Happy Easter Wishes x

Hello Friends,
Spring is here at last! In our garden here at the People & Cats Republic, everything is busy germinating, bursting into bud, tweeting, buzzing & pecking people's prize purple & white stripy primulas to shreds with naughty vandal beaks.

The 'Ice Follies' daffodils are looking fab & I must have bought mine on the day the bulb counting machine had a melt-down, as my sack of 30 bulbs actually contained 45, enough to plant an extra couple of pots. 'Ice Follies' are a tall strong variety, with very pale lemon yellow petals & frilly darker centres. 

Over the last week, they have put up with all-day rain, gales, hail, not to mention the ever-present delinquent sparrow army & sporadic cat spats, & they are still standing tall, so I can recommend them for anyone wanting a good show this time next year.

I always like to make an Easter Tree, an easy sustainable project, as I just cut a few twiggy branches from the garden, arrange them in a vase & decorate with a motley assortment of spring decorations I've made or collected over the years. 

Some are looking a little the worse for wear. This poor chick moults off a load more feathers each year & will soon be bald, but we have an Equality of Opportunity Policy here at 'Hagstones', so bald mange-suffering poultry are as welcome on our tree now as the legless robin with the staved-in head is at Yule.

It wouldn't be Easter without baking, so this year, I made a big iced sponge to take along to yesterday's family fuddle. Even as a very keen baker, it was the first time I'd made a Genoese sponge. I can remember we had to know the difference between a Genoese & a whisked or Victoria sponge for O-level cookery........yes, we really learned to cooked back then........we didn't spend a whole term farting about with designing a sandwich & a marketing plan for its packaging.........cookery was a life skill, & one of the most useful, money-saving & creative things I learned at school. Anyway, I'd noted the general paling & twitchiness of 'Great British Bake-off' contestants when twigging that the recipe they'd been given involved a Genoese. Decided to give it a go on the basis that if it collapsed in a tragic heap of crumbs, I'd easily be able to knock up my quick bomb-proof chocolate cake. It turned out to be pretty straightforward, just a case of being organised & having the melted butter ready to drizzle in down the sides of the bowl. (Admittedly, I made mine without the gimlet eyes of Mr Hollywood roving over my batter, & with nothing more distracting than the continued attempts of Albert Whiskers to get into the fridge). I split it into 3 layers & filled it with home made plum jam & vanilla butter cream. I was pleased with the result. Everyone enjoyed it & wanted some to take home, so it was all eaten (just in case anyone was thinking of accidentally calling by for a spare slice........).

So, it's Easter. The Wheel of the Year is turning & everywhere I look in the garden, I see a task which needs doing. I'll try to catch up with some of those this week. Whatever you are doing today, I hope you had chocolate for breakfast. I have to hold my sticky hand up in admittance that I had both breakfast AND chocolate for breakfast, but that's kind of the law at Easter. 

So whether you are celebrating the welcome return of the Spring, as we do, the resurrection of your god, a pleasant weekend away from work spending time with your families & friends, or a mixture of all of the above, we three at the People & Cats Republic would like to wish you all a Very Happy Easter filled with all the promise of springtide. I would like to extend special wishes to all those people in essential services who have to work over the holiday weekend, often for wages which do not reflect the value of the work. Our country would grind to a halt without them & they deserve our thanks.

Till next time, when I shall mostly be boring you with rhubarb, but all being well, there should be an interesting cake......
Cheers,
C x