forages and finds

Forages and Finds has moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 21:28:00 +0000

Forages & Finds now has a new home... and some exciting announcements!
Please update your links:
www.foragesandfinds.co.uk

Golden Snitch Doughnuts

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 13:53:00 +0000

I could have made something with a Valentine's theme, but I have something far more exciting to look forward to this weekend: a trip to Harry Potter Studios with my old housemates! So when looking for an excuse to make some doughnuts, inspired by one of my favourite blogs, I had a wave of inspiration. Golden Snitch doughnuts!!

I was surprised how easy doughnuts are to make - providing that you're fairly confident with deep-frying. I used this recipe, but halved it to make a small batch - I got about 12 average sized doughnuts out of it. I begrudgingly used cup measurements, because I was in a hurry and didn't have time to convert it. Cups! Tuh. Next I'll be calling them Donuts.

My main tip is... use a thermometer to keep the temperature of the oil right (180 degrees) and you need to adapt your cooking time depending on the size of the doughnut. The recipe I used said 30 seconds on each side - mine were bigger and so needed more like 45 on each. The best thing to do is to cook one, and then let it cool slightly before cutting it open to see whether it's cooked through or not. If not, adjust your cooking time.

I could have made a golden-tinted glaze to give a smoother appearance but I had decided I wanted to make patisserie cream-filled doughnuts, so didn't want to compromise the flavour by adding too much extra sugar coating. Oh and it occurred to me that with minimal adaptation - a different colour glaze or spray - you could probably make Yoda doughnuts. If you are so inclined. I might have to try that.

I confess, doughnuts are probably my second-favourite naughty treat (right after popcorn). And I'm officially not counting how many I've eaten so far today. Well, it's Valentine's Day... surely I'm allowed to indulge myself a little? ♥

DIY Wall Year Planner

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 18:09:00 +0000

This project took me a few hours one morning, but was totally worth it as it will help me keep track of a year which started out with absolutely no fixed plans at all! Since I'm starting a job soon that has a rota of irregular hours including weekends, plus I have my own freelance projects to map around this (and hopefully a few trips!), keeping track of everything was getting a bit chaotic and I already managed to double-book myself a couple of times. Organisation time.

I got hold of a diary which had a couple of pages mapping out 2014 to guide me, a large A1-ish sized piece of paper and a ruler. The first step was the most time-consuming - I decided that I wanted the months in columns so I measured the width of the page, took off the margins I wanted at the edges and between each column, and then divided the remaining number to establish the width of columns before pencilling the columns in.

My paper size worked out pretty conveniently for the rows - I simply measured out 1cm rows down the page in pencil. The slightly complicated part was making sure all the weekends matched up across the page - which affected how far down the page the month would start. I used the diary's format to help me with this! Finally for this stage I drew in outlines of the rows I needed for each month. I had two pages (6 months on each) so the second page was easier... I traced over the first, altering the number of rows for the months of course.

Tricky part over... time to add stickers and month titles! Or draw/paint them if you're feeling a bit more creative.

Oh, and add the dates inside the boxes. Hopefully you got the right number of days for each month!

Since I managed to get the weekends to line up across the pages, I painted in the weekend rows to make them stand out and give it a bit of structure. Clever stuff eh?

And finally as an afterthought, I felt-penned an arrow onto a piece of card and stuck it on with blue-tack, so I can see where I am in the year (when I blearily wake up in the morning and don't know what day it is, this helps). All that remains is to pen in your plans... or make some plans maybe. I love this chart already... I can see when I have free blocks of time between work, and hopefully make the most of it!

Totally exhausting, says Truffle.

Charlie’s Depression & Anxiety Resource Kit

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 15:22:00 +0000

This (very long and detailed!) guide is supposed to be something to dip in and out of according to what interests you, and is a compilation of my on-going and long-term research into staying afloat in a hectic and overwhelming world. I’ve kept lists, links and ideas buried in journals for too long – who knows, someone might appreciate my findings. There is much more work to be done on this document, so please see it as a work in progress :).

Everyone’s experience of depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges is undoubtedly very unique. However, that doesn’t mean that we are all fighting alone – I hope that, by bringing up my experience of how to deal with certain topics, others may find common themes and some new ideas about how to deal with them. Or at the very least, realise that there are others out there, going through stuff too.

This is by no means professional advice and I’ve linked many external sites here, so please use your personal judgement when deciding what is right for you to do, believe or take on board.

This ‘toolkit’ has been divided into a number of thematic sections:

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Distract Yourself

Just Keep Busy! The days are long but the years are short (if you don’t like aphorisms don’t worry, I’m not going to overdo it!). What I mean is that when you’re feeling down, a few hours can feel like a lifetime (especially in the middle of the night, in my case). But there is an alternative to focusing all your energy into anxiety, or worst case scenarios, and I find that keeping busy is essential. And the ‘years are short’ part… well it’s oh-so-easy to say, but what I have learned from being depressed in the past is that if you ride out the storm, it will pass. It may take some time, but I have a great friend who always says to me, at some point in the future – you will feel better! It’s a helpful reminder, especially when I imagine her in my head, authoritatively telling me ^_^.

Volunteering. It may seem like a cliché to say that helping others can take you out of your own problems, but at the very least volunteering is (often) less stressful than finding a paid job to fill your time, and it just keeps you busy & distracted, also helping you to meet new people, plus you may get a boost from people appreciating the work you are doing.

Ideas based on my own experience include: searching www.vinspired.com or www.do-it.org.uk with your postcode for local ideas, working in a charity shop, baking cakes for fundraisers, stewarding at festivals (where your salary goes to Oxfam for example), using any skills you have (e.g. design, marketing, filming, driving etc.) for a local charitable cause.

Finding ‘Flow’. Is there an activity which takes you away from all of your thoughts and mental commentary on your existence? If you don’t know what activity this could be, you could make it your goal to try out a few ideas until you find some that work.

For me personally these activities include: drawing, pasting images + writing in my journal, cooking a meal (ideal – I get to do this daily!) or baking cakes, watching quirky films, reading blogs on the internet (I discover them & keep a list using www.bloglovin.com), and even projects like restoring old bits of furniture while listening to Radio 4 documentaries!
If finding motivation to do these things is your biggest hurdle, it may help to join a group, club or society. I also love reading, but when feeling down find it hard to concentrate on the written word – I joined a local Shared Reading group called ‘Make Friends with a Book’ which introduced me to short stories, poetry, and gave me an opportunity to listen to the stories of other people’s lives – something which always took me beyond my own thoughts.

Even if you don’t feel like it. It’s hard – sometimes you really don’t feel like doing anything, and maybe that’s because you really need some space and down-time. Recently however, I was feeling a bit down over New Year and my family announced that a day of ‘Muppet-Making’ would be a good idea – even though sewing & gluing complicated puppets was the last thing I felt like doing. And yet afterwards it felt good that I’d completed something, my brother appreciated us helping him with his project, and now I look back and smile on that crazy family day.

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Start to Look After Yourself

Eat Right. Mental health issues often do strange things to our eating habits – making us control them, neglect them (this is me!), or overindulge them. The problem is the more our eating habits are upset, the more this directly impacts on our physical wellbeing and as a result out mental wellbeing.

Things that work for me: Cook a BIG meal when you’re feeling up to it and freeze it in portions for when you’re having a bad week, so that you have ‘home-made ready meals’. Avoid foods that will give you a big high & a crash (sugar & caffeine). Maybe replace caffeine with either decaf or herbal substitutes – I get jittery & anxious after too much caffeine (even in tea) and have become a big lemon & ginger tea fan. Try to eat at regular intervals – a few hours without food and my mood noticeably drops. I also like to make ‘Power Smoothies’ – blend up a bunch of healthy stuff to give you a nutritious boost!

