If I’m honest with you, I hadn’t planned a lot for the early May bank holiday. I’m usually that person who loves to be on the move, doing something 24/7. Even though that’s great most of the time, it can also be a curse. Am I keeping up with everyone else? Am I pushing myself to my absolute limits? Am I making every single minute of this day count? The real question here is, who am I doing this for? For the most part, it’s me. However, I noticed I had got into a bad habit of saying yes all the time, not always because I wanted to. There’s of course the guilt that comes with saying no and that relentless, nagging fear of FOMO. In reality, it’s just good to slow down and make time for yourself. You’re number one, after all.

It’s certainly been a learning curve saying no to some of the fun things life throws my way and making way for more “me” time. Sometimes it’s an uphill struggle for sure, and I can feel the pangs of guilt seeping back in. However, this bank holiday I took three days of (almost) no plans in my stride. It was actually really nice to mosey about the flat and enjoying a leisurely morning routine on Saturday – not something I have time for on a regular day. I even went for coffee to read my book for an hour and trust me, it felt pretty damn good!

We’d also been invited to some family friends on Sunday, a yearly tradition for both our families to get together. That’s what bank holidays are for – spending time with good people, and if good food’s involved too then it’s a win-win situation. By Monday though, I was nursing a serious hangover. The hang-xiety was awful. I was wasting the day. But then, I let it happen. I relished the sofa snugs and the sausage sandwiches lathered in ketchup that my boyfriend so kindly made for me. There’s something rather comforting in being ok with the present. Not worrying about what’s happened, or what you should be doing, is quite empowering.

We put so much pressure on ourselves sometimes to live lives choc-full of everything that comes our way. We can lose sight of being ok doing absolutely nothing, or forget to ask ourselves: do I actually want to do this? If something good came out of a day where ‘nothing’ was the agenda, it was blueberry muffins. Light, fluffy blueberry muffins. I’m still working on the whole me-time thing, but at least I found time for myself this weekend in a little life pleasure such as this.

Blueberry Muffins

355g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp grated lemon zest
57g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
½ cup rapeseed oil (about 80g)
1 ¼ cups crème fraîche
2 tsp vanilla extract
149g caster sugar
1 large egg
¼ cup lemon juice
283g blueberries

  1. Preheat the oven to 190C / 375F and put liners into two standard 12-cup muffin tins, filling 16 of the cups.
  2. Whisk the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk the butter, oil, crème fraîche, sugar, egg and lemon juice until completely combined.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the well in the dry ingredients and mix gently until almost combined.
  5. Fold in the blueberries until just incorporated, being careful not to overwork the batter.
  6. Scoop the batter into the prepared tins, filling the muffin cups two-thirds full.
  7. Sprinkle the tops with a little sugar, if you like. Bake for 18 – 22 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Adapted from Sarah Kieffer‘s The Vanilla Bean Baking Book



RELATED POSTS

LEAVE A COMMENT


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.