The weather was freezing! For all but our last day the temperature didn't rise above minus six. That was quite a shock to our soft London ways. We spent our mornings going for long bike rides and hikes through the narnia landscape, and our afternoons playing Settlers of Catan, Magic: The Gathering and Carcassonne and drinking hot chocolate and cups of tea.
Tomorrow we all go back to work and school and I feel as though we are going back into our separate lives once again. We'll each be working at our own things and evenings will be a catch up of what we have all done, rather than a reflection of a day spent together.
- 225g self raising flour
- 175g butter or marg
- 110g caster sugar
- 1 dessertspoon honey
- 3 large eggs
- 1 banana, mashed
- 350g raisins and sultanas
- 25g halved glace cherries
- grated rind of 1 lemon
- 50g dried apricots, chopped
- large handful flaked almonds
Line the base of a large loaf tin or deep square 18cm tin with parchment paper. Cream the butter and sugar together and beat in the honey. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and adding the occasional spoonful from the flour if the mixture looks like curdling. Lightly fold in the rest of the flour. Stir in the fruit and lemon rind.
Turn the batter into the prepared tin and scatter the almonds on top of it. Bake at gas mark 4 for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to gas mark 3 and bake for a further 45 minutes, covering the top with foil towards the end if it is browning too much.