Vanishing Point.

Pentax K1000, Kodak BW400CN, ISO 400

M and I slept late today, but once up we got a lot done! I made us breakfast, then we took a drive to the beach - initially because I wanted a coffee and we had no milk in the house, but when M ordered a hot chocolate, I couldn't resist either. Sand Dollar do huge hot chocolates with cream, marshmallows and a flake - yum. We watched the mist roll back and forth in waves over the coast to the south, and the ships in the bay appear and vanish again like ghosts. M took us to Asda for some shopping; we've decided to try and munch our way through some of the food in our freezer this week, so it was just vegetables, side dishes and lunch stuff on our list - but we still managed to spend more than £80. I don't even know how that's possible! There wasn't even booze in our basket.

By the time we emerged from the shops, it had started to rain, so we decided to liberate the beach of a couple of flat rocks, and settled down on the sofa to do a bit of painting. I remember Mum and Dad encouraging me to do exactly this sort of thing on family holidays to Scotland, and it makes me smile that at 24 (and M at 29) it's still a good wet weekend activity :o)

After a cup of coffee and a sandwich, M and I decided to brave the rain and head out to Aspire for a game of golf. The guy who took our money must have thought we were crazy! It was coming down like stair-rods, but we put on our waterproof trousers, jackets and walking boots, and had a good round anyway. The course was (perhaps unsurprisingly) empty and I finished just one shot behind M after two cracking tee shots.

When we got home, we had a hot shower before M and I rustled up dinner for M's parents arriving. In less than an hour we'd made 3 courses - figs with parma ham and goats' cheese on salad to start, then a chicken, pea and white wine risotto, and finally black velvet cakes with the rather inspired addition of cherries soaked in kirsch. It was all very well received from M's family, but the cakes (served warm with ice cream) were the showstopper. The recipe is here but the ingredients list misses out the quantity of bicarbonate of soda - the Good Food magazine which I originally took the recipe from states 1/2 teaspoon. I also added a whole packet of these morello cherries - they are really juicy and soaked in booze, and when added to the cake mix right before you pop them into the cupcake tins, make the sponge super sticky and fruity. My favourite dessert I have ever made. They'd also be good the next day topped with chocolatey icing.

After our dinner and a day of activity I may have fallen asleep resting on M's shoulder before his parents had even gone home - I was totally wiped. After they'd left we stayed up a while dozing in front of the TV and catching up on the news. It's another sad day for the oil and gas industry today. A chopper down west of Shetland; 4 dead and 14 survivors with varying injuries. Not an EC255 this time; but another kind of Eurocopter. That's 5 Super Puma ditchings in the last 4 years now, and it's time for the industry to take action. I'm so glad that M no longer works offshore, and I feel so sad for the family, friends and colleagues of those on yesterday evening's flight.