All my efforts to get natural, authentic expressions in my photos and Pops goes and teaches Nerys to say “cheeeese” when the camera is pointed at her!
The beauty of photography
We had a bit of a clear up at the weekend. In preparation for a new bed arriving this week, we dismantled our old one. Which meant I had to clear out all the stuff that had been stashed underneath it.
One of the boxes that was under there was packed to the brim with photos. And not just any photos. These are the wallet-sized ones you used to get when you had your film developed using Tripleprint. Does anyone else remember them?!
I could have so happily tipped the whole box out and spent the day lost in memories. Just looking at a few of them I was instantly taken back to sun-drenched days in the south of France, recalling the various voices and accents of the new friends we made on holiday there.
And that’s what I love so much about photography. It captures a moment in time that might otherwise be forgotten. The faces of those fleeting holiday friendships would otherwise all fade over time. But in a photo they are held forever.
I think this quote by Dorothea Lange says it beautifully.
Life isn’t meant to stand still.
By it’s very nature it is constantly moving, evolving.
But a photo lets us change that. It gives us a means by which we can hold life still for a while. Freeze a moment so that we can go back to it.
Which is an amazing gift in my opinion.
Bara brith recipe
I’ve seen several posts recently where people have talked about loved ones they’ve lost and how much they cherish the few letters and notes that they have in that person’s handwriting. There’s something about being able to hold in your hand something that they touched, that they wrote, that allows you to feel like they’re still close.
My Grandad passed away before I was born, and in the last few years I’ve lost my remaining 3 grandparents. My husband has also lost both his nans in recent years. And I’m finding myself getting more attached to those little things they all left behind. The photos we have of them are, of course, so important. But what I’m really happy to have are the scraps of paper with their handwritten recipes on. Seeing that familiar writing brings all sorts of memories rushing back. And there is something special about the idea of cooking a recipe that they used to make. It feels almost like carrying on a part of them.
So when I was looking for something to make this week I turned to a little folder of family recipes that we have on our bookshelf. And this is the one I chose. Nana Marge’s bara brith.
Bara brith literally means ‘speckled bread’ and is a cake/bread made with dried fruit, which explains the name! It’s one of the things, like welsh cakes, that you always see in the shops in Wales, but that I’d never actually had before. Steve had been on at me for ages to make it though, so I thought it was time to grab his Nan’s recipe and give it a go!
So, on with the recipe!
Ingredients:
- 250g mixed dried fruit
- 110g butter
- 150g brown sugar
- 240ml milk
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarb
- 340g Self raising flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
What you do:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Melt the butter, sugar, milk, fruit and bicarb in a large pan.
- Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Cool.
- Add beaten eggs and flour and mix well.
- Tip mixture into a greased/lined loaf tin and cook for 1 hour at 180.
A few things to note:
- Top the cake with a sprinkle of brown sugar before you put it in the over for a nice crunchy finish!
- Keep an eye on the cake once it’s in the oven. If it looks like it’s starting to brown too quickly then you can cover it with some foil.
- If you want you can soak the dried fruit for a bit (or overnight if you fancy) in a mug’s worth of black tea before making the bara brith.
I have a couple of recipes from my side of the family that I want to work my way through, so keep a look out for Granny’s chocolate cake in the future!
Do you have a treasured family recipe? I’d love to know what it is!
Why I’m doing the race for life
For years I was really lucky. My life was pretty much untouched by cancer. I knew about it, but it wasn’t something that had really entered my world.
Then slowly, it started to creep in.
Parents lost friends, and friends lost parents.
There have been times where it felt like one report of cancer after another was coming in.
And yet still, so far, I know I’m really one of the lucky ones. My immediate family is still standing.
But the odds are against all of us. It feels like it’s only a matter of time before it worms it’s way further into my life. So I’m doing what little I can for now. I’m running the race for life this weekend, aiming to raise whatever I can to make even a tiny difference.
Along with my sister, my niece and women from all over Swansea I race for life.
I race for everyone we’ve lost.
I race for those who have fought and won.
I race for those who are still fighting.
