Hello my name is Catherine and I’m a First Time Buyer

13 Jan

I am a first time buyer. Or rather I would be if I could buy anything. (Property this is) I am in a “great position” apparently because I have no property to sell.

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We FTB’s are consistently told we’re the cornerstone of the property market because we help existing homeowners sell their properties and move up the property ladder, so we keep things ticking along.

Unfortunately, the home ownership gap has widened. Currently in the UK the difference of people wanting to own a house but who are unable to has reached five million. Not surprisingly, but unfortunately for me, London  has been the worst affected place in the UK, with the majority of people renting here. Under half of properties in the city are owner-occupied. A terrifying stat indeed.

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There is hope! The old UK government has put in place several schemes to help FTB’s and therefore excite the property market. These schemes are very confusing despite gov.uk’s best efforts. Make sure you read the ins and outs thoroughly.

I’m currently investigating them all and am leaning towards Shared Ownership as the best plan for me. The stats are daunting and a property search does take a massive effort but it’s my time. I am sick of being a renter, moving every 6 months and flushing my earnings down the proverbial toilet. I need to get my foot on the property ladder. I need a base. I want a solid foundation. I have moved to the UK and it is time to truly make it my home. I want a little corner to call my own.

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So I am using this blog for good. I need to hash out some ideas and keep myself focused. So I am turning what I need to do into a top tips list for you all. Hopefully it succeeds for me and is helpful for you!

Get Real!

I struggle with this the most. I am annoyingly negative and never want to get myself too excited for fear of being let down. While this is sometimes good, you really must believe that despite a long hard search, you will find your home. IT WILL NOT BE PERFECT  I have watched enough episodes of Homes Under the Hammer and Location Location Location to know that you cannot manage to tick all of the boxes on what is undoubtedly a very long property wish list, particularly on your first home.  The home you find will be perfect for you now and perfect for your budget. You will make it yours, you will put your stamp on it and create amazing memories in it and that will make it your perfect first house.

Also be realistic in how much you make, can afford, can borrow. Most mortgage providers will lend around 3 times your annual salary. Bear this in mind BEFORE you start your search, so as not too be disappointed  Do not spend hours on Rightmove looking at houses you can’t afford. Remember, there will be a house for you, in your budget, that you will love so be patient and try to enjoy the search.

  Visit a few lenders’ websites and try their online mortgage calculators before you begin your search so that you can fix your budget. One lender may offer you more money than another but consider whether you will be able to meet their repayments! You can always use a mortgage broker, who can take some of the guess-work out of things, help you secure a lender and generally hold your hand through the process ( I need this). There is a one broker fee however and that cost needs to be factored into your overall budget as well.

Do Your Homework

If you know what to expect things will be a WHOLE lot less stressful. In particular, knowing how long the process will take. If you’ve been renting in London you know the rental market moves terrifyingly quickly. The housing market DOES NOT. Read the council website back to front, research local agents, your solicitor, and your mortgage broker. Read lots, ask questions and when you think you know it all, do it all over again.

Write a list of things that you require from a local area and property. Rank your property and neighborhood requirements and then let the search begin! Get on the web and also pound the pavement. Troll rightmove, firststeps and zoopla. Visit agents in the area you want to live in and see what’s on their books. Register with them so they know what you’re looking for. Then bug them. They will have loads of prospective buyers and you have to make sure they are prepared to work on your search with you. Contact developers and developments in the areas you are keen to move into. View as many properties as you can, internet pictures do not suffice! The homework and the search itself is a full-time job. Do not overwhelm yourself. It will not happen in a weekend. Ask for help from family and friends and don’t let it consume you or it will just get you down.

Shop Around

There are many different lenders, products, brokers and solicitors on the market. Don’t think that because your parents have always used a particular mortgage company or law firm that this will be the best decision for you. Shop around.

Location, Location, Location

Your quest begins, you’ve figured how much you can afford and borrow, you’ve scrimped and saved and wasted enough money renting. Where do you start looking? Pick the type of property you want, house, flat, semi, new, old, boat, caravan!

Now your biggest hurdle will be where you want to live! Pick an area you want to make your home, make sure you feel safe, happy and excited to be in your neighborhood. Pick areas that will hold or increase in value. It may be a tad rough now but if it’s nestled to a great hood it’s may be next in line for gentrification.  You may have to consider what is more important to you – the type of property that you buy or the area where it is, but, never, never jeopardize your physical or financial safety!

