Running late for Christmas, anyone?

I have been feeling rather rough for several days with a minor bout of a lurgy. Today I got up a bit late, had a bath, then took Helena to the shop to buy some last minute urgent items, including tablets as she has a bad headache for several days too.

I offered to help with the preparations so I set up the wherewithal in the kitchen to put the marzipan on the Christmas cake, which Helena had baked a month or two ago. In between washing the equipment and surfaces and warming the jam, we had a spot of homemade beetroot soup (again courtesy of Helena), whilst I listened to a James Bond play on Radio 4.

I enjoyed the task of working out the way to press the packet of marzipan into the right shapes for the top and sides of the cake. I had my camera around as I had previuosly been trying to get pictures of Bomble playing at attacking a French Bean, which is one of his favourite exploits when he can't get outside comfortably. He leaps and swipes with his feet, jumps up off the ground lands and then kills the bean, with his teeth before repeating the process over and over again. As usual I had little success in getting good shots of this activity in the dark interior of the dining-room. A few odd shots amused me but not enough to blip. One day I will get him.

I am rather pleased with this bit of food preparation followed by a blip of the same subject. I have even bought several reduced price cake mixes, a la Delia from Waitrose, as Helena and I love our Christmas cakes and always regret not having more of them to get us through the winter. This year we may well have four cakes, so my practice at rolling marzipan has got me in the mood to get baking myself. Watch this blip.


ps
Just got a card from Ian M. who has gone to visit his mum in Inverness saying he will be checking our exploits over Christmas on my Blip. So thanks Ian, for putting me up in London last week and hope to see you here before long.

pps
I am amused to see one of the cooker's clock digits didn't appear in this image. I must have caught it between tick and tock. It should have read 1442