Sticky coconut and lime cake recipe

As promised, here is the recipe for the cake I made for the Macmillan fund-raiser.

Ingredients
4oz butter, softened
6oz golden caster sugar
6oz self-raising flour 2 eggs
1teaspoon baking powder
Half of 400g can coconut milk
grated zest of 2 limes
For syrup: 6oz golden caster sugar, the rest of the can of coconut milk and juice of the limes.

Method
Put all ingredients into a mixing bowl, beat until well combined. Pour into a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin. Bake at 180°C for about 40 minutes until golden and firm to touch.
Meanwhile make the syrup:
Put 6oz golden caster sugar into a saucepan with the other half can of coconut milk. Boil the mixture for a few minutes until a clear syrup is formed. Remove from the heat and add the juice of the limes.
Spoon the mixture over the warm cake, leaving it to cool in the cake tin. Sprinkle the top with coconut flakes.

War on the Margins

Little did I think, when I wrote about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society , that I would soon be adding another book about the German Occupation of the Channel Islands to my list of best books of 2008.

War on the Margins by Libby Cone is a novel based on real events on the island of Jersey between 1940 and the time of the liberation of the island in 1945.

'Faction' is a genre of writing that I usually avoid but this book gripped me from the first page to the last. The research, carried out for Libby Cone's Master's thesis, is meticulous and the findings deserve a wide audience, but who reads theses, however well researched and written? Bringing it to the public in the form of a novel was an inspired move.

War on the Margins takes us into the lives of the marginalised people of Jersey during the Occupation: the Jews, the political prisoners and the slave workers. The central characters are the Surrealist artists Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, who left France to live in Jersey in 1937, under their real names of Lucille Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe. They used their artistic talents, their courage and great sense of humour in working for the Resistance, in particular for undermining the morale of the German troops. They were captured in June 1944 and Libby Cone had access to Lucille's prison notes and diaries to give an authentic picture of events and conditions in the Gloucester Street Prison where they were held.

We know that everyone who lived in the Channel Islands during the years of Occupation suffered greatly from shortage of food, medicines and fuel. Once supplies from France were blocked, even the Germans approached the brink of starvation. However, those on the margins of 'normal' society suffered even more and this is their story. It isn't a totally depressing story, though; there is kindness, courage, humour, friendship and the resilience of the human spirit through unspeakable horrors.

Libby Cone is an exceptionally intelligent writer. She conveys the personality of her characters and the momentum of events through a unique economy of language; instead of long narrative passages, she reproduces letters, songs, poems and Field Commands, immersing the reader in the atmosphere of the time and place.

This is a self-published book, without the backing of a large publishing house. It really deserves to be read. You can find details of how to buy it on the Amazon link above.

Hanging out the washing

The sun is shining, a breeze blowing; perfect drying weather. I love the sight of washing drying on the line in the garden, I love the smell of the sun-dried laundry. It was a terrible shock, therefore to learn that this could soon become a mere memory. I read with dropped jaw about the ban on hanging laundry out to dry in Vermont, over on Letters from a Hill Farm but I didn't think it could possibly happen in England. Wrong!

It took a few seconds of googling to discover this story of a man in Southampton, threatened with expulsion from his home unless he stops drying his clothes in his garden. A few minutes more revealed that many local authorities and housing associations have included a clause in their tenancy agreements banning laundry drying in gardens and on balconies. I couldn't find any reference to these authorities providing indoor drying facilities for their tenants, or copies of their policies on energy conservation.

Here's a gesture of solidarity with people everywhere who have lost their right to hang out their washing and, come the Revolution, I'll be flying my tablecloths from the highest flagpole rather than my rotary dryer.

We’re gonna hang out our washing on the Siegfried Line.
Have you any dirty washing, mother dear?
We’re gonna hang out our washing on the Siegfried Line,
‘Cos the washing day is here.
Whether the weather may be wet or fine,
We’ll just rub along without a care.
We’re gonna hang out our washing on the Siegfried Line,
If the Siegfried Line’s still there.

Cake fundraiser

My marathon baking day is over, thank you for all the encouraging comments and emails. All the goodies sold and we raised £80 for a worthy cause. Not a huge amount, but the cake sale provided an opportunity to remind people of the work of Macmillan Cancer Support. As people choose their cakes, they start to talk about their own experience or raise a concern about a relative, friend or neighbour and it is good to be able to encourage them to seek the right kind of advice or help.

Here is what I made and sold. I will put up the recipes soon but just now, I've had quite enough of cakes!

