Paula's Polish Cake

This is a recipe given to me by my mother-in-law and it never fails to please! I don't know whether this is pronounced Polish (as in the nationality) or polish (as in polished-off). My advice is to double the quantities given here as it disappears far too quickly.

100g margarine
2 dessert spoons golden syrup
1 dessert spoon sugar
2 dessert spoons cocoa
100g chocolate
200g digestive biscuits

Put all ingredients, except for the biscuits, into a large saucepan and melt together over a gentle heat.

Tip the biscuits into a sturdy plastic bag and roughly crush with a rolling pin, leaving large and small pieces.

Stir the broken biscuits into the chocolate mixture then pour into a greased tin. Leave to set in the refridgerator. Cut into small squares to serve.

Delicious but utterly fatal for the waistline! Check back soon for more recipes.

Paula xxx

If you'd like something delicious that doesn't endanger your waistline, why not download the first chapter of The Accidental Guru for free right here. And don't forget to email Laura, the author. She'd love to hear from you and she always passes on your messages.

Hi. I'm Mel

Anyone who knows me will say that I'll tell my life story to someone at a bus stop. But when someone asks you to introduce yourself....

So here goes.

I'm ten years younger than the rest of the Gang and met them at the ante natal group. I was only fifteen when I fell pregnant and the rest of the girls were so kind to me - they sort of adopted me and have been mother hens ever since. I love all three of them like sisters.

So, whilst everyone was taking their GCSEs I was a new mum and getting ready to marry Lester Harper, my baby's father. Lester was only 21 himself at the time with little or no prospects. Sad to say, he fulfilled this early lack of promise! He's now a jobbing builder and our eldest, Tony, works with him (or, in Lester's case, avoids work wherever possible).

My daughter is 16 and a very clever girl - I can't believe I was pregnant at her age - she seems so young. I also have another son, John, who's 20 and has a lovely kind heart. There was no money for college so he's taking an environmental sciences degree with the Open University. All this studying has set me thinking that I ought to return to school to get some sort of education - I don't want to spend the rest of my life slicing bacon!!

My share of the story in The Accidental Guru is a particularly difficult one and I couldn't have got through it without my sister friends, Judi, Paula and Aurora. Why not download the first chapter for free and see how it all started.

I hear Aurora's introducing herself next. Hold on to your hats!

Love Mel xxx

Hello from Paula

Hello. I'm Paula Lawrence and a friend of Judi's. I have two children, Avril and Sebastian, and am married to Dennis. I met Mel and Judi at ante-natal class when we had our boys. Avril's in finance (like her father) whilst Sebastian and his partner own an interior design emporium.

Until recently I was a housewife and love cooking, gardening and golf. In my younger days, I studied art but haven't painted since Avril was born. There just hasn't been the time. My charity work takes a lot out of my week and Dennis has a very demanding career in which he needs my constant support. He's also running as captain of the golf club - but that's another story.

As is what happened to me after my mother died and Charles Waddington reappeared. I still can't believe how much my life has altered since March.

You can read all of our stories once The Accidental Guru appears in the New Year or take a sneak preview right now by downloading the first chapter for free. Follow the email link in the download and you can even chat to the author, Laura Essendine.

Speak to you soon

Paula