Find an Exercise that Works for Me! Yep, I was one of the kids that hated P.E at school – all that competitiveness & room for embarrassment. But I have still managed to develop some healthy exercises that I love.

Dog walking is the simplest exercise – it’s hard not to be motivated by my little dog’s passion for the outdoors! I also got into cycling to and from work, which I love because I can do exercise in a solitary environment at my own pace (gyms freak me out). Similarly, I love to swim – especially since it clears my mind of thoughts except for counting the laps.

Devoting Time & Energy to Being Myself. That sounds vague – but I think sometimes we hold back from investing in ourselves. Sometimes you really need to spend the day wrapped in blankets by the fire watching your favourite sitcoms. But there are lots more activities, which help you to feel clearer about who you are, which we will look at more in the next section. Here are a couple of ways to incorporate a tiny self-discovery activity into your daily routine…

Daily Activities: Choosing an affirmation – don’t agonise over it, it can change depending on what you need – and saying it to yourself every day. It may help to refer to yourself as “I” (e.g. “I am enough” or “I can let go”) rather than “you” – otherwise it starts getting a bit weirdly talking-to-yourself-in-the-mirror motivational-film-scene. I mean if that’s your thing go for it.
Power Thought cards – might help give you ideas to focus on. Pick one per week and explore the ways each card can influence your wellbeing. Similarly, SARK’s Living Juicy book (I own this one) or Card deck gives you a thought for each day or week.

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Learn About & Understand Yourself

Helpguide.org – There are many many websites out there with helpful information about mental health, but in my opinion this is the best. It can really help as a first step to understand everything you can about how you’re feeling. This makes me feel more ‘normal’, and as a result more in control and hopeful. The site is run by an inspiring couple whose daughter ended her life, and they are dedicated to providing non-profit resources to those in need.

‘Mindfulness’ Meditations. My choice is from the Helpguide website – although there are many variations of ‘mindfulness’ exercises. This is especially aimed at those who struggle to cope with overwhelming (or stuck) emotions: 'Mindfulness Meditation Exercise'. I’m trying to incorporate this 25-minute exercise into my daily life for the next couple of months to explore its effects.

Journaling. This can take so many forms, and is something I’m passionate about. When I was younger I used to write all my thoughts down in a very personal diary format. Nowadays I like to keep journals of lists of ideas, musings on certain topics, or just drawing. Some people keep a gratitude journal a few times per week on the things that they are happy for. At one time, I kept a journal of my dreams and which themes in my waking life they seemed to apply to, quite an interesting way to explore your inner psyche! There are a few arty ‘play’ journals by people such as SARK that give you a more guided journaling experience if you need some help to start. For something less diary-like, Keri Smith creates really wacky activity books including one whose sole object is to be destroyed by the person who buys it. My main recommendation here though is that I find journaling that focuses on positives, dreams or goals to be much more helpful than putting your negative thoughts on paper. (Although one study suggests writing down negative thoughts and throwing them away and it can also be helpful to write down your negative assumptions and then write a challenge to it in response).

Personality Types. It may seem a simple idea, but sometimes doing personality surveys and reading about personality theories such as the Myers-Briggs Psychological Types can give a greater understanding of the many facets of our personalities. It might remind you that there are positives and negatives that are part of who we all are. Another interesting read is the Highly Sensitive Person.

Learning More about Happiness. I got depressed when I was quite young, in my early teens, and someone recommended to me some classic writers who had faced depression. So I read Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and I read Plath’s Bell Jar, among other things. It’s probably quite important to be in a stable enough place to read books like these – they made quite an impact on me. I would recommend exploring the genre of books about happiness too, to keep the balance! Brainpickings is full of inspirational articles, excerpts and reading lists – try their Essential Books on Happiness – I’ve read Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project from this list.

Counselling. I’ve left the most ‘obvious’ until last. Counselling can be a really great way to learn about yourself. There are many types of counselling, such as talking therapy or cognitive behaviour therapy, and within each type every counsellor is different too – I would suggest that if one particular experience didn’t feel right don’t be put off; it’s worth trying again somewhere different. Counsellors are still people, and sometimes you just might connect with a different person if it didn’t work out the first time!

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Find a Safe Space to Take Refuge

A ‘Safe Place’. As part of the Mindfulness meditation I mentioned earlier, Dr. Jeanne Segal recommends creating in your mind or environment a safe space, and evoking all the senses in this imaginary process (a calm & beautiful scene, soothing music or sounds, comforting sensations and a calming taste and smell). This gives you a ‘quick stress relief’ strategy, and don’t underestimate how effective this can be. I think carrying around an inspiring imaginary scene to calm yourself down is simply a brilliant idea.

Beauty. I have no idea whether many other people find this… but for me, beautiful scenes or images can leave me feeling more inspired, calm and fulfilled in a very unique way. This partly involves the easily forgotten art of looking at the world around us – the way winter light falls on a lake at twilight, or seeing a solitary ram watching a magpie from my train window, or examining really closely an object in an art gallery that you would normally only give a passing glance. Alain de Botton has recently started to write about Art as Therapy.

Cafés. I’m a complete café-enthusiast (which is why I’m creating a café map for other people who love & support independents!) but this is partly because a café is such an inspiring little safe refuge from life. Firstly cafés offer tea (very important to the British problem-solving paradigm!), but also they are an environment associated with calm pleasure. I hope that other people can find physical spaces that have a similarly calm & inspiring effect on them.

Joy & Music. Joy is such a difficult emotion to access, especially if you’re feeling cripplingly low – I think sometimes hormones just don’t allow it. However, and once again I don’t know if others experience this too, I have on rare occasions found that while experiencing intense emotions such as sadness I can also experience intense joy if I don’t numb myself against it. For me these situations are nearly always musical in nature, which is why I have put joy + music together here. I play my clarinet frequently, and improvise, which gives me access to a state of ‘flow’ and self-expression. I listen to music and discover new music (Spotify is good for this, but I also ‘Shazam’ songs when out & about and from films) constantly, in addition to seeking out live music whenever possible (there is SO much free live music to find!) and music helps me to experience emotions in a safe and cathartic way. Often, just changing to a more upbeat track can also change my mood like magic!

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Not Being Alone

Others know how you feel. There has recently been a wonderful boost to the coverage of depression in the online sphere – in the form of lists, blogs and cartoons.

Check out these Buzzfeed lists of ‘Comics that capture the frustrations of depression’ and ‘Things To Do When You’re Feeling Down’ which bring together ideas & experiences from lots of sources – a guide to how creative people can deal with stress – and blogs such as the Diary of a Depressed Student from Warwick uni are created by people who are putting themselves out there, showing that people aren’t alone in how they feel.

Finding and talking to friends. It can be intimidating to know who to talk to when times are hard – unfortunately not everyone does understand what you’re going through. However, fortunately there are some people who do!

You may find that some people have announced themselves ready to listen for #TimeToTalk day – that could be a good starting point! When approaching friends it might be easiest to bring things up indirectly. For example, asking for film and book recommendations because there’s a lot clouding up your mind may lead to a deeper discussion with those who detect that there’s something wrong but hadn’t had an opening to bring it up.
Sometimes it’s easier to talk to a stranger though, and services such as Nightline (for students) and the Samaritans (for everybody) are there for when you need a confidential and friendly chat with someone outside your everyday life.

