No I'm not expecting a baby. You can stop fainting now, Lars-Göran! But I am feeling happy because a friend in Australia wrote today to tell me that she and her man are having a baby! These are a lovely couple who I met online and who came to visit us here almost two years ago now. They were just as fantastic in real life as they had been online - especially as they came laden with Tim Tams, Aussie wine and that great Australian sense of humour. Congratulations, Roland and Nicole - we are really happy for you. And Lambi can't wait to be a dogmother....

I wasn't however thinking only of them. I've been busy in the kitchen this weekend and made up a batch of delicious Hot Cross Buns!



Okay, they aren't perfect by any means, but for a first try here I thought they were okay and next time, I'll try and NOT cut the hole in my piping bag so big, so you can see the cross a bit better. There were however, no complaints from Mr Swede as he buttered one and savoured the taste.



He really enjoyed them piping hot, fresh from the oven. And they tasted almost as good as the ones from Perryman's. He asked about the spices I used in them, so I let him smell the jar of mixed spice (a heady blend of cinnamon, coriander, dill, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and allspice), to see if he recognised the smell and he declared that it smelled exactly like ski wax! I assured him that this stuff smeared on his skis would not help him glide easily over the snow.

These buns are made especially for Easter, even though they do predate Christianity. There are many stories as to when the first hot cross buns were made and the story I like best is from Alan Davidson's "The Oxford Companion to Food". He says that they were first made in honour of their goddess of Spring, Eostre, from whom the name Easter is derived. Today they are traditionally served on Good Friday and there is a superstition that hot cross buns baked on Good Friday never became mouldy and in the past one bun would be saved as a good luck charm until the next year's buns were made. Can you imagine eating that?

Whatever the reason, Easter is just not Easter without them!