The Famous Five Tea Party-with Two.

Yesterday I met my daughter for lunch at a farm shop. After a small mushroom quiche with lettuce leaves and a thimbleful of coleslaw, we felt we had room for dessert. Having chosen Lemon Meringue pie (me) and Victoria Sponge (my daughter), they duly arrived. It is no exaggeration to say that they were each 5 inches high and 5 inches long! I mean, congratulations to the baker who managed those but I would say we were seriously overfaced. More to the point, the cakes were seriously underplated, the cake just fitting onto it with perhaps a little overhang!
We sat there silently for a moment as though contemplating an attack on the North Face of the Eiger and then got our ropes and crampons and waded in. The first forkful fell off onto the table, the second we shoved round to the side to try and get some leverage. Each mouthful was accompanied by a fit of the giggles until we could hardly eat. After a few minutes there was icing sugar in a circle round my daughters plate and crumbs all over and sticky lemon filling all round mine finished off by flakes of meringue. It looked like two toddlers had been learning to eat solids - or the Famous Five had been having a food fight. When the waitress passed by, pretending not to notice the mess, it was all I could do not to ask her for a couple of bibs! We managed to get through most of it by sheer tenacity and, like good citizens, wiped up the evidence with our serviettes. I had to go up and get two more serviettes, unaware of the lemon round my mouth but as my daughter laughed, I pointed out the icing sugar round hers.
Next time we go in there, we are taking bibs,macs and goggles - or our own, much larger plates!