There are other important factors to be investigated like local amenities and transport. Check how close the Tesco Metro is, where the doctor’s surgery is, best pub, nice restaurant to take your mum when she visits. This is your neighborhood  make sure you know it and what you’re getting into moving there.

Check your commute and calculate your new transport costs! Make sure it’s a quick safe, well-lit route to your local bus stop or tube station. If you’re moving zones or switching from buses to trains calculate the added costs so you’re not surprised when your new monthly’s start going out!

Take an Old Hand With You

So you’ve found a flat to view, don’t go into it alone! Take your mum, dad, aunt, uncle, or close family friend. Take someone who has purchased a property themselves. You may have rose-colored glasses  and be too wrapped up in the prospect of being a homeowner to see the faults of a property or to ask the hard-hitting questions that need to be asked. There will inevitably be questions and things to inspect in a property that will not occur to you when you go to see it the first time. You need not find a property mogul. Just seek sound honest advice from someone experienced and that you can trust.

If you are unable to take somebody with you on the first occasion, try to book a second viewing. At the very least, you will need to make a second viewing on your own as, in the excitement of the first viewing, important questions will be forgotten.

Ask the Right Questions

Make a list of questions/things to check before your visit if you think you might forget anything.

Ask about monthly bills, maintenance fees, the area, transport, council tax and any other hidden niggly bits!

Remember to ask what the property will be left with by the seller on completion and included in the sale price. Some sellers may fail to mention that the fitted appliances in the kitchen and window dressings will be moving with them to their new property. Imagine the hassle (and disappointment) of turning up excited to your first house to bare windows and a hole where your dishwasher had been.

If you’re not sure about something ASK. Remember your are in a storing  position as a first time buyer the seller may be willing to leave certain items in the property if you ask.

It’s Not Just Deposit and Mortgage!

There are more additional fees involved in buying a home then I would care to remember  But remember you must. It will affect whether the property is within you budget.

  • Stamp Duty Land Tax, or SDLT or just Stamp Duty. Is a terrible and inexplicable tax you must pay when purchasing a property  valued over £125,000.00. For properties above this threshold, stamp duty is charged at 1% of the property price. So if you find at a property at £125,500, remember that you will have to pay a further £1,255 to cover the stamp duty.
  • You will have to pay for property searches even with a new build. The basic property searches will usually set you back around £200.
  • If you are taking out a mortgage your lender will want you to get a valuation of your new home to check that it is worth the money that they are lending you. The basic search valuation will cost around £150.00.
  • Legal fees!  Your solicitor is most likely to want paying at the end of the transaction. Does the quote that your conveyancing solicitor has provided include a detailed breakdown of all the extra fees applicable to your transaction? If not, GET ONE!
  • The dreaded council tax! What band does your dream property fall within? Check the local council website or ask the existing owner or property agent.
  • If you only have a tiny polo or you can’t bribe enough people with pizza and beer, you will need movers. Moving costs are an inevitable and often overlooked cost you need to factor in. How much will the removal van charge you?
  • BILLS! Gas and electric, cell phone, Sky (if you’re lucky), internet, insurance. The list is unfortunately endless and needs to be factored in before committing to a property.
  • You’re in your flat! You love it, but it could do with a lick of paint and you’re sleeping on the floor… Remember you are going to want to set up house and put your stamp on the new home you have scrimped, saved, cried, screamed and cursed for. It is the BEST PART but easily one of the most costly. Make sure you have budgeted for several Ikea trips and few splurges at John Lewis, also some cans of paint from B&Q.

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This list is hardly comprehensive as I’m a  first timer and there is much I need to learn. I am fortunate to have a team of experienced family and friends helping me and even then it’s very stressful and I’m finding it hard to take my own advice. I hope this list helps you just a little. It certainly helped me clarify my goals, just by writing it down. I am currently trying to view as many properties as possible. I have however, found what may be my perfect flat so keep your fingers and toes tightly crossed for me.

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Oh Dear

11 Jan

My absence in inexcusable.

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It has been well over a year since my last post. I am sorry, but I will not make excuses for myself. I can say I have switched jobs, moved house (twice) gone back to Canada (twice), gone to Blackpool (awesome) attended various plays and concerts. Visited some great galleries and museum. Went to some epic football matches and ate at some seriously incredible restaurants. I have escaped to Hertfordshire for a few weekends,  had some lovely Canadian visitors and Christmas’ed in a soggy Berkshire. So it isn’t like I’ve been doing nothing!

