An Invernessian in America By Diane Knox: Bake Off TV show’s recipe for success helps quench thirst for home comforts
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I need a taste of home on a weekly basis. And it comes in many different forms.
Last weekend, it was celebrating Scotland’s victory against Israel in the World Cup qualifier with a bottle of (flat, overpriced) Irn-Bru.
I made the 15-minute trip to the local supermarket just to buy Irn-Bru, and every time I do it, the person at the checkout asks me what it is. Sidenote: it’s actually quite difficult to describe what Irn-Bru tastes like!
The other night, I took another completely extravagant drive to a shop called World Market (25 minutes away) to buy Maltesers, purely because I follow Café 1 on Instagram and a post of theirs triggered my love for their famous Malteser ice cream crepe.
I used to work at Café 1 when I first started at MFR and ate that crepe more often than I’ll admit… my mum and dad used to come in for dinner, order that for dessert and leave me a bite to quickly inhale in the kitchen!
I genuinely miss those days.
But my Friday night fix is coming in the form of the Bake Off – or the Great British Baking Show, as it’s called Stateside.
What is it about this TV programme?! The only way I can watch it over here is on Netflix, and the new episode comes out every Friday. And I’m relieved this is a one-way conversation right now as we’re definitely a few weeks behind, which means I can never Google it, and I try my absolute hardest to avoid any mentions of it on social media.
I’ve even muted “bake” and “baking show” on Twitter after last season’s winner was revealed to me waaaaay too soon.
My mum and I are obsessed, but nobody else in my circle seems to get it. Husband laughs at me and can’t fathom that Great British Bake Off is a total phenomenon back home. But for that sugary sweet hour on a Friday night, I smile from ear to ear at the TV.
I can talk about the contestants because, as I said, I think you’re at least two episodes head of me – but my favourites are Giuseppe and Jürgen. I cried each time Jürgen was awarded Star Baker, and when Paul Hollywood shook Giuseppe’s hand in Bread Week, I felt a salty tear hit my top lip.
You become so emotionally invested in the contestants, and experience their failures and triumphs right beside them.
It really is the perfect recipe for success, which is why we all fall in love with the shenanigans inside that tent.
It also makes me salivate, and has definitely inspired me to bake a little bit more in the kitchen, but let’s just say I won’t be submitting an application any time soon. Mind you, it’s Garrett’s birthday at the end of the month and the chocolate cake I made him last year was possibly a five out of
10. So there’s definitely room for improvement this year.
I’ll just have to wait and maybe take my inspiration from tonight’s episode – shhh don’t tell me anything!
