4 Oct 2012

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.

14 comments:

  1. Glad to have you back. We've missed you. And happy belated bday.

    Hugs

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  2. "and when I grow up I'm going to be just like her" - LOVE IT!!! Great to have you back. xxx

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  3. Happy to have you home. Followed FB comments & pics with great interest. ♥

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  4. Welcome back, Jeanne. Love the top photo of the chocolate birthday wishes.

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  5. Welcome back and happy birthday Jeanne! I've missed you! so sorry to hear of the car break in at the start of your holidays :(
    I'll need to look for you on FB as it seems to be taking over my media life unfortunately ;)

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  6. I love the look of that cook book! It is lovely to have you back blogging again. :) I have another friend who is currently travelling along the river system of England with her family, posting beautiful pics on fb. It's enough to make me want to pack up my bags and go! :) x

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  7. Jeanne, I've missed you truly, too. The blogosphere is not the same without you! So glad you had a wonderful trip despite the loss of your camera and iPads. We can't let the thugs ruin our lives, can we? :-)

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  8. That cake is wow! ABUNDANT in decoration. Many happy returns and blessings my friend. So good to see you back here.

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  10. welcome home, and happy birthday!

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  11. Welcome back! Happy Birthday too.

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  12. Welcome back, good to hear from you:))))

    Happy birthday!

    So sad to hear about the car theft, very bad news:(((((

    Blessing for the week ahead.

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  13. Hi lovely Jeanne! Welcome back! Why do thou teasest me thus with thine temptations of Cakes, & scrumptious foodeths???????? I think all the salivating brought out the old english in me! hahaha Oh and thank you for sharing your traveling exploits with us! Very educational!...take care! Smiley :) (LINA)

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