Red in my ledger

I managed to get a trip down memory lane this week – well, this was when I was making a batch of red velvet cupcakes for our ed-in-chief’s birthday on Tuesday (happy birthday again Philippa!) Many moons ago, when I was a not-so-jaded fresher, I was actually known amongst some peers as the queen of red velvet. I totally blame the South Kensington outpost of the Hummingbird Bakery for this one; they were the ones who sold me my first red velvet cake, and I fell in love.

My mum’s the baker in our family, so it’s not like I didn’t grow up around bread and cakes. However, she hardly ever makes anything that uses food colouring (she isn’t as keen about working with it) – which is why I had never tried red velvet cake prior to moving to London. My only niggle at the time with the HB offering was that the icing was crazy-sweet, and that I wanted a slightly more pronounced chocolate flavour in my cake, so the kitchen-hacker in me was dying to experiment – which I did, of course.

Cut to spring term in my fresher year, where I ended up making loads of red velvet cupcakes for a number of occasions: at least a few fundraisers (ex-Felix Editor Kadhim’s Skeleton Fund and the MSF bake sales), a number of birthdays and potlucks, and during one bad low in my depression, “just because”. Sure beats being an unproductive blob in front of a _How I Met Your Mother _marathon. Thankfully no one has been poisoned by my bakes, so I think I’m okay...?

Since then I’ve definitely moved on to add more cakes and sweets to my repertoire; however, red velvet’s definitely got a special place in my heart, and one that I come back to now and again. Those who know me will know that there are very few desserts that I make (semi-)regularly, as I’m always keen on trying new things; tiramisu (for family gatherings in Malaysia) and créme brulée are the only others apart from red velvet. It’s also encouraged me to experiment more and not be afraid of working with food colouring; anyone who’s seen my log cake with my handmade fondant Pokémon will be able to tell you how far I’ve come since then.

The title of this editorial also has another meaning (apart from being an Avengers reference as well – NEW MOVIE TRAILER LEAKED OMG MUCH EXCITE!): often there are many who get conned into going broke, overhauling their diets to follow the latest fad, and just as many lament how it’s so expensive to eat healthily (newsflash: TV dinners cost more!). This tends to be truer in America where it can be cheaper to eat out (my foodie boyfriend spent two terms on an final year project in Potsdam, NY – every Skype convo had a lament about how high fructose corn syrup was EVERYWHERE).

Either way, Michelle’s taken a look at some characteristics of the more-known diets in this week’s feature – we hope this’ll educate others a bit more. Yes, there always is a leeeeetle bit of start-up cost when one makes some dietary changes, that said, no one says you’ve got to totally change your eating in one go. For broke students like us, tweaking bit-by-bit is probably better for both your wallet and for maintaining healthier habits long-term -– you’re more likely to stick to it than if you made a crazy-drastic change. Enjoy, and I’ll see you next week!