The Great Purple Alpha-Bake...

So I mentioned previously that I had been inspired by Julie and Julia (recently read the book and watched the film) and had set myself a baking challenge...

To bake through the letters of the alphabet, a recipe a week for each letter.

I have trawled through recipe books and websites galore and one of the things I realised is that every recipe needs to have a photo. It is very hard to imagine something based on a list of ingredients and a name. I’ve also had to be creative with some of the names as finding desserts beginning with X etc… was pretty darn difficult.

So, here is my Alpha-Bake list:

• Almond and Orange Cake
• Banoffee Pie
• Cherry & Apple Pies
• Dark & White Chocolate Fondants
• English Apple & Cinnamon Crumble Tart
• Fresh Cream & Strawberry Victoria Sponge
• Ginger Sticky Toffee Pudding
• Homemade Toffee Apple Tart
• Iced Cinnamon Buns
• Jam Bakewell
• Key Lime Pie
• Lemon Meringue Cake
• Macaroons
• Nutty Hazlenut Frangipane
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• Passionfruit Roulade
• Quince & Pear Puffed Pancake
• Rose Cupcakes of course
• Salted Caramel Tart
• Tiramisu Layer Cake
• Upside Down Pineapple Cake
• Vanilla Ice-Cream cake
• White Chocolate and Raspberry Brownies
• Xaggerated Baked Cheesecake
• Yule Log (Choc swiss roll)
• Zalabia

So the challenge begins next friday (17th Sept). I shall post recipe details and photos (whether they are good or bad). All my friends who say they want to taste test can do so under the proviso that they leave a fabulous review :-)

Let the baking begin!!

Ohhh and while I was making my list I whipped up these beauties...

Lemon Meringue & Chocolate cupakes

Banana Cinnamon Pancakes

Sultana Scones

5-a-day 21 day challenge…

A few months ago I set and completed a 21 day challenge which was inspired by iamluca. I decided to curb my lavish dessert eating and was quite successful (will be doing a follow up post shortly).

As Summer approaches although it’s getting sunny and bright, my energy levels are buried somewhere. I believe they may still be wrapped in 5 layers of clothes under a duvet in front of the fan heater, but in order to coax them out I shall attempt to change the way I eat. I’ve realised that I probably eat 5 pieces of fruit over the course of the whole week, probably a little bit more veg as I tend to have it with dinner most of the time, but I know for a fact that I don’t eat fruit everyday and don’t come anywhere near to 5 a day. So I challenge myself, and anyone who’d like to join me to eat 5 pieces of fruit or veg a day. Actually easier then it sounds… I’ve also added 2-3 trips to the gym and more water (haven’t given it a quota, but more can’t be bad right? Lol) my energy levels are seriously sucking and I’ve had a cold for nearly 2 weeks.

So I started today…

I got this portion size information from the NHS website:
Small-sized fruit One portion is two or more small fruit, for example two plums, two satsumas, two kiwi fruit, three apricots, six lychees, seven strawberries or 14 cherries.
Medium-sized fruit One portion is one piece of fruit, such as one apple, banana, pear, orange, nectarine or sharon fruit.
Large fruit One portion is half a grapefruit, one slice of papaya, one slice of melon (5cm slice), one large slice of pineapple or two slices of mango (5cm slices).
Dried fruit A portion of dried fruit is around 30g. This is about one heaped tablespoon of raisins, currants or sultanas, one tablespoon of mixed fruit, two figs, three prunes or one handful of dried banana chips.

Breakfast was oatmeal and raisin cookies and half a punnet of grapes. Lunch was sushi and an apple. Dinner was fish, butterbeans, avocado. Snacks - strawberry, mango, melon fruit pot. Mango, pineapple, passionfruit smoothie. Glasses of water 4.

Not a bad start. I think all of that adds up to 5 or at least very close to.

And once the 21 days are up I hope the ‘habit’ is instilled and I keep it going….

The first day of the rest of my life....

So it's over... And I am successful... And today I plan to go to one of my most favouritest places, to have a slice of my most favouritest, fresh cream and strawberry, Victoria sponge cakes. It will be the best Valentine's Day ever, as I know I will not be disappointed.

