Yesterday was one of our rainiest days of all time: 39.3mm, making this month our wettest this year and our rainiest September ever. Today was bright and sunny, the washed-clean solar panels served up 6kWh and the family came round for lunch. We had roast chicken, roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions, cabbage, cauliflower cheese and Yorkshire puddings, followed by Swedish applekaka, and scored a miserable 9 on the GSQ.
A1 is rereading The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson. A2 is reading The Art of a Lie, also by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, which was very entertaining. Thank you A1.
Tag: cake
Another Family Meal
Feeding time again. Today we had pork in cider and chocolate ginger beer cake which was tasty but filling, and scored an above-par 11 on the GSQ.
A1 is reading The Predicament by William Boyd. A2 is reading Clown Town by Mick Herron.
After the Birthday
Transit of Bob. It was A2’s birthday yesterday so she got a lot of lovely presents of things to drink, read and wear to the gym. Our family dinner was chicken, bacon and broccoli with A1’s cherry cake and perfect garden apple charlotte for afters. We scored 9 on the GSQ. Could have been worse. And we could have seen the lunar eclipse if it hadn’t been cloudy, and then raining. But it was clear in Lusaka (see right) — thanks, Guida!
A1 is reading The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith, the latest biceps-straining volume in the Strike/Ellacott saga. Expensive, too — probably the first £30 mass-market novel (although it’s been heavily discounted).
It’s nominally a fiendishly complicated crime novel (and it is complicated — you may want to take notes), but RG is having great fun with the on-off relationship between the protagonists, which fortunately errs on the right side of soapiness; you can imagine her smirking at the readers’ reactions. The targets this time include Freemasonry and another stab at an evil Boris Johnson analogue, who really seems to appeal to writers (cf Mick Herron, MW Craven etc). Can’t imagine why… Criticism? There’s a bit too much phonetic transcription of accents, and the subplot about human trafficking gets somewhat lost in all the fol-de-rol. But a thoroughly enjoyable read nonetheless.
A2 is reading The Predicament by William Boyd, which was absolutely delightful. Thank you A1.
Another Red Admiral
A side-on view of Vanessa atalanta sipping nectar from the buddleia.
We didn’t have a family dinner this week but we did have lots of carrots so we made a cake anyway.
A2 is rereading The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick.
Burger Meister
A1 cooked succulent burgers, chips and salad for our family dinner and A2 made courgette, halloumi and chickpea fritters for the veggies. We had a chocolate, cherry and cream cake from yesterday’s paper for afters…
…and managed to score 12 on yesterday’s paper’s quiz. We’re on a roll!
A1 is rereading Bryant & May: The Running Man by Christopher Fowler. A2 is reading Butter by Asako Yuzuki, which was tasty and fattening.
Dish of the Day: Blackberry Cheesecake
The finish for our family meal of Leeds Fried Chicken Legs with chips, onion rings and salad at which we scored an improved 10.5 on the GSQ.
A1 is reading The Teacher* by Tim Sullivan. A2 is reading The Death of Shame by Ambrose Parry.
24 (Wonderful) Years Later
It’s A1&2’s wedding anniversary and a delicious cherry cake was baked to celebrate.
A1 gave A2 a bunch of flowers and our number 6 coffee maker; a handy little gadget for making one cup of espresso, and A2 gave A1 The Red Shore by William Shaw in advance of publication.
It was our opal wedding so A2 got a packet of [redacted], previously known as Opal Fruits, and A1 got an opal (see below).
A2 is rereading Disgrace by Jussi Adler Olsen.
Happy Birthday Chris
The good times keep on rolling! Here’s the birthday boy’s boozy coffee walnut cake looking like Pacman going after our cherries.
A1 is rereading A House Full of Knives by William Shaw. A2, inspired by watching Dept Q, is rereading Mercy, aka The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen.
Trifling
Our family dinner this week was chicken bacon broccoli plus vegetarian alternatives, followed by a fruity trifle, at which we scored 9.5 on the GSQ, bringing our average to a sub par 9.9. Come on guys!
A2 is reading Son* by Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger.
Happy Birthday Dave
Dave cuts himself a slice of delicious parkin cake after his post-birthday dinner of stroggers and pizza. And we scored a respectable 12 on the GSQ at last.
Strawberry Cheesecake
Another family meal, another creamy pudding. Since the Co-op shop was hacked there have been shortages on many shelves but a vast oversupply of sell-by-date cream. A1 served up a delicious beef stew and A2 concocted a creamy courgette gratin for the vegetarians. We enjoyed it all and scored our usual substandard 9 on the GSQ.
A1 started The Girl in the Woods* and The Cuckoo*, both by Camilla Lackberg, but couldn’t get into either of them.
A2 is reading The Last Weekend by Blake Morrison; a miserable book about horrible people with a specially ghastly protagonist.
Sunday Lunch
We had chicken and/or vegetable creamy pasta for lunch, followed by this strawberry sponge cake which was snapped up before it could be snapped, and scored an improved 10 on the GSQ.
A2 is reading The Cuckoo* by Camilla Lackberg.
