7 weeks, 5 days: from cycling to Klezmer to ancestors to X-Factor!

Unfortunately today I had a really bad training session. Not sure whether the cause was the cold I've been trying to fight off for at least a week or the result of having to cycle in the path of a car which belted out more smog from its exhaust than I've seen coming out of a steam engine, but either way it culminated in me having what felt like a mild asthmatic attack on the grass verge at the side of the A505 :( and I decided to call it a day after only a few miles.

As a result I had an unusual treat, I actually had time to sit on the sofa and watch some tv, not a regular occurrence in my life! This led to the thrilling discovery of an ancestor's Hansard record and a portrait of him that I never knew was hanging in the National Portrait Gallery this evening. This was all sparked by watching BBC4's fascinating programme on Klezmer music (the photo is of some Klezmer musicians). I only found out a couple of years ago that I had an ancestor - my great great uncle, my maternal grandmother's uncle - who had an 'interest' (putting it very mildly) in politics. I was a bit of an anomaly up until then and we initially scoffed when my grandmother told us about him. His name was Philip Hoffman and he was a bit of a mystery to us as there was rumoured to be a rift between him and my great grandfather caused by my great great uncle's refusal to change his surname from Hoffman to Stanley to help assimilate in post-WWII Britain. He and my great grandfather had come to England from Germany and I suppose must have faced the same difficulties as many people at the time migrating from a conflict-zone in which several groups of people had been totally villified - most obviously Jews. My great grandfather's answer to this was to change his name to something more quintessentially English, while my great great uncle refused to do so. At the risk of offending my late ancestors I would definitely have been on the latter's side!

Because of their roots there has been some musing that they may have been Jewish, but no one in my immediate or slightly extended family seems to know. Definitely feels like a project looming for 2013 to find out! Philip Hoffman became a Labour MP, firstly winning South East Essex in 1922 then becoming the MP for Sheffield Central in 1929. As the party would imply he was very interested in employee rights, he introduced a Private Members' Bill on Shop Workers rights and wrote a book called They Also Serve, which I was really pleased to have found and bought for my grandmother before she died. The latter now has pride of place on my bedside table. So that's why all of tonight's googling was sparked by a programme I was watching with my family about Klezmer music - a tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe.  In and of itself it was pretty fascinating and reminded me of a book I read a few years ago by an American sociologist called Barbara Ehrenreich, entitled 'Dancing in the Streets'.

Listening to the programme and watching the frenzied dancing and singing reminded me just how important music is in shifting a mood, motivating and inspiring, depressing us, sparking a memory or transporting us back to a feeling we once had. I know I get this a lot. Certain bands, artists or songs have really strong associations for me. Lots of those associations are with places when I've been on adventures, Mausam by Nitin Sawhney takes me back to the Namib desert every time while Basement Jaxx remind me of leaving Beijing for the first time. There are songs I associate very strongly with people and they with me. When you know the power of this I think you need to choose quite carefully what you listen to - knowing you'll be reminded of it for time immemorial!

So I wonder what I'll be listening to in India? Perhaps it won't be anything I take with me but instead something somebody else who I don't yet know brings with them? Whatever it is I'm sure the memories will be very potent and very special to me - so let's hope it's not something dreadful like the latest offering of an X-Factor contestant!

Beyonce eat your heart out - a call to the female masses!

I've just got back from a killer three-week stint at party conferences and I'm totally 'exhaustballs'! I really could use a night on the sofa but unfortunately I have too much to do - not least training! I think I'm too knackered to actually cycle the 20 miles I had planned to tonight but I've decided to compromise on some fundraising activities and a 20 min run instead to assuage my guilt about doing nothing.

On the fundraising side I've just set up a Facebook event and I'm working on ideas for a calendar I want to make & sell for the cause. Actually it's a lot about awareness-raising too. At first I thought it'd be funny to do a re-working of the WI Calendar Girls' one using 'Emcupcakes' for modesty....but then I'd just signed that petition going round 'Get the Bare Boobs Out of the Sun' http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/dominic-mohan-take-the-bare-boobs-out-of-the-sun-nomorepage3 and I thought it'd be a bit hypocritical to then produce a calendar full of women with only 'buns' covering their boobs!

So instead I've been thinking about all the freedoms women enjoy in the UK which women around the world  sadly can't. Things that include (but a not exhaustive list):

- driving
- spending leisure time with men other than family members
- access to contraception
- choice of who we marry (or don't!)
- recognition of domestic violence
- access to education
- freedom from stereotypically gendered roles in the workplace / home

and so on....

I appreciate there is still room for improvement with some of these things in the UK, particularly in the context of things like the news today of the conviction of Justin Lee Collins and the 'derisory' sentence he has received.

However, we cannot ignore the fact that we do have better health care appropriate to our particular needs as women, we don't face discrimination if we try to become scientists or car mechanics, we can wear our hair out if we choose not to conform to a faith that requires it to be covered, the law recognises that we can say no to sex with someone with whom we have previously consented and many other things.

Amnesty devotes much of its resources to championing the rights of women around the world. Here are just three reasons why I want to support this work:

- pregnancy kills one woman every minute around the world. 

