This is a lovely recipe that I frequently think of but seldom make. It requires a bit of planning because it starts off the night before with some cold tea. I don't usually remember it until the morning when I am making a fresh pot of tea and think "If only I'd saved the old tea last night…". For once I thought of it in time and instead of pouring a pot of cold tea down the sink I poured some into a measuring cup and mixed it up with sugar and raisins and peel and set it aside for Saturday morning. Maisie got up with me instead of sleeping in a bit and was very curious about the bowl of stuff we'd left out last night. She kept asking to see it. She enjoyed watching me beat and add an egg and then some flour and asked me to turn on the light when I put the loaf pan in the oven. I have to remember to set the oven a little cooler with my loaf pans. They are dark and I find things come out of the oven a little overcooked around the edges. I did my best to wait until the loaf was cool before cutting into it - it just falls to bits if you don't - but got impatient while it was still a bit warm. It's delicious and the citrus peel adds a nice bitter bite. Maisie liked it too but referred to it as "puzzle bread", presumably because she had to pick apart each piece to get out all the fruit.

Barm Brack
from Company's Coming Muffins and More, also appears in Company's Coming Millennium Edition.

In a large bowl combine:

   1 C cold tea
   1 C raisins
   ½ C mixed peel
   ½ C currants
   1 C sugar

Cover and let stand over night. The next morning beat well and add:

   1 egg

along with:

   ¼ C melted butter or margarine

In a small bowl combine:

   2 C flour
   1 tsp. baking powder
   ¼ tsp. baking soda
   ¼ tsp. salt

Add dry ingredients to fruit mixture. Stir until well blended. Spoon into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350F (175C) for 60 - 70 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool. Serve sliced with butter.

Was last week nice for you? It was full of lovely, everyday moments for us. Maisie has a new trick she can do on her giraffe bike. It freaks me out to see her do it but as long as the bike is on the carpet she doesn't seem to hurt herself when she falls off. Rob introduced her to snow for the first time. She wasn't overly enamoured with the experience but there will be plenty more opportunities to discover how great it is. Right now I'm more interested in water. Last Tuesday we got close enough to zero that things started melting just a bit and this week there is a drip, drip, drip off the house in the afternoon. I'm excited to rediscover my garden and share the joy of freshly picked peas with Miss Maisie. We're going to give broccollini a try this year.

Much fun was had one afternoon last week by putting yoghurt drops into an empty bottle and dumping them out again. Many landed on the floor. Abby and Ollie ate them. I got to drink my tea. We went out for breakfast on Saturday morning. Instead of her usual boots we put Maisie's shoes on so she'd be able to walk around at the restaurant. She really likes the robots and flapped her feet around and smiled at them while Rob got her hat and scarf on. Saturday afternoon was cake and tea to celebrate my recent birthday. I made this cake and it was great. I added raisins and was pretty generous with the icing. It's delicious and not too sweet. And it's great for breakfast the next day.

I managed to get in a little crafting this weekend. Socks for me are finished. Socks for Maisie are started. A little quilt top id finished too. I've got some minky for the backing. I usually like to stick to all natural materials when I'm sewing because they just feel nicer to me but the minky is so soft. I've been warned that it's kind of stretchy to sew with and to use lots of pins. With luck I get it done sometime this week.

I made stored dough for the first time in ages last week and use a chunk of it for cinnamon rolls on Saturday morning. I think I'd forgotten just how handy it is to have a big bowl of ready to use bread dough in the fridge and just how good fresh from the oven cinnamon rolls smell. I drizzled a little icing over them just for fun. Rob and I had ours with coffee and Maisie had hers with some apple sauce. She's starting to get the hang of using a spoon. Sometimes she'll just use her fingers to move whatever is on the bowl of the spoon to her mouth but a few times now she's grabbed the spoon and put it in her mouth with most of the food still on it. On Sunday she also used her piece of cinnamon roll as a vehicle for apple sauce. It turns out this is really good and Rob and I finished off the remained of her cup of apple sauce by dipping cinnamon rolls in it. I think I'll plan on putting out a dish a of apple sauce every time I make cinnamon rolls now. They just went together so perfectly.