My Birthday cake.

Not many of us can make a cake and do a crossword at the same time. And whilst wearing a scarf (birthday gift). I am trying to make chocolate whirls, unsuccesfully, with a butter curler. The icing was ganache, still to be made in the picture, which I thought should go hard? It did manage to stay on the top but quite a lot pooled down the sides. It still tasted scrummy. For making the cake and the icing I used my birthday gift of an electric whizzer. How exciting is that!

Well, I just cannot believe that it snowed again today. Blizzards. Fortunately not settling but not pleasant. Strong wind. Back to burning liquid gold (oil).

We have a couple of Belgian chaps in , with a gun each, hoping to bag a few deer. So far without success. Unlike the last time when we had four corpses in our shed. They go out before dawn. Return for breakfast and then go back to bed. Back out at dusk. So we are tiptoeing around all day....

Having finished decorating our bedroom I purchased a new light fitting. The current one is mainly black and does not go at all. So I have bought a gold one. Because these chaps are in we cannot fit the new one as it means turning off all the lights....But my new orchid looks very tasteful (yes, another birthday gift) sitting in the corner.