- two thirds of the 774 million illiterate adults worldwide are women, a proportion which hasn't changed for 20 years

- more than 60 million girls worldwide are forced into marriage before they reach 18

I am very lucky to have lots of brilliant women in my life: my mum, my two sisters, my niece, aunties, cousins, and many, many friends who make me feel lucky to be a woman and inspire me every day. I think we've got a huge amount to be thankful for - freedoms, access to services and rights over our bodies, minds and reproductive systems that women around the world do not enjoy. 

And for that reason I'm appealing for ideas and volunteers for my calendar. If you can think of other freedoms that mark out women in the UK as luckier than their counterparts elsewhere in the world, please let me know so that I can start gathering ideas. And even better, if you'd like to be in the calendar, please contact me via the blog, on twitter or via facebook (emcupcakes).

Thanks

The countdown has begun: 8 weeks and 5 days...

Is it nearly Monday again??

How do the weekends always go so fast? I've had a brilliant one but as usual very busy. Today my older sister and I spent a few hours digging up weeds on her newly acquired allotment. It's absolutely huge (probably about 10 square metres) so when we first saw it I felt like flaking out immediately! But we persisted and after some backbreaking determined routing out of evil weeds we clearly about a quarter of it. As you can see from the pics it was a pretty tough job and we were very pleased with ourselves when we'd finished! I was rewarded with some lovely smiles and giggles from my niece when we got back home :).

I met up with an old friend on Friday night for dinner which was really lovely - haven't seen her for probably 6 years ish but as with all good friends we just picked up where we left off :). She told me all about some really interesting work she's been doing with ex-offenders to help them turn their lives around in conjunction with Crisis, her children and grandchildren and I regaled her with tales of woe from my own life, ha! I spent Saturday evening with some friends and watched X Factor for the first time in probably about 8 years (I'm so out of the loop).

Training-wise I managed my first 30 miler along the canal on Saturday. The nice, clean gravel towpath gave way very quickly to grass and mud and stingers! I can't actually believe I'm saying this but I actually found myself thinking I'd like to do one of those 10k runs through assault courses and mud! I remember rolling down a massive hill when I was about 14 and getting absolutely covered in the freshly cut grass and dew. I was soaked by the end but it was loads of fun and I think all this time spent outdoors getting muddy and wet is bringing out the big child in me, happily so.

The canal route was surprisingly treacherous and in places I really did narrowly miss ending up in the canal itself. I'm not sure it'll be a good idea to take that course in the depths of winter, particularly if it's icy, but it's good to try out different routes. I think that's one of the great things about cycling actually, the scenery is constantly changing and makes a huge difference. I'm one of those people who finds it difficult to do fewer than 2 or 3 things at any one time and gets bored really quickly but I have never once felt that cycling, instead I just get totally lost in my own thoughts.

Anyway, today my legs and knees were definitely feeling the 30 mile cycle from yesterday and the effects of the workout I had on the allotment so I'm afraid I only managed about 10 miles tonight. Not great but I actually reckon I'm better off not over-tiring myself as it then takes a good week to get back to my peak, so I'm going to head out for a run tomorrow before work and then I'll have two exercise-free days as I'm off to Tory conference with work.

Better go and pack now - this blog post has really been about procrastinating!

Singing (and cycling) in the rain

So today it's 8 weeks and 6 days 'til I go....scary stuff!

I'm going off for my first 30 miler today - want to see if I can cope with a cycle to a station further down the line so that I can squeeze in more rides during the week.

I went out on Thursday night after returning from a few days away at party conferences and had, surprisingly, a really good run. I'd only had 1-2hrs sleep but I guess the advice I'd been given about nutrition is paying off as I felt really energetic and ready for action!

It started raining pretty hard while I was out and the rain itself was really cold. Normally that's the kind of thing that would put me off entirely but I have to say I absolutely loved it and was quite gutted when it stopped! It reminded me so much of a holiday years ago to Florida during the stormy season. Every day there was a huge thunderstorm in the afternoon for about an hour. One day my sister and I were waiting for our parents and younger siblings to get back to the car so we could drive back to our apartment and shelter. We were sitting in the car watching the windscreen being pummelled by the downpour when we heard 'Singing in the Rain' start playing! We couldn't resist getting out of the car and dancing around, kicking puddles at each other and letting the sheets of rain soak us through. It was so much fun! I relived that a little bit on my cycle the other day when I took my feet off the peddles and turned my face towards the sky. It was as much as I could do not to belt out a few lines of the song again (which begs the question I find myself constantly asking - why is it not more acceptable to sing randomly in public, you know when queueing at the shops, walking to work etc.?)

I hope it rains today!

Some inspiration on national poetry day

I heard it was national poetry day today so I've decided to put one of my favourite poems up on the blog. Apparently Nelson Mandela used to recite this to himself when he was imprisoned on Robben Island. If you've ever been there you can imagine just how powerful the mind needs to be to compensate for the sensory deprivation and hardship prisoners were subjected to, often for more than a decade. But powerful the mind is and this tells you how inspirational this poem is! 

I wanted to include a photo from my own visit to Robben Island but I'm afraid the 2,000+ photos I took in South Africa are all on discs and safely filed away in storage. So instead here's a pic from Cape Town I really love the sentiment of.

This poem really inspires me to keep persisting whenever I'm struggling to be happy - whether it means powering through lactic acid agony to make it all the way up the hill on a cycle or when life throws a bit of a curve ball at you to deal with. I hope it inspires others to persevere when times get tough.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul. 

