Monday, September 17th - I knew it was your birthday, so I baked a cake!!

It's a cool 12' this morning but we should reach a sunny 19' later this afternoon. It turned out to be a beautiful weekend.We were supposed to get rain on Sunday but it turned out we just got a bit of a downpour on Saturday night and it ended by midnight so we had lovely sun, although a coolish breeze on Sunday.

Friday after work Linda and Joyce dropped by with some Cod they had caught when they went deep sea fishing on Friday afternoon. They had already eaten on their way home so didn't stay to enjoy it with us. Good thing because we managed to demolish the whole works! 
Saturday morning I worked and when I got home after grocery shopping Richard was here helping Lloyd. They have one wall almost completed and ready to go up. I know that now they are at that point it may go a little faster. He really only has Saturdays to work on it so it's going to take a while but he'll get there. His muscles are still pretty stiff and sore from getting used to the new job so it's going at little slower than he might like but it will get better. By the time I got the groceries put away, they were ready to quit for the day.  After Richard left, we headed into town and enjoyed something to eat and drink at the Old Triangle. The Shell Fish Festival was on but we just didn't really feel like battling the crowds that would no doubt be there by then. Then it was home to a hot bath for Lloyd to soak his poor aching body.

Sunday morning he went for a bike ride with Raymond, while I stayed home and caught up with a few things. Now that I have water, I set about doing a bunch of catch up with laundry. I also had a bin of tomatoes that needed something done with them so I tracked down a recipe for Chili Sauce. It's got a bit of heat but that's not a bad thing at our house! While that was simmering, I grated some cucumbers and set them to drain to make some  tzatziki as I also had some yogurt and cucumbers that needed to be dealt with.  While I was on a roll, I also had some over ripe bananas sitting on the counter that also needed to be transformed into something useful - voila - Chocolate Banana Cake dusted with icing sugar. Very easy, very moist and very delicious. I thought it most appropriate that I bake a cake on Brenda's birthday! She wasn't here to celebrate it with her, but we did think of her as we ate it. So, a Belated Happy  Birthday my friend!

Happy Birthday Brenda

Lloyd had promised to take Linda and Joyce fishing in Cardigan on Sunday. When he arrived home, he wasn't feeling too well but he had promised so he kept his word. The ladies came over and they all took off to fish. I, on the other hand, headed into town. It seems that the two of them had been in town at the Shellfish Festival on Saturday afternoon. Chef Michael was there with copies of his newest cookbook. Joyce bought one for herself and one for one of her sons, and of course, her other son wanted to know (via text message) where was his copy? So the panic was on to obtain another signed copy of said cookbook. That's where I came into the picture. Since I don't fish, I was delegated to go into the Festival and get another book. So while they sat out and froze on a windy dock, I was inside the big tent, enjoying the music and chatting with Chef Michael.  Easy to see who the winner was in THAT one! 
So after saving the day for Joyce, I picked up some mussels on my way home and then started supper. I got a phone call to say they had fish for supper so that part was taken care of. I tried two recipes out of the new book to go with our fish and they were both a hit - Bacon smashed potatoes and Moroccan Carrots.  Chocolate Banana cake for dessert and we were done. A lovely evening with the ladies, and now it's back to Monday morning again!

I've been watching the feeds from around the world and I can tell when Brenda has been in to read. She beat me to it this morning, having been in to view the blog about 45 minutes before I sat down to post it. Love the technology that lets me keep in touch with someone half way around the world up to the minute!  Have a great day travellers!

PS for Brenda - Yesterday there was a Strawberry Social at the Park in honour of the Queens Diamond Jubilee from 2 until 4. There were a lot of cars there when I went past on my way into town a little after 2:00 and it was 3:50 when I passed on my way home. There were still lots and lots of cars there at that time and I thought about stopping but I figured it was almost over so I didn't. But it was nice to see such a large turnout for the entire time it went on.