I've brought myself some silicones

They're quite big and wobbly. I am, of course, talking about my new silicone loaf tins.

I brought them primarily to make gluten free bread, but I'm sure they can also be used to make other loaf-shaped goods - fruit cake for example. But one step at a time.

Being lazy and unable to follow simple recipe instructions, I opted for a Glutafin bread mix. The instructions are pretty straightforward. Add water, yeast and oil, mix around, put in the oven.

Sceptical that there is more to bread making than this, I was surprised that A) the silicone loaf tin didn't melt and B) there was actually a loaf of bread in it.

'I see you've played knifey-spoony before'

My boyfriend once used five knives to butter a single piece of peanut butter on toast.

This was to prevent the dreaded 'contamination'. All just so I could have some peanut butter on rice cakes.

He had hugely underestimated the amount of peanut butter needed to satisfactorily cover his toast. Unable to put the same, bread-crumbed covered knife back into the jar, he got another knife, and another, until the perfect quantity of peanut butter had been applied.

Some households operate a spoon system; using a spoon in the jar and then spreading with a knife. We have a better system - we buy two jars of peanut butter.

A gluten free shop, for gluten free people

We couldn't resist visiting the town of Hadfield where the League of Gentlemen is filmed when we went to the Peak District. We tried to be inconspicuous as we walked down the high street gawping at the shops, trying to work out their Royston Vasey equivalents. It was quite sinister with the war memorial eerily looking over the town, and you could almost imagine Tub's and Edward's local shop secluded up on the hills in the distance.


On the way back to normality, we stopped off in Bakewell which is famous for its tarts. Here, I found another local shop thefarmersmarketshop.co.uk which had a freezer dedicated to gluten free goodies! I spoke to the owner, and she cooks all these herself and of course makes gluten free Bakewell tarts.

The Peak District seems to be a gluten free haven; every market stall seemed to have something on offer. I don't know if this is true of other markets - I tend not to visit them that often as I still am under 30 after all.

Walking is another activity I tend to leave to older folk. I sincerely regretted mocking some fellow walker's hiking boots and sticks, when I was stuck in a bog in Converse trainers holding on to a wall that was covered in cow's muck.

I much prefer walking between pubs, and we crawled around the pubs of Ashbourne, which was still recovering from Shrovetide. Had a posh meal in the Lamplight, where they checked everything for me and totally understood Coelism!

Gluten Free Goblin

Had Mum finally lost it? She was in the kitchen wearing a mask while making a cake. A cake that was not using gluten free flour, which she was in danger of inhaling, hence the mask. Bonkers.

So, I inherited coeliac disease from my Mum's side and my webbed toes from my Dad's. Marvelous! The toes I love, they are my party piece and I often get them out at parties after a few shandies. The gluten free diet is not so great at a party. It usually results in me drinking far too much on an empty stomach and showing strangers my feet.

But it's not all that bad - I've just had to change a few things I eat since being diagnosed 6 months ago. Not the end of the world, and I'm yet to wear a mask in the kitchen!