William Ernest Henley

Amnesty publishes report into Trafigura waste-dumping incident

Today Amnesty International released a report on the illegal dumping of toxic waste by Trafigura in 2006 in Cote d'Ivoire and called for a full inquiry into the matter. For those who haven't heard of Trafigura, it's a Dutch multinational which trades commodities and in this case had leased a ship to move waste to a legal processing facility in Amsterdam.

When the processing facility realised the waste was actually rather toxic they upped the price for taking it. Understandably wanting to pocket as much profit as possible, Trafigura decided to try elsewhere. The ship sailed from Amsterdam and made its way down the West African coast looking for a port to dump the waste but got rejected everywhere until it reached Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. Trafigura made a deal with a newly formed waste processing company and here, rather than processing the waste, it was simply dumped. Since then over 100,000 have received medical treatment for illnesses attributed to the effects of the waste and 12 people are believed to have died as a result of exposure.

In 2007 Trafigura reached an out of court settlement with the government of Cote d'Ivoire which bought it immunity from further prosecution. Since then Trafigura has also taken out injunctions to prevent press reporting of the incident and to prevent the leaking of internal documents which acknowledge the known toxicity of the waste.

Amnesty International is calling for a full inquiry into the incident, for which no individual has been punished or made to answer for their actions. More information on the case and the full report published by Amnesty today is available here: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=20342.

New things...

I'm supposed to be having an early night as I've been burning the candles a lot at both ends lately and that's set to continue with party conference season kicking off this weekend (it's one of the busiest points in my working year you see).

But having just looked at my blog for the first time in ages and realised quite how neglectful I've been I decided to do a quick post. I'm feeling very reflective at this point in the year, having been through a very turbulent, creative, sometimes difficult but often exhilirating 9 months of 2012 so far. So I thought I'd write a quick list of all the new things I've done as a result of taking on this challenge:

1. Talked to lots of people I never knew until this year and forged some great new friendships
2. Baked a hell of a lot of cake!
3. Learnt how to add a Paypal button my website (which does feel like a massive achievement to someone as technophobic as me)
4. Started a blog
5. Discovered I actually can cycle
6. Started drinking protein - who knew it came in liquid form for people who don't resemble Arnie?
7. Worn padded cycle leggings (and invited people to poke me in intimate places, only to discover there's 5 inches of padding between me and them)
8. Taught a whole class on piping techniques (still can't quite get over my graduation to teacher)
9. Sold my own photographs (see above)
10. Found a very effective new chat up line!

Ok, so the last one is not really valid point, but it does seem to work! I feel quite chuffed reading that list back. When I decided to take on the challenge I was emerging from basically a very crappy time in my life. I can't say this year has been the easiest one ever as there have been plenty of other challenges I've had to face, but I am really really glad I decided to do this as it's given me so many new strings to my bow. So at this point in time, despite having not yet actually completed the challenge myself, I'm throwing down the gauntlet to anyone else reading to say come and have a go! You honestly won't regret it.

And with that, goodnight!

If you think solitary confinement for 40 years would drive you crazy please take action

40 years of solitary confinement: where is the evidence?

  ACTION TYPE    FAX 

Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace entered Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, USA, in their twenties. Now in their sixties, both men have spent the last 40 years in solitary confinement. We see no evidence for their apparently indefinite incarceration in isolation: it must end immediately. Take action now

Despite more than 150 reviews of their case and numerous prison reports showing that they pose no danger to others or themselves, the Louisiana prison services continue to keep Albert and Herman in isolation, in cells measuring 2 x 3 metres – apparently indefinitely. We believe that Albert and Herman are being subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by Louisiana authorities.

In April this year, 40 years to the day since the pair were first placed in isolated incarceration, we attempted to hand over a petition containing the signatures of more than 67,000 people from 125 countries, all calling for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to immediately remove Albert and Herman from isolation. 

Governor Jindal refused to meet us or accept the petition. He referred the matter to his Secretary for Department of Public Safety and Corrections, James M. LeBlanc, who claimed that Albert and Herman’s continued solitary confinement is because the men are a danger to prison employees, inmates and visitors (in contrast to prison records – which state them being neither a danger to others nor themselves). LeBlanc also denied that their conditions are inhumane. We want to see evidence for these claims.

We will not stop campaigning for justice for Albert and Herman. Ask Secretary LeBlanc for this evidence, and appeal for the men’s release from isolation. 

Please note that emails to the Secretary's inbox are now bouncing back, so we have set this as an automatic fax action. Your message will be faxed directly to 00 (1) 225 342 3095 when you enter your details below.

Remember to chammy, that's my advice...

I keep threatening to start blogging again properly, you know like an actual blogger who keeps their content current and their posts regular, but alas I run out of time!

I'm having a bit of a lull with the whole fundraising thing at the moment - it's getting to be seriously hard work now trying to winkle a quid out of anyone and I am wary of social isolation at work if I continue to hassle all my colleagues for money. They have been amazingly generous and account for a large proportion of the £1,110 I've scraped in so far and are proving to be a real life line. To be fair I am expanding all their waistlines for them in return by keeping them in a constant supply of cake, as well as recently branching out to curry, bread, oatcakes, chutney and so on.

