Maison Cupcake

Home Cooking and Baking by Sarah Trivuncic

Introducing Forever Nigella

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Forever Nigella was a long-running blogging link-up event inspired by the recipes and style of Nigella Lawson. Forever Nigella was launched in December 2010 by Sarah Trivuncic at Maison Cupcake and ran over 25 times until 2013. Each month, a different blogger hosted the event choosing a different theme and inviting others to share their “culinary moments dabbling with the Domestic Goddess.” Forever Nigella celebrated creativity, community and Nigella’s joy of cooking.
This page now serves as a hub for the Forever Nigella series, documenting monthly themes, hosts and available round-ups, alongside a collection of Nigella-inspired resources. Where round-ups are no longer online, the theme, host and badge are still listed for reference.

 

When Forever Nigella Started

I had been a huge fan of Nigella Lawson ever since she wrote the monthly Vogue Food Column in the 1990s. I bought a signed copy of Nigella’s first book How To Eat but it was the book signing for Nigella Express when I met her in person. By this time Nigella was a hugely popular food writer and TV cookery personality. I’d been a fan for ten years or more, familiar with all of her recipes and owning copies of each of her books. When considering a blogging link-up for Maison Cupcake in 2010, Nigella seemed a natural theme. The name Forever Nigella was inspired by one her earlier books, Forever Summer.

 

How Forever Nigella worked

The monthly Forever Nigella themes were chosen according to the season i.e. Easter, Christmas or something happening at the time – for instance Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee. Each month the new host would publish an announcement post which was often signposted in the first Maison Cupcake post of the month.
Popular themes that were repeated in subsequent years were Christmas and Chocolate; at its peak Forever Nigella attracted over 50 participants in a month. Forever Nigella also covered themes such as Italian food, picnics and ice creams. Some months simply had an “anything goes” theme to publish any beloved recipe by Nigella. Unfortunately some round-ups are no longer online but all editions in the Forever Nigella series are listed below.
A notable feature of Forever Nigella was the colourful badge graphic which changed for every event. When participants published their blog posts, they also shared a colourful badge to promote Forever Nigella. This was a bright vector image with text depicting Nigella Lawson eating spaghetti and the background colours and decoration were changed for the season or theme. (Number 26 was never used as the event ended with number 25 in the series.) A full collection of the Forever Nigella badges is shown further down.

Nigella Lawson Resources

No Nigella books yet? Search these resources online:

 

The Forever Nigella Rules were:

Blog checking lines:
Forever Nigella #[number] is being hosted by [name] of [blog]. This month’s challenge is to prepare and blog any Nigella Lawson recipe [describe theme]. Forever Nigella is organised by Sarah at Maison Cupcake.

1. Blog your entry by the date shown displaying:
a) the current Forever Nigella badge
b) a link to this announcement post
c) a link to the Forever Nigella page at Maison Cupcake: https://maisoncupcake.com/forever-nigella

n.b. posts must have been published since the announcement post. Archived posts need to be re-published afresh if you wish to submit.

2. Remember copyright.
You must NOT reproduce Nigella’s recipes verbatim. Tell us which book it is from and/or link to it online. If you’ve adapted the recipe in some way i.e. changed at least two ingredients or amended the method then it’s ok to publish the a recipe in your post but you MUST write directions in your own words.

3. Submit your post
Use the linky tool or email the host cc’ed to sarah AT maisoncupcake DOT com.

The Forever Nigella page shows a list of online Nigella resources, future hosts and links to past themes and round ups.

Tweet your post: #forevernigella 

Forever Nigella was hosted by:

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#25: Elizabeth A Girl in Her Kitchen – Colourful

Forever Nigella blogging link-up Easter Save

#24: Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes – Easter (page offline)

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#23: Urvashi at Botanical Baker – Nostalgia (page now offline)

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#22: Sally Recipe Junkie Food to Cherish Loved Ones  – round up to follow

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#21: Laura Laura Loves Cakes Christmas

Forever Nigella blogging link-up badge Thanksgiving Save

#20: um 20? what happened to 20? We were supposed to do Thanksgiving but took a break and my husband got confused numbering next badge. *shrug* There was never a Forever Nigella Thanksgiving edition but for completeness here is the lovely badge, complete with incorrect number!

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#19: Nazima Working London Mummy Packed Lunches (now offline)

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#18: Karen Lavender and Lovage Fridge Raid Snacks

Forever Nigella blogging link-up badge Barbecue Sizzling Summer Save

#17: Amy Cooking, Cakes & Children (round up offline) Barbecue

Forever Nigella Afternoon Tea blogging link-up badge Save

#16: Fleur Homemade by Fleur Afternoon Tea (site now offline)

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#15: Nelly Nelly’s Cupcakes (site now offline) Jubilee

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#14: Lucy Vanilla Frost Spring

Forever Nigella blogging link-up badge Save

#13: oops! There’s a badge but there wasn’t an event for unlucky 13!

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#12: Sarah Maison Cupcake Free for all

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#11: Sarah Maison Cupcake Free for all

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#10 Christmas Presence hosted by Sarah at Maison Cupcake

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#9 Halloween Horrors hosted by Sarah at Maison Cupcake

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#8 Picnic Pleasures hosted by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours

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#7 Iced Dreams hosted by Arthi at Soul Curry

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#6 Sea Fish and Eat It hosted by Kat at Housewife Confidential

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#5 Salad Days hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen (site live, round up offline)

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#4 Street Party hosted by Mardi at Eat Live Travel Write

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#3 Ciao Italia hosted by Maison Cupcake

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#2 Seduced by Chocolate hosted by Maison Cupcake

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#1 Seasonal Sensations hosted by Maison Cupcake

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. i’m in… love me some Nigella and i’m planning to cook a couple of her recipes anyway over the Christmas period, so it’ll be a breeze!

    • Well Christmas isn’t Christmas without at least one Nigella recipe is it. Great to hear you are taking part!

  2. I’m in! In fact I was planning to make Nigella’s mince pies this week anyway.. 😛

    As someone who bought Kitchen the moment it was released, I can happily say that none of the recipes have dissapointed me yet! Yet another example of Nigella’s brilliant-ness.

    Am looking forward to the round ups!

    • Ah yes but which mince pies as she has done several versions…. I have only cooked my pumpkin scones from Kitchen yet but it is a very satisfying book which I am still digesting!

    • Feast is a mighty tome isn’t it, I think it’s a really great idea for a recipe collection too and I enjoy reading recipes about other people’s customs. Having said that, it’s probably the book I’ve cooked from the least so I must rectify that this festive season. Something I really loved about feast was that after 2-3 books in a row where she’d done less prose, there was plenty of Nigella chit-chat to linger over.

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