You know how they say that all the best laid plans go to waste? Well that’s kind of what happened with me last week. On Monday lunchtime I ate my pre-made couscous with roasted veggies, and on Monday night we all had homemade fish pie for dinner. But by 11pm I was vomiting my way through the night and couldn’t face the next day’s lunch (more roasted veggies) or dinner (chicken curry) so screwed up my week’s plans a bit.
By Wednesday I was on the mend so ready for spag Bol and lamb on Thursday, but then plans went awry again with a spur of the moment barbecue with friends at the weekend.
Ioan proved what a fan he was of spag Bol, even though he made the most appalling mess:
Oh the mess:
I made a mountain of food for the barbecue on Sunday (wow, sunny weather on a bank holiday – what’s going on?!):
Followed by apple tart tatin with homemade ice cream:
This week won’t be any better, as we ate our way around the Alexandra Palace Foodies Festival today (mmmmm, pork belly bao bun, followed by dim sum):
I will be working in our Paris office on Wednesday and at home on Thursday, so no point in making a packed lunch for tomorrow – I’ll just pick up some sushi. Plus I am making another celebration cake this week, so my evenings will be busy baking and decorating it.
Evening meals are planned as follows:
- Monday – beans on toast as we ate quite a lot earlier today
- Tuesday – prawn and tomato pasta
- Wednesday – something on the Eurostar
- Thursday – pork chops and potatoes
- Friday – homemade fish and chips
- Saturday – sausages and mash
- Sunday – roast chicken
So what about this cake then? Well, Ioan’s little girlfriend (he thinks) celebrated her christening on Saturday, and so I made her a rainbow christening cake, decorated with bright colours and sunshine to match her sunny personality. I used the same recipe as for Henry’s, which is a spectacularly rich chocolate cake.
I always feel disappointed by my poor decorating skills, as I don’t have the finesse to make a beautiful and stylish cake, but everyone seemed to appreciate it.
Hopefully one day I’ll be able to do a cake decorating course and learn the skills to decorate a cake professionally … until then people have to cope with my lumpy (but made with love!) offerings. That sunshine is a bit demented looking, isn’t it?
What are your plans for this week? Don’t forget that the Great British Bake Off starts on Wednesday.