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Motivation to DO Things & Making Your Personal Plan

Where to Start. I have included a lot of information here, and it is so easy to feel overwhelmed and lost – even by ‘self help’! I find that my emotions and obstacles only start to change when I make a conscious decision that I’m going to turn things around (which takes a lot of effort and resilience). But equally importantly, goals have to be realistic and manageable, and I have to try not to beat myself up if I take a couple of steps forward and then one back.

Manageable chunks. SARK (I know I keep mentioning her, but she’s great!) invented ‘Micro-movements’ – and I live by these when I can’t get started on something. I break projects and tasks down into tiny portions, and focus only on what I can complete TODAY. Most people can’t cope with thinking about everything all at once (… can anyone?!). And just pick a couple of ideas to focus on at a time.
Having a schedule & tangible goals. Ideas floating around my head are no good – it feels somehow that there’s too much to do, everything gets muddled. I write lists. Lists of goals, to-do lists, lists of ideas. Lists of what I have achieved. Lists of things to do, listen to and think about on bad days. Lists of ideas which I’ve finally decided to share with other people :).

Ä Related blog posts I’ve written:

Surviving the Dissertation / Essay Writing / Uni! | Disasters & Failures | The Depressed Cake Shop

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Thank you for reading. Keep swimming.

10 Things I'll Miss About Birmingham

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 19:04:00 +0000

Lists... I do love a good list, and arriving or leaving a place often calls for a round-up. I could never cover all the fantastic parts of Birmingham I have discovered in one go, but it's easy to pick out a few highlights for you! Buzzfeed may have taught many of us bloggers that lists don't have to happen in multiples of 10. However, I'm going to stick to my nice round number. Rebel.

1. Independent Coffee Shops

Urban coffee (above) has three quite different but very enjoyable branches - my favourite has to be their newest one in Harborne. It's tiny, built into an annex of an old school with pointed chapel-like windows, and contains beanbags, board games and excellent music. It was also on my cycle route back from work, so on dark rainy evenings I could stop by (as it opens until about 10pm - massive novelty for a country girl!) and read my book with a hot chocolate. Mmm. Also not to miss: York's Bakery, 6/8 Kafé, Cherry Red's, the Kitchen Garden Café, and a few others which I will feature on my new café review map soon :D.

2. The Bear Tavern Clock-tower

(image pinched from here)

The view from my bedroom window featured this quirky clock-tower, on the Bear Tavern, adorned with carved bear-heads. Underneath the clock "TEMPUS FUGIT" ('time flies') is written, and yet the clock was forever stuck at 3pm. I always felt this was rather poignant, but I never quite decided how.

3. Urban Cycling

My fitness improved from cycling up and down the roads from Bearwood to Edgbaston & my many jaunts around the rest of Birmingham. I'm not sure that cycling on Birmingham's roads did much for my life expectancy overall though.

4. The Barber

This has to go on the list partly because it's the reason I moved to Birmingham in the first place... for a very enjoyable internship at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts! Time has indeed flown by and I was lucky enough to see exhibitions such as Sonic Visions (compositions inspired by paintings) and John Monks' huge and colourful paintings and help to promote them. Make sure you drop by if you ever visit the city!

5. Random Free Events

This picture has very little to do with random free events. This is a picture of me wearing a crazy shoe. I just felt like including it. Aside from this, I found many cheap ways to enjoy myself in Birmingham - from mini festivals (including a cycling one), to food or freebies being given out in the centre, and free live music around the place. (I usually found these through twitter, or sites like Birmingham Promoters & Live Brum).

6. 'My' Place

I have always been so lucky with accommodation! Once again - lovely housemates, meals out, recommendations & introductions to Birmingham life that I just wouldn't have had anywhere else.

7. The Hare & Hounds

I can safely say that The Hare & Hounds has been my favourite music venue for an evening out... whether at Club Bebop (picture above) for free jazz on a Sunday evening, for their Electro-Swing club nights (with Charleston lessons, yeay!) or to see fantastic bands such as Tunng.

8. The Shared Reading Company

I'm unquestionably going to miss going to 'Make Friends with a Book' on a Thursday morning. This 'Shared Reading Company' group has introduced me to short stories, poetry, and given me an opportunity to listen to other people's stories.

9. Eastside Projects

Eastside Projects fascinates me. Tucked just the other side of a railway bridge in Digbeth, you never know quite what you're going to get there. One time I went to an opening event and there was a raffle full of things you wouldn't want to win. The next event featured a giant letter to Michael Gove. Another time, it had a pop-up café serving sort of community-sourced foods in what was called the "Feral Trade Café". That was obviously my favourite.

10. Bearwood!

Bearwood is an understated area of Birmingham, just outside the city centre. On the surface it has a lot of pound & betting shops. Scratch a bit further and you find a community of creatives (partly because it's a bit cheaper to live there) running Bearwood Handmade, and Bearwood Pantry alongside a couple of decent cafés and Warley Woods right on its doorstep.

That's enough for now... after all, I'm sure I'll be back at some point to discover more. Birmingham hasn't seen the last of me, that's for sure.

Film Food: Amélie Poulain's Kouign Amann Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 20:25:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I introduced my blog series, Film Food, with this particular mini-series looking at dreamers and how food, especially cakes, relate to their stories. Like Walter Mitty, Amélie Poulain makes a habit of living as much in her daydreams as everyday life. And like Walter, it is easier to weave a love story in her mind than in reality, albeit much more of a whimsical one than Walter Mitty's imaginary stunts!

In this particular scene, Amélie is at home and frustrated with how things seem to be working out with Nino. So she does what many of us do at times of stress - she bakes. Until she discovers that she has no yeast left (yeast in a cake? We'll come to that later...) and clearly she is not in the mood to go back out. To calm herself down she starts to dream of Nino again, imagining that he runs to the market for her missing ingredient.

In this beautiful dream sequence, we see to the left as she pictures Nino running his hand along the beaded curtain to surprise her, and in her actual apartment to the right the curtain rattles in response. However as she whips around it turns out to be her cat coming into the kitchen, bringing her back to reality with a jolt.

Nino does arrive at her apartment unexpectedly, but without the yeast. After all, ultimately the world doesn't very closely resemble the one in Amélie's daydreams, although like Walter Mitty she does embark on some 'adventures' (very miniature ones around Paris) which help her to come out of her shell a little. Through these she eventually learns that she can make friends and discover love in her real life in a way which differs from her imaginary worst case scenarios (seeing her wasted life as a tragic film) or complete fantasies (which mostly involve getting one up on M. Collignon!).

The ending is a sweet but quirky one; it's hard not to enjoy the two odd souls who fall for one another without ever really speaking. To both, it felt safer to dream about the other. Les temps sont durs pour les rêveurs. I feel that times are hard for dreamers, now as much as ever.

(one of my favourite other dream sequences, this time from Nino's!)

Like the film the Kouign Amann is extremely sweet, and a little odd. I've never made a cake like this... it's actually more like a half-way house between bread (it begins with a yeast based dough) and puff pastry (because you fold in butter in layers).

The recipe is from someone else's blog - a big thanks to their research which identifies this traditional Breton bake from a tiny mention in the film! Plus it has a useful step-by-step guide. The film Amelie is a constant source of inspiration to me and if you haven't already seen it a certain scene was the basis of this time-lapse video I made three years ago. Three years. Blimey. Perhaps I'm the one who needs to step out of my daydream world.

Film Food: Walter Mitty's Clementine Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 17:32:00 +0000

To know the true significance of this cake you must watch the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Failing that though, this is a darn good cake, and maybe just watch the trailer so that you appreciate it has at least some significance to the theme of my new feature: "film food"!