And ultimately I race for the hope that, one day, we won’t have to fight any more.
If you’re living with cancer and need something to give you a little lift, then you should have a look at the Ellie’s Friends website. They are an amazing initiative, offering free and reduced services to people living with cancer. I’m really proud to be working with them, offering my portrait photography services to people in Swansea.
Life’s too long to be boring!
I was taking photos at a baby sale/fair in Swansea at the weekend, and got chatting to a lovely girl called Cheryl who runs a local business offering various massage therapies.
We were discussing how things like massage and reflexology aren’t for everyone, because some people just aren’t comfortable with it, and she told me a story about how she happily lay down on the beach on holiday once and had a massage in front of everyone, while her friends were really uncomfortable with the idea.
She said her friends thought she was mad for doing it, and then she commented that she’d rather be a bit mad than be boring – because life is too long to boring!
I just burst out laughing when she said it!
You always hear about how life’s too short to be this/do that/worry about the other, I just love this idea that it’s actually too long to be anything other than completely, unapologetically yourself, even if other people think you’re a bit crazy at times!
I can’t imagine many people looking back at their life and thinking, “I wish I’d been more boring!”, can you?!
Another letter of thanks
Last week I wrote an open letter of thanks to my Mum, in celebration of her birthday. Well, today is my Dad’s birthday so it’s his turn!
Dear Daddy,
Thank you.
For working so hard to give us everything we needed when we were growing up.
Thank you.
For introducing me to a whole world of theatre – Shakespeare (especially Shakespeare-based musicals!), rock and roll music, and yes, even the opera.
Thank you.
For being there with a hug and a hanky after my teenage strops.
Thank you.
For the spaghetti and meatballs.
Thank you.
For squeezing skateboards and roller skates into the boot and driving all through the night every summer to get us safely to Antibes.
Thank you.
For providing seemingly endless supplies of 10 franc coins for games of pool.
Thank you.
For being wonderfully silly.
Thank you,
For ‘me taters and me hot fried fish’.
Thank you!
For being the one to bring me to Swansea, on both the open day and on my first day here. You were just what I needed on those days.
Thank you.
For your constant support.
Thank you,
For everything, Daddy.
Thank you.
Happy birthday!
Loads of love,
Madeline
xxx
Slow cooker sweet potatoes
I was sat doing our food shopping the other night. I do it online these days. So much easier than negotiating the supermarket with two small children in tow!
Anyway, I was doing a mental meal plan as I was shopping, working out what we would eat that week and therefore what I needed to buy. I thought about getting some potatoes, so I could make my slow cooker baked potatoes. But then spotted a pack of sweet potatoes.
We both love sweet potatoes, but I tend to cut them into wedges and bake them. I’ve not have them as replacement for baked potatoes before, but thought it had to be worth a try. Well. what can I say, other than YUM!
So, if you fancy trying slow cooker sweet potatoes for yourself, here is the ‘recipe’. It’s pretty much exactly the same as the method for cooking normal potatoes in the slow cooker, but in case you haven’t read that recipe here’s how you do it:
- Get some foil or baking parchment and scrunch a few pieces into balls and put them in the slow cooker. You want enough to cover the base.
- Rub a bit of oil, salt and pepper into the potato skins.
- Wrap them in foil.
- Put them in the slow cooker, on top of the scrunched up foil/baking parchment.
- Cook on low for about 8 hours.
- Remove and top with whatever you fancy – I think chilli would be so tasty with these!
- Enjoy!
There are a few things to note with these:
- The skins won’t be at all crispy. That’s just the way it is with slow cooking! So if crispy skins are important to you then you might want to either stick to oven cooking them, or cook them this way then pop them in a hot oven for 5 minutes to crisp them up.
- You really don’t need to add any water to the slow cooker.
- We ended up making sweet potato tuna melts which were so delicious – basically you cook the potatoes as described above, cut them in half and lie them on a baking tray. Then top with tuna mayo and cheese and pop under the grill for a few minutes until the cheese starts to melt and bubble. So good!
Sweet potatoes not your thing? Then check out my recipe for slow cooker jacket potatoes.
