Sweet as

Nothing like a sumptuous afternoon tea to cheer up a winter weekend - and last weekend I scored two of them.  On Saturday I met 11 friends at the Museum Hotel to celebrate a birthday. For $30 you get a choice of teas and a magnificent array of utterly delicious morsels, impeccably served. We had told the restaurant in advance that two of us were gluten-free, and that was no problem - there were even some sandwiches made with gluten-free bread, and only a few things they couldn't eat. I nicked this photo off the website, but it doesn't really do justice to what we had - three layers, culminating in macaroons and individual shot glasses of what was, I think, amaretto mousse.

The next day I went to my first-ever bake swap. Five Wellington food bloggers each brought a tin of home-baked goodies to share, swap and take home. Now as I've explained before, I'm really not a baker, so I don't have anything like a "signature slice", but I unearthed a recipe for little chocolate and spice biscuits, and made those. You're supposed to dip one end in chocolate, but I thought brushing them with melted chocolate would be nicer. 

They tasted quite good, rich rather than sweet, but as usual with my baking they didn't look wonderful - especially compared with other people's efforts - and their crispness on the day they were made didn't seem to last very well, so I don't think it's worth passing on the recipe. But here's what the others brought...we had a great afternoon and I went home happily clutching my assortment of goodies.