I’m feeling uncharacteristically smug.
As a rule, I find January hideous; the post-Christmas slump, the grey, the cold, and the expectation that we should be embracing the new year with the zeal of a spaniel puppy – there’s simply no redeeming feature. However, we are now on the 14th day of this bleak month, and you know what? I don’t feel entirely ropey. In part, I attribute this to the fact that it’s stopped raining for 5 minutes and I can leave the house and return 10 minutes later without having sustained trench foot. But also, I’ve been carefully monitoring the time of sunrise and I’m pleased to report that we’ve turned a corner, sunrise was a whole 7 minutes earlier in Chester today than on the 31st December and I’m weirdly excited about every one of those precious minutes extra brightness*. It’s all relative of course, my knees are purple and I’m still facing a mountain of worries, but I’m chuffed with my tolerance of January so far.
*if you want to geek out on sun rise/sunset time and monitor the length of the days too, this website is great fun!
TV
I’m also embarrassingly buoyed by the ‘quality’ of TV content. I didn’t get the hype with The Traitors last year. I find the premise of the game quite unsettling; there seems to be a lot of lying and back-stabbing and I’m more of a ‘let’s all be friends’ girl. HOWEVER, this year I’ve diligently persevered and despite my impatience (I‘m not a fan of the pointless slow walking and tension building music), I’m completely gripped.
Meanwhile, Alan (Carr) and Amanda (Holden) are back renovating a property in Italy; it’s less about the renovation and more about Alan and Amanda having a great time in Tuscany but there’s something extremely comforting and cosy about it and I love anything that features Italy so I’m a big fan.
Then there is Junior Bake Off (which makes my heart BURST), Pottery Throw Down (tear jerker), Michael McIntyre’s Big Show (makes-your-tummy-hurt kinda funny), AND, pure quality: Dancing on Ice & Love Island Allstars - the schedule is STACKED!
On a much more serious note, I’ve been totally gripped and utterly heartbroken to learn the truth behind the post office scandal. Mum and I watched both the ITV drama and documentary this week (in one sitting, it was a late night). I’m slightly ashamed to admit that my knowledge of the story prior to this week was limited, thus, I watched with an increasing sense of horror, disbelief, and anguish (I cried a lot) as the murky details surrounding the case unfolded. I’m lost for words when it comes to something of this magnitude, I just don’t understand the motive behind humans sometimes, and as for those cruelly affected, their strength in the face of adversity and solidarity with one another is truly inspirational. If you haven’t watched these programmes, I thoroughly recommend them.
(Side note: very aware that the extent of my TV viewing means I’m now your weekly TV critic… possibly not something to be proud of)
I’ve decided that sweet stuff (along with slightly brighter mornings) makes me way sparklier… a day without a sweet morsel is a bad day, and thus I will endeavour to always include a sweet something in my days from now on.
Had to manically carry out bimonthly bodily hair deforestation on Friday morning in preparation for a physio appointment at lunch time, never ceases to amaze me how long it takes to make myself presentable to the public.
Currently obsessed with: Mini Poppadums – I bought a packet randomly from our local garden centre, they sat in the cupboard for a week, then I remembered them and have been merrily munching through them this week. Honey - especially local honey. Oranges - in season and GLOWING, double perk = full of vitamin C so winning on every level. Lemon cakes – I’m totally obsessed. Besides my new favourite loaf cake below (a lemon-y vanilla number), I also made a lemon version of my ‘Perfect’ Victoria sponge this week (added the zest of two lemons + 20ml of juice in place of some of the milk, and halved the amount of vanilla, then smothered it in a lemon infused cream-cheese frosting. Was good). Also concocted a sort of cheats tear and share brioche-y situation which was stuffed with almonds and orange and chocolate and I nearly cried happy tears when it worked - will share this one with you in the next few weeks too! Finally, there are a fair few people in the baking world who I idolise. I just would LOVE to spend some time with these people and probably thoroughly annoy them with endless questions. My latest baking crush is Sophie Bamford, she’s just started a newsletter and I thoroughly recommend you give it a read here!
Lemon & Vanilla Loaf cake
Between Christmas and New year, I got a real craving for a simple loaf cake, specifically something rich, tender and buttery, but still fluffy and light enough, spiked with lemon-y-ness, and a hint of vanilla too. Influenced by this photo of a lemon loaf cake from the infamous JUNO bakery in Copenhagen, I set out on a mission to replicate what looked like the perfect cake. After several attempts, some less than average, I stumbled upon this bombshell, it’s vibrant, buttery, but also light and moist - it’s a bit of everything - I had a very lovely few days nibbling my way through it. I’m not sure it’s quite the same as JUNO’s masterpiece, but it’s my kind of perfect and I hope you like it too!
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