I have also been a bit distracted with various other things - I became an aunty for the first time ever two weeks ago tomorrow which is so far a fantastic experience! So I've been trying to make myself available to be mother's helper/baby cuddler as often as possible in my spare time. When I haven't been busy with that I've been quite busy getting to grips with my new job which is equally exciting. Plus life in general...

I've been scratching around for new ideas to boost the fundraising efforts having started to get slightly panicky the whole thing could come to nothing. I was thinking about doing a retro school sports day and getting a bit nostalgic for that, and then someone I was talking to just in passing mentioned that a friend of his packed bags a la Scout at their local supermarket and bingo - I have a new idea that has actual LEGS!

I think I've also successfully twisted my brother's arm to come and do a sponsored car wash with me this weekend tagged onto a family celebration. I washed my own car at the weekend (it only gets a bath once every 6 mths) and I was chuffed to bits with my handiwork. My little Missy, which is really not much more than a bashed up old banger these days, looked all shiny and new. It was only when I was driving back from my sister's house on Sunday evening, inwardly chirping to myself, that I realised the watermarks all over my windscreen had reduce visibility to less than in a torrential downpour! I must remember to chammy next time!

Keep arms out of the hands of children

I've been admittedly really lame the last month or two posting updates to my blog - just too much to do and not enough time as always! But today I got this email update about the Arms Trade Treaty from Amnesty and was moved to get on and post it onto my blog. 

It's really appalling that in some African states children are turned into soldiers and brutalised....what's even worse is that we're arming them. So please, if you hate the thought of arming an 8 year old boy as much as I do make a donation to their campaign, make a donation to my challenge (which will go straight to Amnesty now) or read up about it and sign up for campaign updates from them directly www.amnesty.org.uk.

Here's the campaign email going round:

This July, governments will draw up the world’s first ever Arms Trade Treaty. We must make sure it’s tough enough to disarm dictators, warlords and human rights abusers.  I recently wrote to you about this and if you have not already done so,please donate to our urgent campaign at http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=12286

If this Treaty includes what Amnesty is calling for, it will be the most important human rights victory of our generation.

• It will keep arms and ammunition out of the hands of brutal and repressive regimes. That means no guns and tanks for President Assad to kill and repress the Syrian people with.  

• It will stop guns pouring into conflict zones. So state forces and militia groups in Somalia will no longer be able to give AK-47s to 8-year-old children to make them fight and kill.

• It will mean no weapons can be sold to human rights abusers. Not to warlords whose fighters rape women at gunpoint. Not to security forces who carry out executions and ‘disappearances’. Not to torturers who use guns to intimidate, repress and torment.

I'm back!

I think I'm having deja vu here, seem to remember saying I was back once before then disappearing off the face of the earth again!

Anyway, this time I really mean it. I've had a lot of distractions over the month of April, mostly relating to work and restructures but I'm pleased to say that after much swatting I've now been offered a new job in a permanent position at work which is great news.

It hasn't all been work, work, work though I have had some fun - most recently organising a baby shower, or rather a 'Mum To Be Tea' for my big sister with the help of my little sister and my mum. It was really good fun and a lovely opportunity for my sister to get together with friends before the imminent arrival of my niece or nephew to enjoy some time together and get excited about the baby. The other great thing about it was, of course, for me the opportunity to do lots of baking for fun and feeding people!

Here are some photos of the event. The top one is of some extremely delicious pram-shaped cookies made by my very talented little sis Holly.

Long time no speak...

I've had what seems like a very long break from blogging and fundraising activity for a few weeks so I'm pleased to be back online and starting to focus my attention on the challenge again.

The main reason for my absence was that I've been going through a restructure at work lately and had to apply for a new job, but also because I've been moving home, or at least moving all my worldly posessions, yet again (5th time in 5 years!) and also doing quite a lot of catching up with relatives and friends. All these things have taken up a fair bit of energy and time so I've been a bit neglectful.

I haven't even reported back on Madras for Cash, Leighton Buzzard yet in fact! I'm very pleased to report that this raised £162.50 for the pot and a good night was had by all. The raffle was a particular success and although, disappointingly, I didn't get a single prize out of local businesses (big boo) I did manage to cobble together some things I'd already begged, borrowed or bought myself so that my curry-eaters can now go forth and paintball, shop and drink wine to their heart's content. So a big thanks to everyone for coming (don't worry, I do have some manners and did thank them in the immediate aftermath, rather than wait 10 more days to announce my gratitude on here).

Onwards with my plans, speak soon!

Emily

Cookie Monster cupcakes!

As the challenge goes on I am starting to test out more and more cupcake experiments and last weekend I spent some making my first batch of Cookie Monster cupcakes. At the risk of sounding extremely arrogant I think you'll probably agree the finished product looks quite good!

They went down very well at work, along with some banoffee cupcakes I made with over-ripe bananas. I made a little salted caramel sauce to drizzle over the top and I have to admit I couldn't resist eating one myself, even though I'm trying to focus on fattening other people up for cash, rather than myself!

Last night I also made a large commission for mummy dearest to take into work. Her team are going through a really rough time at the moment and I think she wanted to cheer them up. It was fun to have an open brief so I experimented with lots of different decorations. Here are the finished products, happy viewing!

Chatting with my girl crush Nigella...just another day...

