What is your favorite hobby or pastime?

I love baking and cooking and the next stage to this is taking pictures of, and writing about my culinary creations. These activities have kept me sane over the years, providing a much-needed escape from the chaos of everyday life.

Baking is soothing just calms me down when I’m feeling agitated or distressed. It’s always been something that brings me joy.

I’m trying to improve my photography skills; it is a work in progress for me. I did an Open University Course on basic photography during the pandemic. This was a good way for me to understand what my camera can do and how to capture and edit images. This year I also read ‘How to Photograph Food’ by Beata Lubas. However, I clearly need to read it again and go over my uni course notes and revisit all that I have learnt! It’s all good though, it’s a journey and I’m getting more used to taking my time and pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

The writing has sadly slowed down over the years, as I have been increasingly consumed and drained by work and all things work-related. I find that these days, I no longer have the mental bandwidth for putting together something interesting and compelling! However, when I can, on quiet afternoons such as this, I will put a few words down on paper and bare my soul a little. I hope that sharing bits of my life and the things that bring me joy are an inspiration for others. I must confess that writing is in part therapeutic – it helps me to make sense of my world and experiences.

So, I’ve taken three pictures this week!

Frumpets with raspberries and Greek yoghurt

So I have ‘discovered’ that what I have been eating over the past few weeks are called Frumpets. It makes perfect sense, a lovely combination of French Toast and Crumpet. Anyone who has been reading my blog for the past few months will know I’m all about the French Toast. I try to explore different toppings, and cooking methods. French Toast is a regular weekend brunch staple, which I will eat with various fruits, syrup or honey, making for a beautiful and luxurious dish. These combinations are generally, depending on the lighting and the plate I use, very picture worthy -‘Instantly Instagramable‘.

Apple, poppy seed and lemon loaf cake

I drove one hour south, to the Garden of England to have lunch with a friend that I have not seen for 16 long years. I had a fabulous time; it was a lot of fun to catch up and share stories. We talked non-stop from 1300 until 2000, incredible! I was nice to find out how life that changed for us over the years, how we were coping with the stresses of medicine and what the future might hold. I really did enjoy spending time with her and her family. I just reminded me that she is one of the ‘good ones’. It was so refreshing.

I did not want turn up empty handed, so I decided to bake a cake before I left home. Apple, lemon, and poppyseed loaf cake is my current ‘go to’ now, it’s so simple to make. It’s a recipe from Sabrina Ghayour’s book ‘Simply’ which I have made three times already this year. I made it and put the cake more or less straighaway into some greaseproof paper, tupperware and onto the front seat of my car. It meant that the my car was filled with the scent of freshly baked cake. It made for a heavenly journey down the M20! It went down well – I think my friend and her family really liked the cake.

If you would like to make and enjoy this cake, here are the ingredients and instructions.

Ingredients

3 very small or 2 medium apples (Braeburn), quartered

3 eggs

175 grams caster sugar

Finely grated zest of 2 unwaxed lemons

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

½ teaspoon almond extract

175 grams plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

150 grams unsalted butter, melted

1 heaped tablespoon poppy seeds, plus a little extra for sprinkling over the top

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180oC (160OC), Gas Mark 4. Line a 900g loaf tine with a nonstick paper liner or baking paper.

Core the apples, keeping the skins on, then finely dice.

Put the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla bean paste and almond extract into a mixing bowl and beat together until well combined. Add the flour, baking powder and melted butter and mix again. Gently fold in the apples, without crushing them too much, and the poppy seeds.

Reference: Simply, Sabrina, Page 218

Conchiglie, chorizo and peppers

Working at home is the new normal, it’s here to stay and there is no escaping from it. I’ve being working hard over the past few years to make it a more ‘joyful’ affair and appreciate the privilege I have to be able to work this way. I try to make an effort with a decent meal at lunchtime. When I plan correctly, it breaks up the working day and actually can give me a little bit of a mental boost to carry on with the afternoon shift. Making a simple sauce to add to pasta is now something I’m liking to spend my energies on. At present I’m not following any specific recipe or formula. Experimenting with different ingredients and flavours is part of the fun, adding a bit of excitement to my Mondays and Wednesdays. I was actually just getting bored with boiling pasta and slapping a few spoons of pesto over it!

I feel blessed that I am able to indulge in all of these hobbies.