I'm starting with an apology, and hopefully it doesn't come off like one of those lame I'm a bad blogger, I got bored with this but I'm back now, I SWEAR! sort of apologies, although I've also been guilty of those in the past. (Sorry.) But you may have noticed a bit of a drop off in my posts here, and I have no good excuse. Some personal issues on my end have just sort of made me... stop. I know I've been all joking about how I miss pub food and I can't be bothered cooking now, but it's not just cooking. I haven't cooked. I haven't written. I haven't picked up a camera. Edit: when I started writing this, more than a week ago, I hadn't picked up a camera. I have done two portrait shoots that I had booked since then, which is something, right? The frames that littered my entire house waiting to be filled with photos for the Carlisle fair in August have been packed up in boxes, I can't face them. I'm just not feeling able to do terribly much of anything these days, and for that, I apologize. I hope that by taking a little break, I will be able to come back to all of these things, but right now I'm just need to not do them. I'm sorry.

The one thing I have managed to bake in the last few weeks is this: Aidan's birthday cake, specifically requested. Aidan had actually planned to try making it himself, but the days leading up to his birthday party were rather hectic and it all sort of came to a head ON the day of his party, which found me calling in sick to an appointment so that I could make the coconut filling and swiss buttercream frosting, before bursting into tears at the Apple Store. (That's another story.) My baby, my firstborn, the one who takes after me in SO many ways, good and bad, is turning 13 next week, and he wanted this cake, so he was going to have it. I won't type out the recipe here, it's long, and did I mention I'm not really feeling like writing these days? Suffice it to say, it's a sort of combination of recipes from Martha Stewart and Ina Garten, adapted by my sister-in-law, who is the go-to person for cakes on that side of the family.

Unfortunately, the not-picking-up-a-camera thing means I didn't do any proper photographs of the cake, or the party. I offer some Instagram'd cell phone pics, with the suggestion that if you do ever make this cake (or any similar sort of confection) and you happen to have some coconut liqueur from Cuba kicking around your house, the two combine well.