Very exciting news peeps: yesterday I got the chance to speak directly with none other than my heroine, girl crush and general demi-god Nigella Lawson online. I'd love to say it was because she heard about my charity challenge and thought she'd get in touch to give me a big virtual pat on the back, but the truth is slightly more dull than that. She was taking part in a web chat on Red magazine's website.

I was a bit flummoxed as to what to ask her - mainly because like the totally uncool person that I am the only thing I could really think to say was something like 'Omigod you're amazing I love you Nigella'. I thought she probably gets a lot of that though, so best to go for something original. Just before she appeared online I was chatting to some colleagues about a low back dress/bra dilemma I was having. In the course of the conversation it occurred to us that Nigella is quite a buxom lady so first I asked her for a recommendation....no response. Perhaps she felt that was a bit personal :-/

So next I told her about my charity challenge and asked her if she would be willing to donate a recipe to me or give me a twist on one of her originals that I could market as Nigella's own endorsement of my project. I guess she's saving all those kitchen secrets for another book though - why the hell would she divulge such a thing to little old me? All the same, I feel that I did my duty to the challenge by trying to shoe-horn it in there somehow and get some celeb backing...and I put it in twice just to prove my extra ballsy-approach!

Finally, as a foodie in genuine awe of her eating ability, I asked her if she really does ever cook the same thing twice as I'm genuinely intrigued as to how, in the same period of time I've managed to cook perhaps 30 or 40 of her recipes and others', she could have invented, written, tried and tested hundreds more many times, perfecting them along the way.

Finally she replied that yes indeed she does and that actually she not only eats the same thing for lunch or supper on a Sunday, she has the same breakfast ever day.

Call me a stalker but I think by that she means a boiled egg with Poilane soldiers. Ok, I think I'm edging dangerously close to the borderline between sane and crazy now so I'm going to sign off!

Hitting the 25% fundraising milestone through the medium of cake

When I signed up to this challenge I never expected for so much of my sponsorship money to be raised through cakes, but that's what's proving most popular! So cakes are fast becoming the backbone of this operation, so much so I've been getting a lot of encouragement from friends and colleagues to set myself up in business. I'm pretty sure it won't pay as well as press & parliamentary work, but I admit I haven't tired of baking yet and we are going through a restructure at work, so I may well do that!

So after last week's bake sale I hit an important milestone - 25% of my target raised to date! I'm really, really pleased with my progress as that's bang on target for where I wanted to be and based on hardly any just straightforward donations.

So to celebrate the 25% mark I thought I'd share some more photos of my recent bakes I've undertaken for commissions and work sales. I think my personal favourite is the Oreo cupcake, or maybe the brownies, or the macaroons......

Maiden voyage

As the title of this post suggests I have finally made it out on my bike for a my first practice run....although that is somewhat overstating the case considering that I actually only rode for 50 minutes, not the 8 hours I'm going to need to do in India each day! The weather was so beautiful yesterday that I decided to take my bike, Missy, out for a ride along the canal in Linslade up to the Three Locks in Stoke Hammond. The whole return trip, which I reckon is about 6.5 miles, took me about 50 mins to do at a fairly gentle pace. I couldn't go any faster if I wanted to because the speed limit set by British Waterways is 10mph! Anyway, I must say it was very pleasant and testing enough on the thighs for my first jaunt. I had to tackle two major hills in the course of my route which was pretty painful! The things I have learnt from my first trip are:

- I need a bell to deal with the proliferation of canalside walkers with tunnel vision / complete lack of awareness of other human beings
- I need to remember to put my gel saddle on my bike, as I now have one hell of a bruised bum!
- Cycle gloves aren't just a uniform for cycling fanatics to signal their belonging to others of a similar bent, they'd actually be quite useful to avoid blistering the heel of my hands.

Here is a deeply unflattering photo of me on my bike about to set off for your amusement.

Work bake sale raises £124!

I've been pretty lame at updating my blog recently but the reason is that for the last few days I've been baking like crazy! Firstly two commissions for friends, lemon raspberry muffins and Oreo cupcakes at the weekend and then for a big work bake sale. I was up until the small hours the last two nights baking and icing. In total I think I made about 100 cakes and cookies - Oreo, vanilla, raspberry & elderflower (gluten-free and low-ish fat/calories as they're made with courgette and ground almonds), brownies with nuts, brownies without nuts AND Smarties cookies. It went well anyway, I put a box on each floor at work and left an evelope for donations and in total raised £124. I'm chuffed with that boost to my proceeds, which takes me up to £693 now, and a milestone 25% towards my target!

Here are some pics of my desk pre-sale....please ignore the massive stack of papers and just look at the cake!!!

All quiet on the fundraising front

I'm feeling a bit guilty for not having managed to update the blog recently. It would be good to say that's because I've been busy planning my next events, which is partly true, but largely it's because I've had a long stint of drunken nights out followed by extreme, debilitating tiredness the next day!

Anyway, I've been sober for a few days so have finally managed to do something productive with my time. I've booked an Ethiopian dinner for Thursday 29th March in London, drummed up some interest for my Cupcakes & Cosmo's event and started pestering people for raffle prize donations for my next Madras for Cash on Saturday 31st March at Sizzler restaurant, Leighton Buzzard. I'm still working out the details but will, of course, post them soon on here and Facey/Twitter for info as well as emailing to my contacts. If you want to register your interest in the meantime you can message me via the blog or on Facebook/emcupcakes or Twitter @emcupcakes.

