There is a distinct advantage to being employed, and that is the spare (I say ’spare’ loosely, it’s the term given to my ‘luxuries’ money, that no one can touch!) money one has to play with each month. On my payday I go out into my local town and I shop. With only one thing in mind - usually, me. I can buy anything I like, it can be as whimsical (rarely) or as practical (usually) as I like and it’s always something I find in a charity shop.

These past couple of weeks have come up trumps. Sometimes I can go for months without seeing a single thing I like, then lo and behold, I find a whole stash of excellent things. All for little more than £1. Bargain!

What better way is there to have morning tea, than on pink and gold bone china? Or serving an esteemed houseguest nibbles in a 30’s/40’s Crown Ducal bowl?

I am drawn to things not only for the aesthetic, but also for the practical. I saw these plates and fell in love with the low-tone wildflower design. Made better by the fact that I can recognise the flowers on the plate.

I was having problems describing this to a friend, but I would rather have a plate from a charity shop, with some history and aesthetic value, than the same thing new from Ikea. Not only does it tick my recycle box but I’m supporting local companies/charities, helping the local economy, saving petrol (and therefore the planet) and avoiding air-miles taken to ship the stuff over from China or wherever it was made. See, you can save the planet and shop at the same time!

One of my favourite finds were these plates, of which there were two, hiding at the bottom of a stack of much uglier plates. It pays to rummage. I love the garden path design, the wisteria and sunflowers, the colours and the shape.

My first attempt at [proper] cupcakey goodness was for a friend coming to visit. I’ve made fairy buns before, who hasn’t? Those are a very specific sponge recipe - usually 4oz, 4oz, 4oz, and 2 eggs. But cupcakes? Now they are a very different beast indeed. Having some of our own, home-grown pumpkins left, and a Very Important Friend coming to visit what else could a girl do, with such inspiration?

A few decapitated white chocolate mice (nothing is more delicious) and a grated pumpkin later, and we have these most delicious beauties. I even invested in a piping bag and nozzles so I could get the icing just so.

Perfect for morning tea, with pink china (photos to come!). How terribly civilised!

If you walk through a forest at any time from august to november, and maybe even beyond, you’re bound to see these little fellows peeping up all over the place.

Sometimes they are thin, amazingly delicate mushrooms, quite alien and yet recogniseable. They are deserving of reverence, as one touch from some of them could mean death.

The mushrooms you see on the top of the soil aren’t actually the plant itself, they are the fruit that sends forth millions of spores into the air, creating yet more little mushrooms next year. The parent plant itself can run for many metres underground in every direction, some enormous fungal systems have been shown to run for miles and their systems work in harmony (symbiosis) with surrounding plants, creating the perfect environment for them to flourish. That’s kindness in action.

This is, as far as I can tell, a Beechwood Sickener. As its name suggests it is found in beech woods and can cause some rather nasty side effects. I left this one be.

Whereas these bracket fungus look rather fae, and although I’m not hugely into faeries, I could imagine the odd little fae creature living beneath the shelter that one of these fungus could afford.

Then there are the plain white ones, growing rather higgldy-piggldy amongst a mass of leaf litter. Their smooth caps and delicate colouring evoke textures of softest silk and the colour of pure wool.

This is possibly the prettiest mushroom I saw on my journey. The pattern on its cap is intricate and beautiful, as if it had broken out of a toffee-coloured glaze to show its white flesh underneath.

And lo and behold, having come back from my walk around a local estate, what do I come home to find? Our own patch of mushrooms growing completely of their own accord in our own garden! I love to imagine that they are a delicacy, some wonderfully-flavoured fungi that we could tuck into. I’m not brave enough to identify it, and not fool-hardy enough to try it [never advised], so I’m going to leave them all there, where I can take photos of them until they disappear. Perhaps to come up again next year.

However, I was very pleased to tuck into normal field mushrooms from our local greengrocer and make this wonderful pie last night to share between the two of us, with a glass of mulled apple juice (yes, it’s that time again) and the warmth of the first central-heating use of this season.

There is no particular knack to making a good fruit cake - indeed any cake at all. If you have a good recipe and measure everything out well, have an eye for what’s ‘right’ and what’s not - you can’t go far wrong. That’s my take on the subject anyway, and I’m often asked by friends what the secret is to a good cake. Is it the ingredients? Or how one treats the mixture, or does the perfect cake need a particular type of oven. Well, I always reply, it’s a bit of everything. You do need to treat the mixture with love (particularly if you’re having problems with a Victoria sponge), firm but tender works well (for most things, I may add). You also need good ingredients, a cake can only be as good as what one puts into it. And as for ovens, it seems to make not one jot of difference what type - gas or fan, as long as it’s hot. But the best baking can only come when you put your heart and soul into it.

Unlike some people, I absolutely love baking and cooking. Food is something I’m passionate about and so it’s seldom a chore - and baking never so. From the quickest Victoria sponge to the most-involved bread or pastry it’s the time and care taken that are the most important bits. I don’t know where my love of all-things-food came from, but it’s a long-kindled passion with smells, tastes and textures that seems to be inexplicably ingrained into my personality. Baking is food and food is home. Simple. So if you’re looking for the perfect way to make the perfect cake look no further - it’s all about the care and attention lavished upon the ingredients that makes the perfect cake. My grandmother would say “If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.”.

Now off for a cup of tea before bed, with a slice of the still-warm cake above, so that I may slip peacefully off into the land of Nod, before my rude awakening to start work tomorrow.