Each New Year starts with good intentions, but also with a sense of looking back as well as looking forward.
January has not been so much about the 'achievement' of these good intentions but rather, a more gentle approach as we 'move towards' them.  A soft approach is usually the best, I find. 
Me and Mr Cooper always start each year with the intention of 'moving towards' a healthier lifestyle, and we embraced these issues by consuming vast amounts of vegetables with our Sunday roast chicken, plus all the added goodness of that delicious fermented grape juice. 

 

I received my first commission of the year, to make a funky birthday cake.
Using my last year's successes as inspirations, I came up with 'Bartholomew', the latest hedgehog cake.

I wasn't present at the sacrificial devouring of the above, but I am told he was delicious, and the birthday girl ate so much she became very ill. As she was 24 and not 4, another explanation of the sickness was an excessive intake of fermented grape-juice and other related products.

Here is Bartholomew looking decidedly anxious.
 The candles have been lit and now the knife approaches................

As well as earning money baking a cake, I have been boosting my overdraft by helping Sam out at Thyme and Tides in Stockbridge, when they were a KP down.  Sam very cunningly didn't tell me that my duty on 'Fish and Chip Friday' was to help cook, and well as wash up!  But after a quick tutorial, we made a dangerous team, rapidly producing succulent fish, chips and peas, whilst singing along to our faves.  

We did salad and squid too, yum yum.  Well worth a visit for a Friday evening treat.

http://thymeandtidesdeli.co.uk/fish-chip-night/

As me and Mr Cooper continue on the mammoth task of de-cluttering (nearly a month, now!)  I keep coming across paintings from more than a year ago.
It is always interesting to view old work after a long absence. 
I loved seeing my two paintings, based on the medieval bestiaries which tell stories of how the natural world was perceived, all those many years ago.


In this one, hedgehog parents roll in the fallen grapes, in order to bring back food for their babies.
As they are feeding their young, they are acting very responsibly, and avoiding any grapes that have started to ferment.

And in this painting, it shows you how to steal a tiger cub away from it's mother. You never know when this method may come in handy. You put a mirror on the ground, and when Mummy Tiger looks into it and sees her reflection, she thinks she is seeing the face of her cub.  Act quickly, as now is your chance to gather up said cub, and gallop away with it.  so do not attempt this manoeuvre if you have no mirror, or horse.

Don't worry or be sad, in this particular story, the woman feels so remorseful after a few galloping strides that she returns the the cub to his mother.  She is doubly pleased, for now she can gaze on both her own and her cub's beautiful face.

And as for stories of the week, this is my favourite.  In fact, favourite of the whole year so far, even including our book group's choice.

In this story, the main thread is of a surgeon's survival of himself and some of the men under his command.  They are captives in a Japanese POW camp, on the Burma Death Railway.  Threads from this story untangle and form their own story, whilst still being attached to the main thread.
What is really very good is the way the differences in different cultures are shown.
And throughout, in the midst of enormous depravity and brutality, so much so that reading about it is sometimes challenging, are the most beautiful Japanese haiku verse.

In this world

                       we walk on the roof of hell

              gazing at the flowers.

Issa

I would say this book definitely approaches, if not actually becomes, a 'must read' novel. Not 'you should' but 'this should be compulsory'.

Back to the writing that I am/should be doing..............

As I think a little more about the cookery book that will be written by me, images of tea parties from previous years are discovered in old sketchbooks.

This day of cooking with my friend Sarah was always undertaken with the intention of becoming the  inspiration for food art, which it was.  I am gazing at the image now, hoping it will inspire me with ideas for illustrations for my, as yet, transparent cookery book.

Back to actual baking, this weekend we had a late Burns night, and I made an Ecclefechan Tart from 'Jamie's Great Britain'.  It is so delicious that I have added the recipe to the end of this blog.  If you like whisky and dried fruit, this is a 'must eat'.  Do make sure you also make the accompanying cream to go with it.  Both the tart and the cream are contain black treacle, providing such an intense and elusive depth of flavour.

 And now, to a photograph that definitely shows the present and the past.  This is me, cooking the last ever Sunday roast in the old kitchen.  The very next day most of the kitchen was removed to be re-constructed by Shawn, Toby and B&Q.  Shawn and Toby were absolutely amazing, and B&Q were satisfactory, in the end.  The sales assistant who 'helped' us was also absolutely amazing, but in a different way.  I had thought that employees should have greater product knowledge than members of the public.  Well, it was 3 hours in B&Q that I will always remember!

 

So the next photograph you see of me in this familiar pose will be less familiar...............
I might be wearing the same apron , but the transformation around me will be amazing!  In fact, I might even look a little better, as I am having my eyebrows done next Friday.

On another amazing note, one of my resolutions was to regularly swim 1 mile.  This morning, after having been stuck at half a mile for a little while, I swam 3/4 mile. (This is amazing for me...)
And as for the other amazing occurrence this week (well, another was that Mr Cooper had to be up at 7.30 am, Monday to Friday)  I have decided to become a user of 'Instagram', when I can find a younger one to explain it all to me, very carefully and slowly.  And hopefully kindly.

I hope you have a productive and happy week ahead.  Keep a look out for snowdrops now.  Always such a welcome sight, the beginning of the end of winter.  Take care and keep warm, I am looking forward to catching up with you again next week.