Some of the camellias are in bloom, but my eye was caught by this one in a more shaded area, covered in buds.

Meanwhile, a little further on, as we emerged from the trees onto the playing fields, the rain had stopped and Jez was keen for me throw her fir cone.  Max was obviously distracted by something else.

This shot was taken in the little copse just east of the old railway line. You can just make out Jez walking towards me on the left of the photo.

And finally, here are Jez and Max, waiting for me to throw their cones for them.

This shot was taken from the path just south of the crematorium, looking towards Poole.

22 January 2012

Then I carefully weighed the sugar …

Of course, it helps if you read the recipe properly. I used all of the 300g of sugar for the caramel, not just the 75g required. I wondered why I had so much sugar to water. The resulting toffee brazils looked ok though. Here they are, chopped up with the bananas …

And we mustn’t forget the white chocolate & butter …

Sadly, the Banana Blondies themselves came out as a gooey mess, and I could only really used the outside squares, even though I’d cooked them for an extra 5 minutes. I’m not sure if this was down to the extra sugar in the caramel, my oven (which is getting a bit old now), or what. They tasted good though.

I came home from walking the dogs today only to find that Chris had eaten the last of my banana & choc chip loaf – he’d had two pieces in one morning! So in order to satisfy my sweet tooth I had to find another cake to make out of what I had in the store cupboard and fridge. So I gave this one a go, from Dan Lepard’s book ‘Short and Sweet’. I have to admit I had my doubts about it – at the end of it’s cooking time it still wobbled like mad (i.e., hadn’t set), so I left it for a further 5 minutes, after which time it still wobbled. But a tester came out clean so I took it out of the oven. Now to taste it!

It was a cold and overcast morning which is normally hopeless for photography. But I had to cycle down to Poole, so took my small Ixus with me. The light across Holes Bay was really interesting, and I loved the reflected colour and reflection from the break in the clouds in this shot.
17 January 2012

The finished article. The choc chips have sunk a bit, but it still tastes good. Point sucessfully proven.
16 January 2012

I needed to prove to myself that I could make it better than the celebs on the Great British Bake Off for Sports Relief.
16 January 2012

It was a beautiful morning, if a little crisp, so I took the dogs down to Sandbanks. Max had great fun chasing the foam that was blowing around. Here, he’s having a bit of a breather from all that running about.
16 January 2012

Sunday was a lovely sunny day, so in the afternoon I took Jez and Max over Upton Heath for their walk, taking the EOS 20D with me. The late afternoon sun gave a lovely glow to everywhere.
15 January 2012