1. cherry slices

2. Lemon drizzle bars

3. Sticky coconut and lime cake

4. Squidgy chocolate squares



5. Victoria sponge

The other items appeared on the last post:

6. Boiled fruit cakes

7. Nan's chocolate chip cookies

8. Lavender biscuits

Making and baking

The nip in the air on Saturday morning reminded me that I had some lovely russet wool from the Yarn Warehouse just begging to be knitted up for granddaughter Millie's first autumn wardrobe. This simple little Debbie Bliss sweater was ready for packing and posting on Monday, leaving me with plenty of time to get on with some baking.Every year at this time we are all invited to join in the World's Biggest Coffee Morning to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. I don't have space to host a large coffee morning, so I have a cake sale at my church on Saturday afternoon.The Victoria sponges, tray bakes and cup cakes will all be made on Saturday morning but I have made a few fruit cakes already and lots of biscuits and cookies.


These are lavender biscuits, made from the Wintershall recipe.

And I used a recipe of Nan's from the Hill Farm for these very delicious chocolate chip cookies. I enjoyed using the set of American measuring cups that I've had for a while and now I wonder why we bother with scales. I'm converted, I just need to convert all my favourite recipes.

I hope to raise a little money for Macmillan on Saturday, but more important is the raising of awareness of the work they do for cancer patients and their families. I owe them a great deal and making a few cakes and cookies is a very small token of appreciation.

My shed

Dear friend Juliet who lives on the Muddy Island of Mersea has been nagging me to photograph my shed. As you can see here, Juliet knows some pretty smart sheds and mine would certainly not fall into that category but, just to keep her quiet I'll show you why I will not be entering for the 'shed of the year award' unless they have a special prize for the shed containing the greatest amount of junk.
Here is the entrance: a simple hole between the house and garden. Enter it's murky depths if you dare!

In the days when our house was a farm house, the shed was part of the dairy. The stalls now hold my garden tools


the MM's spare golf clubs

pots of paint


television from daughter's student flatand various bits of furniture
So now you see, J, why I haven't been in a hurry to send in my shed pictures to be compared with the beautiful and the interesting ones on Shedworking.

Here's the other part of the old dairy that we have got around to improving. It was in a worse state than the bit we use as a shed, so we added a door and a roof and converted it into a dining room. I can't find any 'before' pictures, unfortunately; it might have won some admiration as a shed conversion!

Random delights

I have developed a new passion for glass gems and art glass. I particularly like the work of Michele Bailey, who is based in the nearby village of Rackenford. I have had my eye on this glass candle holder made from 'random pieces of art glass' ever since seeing it on Michele's website.It seemed destined to be mine.

Photo courtesy of Michele Bailey

I went over to the Rackenford Revels on Saturday, where Michele was displaying some of her work. I came away with this and a few more items that I can't mention here with birthdays approaching.
I think it will be a stunning centrepiece for my dinner table. Each person will see a completely
different effect.




Thank you, Michele. It is even lovelier than I anticipated.

Under the window

Earlier in the month, I spotted a 'windows' theme developing on several of my favourite blogs. It has been fascinating to see more pictures appearing and more people joining in. Margaretha now has a special 'Today's window' feature and I hurry over every day to see what she has found to delight us.

I was sorting through some of my old books today when I came across this copy of Kate Greenaway's Under the Window.

I loved her illustrations when I was a child but (dare I confess?) I was never very impressed by her verse.

Bethany's giveaway

Bethany is holding a book giveaway draw on her ex libris blog. It is for a copy of The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. Bethany writes one of the most exciting book blogs I've seen so be warned, you'll be tempted to join one of her challenges or to make a reading map or to stack even more books on your TBR mountain. Go and see for yourself.

Butterfly quilt

I love to sit in the garden to watch the butterflies and bees. There has been very little opportunity to do that in this year's rainy, gloomy summer so, instead, I cut out lots of butterflies and made this little quilt for my Edinburgh niece's baby.

Bath chaps

The first thing I noticed when walking into Bath from the car park was this fine pig perched above the entrance to an architect's office in Queen Square. The label gave its name as Disco Pig.
Walking on, I spotted another pig suspended from the offices of the Flying Pig Renovation Company.

Approaching the Pump Room, I saw was Goldie. I could feel a theme developing.
Next to the Abbey, were two more: the appropriately named Abi ....

..... and companion, Emily.
The Tourist Information Office revealed all. These are just a few of the 100 pigs in and around Bath forming the King Bladud's Pigs public art project.

