floatingbaker

16/11/2023

Let's talk about Cystic Fibrosis treatments

As you may know my son Vincent has Cystic Fibrosis. It is a genetic condition that affects his lungs and digestive system. We found out that we were carriers when Ariadne died as she had it too. When meeting the Cystic Fibrosis team about it we were told that a new life-saving treatment had just come out. We were told that nowadays having Cystic fibrosis was like having diabetes. It is the Only treatment for CF. It adds about 30 years of life expectancy to children with the condition.
The N.I.C.E is now reviewing the drug and about it to remove it from the NHS. This means Vincent wouldn't have access to the only drug that would mean he can grow like an other child and be a healthy adult. Luckily this isn't the case in France but we feel very strongly about this decision in the UK. The only reason of the review is cost. And frankly we're bored seeing price tags on our children's lives. I am very aware of the privilege I have to being able to access the treatment from where I am. But treatment access should NOT be a privileged for the ones who can afford it privately or move away. This is threatening hundreds of lives. And we are talking about children.

Could you please sign this petition and share it with as many people as possible.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/650674

26/10/2023

👵👶A grandma meeting a new life is so precious. My son is lucky to have his three great grandmothers around. I say three because one of them is my adoptive grandma. She cared for me when I was little out of the kindness of her heart. She made space for me amongst her own family and loved me like her own grand-daughter. I learnt a lot of things from spending my summer holidays with her.
-I became very good at catching frogs and lizards in river swamps 🐸 (they always dropped their tails and ran away)🦎
-I mastered going down rapids on various inflatables
-I observed and learnt about the effortlessness of cooking and baking
-I became a great vegetable patch weeder and spent hours watering the rose garden
-I learnt that simple things matter. Especially that she grew everything we ate.
-I felt the abundance of nature

And now both my little ones have met her and I'm happy.

25/10/2023

⛰️We are having a holiday in the sanctuary of my childhood. This is the place where I have the most beautiful and peaceful memories as a little girl. I was lucky to have it to shape me and only now I realise that wherever I go I crave the translucent rivers and the dominating mountains.
It feels both peaceful and dangerous and I am totally in my element. The forests are made of sweet chestnut trees. In the first 5m of our walk we could have collected 3kg of chesnuts 🌰. Nature there is full and abundant. I am home.

22/10/2023

We had a real slow Sunday today with lots of home baking and just hang out. I made a leftover lunch with all the bits in the fridge. I like to empty it before we go on holidays and see what I can come up with. We had some mashed up veggie lasagna, a coquilette salade with white miso dressing and some fried rice. It felt a bit like one of those restaurants that specialises in too many different types of food. It was real carb fest and wow it was delicious. I also had some fresh yeast I needed to use and some meyer lemons pick up in the park downstairs.
I attempted a chocolate babka with the yeast and it was a bit of a disaster. Still tasty though but the dough was way too soggy and I had trouble kneading it. I still shoved it in the oven covered in buttery chocolate sauce and it looks (and taste pretty good). It will be our train breakfast tomorrow morning 🚉 bags to go down South tomorrow morning.
The meyer lemons are a real discovery. They taste a bit like yuzu. The park downstairs has all those amazingly unnative food trees and I'm very excited to try out things with all the fruits I find. I used recipe for candied fruits and the whole flat smelt of deep citrusy goodness.
I made breakfast and fruit sweeties for the journey but I still haven't packed our bags! Can't wait to be in Ardèche tomorrow and soak in deep forest and mountain walks.

21/10/2023

6 months in France 🇫🇷!!!
We have left the UK half a year ago already. Time flies really. And it feels like we have done so much slowing down, settling in and building routines. A few things that happened:
🍼 Vincent is here and is lovely
🍩 is absolutely nuts
🏕We made wonderful friends in the south of France
💕 Vivienne started school in the middle of the year not speaking French and 3 weeks later she was fluent
🍽My fridge will never be big enough
🧨We started redecorating the flat and haven't finished
🎊 I'm doing a Cap patisserie so I can work here

A few truth about boat life. It was amazing when it was the 2 of us cruising the canal network but it became a full-time job with children. It's constant work. There isn't a day when you can just laze around casually because that will be the day you ran out of water, need to move the boat and empty the toilets. It was hard work to keep good standards of hygiene. It was hard work in general.

24/09/2023

Wedding cake in Paris 🎂 in my mama's kitchen👩🏼‍🍳.
My husband got me 's book More Than Cake last time he was in London. I relate to the way she builds layered cakes. She almost makes them into entremets with less sponges, more cream, less overpowering sugar and the buttercream doesn't run the show! She balances sourness and sweetness, lightness and deep flavours. This is actually the first time that a layered cake cookbook speaks to me. I couldn't wait to try out her recipes! And I did. dairy-free. I made her Black Sesame Cake turned dairy-free.
And what better reason to try it out then the wedding of my dear friends from Clown School and Johann . I couldn't be there so I thought I'd gift them a cake. And I think sharing food is the best feeling. And it's a privileged to be part of such a special day, celebrating love and growth.

I had two little assistants through out the making process. One was very involved with the swiss meringue buttercream!

14/09/2023

It's plums season!🍂 I got my hands on some juicy damsons in the market.
Almost as good as the one in garden. I was planning on making a plum tatin but I've only got one hand free at the moment. The other one is busy holding a 4kg baby boy. I am quite excited to share my plum jam recipe with you. The trick is to throw everything in a copper pot and forget about it for 1 hour.