I've also had a couple of baking commissions recently, the latest being lemon & raspberry muffins which I got up at 6am to make for my gorgeous & lovely friend Emma to take to a Hen Do. She's been very supportive of all my efforts so far so I didn't mind getting out of bed so early (for me at least)! It was difficult to resists the temptation to eat one on my way to work this morning though!

I'm also really chuffed that in the last week I've managed to work out how to put a Paypal button on my blog so that people can make donations directly to me (which I will then pay into Justgiving) and also book places on my events, cutting out the need for me to act as banker/accounts ledger etc., particularly helpful when drunk & disorderly and trying to run an event! This whole charity challenge/blogging thing is such a great learning curve!

Amnesty & MixTogether campaigns against forced marriage

For the last year I’ve been involved with another organisation called MixTogether. It runs a forum for people in mixed race relationships who are experiencing discrimination at the hands of their family or community and need emotional support. This is an issue very close to my heart as I experienced it myself with my former partner whose family couldn’t accept that I was culturally different to them. I have seen decent people almost destroyed by the stress and anxiety caused by this kind of discrimination and I read every day on the MixTogether forum about good, kind, open minded people who are suffering the same fate, just for loving people of a different colour, culture or religion.

I think there’s a big difference between arranged marriage, where both parties consent of their own free will (most definitely not after coercion and pressure) and forced marriage. I’m not a cultural imperialist and I recognise that some people are perfectly happy to have an arranged marriage and I believe that people should be free to act in accordance with their religion or culture, so long as it doesn’t cause harm. What I object to is where families use emotional blackmail to induce pressure upon a son or daughter to go along with a marriage through a family introduction when they don’t want to, or conversely where they use emotional blackmail to prevent a marriage to someone outside of the culture. Amnesty International highlights this issue and works to end the practice in countries where forced marriage is still commonplace under the banner of it’s End Violence Against Women campaign. I’m sad to say that it still seems to be rife amongst some communities in Britain and is another reason I’m determined to raise money so Amnesty can continue to campaign on this issue.

The Home Office recently announced proposals to criminalise breach of a Forced Marriage Protection Order (FMPO). FMPOs offer some protection to those whose families are attempting to force them into a marriage but there are limitations and enforcement is difficult. Criminalising breach of an Order would help to address this but it may also deter victims from coming forward due to the cultural sensitivities and mixed emotions they may have towards family members involved. I’ve just drafted a consultation response on these proposals on behalf of the MT forum and I would encourage others to respond here http://tinyurl.com/cap3m62 or pass on the message to anyone affected by this issue and point them towards MixTogether www.mixtogether.org and the other organisations with specific knowledge and experience of this issue which are listed on the MT Links page.

Another day, another baking bonanza

Seems like all I do these days is bake and then post the photos on here! But it seems to be a winning fundraising formula so why stop? I've spent today making cupcakes that look like multi-coloured Mr Whippy ice creams, Smarties cookies, butternut squash puree, butternut squash & parmesan scones and frosting rose petals! I started getting a bit stir crazy around 4pm and decided to abandon the culinary pursuits and instead turn my attention to making the invitations for my sister's Mum To Be Tea (we hate that term 'baby shower'!).

I am pleased to report that after being unable to find pumpkins in the shops or canned pumpkin puree (apart from on mail order) the butternut squash puree I made to test out instead worked just as well. It cost me about £1.20 to buy one large squash, which I then chopped up, boiled until tender and pureed. I've now got three bags of the stuff sitting in the freezer for when I next need some and 10 squash & parmesan scones to eat for lunch this week with cheese & cornichons, and it's a damn sight cheaper than the £3 or so you pay for one can of puree which will render you one batch of scones!

I'm also really pleased with the ice cream cones - although I can think of better cake experiences than having to get past a wafer first, they look so effective and it was a lot of fun to decorate them in all different pastel ice cream shades! I went a bit mad with the Smarties cookies, I just fancied one and as I had a recipe and a supply of ingredients I decided to make them instead of popping down to the shops. I now have about 20 on my hands and trust me, although you can't tell from the pictures they are the size of my fist! I will probably end up giving them away at work tomorrow. It's getting a bit tricky as now every time I take baked goods into work people try and give me money. I know I shouldn't complain, but I don't want people to get annoyed with being constantly tapped up for cash, especially when I've just brought in a freebie.

Here are some piccies of the goodies!

Take action against contravention of LGBTI rights in Russia

I was pretty horrified to read last night that the authorities in St Petersburg, Russia are in the final stages of creating a Bill that severely restricts freedom of expression and assembly for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in the city.

If passed the Bill will introduce fines for “public actions aimed at propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderness amongst minors”.

This would contravene human rights laws around freedom of expression and freedom to assembly, as well as the right to non-discrimination and equality before the law, guaranteed by international human rights treaties to which Russia is a signatory.

The new law particularly impacts young people and groups. It will prevent young people from accessing or sharing LGBTI information vital to their health and wellbeing – including social groups, support networks, and sexual health information. It will restrict the activities and operations of LGBTI organisations in St Petersburg.

Discrimination against LGBTI people is already widespread in Russia. If this Bill is passed, it will legalise and promote discrimination against an already marginalised group of people.

If you're as horrified as I am please follow this link http://tinyurl.com/7q99vqg to email the authorities in St Petersburg, asking them not to roll back these basic human rights for LGBTI people in the city, and punish individuals for their sexual identity.