A few people have asked what the point will have been if I just go back to how I was before and they have a point... The 21 days was a "test" to prove I could go without, an attempt to break the cycle and bad habit I had eaten myself into. So now that I know it is not necessary (not sure why I thought it was), I shan't be going back to being that girl that eats donuts for breakfast; that girl that'll eat jelly babies while boiling the kettle for a cup of tea in the morning; that girl who'd eat both the Gu hot chocolate soufflé’s with raspberries and half a tub of Haagen Dazs ice cream as a midnight snack; that girl who's handbag always had sweets, biscuits, chocolate and even on occasion donuts and muffins in the bottom instead of loose change. In hindsight, and over the past 3 weeks I realise I was being totally, ridiculously, beyond excessive, and although it wasn't a visible issue, I was literally a walking, talking sugar cube waiting for my dentures to be made.



I understood that I had to change, so rather then talking about it and tiptoeing around it, I grabbed the Bull by both its horns. I rode its sugar coated ass round the bullring holding on for dear life… I slipped, tripped and stumbled and boy did I hurt my ass, but I can hold my head up high and say, hand on heart I didn't fall off. There were times when I was alone, where I was tempted, but in the end I’d only be lying to myself, I was doing this for me and nobody else, so cheating made no sense…. Mini-me's cupcake from the nursery cake sale for Haiti taunted me from my handbag with it’s delicious ‘baked by children’ smell and I thought "if I eat this who'll ever know?" and in the morning while making my cup of tea the jelly babies would be looking at me with puppy dog eyes begging me to stop neglecting them and I thought “one won’t hurt and they can’t tell anyone” but I didn’t concede.

I didn't remove temptation from in front of me and I tried not to drool openly while others indulged in my most favourite guilty pleasure. There were the considerate friends who didn't want to eat sweet things in front of me, but I urged them go ahead; strengthening my willpower would only benefit me in the long run and avoiding sweet things for 21 days would have been unrealistic. Then there were the ‘friends’ who openly taunted me, one even went so far as to order me a Tiramisu in a restaurant and put it on the table in front of me. The joke was on him however, when he had to eat it, as well as the dessert he had ordered for himself when I didn’t succumb, he was very full and shamefacedly defeated...



So where do we (by we I mean me and ‘him’ (by ‘him’ I mean dessert style sweet things)) go from here?? I will admit that at exactly 12.35am this morning (after convincing myself I wouldn't do it) I was frantically warming a Gu hot chocolate soufflé (only 1), which I ate with a moderate amount of ice cream… It was like being embraced by a long distance lover and realising how much you’d missed them, welling up with sheer joy and being overwhelmed with emotion, while being ridiculously happy and wanting to stay in the embrace forever. It was emotional…

But absence makes the heart grow fonder and I am fonder, I have been lost and inconsolable for the past 3 weeks and I have learnt to appreciate ‘him’ more. My partner has returned and rather then spending every single second of every single day together until we tire of each other’s company, we shall enjoy spending well-deserved quality time together. I shall no longer over indulge... The bottom of my handbag will be filled with loose change from now on, which I will use to treat myself on occasion... I will buy a pack of 8 muffins and they will last 8 days. I will have a donut, or a slice of cake, or some ice cream, or a chocolate bar rather then all of those things one after the other. I shall save money (over the 21 days I had a spare £150...). I imagine my skin will stay clearer, which can’t be a bad thing especially as I approach that milestone birthday that started this all off. And I shall put off getting dentures for the foreseeable future…

Right now however, i’m off to get my Victoria Sponge ;-)

And the saga goes on...

So... The challenge continues... The past few days of the 'No Dessert' challenge have been EXCRUTIATING!!!

Let me break it down for you. I do believe I have a somewhat addictive personality and am glad that the lure of drink & drugs never really appealed to me on any great level, as I have the capacity to embrace it whole hog and be that crack head on the corner, scratching, drinking strongbow, begging for pennies at 4am on a December morning wearing nowt but shorts and a vest. Luckily or not so luckily for me my addiction manifests itself in the form of the sweet deliciousness that is dessert.


In order to demonstrate just how ludicrous it can get I will take you back to the summer of 2009 where I tirelessly searched for and failed to find a limited edition Haagen Dazs flavour, before finally posting the search to Facebook where I was told it was stocked in Blockbuster video and Sainsburys local. So that's where I went, initially with no joy but eventually finding it on a day where I visited almost every Blockbuster and Sainsburys local in South London. Determination, I hear you say, until I tell you that at every shop that didn't have the flavour I wanted I bought another flavour instead... I ended up with a freezer full of Haagen Dazs, was about £35 lighter in pocket, had to take actual food out of the freezer to make space and the flavour I had searched so tirelessly for was not all I had hoped it would be... The next few days of Haagen Dazs combination sundae's and eating it for lunch, snacks and for dessert after the Haagen Dazs based dinner will always be one of my best memories though... Point made?? I think so.