*Plum Jam 🥧
1.5kg of damsons
500g sugar
1 tbls of cinnamon

Slow cook in a pot for 1 hour. Wait for it to cool down. Strain and remove the stones. I make the jam with the stones because it adds a lovely deep flavour. The longer you leave them in the better. Put in a sterile jar. Eat throughout autumn and winter!

11/09/2023

Hello!👋 I've been quiet for a little while. And very vague with what I was up to. But here we are! Me, Vinny and Vivi. For the ones who have been following me for the last few years, you know how long and difficult it has been to get to the point of being able to take this picture. Still it will never be complete and Ariadne will always be missing from our family photos, our celebrations and our lives.

But today I am celebrating the arrival of my son Vincent. Born early August about 2 weeks early. He didn't give me time to finish preping, painting and decorating anything 🤣. So the flat still has ladders against the walls and half finished flooring. Our bedroom is covered in baby clothes in baskets as we're waiting for furnitures and it very much feels like we live on a narrowboat still. I wouldn't have it any other way though 🌈 ❤️

I want to thank you all for baring with me the last few months. I have left everything behind and new beginnings do take time and energy. To put it in context I went from living on my boat with my family, running a baking business that I loved, being surrounded by friends to moving back to my parents flat and losing my independence. Turning a grown woman back into her teenage self...Never an easy thing! But I didn't feel like I had a choice. Unfortunately bad political decisions and a huge lack of support for young mothers running a small business has affected me personally. We were left without support at critical times and more importantly my children have suffered from it. It wasn't an easy decision but it made sense.

So now I have to rebuild myself in an other country. Starting from scratch. I can't casually open my window and sell my bakes here. Especially that I'm in the capital of the best cakes in the world. I have a few ideas on what comes next but to be perfectly honest I have no idea of how and where. The plan is to bake, to maybe find a piece of land and a derelict house to renovate. So I guess floating baker will be now floating around in the quest of landing. I'll be exploring baking in Paris. I will be going around France to look for land. And I am gonna take time to enjoy and cherish my little rainbow son 🌈

24/06/2023

And... baking is back baby 🍰. With a Sour berry jam, lemon sponge and rose filled buttercream.

I am not sure which direction my baking is taking yet. The physical space I am in is now going to shape it a bit. Not being on the boat anymore means a different way of baking. I have more space to make bigger. cakes. But I don't have a constant flux of people coming to me. So being seen isn't going to be as easy. And making small cakes isn't the way to go.

Yesterday I made this very pink and summery cake for my daughter's Solstice School party. I was lovely focusing on making again. And I have a beautiful florist just downstairs! I'm excited!

14/06/2023

Goodbye Hope!⚓️

Now that you have been sold thank you for been a fabulous 57ft narrowboat. You have been our first home and have seen us grow. We will miss cruising you around the country and opening your hatch to sell cakes. But we made sure you're in good hands. And who knows where you'll end up on your next adventures. Hopefully you'll be a cocoon for new memories, travels and hopes.

👋That's me standing near the boat for the last time💫Goodbye beautiful K&A towpath!

And now 👋Hello new adventures!

01/04/2023

https://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/cnm-57-semi-trad-for-sale/727032

Narrow Boats: For Sale: Hope 57ft Narrowboat Semi Trad Bakery Boat Bath Somerset

31/03/2023

🎊✨️⚓️⚓️Hope is now listed for Sale!

Narrowboat Hope is a 57ft, 2005 built Narrowboat. It has been the home of the Floating Baker, a vegan French bakery. It has a fully 5 star rated commercial kitchen and is ready for a food trading business on the canal with an electric set up allowing continuous use of kitchen appliances, double sink, cleanable surfaces. It also comes with a display shelf and a selling hatch. There is an absolutely beautiful roof steal painted signage and a couple of painted menu boards. Specification for the Boat is below. We are looking to secure a buyer with an initial deposit, and balance ahead of completion.

This boat is very well cared for, and stunning throughout. It has been our home for the last 5 years. We have made it extremely comfortable for continuously cruising. It has an extraordinary amount of storage through out and a huge water tank. The internal head height is 6’6” in the middle which allows tall people to stand straight. Hull surveyed, blacking and BSS have been all been done in February 2023. This is the ideal boat for live aboard and trading.

The boat was featured on The Cotswolds with Pam Ayres.

External:

57 ft Semi traditional Shell.

Bow and Stern Lockers

Custom Made Cratch cover and Iroko Cratch board.

Custom Made bakery signage

750w Solar 2 tilting panels with custom built steel brackets.

Pole and 2 x Plank.

External LED Bow tunnel light.

Unique Design Stern and Cratch Covers.

Intertuff 16 Bitumen Coating (below waterline)

4 Piece Mooring Line (bow and stern center line x 2)

6 x Mooring Pin

1 x Lump Hammer.

Fenders

Smart cat flap.

Internal:

Spray Foam Insulated.

1000 Litre Water Tank.

Beta Marine 38 HP Engine

Autoterm Diesel Fired Central Heating System.

Salamander Hobbit multi-fuel Stove With Back boiler feeding 2 radiators.

⚓ More info on Appolo Duck🔗
https://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/cnm-57-semi-trad-for-sale/727032