Broken

This delicious-tasting pumpkin dessert* fell to pieces when I tried to take it out of the oven tin. Luckily it was a spare one I'd made for us to try out. I'm leaving the other one in its tin to take to the Cercle Occitan meal tonight. LoJ's faux pas was more serious - he drilled through the cable to our water heater, so it's cold showers from now until Monday when the electrician can come.

The Cercle Occitan lecture tonight will be given by a historian, Jacques Bonnet, on the story of the zero and how it came into European culture and learning through a collaboration between Arab doctors, Jews and Christians in tenth-century Andalucia, described by Bonnet as 'terre de tolérance active', something which I wish were more widespread today. By chance, it seems an appropriate subject for this week when some intolerant views have been expressed following the tragedy in Toulouse.

* The recipe came from Claudia Roden's Mediterranean Cookery and is an Arab-influenced Valencian cake/dessert called Arnadi de Carabassa. It mainly consists of pumpkin, ground almonds, sugar and a couple of eggs. Not enough eggs, though, as I suspected but still followed the recipe. Next time I'll add more and then I hope it won't break up when it's cooked.