More unpacking, dreich weather, and cake

So our shed is still full of boxes.

Mainly, it has to be said, these are full of books, although somewhere in there is a box of kitchen stuff that I know contains all the things I’m missing. Looking for you, ridged griddle pan. And French salad bowls.

Hugh lugged in several more boxes over the last few days and we’ve now filled up the big bookcase in the lounge, the study bookcase, half of my studio shelves and another bookcase upstairs.

There are still about thirty book boxes left to unpack but we may have to wait until we have more bookcases built.

We’re now at the stage that we need to order and fit a library ladder onto here so that we can reach the upper shelves. Another one for the to-do list.

The weather has been awful. Rain, cold temperatures and leaden grey skies. We’ve hardly had any summer at all, and my vegetables are feeling it. No cucumbers or tomatoes yet, and the salad leaves are most definitely sulking.

A strange phenomenon is that when the weather is like this, the coffee shops and cafes on the island do a roaring trade. I guess it’s that people feel the need to be indoors.

As such cake baking is at peak production levels with a baking happening almost every day. In addition to that, we have friends who have birthdays this week, so there’s a need for at least two birthday cakes..

This is an almond frangipane cake baked with a hidden layer of raspberries within and topped with flaked almonds and fresh raspberries. It was a birthday cake for one of our friends so I got to try a slice. If I say so myself it was delicious and is definitely going on the keepers list.