I decided to start a new feature on the blog where I bake food (probably mainly cakes) from my favourite films - and this series will be based on films about people who partially live in imaginary dream worlds. The first of these is Walter Mitty, a film inspired by the short story by James Thurber. Below is one of my very favourite clips, and it features the clementine cake (and a poetry falcon).

The cake isn't exactly the linchpin of the story, although it does turn up at unexpected moments and links a couple of story-lines together. One of the real successes of this film for me is the interaction between epic scenes, some of which are dream sequences and some of which actually happen, with the small, perhaps irritating or disappointing to some, parts of Walter's story which are interspersed just as often. Things like going to an exciting foreign country and then getting stuck in a bar with a drunk guy who really wants him to sing karaoke. Or doing his finances in fast food stops while abroad. A question this raised by the humdrum of his everyday life and even moments during his adventures might be... can his fantasies, which are hugely exaggerated and unrealistic, ever be matched by reality? Are those of us who are borderline pathological dreamers deliberately weaving impossible expectations so that there is simply no prospect of trying to live up to them and potentially be disappointed?

I suppose that the answer is that if we don't try, we'll never know. And that probably at some points during an 'adventure' it will turn out that what seemed like an exotic & significant photograph at first is actually a chip in an old piano. Or the person that motivated us to move out of our comfort zones in the first place is not what we thought they would be. But unless you take the risks or chase a 'dream' instead of perfecting it inside your head, you'll just never know. So I bought a new diary this week, and decided that it's time to make some plans.

And if the film meant none of this to you at all... seriously, poetry falcon. That's really funny.

Ottolenghi's Clementine & Almond Cake
(and Charlie's candied clementines!)

Ingredients:

200g butter, 300g caster sugar, grated zest & juice of 4 clementines + 1 lemon, 280g ground almonds, 5 free-range eggs, 100g flour, pinch of salt.

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C(160C fan/Gas 4) & grease a deep round cake or loaf tin.
Beat together butter, caster sugar and both zests until just combined. Mix through half the ground almonds.
Add the eggs gradually while continually beating (scrape around the sides to make sure mixture is evenly combined).
Add remaining almonds, flour (plain recommended but I used self-raising and had no issues!), and salt and mix gently until smooth.
Spread batter into tin, level out & bake for 50-60 minutes. Cover with foil half way through to avoid a hard crust/burning the outside.

For candied clementine slices:

I didn't have a lot of time so I made this up as I went along! So follow your common sense if in doubt...

Slice clementines into your preferred thickness of slice (thinner will make the peel softer) and place into a pan of boiling water. Boil for about 10 mins and then drain, pour in new boiling water, and boil for another 10 mins or until the steam stops smelling sour and the skins are soft. This is a necessary step to take away the bitterness of the skins.
Drain off the water and in its place add the juice from the clementines in the previous recipe and about 80g of sugar. Stir a little so the sugar dissolves, but once you heat it try and let the sugar dissolve with as little stirring as possible.
Then simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until your slices have a good coating of sugar syrup and the syrup has reduced to become thicker.

To decorate:

To decorate the cake, I poured the syrup the candied clementines were boiled in over the hot cake. Then once cooled I also mixed up a little icing sugar and water to make a white icing for the candied clementine slices to adhere to. This does make it very sweet - but despite not always liking a sugar overload, I find the strong citrus taste balances the sweetness out.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas a Fothergill gave to me... A Video!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 20:23:00 +0000

It's not the twelfth day of Christmas any more... I know that! But Great Rollright internet issues postponed my plans. And who cares about dates so much anyway? Here's the ridiculousness we got up to as a family at the weekend, to help Henry with one of his film project ideas. Happy Epiphany!

On the fifth day of Christmas a Fothergill gave to me... a Secret Box Book!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Sun, 29 Dec 2013 10:37:00 +0000

The only thing about home-making Christmas presents is that you need to choose your recipient carefully. They have to be as mad as you are. Fortunately, my brother appreciates eccentricity like no-one else. In fact, right now there is a large old wardrobe drawer upended in the living room half-adorned with shelves, sculptural features and legs. More on that on another day of Christmas.

I got the idea for Henry's Christmas present in stages. Firstly, I wanted to find him this hard-to-find Philip K. Dick story called "Pay for the Printer" which, during my attempts to find a paper version to buy, turned up in pdf form online. So then I had the idea to put it on a memory stick, and create a book-box to present it!

I did a bit of research online and found some handy tips on how to make one of these. I also found a non-valuable but nice-looking book (Reader's Digest abridged novels!). The rest was just between me and the stanley knife.

Handy tip #1 - Wrap the pages you DON'T want to cut out (the cover, perhaps a couple of pages at the front which 'disguise' it as a book) with cling film. Then, you lather the rest of the book in tonnes of glue (in my Hellmann's pot is a mix of PVA + water) so that the pages stick together. I didn't glue all the pages individually - just around the edges. Then you can close the book, put a heavy weight on top, and wait until it dries.

Handy Tip #2 - There isn't an easy way to cut the pages out, as far as I've found. Just draw a margin onto the top page with a pencil & ruler, then carefully cut cut cut - giving particular attention to the corners - until your hand is aching and your neck is sore from craning over.

Handy Tip #3 - Firstly, once all the pages are cut out, PVA the inside 'walls' of the box. Then, to hide any messiness, it's a good idea to tear up some of the pages you cut out in step 2, and papier maché them over the inside.

Handy Tip #4 - I decided to papier maché the front of the book with printed out sci-fi novel covers. More cutting and sticking and PVA. Pretty simple. You can paint over the finished product with PVA to give it a nice shiny glaze.

Then all that's left to do is fill it with toys and it looks like a lost children's memento box from Amélie! I'm so pleased with the way it looks, and want to make more! Anyone want to buy one of these...?

The Fourth Day of Christmas... and a Request!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 17:14:00 +0000

** NEW! Forages & Finds research for future projects!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I'm doing some research for the future of Forages & Finds (and my career!), and I would love if you could complete my little 10-question survey about your Tea & Coffee-drinking habits... Thank you for your continued support everyone! There may even be a reward involved...

10 Question 'Café' Survey Here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RYRJQVM **

And now... the fourth day of Christmas in the Fothergills Inc. household! Just a little bit of fun today, and using some silicone flowerpot-shaped moulds that I bought my mum for Christmas from Lakeland...

I like to do "themed presents" for Christmas, so I found a little wooden trug in an antiques shop, and filled it with a couple of gardening-themed gifts, including these cute loaf cases. I left the rest to the resident bread expert, and we enjoyed the results with Christmas-lunch-soup. Nom!

On the third day of Christmas a Fothergill gave to me... a Piaggio Van Cake!!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 22:04:00 +0000

So usually I'm the cake-maker around here, but once a year if I'm lucky someone else from the Fothergills Inc. team is drafted in to do the honours for my birthday. More specifically, last week my brother cooked up this magnificent creation..!

What can I say about it? It's fantastic! A Piaggio Ape 50 in cake form! With mini bunting made by my mum.

With party rings for wheels...

And a painted card to match of course by my dad!

I'm not usually too precious about edible creations, but this one I could barely bring myself to cut into. What an amazing present. Thanks Henry!

On the second day of Christmas a Fothergill gave to me... a foraged wreath!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Thu, 26 Dec 2013 11:50:00 +0000

I know what you're thinking... am I going to keep this up for twelve whole days in a row? Have I cleverly scheduled all of these blog posts in advance for the Christmas season? Highly unlikely. I'm just going with the flow right now... and to be honest what with all these lovely creations hanging about the house how could I resist sharing them?

