a little bit of homemaking

I seem to have developed over the last few days a fever. Muffin fever. Yesterday I had no plans to bake, but as I was flicking through my Jamie Oliver recipe book (thanks Ben) looking for advice on planting seeds of the edible variety, I stumbled across a recipe for Butternut squash muffins (as pictured). Not your average muffin recipe. It just so happened that I had a butternut squash in my fridge, so I thought I'd whip some up. I invariably find that when a muffin recipe states that it makes 12 muffins, it actually makes 22/23. Why do they do this? Is it because you can't quite squeeze 24 out of the mixture, and as muffin trays tend to be 12-hole, it wouldn't be considered a 'whole batch' if they wrote the number 23? Mystifying. It turns out this recipe was no exception, meaning I was able to share the muffin-y goodness with friends (who are like an adopted family) as well as housemates. These muffins are perhaps the most moist muffins I have ever come across. Very delicious. If anyone wants the recipe, I will happily oblige. In the process of making the muffins, I came to the end of my pack of muffin cases, which I bought on thursday. This means that in the last five days, I have baked 75 muffins, hence, 'muffin fever'. Don't worry, I haven't consumed all of these by myself - I baked for church on Sunday, so a large proportion filled the bellies of the people of City Church. I love baking.

Yesterday, I took a little road trip all by myself to Almondsbury garden centre, where I purchased a whole lot of seeds. For months I have been planning to fill up the planters on our patio, take out the dead plants and replace them with new pretty things. I have never grown anything before, so this gardening business is all a bit new to me. I wish I'd paid a bit more attention to Mum when she's been sorting out her seeds, germinating, propagating, transferring, watering, and everything in between. So I am not going to be too hopeful that I will be successful in the things I've planted, as I don't really know how I should be caring for them. Just for my records, this is what I've planted (so far)...

:: Evening Primrose (white flowers)

:: Gypsophila (white)

:: Lavatera (white)

:: Candytuft dwarf fairy (pink)

:: Convolvulus royal ensign (purple)

:: Californian Poppy (Orange)

:: Godetia Unwins Dwarf (Pinks - very pretty)

Everything I planted did not state that they needed to be first put in seedling trays, or kept inside to start off with, so I'm hoping they'll cope with the unpredictable British weather, and not get too much of a battering. If anyone has any advice as to whether I need to protect them in someway, I would gladly welcome it. Hopefully there will be pretty photos in a few months time!!