The Laboratory

Comedy cake day - we were out and about and spotted one of those shops that makes bespoke cakes for children. We were particularly drawn to these as they had managed to create characters that looked almost, but not quite, entirely unlike the characters they were meant to be.* So here's the quiz: who do you think these cakes are meant to be? And a genuine prize for the first person to tell me who the "almost, but not quite, entirely unlike" is a quote from. I'll give you a clue - it was about TEA.

Christmas treats! We made a final (slightly drizzly) trip to London to see some art (at the slug-laden Tate) and visit Scandinavian Kitchen for special saffron Semlor buns. Adam also spotted Marzipan that makes him want to take a special trick to Lubeck, the home of marzipan in Germany. Sarah trated herself to a melty snowman cookie in Pret.

One of our treats of the year was a holiday in Berlin, a city Adam has visited many times before, and that we went together to in 2006. It's got amazing architecture, on both sides of the city, and has a wealth of things to visit. We were very excited to hear that our dear friend Heidi was visiting Berlin for the first time on a school trip, though we knew that it would no doubt include worthy but depressing sights such as Checkpoint Charlie, the Jewish Memorial, and the Stasi Museum. We hoped she woud have a great time. And she did! Here are two of her great photos: A genuine German market, not one of those fake ones selling gluhwein and wooden ties. This is a model of a church in western Berlin, which was bombed in the war, and now has a modern addition and carillon next to it. Made of chocolate! Thanks for the photos, Heidi!

Clearing the decks (with boughs of holly): Here are all the other photos that didn't make it in before the 24th. Thanks to Karen & Alan for this tasty Pandoro cake which we polished off at our Christmas drinks A fat jolly old man ... and Santa IKEA's rocking moose ... ... and a rocking Dala horse