This is one of my favourite, now very much annual, Fothergill traditions... my mum's foraged Christmas wreath. I'd love to give you a step-by-step lesson of how to make one, but in all honesty I have no idea, we'll just have to put it down to a touch of Christmas magic.

A few items have been collected from flower shops... some pine cones (though you could always find your own and paint the tips white if you're organised enough!) and the glittery berries. However holly leaves, moss, holly-berries, other leaves and probably a few bugs too are all genuine Cotswold-foraged decorations. My bleeding finger is a testament to the holly's reality. Ow.

Happy Boxing Day everyone, I have an appointment with the tele-box today! Although apparently my family have more creative ideas in store... blimey I'm knackered. More to blog about tomorrow at least.

On the first day of Christmas a Fothergill gave to me... Babushka!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 10:30:00 +0000

The Fothergills are a creative bunch. True, we didn't have any of our presents wrapped before Christmas eve (we had bought them by then though this year!), and we didn't get around to making the Christmas cake itself (but thanks for all the messages from people telling me about making theirs in October! I'm impressed!), and our decorations and meal are in fact relatively modest. Instead we have a tendency to disappear into whatever projects happen to inspire us each year... there are doors with 'no entry' signs on, and strange sounds coming out of studios all around the house, late into the night.

This year, on the first day of Christmas I present to you... The Legend of Babushka! A few years ago Henry & our good friend Chloe made this incredible little animated Christmas story. And just for fun, this year my Christmas cake-decorating was inspired by the Babushka story.

Happy Christmas from Fothergills Inc.!

And Truffle says hurry up and get off the computer, I'm excited about presents...

The One-Two-Trio and Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Sat, 21 Dec 2013 14:25:00 +0000

The Coventry-based, gypsy jazz collective the One-Two-Trio take to the Cotswolds (that's me, Dario, Yuri, Dom & Meropi - minus a couple of our rhythm sections members sadly!) for a weekend to play with friends! Jo & Dave of Fiddlebop (Fiddlebop on youtube) make an appearance, as do many Fothergills (Chris, Gill & Henry), and Truffle the doglet (who also has a facebook page!!).

This video is us jamming together - trying to alter music at some points so that we can play in the same key as Fiddlebop, or sometimes playing each others' tunes by ear, rather than being a rehearsed performance. What fun! Truffle wasn't entirely sure what to make of it all, but she preferred to stick close to us anyway. There was a little more ukulele and accordion playing during the evening than is shown here - I might have to ask our 'editor' Tim nicely to see if he has any of this that can be uploaded at a later date. For now, enjoy the mayhem! I have listed the track times below in case you would like to skip through...

Music (in order): Petite Fleur, Honeysuckle Rose (2:05), Claire (4:43), Misty (7:10), Dario & Meropi blues! (8:08), Take Five (9:12), (Truffle loving the music and attention - 12:17), Beautiful Love (14:06), aaandd... The Pink Panther Gypsy style! (14:57).

Edited by @StormhunterGame / Stormhunter Gaming on youtube

Birmingham Urban Sketch Crawl

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 15:15:00 +0000

I was lucky enough last Friday to be invited along with a group of artists on an "Urban Sketch Crawl" around Birmingham! Thanks to my dad and his architectural illustrator friends, and the fact that I happen to have my own (but rarely sketched in!) Urban Sketchbook, I found out about it and thought I'd give it a go.

I was a little dubious about meeting at the Birmingham Art Gallery & Museum, since with the Christmas market outside its a hectic and stressful area at the moment. However it turned out that we would actually be sketching inside the gallery itself! This was a good solution as not only was it quiet and warm, but it also meant that those (such as myself) who are not so confident drawing interiors could focus on some small objects instead.

It was an interesting exercise drawing a coffee pot, a wooden bird toy and a knife adorned with hunting scenes from BM&AG's display cabinets. I examined and observed the objects in a way that I simply wouldn't have had I been visiting normally. The hunting scenes intricately carved into a knife were probably my favourite. I love the tiny hares and dogs. As ever though, the objects I started with were an array of teapots. I figured its best to start off where you're confident rather than agonise over choice of subject matter. After all everything becomes interesting once you look closely.

I then challenged myself with drawing Epstein's sculpture of Lucifer. Sculptures are easier to draw than people, with their already defined outlined and features. My version is a little on the camp side, but that's not so different from Epstein's flamboyant and emotive style. I think he's fast becoming my favourite sculptor. But again, you feel more of an affinity with something when you draw it.

There were many lovely drawings, in front of which I was intensely inspired to try new techniques (must add brown paper to my sketchbook!), and materials (hankering after some brush pens now). But most of all this makes me want to draw more.

To see the fantastic works of the Birmingham Urban Sketchers find them on Flickr! I will post a link soon but rather limited by Blogging from my phone. Also Happy Friday 13th everyone!

Winter Sun & Rustic Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 10:34:00 +0000

Huddled in bed, putting off more job searching, listening to the wind howling down the chimney, with doorstep slices of homemade bread having managed to pull on some warm socks and drag myself downstairs to put the kettle on briefly so far this morning. Seemed like a good time to share my recent Wintry comfort bakes with you.

Most of us don't have time to create gourmet cakes and bakes on a daily, or even weekly basis. I'm lucky that the band I play with on Thursday afternoons are more than happy to be cake-testers... but the rest of the time, I don't get around to eating enough cake to justify making it for myself too often. Thank goodness for bread-making! Having dabbled with it in the past, I have recently taken up a routine of making bread during the week and (thanks to the advice AND amazing sourdough starter from my friend Dario) have been rising/proving the bread in the fridge so that I can fit it around work/overnight. Which is so convenient - why have I never thought to do that before? Plus, apparently it gives it a better taste and a slower rate of going stale.

Bread making is also extremely therapeutic - once you've got the hang of it anyway; I won't deny it can be frustrating when it doesn't come out well. So far my best attempts (which I have FINALLY managed to photograph... as usually the best attempts simply get eaten straight away!) seem to have resulted from a nice wet dough, leaving it to prove/rise for a bit outside the fridge (and plenty of proving time), and quite frankly... paying attention. I'm so terrible for forgetting my bread is rising/cooking/not leaving enough time to knead it and rushing it. Bread may be simple and convenient to make, but it requires time. Attention. And a good firm kneading session. You need to keep an eye on it. Make sure it knows who's boss.

After all this bread-making, going back to pastry is a relief. I feel more comfortable with pastry. Perhaps I more naturally have the lighter touch needed for this type of baking... which admittedly might be contested by the friends who see me crashing around hamfistedly and clumsily injuring myself all the time (my thumb is currently bandaged from trying to grate it). So anyway, I made a giant batch of over a kilo of sweet pastry and took some tips from Paul Hollywood for my mince pies - namely the addition of chopped apples and grated orange zest in the mincemeat - in preparation for this weekend's big musical evening at home.

And now to get back to the more stressful necessities of life, try not to eat the rest of this loaf right now, and wait for that beautiful winter sun to return.

Mini-Corkboard Project

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 15:33:00 +0000

Big projects are great, but sometimes you just need a quick creative fix. This mini-corkboard took about half an hour to put together. Unless you count all of the bottles of wine which were drunk in the process... in which case you might want to add a bit longer onto your estimate!

