I’m a total sucker for anything from the 1950s and 60s (and bits of the 1970s). It reminds me of my childhood, because invariably the stuff the grown ups had around them heralded from that time. I think my all time favourite year for design (and the year I think the perfect man’s suit was made, it never got any better) was 1963, coincidentally also the year my parents got married.

Anyway. I wanted some every day drinking glasses that had a pattern on that was jolly, a bit retro, reminded me of my childhood in Italy (sniff) but weren’t so expensive I’d never use them. I looked everywhere and then I found these from of all places – Tesco. £1.25 a glass or £6 for six. I love the design, which is a bit Scanda.

Worth straying away from Waitrose for, but then hurry straight back.

One of the (many) things I envy about girls with breasts like tiny mandarins, is that they don’t have to worry about nightwear. They can wear whatever they want and if they have to answer the door to the postman or the milkman or the Milk Tray man (where IS he these days?) they don’t have to do it with their arms folded because their breasts are unsupported.

Naturally, big-breasted girls can do this too, but personally, I don’t like wondering round the house in my pyjamas with unfettered breasts.

Also if your breasts are really large and/or you’re breastfeeding, it really isn’t that comfortable sleeping with no support at all. Many women really don’t like wearing a bra at night but you don’t want nuffin, neither. I know this from years of co-running a parenting board (no not that one, this one).

Now, you can get pyjamas/nighties with ‘secret support’ – Bravissimo being the most obvious – but they are all sleeveless, and I like to have my shoulders covered at night. But also it really limits you to the styles available (which you may or may not like) at a time when, as a big-bosomed woman, you already feel you have limited choice in clothes.

M&S now does (and has done for a while) some secret support camisoles that are really rather good and these work really well at providing a modicum of support and you can wear them on their own, atop a PJ style trouser, if – unlike me – you don’t mind having your shoulders bare. Or under any normal PJ you like, thus opening you up to choose from any PJs out there. You could I guess also wear them with nighties, but I don’t really do nighties.

My favourite M&S secret support camisole vesty things are these and these. Both are £12 a piece and come in a variety of colours, the shoulder straps also adjust, a nice touch.

Although Bravissimo does a racer back PJ top in lots of larger sizes, so it fits better than the M&S ones if you’re big-cupped, they are over double the price and always sold out. It also has great strappy tops, but these cost even more: £32. So I think the M&S ones compare really favourably, especially if all you want is something to wear for a bit of support under your current nightwear without going to bed fully upholstered in a bra.

If you’ve found a solution that works for you, do share..

A mint leaf enrobed in dark chocolate atop a stick. Joy.

When I was researching how to make my One Giant After Eight mint, I came across this on t’internet which I thought was a fantastic idea.

So I made some and they were great and so easy. There’s something about giving people a little chocolate something on a stick that makes them go crazy. (I got some mint leaves, melted some 70% cocoa chocolate, dripped it over the top and stuck a lollipop stick on, do the lot on some baking parchment, put in fridge for not very long at all, peel off, present with coffee.)

This got me thinking of making other chocolate lollipops. My children like chocolate and I don’t mind them eating it, but prefer them to have good quality dark chocolate which is actually good for you: it’s not easy finding dark chocolate lollies, the choice in milk chocolate whatnot is HUGE, in dark chocolate? Not so much. You can of course also make these chocolollos for adults and serve them after dinner with coffee/instead of a dessert. They are my new BIG NEW THING THAT I’M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT and am pressing chocolate lollies on everyone who comes round.

So I decided to get some lollipop moulds to make the process even simpler and because I’m a sucker for gadgets. This means you can make a tray of choco lollies in under five minutes and they look so neat and perfect. I just melt the chocolate in a jug, in the microwave (about 100g makes seven lollies, roughly), pour them into the moulds, putting in whatever you like – sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chopped nuts, chopped up mint leaves, whole mint leaves, flakes of chilli, bashed up mints or honeycomb. I mean just GO CRAZY. Up to you with whether you put the ‘filling’ in before or after pouring in the chocolate – you get different effects according to which you do.  I like it cos it means I can give my children a chocolate hit with omega-3 rich seeds which makes this practically a health food.

