One of my favourite discoveries in Sweden was the cardamom bun. I tried them all over the place. While they varied, they were all delicious. I may have become a bit addicted to them. Mirinda said I should try making my own. I did that today. While I have to work on the presentation, the taste was excellent.
Okay, I realise that one of them is a bit burnt. That’s because my oven doesn’t cook evenly and I didn’t keep my eye on them. I’ll be better next time.
As lovely as the buns were (the house started smelling like a Swedish bakery as they cooked) they weren’t as lovely as our visitor today. Amanda came to visit!
We collected her from Farnham station and, after hugs and kisses, we all went to Cote for a late breakfast. Amanda was fussed over because of her various allergies and intolerances. I had the French breakfast with a side of sautéed spinach. It was delicious.
We talked about lots of things, most notably her upcoming holiday. She’s about to head to Greece for a month with Liz. They are going to travel around a bit and it sounds lovely.
After feeding, they dropped me home before heading off for a walk around Waverley Abbey. I slaved over making the buns. While they only take about 12 minutes to actually cook, the preparation is fiddly and the proving is time-consuming. Possibly the most time-consuming job, however, is removing the seeds from the 1,000 cardamom pods.
By the time they returned, I had stage one completed with my dough sitting in a bowl doubling in size.
Amanda, obviously, was given a tour of the garden before, eventually heading off for the station and a train home.
And, believe it or not, the weather was beautiful. Again.