Honestly however I have also done my fair share of loafing about when I could have be writing this blog… Oh well, what’s done is done.

I can’t say that regular contributions to this blog is a New Year resolution because it is most likely I will make a few posts and then forget about you for another year. However there are a few things I want to hash out using the old interweb as my forum. Namely; my new fitness regime (actual new year resolution), my new job (love it) and the thing taking up all of my spare brain space: the search for my first property. I am worried these may get a but moany and pathetic (minus the new job post) so I will also litter the ol’ blog with amazing things I’ve seen and or done recently so I don’t fall into a pit of self loathing despair etc etc.

Again I do offer my sincerest apologies, but no excuses! ( Well maybe one excuse. I don’t have internet in my apartment…makes things tricky)

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Autumnal Weekend Updates – I told you I’d be making the most of the weekend!

17 Oct

So I few posts back I told you about my plans for the upcoming autumn season! I mentioned the Tate‘s new Unilever commission being unveiled but I neglected to mention the genius Grayson Perry exhibit on at the British Museum. So Tacita Dean’s commission at the Tate Moderns Turbine hall opened recently and its so striking I figured it warranted a revisit in blog form and the Perry is too good for me not to gush about, so here are a bit on both!

The British Museum: Current home of the Perry exhibit…and my new office!

Tacita Dean: FILM The Tate Unilever series runs October 2011 to March 2012 at the Tate Modern

Tate Modern

Tacita Dean is an English visual artist who works primarily in film. She has been nominated for the Turner Prize in 1998 and has been awarded the Aachen Art Prize, Hugo Boss Prize, and Kurt Schwitters Prize 

Demonstrating the sheer scale of Dean’s work

Tate Modern’s massive Turbine Hall is currently housing a massive 42 foot high CinemaScope screen flipped on its side. Dean’s canvas is the screen and she deftly creates a striking collage of cinematic techniques  – cuts, fades and explosions of colour alternating with black and white still photographs, celebrity interviews and archival footage.Dean has created a mesmerizing  tribute to her medium: film. She has always chosen film above video and digital formats for its depth and richness.

Tacita Dean and her new work

Of her favoured medium she has said she needs “the stuff of film as a painter needs the stuff of paint” 

Grayson Perry: Tomb of the unknown craftsman runs from October 2011 to February 2012 at The British Museum

Grayson Perry is a Turner Prize winning English artist, known mainly for his ceramic vases and cross-dressing. Perry’s vases have classical forms and are decorated in bright colours. His works often depict harder subject matter in sharp contrast with their attractive appearance. Perry was asked by the British Museum to curate an exhibition that displays his work alongside objects from throughout history made by countless unknown men and women.

Perry says of the exhibit:

‘This is a memorial to all the anonymous craftsmen that over the centuries have fashioned the manmade wonders of the world…
The craftsman’s anonymity I find especially resonant in an age of the celebrity artist.’

Grayson Perry as his alter ego “Claire” at the British Museum

The similarities between the ancient objects and Perry’s modern works are staggering.  Pieces of pottery look so much like the artists and simultaneously like it was done at the hand of any anonymous Roman carver. It’s not until you notice the motorbike motif that you realise the Tibetan helmet is a modern piece and not an ancient relic.  It is an expert commentary on the role of the artist throughout history and the whimsy that his pieces mirror the ancient objects makes the exhibit an absolute treat!

One of Perry’s pots currently on display

So this is a bit of an artsy fartsy post but I wanted to get back to my Fine Art History degree roots! If you are in London GO SEE THESE EXHIBITIONS. Dean’s Unilever commission is a beautiful and moving elegy to the dying art of film and Perry’s exhibition is a whimsical ode to thousands of years of incredibly talented but oft overlooked craftspeople and a striking commentary on today’s society. It also shows the pilgrimage of his beloved teddy Alan Measles through icons old and new.

Follow Alan Measles journey through the art world here at his blog or follow him on twitter @Alan_Measles!

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Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! (Apologies this gets a bit mushy at the end)

10 Oct

To my Canadian friends and family celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend I wish you all the best and to any Brits confused by Thanksgiving the following serves to explain it to you.

