Becky Bakes…

Do we take enough notice of warnings concerning food products I wonder? Do we even see them? This week Waitrose recalled their own brand “salted dairy butter”. There was a small notice in their free weekly newspaper, placed just next to the crossword, near the back and very easily missed. Apparently there is the potential presence of blue cloth – does this mean someone dropped a J-cloth in the churn perhaps? There are often recalls of food products and I think they should be more widely publicised. Social media doesn’t reach everyone, so let’s see better communication of issues with our food please.

That’s a favourite phrase – it means we’ve been away. I never announce it beforehand, who wants everyone to know their house is empty? Well, we went to north Norfolk. It’s a county we like and at one time thought of moving there. We have some young friends who live near Norwich so visit quite often but this time we stayed longer. Lunch in Holt followed by a steam train ride (in the rain) was great fun. Passing the golf course, I couldn’t resist waving to the soggy players and they waved back vigorously – I’m sure they do it all the time and get fed up with tourists, but who knows? Our hotel had been chosen for us and it was very good. An interesting building with a view of the sea and surrounded by National Trust woodland, bliss. The food was delicious so we ate too much of course, but who could resist vanilla creme brulee? So a stroll around Blickling Hall was just what we needed, marvelling at the decor and textiles, unable to ignore the plants for sale…We returned with a full boot (trunk), lovely photos and a desire to go back x

Having always tried to put some distance between work (school) and home, it’s rare that I bump into an ex-pupil. Quite often they are keen to leave sleepy Suffolk, whether it’s to go to college or university, or the excitement of the big city. But this week I spotted a familiar face striding down our main street but was too slow to catch her. On her return I was ready! What a treat to catch up and chat about old times – learning that even now she brings out her year 6 red folder when she wants to cook. Hopefully she’s found several more reliable recipes to expand her repertoire having had my business card pressed into her hand ! We’ll see 😉

Earlier this week I was asked to comment on the news that the National Trust had announced that their scones were made with margarine, so therefore, vegan friendly. Well, to be honest, my scones and the hundreds (maybe thousands) made in my classrooms over the years have always been made with margarine. Butter would create too much flavour and that’s not needed with scones as they are a vehicle for stronger flavours themselves. We typically spread butter or cream and jam on them, so they don’t need a strong tasting matrix. This whole argument has been labelled as “woke” but really all the National Trust are doing is conforming to labelling requirements, nothing has changed, just the information that’s required is now front and central. I don’t want to even mention the cream-or- jam- first debate. 😉

It’s been an interesting week. As an administrator of my website I can see which recipes are being researched and also where in the world the views are coming from. This week we’ve pretty much spanned the globe, hopefully helping people with reliable recipes for home or school use. I can do something similar with Youtube too, checking the number of views each week. It’s interesting that Fork Biscuits are still leading with Cheese and Onion Soda Bread closely following. We’ve had nearly forty thousand views altogether on the ninety videos, which is amazing. So, thanks ! I’ll keep going for a bit longer 😉

This time of year fills me with joy – the days are getting longer and we have so much food to celebrate. Pancake day begins the Lent period, then Mothering Sunday crops up half way to Easter with its’ glorious Simnel cake. Good Friday has to be fish pie in our house and Easter Sunday is always lamb – this year it will be slow cooked in wine with rosemary and garlic. Colomba makes an easy dessert 😉 So I wish you a very happy weekend with those who matter to you, enjoying delicious meals, going slow with the chocolate sugar-rush too 😉 x

I was going to regale you with stories of carelessness, how other people cut themselves and here was I with a bloody finger from a new knife. Instead I simply want to say how sorry I am that the Princess of Wales has been hit with a cancer diagnosis, like so many of us. We all wish her a speedy recovery, hoping that the chemo treatment isn’t too awful and that she will look back on this as a tough time, but one she survived. x

It’s been quite a week. Some of our young friends are in the throes of moving house and, like most parents, we want to help. Their current home is not as big as the new one so there are pieces of furniture required to make use of all the rooms – this is where we step in. Commitments and age hamper our practical input, but furniture is something we have. So having waved off a van full of “stuff” we then had to reorganise various places/rooms to make better use of the space we’ve gained. Several hours later, after much discussion (not argument) I think we’ve done it, but probably I’ll do more tweaking tomorrow. The upshot of all this is that my usual “Cake Friday” delivery just didn’t happen because I hadn’t had time to make any cake. I know I should have planned better but there really wasn’t a moment! So, next week I’m going to be making them one of their favourites, fruit cake, and spread butter on each slice. The young people? They are exhausted. Showered and waiting for a delivery of something they haven’t had to prepare for themselves. We’ve all been there haven’t we, but isn’t it exciting?! x

International Women’s day. How incredible is it that more women are starving now than ever before? If we think about it I suppose it isn’t unexpected… we all give other members of our family the best we can and in areas of extreme poverty, where food is scarce, which mother wouldn’t feed her children before herself? The situation in Gaza is just dreadful – there simply isn’t any food so everyone is malnourished at best, starving to death at worst. What has this world come to? Let’s hope that relief comes soon in sufficient quantity and by whatever means to these poor people. And here am I delivering cake to beleagured shopkeepers, what a contrast.

The news that obesity has taken over from hunger as the greatest threat to global health is very worrying. It seems that 30% of adults and 10% of children in this country are obese. This seems to be attributed to a lack of activity and education about the risks of becoming “couch potatoes”. Add this to the increase in the popularity of highly processed food and we have serious problems of malnutrition. Highly refined or processed foods often lack vitamins and minerals which are essential for good health. Only yesterday I heard of biscuits being offered which were low calorie and vegan – a quick look at the ingredients showing many items not usually found in my store cupboard and the first ingredient on that list was sugar! Of course I’m going to bang on about the importance of teaching Food Studies in school. It gives children a good grounding in the knowledge and skills needed to eat well, in the hope that they will be more inclined to use fresh ingredients and eat properly as they get older and fend for themselves.