Last weekend was the London Marathon, 26.2 grueling miles through our capital city snd today the inaugural Newport marathon, closer to home here in Wales. I am full of admiration for all those who take part, who spend long, dark winter evenings training, raising millions of cash each year for charity and risk losing at least a couple of toenails in the process (all together now: ewwwwwww). I'm more likely to celebrate a lottery win than celebrate completing a marathon (the only exception would be eating an inedible, long-lost Snickers bar from 1990, which of course was formerly kno ..read more

You should be staring at a perfect Easter-themed photo of a luscious lemon pavlova, complete with copious folds of thick double cream and decorated with a mountain of decadent mini eggs. Imagine reading glowing prose describing this egg-cellent* Easter centrepiece and bookmarking the page for your celebrations. However, I forgot to buy lemons and in a very un-Lent-like indulgent evening I devoured every single one of the Mini Eggs (just doing my best, trying to live up to the blog strap-line natch). On a side note, why do the yellow ones taste the best? They are the Spring-time e ..read more

As I read yet another article on the benefits of a good nights sleep, I can't help but think how the chances of me achieving a glorious eight hours of peaceful shut-eye are as likely as the train network running to time (or even at all) in the arctic conditions forecast for this week.  The last two and half years have been sponsored by caffeine. I am singlehandedly keeping our local coffee shop afloat. Since being back at work I’ve no need to set an alarm clock; the baby has that job between 0430 and 0500 every morning (and always nearer for 0400 on a Sunday).  If another someone ..read more

Don't get me wrong, giving birth to approximately seven and half bags of sugar in one fell push is not exactly a walk in the park. However, in those early stages, when you spend half the time manically googling 'how do I know if I am in labour?' and the other half of the time triple-checking the car is pointing in the correct direction of the hospital, it is rather nice to have something else to occupy an increasingly impatient, restless mind. All the pregnancy books and webpages suggest distraction, such as going for a walk, watching a film but I reckon popping on a pinny could be an altern ..read more

Ah January, you sanctimonious, tedious, thirty one days you. Dragging along slower than the Brexit negotiations with it's cold, dull grey skies and worst of all, having joined the January healthy eating bandwagon, biscuit and cake-less. A few years back I was merrily baking my way through the month, rather smugly disdainful of all those extra gym memberships, slimming club join-ups and dry January bores that a New Year encourages. And yet, two children and considerable overindulgence at Christmas later*, I too (somewhat reluctantly) can be found at the gym at 8am on a Sunday morning, se ..read more

The dream: a glorious morning latte and read of the papers on the way to work. The reality: 'Gagh-we're-late-no-where-to-park-outside-nursery-have-I-remembered-everything-be-nice-to-your-brother' on repeat To coincide with my return to work (and not just work, a new job at that) this week after a glorious, sleep deprived maternity leave with the second-born apple of my eye, I give you The What Kate Baked...and Baby Guide to Returning to Work after Maternity Leave 1. You will inevitably rock up with some type of baby bodily fluid on your neatly ironed work clothes. A snail-like trail of sn ..read more

Happy New Year! With a brand new, shiny and sparkling 365 days ahead, it's high time to publish my traditional-trawl-through-the-interweb-for-vaguely-new baking trends!  The fourth meal According to Waitrose (my happy place), 'the fourth meal' is whereby people (who are these people?) try and squeeze a fourth meal into their day. Nought wrong with that. Especially if its a giant slab of chocolate cake. Flowers Your local florist will be doing a little joyful skip at midnight tonight as flowers in food are (according to Mystic Meg*) a big trend for 2018. Roses, elderflower ..read more

This is the first year that the toddler has really 'got' Christmas. At 2.5 years, mainly through the medium of Peppa Pig's 'Christmas' book, Christmas is more than just eating lots of brightly coloured festive wrapping paper as it was last year (the year before she mostly slept through the big day whilst dressed in various 'My First Christmas' paraphenalia). We've met Santa (twice; surprisingly he turns out to not be that busy this time of year), been required to redecorate the tree on several occasions, reiterated every morning that we only open ONE window on the advent calendar each day ..read more

My enormous apologies for the terrible photo; rather a lot of prosecco was consumed before any photos were taken! There are just a million opportunities for satisfying a sweet tooth this time of year. Advent calendar chocolates for breakfast? Tick. Free sample of stollen in the local supermarket? Sure. Mince pie for elevenses? Of course. Leftover coffee creams that no one wants in the office Roses tin? Gimmee. Mini chocolate logs for afternoon tea? Yes please. So a fruit salad for dessert at this time of year simply won't do. Nope. Nada. No chance. When I offered to make a pudding for ..read more

I am quite convinced that there are two types of people who cook Christmas dinner: Type 1: - You'll have been one of the first to book your supermarket Christmas home delivery slot back in September - You have every Christmas cookery book ever published (although the well-thumbed, gravy-splattered 'Delia's Christmas' remains, in your opinion, the one and only festive cookbook worth opening on the Big Day) and you'll have written a menu by October - You will have made and frozen the cranberry sauce by November and begun clearing the fridge of much-needed, valuable space by the 1st December ..read more