Read The Baking Life of Amelie Day for Free Online Page A

see how I am in a couple of weeks and make a decision then?’ I wheedle, pouring Mum a steaming hot cup of tea. ‘We don’t have to decide now, do we?’
    Mum screws her mouth up. I know she finds it really hard to say no to me. I can almost see the two different sides of her head arguing with each other – the one who wants to encourage me to follow my dream versus the one who promised Dad and the doctors to look after me and make sure I didn’t get worse.
    â€˜Look,’ I say, stuffing down more eggs and bacon. ‘Appetite back. See? And I feel loads more energetic!’
    That’s a complete lie. My chest feels heavy and sore and I’m exhausted.
    Mum yawns and stands up.
    â€˜Well, I don’t,’ she says. ‘It’s one o’clock. I suggest we both try and get some sleep. You said you wanted to go back to school in the morning. But I’m sorry – as far as London goes, my decision still has to stay the same.’
    My heart sinks towards the blue tiled floor.
    â€˜That’s right, leave me with all the washing up,’ I mutter, but not loud enough for her to hear me. My mess – I need to clear it up. That’s one of the many rules in this house.
    â€˜I hate you, CF,’ I say to my illness as I haul myself up the stairs to reunite with my bed. ‘Why do you always have to spoil everything?’
    I haven’t even done my lung clearing yet.
    I take a good snort of my special steroid inhaler to help with lung inflammation and to relieve tightness in my chest. Then I have to do my physio. When I was little Mum had to do the physio on me every single day, whacking me on the back and shoulders and tapping me on the sides in a special way so that all the gunk would come out of my lungs. Now that I’m older I do my own physio by doing special controlled breathing exercises, but I still get a lot of chest infections and I’ve missed loads of time at school because I can’t stop coughing and feeling out of breath.
    I do forty minutes of tedious exercises and then I lie in bed feeling sad a while longer and then the next thing I know it’s morning and Harry has just texted to say he’ll walk me to school if I’m going in.
    Harry.
    Thank goodness for kind, sweet, handsome romantic Harry.
    He’s kind of my salvation.

Totally Moreish Cheese Straws

    To make 12, you will need:
    A little bit of butter or margarine
100g (3 ½ oz) plain flour
A pinch of salt
A pinch of cayenne pepper or mustard powder
50g (1 ½ oz) butter straight from the fridge, chopped into little bits
1 egg yolk
50g (1 ½ oz) strong cheddar cheese, grated (the larger the flakes of grated cheese, the better)
Some iced water
1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan (optional)
A pinch of dried sage or rosemary (optional)
    First you need to heat up the oven to 200°C (390°F/gas mark 6). Grease a baking tray with some butter or margarine.
    Sieve the flour, cayenne/mustard powder and salt into a bowl. If you’re into herbs you could sprinkle in some dried sage or rosemary at this stage too. Add the cubes of butter and rub it all in with your fingertips, until you are left with a bowl of what looks like breadcrumbs.
    With a spoon, mix in the egg yolk and the grated cheddar cheese and add a small amount of the iced water (you can chill it in the freezer in a bottle just before you need it). With your hands, knead the mix into a smooth ball of dough. Put this in some cling film and leave it in the fridge for about 10 or 15 minutes.
    Put some flour on a board or work surface and also on your rolling pin. Roll out your dough into a rectangle which is about 4 or 5 millimetres thick. Then get a sharp knife and divide the rectangle into 12 long equal pieces.
    Put them on the baking tray and into the hot oven for about 12 minutes until golden and slightly puffed up. You can sprinkle them with Parmesan if you like (I don’t) and then put them on a wire rack to cool