I got my moulds from Make a Wish Cake Shop, the 7 in one plain one is this one. (Ignore the pic, what you get is a plain tray with seven plain lolly impressions, those funny pics are stick on sugar discs, nothing to do with the mould.) I also got this 4 in one which gives you a much bigger lollipop, only really for special occasions I’d say. Then you need some lolly sticks.

There are lots of other places that do lolly moulds/sticks but that’s where I got mine and the service was fast.

I am aware this is the third chocolate post in a row.

An update in November 2011. I make these all the time and have experimented with crushed coffee beans (espresso ones if it makes a difference): excellent. But the BIG find was popping candy (I get mine from Waitrose, it’s in the baking aisle, near stuff like sprinkles and cooking chocolate. It’s fantastic, you sprinkle some popping candy (it comes in little rocks almost like crystals) into each mould and pour the chocolate on top. Then, when you eat the candy it ‘explodes’ in  your mouth.

Lollies in chocolate. With bits.

And yet more..

When the Kindle launched in the UK last September, I had one on pre-order. I quietly fretting for days about its purchase, feeling distracted with the guilt of it, and then cancelled it. But the urge never went away.

Here is the Kindle, in its cover, open. This is it in its sleep mode, it throws up random literary pictures which are rather nice.

I did lots of research into the Kindle. Canvassed my friends that had one. I was curious about just how much they seemed to love it, which seemed odd. I love books, especially picture books or ones you can dip in and out of. But I don’t read (didn’t read..) fiction, not since the heady days of going to Callosa D’Ensarria with my girly friends and devouring Jackie Collins in between tormenting the local boys.

I read loads, but just not fiction.

My best friend, Emma, regularly devours novels. She loses herself in them. I see people on the train lost in paperbacks, chunky as bricks. The odd time I have picked up a novel and managed to finish it, I’ve loved having this whole other world to escape to.

But I’m not what you might call, a natural novel-reader.

So what the fuck would be the point of me having a Kindle?

This was why I cancelled my order. But then, but then..

So I ordered one again and before I could cancel it, it arrived. And God, I love it.

It’s not an iPad. I mean, that’s obvious, but if you’re wondering “should I get an iPad or a Kindle”, you really haven’t understood the difference at all. The Kindle is rudimentary compared to the iPad, it’s nothing like it. Whereas the iPad is what it is – like the screen of your computer that you hold in your hand, and able to do more or less what your computer can do, the Kindle is an electronic reading device in black and, er, grey. You can read newspapers on it, but really, this doesn’t work (yet, I’m sure it will). You’re much better off reading newspapers n’ stuff on line, on a regular computer/laptop/iPad/iPhone type thingy.

Here’s a Kindle page. It’s not back-lit (like the iPad or a computer screen is, so easier on the eye).

So the Kindle is, really, for books. Word books. I can’t imagine anyone buying a cookery book for the Kindle, that would be really wrong I think. So the Kindle is not going to replace you having to buy any books, but if you read novels: great.

Here are some observations on it, some of them are obvious but heck, I’m gonna make them anyway:

• You can store loads of books on it.
• You can change the size of the font or spacing of lines – brilliant if you’re short-sighted.
• No wastage. No ‘what do I do with this book now that it’s read’, although no lending to friends, either.
• Not every book you will want is available as a Kindle version, yet.
• Books that are out of copyright are free.
• It’s not good for pictures, but great for older children – in fact I think its use for older children has been underplayed.
• It has an inbuilt dictionary – which I find super useful, children will too.
• You can make notes and see notes others have made.
• It automatically notes what page you last read, no matter how many books you have on the go at once.
• Although the ‘turnpage’ buttons are on the left and right, the up and down controls are bottom right, left handed people might find this frustrating (I don’t know, I’m right-handed). I’m thinking there should also be a LH version.
• You can download various Kindle apps for your computer/phone and it all syncs so you can access your books anywhere, if you’re desperate. 
• The battery lasts for weeks.

