I love seeing the joy it gives my children to bring me a cup of tea in bed with their handmade card and a little jug of flowers on Mother's Day morning. Perhaps one of the few times I prefer to be the receiver of the gift than the giver of the gift because of the pure delight on their faces. I'm not sure gift giving or receiving can ever top that as the intent in which they make their cards and give their gifts is full of the most incredible amount of love.
Remie (my eleven year old daughter) was asking me what I would like for Mother's Day this year and I really meant it when I said the thing that would make me most happy would be for her to write and illustrate a poem - she loves doing this anyway so an easy ask. I can't think of anything lovelier than having that to treasure once she's all grown up and living her life out in the world.
I had completely forgotten this had been my response and woke up to the beautiful poem below about spring yesterday morning along with an Origami flower and a mini charm. It made me really happy of course because she made it for me but also because I really believe there is an art in giving a great gift and that the thought, as the cliché goes, really is what counts. A good gift should show the people you love that they are seen and you understand them and that can be as simple as a hand drawn card or a fancy gift but for me its the nuance of the care taken in thinking and choosing not the money spent. Remie's poem and hand made charms along with all her baking (more below on that) made me feel happy that she holds those same values as me.
Remie and I spent a lot of time over the last few weeks discussing mothers day baking - her favourite activity is to bake and we love to talk cake recipes together. Sadly because she is now a way more accomplished baker than me I no longer help her but I love coming up with ideas with her and I definitely love eating her bakes! She had planned on making me a Rhubarb, Ginger & Nettle cake but despite it being the season of forced rhubarb they couldn't find any anywhere so I was really proud that she adapted her recipe and made me an absolutely delicious almond flour nettle, ginger and raspberry cake (even though raspberries are most definitely not in season!). It was absolutely delicious and maybe one day i'll persuade her to write her recipe down and share it!
In discussing the flavours she wanted to use for the cake, we talked about how the world is just beginning to burst into life in early March and what we could use from the hedgerow or garden to include in the cake and what else is in season - ie rhubarb. There are still only limited flowers but there are lots of green (and delicious) shoots appearing all around us, in the gardens, in the hedgerows. The best time to eat nettle is when the shoots are young (now!) and they are so full of goodness. I grew up eating nettle soup but you could use it in spanikopita or anywhere you might use spinach) - and also delicious in cake! The challenge is not overcooking them but steaming them as we learnt from the incredible forager Liz Knight so they need to be baked (almost steamed) at a very low temperature.
