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January. It's a bit of a D month, don't you think? Dreary, drizzly, dull. It's not really A-list, not like, say, blossoming April or sultry August. OK, enough of the word play, you get my drift. Christmas has long gone, everyone's broke...it is, officially, the most depressing month of the year. Still, we'll soon be crossing the boundary into February, onto Valentine's Day and one step closer to spring. But January has got at least one thing going for it: game. Whether you go for deep rich venison, flavoursome pheasant or the more delicate rabbit, game feels like a real luxury in this bare month. Make the most of the season while it lasts and why not mix up the meats with a hearty, full-bodied pie like this one?
When my friend Cheryl asked me if I would bake some cupcakes for her daughter's 12th birthday with 'Happy 12th Birthday Megan' iced on them I hesitated for a moment. Fairy cakes (as I knew them when I was a child) are easy to make and I've made them enough times before but those glorious cakes with billowing buttercream icing so perfectly iced sitting prettily in the shop cabinet, they were a different matter. Megan had her heart set on cupcakes for her birthday, her mum told me, and I suddenly felt the enormity of the responsibility; would my 2nd rate cupcakes ruin a little girl's big day? Eek!
I love snow and I've been wistfully following the flurries around the UK on the news, Twitter, blogs and Facebook, wondering if it will head my way. I have a section in my new cookbook listing things to do on snow days and I'm looking forward to doing them when I get my own snow day. Until then, I thought it would be fun if we have a little food blogging event and you can send me pictures of the snow where you are so I get to see it, along with the lovely bakes you make. What do you think; sound like fun? Read post.