Valentine's goodies for sale

I've been putting my new cupcake decorating skills to use today making yet more red velvet cupcakes - well, what cupcake could be more appropriate for Valentines, when it comes with a heart-red middle?! I had so much fun decorating these earlier, and managed to get most of the glitter on the cakes themselves, despite having a cheeky few glasses of wine down the local beforehand!

I also finally made my promised chocolate truffles and enjoyed packaging them up. I'm hoping to sell as many sweet treats to my colleagues tomorrow as poss to top up the charity coffers.

Here are some photos of my handiwork. If you would like some or cakes/chocolates for another occasion please message me via the blog, facebook (facebook.com/emcupcakes) or Twitter @emcupcakes for info.

If you want to help me without the guilt of adding to your waistline please donate to http://www.justgiving.com/EmilyCharlotteJeffrey.

Thanks x

Cupcake decorating with Cookie Girl

I've been slacking off a bit this week due to one too many nights out with friends so I've been back on the fundraising wagon today with a cupcake decorating class that I plan to use to improve my bake sales and also possibly take a few classes of my own with friends who are more novice in the field than me!

My class was lead by Cookie Girl aka Xanthe Milton, the author of 'Eat Me'. I got a signed copy from her today and I can't wait to try out some of her very imaginative recipes.

It was loads of fun going a bit crazy with sprinkles and colours, and also trying to learn a few tricks of the trade. Xanthe was a great tutor and a lovely lady, and when I told her why I'd booked on the workshop she very kindly offered me a free cupcake decorating lesson RRP £55! I will raffle or auction it off at a later date.

Here are the fruits of my labour today - well most of them. Some of them got eaten already...

As you can see I liked practising 'roses'.

Pimp my red velvet chocolate heartache

I've had one hell of a busy evening today making red velvet cupcakes, the basis of some chocolate truffles and trying to also squeeze in some exercise and writing this blog post. It's all in the name of charity of course and I had a lot of solitary fun doing it!

I decided that I would make some cupcakes to take into work tomorrow. The purpose is to get them all hooked on sugar and agitating for more cake so that when I have a cake sale, hopefully next week if I can find time to bake the goods, they will all be addicted and pay me lots of money for them, mwahaha (that's an evil plan laugh btw). Kind of like a cake pimp. I said this today to someone and they have been calling me pimp cake ever since. Makes it sound so much more seedy than it really is.

Here's a sneak preview of my wares:

I also learnt how to frost rose petals today - it's so easy I can't believe I never tried it before! I'm definitely going to be pimping/blinging my cakes with those bad boys soon.

I did also manage a quick run, well some interval training. Will see tomorrow morning if the dreaded shin splints return. It felt good though to get out in the fresh air and do some exercise and luckily the snow had mostly thawed out drastically cutting my chances of serious injury. Will have to do a bit more to burn off these cakes though!

Curry...the sweet smell of success!

It's been a busy week for fundraising activity as I had my first event on Thursday, curry night at Imli. It was a good fun night and I think everyone else enjoyed themselves. Our waiter was a funny guy and told us he was taking part in a BBC gameshow next month testing his memory. We were his guinea pigs and he did manage to remember 30 starters, main courses and drinks orders, very impressed! My quiz was apparently a bit less 'Wheel of Fortune' and a bit more 'University Challenge' so I may have to adapt that for my next victims! All in all the night raised almost £100, which I'm very pleased with and very grateful to everyone who came to support the cause. Here are some pics from the evening.

I've also been going running a fair bit but worryingly seem to have developed shin splints :-( I've rested my legs for a few days now so I'm feeling ready to get out there again, although the forecast snow might scupper my plans. Probably time I braved the swimming pool instead.

Next week I'm off to a cupcake decorating workshop so that I can command maximum cash for my bake sale the week after. I'm really looking forward to it and the great thing is I'll be able to reap the benefits of my learning for years to come. I'm also considering going on an Indian Head Massage course so that I can get paid to do that. I only wish I could massage my own head afterwards! I think my mate Danners is going to come with me though so I'll just have to get her to do it!

Global day of action for Amnesty

Today has been a seriously productive day and I'm feeling very enthused about my cycling, fitness & fundraising project! After almost a whole weekend off doing anything cycle-related, apart from a run on Saturday, I've today managed to finish off my quiz for Madras for Cash on Thursday night, as well as making some components of the prize and going for another run. And I also managed to plan and organise another little craft project in time for my Valentine's Day surprises. It's so satisfying when you manage to get a lot done, especially when you can fit it all around work!

I went to an exhibition yesterday at the Southbank with my hilarious friend Danners and we saw lots of Ghanaian coffins shaped to look like tigers, eggs, cocoa pods and cars. It was all done in partnership with Dying Matters which is a coalition of charities which work on 'end of life' issues. It was really refreshing to see an exhibition addressing such an important issue, which I guess most people don't think about very often.

