Rainbow Cake (and Things I Made Thursday!)

There is still a hell of a lot of snow and ice around, hence very little gardening/growing going on (grrrr!)  So I have been doing a bit of making/baking instead. 

I saw a recipe for a rainbow cake in Good Food Magazine this month, and decided to make one for Isla's birthday next month.  It involves baking six layers of cake, so I have already starting baking and have frozen the layers I have made so far. 

blue and green

red and orange

The colours aren't quite true to the description but I think it will still look pretty good when it is put together.  I have yellow and violet left to do.. more on this next time.

On the subject of rainbows, this is the salad I made this week: 

rainbow salad

It went down really well with the kids and looked great on the table!

I spent Thursday baking too and made some cherry scones and French bread-style rolls for a picnic lunch over Easter. 

So it is now Easter weekend and British Summer Times starts in the next 24 hours.  I so very hope it is as good as it sounds!

Spring buried in snow

I did wait until nearly Spring before I started this blog.  And now it is the end of March, Spring is officially here... and we have this outside:

Clearly Spring is trying to happen...but that is a great deal of snow!  So once again, very little going on here in preparation.  I have usually sown all my seeds by now and the garden would be bare but neat. 

Here are the parsnip seeds I planted out in a tub last week:

One of my cats is enjoying looking pretty in the snow with the last of the snowdrops though:

So, I still await the opportunity to get things started properly. 

In the meantime, I started a 365 picture project.  I imagine many of the photos I take will be relevant to this blog....

Things I Made Thursday

Yes, it's Friday, but I still baked yesterday!  Chocolate flapjack was the order of the day (demanded by my 4 year old for his lunchbox!)

chocolate flapjack

It wasn't quite as chocolaty as usual because I ran out of cocoa, but it was still met with approval from all parties, and is our number 1 lunch box filler!

I also made a few things ahead for our meals this week, including rocket pesto:

rocket pesto

And vegetarian lasagne!

 The seeds I planted last week have started to germinate, although only the peas so far:

 

I love how alien-like it looks at the moment!  No sign yet of the melons, cucumbers or peppers, although it has been very cold again, even inside the house.  

I moved the kale from last year's crop from the front to the back garden.  I am not sure what will happen to it in its second year - whether it will produce flowers and run to seed?  Very much an experiment to see what happens.  We had a great crop last year from it and I was pleased how easily it over-wintered.  I haven't got kale seeds for this season, so all kale hopes are pinned on this!

I planted some parsnip seeds out in a large tub too.  Last year the never ending wet season meant the parsnips rotted, so I am hoping for a better crop this year.  I will sow some in the ground at a later date too.  The aim with these is to get some for Christmas lunch!  

My chillies and tomatoes on the windowsill are doing well, I will post more pictures next week.  The coriander have died though.  I have a feeling the cat may have sat on them... I will have to plant some more, probably next week!

Quick seed update

More seeds put in today.  Greenhouse not yet ready so limited the numbers so they fit on windowsills for now. 

Melons, peppers, cucumbers, peas and basil. I have never grown melon before - it wasn't in the original plan, they were freebies.  No idea how they will work.  If anyone has grown them in the UK and can offer tips, feel free to contact me!  They are Italian seeds, cantaloupe variety. 

Some of the outdoor beds raked of stones and debris yesterday afternoon.  I toyed with the idea of building raised beds on there, but then remembered I am budgeting!  Hoping to send Dylan to B&Q this weekend for a couple of their HUGE packs of compost so I can get the tubs ready.