Becky Bakes…

As the clock/radio/alarm sprang into action this morning I caught the end of the Farming Programme and heard about the development of a new “app”. This is going to be used by suppliers to a large supermarket to measure expressions of positive emotions in livestock. Now this is something I find tricky to understand to be honest. How can you tell if all the herd of cattle are happy? Do they smile at the farmer? Do sheep grin? Probably we’ve all seen “Happy Eggs” for sale and are all aware that battery hens are now a thing of the past with free-range and deep litter environments preferred. So presumably the point of the app will be to improve the conditions the animals are kept in and prevent stress in the creatures. This is clearly a good thing and it will be interesting to see if the app is awarded a prize at the Food and Drink Awards this weekend. Best of luck!

It’s tomorrow, the last Sunday before Advent, when the Anglican Collect for that day starts with the words “Stir up we beseech you….” Since this is conveniently the right moment to mix up our Christmas puddings it served as a timely reminder. Christmas pud was introduced to Britain by Prince Albert when he married Queen Victoria, as well as the indoor Christmas tree, festooned with paper decorations. The five remaining weeks until Christmas allow time for the pudding to develop it’s flavour and certainly lets us have one job ticked off the list! I remember teaching a lovely group of girls in Barnet who preferred to stay inside at lunchtimes and spent may days mixing up puddings to sell to the eager customers amongst the staff. We probably made double quantities each day, so 6 at a time, which then went to the school canteen to be steamed during the afternoon, ready for delivery the next day. The recipe we used was a Good housekeeping one which I still have, but no longer make. With just two of us to eat it these days I buy a small on, ready made. It’s going to be one of the traditional variety, not one of the more unusual sticky toffee ones, or one with an orange in the centre….What will you be having for dessert on Christmas day?

It really does not feel like a whole week, seven days, since I sat with my keyboard to write last week’s blog. That’s quite alarming, although I can remember the significant moments of each day, making me thankful that I hadn’t slept through them!. The truth is, it has been quite busy. It started off with a group chat concerning aged aunt and her next moves, then a resolution for her situation. That’s such a relief. After that I’ve done the usual things like shopping, cleaning and cooking but managed to see two friends in person – something that felt a bit strange after obeying restrictions for so long. To actually meet and chat over a cup of tea has been so special, I hadn’t realised just how much I’d missed it. On the cooking side- this week has been of the “seasonal” variety – more mincemeat and then two trays of mince pies in the freezer, made with orange pastry. A bit early you might think…but I have a feeling that there may be a “blind-tasting” coming up using various brands, with mine slotted in to the mix. So, with weeks flying by, it seemed a good idea to get ahead. The diary is looking empty for next week, but I suspect there will be plenty to keep me busy. Next Saturday will be here in no time!

I was asked recently if it was too soon to start thinking about Christmas. The answer has to be a categorical “No!”. I’m one of those people who spot gifts and ideas throughout the year so that by early December most of the shopping is either done, or planned. Walking through our bustling little town this week I saw a beautiful display of Christmas things (can’t say what as the family will guess!) and was drawn into the shop. I couldn’t resist the velveteen chocolate log with feet and a face amongst other things… When the December issue of a favourite magazine dropped through the letterbox it made me realise that decorations this year will need to be cat-proof. No more dangling baubles from ethereal silver twigs perched precariously on the window sill. So I decided pine cones will be the answer – piled high in baskets and bowls, interspersed with orange pomanders. Oranges and cloves purchased I spent several hours prodding and pushing the things into tiny holes. very satisfying and smells wonderful resting in the airing cupboard. Orange slices needed the dehydrating machine I bought to make rose petal confetti for our daughter’s wedding, rather than having the oven occupied for 24 hours. So is it too early? Of course not. The mincemeat is made and some has been used already in a forthcoming video, I better make some more!

Maths has never been one of my strengths, other than weights and measures for practical purposes, but keeping an eye on the video viewing numbers has become very interesting and brought some surprises, not least a combined total of over 17,000 views on my Youtube channel. This month we’ve re-shared the four most popular and who expected Toad in the Hole to be up there with Fork Biscuits?! So it came as quite a revelation to get a message that the website has also been viewed over ten thousand times in the last 18 months. A breakdown of that figure showed me where in the world those people are too, with the majority in the UK, but the Americas, Asia, Australasia and Africa & the Middle East figure too. Thirty countries are on the list, with a couple I needed an Atlas to check! So many thanks to all those who have watched the videos and downloaded the recipes, read this blog, messaged me and joined in the adventure. There will be a new recipe coming on Wednesday with more to follow!

