Top Ten Tuesday: Non-book Freebie

Posted on by The Book Lover's Sanctuary

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Previous Top Ten Tuesday Topics

This week’s topic delves out of the bookish realm and is described by Jana as a chance to

Take this time to let your readers get to know you a little!

But the thing is, when you know what a person reads and enjoys, the sort of worlds and characters that inhabit their imagination and give them solace, when you know when a person seeks comfort in their reading and when they seek to be challenged, you already know so much about that other person! Yes, I am the sort of person who, when invited into someone’s house, is instantly glancing around for bookshelves; I am the sort of person who on a crowded train chooses who I sit next by their reading matter…!

But of course I know what she means!

So, what is there to know about me besides my reading habits? I am a father to an autisitic daughter, but she features heavily on these posts in any event. I teach, but that is perhaps something I do rather than something I am – and that is an interesting question about identity, are you a noun (a teacher) or a verb (someone who teaches)? I run – at least when my ankle isn’t sprained and swollen – and I work out.

And I also bake. Baking is probably my favourite form of cooking. It is satisfyingly precise and fiddly, but also achievable. It is creative. It – obviously – creates things which are sweet treats and, hopefully, delicious.

And for the last few years on Wednesdays at work we have a well-being day… This is not a day off, you understand, not a chance to come off timetable or to talk with colleageus or to co-plan, but an invitation an expectation to bring baked treats into the school to share with staff. Which is a great idea. Most of us, it must be said, rely on shop-bought – which is fine and appreciated. I have always managed home-made and it has got to the point where there is a queue of people specifically waiting for my offerings when it is my turn!

Therefore, I thought this would be a list of ten well-appreciated items I have brought into work for our well-being Wednesdays.

  1. Dorset Apple Cake
  2. Chocolate and walnut brownies
  3. Raspberry and cream meringue roulade
  4. Pesto, prosciutto and cheese tear and share bread
  5. Sun dried tomato and olive tear and share bread
  6. Simnel cake
  7. Triple chocolate chip cookies
  8. Chocolate roulade
  9. Mince pies
  10. Christmas Cake
  11. Chocolate fudge cake
  12. Lemon cupcakes
  13. Flapjacks

Many of my recipes come from or are based on Nigella Lawson, it has to be said – and often from her How To Be A Domestic Goddess book. Also, it does seem that it is often my turn to bake just before Christmas, hence the preponderance of Christmas related themes. On occasion, I have been a little pressed for time, and the Christmas cake was not made specifically for school but was a three year old cake that I had been feeding with alcohol and just cut a quarter off!

But, the Dorset Apple cake, made with apples from my own garden picked moments before cooking, was probably my best received offering!

Upcoming To Ten Tuesday Themes

April 18: Non-book Freebie (choose your own topic that’s not related to books! This could be hobbies, TV shows/movies, bands/singers, food items/recipes, top ten things about you, your top ten favorite things, places you’ve visited, favorite fashion designers, etc. Take this time to let your readers get to know you a little!)
April 25: Favorite Audiobook Narrators (or, if you don’t listen to audiobooks, name people—celebrities or otherwise—who might make you reconsider.)
May 2: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf (close your eyes and touch/grab/point to 10 random titles and tell us what they are! And tell us what you thought if you’ve read them!)
May 9: Books I Recommend to Others the Most
May 16: Things Getting in the Way of Reading (what’s taking up your time right now?) (lovingly stolen from A Cocoon of Books during freebie week)
May 23: Things That Make Me Instantly Want to Read a Book (these can be auto-buy authors, tropes you love, if an author you love blurbed it, settings, genres, etc.)
May 30: Things That Make Me Instantly NOT Want to Read a Book (what are your immediate turn-offs or dealbreakers when it comes to books?)

Published by The Book Lover's Sanctuary

#bookblogger, teacher, father | he / him |