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In 1977 we hired our first narrowboat from Anglo Welsh at Market Harborough.From that moment our destiny was set. In 2006 we finally purchased our own brand new 57' narrowboat which we named 'Free Spirit'. Our aim is to travel the length and breadth of all the navigable rivers and canals of the UK. This will be our story as it unfolds.

Tuesday, 24 December 2013

Trials of cake baking


 Talk about a manic day today! Ive been attempting to make a chocolate gateua to take to Pats for our Christmas desert tomorrow. Its part of my contribution for the Christmas dinner at her house. I stupidly left it a bit late to get a proper Christmas pudding with Asda and lidl both having sold out.  I then had to phone Pat and break the bad news. After a long silence she broke into peels of laughter and thanked Asda and Lidl for selling out. Turns out that all her family detest Christmas Pud and Ian is the only one who would have eaten it. So with me stupidly saying I would make a desert instead of buying one, out came the cook book to find something suitable. Now I have never made a gateau before but the recipe looked simple. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix using a hand mixer. I think I went a bit mad with the mixer settings though, putting it on the highest speed instead of the slowest. Before I knew it the mix was everywhere, up the walls, all over the work service, over me and even Jade got some of it. Not that she minded of course! Having cleared up the mess and with enough left to continue with the cake, I eventually got it into the oven and 35 minutes later produced  what I thought was a reasonably passable cake. After making a chocolate ganache, filled the cake with the mix, added dark berries and finished off the top with the rest of the chocolate and  fresh raspberries.


So now we are all set for tomorrow. I have been reliably informed by Pat that all the preparation for dinner is done so as soon as we arrive the festivities can begin. Bring it on cause we're so looking forward to it. Merry Christmas everyone. Hope your day will be as good as ours and filled with festive cheer.

And a winery And finally:-








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