We can’t all like the same things, whether it’s clothes, music, sport or, of course, food. As long as we respect each others’ choices and preferences, that’s fine. Social media attracts too much vitriole when opinions are expressed but that’s another matter. It’s been very interesting to keep an eye on the number of views each of our videos has had and I’m often surprised at which ones prove to be popular or not – with one or two even getting the “thumbs down” ! This month, having had a break from filming as there’s such a lot happening here, we’ve been sharing the top four recipes in reverse order each week. Whilst I always seem to be making Double Chocolate Brownie, it doesn’t make the cut, neither does the delicious Slow-Bolognaise. We’ve already seen Lemon Surprise pudding in 4th place, with Cheese and Onion Soda Bread in 3rd and Toad in the Hole second, so this week the top place will be going to…… can you guess? Bx

There’s no place like home…home sweet home…lots of phrases describe that feeling that whilst it’s lovely to go away, it’s also lovely to come home again. We’ve had a very quick trip to the far north of England to celebrate a long-delayed wedding of some young friends. They were caught up in the delays of the pandemic and this was the third date that they had set for the wedding. Third time lucky! Our hotel offered some new tastes for us in food as well as decor.. Ham hock terrine was served with pease pudding which was something I’d never tasted. It was delicious and described as being made from yellow split peas. Stotties were on the menu but not available that evening so I still needed to know what they were and the waitress described them as very flat bread rolls cooked on the base of the oven, for creating a very large sandwich, maybe looking a bit like a pitta bread ? It’s the first time I’d stayed in a purple room…carpet, walls, ceiling….you get the idea. I had to leave a light on overnight as it was so dark! Dimmer switches were unhelpful even in the daytime, but boutique-chic is probably the goal. Home again after a quick trip to the Scottish border for a photo in the extreme chill, this was only our second big journey since we went to South Carolina 2 years ago. Roll on normality x

Some weeks fly by with alarming speed, whilst others meander along gently. This one has raced along but feels like a whole month as so much has happened. It all began with a certain person nudging (possibly nagging) me to contact the local radio station who were asking for locals with specialist knowledge to become “correspondents”. That was Sunday morning. Later that day I acquiesced and sent a little e-mail to the presenter. Within minutes he responded and there followed a string of messages culminating in a phone interview which was recorded. It was quite a long call and I was sure he would edit it and have some useful information about food, particularly with Christmas in mind. We tuned the next day at the appointed time (me feeling very anxious and not a little sick with apprehension) and I was astonished that he used the whole lot! All 14 minutes! The week carried on with the usual commitments – helping out in the antique shop on two of the days, knitting and sewing with my Macmillan ladies on another and here we are again. Next week has plenty in the diary, not least a long-distance wedding to prepare for, with 2 hats to choose from, a visit from the lovely daughter, cakes to be made, mincemeat to “feed” and turn. I’m not sure if the team will feel like making two videos but I’ll be ready if they do – watch out when we resume uploading as I have some good ones up my sleeve! Have a good week x

It’s October again and like last year we’re taking a break from posting new videos for the month so that I can work on the recipes for the run up to Christmas.  Don’t be alarmed though, on each of the next four Wednesdays I’ll be counting down our most popular videos to date for you to try again – or even for the first time.  And I’ll still be blogging each Saturday and adding comments on my Facebook page whenever something newsworthy crops up (last night’s GBBO “Bread Week” got me going again!).  And you’ll be hearing from me on Felixstowe Radio too!

There has been quite a change in the weather here in sleepy Suffolk. We now have much cooler nights and dewy mornings, with a stiff breeze blowing off the sea straight up the main street. Add to this the ridiculous fuel shortages and the result is far fewer visitors to the town. They were coming from Lincolnshire, Shropshire and as far away as Newcastle. Speaking of which, we are going there for a wedding – finally! It’s been postponed several times but we’re all hoping it will go ahead now. October is looking very busy and we have decided to have a little break and not upload any new videos this month, like last year actually. We do have some ready and are starting to think “festive”. I’m going to be making my mincemeat soon and noticed empty shelves where the dried fruit should have been – heads up! Meanwhile over the next four Wednesdays we shall count down the top four recipes…you might be surprised!