It's extremely simple... you need a strip of stiff cardboard (I raided some mountboard from my dad's workshop as usual!) which is the same width of the longest corks, and about 20 cork-widths in total, assuming you want to make one the same size as mine. Then you just get your hot glue gun out and stick them on! A tip I picked up from Googling this project was to glue the back of the cork to the card, but also the bottom of the cork to the next one to give it extra stability.

I haven't added too much to mine yet, apart from the advent calendar my parents bought me and some leaflets in preparation for the weekend. Planning some National Trust themed jaunts having heard some glowing reviews of Wightwick Manor and owing to a need to escape the city for a bit! Have a great weekend all.

The (Birmingham) Depressed Cake Shop

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 17:11:00 +0000

When I mentioned to a few people that I was going to bake for a grey (depressed) cake sale, most of them slightly turned up their noses and said that they thought it sounded rather unappealing. Although I could sort of see their mental image, I was rather inspired by the whole idea, for several reasons.

Firstly "grey"... grey is a tasteful colour - I think of French antiques in pretty greys, and stylish interior design for some reason.

Secondly, I love themes, and I think a themed cake sale is a fun idea as the cakes themselves reflect the cause, making people instantly more aware of what they are giving money to.

Thirdly, far from being unappealing, the reaction of almost everyone to the table of cakes was laughter. Which, considering the money raised was going to the charity 'Mind' and aimed to raise money to fight depression, is a great consequence!

The variety of bakes was fantastic. This was partly due to impressive forward-planning... the event was marketed extremely well, (through twitter, facebook and an email campaign to anyone who said they were interested in helping) and people were encouraged to email in advance with what they were baking in order to avoid too many duplicates.

There were sad-looking shortbread bears, two rainbow cakes, gingerbread men, carrot & lemon cakes, many many different pretty cupcakes, and my own contribution which was fruity iced tea bread! (Thanks Paul Hollywood for the recipe).

Some of the packaging was really beautiful too. The brownies were wrapped in greaseproof paper & newspaper, and someone else had made biscotti and madeleines and wrapped them in blue tissue paper with 'Depressed Cake Shop' stickers to seal them.

I got stuck in with helping out... my work in several bakery/patisseries has prepared me as well as anyone for dishing out cake to eager customers! And positioned in the middle of University of Birmingham's biosciences (the 'Undercroft') building there were plenty of eager cake eaters around.

The donations were incredibly generous too. I was impressed at how successful an idea it is to simply ask people to donate however much they want to in charity collection pots on the table, as it doesn't exclude those who don't have a lot of money, and at the same time most people probably gave much more than they otherwise would have.

In fact they raised a whopping £730 in total, just from cake!

I've always thought that small things in life... even tea and cake... can make a big difference to the world. It's not just the money raised, these type of events show how many people are eager to help out, give money, and bake for a good cause, while giving the opportunity to people like me to meet new like-minded people (I found out about it through twitter).

Tea and cake. It can save the world.

Bonfire Baking & Cute Cafés

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 14:00:00 +0000

After a slightly troublesome start to my baking activities in Birmingham, I realised last week that I hadn't had a go at making anything much recently, and was particularly disappointed that for some reason things had become really busy and I hadn't done anything creative AT ALL for Halloween. This is upsetting to me. I did at least have a nice coffee in Urban Coffee, and appreciated their cute cup lids!

So this week I got back to baking. Partly thanks to my friend Dario's inspirational sourdough-making talent, and his gift of a portion of his sourdough starter which is now growing/fermenting/whatever it does (and has been named 'Hermione' by Coral) in my fridge. More about my bread making activities later... here is my first attempt, and the second is currently rising in the fridge (in fact, most of this first attempt is now bloating up my stomach which has been hit with rather more bread and butter than is probably healthy). Washed down with some wine, thanks to another housemate.

With the fortunate prospect of attending two celebrations on Saturday night, it seemed that some crowd-pleasing cake-making was in order. With a glut of foraged apples from my grandma's garden still in the fridge, this Apple Crumble Cake recipe (from one of my favourite baking blogs 'Daily Delicious') did the trick. It's essentially a spiced sponge cake mix, on top of which you layer thinly sliced & peeled apples, before topping with apple crumble topping (made from oats, flour & butter)... then bake. I also added some toffee sauce. Toffee apple crumble cake. So many good things in one place.

Hmm wine seems to be a background feature of these photos doesn't it? Well from coffee to wine to tea... I found this incredible cafe in King's Heath, Birmingham.

I want to live in King's Heath/Moseley area. They have the fantastic Hare & Hounds music venue, and they also have the Kitchen Garden Café, which is rustic & charming and has live music in the evenings, and not to mention a killer macaroni cheese.

I can just imagine it after dark... fairy lights, draped around its greenhouse-like feel, scattered with colourful mismatched chairs, folk music, and herbal teas (although there's also a mean selection of interesting ciders, spirits & beers by the looks of it!).

I wedged myself into one of these funky chairs in the corner between the table and a piano, and thought about all the things I desperately want to do and make and create and invent at the moment. Which is why I like to call all of this café-hopping, baking, experimenting, munching, exploring and tea drinking......

..... research. Big plans start in small places.

City Journal: The National Gallery & the Blue Rooster

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 09:05:00 +0000

I should probably blog about something Halloween-related today, but meh... I'm not organised enough to be frank. Instead, I hopped out of bed at 7am this morning on auto-pilot from work (sorry, when I say 'hop', that's an enormous exaggeration), and had the urge to get out my watercolours. Although on second thoughts, wouldn't it be a fantastic Halloween costume to go as the Blue Rooster from the Fourth Plinth?

I haven't yet introduced you to my city sketchbook! Probably because I've been slow to fill it, as I always am with sketchbooks. So far, so good though... sketches are trickling in bit-by-bit. First of all these pages are inspired by a trip to Trafalgar Square one day which is a reliably good place to spend the afternoon alone in London in my experience.

Sitting on the Fourth Plinth is a striking giant cockerel by Katharina Fritsch, its stunning ultramarine brightening up an often grey and wet urban sky. I love it! It's a hit of Surrealism in the city centre - reminiscent of Dali's lobster phone perhaps - a strangely non-urban subject (maybe it reminds me of the countryside?!). And the pigeons seem to like it.

I doodled en plein air of course, which always attracts attention. That's the hardest part of sketching for me... knowing that people will come and comment and take photos of me. But it's satisfying in a sea of iPhones and instagram to get out a pen and paper. It stops you seeing everything through a screen, and makes you stare more intently at what is in front of you. It's also slower, colder, and more hit and miss. So not for everyone I admit!

Cafe-o-holic that I am I had a good doodling session in the National Gallery (east wing) cafe, a lovely room dominated by dark wood, pot plants, and a large counter of cakes as you walk in. I had tea & a Chelsea bun. Good antidote to a rainy day.

Finally, I went to see the Michael Landy "Saints Alive" exhibition in the National Gallery. It really has to be seen to be believed, so I've attached the Guardian's preview video about the exhibition, and I would urge you to see this (free) show before it finishes at the end of November! It's boisterous, shocking, funny and wacky. Which perhaps isn't too far from the stories of the martyrs it depicts. It's like an exhibition of steampunk saints. If you're someone who says they're not keen on 'modern art' and you find blue roosters a bit beyond your comprehension, still go and see it. I mean, at least there's a good café next door.

Cakes & Kites (with Fothergills Inc.)

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 19:54:00 +0000

Sometimes things that are very sophisticated can be created very simply, without expensive materials - so long as you have a little imagination. Four Fothergills under one roof certainly means no lack of imagination, and I have two examples of this from a weekend at home with my family - a weekend of much jabbering, excitement and creativity - a magic spark happens when we all get together! My mum's birthday was one reason for our gathering and she ummed and erred about what we should do together for the day, before settling on Kite-making, further to her holiday experiments.

