Monthly Musings: May 2025
ft. a bump-date, a Bristol recap, and the usual ramblings
Hello friends! Happy bank holiday Monday! Welcome to our Monthly Musings: May 2025 post! How the heck are you? Did you get up to anything nice over the long weekend? Other than treating ourselves to an Indian takeout for dinner and enjoying a walk along the seafront with my parents + grandmother, Husband and I took it super easy. We thought about maybe going off on a little adventure somewhere, but the DART wasn’t running, and, when you add that to the fact that we weren’t really pushed about adventure-ing, we just didn’t. I like to refer to times like this as “buckled in” periods; we nestle in at home, bake, listen to music, read, watch movies, etc. - it’s so delightful!
Our musings for the month ahead are below, filled with all the usual suspects - travel, recipes, movies, books - and then some. You read on, I’ll be here, lounging on the couch, sipping on my allotted one daily cup of coffee, and reveling in the joy of not wearing bump-restrictive pants. I just love a bank holiday Monday!
Enjoy!
monthly musings: may 2025
In baby news: all is well! Predictably, I started to freak myself out because I haven’t felt any kicks yet and there’s just SO LONG between the 12 and 20 week scans — but I was at the doctor this week and everything is great! Got the whooping cough jab, bump is measuring correctly, heartbeat going strong, and the doctor assured me it’s normal not to feel anything up to 24 weeks for first time moms. We’ve just passed the 19-week mark, so we’ll be halfway through our pregnancy next week, which is just mind-boggling! Time is both flying by and simultaneously going very slowly; it’s the oddest thing.
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As you might remember from April’s MM post, Husband and I were in Bristol last month! We flew over for two short days and it was so much lovelier than I ever expected it to be! Fantastic food, some wonderful tourist-ing spots, and just a generally nice city to wander around — we were so impressed! The art nerd in me also really enjoyed tracking down token Banksy’s in the wild. I’m working on my Bristol blog post as we speak, so it should be ready to share relatively soon-ish!
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Travel related: we’re jetting off to Gdańsk on our babymoon at the end of this month! Our plans have changed slightlyyyy — in that, my sister has decided to gatecrash our trip and join us for the last few days! — but it’s all for the better! Exploring a new-to-me city is one of my favourite things ever, and getting to do that with two-point-five (😉) of my favourite people is going to make this trip even more special! I’m already fantasizing about all of the pączki, pierogi, and zapiekanka I plan to eat - please send on any recommendations if you have them!
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In other happy news, Passionate Baker Travels turned 13 last month! Thirteen whole years of over-sharing on the internet - who would’ve thought we’d make it this far?! I normally whip up a cake or something to mark the occasion, but we kept things simple stupid this year and instead went out on a milkshake date. It might sound corny and a little 1950s of us, but it was really so lovely! I went for an extra thickkk strawberry shake, and, aside from a handful of mini brain-freezes, it was the stuff of dreams!
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Related: the blog birthday has made me re-examine the way I see this space. One of the things that I’ve wanted to do since basically the very beginning of the blogs existence has been to recreate recipes from my travels in our kitchen and share them here with you. I’ve kiiinda dipped my toe into the water a few times over the years - Homemade Dunes Blanche, An Ode to Bordeaux, for instance - but I want to really deep dive into this properly; I think it’d be so fun to have a travel guide for a city and then a recipe inspired by the city! I’ve already tested the first batch of shortbread inspired by our recent Bristol trip, and dreaming up recipes for Torta de Santiago, kanelbullar, etc. etc., the possibilities are endless! Watch this space!
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In case you or any dentist friends might’ve missed it: Three Days in Stockholm, Sweden went live on the blog last month! From fika to accommodation to eating out to tourist-ing, the post covers absolutely everything we got up to in the Swedish capital, so it’s a biggie! Also, if I may say so, I think it might be one of the best guides I’ve shared in a while? I’m super proud of it! We just really enjoyed our time in the city and I feel like it comes through so well in the post. Have you read it yet? Uppsala guide coming atcha next week!
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Did you watch anything worthwhile last month? Movie-wise, we rounded out our Travolta season with Look Who’s Talking, Face/Off, and The General’s Daughter; I enjoyed it while it lasted, but it’s time to take a break from that dimpled chin. No fantastic new-to-us movies graced our screen, but notable rewatches included Past Lives, which breaks my heart, Matilda, and The Wolf of Wall Street. If you’d like to follow our movie-viewing in realtime, here’s the link to our Letterboxd. TV-wise, we finished The White Lotus S3, which I thought was rather anti-climatic after such a strong season(?), and also finalllly finished The Affair, which we will absolutely remember to not rewatch again(!). I also recently devoured the first two seasons of The Summer I Turned Pretty again - ahead of S3 in July! - and I! am! obsessed! I forgot how very cheese-tastic and filled with ~teen feelings~ it is; I’m DED. Did you watch it the first time round? I need to discuss!
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Book-wise, I finished My Roman Year and, between that & watching the Pope’s funeral, I am now fighting the desire to book a last-minute impromptu trip to Rome before I get too pregnant to travel. Realistically, it’s not on the cards for us — but we are scheming about making Italy Baby Bean’s first trip abroad! ANYWAY, back to books! After MRY, I dove headfirst into Counting Miracles, a Nicholas Sparks novel, and devoured it in like a week. What is it about his books that makes them so hard to stop reading? I’ve yet to come across a Sparks book I didn’t enjoy, but this one was an especially nice read because, *spoiler alert!*, no one dies — how unusual! What are you reading these days?
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In baking news, I mentioned above that I’m working on re-creating a recipe for this amazing shortbread we ate in Bristol. The recipe isn’t quite right yet, so I’ll be testing another batch soon… but I’ve yet to hear a complaint about having trays of shortbread lying around the house. Aside from my shortbread trials, Husband also whipped up a batch of Alison Roman’s blueberry muffins yesterday morning and they were so good I convinced him it was okay to have two each straight from the oven. Supremely tender, pleasingly tall, and perfectly sweetened; they’re delicious! Definitely a contender for our new favourite muffin recipe!
And there we have it, our Monthly Musings: May 2025 post! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you found something to take away with you - be it a hankering to watch the best/worst movie of all time, Face/Off, the urge to book a flight, or the recipe for some bomb diggity blueberry muffins. Let’s catch up again next month!
My love to you,
Vicki xo
PS: photo above was taken outside the Bristol Planetarium! I’m a sucker for a mirrored surface selfie 😊 And yes, we do have matching hiking boots.
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