Hibernating

There's been no let-up to the cold weather over the last few days. Friday and Saturday have been the coldest so far, with Friday dropping down to -17 C according to some reports. It was stunningly beautiful once the sun came out, the English countryside turned Arctic over night. The downside of this though was a malfunctioning boiler. Surely the greener condensing combi boiler we are all encouraged to install has a design fault if the condensate freezes so easily on these cold nights? At least this time we were prepared and had buckets ready. We also replaced the lagging on the outside pipe but it's so exceptionally cold I think it would have frozen no matter what.

Today (Sunday) it has been about zero degrees but it has felt quite warm compared to the last few days! Spent the day doing chores, the usual, washing ironing etc and a pile of mending.....my leather bag, my winter boots, cardigan, trousers, anything with a hole got sewn up today. Also made a cake from a recipe that came with the latest La Vialla catalogue. The cake is called Torta 'Briaca (Tipsy Cake) and is a traditional recipe from the island of Elba (where Napoleon was holed up for a while, maybe he had some too?). There are no eggs in the cake and it doesn't rise at all but it is rather nice with plenty of nuts. If you haven't heard of La Vialla before then please go to there website and sign up (http://www.lavialla.it/uk/Home_UK.asp). Their products are amazing, very reasonable and make the most fantastic gifts. If you don't fall in love with their delightful catalogues then you have no heart! Reading these just makes you want to pack up and move there to spend happy sun filled days eating pasta and picking grapes.....such dreams! Here is the finished torta.....

Torta 'Briaca, recipe from La Vialla