If you’re fairly wealthy, I think it’d make a great present to load up a Kindle with the sort of books you think your friend would like. The novelist and journalist India Knight did this for a friend (although to be completely accurate I think she loaded up her own Kindle) who was poorly, which I think is a great idea.

I wouldn’t, personally, get the 3GS version. Honestly how desperate do you have to be to get a book? Most places have Wi-Fi, so save your pennies. What I would spend money on is the official Kindle cover that Amazon does which is an EXTORTIONATE £50. But it’s fabulous. Leather and has an inbuilt light which is just great if you read at night (you can’t read the Kindle in the dark, it’s not back-lit like the Ipad is, which is also why it doesn’t give you eye-ache after a while).

Here’s the Kindle, in its cover (chocolate brown since you asked) with the inbuilt light. The actual light shining on the Kindle is actually from an overhead light so don’t be confused. The Kindle light is plenty sufficient to read by.

I’ve started reading voraciously (so anyone who wants to buy me a present: Amazon vouchers are a good idea) and I love having my Kindle to escape into on the train. Plus with the cover it looks more like a book so you don’t feel as much of a wanker on the Tube. It’s invaluable, for me, when I’m breastfeeding in the middle of the night/trying to get the baby to sleep, as I just don’t mind if she wants to feed for an hour, as I can just read read read.

The Kindle, all snug and safe in its cover, it has a rather nice elastic band fastening with tab, which you see above.

I love it…in a way that’s curious..

ps: I forgot to add, you can get sample pages from the Kindle store for free, so a try before you buy kinda thing.

This swimsuit goes up to a GG cup.

When I first started writing the Dear Annie column, in 1995, a DD cup was considered large. Back then, in mainstream shops, bras went up to a D cup if you were lucky. Anything beyond that was classed as special and you had to go to special shops. (Or a wonderful woman in Wiltshire called Margaret Ann.)

This was, I often lamented, because most women were wearing the wrong size bra. I had many aunts who swore they were a B-cup, and, because they were Italian aunts, they’d lift up their sweaters, or hastily unbutton their blouses, to show me their ample bosoms, nestled in between layers of vests and petticoats and, sometimes, corsetry devices.

And I could tell immediately that they were wearing the wrong size bra. That they weren’t B-cups at all. Because the middle of the bra didn’t press against the sternum, as it should. But, rather, was held aloft of it by a good few inches of very-much-not-B-cup bosoms.

Everyone I met professed to be a 36B.

Because I’ve been properly measured since I was in my early 20s, when I first sprouted breasts, I knew my proper size. And because I was a D-cup from about the age of 26 I was considered a freak.

Of course, things have improved oodles since then. And I like to think Dear Annie was partly responsible for this.

I’ve known about Bravissimo since it launched in 1995, so I often take it for granted everyone does. But every few weeks I find myself recommending it to someone and then I realise that, actually, loads of people still don’t know. So I thought it was worth writing about. I never got on with Rigby and Peller. I’ve always been treated rather shabbily when I went in there and so I stopped going. Plus the assistants (always middle-aged and always hurrying me so) never brought out anything but the most Hattie-Jacques style bras.  Things have probably changed but I don’t go there to find out anymore.

I used to go to Selfridges to be measured by the wonderful Dianne (I don’t know if she’s still there, she worked part time), who introduced me to a particularly fantastic every day big-bra by Fantasie. And M&S and Agent Provacateur also make bras in bigger sizes these days.

I have a friend who has all her bras hand made by Cadolle in Paris. Or another who buys from Mimi Holliday.

And all of those have some great bras. But the thing I love about Bravissimo is that it devotes itself, entirely to big breasts: bras, swimsuits  (great swimsuits with proper bra cups), nightwear, maternity. If you’re an F cup, you’re considered average, not huge and certainly not a problem. And if you’re a D-cup, well that’s the smallest cup size they do! So you’re like a size zero..All the assistants who fit you are large-breasted and really cool and funny and never make you feel self-conscious. It also sells clothes – cut for the larger bust – and whilst much of it isn’t my cup of tea, you can find the odd good thing there –  a great print wrap dress, or a super-fitting top, say.

