20 Oct 2021
Pregnancy | The Second Trimester
19 Oct 2021
Just In Time For Battenberg
In the tea-and-cake scenario, grandchildren and adults alike were encouraged to rummage around in the bottom kitchen cupboard furthest to the left which contained all manner of treats. A biscuit tin, Penguin chocolate bars and always, without fail, a Mr Kipling Battenberg. If, somehow, you’ve gone through life without encountering a Battenberg cake, let me enlighten you. It is essentially a chequerboard of yellow and pink sponge sandwiched together with jam and wrapped in marzipan. It is incredibly fun for children (and adults) to eat, partly because it’s multicoloured - and who doesn’t love multicoloured food - and partly because a slice of Battenberg can be disassembled with sticky fingers. I used to peel off the marzipan so I was left with a long edible ribbon that I could hold high above my head and engulf in one huge almond-y mouthful. I would then pull each square apart, popping them onto my tongue like little sweets. Of course, adults can love Battenberg for these reasons as well but I’ve noticed it’s less socially acceptable for us to eat it this way. We’re expected to bite through all the squares in one go and I admit this makes me wince, just a little.
For my Grandma’s funeral, when thinking of what cakes should be eaten amongst our quiet grief, it felt like Battenberg was an essential. So, somewhat spontaneously, I had a go at making it myself for the first time: two bowls of simple vanilla sponge cake batter, one dyed a pretty pink with food colouring, baked in a square tin lined with baking parchment that has a neat fold down the middle to keep the two batters separate. To assemble, once the cakes have cooled completely, place one cake on top of the other and trim so they are both the same size. Then cut each cake in half lengthways and sandwich the four pieces together chequerboard-style using warmed apricot jam. Spread the jam around the outside and wrap the whole thing in pre-rolled marzipan (shop-bought in my case). Trim the ends so you can see those distinctive squares.
Reader, my first attempt did not look like a Mr Kipling Battenberg. It was uneven, a little lumpy and the squares were, well, rectangular. I’d hoped for better. ‘It’s just a cake’ I told myself, trying not to project too many of my emotions onto the sticky marzipan. But then I tasted it, pulling the sponge apart as I did so, and it tasted just like Grandma and Grandad’s cottage. I could see Grandma fussing and calling me ‘treasure’ and Grandad encouraging me to eat more cake when Mum wasn’t looking, and then winking at me like a mischievous child when we both got caught.
It is just a cake. But the thing with food is that it’s never just a cake because, regardless of how it looks, one marzipan mouthful can invoke memories of people and places the moment it hits your tastebuds. Though I will never sit in Grandma and Grandad’s kitchen again, I can briefly be back there with a bite of Battenberg.
8 Oct 2021
Recent Happy Things
Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it… How is it October already?! Yeah, you said it.
Not sure if it’s the pregnancy or the fact we spent the first half of the year in lockdown but it really does feel like 2021 vanished. Also not helped by the fact that I spent most of September laden down with a cold & chest infection. Tell you what lads, I will never ever take cold & flu tablets or proper cough medicine (which you can’t take when pregnant) for granted again. What I would have given for some kind of decongestant I tell ya. Anyway, enough about my bodily functions, here’s some of the good stuff from recent weeks:
A wedding! It was just so bloody lovely to go to a wedding, one free of covid restrictions and finally able to go ahead after multiple postponements. And there were fireworks and who doesn’t bloody love fireworks?!
Pizza @ Scott’s All Day. After a lil pram shopping session (surprisingly fun), Gary and I went for lunch at Scott’s All Day in Cambridge and those were some sexy pizzas. Ngl, the mac n cheese bites were sadly disappointing but the pizzas absolutely made up for it. Would recommend.
& Chai candles. Autumn hits, I buy candles. Can’t help it. I bought one of these & Chai candles last year and fell in love with both the gorgeous scent and the wooden wick which crackles like a real fire. So I invested in two more this year – the Sundaze and the Evermore (love the Taylor reference) and they both smell uh-mazing.
