Thursday 8 September 2011

The Ripple of Kindness



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I hear such allot about society crumbling and the news is always full of the worst news possible.  Well if like me you are fed up with economic disaster, war, muggings and riots .. then read the posts below.  You will find random acts of spontaneous kindness stretching deliciously across the land.   Random Bakes of Kindness hit a cord.. for sure  .. and I am pleased to tell you all that  it will be a regular feature  .. so get baking again .. I shall do another post on the 27th of October 2011

So .. Here are all the delicious spontaneous acts of appreciation across the land.. I have to say that reading these posts has been so uplifting!

Our bakes have no borders, no race, no financial requirements. ..   they are straight up kind moments through and through .. and I am sending my biggest smile to each and everyone of the people who have participate thank you from the bottom of my heart, because ultimately good food is about how you make someone feel and you have made someone feel very special indeed. 

Read on and smile.

I wrote my Random Bake of Kindness first.. which lead to a ripple across the blogasphere
Dom at Belleau Kitchen was one of the first people I called to run the idea past.  Before I'd finished my sentence he said .. I'm in  .. what a fab idea.. despite not actually having a kitchen to cook in ! During the time his kitchen has been rebuilt the lady next door has had her kithen open to him all the while.  So Dom baked James Ramsden's Fennel and Chocolate Brownies for her. 


Nicola Thompson  of Cookies Cakes Bakes cooked  biscuits are for her mother-in-law.  Recently she has been suffering from ill health and as a result, has been feeling quite low. She now lives alone Nicola always makes a point of popping in to see her for a cup of tea and a biscuit. She says her mother in law loves home baking but doesn't have the energy to make anything these days. So whenever she pops over she goes armed with a baking tin and it never fails to puts a smile on her face. 

There are some people in life who manage to spread kindness and joy where ever they are and Jesse is one of these people. She was lent the perfect dress a while back and surprised her friend with some delicious Vanilla Blondies   ( I know that they are delicious as they are my own recipe from Prepped !) 
It's so lovely to read that I have inspired someone ... and this lovely first post is from Sarah Garton and she made a batch of Triple Chocolate Cookies for a friend who has been down about things. .. and before I'd blinked Sarah had baked sourdough and given one to her local big issue seller!

Rachel is just a lovely lady and she dropped her bakes in to her Greengrocer ...  who has SIX children !!  

Sarah who has the most fabulous food blog baked for both my random bakes and Dom's in the same yummy post !

Having had a hip replacement just weeks ago Susan baked these delicious cookies as a surprise to the staff who looked after her.  She's one wonderful lady and I just love her approach to life. 

Linzi Barrow .. in her Blog post  made cookies for her 80 year old neighbour .. who helps her out by signing for parcels where she is out!  What a delight .. it made my day reading this post!
Jack has a fresh and upbeat look at food as he writes about his passion in life .. and his lucky neighbours were surprised with an utterly scrumptious Lemon Drizzle Cake!
One lucky Yoga teacher was treated to a batch of buns unexpectedly by bakery cottage by addicted to baking

Liz combined one of my recipes and one of Nigella's for her friend Anne on her Blog above Diamonds..  It's really something to have a good friend!

Brownieville girl whipped up some fabulous Muffins for school she said I whipped up the muffins when I got up, and they were still warm when I popped them into a tin for the kids to bring to school. .
.. they sound utterly delicious !

Choclette had a bit of a baking disaster .. but I am sure she'll do another ! 

Kate at Kate's cakes and bakes made some Chewy, oaty, with a sweet hit of coconut biscuits she says they are excellent dunking-in-a-hot-drink abilities for a friend with allergies. 

I loved this post .. for her children's school where she is s governor ...  Utterly Scrummy wrote I made three cakes whilst having a total of 7 children in my house, and got them all to help.  Clearly I am slightly insane. It all worked out well though and I dutifully hauled all the baking to the school staffroom this morning.  I sneaked in just after drop off time so the goodies would be a welcome surprise for the staff at morning tea time .. what a treat!