If you can’t get to one of the stores, then you can ring up and speak to a really knowledgeable person on the phone but it’s really worth going into a store to be fitted if you can, at least once a year. And, it’s just introduced its first L-cup bra.

Post-script: one of my on-line friends has pointed out that Bravissimo is very good if you are small backed but big-boobed (and you might not think you are, again what I said about so many women wearing the wrong size bra). I know loads of women who thought they were a 32B (that fabled B-again) to be told they are actually a 30E or something. Honestly this  may be the quickest, cheapest way of getting a boob job – just get properly measured.

My friend Karen is a professional personal stylist/shopper, which is a good sort of friend to have. She is completely fantastic: she makes me try things on, and some of the best finds I’ve made in recent years have been due to her.

Despite me being able to style anyone else, I hate clothes shopping for myself. Sure it was fine and fun when I was a teenager and never ventured over 40 kilos. But it’s not so fun these days.

Anyway, Karen is always trying to get me into heels. I do wear heels, for parties. I wear high heels for parties. Really high heels. Heels so high I can’t actually walk in them and have to stand permanently in one spot so that people have to come to me and then I have to text my partner to come get me and take me to the nibbles.

99% of the time, however I wear flat, comfortable shoes. Shoes I can run in if I have to. Shoes that I can walk miles and miles in. Comfortable shoes. But stylish ones. I’m not into Hotter shoes yet.

But over the years, I’ve won this particular battle with Karen and told her that

a) I live in the country
b) I don’t/can’t wear heels, any kind of heels, during the day and still feel ‘safe’. They make me feel vulnerable.
c) I could buy the heeled ‘every day’ shoes she thinks I might be able to wear, but I will never wear them. Even though what she says makes perfect sense and I should be like a normal girl and be able to wear low-heels every day.

But I can’t. And Karen accepts that now.

This winter I told her I needed boots. What I wanted were some biker type boots, but that fitted better than biker type boots that are actually pretty badly fitting and you can’t, not really, walk huge distances in. Also biker boots…not overly smart. I wanted something to ‘winter up’ my DVF dresses and smarter things.  I wanted them to be really fitted, up to the knee.

I wanted them to be fairly delicate, but not stupidly so. They had to have a rubber sole. Prada was the obvious place to look but the assistants were so rude to me (I will be telling Miuccia) that I left. Also, truth be told, even with the discount, even taking price per wear into account, I just didn’t want to spend that much money on a pair of boots.

Karen took me into Camper. I’ve never been into Camper. See, even though I like comfy shoes, Camper, to me, says “hippy shoes” which I don’t do.

I tried on these boots. So they weren’t bikery at all. But never have I tried something on in a shop and had so many people (three) come up to me saying “they look really good” and then ask to try them on themselves.

Camper “Spiral” boots which are now down to £135

One of the things I find hard about knee boots is that they are often too big around the calf for me. These fit really snugly. They have a tiny, rubber, wedge heel. I can walk in them all day. I love them.

Before we found these however, we went into Ecco shoes. I have a love/hate relationship with Ecco. I find the service lacking at times and I’ve had several walking boots from there that aren’t cheap, but have fallen apart after not much wear. The assistant was wearing these boots:

They looked really good on her but they weren’t ‘smart’ enough for what I wanted. They’re Gore-Tex and really rugged. But I didn’t buy them.

As soon as I got home to  Suffolk and I started cycling home through the dark wintery streets, I realised that I really would use the Ecco boots far more than the Camper boots currently in my bike carrier. I couldn’t stop thinking about them because for every day, all I had were my walking boots – great for walking but huge, clumpy and take a good five mins to lace up. Or my Kiwi sheepskin boots which I can’t walk long distances in. As the cold set in, I realised I really really needed two pairs of boots, so I bought the Ecco ones.

I really, really recommend both boots. They do very different things. The Camper boots are great to wear with a smart skirt, but when you still need practicalility and warmth. The Ecco boots are just brilliant work-horse boots. They look really smart but are they wouldn’t look right if you were trying to ‘dress up’ at all. All through the snow, the Ecco boots kept me warm, comfortable and safe – they are amazingly grippy (the Camper boots aren’t). Both boots I can walk in all day.

Buy.