Almost baked

She’s growing up fast. Not so long ago Little Missy was taking her first adventures into food, relishing an early taste of wild blackberries; now she’s getting stuck into baking and, as you can see, no bowl is safe from those helpful little hands.

She was my first long-term baking project and I nearly have another completed. It’s been a crazy, crazy year so far – getting a new business off the ground while moving out of the cottage in April (a fall down the stairs and an out-of-action wrist further complicating matters) and back to a newly renovated and extended living space earlier this month, which my mother and I are still painting. The perfect time, in other words, to add a new baby to the equation.

Some time next month Little Missy is looking forward to becoming a “big sister” while I’m just relieved that we managed to get back into our home before that became a reality. There’s sadness too: in the week before she died my beloved Granny kept asking if I had had the baby yet.

This time round there hasn’t been much time to do too much preparation but my new pantry is stocked up with flour in anticipation of plenty of breadmaking – far easier than getting in the car for a loaf – and I’ve stashed lots of chunks of protein in the freezer for slow cooker specials like Beef, Mushroom and Red Wine Pie and Sausage and Bean Hotpot.

Looks like September could be a lot of fun…now to get that darn painting finished!