Boring History Bit

In Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Unlike our American neighbours who celebrate it in November.  Thanksgiving in Canada is a way to give thanks for a successful harvest. It is usually marked by a big ol’ over indulgent family gathering and a very welcome long weekend.

The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an English explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Orient.  His 1578 journey did not find him a route to the Far East but he did establish a settlement in Northern America. He held a formal ceremony to give thanks for surviving the long journey. Years later, French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, in 1604 onwards also held huge feasts of thanks.   The tradition of giving thanks was one already practiced by Canada’s First Nations. Various First Nations in Canada had long-standing traditions celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops.

Eventually in 1879, Parliament declared November 6th a day of Thanksgiving and a national holiday. Over the years many dates were used for Thanksgiving, the most popular was the 3rd Monday in October. After World War I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the Monday of the week in which November 11th occurred. Ten years later, in 1931, the two days became separate holidays and Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance
Day.

Finally, on January 31st, 1957, Parliament proclaimed…

“A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed  … to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.”

Dinner!

The Thanksgiving dinner is one of my favourites and one I sorely miss. For you Brits it’s a bit like Christmas lunch made better by the inclusion of pumpkin pie, roasted squash, green bean casserole and sooo much more! It is important to note that North Americans do have a tendency to ruin the potato by insisting on mashing it. Any sane personal will know the only acceptable way to prepare potatoes for a large family meal is to roast them. (For Delia’s perfect roast potatoes click here) I am lucky to have been raised in a hybrid British Canadian household and therefore got the best of both worlds and never went with roasties at Thanksgiving.

My homemade pumpkin pie!

For some delicious recipes and some real down home country cooking Thanksgiving tips learn from the masters. Click here for American Southern cooking legend Paula Deen’s thanksgiving menu or for something less caloric but still traditional see here for the incomparable Martha Stewart’s Thanksgiving tips. I’ve also done a very brief run down on planning a succesful Thanksgiving gathering, or any dinner party for that matter. Hope they’re helpful:

1.) Ask for help if you need it: While this seems like a simple concept, the misconception that the host has to do everything is not true. If you are hosting the big meal at your home, ask for help in an area that you feel weak in. You’ll just have your friends or family round so no one will mind pitching in. If you cook rope someone else in to do the dishes!

2.) Search early for deals: To save money and avoid the rush, start looking for holiday sales on holiday foods. Most stores will have displays up early. Get a few key ingredients each time you visit the store,  so you don’t run the risk of the store running out of key ingredients, like cranberries!

3.) Plan your table: The night before Thanksgiving is too late to plan what your table will look like. If you prefer a formal table, assure table linen, napkins, and dinnerware is clean and polished. For a casual table, assure you have the appropriate number of settings for everyone. Don’t forget to decorate. Use seasonal flora, rich warm autumnal colours and don’t forget the visual impact of some strategically placed gourds!

4.) Ask guests to bring a dish: If the thought of preparing the Thanksgiving meal is a little daunting, why not ask your guests to help out? It’s a lovely way to get all your friends and family involved and this way there is really something for everyone. Plan how many people you will have and ask each member to bring a certain item. Keep a running list so you don’t have 20 turkeys and no side dishes!

5.) Cook early: Start preparing desserts and side dishes now and freeze the items until a few days before Thanksgiving. This will help you space out the holiday cooking and keep you from getting tired out.

6.) Enjoy yourself : This season is for enjoying your loved ones. Make sure you sit, eat relax enjoy and give thanks for their company!

Big Ol' Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner

Mushy Bit

Now here’s where it gets mushy. I can’t celebrate Thanksgiving with my friends and family in Canada (note I will be hosting a belated Thanksgiving dinner for some Canadian expats in Leytonstone later this week) but I do want to give thanks for some things though in the spirit of the holiday. I have had a pretty ground-breaking year and have a whole lot to be grateful for.

So here goes. I would like to give thanks to my family and friends in Canada who have whole heartedly supported my move here and who have always been there for me. I want to thank everyone who visited me this year and who made my first year across the pond one to truly remember. I would like to thank my family in the UK without whom my move would not have been possible and to whom I am eternally grateful for their love, support, help and encouragement. I am thankful for all the new people I’ve met this year and all the experiences I have had. I am thankful for my health, happiness, new home, new job and new adventures here in Londontown.

