The Wright side of life: A whirlwind week in Karen’s life

Karen Wright writes: Last week must go down in my recent history as the fastest week on record.
Karen's new red kitchen worktopsKaren's new red kitchen worktops
Karen's new red kitchen worktops

I keep looking at my diary to check but yes, this time last week when I was typing up my column my kitchen was being ripped apart. I had the contents of all the kitchen cabinets out, my living room looked like a very busy car boot sale. Don’t you just love it when you rediscover things that were tucked away unused and unloved? I found a whole stash of individual sized casserole dishes, all in a primary colour that I once bought in France. For me there’s nothing like a quick makeover of a room to get the creative juices flowing, one thing tends to lead to another, my bedrooms better watch out my paint pots might just have a lick left in them! On Tuesday I did my very first slot on www.ukonlineradio.com/5-towns-radio. I had prepared a few songs that I wanted to get the show rolling with and my signature song that I started with was “If I knew you were coming, I’d have baked a cake” A song older than me and that’s an achievement in itself. The two hours went past so quickly, before you could say “Jack Flash” it was over and out until next week.

That same evening due to the kitchen being out of commission at Chez Karen we decided to eat out. It made for a very pleasant change. We went out with new friends Lyn and Glen at the Syhiba on George Street. My friends at Wakefield Civic Society dining club recommend it and I now know why. Not only was the food excellent value and delicious but the staff were extremely friendly and attentive, nothing was too much trouble for them.

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By Thursday we had finished the kitchen, I had renewed my relationship with the back of my cupboards having been in there with some elbow grease to get them in pristine condition once again. My favourite thing about this revamp was that instead of my old worktops heading off to the tip, John recycled them and now we have a run of worktops in the garage, it looks much more organised.

Karen at Wakefield LGBT PrideKaren at Wakefield LGBT Pride
Karen at Wakefield LGBT Pride

We had our Brighton family coming up for a long weekend, so I had to get out to the shops and get some groceries in and do a bit of menu planning. It’s always 100 per cent vegetarian when they stay at ours, so it is the usual challenge to cater for my meat and two veg husband at one end of the scale and a two-year-old granddaughter at the other.

I made a veggie chilli, I used lentils and red kidney beans as the protein, I used red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, onions and courgettes for the vegetable. A tin of tomatoes, a squirt of tomato puree, a chilli and teaspoon of smoked paprika and a bit of garlic made up the sauce.

My final flourish was a teaspoon of cinnamon and a few dark chocolate buttons into the mix. I served this with wedged potatoes, homemade mango salsa and guacamole as sides. My cousin Janet and Kev joined us on Saturday so we all had a Mexican feast!

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On Sunday it was the 10th Wakefield Pride LGBGTQ event. I have never been to a Pride before, so I was keen to get into town and soak everything up. I dressed for the occasion in my rainbow trousers and my blue shoes. We found the start of the parade up at Trinity Walk, with so many people gathered to join in. It was a real buzz around the streets. We found a great spot in the Bullring to watch the parade pass by. So wonderful to see and to feel the community pulling together.

For more tips and recipes go to http://www.karenwrightbakes.co.uk