Just a mere smattering of snow here in Henley – it looks like the top of a cake after a sprinkling of icing sugar! However it still instils in me the need to hibernate and BAKE!!! So for those of you who have asked for the Lemon Polenta cake recipe, here is the link to the programme showing Nigellacooking the cake and for the exactrecipe. And, as mentioned by Grace, warm out of the Aga with a dollop of creme fraiche and a steaming cup of coffee, a few girlfriends and you are guaranteed a delicious morning!!

This weather is quite confusing as we, in the Thames valley, seem to have missed it all and yesterday I drove to London and the M4 was empty as was London – how are all these small businesses going to survive? How are all the schoolchildren going to take their Music and Drama GCSE’s which are all meant to be happening this week? So it does make me wonder that maybe it would be a wise choice to buy some snow ploughs, stock up on salt, so that when the first snow flakes flutter down, we can keep our transport system working and businesses would not be bleeding £1.2 billion over a weekend. Benefits must be relative to the costs. Last winter’s weather should have been a wake-up call to all the authorities but once again we do not have enough salt, snow ploughs and so on……….oh well back to the baking, couple of girlfriends on their way for some cake and comfort!