Gifts Galore!

Romy paid me a surprise visit yesterday. She came bearing gifts: a wonderful black bag with a very useful inner bag. The bag has a very trendy diamante skull, and inside the inner bag was this gorgeous lacy scarf from Spain. Fantastic - I shall wear these to my Mother's Day dinner with Dorothy. I can fit sketchbooks in, too, so very handy indeed. I don't know whether I mentioned I am having my more trashy bits of gold melted down into a bangle. Nibby's jeweller is going to do the work and Nibby will collect the gold on her next visit. Quite exciting! My new guest from Paris is settling in well as he is here for a month's internship just around the corner, so staying here is very handy for him. I have purchased some flowers to brighten up the garden since the Airbnb snapper is coming tomorrow. Mind you, he probably won't snap the garden since it is probably going to be pissing with rain. We shall see. Maybe I shall fill some baskets with flowers so they can be carried inside or out. Frantically cleaning meanwhile. Romy left her scarf behind and will hopefully collect it today. She is also bringing a Karcher window cleaning machine so I can have a go at the windows. Dear me, I am almost becoming a bit domesticated. I even baked a cake yesterday like the boiled orange cake, but substituting three overripe bananas. I may be forced to make another just to use them up. Romy was interested in the recipe which is 200g ground almonds, 150 to 200g sugar, 5 whole eggs, three very overripe bananas and a pinch of cinnamon or allspice. Oven on to about 170, then chucking in the bananas first and processing for a bit, chuck all the rest in a food processor until smooth. Line a sponge pan or two with baking parchment and cook for half an hour, but you may need nearly an hour if the dish is deeply filled. This is delicious served with cream, ice cream or alone and can be sliced and frozen. My guest had a slice which he enjoyed with a cuppa when he arrived home from work. Later tomorrow I may well go to the Gudrun shop where she is doing drinks and goodie bags etc for International Women's Day. I shall report back on this.