Imagine yourself sitting on a beaten up claret red Chesterfield, nursing a hand-crafted foamy coffee, hanging out with me like we’re old friends. Make yourself comfy and I’ll get started.

This is going to be my salon. A place for me to air my thoughts; to take them out of my head, examine them and then, hopefully having made sense of it all, put it out there for you, dear reader, to do with them what you will.

Life’s been quite strange for me this year. After a long battle with cancer, my Grandmother passed away in May and I’ve been struggling with things somewhat ever since then. She was like my second parent - my Mom and I have lived with her since I can remember and now there is a very large hole where she isn’t there any more. Apparently, this is normal in grieving. It doesn’t make it any easier, though.

You know you’re not in the best place when, upon opening the oven door to a cake that you’ve been making, you find that it sank in the middle and end up sitting on the floor sobbing that you’re a failure and you can’t even bake any more.

After much consoling from the Boy and my mom, I got up, shook myself off and promised myself I’d try again and soon. Then, on the Saturday before last, I managed to overturn my cooking slump and decided to make lasagne from scratch. A lasagne that turned out far better than I could’ve hoped for. Not just any recipe, either: a Mary Berry one…nods sagely.

I found the recipe on this blog here. It differs ever so slightly from the original MB one, and I changed mine somewhat too, winging it somewhat to craft a beautifully balanced, not-too-soggy/just moist enough, rich and delicious creation. I have to say, that the result was a big boost of confidence that I have sorely needed. It’s so silly…that something as small as cocking up in the kitchen could make you feel like a failure. That’s kind of where I am at the minute, but I’m doing my utmost to change that state of mind.

This blog is part of that recovery. A kind of therapy - part journal, part informative and, hopefully, witty side note to life. So, let’s get properly introduced.

My name is Jess and here are a few facts about me that are consistently true:

  • I am a writer
  • I do parkour
  • I hate mayonnaise
  • My hair colour changes often
  • And as stated above, I love cooking/baking

My main goal for this blog is to get myself back into writing. This was actually the only requisite my lovely boyfriend made when setting it up for me. As we go on over the next few weeks, months (…dare I say it, years?), you will gradually begin to see a more thorough depiction of me and my world. I hope to keep you entertained and informed about things I discover that I think you might be interested in. I will also discuss different topics that I’m into. For example:

  • Writing
  • Design
  • Techy stuff
  • Films
  • etc, etc

If you would like to, dear reader, do please take a look at my Tumblr - I warn you, it hasn’t been updated in a long time and kind of dissolved into a series of re-blogging cool things. There are some amusing diversions to be found in the archives, I’m sure.

For now, go in peace and love.

J xx