Fagin & O'Farrell

Both these novels were set in Edinburgh, where both authors now live although O'Farrell was, according to Wikipedia, born in Coleraine only a mile or twenty down the road from here. 

Luckenbooth was a brilliant read, and not at all what I expected. Highly recommended for those who like a bit of horror laced with magic realism.

I was slightly disappointed by The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. There was something dislikeable about every character with the exception of Esme and even she did not seem fully realised. 

The next book up was another Maggie O'Farrell on loan from Zoe. I've barely begun it.

The too-read pile has got higher still. Charity shops are open again and I visited the Oxfam shop on Wellington Street. It has the best book donations in town. I bought a Matt Haig, a David Sedaris, an Anita Shreve and an Alice Walker. And when I got home the postman had delivered a Muriel Spark. I have resigned myself to dying before I've read everything I want to read. 

Wintry day today, sharp showers and hailstones. Bert says it is to freeze tonight. Please let my peach tree be kept safe from the frost. Those baby peaches are very tender.

Peaches are not the only babies around here. We have lots of little robins hopping about, exploring their surroundings. Please, please let my baby robins be kept safe from the cats.

A Cake For Music Night

Peaches. We had so many peaches this year. I took the last of the fruit off the trees today. Our trees are growing in the poly tunnel and we are learning to manage them as we go along. I pollinate by hand in early spring. Peach blossoms early when there are not many helpful insects around. There must be some though because I don't hand pollinate the two trees that Bert is attempting to train in a fan shape. They cropped but not heavily. The third year the top of the free standing tree broke under the weight of the ripening fruit and we lost half the crop. This year I did extensive thinning, the tree remained intact and the crop was wonderful.

Les Bamber's wonderful picture of peach blossom taken in our poly tunnel in 2012.

Anyone who came to the house got a bag of peaches, I froze a lot for cooking and wine (peaches make a delicious wine) and made a quite a few desserts.

Tonight, our turn to host music night, I made a cake. It's the easiest cake ever. I used sliced peaches but there are lots of alternatives such as apples, raspberries, plums, anything fruity and juicy.

Ingredients

100g butter
100g caster sugar
150g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (use cinnamon if using apples)
2 eggs
100ml milk
A quantity of sliced peaches (I used five/six)

Method

Melt the butter and let it cool slightly. Add everything else except the fruit. Mix to a batter. I used a hand held mixer. Add the fruit and add the mixture to a standard sized, greased pie dish. Bake at 190 degrees for 30 minutes then cover with greaseproof paper and bake a further 15 minutes.

Tonight I lined my pie dish with greaseproof paper to make for easier slicing. The music night boys loved it. Brendan is after the recipe and Rod dreamed of custard. I know what's for dessert next time he comes for supper. Les said I shouldn't tell anyone how easy it was to put together, but you know me, honest as the day is long.

Now the next thing is to top the free standing tree as it is brushing the roof of the poly tunnel. According to the books pruning should be done in February. Must get that on my list of Things To Do.

The fruit in this picture is very pretty but it should have been thinned. This was Clint's tree and it broke in half that year. It never recovered.