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!