Not sure quite how my part time job metamorphosed into working 8 days out of 10, but that does at least explain my absence from these parts of late and my current level of shatteredness. The lead up to summer holidays seems almost as frantic as Advent - perhaps it's a cunning plan. If we are all really stressed and over-extended now, we will appreciate the change of pace of the school holidays and be blissed out at the thought of a quiet day or two at home. Wonder if the same will be true for the offspring?
I had really been looking forward to the Children's Food Festival, both as a punter and because Mostly Books were doing book signings with all the celebrity chefs. This meant a large amount of book ordering, book unpacking, book re-packing, book counting, panicking about books that weren't in the right place and humping of boxes full of books. A lot. But it did also mean that I got to decorate a 'Princess Baking' themed table for some Annabel Karmel stock.
It's a well known fact that I am always up for a bit of 'pink and sparkly', given that my house abounds with testosterone, so I had fun with pink tablecloths, decorated with raggy ribbon flowers (this one loosely based on my beautiful peonies - now long dead)
And a farmyard full of piggy cupcakes
To go with a dozen eggs worth of meringues and a batch of tiara, gown and high heeled iced biscuits.
I have to confess, a third of the meringues didn't see active display (and it wasn't just that the helpers were scoffing them). I thought we'd go for a soft pastel meringue palette - pink (fine), pistachio green (fine, if a little lurid), lilac (hmmm). What was an appealing lavender shade mixture, somehow transformed itself into dingy underwear grey coloured during the course of baking. Not a good food look.
And I am sad to say, I didn't take my camera on Saturday, so there are no pictures. But there are a few celebrity signers in evidence on the shop blog. And I did manage to have it with me on Sunday, when I braved the whole thing again, with my own offspring. They had a ball making ice cream sundaes and doing plenty of sampling in the Chocolate Tent.
Getting back to the farm, pricking out seedlings and climbing on tractors, watching sheepdogs and making and tasting butter.
But in a bizarre turn of events, the most popular bit of fun was the Dyson airblade tent. Where you could wash your hands and dry them! In a tent in a field. What will they think of next?