Category: Uncategorised

Lockdown, Recipe, Uncategorised

Lockdown – cheese stars recipe

Kate Hardy

By popular demand… This is possibly the best recipe my mum ever taught me. Flat-out 1970s hedonism! Super-easy, brilliant for parties and afternoon tea, and everyone I’ve ever made these for has loved them – even my daughter, in her pre-vegan days (and she hated cheese!). Don’t ask me about the saturated fat content or calories because I’d like to stay in denial (but they are 3 Weightwatchers points each – worth it, in my opinion).

Normally I’d give tweaks to make it dairy-free, but in this case nothing works well enough. It has to be dairy cheese and proper salted butter. You can sub up to a quarter of the Gouda for cheddar and get away with it, but using all cheddar gives a different texture. This is my family’s favourite version.

Top tips: don’t skip the chilling stage (otherwise they spread and they’re impossibly crumbly and not as nice), and make sure the oven’s pre-heated.

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INGREDIENTS

  • 8 oz/250g butter
  • 8 oz/250g Gouda, grated
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 8 oz/250g plain flour
  • Paprika, to taste

METHOD

Beat the butter until creamy.

Add the cheese, egg yolks and paprika.

Work in the flour (with your hands usually works best!).

Chill the dough for an hour.

Knead, roll out to 5mm thick, and cut out star shapes (my cutter is about 3cm wide).

Place on a lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 10-12 minutes then cool on a rack.

Lockdown, Mental health, Uncategorised, Writing life

Lockdown – working from home

Kate Hardy

 

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A few tips for working from home from someone who‘s done it for a couple of decades – pretty much common sense, so apologies if I’m womansplaining (!) but it might help someone – and in these times I think we all need kindness and help 🙂

1) wear your work clothes (it will help you keep a work mindset) – one of my friends says that wearing shoes helps

2) sort out a routine (where and when you work – it is hard, especially if you have young children, but it’s also a way to help teach the skill of compromising!)

3) batch emails and use a timer when you’re checking them (ditto going on the internet – both of them can be massive time sucks if you let them)

4) get up and move at least once an hour – stretching, walking round the room/marching on the spot, up and down the stairs if you have any – if you have a fitness tracker that reminds you, great, otherwise maybe use your phone to set an alarm

5) hydrate properly and eat well (ie put the cookies and tortilla chips in a cupboard – if they’re out of sight you’re less likely to scoff a cookie with every cup of coffee)

6) schedule in social breaks (again, use a timer! but those breaks are important – if you’re on your own, maybe work out a schedule with friends so you can FaceTime/Skype/whatever)

Main thing is – you’re not alone. It’s doable. Sometimes it’s boring, sometimes you won’t feel like it – but schedule in treats. Get two things ticked off your todo list, and that earns you 10 minutes doing a crossword/playing guitar/whatever makes you happy.

Stay safe, be kind, wash your hands, and we’ll get through this.

Uncategorised

Planet Kate, 30 July 2018

Kate Hardy

What’s happening in my world, this week:

  • Work: writing M&B #85 (Medical Romance set in a GP surgery with a PAT dog); updating my website one backlist book per day; and starting my Big Book;
  • Reading: The Last Days of summer, Sophie Pembroke (enjoyed); The Final Echoes, Shirley Wells (enjoyed); Random, Craig Robertson (intrigued by the format – unusual for a crime novel to be written from the villain’s POV, but had to skip a few pages because I can’t cope with mega violence); The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (re-read and last time I read it was pre-kids, so was interesting to see how my response to the text had changed – still made me angry but for different reasons, and the writing was still fabulous)
  • Looking forward to: uni visits – Bristol, this week
  • Workouts: dog-walking (I’m struggling in the heat and a hard workout would probably put me in heat exhaustion, so I’m being kind to myself);
  • Planet Kate last week: Yay, finally finished putting M&B #84 back together and sent it to my editor. Had a quick London trip with Chloe – took her to see Othello at the Globe (Mark Rylance was fantastic as Iago; Emilia was also very strong) and then we had a trip to Primrose Hill. So pretty (I took a lot of location pics for a future book). We also saw Yeats’s house and Plath’s house, went book shopping, and I discovered the delights of iced coffee. And then on Sunday I went to see Danny Baker with Gerry at the Theatre Royal in Norwich – great show, very entertaining.
  • Fave pic from the last week: View from the south bank when the rain had stopped; Chalfont Square; and the gas holders in King’s Cross which have been turned into flats

Uncategorised

Planet Kate, 16 July 2018

Kate Hardy

What’s happening in my world, this week:

  • Work: writing M&B #84 (after realising I have got it totally wrong and shredding it); updating my website one backlist book per day (well, I was until I got the White Screen problem); and faffing about with my Big Book
  • Reading: All the Missing Girls, Megan Miranda (really interesting structure- told backwards – good read); Her Last Lie, Amanda Brittany (didn’t see the twist coming)
  • Looking forward to: a couple of days in Buckingham
  • Workouts: hopeless – too hot – early morning dog walks only
  • Planet Kate last week: The Tempest at the Cathedral – fabulous performance
  • Fave pic from the last week: the cathedralC791113E-1788-471F-AFA0-D19458D5077D