I forgot my camera on my desk at work today so of course what I most want to do is take pictures and blog. Picture taking is pretty much a no go without the camera (it's too grey outside to even try out my sunprint kit) but blogging I can do. This is a cake I made on Sunday.

We got a basket of BC peaches at the grocery store on Saturday and I decided to use a few of them for an upside down peach cake. I used this recipe but added cinnamon and nutmeg to the topping (about 1/4 tsp each) and some more nutmeg to the cake (I was aiming for a teaspoon but since it was grated in I don't really know what it was). I like nutmeg. The cake was delicious and moist and not too sweet, except for the topping which was very sweet, but that was perfect with the cake.

I got to eat several pieces of peach while I was cutting slices. So good. I think fruit tastes better when I comes in a basket - even if it's a cardboard one. We've got lots of peaches left. I'm thinking of crumble or maybe fool or maybe just over the sink (because they are that juicy).

I'll try to remember my camera tomorrow; I've got some fun mail to share.

This year's Jane Austen Party was just as fun as usual. Four lovely ladies came to have tea with me - two of them who now live out of town - and we had a wonderful time eating goodies and chattering about anything that came to mind. My sister Jane came over early to help me make all the little sandwiches and Rob took Abby for an extra long walk to keep things calm while everyone arrived.






Everyone felt that Barm Brack should have a cuter name to go with the rest of the food. Suggestions included Barm Bracky and Yesterday's Tea Bread. The latter comes from the way the recipe starts off with leftover tea (you soak the dried fruit in it overnight). It tastes a lot like Christmas cake but without the cherries or brandy.


We had lots of food leftover but fortunately everyone was happy to take some goodies home and Rob and I ended up with a manageable quantity of cookies and cake to get through this week.


It was so nice to sit and chat with everyone.


Jane and Liette had places to be in the evening but Samera and Renee agreed to join me for a walk around the trail. We had lots of fun taking pictures of each other and the things we saw as we walked.

We can now cook outside.

Rob brought home our first barbeque on Friday afternoon and spent the evening putting it together. He was sternly reprimanded by our squirrel for getting to close to the peanuts and was a source of complete fascination for Abby. So much so that this happened:


Rob called me outside once everything was ready to go and we both watched as a collection of little blue flames lit up the inside of our (very shiny) barbeque. It was really pretty exciting. Rob went out to get stuff to cook after that and came back with everything needed for both hot dogs and banana boats.


We stood outside and watched them cook (banana boats aren't all that exciting to watch but it was nice to be outside anyway). We brought Abby out with us and I let her explore the wilderness at the back of the yard. Rob called us to go back inside when he figured the bananas were hot.


I know a banana boat doesn't look great but it smells and tastes fantistic - all warm and gooey and full of mini marshmallows and Reese's Pieces and Smarties. It was so lovely to be eating food we'd barbequed ourselves. Meal planning for the week is now so much more exciting and full of all sorts of things we don't usually bother to cook because they are really only good when barbequed.

A barbeque is also a great excuse for having friends over and that's what we did last night. It was so fun and summery to all be standing on the back deck and smelling steaks cooking on the fire.


Everyone brought something and we had so many yummy things to eat. We did make one important discovery though: we've added a door onto the back deck to our list of future home renovations - walking all the way around the side of the house to get something you can see through the window gets annoying really quickly (especially when one staircase is broken and you have to go to the far one).