NADIYA HUSSAIN
The Bake Off star loves ice-skating and torchlit woodland walks in winter – just don’t ask her to build a snowman
January is a time of forced relaxation for me. Work has been slowing down since mid-december, so even though I’m still sending emails – I’m not good at slowing down – no one is responding. I do relax eventually.
As Muslims, we don’t celebrate Christmas, but we do the same things as many families over the holiday season: eating, pausing, then eating again. It’s my birthday on Christmas Eve, so we have a feast at our house, where everyone brings a dish.
We grow carrots, parsnips and broad beans, so I might cook with them. But I’m happy as long as we have roast potatoes. I make them with clarified butter, baking powder for a crisp coating and salt, and eat them cold. This year, I might make a mandarin custard pie [from Nadiya’s book Fast Flavours].
Once we’ve entertained relatives at Christmas, it’s all about hunkering down: getting cosy and having family time. It’s fun to watch a festive film, but it’s even more fun for my husband Abdul and I to show our children [aged 11, 14 and 15] films we used to watch, such as Back to the Future.
The kids love ice-skating at the local rink. They think they’re Torvill and Dean, even though they’re always falling over. I’m like Bambi, but I still enjoy it. I won’t be joining in, though, because
I hate snow. That might make me a Scrooge, but I don’t care. I can’t see why anyone likes it: it’s cold, it’s wet and it gets everywhere.
I wrap up in winter because I don’t like being chilly. It’s refreshing to have the cold on my face, but the rest of me must be warm. Having said that, I feel better mentally in winter. I love the short days and the long nights: it feels safe and comforting.
We go out in the dark as a family. Every day, we go for a five-mile walk in woods near our house. Evening walks can be fun – we attach torches to our heads and tramp along – as long as Abdul doesn’t jump out from behind a tree to surprise us.
We always stay awake on New Year’s Eve. Knowing everyone’s awake makes it hard to go to bed. I’m a bit of a kid like that – and the children love it. We watch local fireworks from the top of the house.
Every year, I vow to learn something new. Last year, I taught myself to knit. This year, I might take up pottery.
From the second week of January, it’s go, go, go. There’s no stopping. I’m everywhere: discussing ideas with producers, making TV programmes or doing promotion for a book.
At weekends I try to be at home with the kids. If I’m at a food festival or doing an interview, I might take my daughter. She loves it, although she recently asked if we could take the cat. I said, “Absolutely not. I am not Taylor Swift.”
My ideas never stop, nor would I want them to. My big fear is writer’s block: I hate the thought that I might not be able to express myself.
I long to travel this year: I’d love to discover more about dishes from my Bangladeshi heritage. I hope a trip will be on the cards. But first, I’ll try to enjoy the change of pace or entertain relatives instead.