The past few days have been strange I am definitely craving a dessert fix and am not sure if I can actually hold out, it's getting harder rather then easier as the days go by... In Asda while buying "Cheerios" I somehow found myself in the bread and cake aisle. A place I don't usually venture as Mr Kipling cakes in packets don't do it for me. The Battenburg's were whispering sweet nothings, the French fancies were being amorous and the Apple Pies and Bakewell slices were positively lecherous... I think I may have been sweating, but I was definitely feeling light headed and left Asda with nothing...

While searching for a coat of arms in a photo library I find myself trawling through hundreds of dessert images. I am sidetracked for 40 minutes looking at slick, professionally taken photo's that included 'Delicious chocolate pie filled with warm fluid chocolate mouse and decorated with mint and chocolate sprinkles' it looks like something out of Master Chef but is nowhere near as delicious looking or sounding as 'A mouth watering parfait of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries all nestled in a decadently sweet cloud of chilled whipped cream and dressed with a fresh mint leaf garnish' or 'A decadent dessert of sliced banana, caramel, and cinnamon. Vanilla ice cream is sandwiched in the middle, with a crispy banana slice on top', sounds pretty pornographic I am literally salivating and have wasted 40 minutes of my day daydreaming... Pfffff....

At 10.30 on Saturday morning, while my child is running around naked, I decide I must research cupcakes for my Mum as she is thinking of selling the cakes that she makes, which she should have done years ago... So, I ignore the naked child and spend the next hour drooling over cupcake makers and suppliers dreaming about the flavours and icing combinations that I would have... More time wasted...

At my cousins house for dinner I find myself neglecting conversation in favour of cookbooks, flicking straight to the desserts and sweets section. I choose the desserts i'll make when I complete my challenge (I never cook). I think about sourcing ingredients and who i'll invite to dinner parties (once again, I never cook). I think about new desserts i'll try in order to tantalise and stimulate my tastebuds... Creme brulee begins to sound delicious, as does bread and butter pudding, things I have never previously been a fan of. I am looking at restaurant menu's and deciding which dessert(s) i'll have when i go there. I currently have a list of about 50 places to visit.


I have lost my focus. Not eating dessert has got me thinking about dessert at every possible moment. Every task somehow leads me to a place of looking at, thinking about or dreaming about it. I am permanently sidetracked in a desert of hazy sugarlessness in search of my best friend, my companion, my partner. I feel like i'm having a long distance relationship and my other half is soon to return... 8 days, 192 hours, 11520 minutes and counting...

Sugar Free...

So I come to you 6 days into my 21 day 'no sweet things' and 'no shopping' challenge. I decided to do it as I approach a milestone birthday as a bit of a lifestyle overhaul and to remember to keep myself in check and as an attempt to reign in the constant splurging. The first few days I suffered a terrible constant headache as I am used to eating sweet things constantly. I'll just point out that amazingly I am a size 8 and have no weight, skin or any other health concerns...

However, I will usually wake up to a muffin, donut, pancakes with syrup, pastry or similar food that falls into the breakfast food category by the skin of it's teeth. I'll follow that with a caramel cappuccino from Starbucks (with 2 sugars) and will continue throughout the day happily eating whole packets of biscuits, 3-4 cakes, donuts, unlimited chocolate bars and cans of pepsi max (it says sugar free, but tastes the sweetest). I will then when home have dessert pretty much every night after dinner. Gu puds and Haagen Dazs being my favourite, but I don't discriminate and as long as there is no custard and it falls into the dessert category, i'm good to go. I must state that I am not proud of this and only realise how extreme it is when other people point out the contents of the dustbin under my desk, or ask for a biscuit only to be told that they're finished :-(. I pay no attention to the copious amounts of sweet foods I consume and am just answering the call of my sweet teeth.

I have made it through my first 6 days, which have included the weekend, which has been the hardest obstacle so far. I'm actually quite pleased with myself, as many people have actually bet money against me :-( but i'm determined to do it for myself more than anything else as I have been a slave to my sweet teeth for too long. I also reckon i'm saving loads by not stopping in M&S for their plum and cherry crumble (which has become my newbest friend since christmas). I'm gonna put the money I save in a jar and have a dessert binge when I get to that landmark birthday :-)

Will let you know how the 'no shopping' has been going another time.