Not an entirely normal thing to do, I know. But we like a challenge... and kite-making takes not only imagination, but also some physics! Oh, and a lot of determination. But more on that later. Here we all are gluing, taping, and binding pieces of bamboo/doweling/thin pieces of molding together for our chosen kite designs, thanks to some instructions and advice from my more kite-experience mother (apart from dad, who used google to make a box kite, but he just always has to be different).

Perhaps a slightly more popular way to spend the weekend just gone, not because it's more normal but inspired by the Great British Bake Off semi-final, was to replicate the bizarre and slightly brain-like 'Charlotte Royale' from the program. Well we went one step better than that (the word 'better' is debatable here i realise). My dad wanted to make a super-cheap and quick version (well it had to be... it was a packed weekend!) for mum's birthday cake for a laugh... and really just to see if we could, using Angel delight, Co-op swiss rolls and some bought glaze!

For something which took less than 20 minutes to bung together (it was definitely a 'bung' job!) it wasn't half bad! Quite the simple, naughty way to recreate a sophisticated party piece. I added some gelatine to the angel delight to help it hold together... and I like my personal touch of mixing chocolate among the jam swiss rolls! It tasted like kids' party food... but then surely a pudding of this nature will always have that kind of feel, whether made with 12-egg posh custard or a packet mix?

Well now you've had a tea and cake break, back to the kite making. It's a frustrating business. So many factors meant that our kites, made from shopping bags & packaging, were difficult to fly. Here's a typical first-attempt, when we took them to the Rollright Stones, and found very little wind. Truffle liked this game, even if she couldn't quite figure out how it worked.

So then we moved on to pastures new and found ourselves a hill-top, with a good strong breeze. And suddenly, a couple of the kites flew! However mine, as you can see above, had issues. And while everyone was laughing and flying their kites, I crouched in the mud for 20 minutes restringing it several times. Such is the frustrating nature of trying to make something which actually flies. What a stunning big Cotswold sky though!

Speaking of skies however... eventually the heavens opened and we realised that the wind we had found was carrying a storm... so after fun with kites & our friend Chloe for company we trudged home in the most enormous downpour, with thunder rumbling above us.

But I was ecstatic. Why? Because I did it... sheer determination, helped by my long nails for unpicking & retying knots of string, meant that I finally got my kite into the air! And for a good amount of time before the storm started. But not long enough...

Here is my warning to you... this business is seriously addictive. The frustrating time fiddling with string in the mud made the end result so much more exuberant. Similarly, a 20 minute walk through a storm made drying out by the fire, with beer and dressing-gowns and take-away, all the more satisfying.

Whoever said birthdays are about buying things for people? Here's the eternal proof that the packaging can be far more fun that the present itself. Seriously people, go out and make things. It's so much fun.

Trifles & Tribulations - On Disasters

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 18:46:00 +0000

“You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.”

― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Boscombe Valley Mystery

I'd love to write a recipe book one day, called Trifles & Tribulations. I often say to people that being a good baker isn't about getting things right every time but more to do with knowing what has gone wrong and being able to remedy problems. Creativity and inventiveness are key, not to mention unrelenting determination and stubbornness. This book would advise you on inventing meals with the ingredients in your cupboard, the randomness of discounted shop items, and how to come back from 'failures'. Because life just isn't always as neat, tidy and perfect as we sometimes expect - despite what you may believe from the blogs that you read.

So here's my funny little baking disaster story. I noticed that a cooking magazine was running a competition - to bake the beautiful cake on the cover and submit a photo. I'm not bad at food photography, and baking for that matter, so I decided to have a go.

source

I had this image of myself... I could bake this cake really well compared to the submissions I had seen so far, I would scale it down by half so that it was affordable (after all... 22 eggs - were they serious???), and then submit it to another blog and kill two birds with one stone... getting Forages & Finds out there into the interweb and creating a beautiful cake. I'd be a success in no time.

source

Unfortunately, stuff went wrong. My proportions were askew, my baking times in the gas oven were off, and the cake didn't support its own weight. It melted like a leaning tower of Pisa made from chocolate fudge that flew too close to the sun. I also melted a bit... my confidence in my creative abilities, in making a business out of the things I love... it all escalated out of proportion in sympathy with the chocolatey mess that ran across my cake board. I had been baking for hours. I used up money & energy I couldn't really spare.

And I didn't have just one baking meltdown that week... I had several. I burned my bread. I tried to make cheesecake icing for cupcakes for a social media event - the epitome of wanting something to look good for the internet - and it collapsed into a useless runny consistency. So I shoved it into the fridge, along with the unceremoniously dumped-into-a-bowl chocolate cake, and left it for a couple of days, to deal with later.

And when 'later' arrived, and I realised that I hadn't thrown these things away because deep down I knew I was capable of transforming these sad bakes, the answers seemed obvious. The solution came in the form of a simple and humble, old-fashioned, unglamorous pudding - the trifle. The saviour of many a 'failed' cake. I poured over some jelly, whipped up some white chocolate mousse, and threw in some macaron biscuits. And suddenly I had a great dessert after all, perfect for a party with friends that weekend. And my cheesecake icing could easily become... well... cheesecake, with the addition of a ginger-nut biscuit base, a few tbsp of flour, some tinned pumpkin, and a few eggs beaten in, before being baked in the oven. Don't forget spices too. Soon enough, my kitchen smelt of autumn.

And in a world where everything we do is constantly assessed, evaluated, deemed either 'good enough' or 'a waste of time', where every hobby has an equivalent competitive program on television, and blogs make it appear that people have perfected their lives with their lovely outfits, their perfect bakes, their categories for each of their interests, it's not surprising that we can be so hard on ourselves. I am as guilty as anyone for wanting to compartmentalise my life, to realise my 'true' and perfect skill which outclasses all competition, in short... aspiring for perfection.

But, as silly as it may seem, something as simple as a trifle spoke an important truth to me. That sometimes it's OK to be messy. Trifles are delicious, a mix of wonderful, sweet things - and they can be adapted to accommodate whatever you like. Favourite things (white chocolate mousse!) & failures (leaning Pisa chocolate cake) sit side-by-side. And their contents aren't even failures any more with a bit of fresh perspective - they could be seen as practises, or a therapeutic use of time, or a little adventure in trying something new.

It's OK to be messy. A disorganised jumble, a mix of things you perceive that you have failed at, alongside your favourite qualities, as well as things you aspire to.

I know i know... it's only cake. But to me, baking can be about baking, and it can also be about much more.

Other inspiring blog posts on failures & messes...

Elsie of Abeautifulmess: http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/05/on-failure-success-and-moving-forward.html

Kirsty Burton: http://kirstyburton.com/tag/failure/

Keri Smith, author of 'Wreck this Journal': http://about-creativity.com/2008/02/an-interview-with-keri-smith.php

Country in the City - Fungi Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 17:04:00 +0000

Although there's a lot I love about living in the city, and it's really the right place for me to be at the moment, I can't deny that when I went back home a couple of weekends ago I felt this kind of bliss at being surrounded by greenness again! Luckily, there is a huge park called Warley Woods about 15 mins walk away with a beautiful woodland and huge green space. It's also where I found these cute teeny tiny fairy doors in a tree trunk a while ago - no idea what they were about. Geo-caching perhaps?

