Lemon drizzle

We tidied the house and made a lemon drizzle cake today. I found a recipe online and used up the lemon Fiona had bought for last night's salad. The cake itself was baked in the special tray which Sascha bought us for Christmas. It's very cool. It has a series of compartments linked together in a sort of elongated N shape, so that the cake can be turned out and cut into smaller chunks, all of which have a lovely crusty "baker's" edge. Sadly I shoved it into the oven at an angle, so when the cake came out it looked like a ski slope! Still, as Mrs Wagland used to say, "if you close your eyes it will taste the same..."

The cake was made for Ian and Jem, who were hosting a final dinner party at their house up in Friern Barnet before winging their way to New York, for an exciting new chapter in their lives. Ian leaves in a few weeks' time. Jem follows him out there in May. We, of course, shall miss them bitterly. Our lives have been so intertwined in the years they've lived over here. Both sing in the Rebel Chorus and Nathan and Ian have been in several shows together. Their leaving the UK will almost certainly bring the curtain down on the end of an era and leave a big hole in our lives.

Jem's food was, as ever, utterly delicious. Today's delicacy was aubergines coated in bread crumbs. I've told a number of people recently how sad I feel that vegetarians often miss out on the joy of things covered in breadcrumbs. Surprisingly, not a great deal of vegetarian cuisine takes advantage of this particular delight. I often look at things like fish fingers with a great sense of envy. So imagine my joy when I saw what Jem had cooked! It would have been rude not to eat two...

The lemon drizzle cake seemed to go down well. We ate it with a big plate of summer fruits. I think everyone had at least two slices.

Shannon and Cam were there as well. They're a delightful American couple we've got to know through Ian and Jem. I hugged Shannon as we left, hoping we'd still get to spend time with her and Cam after the boys have gone.

Jem seems to have been suffering from a very similar cold to mine. He's been coughing and spluttering now for the best part of two weeks. It's funny isn't it? Knowing someone else is similarly under the weather can be rather comforting. It reminds us that we're not suffering from something more serious, I suppose. Or is that just me? Is this how all hypochondriacs feel?