King Bladud? No, he doesn't feature in any of my history books either. Legend has it that he was a Celtic prince who lived about 3000 years ago.He developed a disfiguring disease and was expelled from the palace. He became a swineherd but his poor pigs contracted the disease from him. One day, the pigs rolled in the hot mud around the springs in the Avon Valley and their skin disease was cured. Bladud plunged into the mud and was similarly cured. He returned to the palace and was made king. In gratitude for his cure, he established a settlement near the hot springs, dedicating it to the Celtic goddess Sul. 900 years later, the Romans came along ...
.... and built their city of Aquae Sulis (Waters of Sul) with the famous curative baths. The Romans left and the city became simply Bath. The city as we know it today, was developed in Georgian times and this little pig, called Save the Hamazon, is admiring the oldest house in Bath ....

... where Sally Lunn baked her famous Bath buns.

Much as I would have loved to find all 100 pigs, I ran out of time. I spotted this one from the top of the tour bus, and these two, frolicking in the park, as I walked back to the car park at the end of the day.

All the pigs will be sold at a public auction at the end of October, to raise money for a conservation project in Bath. Which pig would I buy if I had £2000 or so to spare? I think it would have to be this one:

I dedicate this piggy post to fellow pig lover H, son of Juliet on the Muddy Island. In case you haven't heard of it, H, 'Bath chaps' is a local delicacy made from pigs' cheeks. I've never been tempted to try it but I would love to give one of these chaps a home.

A day in Bath

I could never tire of visiting Bath. It was one of our favourite destinations for short breaks when the children were growing up and I still like to visit at least once a year. I love the architecture, the Roman and Georgian history, the Jane Austen connections, the shops and restaurants. Last year, after several unsuccessful attempts, I managed to get to the American Museum on a day that it was open!

As I was only there on a day trip last week, I decided to avoid the Jane Austen Centre, the Roman Baths, the Pump Room and the Abbey. If I name all the other places I avoided, no-one will read on, so perhaps I'll give Jane a mention to hold your interest! Coming soon, (19th to 28th September) is the annual Jane Austen Festival. If only I could have postponed my visit, I should have been in heaven.If, like me, you cannot make it during the festival and have to make your own way around the city, I recommend that you get a copy of this excellent guide. It gives all the appropriate quotations from Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, describes the city as it was in Jane Austen's time there and has some very interesting anecdotes about her family.
I bought my copy of Bath as Jane Austen knew it in the Tourist Information Office, which must be one of the most impressive tourist offices in the UK.
We sat in the Abbey Churchyard, poring over our pamphlets from the information centre, drinking freshly brewed coffee and listening to a very talented violinist outside the Pump Room.
The dry, sunny day was such a rare occurence this summer, that we decided not to waste a minute of it indoors. We would take a ride on an open-top tourist bus. In fact we took two tours. The bus ticket is valid for two days, giving access to the city bus tour and the 'Skyline' tour, taking you up into the hills as far as Claverton Down and the American Museum. It also gives you admission to museums at reduced rates.

The guides on both buses were very entertaining and pointed out lots of things we had missed on our previous visits. It was really interesting to see the buildings from the top deck of the bus; many of the ground floor rooms of Georgian houses have been converted into shops but the upper floor frontages remain unchanged.

Great Pulteney Street probably looks as it did in Georgian times, except for the vehicles.
All the lovely buildings in Bath were prime targets for the Window Tax in the eighteenth century. There is quite a lot of evidence of how people avoided paying the tax by replacing the glass with bricks or stone.


One of the features of Bath that I like is the inscriptions chiselled into the walls, whether it is the name of the street or the original purpose of the building, such as this former hospital for rheumatic conditions.
I took a lot of photos of carved street names because they are fast disappearing and being replaced by painted signs.

A day in the city would not be complete without a look at some shops. This one is Jolly's, which claims to be the oldest department store in Europe, although Jenners of Edinburgh makes a similar claim. The main entrance is on Milsom Street but I like the back of the shop with its unspoiled facade

and this interesting wall inscribed with extracts from Magna Carta.
Nearby is Paxton and Whitfield, purveyors of fine cheesesince 1797.

And no trip to Bath is complete (for my family, at least) without calling in at the Sausage Shop.
I spotted this bead shop in a narrow street by the Abbey. It is a treasure trove for those who work with beads so I took this picture for Michele, the Hedgelands Glass Lass.
I am still working on the many photographs I took and hope to have a special pig collection to display tomorrow.