A little baking, a little sewing, a lovely day

I have always liked Sunday because we try and keep it as a time for church and family. When the children were younger we would take them out on a Sunday afternoon to visit places of interest or for a walk in the park. Over the last few months the pressure of work has meant that many Sunday afternoons have found us sitting at our computers working. John and I have been having long conversations about the quality of our life and what we want from it and it was no surprise when our first decision was that work on a Sunday had to stop. So this Sunday was different.

Now although I said no work on a Sunday I decided that a quick clean and tidy was required. So we swept, mopped and dusted before we started our quiet Sunday. It didn't take long with two of us. The shock of a quiet Sunday threw us a little and we had to retire to the garden with coffee to decide what to do next. I knew I wanted to do some baking and it had to be a lemon cake.

Tangy Lemon Cake
This recipe was submitted by Mrs Judith Perry from Sutton St Nicholas, Hereford to The Complete Farmhouse Kitchen Cookbook which was published in 1984. I copied the recipe from my mother's book several years ago as I couldn't find the book anywhere.

The top of the cake goes a darker brown after cooking as you pour a lemon syrup over it.

125 g /4 oz butter
175 g /6 oz caster sugar
Grated rind and juice of two lemons
2 beaten eggs
175 g / 6 oz self raising flour
A little milk
50 g / 2 oz granulated sugar

To make;

1. Cream butter, caster sugar and lemon rind until fluffy

2. Gradually beat in the eggs

3. Mix in the flour and add about 4 tablespoons milk to soften the mixture. It should be soft enough to drop off end of spoon when shaken gently

4. Grease a 1 kg / 2 lb loaf tin

5. Bake in a moderate oven, Gas 4, 350 F, 180 C, for 45 to 50 minutes until risen and golden, firm on top and shrinking from sides of the tin.

6. Just before cake is ready to come out of the oven, prepare the lemon syrup. Heat the lemon juice and granulated sugar gently until the sugar is dissolved.

7. As soon as cake is out of the oven, while still in the tin, pierce top all over with a skewer. Pour over the lemon syrup. Leave the cake in tin until it is cold.

The cake is very moist with a nice lemon tang to it. Great with afternoon tea in the garden. 

This was fun as I haven't baked a cake since Christmas. Next I started some sewing. I was working on my piece for the 'bird' hop that starts tomorrow at Sew we quilt. My day is next Tuesday when I will reveal what I have made.

I also did a little work on my grandmother's garden hexi quilt in the evening. I haven't worked on this for quite a while. Here is how far I had got last time I posted about it.

I now have 3 more green flowers to sew on to complete this round. The next round is blue and all the flowers are made for that so I just need to sew them on. This is a work on in the evening quilt whilst watching TV or chatting with family. The individual flowers I stitch together while travelling to work on the train.

So that was my Sunday, a great companionable day with John and a really good sewing day. Today John is out walking with members of our church. Some members of the congregation decided that they would like to do 3 to 4 walks a year of 8 to 10 miles. The asked John if he would be willing to lead them. As he loves walking he jumped at the chance. Last time I went along as well but today I stayed home. My knees have been sore recently and I don't want to over do things plus I didn't have much chance to sew last month so I need some free time.  I'm now going to switch the computer for my machine and get on with my swoon blocks.

I hope you had a good weekend and for those of you in the UK I hope you enjoy the bank holiday. I'm going to enjoy some more May for Me time

Lyndsey