A New Look for the Garden

Life has been rather hectic of late and I'm sorely missing being able to quietly sit and work on a creative project. Particularly one that I actually finish!

However, hectic can also be good and, after a few years of wishing I finally have new garden furniture. Sadly, it's not hand-crafted, unless Ikea have changed their brand ethos without telling anyone! Mind you, I did have to attach the legs to the table myself - does that count as home made?

I'm pleased to say that the old furniture is slowly finding new homes. It's about 35 years old and has lived outside for that whole time, so it has seen better days. The table is extremely wobbly and will probably end up being burned or recycled in some way.  However, the bench is off to my friend's house to be painted and made into a garden feature up against the side of her house. It too is wobbly but seems fine when placed firmly up against a wall. As for the two chairs, I'm pretty sure they will make their way next door. The students there have a tiny outside space but nothing to sit on and when I offered them some furniture they almost bit my hand off. One slight snag is delaying delivery - they've misplaced their back door key! However, I'm hopeful that it will turn up before too long (and before I get sick of looking at old furniture cluttering up my garden.)

I can already feel the need to make some accessories for the new furniture.  I'm thinking of chair cushions, place mats and coasters - perhaps in a nice royal blue to match some of the garden pots? If nothing else, it will give me an excuse to go out looking at fabric... as if I need one!

I've also been busy planting out most of the seedlings that have been slowly growing since I sowed them in early March. The first of the tomato plants have been out a week, followed by most of the climbing beans and a couple of the patio peppers which went out this weekend. They have experienced sun, rain and wind in equal measure so are hopefully getting used to everything that a traditional British summer can provide.

And finally, with a big family holiday next week to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, I've also made a cake. Not a big celebratory cake, but one to fuel us in our walks and adventures in the North York Moors. It's a Fudgy Banana Loaf and looks pretty stodgy, even if I do say so myself. Mind you, that's because I know what went in to it and it's mainly mashed banana (3 unripe) and ground almonds (250g) mixed into a fudge sauce made by boiling together equal amounts of butter, agave nectar and Demerara sugar for a few minutes (125g of each), with some ground cinnamon (1tsp), ground allspice (1/2 tsp) and two eggs beaten with a pinch of salt. It has been baked in a cool oven (150C, gas mark 2) for an hour and 10 minutes before being partly cooled in the tin and then lifted out onto a rack. I've left it on the baking paper so that I can lift it back into the tin for transporting to Yorkshire once it's cold.

The recipe suggests glazing it with a sticky mixture of apricot jam and lemon juice but I have decided to forego this to make it easier to transport. As it is, I fear the car will be at bursting point as we prepare to cater for nine healthy appetites! I have fond memories of eating banana loaf as a child so I hope this one lives up to expectations!