Now that wasn’t so bad. I swear I won’t get this mushy again till at least Christmas.

One last thing! Click Here for 7 weird and wonderful things about pumpkins you probably didn’t know!

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Big night but poor turnout in Ontario

7 Oct

Last night, while I was coming third in pub quiz and then watching the Glee episode we recorded on Sky, big things were happening in my home province of Ontario.

Firstly it was the season opener for the Toronto Maple Leafs. I am afraid to say I am no more than a fair-weather fan. So I am whole heartedly supporting our boys in blue today after our 2-0 win of the Montreal Canadians.

Also taking place yesterday was Ontario’s provincial election. Despite being nearly “written off” Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals managed to secure a third straight mandate, but fell just shy of a third straight majority. The Liberals won 53 ridings, one short of the 54 needed for a majority. The Liberals lost 18 seats, while the Tories led by Tim Hudak picked up 12 seats and stand at 37 seats.

What I really want to address though is voter turnout. Turnout for last night’s election in Ontario was a record low 49.2 per cent. The previous record was set in the last election in 2007, when it was 52.8 per cent. Compare that to the 66% turnout for Britain’s last National election. I am still eligible to vote in Canada from abroad and I do.  I am proud of my country and believe in the responsibility of being an active citizen. Perhaps it is a credit to my Facebook friends that many, nearly all of their statuses yesterday were pleas for people to go and vote. But seemingly their urges did very little.

A few months ago Canada lost a passionate political figure Jack Layton. He was tragically lost to Cancer. There was a resounding outcry from the Canada population. People across the country lit candles in their windows for him; Facebook and Twitter were awash with orange profile pictures. It’s hard to believe that a population so impassioned a few weeks ago could come out so dismally to this election. To be fair, Layton’s party the NDP‘s, led by rookie Andrea Horwath did win an admirable 7 seats increasing their seat total in the Ontario legislature to 17, up seven seats from the 10 won in the last provincial election.

Days before his death Jack Layton left a letter addressed to the nation. This letter has since been numerously retweeted reposted, forwarded, and quoted. I don’t agree with everything it discusses but there are ideas and sentiments that I do believe have resonance. In it he speaks directly to young Canadians. The youth population, were they to come out in droves could dramatically affect election results. Layton said to them “Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.” This could not be more true. Promoting the civil responsibility of voting should be a priority to Canadians and Canadian politicians. How can we make it a priority? It’s really a question for the ages. I’m certainly not going to solve the problem of poor voter turn out in a brief blog post. I’m really venting a frustration of mine so apologies and thanks for listening/reading. This is a bit of a heavier blog post for me. I usually make a point to not discuss politics but this statistic really got my goat.

I will leave you with a hilarious thought from one of my favourite tweeters and dearest friends, the fiercely clever @lindsayfg. I think she may be on to something here:

“What does it take to improve voter turnout Ontario? Should we incorporate some sort of talent portion? Dancing with the politician? “

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I heart weekends and autumn!

6 Oct

In light of getting my new job, I was recently discussing with a friend how I’ve never actually had weekends in my professional life.  Most event or theatre jobs warn you about “unsociable hours” and I absolutely do not have a problem with that particular caveat and I am notoriously a night owl and conveniently also a morning person. But I will not lie to you and say I am not absolutely 100 percent ecstatic to no longer be working till 2am every Friday through Sunday. So in honour of finally have weekends to play with and because the weather has finally sorted itself out (28 degrees in October really? Now were back to the brisk, cloudy with a chance of rain Britain I know and love) my post will be a celebration of the wicked things I’m going to do with my weekends this autumn. (Please note my first weekend is October 15 and 16 it is excluded from any exciting activities because I will be sleeping for the entire thing, please do not try to contact me)

Autumn on Ealing Common

The 2011 London Film Festival will be happening shortly! I missed The Toronto International Film Festival this year so am going to make up for it in London Town. It is the 55th edition of the UK’s biggest celebration of international cinema from the past year. It runs Oct 12-27 throughout various venues. I want to see, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Nuri Bilge Ceylan‘s crime thriller. I’m also excited for British director ,Lynne Ramsay’s  We Need to Talk About Kevin, starring the ghostly Tilda Swinton. We Need to Talk About Kevin depicts the mother (Swinton) of a teenage boy who went on a high-school rampage dealing with her grief and feelings of responsibility by writing to her estranged husband. And who doesn’t love a good literary adaptation so I’m def going to see Wuthering Heights directed by Andrea Arnold.

