Something in the air
There is a change in the air. Oh yes, it is still dark and grey and here in my corner of North Wales there has been a steady chilly drizzle all day long but there is a change. Each day this week I have been very conscious of this change but unable to put my finger on it and then it suddenly struck me. Birdsong. The birds have been singing all week long, once or twice I thought it was coming from the radio, really! It's not just me, on reading blogs today I have noticed several other people mention it too.
There are green shoots appearing all over my grassy hillside promising daffodils in the weeks ahead. There are snowdrops, how I love snowdrops. Their brave, fragile little heads gently nodding above the rain sodden ground. I knew as I picked these that I was wrong to do so, I know they won't last, I know they look better drifting across my grassy banks but I just could not resist. It is so long since the garden offered me any sort of bloom to bring inside. These snowdrops are like a little jar of promise. The promise of longer, warmer days, the promise of time spent outside, the promise of renewed energy and life.
To go with my jar of snowdrops I made Madeleines. Why have I not made these before? They are as lovely as their name sugests. Light, fragrant, drops of sponge, heavenly with a cup of coffee. Dangerously more-ish and the perfect visual accompaniment to snowdrops.
I initially followed the recipe in How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking
and quickly decided I that I needed to make more as it would seem that these little things fall into your mouth before you get to put them in a tin. A quick google brought me here and I like this version even better.
There is a change in the air. Oh yes, it is still dark and grey and here in my corner of North Wales there has been a steady chilly drizzle all day long but there is a change. Each day this week I have been very conscious of this change but unable to put my finger on it and then it suddenly struck me. Birdsong. The birds have been singing all week long, once or twice I thought it was coming from the radio, really! It's not just me, on reading blogs today I have noticed several other people mention it too.
There are green shoots appearing all over my grassy hillside promising daffodils in the weeks ahead. There are snowdrops, how I love snowdrops. Their brave, fragile little heads gently nodding above the rain sodden ground. I knew as I picked these that I was wrong to do so, I know they won't last, I know they look better drifting across my grassy banks but I just could not resist. It is so long since the garden offered me any sort of bloom to bring inside. These snowdrops are like a little jar of promise. The promise of longer, warmer days, the promise of time spent outside, the promise of renewed energy and life.
To go with my jar of snowdrops I made Madeleines. Why have I not made these before? They are as lovely as their name sugests. Light, fragrant, drops of sponge, heavenly with a cup of coffee. Dangerously more-ish and the perfect visual accompaniment to snowdrops.
I initially followed the recipe in How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking
and quickly decided I that I needed to make more as it would seem that these little things fall into your mouth before you get to put them in a tin. A quick google brought me here and I like this version even better.
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