger cake

This was a very simple cake to make because all you have to do is beat all the ingredients together and put in a loaf tin. Bake for about 40 minutes in a moderate oven (test with a skewer to check that it's cooked). Allow to cool and turn out onto a wire tray. I made a little icing with icing sugar and some left over squeezed orange juice - but of course this is optional
10oz (275g) self-raising flour
I teaspoon baking powder
6oz (175g) soft brown sugar
8oz (225g) butter
3 eggs
Juice of 2 oranges
4 teaspoons ground ginger.

Enjoy!

Growth spurt

We've been enjoying the salad leaves for a few weeks now...they're so reliable to grow and I love being able to pick fresh leaves.  It might even be salad weather this weekend!

But everything's going wild in the garden, including weeds.  The French beans and runner beans are planted out now.

 And the sweet peas and sugar snap are through as well.

Gosh...these photos in our little veg patch aren't very exciting are they?  All so green, but less green than they were before I grubbed up the chickweed.  Didn't show you that, did I?