My dear Godmother Val sadly passed away suddenly at the end of 2009.  I will always remember her as a warm and big hearted woman who never missed an important event in my life, and was always a pleasure to spend time with at family gatherings and the like.

Much to my surprise, she left me a little something in her will.  When this arrived we were in the middle of a big building project on the house and I didn’t want to mark her memory by putting this towards new windows, guttering or some underpinning for the garage.  Therefore, I decided to invest this in something I had always wanted, and that would be a long lasting memory to her.

Now, my mum has had a Kenwood Chef since she got married in 1968 – still going strong and takes the credit for the best meringues in the world (although Mum, I do think that you are probably the magic ingredient).  Consequently, a mixer is something I had always aspired to own, but the goods don’t come cheap.

Thanks to my godmother’s bequest I now had the opportunity to posess such a thing of baking wonder.  I did the research (including a poll of my nearest and dearest) and the Kitchen Aid came out top trumps… a big shiny black one (to go with the new kitchen) which we have naturally and endearingly named Val 🙂

I therefore dedicate this site and the produce of my oven to my Godmother Val – thanks for furnishing me with tools that have formed the foundation to my baking journey.