The Art of Living: The Pleasure of Baking

It's National Baking Week with homes and schools across the country full of the joyous smell of baking and the happy munching of some good old home-made cake, including us!  It doesn't have to be baking week for our household to get out the mixing bowl, at the moment it's a weekly thing with Gabe ('I'm nearly 4') requesting to make cake nearly every day.  Banana Cake was yesterday and Apple Cake is the order of today - one of my favourites.  I never thought it would be my son who would make me realise the pleasure of baking. 

Gabe's Banana Bread

I watched Kirstie's Handmade Britain last night on Channel 4 with some very sophisticated cake making. It had me drooling over the cakes and also admiring Kirstie's late night prize-winning efforts. Kirstie, I can relate to the boys-stealing-utensils scenario! Whilst I like eating fancy cakes - those Eclairs looked amazing - fancy baking is not my thing at all.  I'm definitely a cobble it all together and hope for the best kind of baker - that's why I choose foolproof Banana Bread. But...maybe if I had a Kenwood mixer.....

Here's some places where we get regular food inspiration:

Housewife Confidential is a favourite of ours with a mouth-watering recipe index and a new section about Baby Led Weaning which has got me very inspired.  The video of 'Betsy Led Weaning has to be seen.  It's amazing to witness the progress of a baby learning to feed herself solids.  I've never seen anything like it.  It's a great project by Kat to have captured all those moments of Betsy on camera.  Do share this video - it really will help inspire mamas who've wondered about trying Baby Led Weaning. It has certainly confimed the approach for me.

My Daddy Cooks is a seriously good site and book with family recipes that are tasty and work. 
I actually think Kat of Housewife Confidential and Nick of My Daddy Cooks should get together and do a show! I think it's a format that would work....watch this space!

Let us know where you get your baking inspiration and we'd love some recipe guest blogs for the autumn season and for Christmas - do get in touch!

Happy baking and cake-eating!

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This is part of the Art of Living series of posts that bring you all the things we are passionate about and the things we discover in our lives as mamas.

In our Wednesday Woo blog post series we present a selection of things from the Sisters Guild Boutique.

We also have a Monday Makery with ideas for things to make yourself.

And for a glimpse behind the scenes of Sisters Guild we have the A-Z of Sisters Guild here 

www.sistersguild.co.uk

Tell Us it's Tuesday: Kat of Housewife Confidential

Today's 'Tell Us' is a special one for us as we have the wonder that is Kat aka @thatkat, blogger of Housewife Confidential , editor for Bambino Goodies, Mum of three and a whole lot more.  Her twitter feed alone is noteworthy as she has a lot of love to give - the definition of 'surfing powers for good'. We were 2 uncertain sisters at the start and Kat embraced us like our true sister mentor.  That's something we will not forget.

Kat herself is incredible - you can see this from her blog Housewife Confidential.  It is an honest and beautiful blog about family life with stunning photos (making Kat a Mad Blog Finalist), delicious recipes, stories and insights that are often very moving and heart-warming.  Kat is someone who inspires, who makes people stop and think and you'll always come away from her blog feeling lifted.  We think Kat's a little bit magic.  She knows a lot of things. We wanted to know a bit more about her.  Here she is...

Photo by Kat's son Monty

On waking the first 3 things I do are…. try to go back to sleep, check the time and pick up my phone to checkout blogs/instagram/twitter

If I had a superpower it would be…. endless energy – I never seem to have enough to do everything I dream up


If I could trade places for a day with someone it would be… Jane Foster – I would love to rifle through her fabric collection


If someone wrote a story about me the title would be… greed: a tale of many meals


When I was seven years old… I had a lot of rabbits


If you open my fridge you will see…. (I went to look) piles of vegetables, lots of eggs, cheeses, trout fillets, sausages, a big tub of yoghurt, chorizo, chilles and a lot of condiments.


My favourite view is… looking across Beer beach at the cliff top allotments


The 3 things I will tell my children are… look after each other, do what makes you proud, dream big


The song or musical piece for the theme tune of my life is… Mushaboom by Feist

 

I used to be… a scientist

My biggest guilty pleasures are… I don’t do guilt!

My wardrobe is… practically empty – I never manage to put anything away these days.

Never have I ever… eaten a tomato

My children taught me… to trust myself

Life is like a… never ending series of surprises

My earliest memory is…. sneakily drinking a Cinzano & lemonade and then later falling off my stool during Christmas dinner. I was 17 months old.

My underwear drawer … is filled with beautiful bras from my pre-breast feeding days (I miss them)

I feel like running for the hills when…. I see the thousands of unread emails in my inbox

On my teenage bedroom wall there was… horse and band posters

My ideal partner would have the mind of /  skills of  / body of… Mr Kat and I are so well suited that I can’t think of a single thing I would change.

Kat, your passion for life really is contagious. I'm going to be listening to 'your' song all day.  Your fridge reflects a true cook - when's lunch?  Enjoy life's surprises - guilt-free, yes, that's the best way. Thank you Kat. x

The Art of Living: Autumn Equinox

Tomorrow, Friday 23rd September is the Autumn Equinox.  It is a time when day and night are supposed to be of equal length before the nights become longer. The summer has passed, the air becomes crisp and there's a sense of starting afresh - it certainly feels like an auspicious occasion.

last days of summer

I know that I am already feeling like I need to sleep more and eat more (though that may be the pregnancy!) - there's that familiar hibernation instinct and a feeling of the need to gather provisions. If I had my own vegetable patch I would feel very proud to be gathering up my home-grown produce.  We are lucky enough to all be gathering at Granny's this weekend for the Bath Baby Show and the Bath Children's Literature Festival so the cousins will be able to gather the squash from Granny's garden to add to a family feast.(I have used gather a lot in that paragraph haven't I - I DO like the word!)

Over at our fave blog Housewife Confidential I know Kat and her family will be celebrating the Autumn Equinox and I also know she has an enviable veggie patch as well as the ability to conjour up some amazing looking food.  I think I'm going to give Kat's Spicy Butternut Squash Soup a go.

Kat's Spicy Butternut Squash Soup at Housewife Confidential

I'm also looking forward to a good stomp in the woods too - to get muddy and collect conkers and feel the sense of change in the trees and the air.  It will feel good to embrace the new season and the West Country is a good place to do so.

Back in London there's the Realfood Harvest Festival on the Southbank. An event that celebrates the abundance of British autumnal produce.  So if you're in the area, show your support for the amazing producers in this country.

Enjoy welcoming in the new season!

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This is part of the Art of Living series of posts that bring you all the things we are passionate about and the things we discover in our lives as mamas.

In our Wednesday Woo blog post series we present a selection of things from the Sisters Guild Boutique.

We also have a Monday Makery with ideas for things to make yourself.

And for a glimpse behind the scenes of Sisters Guild we have the A-Z of Sisters Guild here 

www.sistersguild.co.uk