I've spent a very contented Saturday mostly doing what I like best - baking, going for a stroll and reading.
Baking first. I finally got round to making two things that I've been planning to make for ages: Spinach filo parcels and a coconut cake.
Here they are on the cooling rack in the kitchen:
I found the recipe for the Spinach parcels on the Internet on the allrecipes.co.uk site. They came out very well and I ate a couple with salad for my Saturday evening supper. The recipe for the coconut cake comes from my "Perfect Afternoon Tea" recipe book. I haven't tried the cake yet but I've made a couple of things out of this book and they have all been very good, so I think this will be too. The cake has certainly risen nicely and smells delicious - it has grated lemon rind in it as well as coconut.
For my Saturday afternoon stroll I walked around Robin Hood Cemetery. That sounds very morbid, but it wasn't really. The cemetery is very green with lots of trees and it was peaceful and quiet, and also quite interesting. I found some of the Commonwealth War Graves that are in the cemetery and the grave of Thomas Turrall, who won the VC in 1916. I also saw a pair of Jays as well as lots of squirrels.
The book I've been reading, and hoping to get finished in the next few days, is "The Bastard of Istanbul" by Elif Shafak. I haven't enjoyed it very much so far but I'll see it through to the end.
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On my needles - "Pin Up Queen" sweater in Drops Cotton Light
Reading - Flambards by K.M. Peyton. A childhood favourite that I am re-reading and enjoying very much.
Took my daily walk in Cannon Hill Park. Despite the unseasonably warm weather the autumn is really here; the park keepers were busy sweeping up fallen leaves and digging over the flower beds. Squirrels were busy burying their winter stores. Cannon Hill Park truly is a gem and we are so lucky that we have such a beautiful place on the doorstep. I have decided to go there more often for my walk. I stopped for a sandwich and coffee in the Cannon Hill Tearoom. I usually go to the MAC for refreshments and this is the first time I've been to the Tearoom. I preferred it to the MAC, which gets very busy and full of "yummy mummys". The Tearoom has a nice, old fashioned feel to it and my coffee and sandwich were tasty and very reasonably priced.
Shiny conkers in the park - a sure sign that autumn is here
“When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one's ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender, of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries.”
― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