Gordon’s non-alcoholic gin. Shout out to my friend Claire for recommending this to me because it is by far the best non-alcoholic gin I have come across. I genuinely cannot tell the difference and it’s really stepped up to the mark in those moments where I fancy something a bit snazzier than a coke whilst with non-pregnant drinkers.
An autumnal cabin in Norfolk. We went back to where we went glamping last year, only this time we stayed in the little cabin on site instead. The weather did not play ball and I was having regular coughing fits but we had a lovely cosy time all the same.
Isabella Oliver maternity clothes. Bit of a niche one but finding decent, flattering maternity clothes has not been that easy and I love the fit and quality of these clothes. They’re also environmentally conscious and have options to rent and I’m just all-round a big fan.
A weekend in the Peak District. After a temporary hiatus last year, the girls and I went on our annual country weekend away, bringing the other halves along this time. We stayed in a gorgeous house (with a to-die-for bath) in the beautiful countryside and it was all-round lovely. So weird to think that the next time we’re together, there will be babies (yes, plural) amongst us.
Teddy bear baby outfits. HOW can I possibly resist?
No Time To Die. Been patiently waiting for this one to come out since booking tickets to go see it in March 2020, so I was a happy bunny when I finally sat down in the cinema with an enormous bag of popcorn. I suspect this may be my last cinema trip for a while (not that there’s been many of them in recent times, sadly) and it felt like an excellent film for my temporary last hurrah. THAT ENDING THOUGH.
Autumn TV. Speaking of good viewing, I love the tellybox at this time of year. There’s so much good stuff on. Loved Vigil, loving series two of The Morning Show and let’s not forget my ultimate fave, Bake Off, which is bringing me joy every week.
28 Sept 2021
Reviewing A Unique Cookbook: Midnight Chicken & Other Recipes Worth Living For
In the small number of years that I have slowly turned into a recipe book hoarder, I have come to think of recipe books as falling into two categories. There are those that are about the recipes and the recipes alone. The layout is simple and we jump straight to the point; tasty recipes that are easy to follow and which do not give much away about the author who created them (apart from the fact that they are an excellent chef and recipe book writer). Some of my current favourites that fall into this category are Jamie Oliver’s 7 Ways and Rukmini Iyer’s Roasting Tin series. The other category is, to me, a little more personal. The recipes are only a part of what these gorgeous hardbacks have to offer. These recipe books can have very little in common on the surface and yet I think they all reveal something about the author or about the complex relationships we can have with food. I often think they are a love letter to food, to the kitchen, and these are the kind of recipe books I can read like novels. For I really, really love stories about food.
(Yes, okay, you can’t really categorise recipe books and there are plenty that are a combination of the two categories but that’s not as neat or easy to explain right now so we shall hastily move on.)
Midnight Chicken (& Other Recipes Worth Living For) by Ella Risbridger falls into the second category. It falls into this category with bells on and god, I bloody love everything about it. It’s a book full of memories and mouth-watering food. It’s a love letter to life and a reminder to keep going. It's unlike any other cookbook I own. It’s glorious.
The cost of buying it would be worth it for the sausage pasta and the charred-leek lasagne recipes alone but you’ll get so much more than that. Amongst reminders to pour yourself another glass of wine or add more butter (of which there are plenty), there is a gentle love story, a fundamental belief that things will get better and a reminder of the ability of food to nourish us both physically and mentally. Plus some gorgeous, cosy illustrations.
A spoiler if you want to read it without knowing – this book will break your heart. Revealed in the acknowledgements is the fact that The Tall Man, as he is affectionally referred to throughout, has died. The revelation that the cosy world of this book no longer exists is devastating, but also stands as a stark reminder to appreciate the everyday joys and always add a splash more wine to the glass.
This recipe book is one of a kind, and I would urge you to delve into its pages when in need of a hug. That sausage pasta will cure the bleakest of days.
24 Sept 2021
Photo Diary: The Golden Hour Of Summer
9 Sept 2021
Hello September
Hey there!