And it for me it was an opportunity to reaffirm the values that have made me want to do this bike ride in support of Amnesty - besides the personal benefits associated with spending a year focusing on something really positive for my own sense of health and wellbeing, it is about focusing minds and efforts on ensuring people's freedom and dignity are protected as best we can. Anyone who knows me will know that I'm not always that dignified myself (even 'sometimes' might be stretching the truth) but it doesn't change the fact that I think it is an important principle and that as a society we should always aspire to uphold our own and each other's dignity as best we can. On that note I'm planning to go to a global day of action for Amnesty International on Saturday 11th February. There's going to be a rally at Trafalgar Square from 12-2. It's going to be a full-on action packed charity fund-fest for me that weekend as straight after I'm heading for a cupcake icing class to improve my bake sale prospects! If anyone is interested in joining me for the rally let me know or take a peek at http://www.amnesty.org.uk/events_details.asp?EventsID=2129.

Offski!

59 ways to lose your head in Mongolia

I just discovered that Mongolia has 59 separate offences which carry the death penalty - I'm shocked! I've been to Mongolia and rate it amongst my favourite countries in the world, mainly because the Mongolians seemed such a lovely and peaceful people, Ghengis Khan excepted!

Personally I don't agree with capital punishment, ever, for the following reasons:

- there is a high risk of depriving an innocent person of their life and have been many such cases in the past
- the death penalty legitimises an irreversible act of violence
- two wrongs don't make a right. You cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing. Or to put it in Desmond Tutu's words, to take a life is revenge, not justice.
- it promotes and sanitises vengeance
- it does not work as a deterrant to others who would consider committing a crime carry the death penalty
- it degrades those who use it to no more moral than the convicted criminals who have incurred the penalty

I could go on...

I think most people in the UK who, sadly, still agree with capital punishment, would only see it as justified for a small number of offences such as murder and violence towards children. So I'm astounded about what relatively minor offences must make the grade for Mongolians to consider them worthy of such a high punishment?

However, I'm pleased to see they're moving towards abolishing it in favour of other penalties. If you are interested in taking action on this issue click on the following link which will take you to Amnesty's campaign page on the subject http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=10033

Here's a photo from my stay in the very peaceful Terelj National Park in Mongolia for a bit of inner zen!

In other news I'm pleased to report that thanks to a generous donation from my lovely friend Danners I'm now only £3 away from my monthly fundraising target! Thanks again to everyone who has contributed and helped me get to this point.

I've got 20 people coming to my curry night next week which should be fun, but there is plenty of space for anyone else who fancies it, £20 for 3 courses a drink and a chance to take part in my India-themed quiz. More details available from the Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/356244781067608/

I'm also organising a big bowling party for April and a curry night in Leighton Buzzard so keep your eyes akimbo for news of those.

Happy Friday!

Make the International Arms Trade Treaty bulletproof

I've just been reading an encouraging email from Amnesty about a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop the first international Arms Trade Treaty.

Members of the United Nations have voted overwhelmingly to develop the Treaty and Amnesty is calling on as many people as possible to put their name to letters to David Cameron and Nick Clegg asking them to make it 'bulletproof'.

In February a UN Preparatory Committee will be held ahead of the final and deciding negotiations take place in July. Any indication that the UK, as a major arms exporter and influential government at the UN table, is reducing its support could encourage other countries to press for a weakened treaty which offers little protection of human rights.

The arms trade is currently unregulated - with devastating consequences in terms of human impact.

If you want to add your voice to Amnesty's and call on our government to press for the strongest possible regulation, please visit Amnesty's campaigns page on this issue: http://tinyurl.com/6s3cteo.

I'm off now for my first run in over a week, very naughty of me. Wish me luck!

Pumpkin scones - a revelation!

It's almost Monday (boo) and yet again the weekend has flown. I've had a truly fabulous one spending time with my honorary third sister and brilliant friend Helen who came to stay for the weekend and kindly offered to pay me for cakes and photos to help me in my fundraising quest. We went to see one of our joint honorary sister's Emma as she was having a housewarming, so took her a yummy batch of brownies and then proceeded to eat most of them ourselves.

In between using up most of the available air in Bedfordshire putting the world to rights, Helen and I had a lot of fun today making pumpkin scones - an amazing new revelation to both of us - and banoffee muffins. The thing I love about cooking is that it feels like legitimised playing for adults, getting your hands dirty and being really tactile with stuff that then rewards you with a second gift of being delicious!

Here are some pics of our scones in various stages of development, which I highly recommend as an accompaniment to cheese or veggie soup, or just warm with some butter. We had them with cornichons and some cranberry & apple chutney I made a few days ago. Altogether a pretty heavenly trio and a win-win way of raising money for Amnesty!

If you fancy some pumpkin scones of your own or something else (the list is pretty endless) please contact me and I will bake you up a treat!

Kitchen bitch catering services

Those who know me know how much I love, love, love to cook. In fact I'm such a foodie geek that I actually have a spreadsheet on my pc with a list of all the recipes I either like to make or want to make. In fact this just gave me a little brainwave to write my own version of the '1000 things to do before you die' but a quick search on Amazon reveals somebody else got to it first, never mind!

Anyways, I've decided to put this passion to good use by offering my cake baking & catering services in return for donations. So if you need a birthday cake or something for a special occasion, or you'd like to cater for some friends or family but lack the skill or inclination to cook for them yourself, contact me and I will let you know whether I can help. I've included some photos here to wet your appetite and show you the kinds of things I can do, from patatas bravas to peanut butter cheesecake! You can contact me via this blog, my Justgiving page www.justgiving.com/EmilyCharlotteJeffrey or on facebook http://www.facebook.com/emcupcakes