Thoughts on 40

What's so bad about being forty? Aside from a huge increase in grey hair and the need to apply neck firming cream, it doesn't seem so awful to me.  But then I am only a week or so into my fortieth year.

One of the best things about turning 40 is that people shower you with gifts.  40 being a significant number means that the pressies are fantastic!  One beautiful gift that I will treasure always was a plum coloured Ted Baker bag with copper coloured accents.  I don't really have the lifestyle to go with such a beautiful bag but there's still time!  They say life begins and all that.

To prove I'm still youngish I also got a Brits CD full of young people music.  I have already irritated the family by over-playing Justin Bieber.  I also got a beautiful silver honey pot, an equally beautiful 3 tier cake plate, some books and a Happy Valley DVD (we missed it first time around and everyone has been raving about it).  All in all, a very good haul!


Believe me when I say, I never thought I'd have a Kitchenaid Mixer.  I really didn't.   But this 40th birthday lark has meant some very generous presents including a pistachio green Artisan mixer.  My goodness was I excited when it arrived! It was a box of loveliness from Lakeland (one of my favourite shops in the world) and included a voucher for a free ice cream maker.  I didn't open it straight away, it was too exciting to be over too quickly.  Usually all deliveries, presents and cards in our house are opened by an adult 'helped' by at least one child but for this special box, I insisted on opening it myself.

The Kitchenaid Artisan is a fairly pricey bit of kit and there are cheaper brands.  The Classic Kitchenaid is a bit more affordable, the only differences being slightly smaller in size and only available in white.  I would have been ecstatic with either but I must admit, the pistachio green is a thing of beauty!


The first thing I made with it was some Banana Chocolate cupcakes from the Lola's book (see my previous post).  Both the cake batter and frosting was mixed in the Kitchenaid,  I loved that I could put the mixer on and be completely hands free.  It did make the process easier and quicker but my favourite thing was that the bowl had a handle - who'd have thought that a handle on a bowl would make so much difference?  I never knew it was the thing missing from my life!


To try out the dough hook, I decided to have a go at croissants from the Paul Hollywood How to Bake book.  Ultimately, only the first stage took place in the mixer which was about 8 minutes on two different speeds.  The rest of the recipe involved bashing butter (not a euphemism) and folding the dough with an hour in the fridge between each fold.  The dough had to be left overnight and then in the morning, 2 hours before eating, they needed to be cut, shaped and left to prove.  Eventually the cooking took just 15-20 minutes and the eating even less!  The first batch were slightly undercooked despite being rather golden on top.  The second batch were less doughy in the middle and cooked for a little longer.  Both batches tasted just as you would imagine croissants to taste and despite the amount of time involved, were very nice.  Having said that, after a life time of supermarket croissants, I found them a bit overly buttery and I don't think I'd bake them again.


Anyway, all in all, the birthday was good and the baking was good.  It's back to normal life tomorrow as term starts again and birthday celebrations will be forgotten but there is always the weekend when I'm sure I'll be using/listening to/watching my birthday gifts all over again.

Happy Birthday to all the March babies out there, 40 or otherwise x

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