Easter Monday
We had chicken bacon broccoli and cheesecake for our family meal and did the last two weeks’ quizzes, scoring 13 on one and 10 on the other. Here’s the cake:
A1 is reading The Alaska Sanders Affair* by Joel Dicker. A2 is reading Burn After Reading by Catherine Ryan Howard. Another book about a Writer.
Blueberry Lemon Cake
Our pudding after our family meal of roast pork, stuffing, potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, broccoli, sprouts, carrots and gravy, after which we generously allowed ourselves to score 10 on the GSQ.
A2 is rereading Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks by Christopher Brookmyre.
Mother’s Eid
It’s Eid-al-Fitr, Mother’s Day and Gez birthday eve and A1 has made a delicious strawberry sponge to round off our meal of stroggers and pasta, after which we scored 11.5 on the GSQ.
A1 is reading The Trap* by Ava Glass (don’t mind if I do), which was a tediously cliched spy thriller — ChatGPT could do better. A2 is rereading Be My Enemy by Christopher Brookmyre.
Like the Circles that You Find
Another day, another circular object. Today it’s the trifle completing our family meal of spaghetti and sauce, surrounded by tabletop clutter. We scored 10 on the GSQ, better than the last few.
A1 is rereading The Cut and A2 is rereading Not the End of the World, both by Chris aka Christopher Brookmyre.
Critters of the Day: Women
Yes, it’s International Women’s Day. We had a family lunch of kedgeree (with boiled eggs for the fish refusers), ate a blueberry cake and scored a substandard 9 on the GSQ.
A1 is rereading When the Devil Drives by Chris Brookmyre. A2 is reading The Fourteenth Letter* by Claire Evans, which was weird and unbelievable.
Pancake Day
A1’s delicious pancakes with lemon, cream, raisins, bananas, caramel sauce (which didn’t half stick to the spoon) and lots and lots of toppings.
A1 is rereading Where the Bodies Are Buried by Chris Brookmyre.
Cake of the Snake
It’s Lunar New Year soon and A1 has made a cherry and almond cake for our family banquet tomorrow and A2 has made a snake out of butter icing, blueberries and squashed marshmallows dipped in food colouring.
A1 is rereading Boiling a Frog by Christopher Brookmyre. A2 is reading The Bezzle* by Cory Doctorow.
Considered Trifle
A post-birthday pudding after our family lunch of curry, rice and naans which has left us bursting out of our trousers. We scored 10 on the GSQ, later upgraded to 11 when we checked that the four Chinese gentlemen flowers were also the four flowers in mah jong like we said.
A2 is reading Midnight and Blue by Ian Rankin. Third book in a row in which the hero hangs out in a library.
Carrot Cake
Carrots and other festive veg are 8p/kg at loss-leading supermarkets near us so we had this nice cake and a lovely stew containing various underpriced vegetables for our family dinner, caught up on last week’s quiz (saving this week’s for next time) and scored a creditable 10.
Brioche, Banana, Blueberry and Booze Bread and Butter Bake Again
Another iteration of this cheap, simple and tasty pudding which followed our family dinner of pork in cider with carrots and peas with pizza, salad and chips for the youngsters. We were ill last week so we had 2 quizzes to do and scored 9.5 on one and 13 on the other.
November was below averagely rainy and sunny and our second coldest November of all time.
A1 is rereading The Readymade Thief* by Augustus Rose. A2 is rereading Have Mercy on Us All by Fred Vargas.
Another Delicious Cake
Served up by A1 for our family dinner which also featured chicken bacon broccoli cooked in our new shiny cooking pot, homebrew minestrone soup for the veggies and a selection of soft drinks including some very fruity Percy Pig flavoured coffee (thx G&D). We were on a roll and scored a mighty 12 on the GSQ.
A1 is rereading The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley. A2 is rereading Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel, which features some of the characters from The Glass Hotel interacting with visiting time travellers from the Moon.
Mid-Autumn Moon Festival Banquet
A feast in advance of the full moon on Tuesday. We ate fried rice, sweet and sour pork, rainbow chicken, siu mai, har gow, jiaozi, tea eggs, fish balls, lobster balls and parkin with custard and did the last two weeks’ quizzes, scoring 12 on one and 9 on the other.
Thank you for the coffee, concrete and cement, folks, and the gloves too! Oh and thank you Faye for the lovely cloud/cake badge card.
[Update]: Only found out later that it was Observe the Moon Night. Moon, consider yourself observed; we’ve got certificates to prove it.
Happy Birthday Lee
Cherry, almond and coconut cake, rum and coca-cola and SIX BOOKS: The Conspirators lead us to the Precipice overlooking the Lake of Darkness which receives some Enlightenment from Gabriel’s Moon but ends in Death at the Sign of the Rook. Thank you A1. Sadly the family cannot join us because Gez is hors de covid. More cake for us.
Meanwhile A1 is rereading Holly by Stephen King and A2 is rereading Fatherland by Robert Harris, an alternative history set in 1960s Nazi Berlin which, like so many novels set in that place and polity, features a feisty American girl reporter.