Makings

Friday was my birthday - I'm now 40 which I hadn't really been looking forward to but now it's happened turns out it's not so bad. This is entirely due (and forgive me being slushy here) to wonderful friends and family (so yes, lots of amazing and presents). I find it very easy at this time of year to get bogged down on the stress and exhausting hard graft that is retail at Christmas (yesterday our goods lifts both broke down - storeroom upstairs shop floor downstairs - it's really not the ideal situation) so the good thing about a December birthday is that it distracts me from the chaos for a day and has left me counting blessings and

generally feeling very spoilt.

Both my mother and sister made me things and I'm so impressed by them that I can't help but share here. Thirty six years ago mum made me a red white and blue patchwork blanket to celebrate the Queens silver jubilee. I still have it (a little faded and worn now) so last year she meant to make me another one to commemorate the diamond jubilee. It didn't quite happen on time but after q deal of blood sweat and tears (if she's to be believed) she finished this very warm tweed blanket just in time for the cold weather.

My sister, who doesn't exercise her creative talents nearly enough, made me a tea cosy (I may have hinted heavily about how she could do this for me for a good 6 months beforehand). It's her own design of cosy shape made to measure for a very particular tea pot (cornishware so please appreciate the tea pot detail) as I gave her the measurements I'm very relieved that it fits. I think you'll agree it's a magnificent achievement especially from someone who hasn't knitted Fair Isle patterns for well over twenty years.

Preparations

Tomorrow is my birthday and I'll be one step closer to being as old as I feel - based on tonight's performance my memory is already going, although that could just possibly be wine related. I've spent all afternoon making crazy attempts to impose order on my surroundings whilst baking like a thing possessed. The baking bit was by way of being a treat for me, I've made bread, Santa Lucia buns (tomorrow is Saint Lucy's day) and a cake which I'm now a bit worried about as I forgot to add the 100g of ground almonds the recipe calls for (annoying, I've made this cake a few times so there's no excuse, fingers crossed it will still taste good). I love baking and it was fun but my kitchen looks far worse than I could have imagined, there is a mountain of washing up and even hot tea and rum cocktails aren't making it look any better.  

Even so there is something both cathartic and comforting for me in spending an afternoon in the kitchen. Work has been hectic and demanding, between writing cards and planning presents home hasn't felt much better, so taking an afternoon out just to mess about making things for my own pleasure has been a welcome pause, I'm certainly a calmer person than I was at lunch time (though again that might be due to wine and rum) and probably much nicer to be around. It's also been good to play with my cookbooks (even if I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have). 

Hope and Greenwood's Fireside Rum Tea - serves 4

4 tablespoons of maple syrup mixed up with half a tea spoon of ground cinnamon and the finely ground seeds of a cardamom pod should be set aside in a bowl whilst the kettle boils. Make a pot of tea, and let it steep for a couple of minutes (a light brew is better). Pour a good splash of rum in the bottom of a cup, add the tea and a tablespoon of syrup and drink up.   

The Lives of the Novelists – John Sutherland

Yesterday was my birthday – I spent the day working which is something I’m going to try and avoid next year because the result has been vaguely depressing, it turns out that a lovely weekend doesn’t make up for nine hours of hard graft lugging heavy boxes around, a freezing wait for a bus that’s late (at my age getting in from work after 9pm feels too late), and finally home alone for a sandwich before bed. I can, and do, do that at least twice a week anyway, it didn’t make the day feel special.

What has made me feel special though is presents and I’ve had some lovely ones. Most intriguing is from my friend L who’s given me a pot of soil filled with mystery bulbs – it’ll be months before I know what’s in there but that isn’t going to stop me from looking everyday anyway. Another gratefully received gift (from my sister who received some pretty heavy hints) was John Sutherland’s ‘Lives of the Novelists’ – a history of fiction in 294 lives. I’ve not been able to resist it (and only partly because I’ve had my eye on it for what feels like an age) and have been dipping in and out whenever I’ve had the opportunity over the last 48 hours.

I’m not the biggest fan of biography but this book suits me perfectly because each writer is delineated with admirable brevity – on average two or three pages each – in which space Sutherland manages to pack in the salient facts along with a few more salacious/gossipy details; it’s more than enough to be going on with. So far I’ve been reading about authors I already know but look forward to being informed and possibly tempted by a whole lot that I don’t.

294 seems like a fairly arbitrary number (surely he could have found 300?) but then this is also an unashamedly personal view of literature – presumably the history of one man’s reading journey, which makes it all the more intriguing. I wanted it for reference, am already quite inspired by it, and wonder now where else it might take me and what else it might prove to be. Doubtless I’ll let you know.