Lavender and Lovage wrote such a fabulous post about making Rock cakes in France for a lady who welcomed me to the village and didn't laugh when I made grammatical errors when speaking French; a lady who shares her family recipes with me; a lady who looked after our house and three cats for a few weeks; a lady who helps others; a lady who LOVES my English baking even though there is a wonderful pâtisserie in the next village that she frequents; a lady who always stops and speaks to me no matter what she is doing, a lady who is very lonely but who makes the very best of life........and, a lady who is fascinated by my old vintage biscuit tins collection. It was an easy first choice; part of my random act of kindness was to also give her a vintage biscuit tin to keep for herself.......one that I know she has admired on several occasions

If I am honest this post by Claire made me reach for a tissue and smile through my rather unexpected tears that just happened as I was reading this .. It reminded me of the post I wrote about my grandmother in it's style .. 

I was really tickled pink to find my cookies being made internationally for a very happy chap from Anita in a slice of my life ..  It's amazing that someone on the other side of the world is eating my cookies .. ( cool !)

The Yummy Yank just blew me away with her post  evan with an incredibly busy week she still found tome to make cake for the caretakers of the village hall.

Charlotte is one of my favourite Foodies.  She's also lovely.  I wish we lived closer as I'd see more of her and be able to buy her fabulous gluten free brownies. Well she didn't bake .. as such  but she did give all her Jam away .. which qualifies all the same !

Random Bakes of Kindness are international!  Over in Canada one lovely lady from Food Je t'aimee who baked for a friend who has children  had just gone back to work.. I so know how that feels !!



Vanessa 
x
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PS if I have missed your post please please email me so I can add it. 
PS If you have missed the deadline .. please just send it over and I will add it in

15 comments:

  1. I'm really glad this is going to carry on as I was secretly hoping it would. Brilliant!

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  2. I am so pleased that this is going to continue, it is too good to end!
    Karen @ Lavender and Lovage

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  3. Oh my god! So many to read. I'll be here all week. You're like a religion V! Xxx

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  4. I'm delighted to hear this will continue, love the idea! I can't wait to see what everyone else has made :-)

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  5. Aw sorry I didn't get round to joining in this month. Such heart warming stories.
    And meant to get back to you - I do have a twitter account but I don't use it. Can't remember what my user name is for it either. I will let you know if I do get back on and start using it - keep meaning to - and, in fact, I do sometimes go on but just can't seem to get into it! My username might be LouMcL - is that how to find someone or do I need to give you an address or something. Sorry I am useless. I will try to be more with it.
    Anyway, congratulations on a wonderfully lovely new movement - everyone needs a little extra kindness!

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  6. I am working my way through all the lovely posts. Thank you for setting off the ripples of kindness.

    Claire x

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  7. What an uplifting post and I'm so glad that I'll be able to join in next time. I'm agree that the news portrays all the doom and gloom but I felt strongly after the recent riots that the real story was one of optimism and community as so many people gathered together and rallied round. I see this series as a celebration of humanity - congratulations on coming up with such an excellent idea.

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  8. Thank you for such lovely comments!

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  9. I am really glad that this will become a regular feature - I was hoping that it would! I thoroughly enjoyed blogging about what I made and reading about all the other fab things that were made by everyone else. Great fature!! Well done to all the bakers too! xx

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  10. Charlotte @gofreecakes10 September 2011 at 07:48

    This is lovely, Vanessa. Makes great reading. Here's mine: http://charlotteepike.blogspot.com/2011/09/random-bakes-of-kindness.html

    Charlotte x

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  11. I breath a sigh of relief, although I don't comment much I like the others am so pleased to read that this will cotinue.

    Thank you also for introducing me to the other blogs as I am making time to visit them.

    PS The date is marked, fingers crossed that I can participate as a flat move is on the cards.

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  12. I'm completely belated in saying so, but thanks again for organizing such a beautiful event! I too am beyond happy that it will be a regular feature. We all need a little more kindness and a little more baked goodness in our lives... ok, the latter may be debatable (ha!), but life's short, right? Look forward to next month's round up! :)

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  13. Fantastic round up - I'm well thought reading all the wonderful enteries and really enjoying every one.

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  14. oh that cookie hearts look yummy and they are so cute, perfect to give them away to your beloved ones to show them that you love them so much in a very special way!

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If you are reading my blog I must warn you that I am not impartial. I want to influence you. I want to make you stop for just a moment and consider the effect of a lifetime of seemingly insignificant decisions and how making small delicious choices can change the world.

I believe that we can change the world one bite at a time.

It's a delicious revolution.