FA Cup Cake

And there TLF goes.
Hoisted by her own baked petard.
The petard in this case being a blueberry loaf.

Although if you were to attach blame to my latest superstition I’d maybe point the paw of accusation in the direction of Thameslink & Great (a contradiction in terms) Northern. That’s where it all started. Because after two weeks of delays due to signal failure, lack of train crew, flooding at Farringdon (rolls off the tongue nicely but still bloody annoying) and someone jumping in front of my train, TLF’s travel bug had gone AWOL.The idea of having to negotiate the daily St Albans – London journey on a Satday was about as attractive as a lager and snack free pub with homes under the hammer on the big screen. TLF was feeling distinctly train averse. So no St Albans v Maidenhead and no sneaking into the Spurs end for Lesta’s 4th round FA Cup tie at White Hart Lane. Call me a fair weather fan but trust me there comes a point when you need a Tardis, and if you can’t lay your hands on one then you stay at home.

….A Tardis shop – yet another gaping hole in the retail offering of St Albans, along with having no Lidl….

Anyway where was I? Oh yep FA Cup Satday. Having imposed a travel ban on myself it was then essential, in the interests of increasing the chances of positive full time scores that I immediately deployed “Operation La La La It’s not happening.” My sure fire way to ensure some success on the sporting front when at home:
IGNORE IT.
Instigate a full media blackout.
Repeat the mantra, “Nothing to see (or indeed hear) here.
No peeking out from behind the sofa at Sky Sports a la small child watching the Daleks.

And to help with all that? Employ a distraction technique. Which last Satday took the form of baking. No smirking at the back there. TLF can bake. We might not be seeing any Michelin stats gracing the front door any time soon but I can wield a wooden spoon with the best of them. And as a cook who likes to follow the recipe to the letter I am a focussed one and the lack of Radio 5 Live in the background was on this occasion not even noticed.

Before I knew it the blueberry loaf was cooling and the final whistles had gone. St Albans managed an away draw with 10 men for most of the game and the mighty Foxes had scored two in the last 7 minutes to make it through to the fifth round of the FA Cup.

I bestow a beatific smile on my blueberry loaf and nod in appreciation, “Fine cake. Lucky cake. Lucky baking.” And then TLF’s little grey cells, in particular the ones that control the superstition genome, start to click through the gears….The conclusion is obvious and not very cheering. When I am Chez TLF and Lesta are away from home the blueberry loaf is the 12th man. My team’s fortunes are tied up with the baking. I am a slave to the blueberry loaf.
Baked Off Fox (BOF!)

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