One of my stand out favourites has been A Half Baked Idea by Olivia Potts, a memoir.⁠ ⁠ When Olivia's mother dies, she starts to question whether the life as a barrister is really the one she wants. Never interested or able in cooking until she met her partner Sam, Olivia begins to reconnect with her mother through her family recipes. As she spends more time in the kitchens, Olivia begins to realise that her true calling is actually in food. ⁠ ⁠ This heart-aching, funny, delightful memoir follows Olivia through the patisserie course at Le Courdon Bleu as she ventures towards a new career and life. The end of each chapter is followed by a recipe by Olivia herself -- I'm planning on making the rolo cake first, and also I want to recommend her Bara Brith recipe which you can find online.⁠ ⁠ I read the first half the of the book and listened to the other half on audiobook, which is read by Olivia herself, meaning you get to hear all the wonder of her dry wit and brilliance in her own voice. This is a beautiful, honest book about grief and change but also friendship, adventure and new love -- I bawled when I read their engagement story. ⁠ ⁠ This is a perfect book for curling up with over a weekend, armed with a stack of cookies. ⁠ ⁠ Not only that, but you can actually hire the wonder team of Food by Feast, who are Olivia and Kate, to cater weddings, parties and the like. I have been to one of their supper clubs and it was one of the best meals of my life. Strongly recommend!⁠

A beautifully written and unreasonably funny reflection on love, loss, and all the things that happen when your life suddenly changes course. Don't miss it.

I personally don’t read very much surrounding grief and the loss of a loved one but I found that the way Olivia Potts talks about her mum to be utterly engaging and loving. It had me wishing I knew this wonderful woman too. I did at points find the books a little heavy but I think that’s much more a personal thing. I did however adore how in each chapter Potts will mention a dish or a recipe that means something to her and what significance food at different stages of her life has played and then ends each chapter with a recipe for it. I’ve found Potts to be incredibly inspiring and I really enjoyed learning just what it would be like to have the privilege to study at Le Cordon Bleu. If you enjoy memoirs or food biography you will almost certainly enjoy this book.

Memoir meets cookbook meets soul-searching honesty with a pinch of Secret Barrister vibes. Olivia is 25 when her mother unexpectedly dies. As a newly-qualified barrister she tries to throw herself into her work in order to escape all her emotions but finds herself almost unexplainably pulled to a patisserie course at Le Cordon Bleu instead. We are allowed to follow her journey of grief, gateaux and ultimately growth as Olivia discovers her true passion and comes to terms with the loss of her mother. It’s an incredibly powerful read and also really informative and interesting. I never knew tempering chocolate was so complicated! One of my favourite things about the book is the little recipes that are spread throughout at the end of each chapter. Some feel a little bit out of reach but there’s many that I have been inspired to follow with the first being a super simple yet DELICIOUS Speculoos Melt-in-the-Middle Chocolate Pudding. I’ve set my sights on the minestrone next.

Rather heavy and somewhat repetitive. Gave some insight into the intricacies of cordon bleu cookery and a rather mawkish description of grief/mourning. I wouldn't really want to read it again. Pat Coulson