Your uplifting and informative Heyday Friday newsletter
Discover the special reason this is a special time of year, how to make a sweet treat with a very unusual name and what to do to be better informed and entertained, in this week's newsletter
If you’re one of the lovely people who has been following Heydays for a while (thank you) then you’ll know that October is always a special month for me because it brings with it the annual highlight of my year - the Women of the Year Lunch.
If you’re new here (welcome!) then here’s a very quick catch up (this won’t take a moment any of you who are already familiar with what I’m about to say, but feel free to skip to the bit about the blog - it’s just one paragraph down. See you there.)
The Women of the Year Lunch is an annual event which celebrates over 400 remarkable women whose tireless dedication, determination, courage and compassion has changed the lives of those around them, their communities and wider society. I won’t tell you any more about the event itself, because you can read that in the blog, but I will say that I’ve been involved with the organisation for many years, that I am now one of its directors, and that it’s one of the most rewarding and inspiring things I do. Here I am with just a few of the simply magnificent team of women I work with - all of us volunteers - at Women of the Year. Our utterly fabulous Chair, Lady Louise Vaughan, is the one in the red dress holding the top of one of the frames.
This year’s fantastic lunch (it might just have been the best ever. But then I think that every year) was on Monday, and in the blog this week I share some of the the moving, rousing, galvanising words from our 2023 award winners (every woman is invited to the event because she is a Woman of the Year, but we also give awards to a small handful of them).
Meet our sensational award winners and find out what they had to say that was so memorable and important, and who our VERY starry award presenters were (there was one I was especially over-excited about. Wonder if you can guess which it was) by CLICKING HERE
Here’s a taste of the sort of
WORDS OF WISDOM
you can expect to find from our award winners. This is Raksha Pattni sharing her advice to her younger self. You can find out what she won her brilliantly well-deserved award for and what she charged the audience with doing in THIS WEEK’S BLOG.
I’m an inveterate collector of recipe books and recipes torn out of magazines and newspapers. Now, to add to my recipe-collecting obsession I have amassed an absurdly large collection of mouth-watering dishes I very much want to make (eventually) from accounts I follow on Instagram. This is one I did try, so I can confirm that it’s as delicious as it looks.
STRAWBERRY LEMON DUTCH BABY
Apparently a Dutch baby is a cross between a pancake and a crepe. Who knew.
It’s all cooked in one pan, which you use on the hob and in the oven, and takes about 20-25 minutes to make, which includes about 17 mins in the oven. This makes four generous size portions.
Preheat the oven to 220C, gas mark 7
Put 3tbsp sugar, 1tsp vanilla essence, 1/2 cup of plain flour, 2tbsp unsalted butter, melted, a pinch of salt, the zest of 1 lemon and 1/2 cup of milk in a blender and blend on low until fully combined.
Chop 1 cup of strawberries.
Melt 2tbsp unsalted butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the chopped strawberries and coat with the butter. Then pour the batter over them.
Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for about 17 mins until it goes a little brown, the edges have crisped up and it looks puffy. Like this (excuse the writing, the pic is a screen grab)
When you take it out of the oven it will flatten (don’t worry, it’s meant to!)
Top with icing sugar and maple syrup or honey and enjoy.
THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN…..LISTENING TO
It would be hard for me to be less interested in data, or, indeed, analysis of data. So it came as quite a surprise to find the 15-minute-long episodes of Uncharted, each of which explores the, often unexpected and surprising, stories that lie behind the lines on a graph, quite so absorbing and enjoyable.
Much of that is down to the engaging warmth of presenter, and Professor of Mathematics, Hannah Fry (who also fronted one of the more memorable and fascinating TV documentary series of recent times - The Secret Genius of Modern Life. You can watch all those episodes HERE). Her apparent delight in sharing the discoveries she makes as she delves behind the data to uncover the human tales that inform it, and her accessible explanations of sometimes quite complex statistics, mean that at the end of each episode you feel not just entertained but better informed.
Listen to Uncharted to find out what a room full of nuns, and one in particular, reveal about ageing well. What happens when a system designed to help people harms them instead. And why more boys than girls are born in certain years.
You’ll find all the episodes of UNCHARTED on BBC Sounds and wherever you get your podcasts.
I fell down a rabbit hole of data/science/technology jokes looking for a
FRIDAY FUNNY
that I could link to Uncharted, most of which, to be absolutely honest, I didn’t really understand! This one though was about my level.
I’m spending the weekend with four friends I first met when we were all at school together 50 years ago. The last time we almost all managed to meet up I WROTE THIS about the special joys of lifelong friendships. I’m looking forward to revelling in all those delights again.
Have a wonderful week whatever you’re doing.
See you next time
Great issue not just because I had to miss the Women of the Year Lunch this year for medical reasons and you brought the event to life - see what you mean about tall award winners - everyone looking so glamorous and full of purpose/inspiration. I even got excited about this week's recipe - maybe that's down to the aneurysm!! Anyway full marks Madam for an inspiring issue - has brightened up a dismal Friday