Happy Birthday!

I have been a bad girl and neglected my blog these past couple of weeks. I haven't been very creative in the kitchen mainly due to lack of funds and G & R's request for lots of salads, now the 'warmer' weather is here. I feel very guilty and promise that I will try harder.

I did make a cake for my eldest nephew's 18th birthday. He wanted something naughty and so I presented him with this naked lady jumping out of a cake, he loved it but his 4 year old brother was not impressed and told me that I should have put clothes on her! His 11 year old brother, on the other hand, has already put in an order for his birthday!

Wedding Cake

It's that time of year when the 'Secret Society of Wedding Cake Makers' start to line their cake tins and mould their sugar paste. The dense balls of white clammy paste are lovingly kneaded and coloured; pulled, rolled and folded into delicate blossoms and blousy divas. These creators of edible gardens silently and deftly conjure any flower or leaf the fretful bride demands.

Gone is the plainly elegant three tiered, iced fruit cake decorated with a tiny plastic wedding couple, fresh flowers and silver horseshoes. The cake is no longer an ancient symbol of fertility and prosperity to be shared with the guests- in it's place is Cakenstein. Cakes of every shape, size, height and colour. Cakes that cost as much as a car and leave the happy couple in debt for the first years of marriage. Cakes featured on daytime TV, wedding magazines and at those huge wedding fairs. The poor bride, it's just another excruciatingly difficult decision in her long list of trinkets, trimmings and other tat that she is being led to believe she needs to make her day 'special'. How about keeping it cheap and simple to avoid debt and keep the marriage special?

Oakdene

Just off the London Road in Wrotham is a small, white single storey building. It looks very ramshackle and a little tired, with accidental garlands of light cables draped around it, peeling paintwork and grey windows. It sits silently, with the reverence of a Cathedral surrounded by motorbikes of every creed and colour. This is the Oakdene Cafe, a Shrine for its two-wheeled hungry pilgrims.

Inside there is always a full congregation; all walks of life indistinguishable in their uniform of black leathers, heavy boots, slogan T-shirts and neck buffs. Everyone equal and respectful in their roadside sanctuary.

I love it there and we always stop on our way through for a huge breakfast. On Good Friday, breaking up our journey to Bath, we ate breakfast at 9am, we both had the Oakdene Special and didn't feel hungry again until 6pm that evening! I am not going to wax lyrical about the food (and I certainly won't say anything negative through fear of rousing the mob!), it was a huge fry-up with a mug of tea, brown sauce and plenty of salt on the egg and tomato. Not recommended every day, but once in a while it's extremely good for you!

http://www.oakdenecafe.co.uk/