Magic

This is my magic wand (every girl should have one).
It is broken.

Sue is to have more chemo. A different kind. She will have this treatment until she dies.
Her oncologist knows someone who had 23 cycles (a cycle is 15 days).
23 x 15 = 345 (that’s how many days)
345 divided by 30 (to get the months)
11.5

If we’re lucky.

And the side effects are the same as last time, with the strong possibility of ‘catastrophic’ diarrhoea which would put her in hospital.
And she won’t be able to work again.

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Pear and Pecan Cake with Caramel Sauce

Ray McVinnie

3/4 cup rice flour
1 cup gluten free corn flour
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp gluten free baking powder
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 cup pecan nuts, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup mildly flavoured vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 very firm pears, peeled, cored and diced 1cm

Preheat oven to 175
Butter a 23cm loose-bottomed cake tin and line the base with baking paper
Place the dry ingredients, including the nuts, in a large bowl and mix well
In a smaller bowl whisk together eggs, oil and vanilla
Add pears, mix well, then pour onto the dry ingredients and mix well
Pour the mixture into the cake tin
Bake till a skewer comes out clean – 45 to 50 minutes
If the top browns too quickly, cover loosely with foil
Remove from oven and cool completely
Serve with the following sauce poured over. Serves 8

Caramel Sauce
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup water
300ml cream

Put sugar and water into a saucepan and heat over medium heat
Stir until sugar is dissolved and the mixture boils
Boil until it starts to turn golden brown – swirl pan – do not stir
Take pan off heat and carefully add the cream. It will spit!
When the bubbling has died down, return pan to heat and stir until lumps of caramel have dissolved.
Remove from heat and cool

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