A Royal Wedding, a Giveaway and Banana Bread!

Hello everyone!

Its a while since I posted, which is unusual for me, but what with the Royal Wedding and a long weekend with family around, it has been busy and there has been no time for blogging :(

So apologies for not having visited you for a while, but I look forward to visiting your blog some time over the next few days to catch up with your news!

Anyway, talking of Royal Weddings.........wasn't it just perfect and magical and exciting and moving, and didn't I sit there from 8am until it was all over, like a fool with tears in my eyes at the sheer pageanty and Britishness of it all! And so awed by the ease and unhurried pace as it all unfolded, belying all the months of hard work and meticulous planning which was behind it.

The happiness and radiance of the beautiful Kate, the ease of her Royal groom, the nerves and jokiness of the Royal best man, the composure and elegance of the Brides family - it appeared just right and natural. The ceremony was perfect - the awesome setting, the hymns, the choir, the reading,  the Bishop of London's address. And outside, the well behaved and incredibly patient crowds, the wonderful sight of the marching bands, the horses, the carriages, the pageantry.

The only incongruous note to it all, I felt, was the rented mini buses for the minor Royals coming out of Buckingham Palace!!! ( "Hey, I want to sit in the back seat!!!!" - what a novelty it must have been for them!!)

And of course The Dress - beauty and perfection, simple and elegant, and just downright divine and fit for a Princess. Kate looked beautiful in it.

I wish them every happiness in the world.

I loved watching it all.

And still on a Royal Theme, I have a  Giveaway Winner!!!

I thought about using the Random generator thingy,  but it seemd more fitting, in keeping with the personal and natural feel of The Wedding, to select a winner in a more fun way ( which reminds me, wasn't it such a fun and personal touch when the Royal Couple came out in the wonderful little open top car, just like any other couple might do (if they were lucky enough to have a Dad who had a little run around like that!)

And so with an approving nod to all that, I got Logan busy.

I scattered the names, got down on my hands and knees to encourage him to play, and within a few seconds he got the idea and picked one up in his mouth!

Just managed to rescue the paper before he tried to rush off to chew and shred it - he is a dab hand at that, he can reduce a piece of kitchen roll to 40 pieces in less than a minute! (Or so it seems when I'm picking it all up!)

And the winner is.........

Congratulations Storycloth!!

Please can you email me your name and address so that I can send it to you.

On the morning of the Royal Wedding I decided to make Banana Bread to keep us going (no fancy champagne for us, just coffee and cake!) so thought I'd just share the recipe with you as its a good thing to have around, either to eat on its own as cake, as a dessert with yoghurt or marscapone or cream, maybe with strawberries too, or spread with honey or Bella's favourite, nutella! It is moist and sweet and rather moreish - I can't say how it keeps as its usually gone by the next day!

Its from one of Bella's cookbooks,  Cooking Up a Storm by Sam Stern, which we have adapted a little.

Banana, Cinnamon and Pecan Bread

2 large ripe bananas

1 egg

1 tblsp runny honey

50g / 2oz softened butter

75g / 3oz caster sugar

225g / 8oz self-raising flour

3 tblsp natural yoghurt (or milk if no yoghurt!)

2 tsp ground cinnamon

handful or two of pecan nuts, roughly chopped

****

Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F. Grease and baseline a 1kg/2lb loaf tin.

Mash the bananas in a bowl until smooth. Add the lightly beaten egg and honey.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until pale and light.

Add the banana mix to the creamed butter and sugar and beat in.

Sift the flour and stir in half, add the cinnamon then add some yoghurt/milk and repeat until all mixed well.

Stir in one handful of pecans.

Pour into tin, scatter over rest of the pecans and bake 50 - 60 minutes until skewer comes out clean.

Remove from tin after a few minutes and place on cake rack to cool.

NB we only had the remains of a bag of pecans and so only scattered on top. We also used milk instead of yoghurt. You could of course omit the nuts and cinnamon (as per original recipe) or use walnuts instead. Could even try with some cocoa powder instead of cinnamon for a choc banana bread I'm thinking!

On Sunday we had a good long walk with Logan around Knole Park in Sevenoaks, Kent whilst Bella was off enjoying a birthday brunch with a group of friends at an American diner.

This is a National Trust property, but it has acres of open deer park for anyone to walk through - we saw deer, horses being excercised, lots of joggers, families out for fresh air and plenty of dog walkers like us, although it is so vast it never feels crowded except nearer to the house.

Unfortunately the batteries in my camera ran out before we got to better views of the House - we were at the far end of the parkland - will have to go again soon and take photos of the house.

Knole was the ancestral home of the Sackvilles, and is where Vita Sackville West the gardener and writer lived as a child. She then married Sir Harold Nicolson and lived at Sissinghurst Castle, another NT place in Kent, but a far more modest house and garden than Knole, with beautifully laid out gardens including the famous White Garden, and a lovely castle with tower room where Vita wrote - you can go up the tower, but not much else is open to the public.

It has a very personal feel and if you are in the area it is so well worth a visit.

It is now the home of writer and gardener Sarah Raven and her husband Adam Nicolson, who is the grandson of Vita Sackville-West. They have transformed the restaurant, and have all sorts of new iniatives going on.

The above photos are from my garden, where we have small patches of bluebells out in many areas (as well as some lovely tall large irises).

But a regular walk from the door for us takes us through woods with carpets of bluebells and an abundance of yellow broom - the colours are beautiful and we are off  shortly to do that walk with Logan, armed with a camera with full batteries, so I shall do a post soon to show the photos.

Thank you all for the many lovely comments and well wishes for Mr G's early retirement - he was pleasantly surprised but I told him what a lovely lot you are! As he's not expecting to have too many weeks of "retirement" before he's working again he is going to make the most of this bit of freedom!

To end on a totally random note, I have made my first online sale! I sold a lavender heart from my blog shop, so am feeling a little chuffed! Thankyou kindly Lesley!!!

Enjoy the weather!