Back again!

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It’s a while since I was here – school holidays certainly play havoc with one’s usual routine! Getting back to normal again now though. It’s been quite a busy summer, so of course now I have lots of things to write about – if I can remember them all! I’m going to start with the most recent first. A lot of spring and summer was cool and wet, which meant a REALLY slow start in the vegetable garden. Young plants like squashes and runner beans just sat there, looking alive and healthy enough but just not growing, until finally temperatures warmed up enough for them to actually get going properly. As a result of course I now have the usual situation of everything being ready at once, only worse than ever because it’s all condensed into a shorter period! Last week I picked ten cucumbers. Obviously I like cucumbers, otherwise I wouldn’t grow them, but there is a limit to how many you can eat at once. I pickled some, but we haven’t actually eaten all the ones I pickled last year yet, so I didn’t want to do too many. I’ve made salads, raitas, lots of tzatziki and of course just eaten slices of them in salads and sandwiches, but I was looking around for something else. Eventually I came across this recipe for cucumber cake and was curious enough to give it a try, so Big One and I made it yesterday. It was certainly unusual, and not like anything else I have ever eaten. It’s actually cucumber and lemon cake with elderflower frosting. It’s a pretty pale yellow colour with delicate flecks of green, and the flavour is not like any other cake, but it is like a refreshing taste of summer! I’m not sure whether I would ever make it again, except perhaps for its novelty value to surprise guests! Having said that, my partner does keep going back for just another slice so there is something rather appealing about it. What would you do with extra cucumbers? All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2024.