During my first explorations of the park I found a noticeboard which had a list of activities that go on there... one of which was a "Fungi Walk" which happened on Sat 5th October - held by the Warwickshire Fungus group. I have missed having easy access to foragables and, even though I knew this would probably be more of an educational trip than about edible fare, I decided to go along & get back in touch with nature a little bit.

At first I wondered how much we'd find around on a wet, autumnal day. And then there was fungus everywhere. I have to admit - I've always found fungi a bit freaky, and the first one we looked at - in the two pictures above - was sticky and jelly-like! I'll apologise now that I can only remember the more poetic & far less accurate or useful names of them - this one was 'Porcelain fungi'. It looks almost sea-urchin-like to me. But the more I learnt the more I discovered the beauty and fascination in these strange organisms...

I learnt that there are good and bad fungi - some which feed the trees around them, and some which destroy them. I also learnt that the 'spores' - the particles the fungi send out in order to reproduce themselves - are integral for deciphering their species. There are several ways to examine the spores more closely (their colour being one of the significant factors) - including shining and light through the fungus, placing paper over it for a while and seeing what colour residue is left there, and taking a photograph at the exact moment of dropping water onto the surface, which disseminates the spores.

This one is sometimes known as 'Judas' Ear' - although someone also remarked that it looks a bit like a chewed fruit pastille! One quite surprising way of identifying a species of fungi emerged when our guide would rather bravely chew on a little piece of it and spit it out - not unlike wine tasting - and some would have a mild taste & some would burn the tongue. Apparently this also tells you something. What exactly it tells you, I couldn't say!

These little fellas on the left looked to me like a certain hallucinogenic variety, we were told that they are in the same family as magic mushrooms but not the same things. Although I'm sure he wouldn't have told us if they were! ;) That would take foraging a little too far for me personally anyway!

Another fascinating detail I learnt was that some varieties of fungus have milk inside - which can come in white, green, grey or even violet colour! And some even bleed when you pick them - we saw one of these, its stem saturated with a deep purple-red stain. But then, some varieties are closer to an animal-like organism than mere plant. Strange, beautiful, and slightly unsettling.

This tiny fungus, apparently one of the larger types in its particular family, has tiny eyelashes. They remind me of little Venus Fly Traps!

And this one is sometimes known as 'Artist's fungus' - because a gentle line drawn with a nail creates pencil-like patterns across its surface. I think my family would like this one!

And finally, some varieties are huge - I learnt from Qi that the largest living organism on earth is a type of fungus (because it mostly lives underground... what we see on the surface is the 'flower' of the plant) - and some, like this image, are tiny.

If you are an enthusiast, or wannabe mycologist, then I apologise for my lack of latin names... they are simply too difficult to pick up during one walk in the woods! But a handy tip I did learn is that to take a specimen with you, take some wax paper and wrap it up like a boiled sweet/ christmas cracker shape to keep it freshest. Then you can take it home with you a identify it properly! Also, be careful what you eat... most varieties won't kill you, but some will certainly make you ill.

Next weekend the same group are doing another walk in Coombe Abbey, Coventry, meeting at 10.30am I believe next Saturday. I would highly recommend it - it certainly exceeded my expectations this weekend and, most importantly, reminded me to look around more, and notice the beauty that lies in every corner.

J'aime ma bicyclette ♥

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 19:00:00 +0000

When I was living in La Rochelle two years ago, I discovered that one of the beauties of living in a busy, popular arty destination was the ability to wander around town (or rather cycle around it!) at the weekend and stumble across interesting events. I'm just starting to rediscover this old habit. Birmingham is a tad bigger than La Rochelle, but it still has a pretty arty vibe, and I saw some random stuff going on at the Four Squares festival a couple of weeks ago, including Soweto Kinch performing, some really great street dance performances and Gypsy music & circus activities!

As I perused twitter on Sunday lunchtime, slumped in my armchair with a cup of cold tea & a mind heavy from the busy week's activities, I noticed that outside the library a cycling event was taking place. Without much hesitation I decided it was time to get out into the sunshine and see what was going on in Centenary Square, with my trusty old Royce Union Bermuda (well, I hesitated long enough to throw on my "J'aime ma bicyclette" t-shirt!).

Unsurprisingly there were some highly desirable bicycles around the place, such as this lovely Pashley. Inspiringly, a group of cyclists arrived who had cycled through 7 countries in 7 days to get to the finishing line there! And entertainingly, I was able to 'cycle' myself a smoothie on this bright green um... uni-smoothicle?

If you wanted coffee then it was, of course, delivered on wheels.

Fully equipped with a cute mournful looking dog.

... And there were inspiring slogans around the place, like this rather intimidating one which read 'Ride your legs off'. I was totally into the whole thing! I've cycled all over Coventry, La Rochelle, and now Birmingham over the past 3 years, and I got excited at a woman telling me about coast to coast cycles, Castle-themed cycle maps, and a route which goes from Birmingham right to where my family live in the Cotswolds (this last one really has to be a personal goal...). Then I started cycling back home and, maybe it's all hilly cycles to work & dancing this week, but my legs really did feel like they were going to fall off. So I figured maybe I'd put all that off for a while!

What I will say however is this - cycling has been so good for me over the past few years. I've cycled in sun & rain, summer & winter, in cities & by the sea, on good days & bad days. I've cycled in excited states of energetic creativity, and I've cycled when all I really wanted to do was curl up and hide away. I've cycled consistently despite being mildly phobic about sports and exercise throughout my life! And in return for my dogged determination to keep at it, cycling has given me a solitary and secure way to get fit without fear of comparison to others, it has given me time for myself every day & yet kept my mind occupied, and it has given me that buzz and life-force that only exercise can bring. It may not look much, but we've been through a lot, my Bermuda bicycle & me.

Social Media Cupcakes @Foragesandfinds

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie) — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 19:04:00 +0000

There's high tech and there's low tech. And sometimes on rare occasions, these two things meet in the middle to form a perfect and harmonious union. In this case the combination was Birmingham Social Media Cafe, which is held on the last Friday of each month in Birmingham Symphony Hall cafe, and my home-made cupcakes - embellished with twitter 'link'.

Obviously if you 'click' the link it doesn't take you anywhere. I mean it's paper. In fact, a 'click' in this case would roughly translate as a poke. Which would probably result in squidge.

Considering my lack of natural self-promotional skills, I decided at the last BSMCafe meeting that I would offer to take cake and that once the tweets started going around saying "We hear that there are rumours of cake this month!" (and they did just that) then I would feel pressured enough to actually get around to it. And despite their imperfections... in fact, let's call it their 'rustic' quality (isn't that my signature style anyway?!)... they came out pretty well in people's instagram/twitter photos!

The social media cafe is a brilliant idea... my first session was a month ago, and it also happened to be the day after I moved to Birmingham! Thrown in a little at the deep end, but what a fab way to start getting to know people who work in similar jobs. Although having said that - people's jobs range so much that in half the cases I'm not sure I entirely understood what they do. But it's great to get ideas, to realise how many different varieties of jobs are out there, how many people manage to work for themselves or at least from home... I'll certainly be making a regular appearance, as I've already met so many interesting people!

The recipe is one very reliable lemon & poppyseed cupcake recipe from BBC Good Food - I'd recommend it because it contains yoghurt, which keeps them moist, and has a lot of flavour. The flags were a result of my printing, cutting & sticking skills at 8am this morning. Yes mum, that is where all the cocktail sticks that you were sure that you bought recently went. Sorry about that one. They're just so useful...

Thanks to @KarenStrunks @Simonhowes @VJOsgood @PinGPonGNaCha for tweeting/taking photos!