The icing on the cake

Well, the frenzy has started. After playgroup today I went shopping for, among other things, a few nice chunks of Welsh cheese from Ultracomida, as I'm offering a cheeseboard as part of Sunday's buffet. We also got a couple of types of ham for a platter of cold meats. After just managing to miss the rain (phew!) we hurried home, as fast as the roadworks would allow anyway, to have lunch.

In other news, I iced James' christening cake this afternoon. The little resin boots were saved from Christopher's christening cake, so it was pleasantly nostalgic to use them again, but I did want the cake to be a little different this time, so I added the cross, studded with little silver sugar balls.

Hubby and I have moved some furniture and done a decent bit of cleaning, so we're about sorted on that front. I bought a cheap IKEA Bambu wooden roller blind to use as a table runner on the buffet table, so I took the draw cord and metal fittings off that, too. With our plain white cotton tablecloth underneath, I'm hoping it'll look really good - but as it was one of those middle-of-the-night ideas, we'll just have to see.

For a quick supper tonight, I made this Sausage and Tomato Pasta. With some grated parmesan to scatter over, and a bit of garlic bread to go with, it was just right for a rainy, but still warm, evening.

Sausage & Tomato Pasta

200g dried pasta (I used conchiglie)
6 pork sausages, cut into chunks
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
pinch mixed dried herbs
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato purée
handful spinach leaves
fresh parsley, chopped

Bring a big pan of water to the boil and put the pasta on to cook. Fry the onion and garlic in a little oil until just soft, then add the sausage chunks and cook until brown. Tip in the tomatoes, tomato purée and the dried herbs. Simmer for 5 minutes or so, then stir it the spinach into the sauce to wilt the leaves. Drain the pasta and toss through the sauce, then add the chopped parsley to serve.

I'm now going to sit and make about 4,000 lists of all the bits and pieces I need to buy or do over the next couple of days. My brother and his girlfriend are staying with us tomorrow night, so I've got to think of something to give them for dinner when they arrive. Time to get the cookbooks out, I think...