Tilda Swinton in “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

There is also an incredible amount of art that happens in this city which I have been neglecting. But no more! Tacita Dean’s installation for The Unilever Series is unveiled at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall on 11 October.  TheTurbine hosted Chinese artist Ai Weiwei for last year’s commission where he covered the hall in millions of ceramic sunflower seeds. I can’t wait to find out what Dean has in store! Also The Frieze Art Fair is taking place in Regents Park this October.  Frieze brings together 170 amazing art dealers and galleries from around the world and is the UK’s biggest contemporary art event of the year. It also boasts arty talks, films, music, installations and a sculpture park, so is basically all my fave things in one of my fave places.

Frieze Art Fair at Regents Park

Autumn wouldn’t be complete without the best fashion ever. I love cardigans, jackets, scarves and hats! There is nothing better than bundling up in tweed and wool and corduroy in autumnal shades on a  brisk fall morning. This season we can expect some of my personal faves including polka dots, comfy sweaters, lace accents and plaid! When they’re all listed together they sound a bit naff and I’m no style guru but I’ll just read some blogs and get a few magazines and try desperately to be at least a little bit cool. Speaking of cool, I’m pretty obsessed with a lovely fashion blog from Belgium right now. So I’ll probably be looking to The Styling Dutchman for advice this autumn. Check her blog here or follow her @StylingDutchman

Not sure I’m sassy enough for these looks but you get the idea

OR Click here for the trend forecast from the experts at Glamour. They know what they’re talking about a bit more than me!

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I wasn’t kidding about a Battenberg post

30 Sep

I threatened you with a Battenberg post and here it is. I was recently introduced to the glory that is the Battenberg via a friend who was dumbfounded that I had never had a Mr Kipling cake…in particular the mini Battenberg. The Battenberg cake is a light sponge cake. When cut in cross-section, displays a distinctive two-by-two check pattern alternately coloured pink and yellow. The cake is covered in marzipan and joined together by apricot jam. It’s incredibly delicious particularly with a good cup of tea. Brits really know how to do cake and the Battenberg is no exception.

Britannia Battenberg

Quick Battenberg history lesson. The cake was created in honour of the marriage in 1884 of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter to Prince Louis of Battenberg, with the four squares representing the four Battenberg princes: Louis, Alexander, Henry and Francis Joseph.

Queen V loved celebrating with a bit of cake

Now let me introduce Mr Kipling. It is a brand of cakes, pies and baked goods sold in the UK. They are delightful, over processed exceedingly sugary goodies advertised using the phrase “exceedingly good cakes” I can concur that they are exceedingly good. I was devastated to find out that Mr Kipling is in fact not real. The Company says, “Mr. Kipling exists in the hearts and minds of Manor Bakeries’ employees and all cake lovers, but not in fact as a real person. He was created over 30 years ago to represent the exceedingly good cakes the company was producing and now encapsulates everything the brand stands for, and personifies what is good about the company – its vision, its values and insistence on quality.”

" Exceedingly Good"

Disillusioned by that corporate baloney, my lovely new flat mate (also a recent Battenberg convert) and I decided we would endeavour to make our own Battenberg. I don’t want to toot our own horn but I’m going to say it was a massive success. It was delicious. We used the always useful BBC recipe website. For the recipe we used click here. There were few a hiccoughs but it was our first attempt at a Battenberg, which is a difficult delicacy to begin with and we didn’t have a proper size pan or a rolling-pin (we improvised and used a bottle of wine). Also in baking the pink colour changed quite a bit but we still had two distinct colours. It ended up a bit rectangular where it should be square. I blame the pan size for this also our inexperience. I still maintain it to have been an epic success. Our future forays into Battenberging will only improve I’m sure. I will definitely keep you posted on any extreme baking I undertake.

Battenberg Batter!

Our finished Battenberg! Not bad for a first go!

One last thing. For a bit more nostalgic British food take a look at these photos from The Independent. Doesn’t really do it for me as I wasn’t raised in the e UK in the 60’s but if you were it may be of interest. Click here

I also found this ridiculous Battenberg snap. I could not resist posting it here. If me and my housemate could live in a Battenberg…we probably would.

Best House Ever

 

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