four more

- the cherry trees are in blossom
- Little Garden - one of local supermarket chains has a promotion giving customers tiny peat pots complete with dehydrated growing medium and seeds for herbs and vegetables. It's aimed at children but we're giving it a go.
- homemade almond butter - recipe here
- lemon cake with a sugar topping

Lemon Cake
125g butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp finely grated lemon rind

Preheat oven to 170ºC.
Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line the base with baking paper.
Cream butter and sugar.
Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in the rind.
Fold in sifted flour alternately with milk to form a smooth batter.
Spread into tin and bake for about 45 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Rest in the tin for about 3-4 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack set over a tray. Spoon over lemon syrup.

Syrup:
1/2 cup sugar
juice of one lemon
thin strips of lemon rind (use a zester, if you have one)
Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and spoon over the warm cake. Allow to set.

Nice served with thick Greek yoghurt.

Watching: Veep season 4
Reading: Spaces: where creative people live, work and play by frankie magazine (2015). It's tempting to just look at the great photos in this book - I love looking at other people's stuff - but it's so worth reading the text to hear their stories too. One of my favourites is about a couple and their two small children who live in a lighthouse keeper's cottage on Moreton Island, Queensland. "Sometimes it's so quiet you can hear the sound of whales exhaling as they surface on the sea below the house." Imagine that!

Have a good week.