Katie and Richard on their bike ride to Culbokie shop
Ali's sister, Katie, came to visit with her partner Richard. They are on their way to Skye for a romantic week at Port Elgol cottage and squeezed in a few days on the Black Isle with us. Richard runs his company called 3D2D, which he set up in 1981 to provide craft fairs for artists, designers and craftsers around Scotland. Katie makes beaded jewellery and works with Richard, organising fairs. The biggest of the year is the 3-week West End fair during the Edinburgh festival, where at least 100 exhibitors set up their stalls. They also run events at The Highland Show, Scone Palace and a number of other venues. My favourite was at Crathes Castle, where the marquees were set up in the beautiful gardens.
Sweet and sour pork and ma po dofu
Freda and Edie have revelled in their time with Katie and Richard, dancing the can-can, making Playmobil set-ups and reading stories. Ali and Freda accompanied our guests on a 2-hour cycle to Culbokie and in the evening we had a belated birthday dinner followed by Mahjong and yet another very late night.
Katie brought a homemade carrot cake up from Edinburgh, which she decorated with Freda and Edie. It was absolutely delicious but left me in a quandary when the girls announced they had been licking the outside of the cake earlier. I was instructed to cut pieces from the inside. This might seem strange but there's a very logical explanation - Katie borrowed a silicone baking tray from a friend, which hadn't been washed properly. By the time she realised the cake tray was smeared with washing-up liquid the cake had already been baked. They were licking the edge of the cake to see if it had picked up the taste. It had just a hint of something tropical, not enough to spoil our eating pleasure. It was what you might imagine a fruity shampoo tasting like. The biggest shock? The number of candles on the cake had to be multiplied by 4 to accurately represent my age. That seems like far too many.
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