Kew Gardens (Part 1)

Here are some photos for you from my recent trip to Kew Gardens. Enjoy!













I'll post some more in the next day or so.

Announcing the Winner of the Easter Cake Bake 2010

The votes are in and counted and I'm delighted to announce that the winner of this year's Easter Cake Bake is....

Jo's Kitchen



Many congratulations, Jo.

Thank you once again to everyone who participated; it's been great fun and I loved all of your cakes.

Easter Cake Bake 2010 - The Round Up

Once again a fabulous collection of Easter cakes have been entered into the competition, and once again I just can't choose a winner! So I'm handing over to you to vote for your favourite.

To vote, simply select the entry you like the best from the list in the left-hand side bar, and I'll announce the winner in a week's time.

Thank you to everyone who entered; all of the cakes really are fantastic!

1. Chocolate Log Blog



2. We Love Homemade Produce



3. Serenely Full



4. The Variable - Crazy Over Desserts



5. Kitchen Delights



6. Jo's Kitchen



7. Chocolate Teapot



8. Cooking at Marystow



9. Miss Catherine O



10. Melecotte



11. Anne's Kitchen



12. Cake, Crumbs and Cooking



13. Back to the Chopping Board

Spring Sunshine

At around this time in April two years ago I was walking through fresh snow, here in England. As I looked through my camera lens at fragile spring flowers bending under the weight of cold snow I marvelled at the surprises the elements sometimes throw up. Snow in April, who'd have thought it?

And now, having seen winter visit spring, summer has decided stop by. It's been quite glorious this weekend, and so warm that it felt like June when I was sitting in the garden. And not only has summer made an appearance in the weather but also in these gorgeous tomatoes I picked up from a local farm shop:





The overwhelming response when I asked on Twitter what I should do with them was to go for Italian simplicity, which I completely agreed with, and so I teamed them with buffalo mozzarella, torn basil leaves and extra virgin olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Perfect.





It was absolutely delicious. What an utter joy and complete surprise to be eating such a summery salad in my garden with gorgeous sunshine beating down at this time of year. Let's hope the good weather stays around for a little longer - goodness knows, after the seemingly never-ending winter we've just had, we deserve it!