Home again, home again.

And so I'm home - and another year older.  Yep, back on Thursday, older on Monday.  Not an '0' birthday, I'm pleased to say, but older and wiser all the same.

I must admit that I was rather spoilt - dinner at our favourite restaurant with my Beloved; a delivery of fragrant liliums, foodie gifts including three of the new Lantern Cookery Classics (Kylie, Stephanie and Maggie), aged Balsamic Vinegar, and French Champagne, and a lovely Phalaenopsis Orchid in a pot from the even more lovely Jemimah.  Oh, and lots of lovely Facebook messages.  It's a nice addition to the modern birthday, isn't it, the greetings from friends near and far on social media.

This lovely book was not one of my birthday presents, but it arrived while I was away and I enjoyed browsing through it over breakfast on Monday morning.  Have I told you that there isn't a Jane Brocket book that I don't adore?  I have them all (except her toddler's board books), even her patchwork one (although I'm never likely to attempt to patch and I can't even sew), just because I love her  writing and the way she styles her illustrations, and when I grow up I'm going to be just like her.  Vintage Cakes proves to be as good and the rest, and inspired my birthday cake - recipe by Phoebe Brocket, made by me, decorated with abundance by Jemimah.  The recipe was called 'simple chocolate cake', and it lived up to its name, and it was deep and dark and sweet and moist and soft and sliced well, just like Jane promised it would.  Sinfully wicked.

The holiday was great.  Sadly we had a car break in upon our arrival in France and all of our iPads as well as my camera were stolen, along with many of my souvenirs, but I had a great time and took lots of sort of okay pics on my iphone, which I'll share with you shortly.

Hey, it's good to be back, y'know.  I missed you.  Truly.