Matters of Life & Death

An afternoon stroll in the Loch End Woods brought together life and death. I was startled when out of the bracken flew out a Sparrow Hawk. I'd seen birds of prey around the woods before but not actually in them. I concluded that as it had come from the ground, it must have been feeding. I wandered over to find a pile of feathers and then fluttering away a few yards on was a Wood Pigeon. It was in a very sad way. Most of it left underbelly had been eaten, and flesh hung from it as flapped what was left of its wing. It a sorry sight and I decided that the only right thing to do was end its misery. On I went and returned 20 minutes later to find the Sparrow hawk had also returned to finish off its meal. It flew away again so I stood around waiting for its return hoping for a longer glimpse of this fascinating natural spectacle. As I lay low, totally still and silent the peace was shattered by my bionic man ring tone....the one I get when I recieeve a text (The theme tune to the Littlest Hobo plays when its a call). It was from our Colin in Australia to announce Myfanwy Grace was born at 0.1.27am local time, weighing 6llb 4 oz. Life and death captured in one short walk.

Blackberry and Lemon Treacle Sponge

How hard can it be to bake a pudding? With an abundance of blackberry's in my freezer I thought I'd give it a whirl. The results weren't bad at all. My Blackberry & Lemon Treacle Sponge although slightly heavy due to the lack of a food mixer to do the hard work of beating, it came out quite tasty. I can see a few more experiments on the horizon, and as tempting as it is, even just to get a sympathy vote, I won't enter the Dunbar Flower Show this weekend and compete against the experts who have an extra 30 years experience under their aprons.

Make it yourself:

Stick the oven on to 180 0C whatever gas mark that is. Make sure you take your head out of it before you go on any further.
100g Caster Sugar
100g Butter to help boost your cholesterol levels
100g Self Raising Flour as it does all the work for you
2 eggs (the chicken variety are my preference)
Pinch of salt to clog up your artery's a little bit more
Zest of as many lemons that you fancy...depending on how lemony you are feeling!
Golden syrup. As much as you want depending on how fat you want to be and how good your dentist is.

Mix it all up vigorously in a bowl starting with the sugar and butter first, then the eggs, then slowly and lightly shove in the flour and mix it up for as long as you can be bothered. I think the idea is to do it well but I gave up after a while because there was something on the telly I wanted to watch.
Stick it in the oven in a greased bowl and cover loosely with foil until its cooked. Roughly around 30-40 minutes depending on how rubbish your oven is. Then tuck in to it, but be warned the treacle is like molten lava fresh out of the oven. You can eat it cold too or on a sandwich or with salad or even in a soup! If anyone tries the last 3 then I suggest you keep your head in the oven for slightly less longer next time.