Working from home

Yesterday Jon got to work from home. As he says, not many people get to have their office out in the garden from time to time. Nothing he likes better - he doesn't have to do the commute and gets to sit in the sunshine.

xx

They still hide from the camera ;)

I asked Emily if I could take a photo of her for my tag book post for today and this is the best I got! Getting her to just look up above Mac's head was difficult enough - I took what I could get and left it at that :) Sorry Amy, they don't necessarily get any more co-operative as they get older ;)

xx

Chocolate and Banana Cake

Today has been fairly productive as well as laid back ;). I've taken photos throughout the day and am hoping to make layout (one of these days) showing a day in my life (like Mel at I Speak Melsh)

One of the things I did was make Banana and Chocolate Loaf because we had some bananas which were very ripe!

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Chocolate and Banana Cake

Makes 1 loaf (about 12 slices)

From Rachel Allen’s “Rachel’s Favourite Food for Friends”

75g/3 oz	Chocolate
110g/4 oz	Soft butter
125g/4.5 oz	Castor Sugar
2	Eggs
125g/4.5 oz	Self Raising Flour
1 level tsp	Baking Powder
1 rounded Tbsp	Cocoa
2 medium	Bananas, peeled & mashed

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· Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.

· Melt the chocolate in a microwave or in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.

· With a wooden spoon, cream the butter, add the sugar and beat well.

· Add the eggs one at a time, beating all the time.

· Add the sieved flour, baking powder and cocoa, followed by the melted chocolate and mashed bananas.

· Stir to bring together.

· Pour into the prepared loaf tin and place in the preheated oven. Cook for 50 – 55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

· Cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before removing.

Needless to say, I had to try a slice with my mug of tea this afternoon :)

xx

First day of the holidays :)

Today is Emily's first day of the summer holidays and life is slowing down already ;). I got up 3/4 hour later than I normally would (6.45am instead of 6am). The morning was more relaxed as there were no lunches to be made :) (I make Jon's the night before because he leaves early in the mornings). I then sat and had a quick look at emails and blogs before making my breakfast - which I had to eat in a hurry because I hadn't realised what the time was and I had to take Claire to work and pick up Mum for our weekly shop. Oh well, can't win them all ;) This afternoon I made curries for dinner (yes, two! A Dupiaza for Hugh, Sarah and myself and a Madras for Jon), cooked the rice and tidied up the kitchen and stacked the dishwasher. All good because after that I could relax a bit - I decided the ironing can wait till tomorrow morning :) - I'm in that holiday mood!

I said in my last post that I'd have to take some more photos of the little fat giraffe Claire bought when we went shopping last week. He is the cutest little toy - seeing him up close now, I'm sure you'll agree! Dad, these photos are for you. I have never seen sunflowers like this before but they are stunning. If the petals continue to open I can only think they'll end up looking like pom-poms ;) They still remind me of Dahlias rather than sunflowers but seeing as the stalks and leaves are sunflowers I guess the flower head must be too! Does anyone else have sunflowers like this or know what type they are?

xx