Freeing violets

 It has been a pleasant afternoon with no rain and a lessened wind force. I have been freeing violets from the oppression of tough grasses and a cotoneaster. The violets seeded themselves into the cracks and crevices of the steps leading up to the shed. This year they did not flower very well.









Happily, this afternoon, I discovered that they had been spreading themselves near young ferns and under the cotoneaster to the side of the steps. Perhaps there were more flowers than I realised, or perhaps the few flowers I saw were champion seed pingers. Whichever it was, I'm hoping for a violetty spring.



Before I came in for tea and biscuits I looked for daffodil and snowdrop leaves poking out of the ground. I usually see some during December but not this year.

Boggy Brae banana walnut bread

Yesterday I made some banana and walnut tea loaves in my maternal grandma's old bread tins. They have interesting bottoms: an extra piece of metal has been added that stands away from the from the bottom of the tin and has air holes. I'm presuming this was to prevent the bottoms of loaves from burning.

bread tin bottom

Although I make a chocolate banana cake quite often and have its recipe in my head, I wondered if tea bread with nuts would have any particular requirements. My recipe tin is often more productive than recipe books, or even searching online, so I had a rummage. The tin is full of recipes I've written down, that other people have written down for me, and that I've cut off food packets and boxes. It provided a banana bread recipe from an Oxford friend and something off a packet of something — walnuts perhaps.

The actual ingredients and quantities I used were as follows:

4oz butter
4oz soft brown sugar
one and a half oz golden syrup (I have a very handy weighing spoon for awkard stuff like syrup; see pic below)

Melt those ingredients in a pan, then add:

4oz chopped walnuts
4 mashed bananas
2 eggs
9oz wholemeal self-raising flour
heaped teaspoon of baking powder

Bake at 350ºF/180ºC till done (I turned the tins around after 20 minutes and left them another 15. I think! In short, cook till a skewer comes out clean from the middle of the loaves).

Handy weighing spoon. Goes up to 200g
depending what you're weighing and whether it will fit!

Updating my photos on the iMac, it seems I took an accidental selfie while I was making banana walnut bread, and that I was having fun.