It’s Saturday 4th April 2020.

2020, is still happening, the living nightmare continues. D25 pandemic, D12 UK ‘lockdown’. I went for a walk with Nacho this afternoon, there is a lovely little park behind our flat. It is one of the parks of my childhood, so it’s always nice to visit and ‘re-live’ the past. But I also need to be very much in the present and fully live this new reality. I have never spent so much time appreciating the birdsong, Sun and gentle wind.

I decided that today was a perfect day for baking and using up the dates that have been lurking about in the fridge for ‘some time’. I found a very simple and easy recipe online and I altered by using only a 1/2 cup of sugar, adding 1/2 teaspoon each of ginger, clove and cinnamon powder and adding a handful of crushed mixed nuts (walnut, Brazilian, almond and cashew). The result is a soft, moist and comforting loaf

Ingredients

• 1 cup chopped dates
• ¾ cup sugar (see notes)
• 60g (3 tablespoons) butter
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1½ cups self raising flour

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160C (320F). Grease and line a loaf tin.
2. Put dates, sugar, butter and bicarbonate of soda into a saucepan. Pour over boiling water.
3. Heat mixture to a boil and let it boil for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Allow to cool for a bit then add the flour. Mix flour in until just combined.
5. Pour into lined loaf tin.
6. Bake for 45 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean.
7. Serve warm or allow to cool and store in an airtight container.