Time Flies

Oh my goodness, I can't believe how quickly the time is flying by at the moment.  The days seem to pass in a blur and at the moment I don't have much time to get on the computer - I haven't been reading blogs regularly or commenting very often at the moment.  All I can say is that I'm looking forward to when I can sit down and catch up with what everyone has been doing. 

 

 I had signed up for both Karen Russell and Katrina Kennedy's classes (which happened to be running at the same time!) but haven't really had a chance to do either.  Last week I made a point of downloading all the lessons to do at a later date - I certainly don't want to miss out either class.

 I also made a point of sitting down and watching all the Katrina's videos and now need to work out whether I can save them to watch later as well or not.

 Last Tuesday Claire had a midwife appointment and I popped round to the flat to look after Alice while she was out.  When Alice likes something at the moment she does a little wiggle and pumps her hands in the air and says WeeHee!! It's so cute and I'm so glad I caught her this time :) 
While talking about Claire and Alice, can you believe that Claire is now 30 weeks pregnant!! She'll be finishing work 3 weeks on Saturday and then the countdown will really begin. We're so excited to meet our new granddaughter - just hoping she doesn't make her appearance on Christmas Day ;)

 We've been going down to visit Dad each day, weather permitting (we've had some nasty fog for a few nights now). We had a meeting at the hospital last week and they were saying how pleased they are with Dad's progress and that he's quite determined to do as much as he can.  We will be meeting with them again a week on Thursday and they're hoping that he'll be ready to go home a week or two after that, providing he continues to make good progress.

 Iain has moved in with Mum for his last week here (he leaves to go to Australia on Sunday) and he's set up Dad's new laptop ready for when he comes home.  We took it down to the hospital on Saturday for Dad to see.  As you can see, the photo above is one I've journalled on for my Project Life album and pretty much says it all :)

 Claire and Alice came round on Sunday and Claire was telling me that it was National Apple Day.  I had actually bought Bramley apples to make an apple cake so it seemed like a good day to bake.  The cake was ready in time for me to take a slice down to the hospital for Dad to have with his coffee/tea. This cake never lasts long and was finished by the following afternoon.

And a final photo of Alice to end with.  I bought Cinderella a couple of weeks ago and she loves it!  Fortunately this is one DVD we all enjoy as we've watched it a few times over the last week ;) 
xx

Yesterday

This post was supposed to be called "Today" but blogger wouldn't let me write a post last night so it's "Yesterday" ;o)  

So, Yesterday ...

 ... Emily got her National Insurance Number from HM Revenue and Customs.  I have to admit this one knocked me a bit. Emily is my "baby" (as you all know) and will be turning 16 in September but I hadn't got round to thinking of her getting her NI number so this came out of the blue a bit - how did my "baby" get to be old enough to work already!!

Yesterday ...

 ... Alice and I made Chocolate Brownies.  Alice has been a little bit wary of my big Kenwood mixer the last couple of time we've baked so yesterday I made a point of picking her up so we could watch the mixer going round and mixing everything.  She loves "mixing" with a bowl and spoon and she likes watching things going round (eg. the washing machine) so letting her watch it start slowly and build up in speed certainly seemed to help and she was quite happy.  Needless to say, the best part is being able to lick the paddle and spatula afterwards :o)

 Look at that little face <3 

And by the time she'd finished licking them she needed a good wash and a change of clothes (oops, next time Grandma had better remember to put a bib on or buy a little apron for her to wear!)

The end results were quite delicious and have nearly all disappeared already!

Unfortunately the day ended on a not so good note when a tooth (which I've recently had a temporary filling put in) broke.  I will be phoning the dentists as soon as they open this morning to try and get an urgent appointment before the inside of my cheek is shredded!

xx

Photo a Day : 31 May 2012

Summer 

xx

Chocolate Cake Recipe

I showed this photo of the cake Emily and I made last Sunday in a previous blog post and said I'd post the recipe once I'd got it from Emily (who found it on the internet).  This evening we looked it up again and here it is.

Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350F/180C/Gas 4

Ingredients:
6 oz (175g) castor sugar
3 oz (75g) margarine or butter
2 large eggs, beaten
5 oz (140g) self raising flour
1/2 oz (15g) cocoa
2 tbsps milk
2 tbsps boiling water
(Note:  We increased the cocoa powder to 25g and decreased the self raising flour to 130g)

Grease 2 x 8" cake tins.

In a large bowl, cream the sugar with the butter until light and fluffy.
Add the beaten egg and beat well.
Sieve the cocoa and flour and gently fold into the butter and egg mixture.
Add the milk and boiling water and stir well.
Divide the mixture between the two tins and gently spread to create a smooth surface.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes.
Leave in the tin for a few minutes.
Remove the cakes from the tins and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Once cooled, decorate as desired.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I melted a slab of Bournville chocolate and a little butter (sorry, didn't measure how much - maybe about 30 - 50g) in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. Once it had melted it was still a little bit thicker than I wanted to I added a little milk to thin to the consistency I wanted.  I used this to put between the cakes and over the top.

Next, make a cup of tea/coffee, cut yourself a slice and enjoy :)

xx

Photo a Day

12 May 2012

 Claire and I had a trip out to the South African shop in Redhill because we were running low on a couple of things that I consider "essential".  Claire always enjoys a trip to the South African shop and it brings back memories just with the smells and all the products :)

13 May 2012

 Emily and I both fancied some cake but didn't have any in the house so we decided to make one.  Emily found a recipe on the internet that had had good reviews and we decided to try it.  I have to say, it was one of the nicest chocolate cakes I've made - light and moist.  We didn't fancy buttercream icing so melted a bar of Bournville chocolate and added a little bit of butter and milk to thin it a bit. The end result was delicious and once I've copied the recipe from Emily I'll post it on here.

14 May 2012

 Be still my heart!   Love this photo - look at that little face :) xx   Alice was happy pottering around and playing with her babies while I was making lunch in the kitchen.  She's realised she can get both her babies in this little pram so it solves the problem of which one gets to have a ride.

15 May 2012

Lunch this day, I had an orange and a tuna mayo (with some pepper and spring onion chopped in) sandwich and a cup of coffee.  Since Hugh's been doing his Personal Trainer course he's been giving me some advice on my "diet" (not actually dieting but rather trying to be more healthy in my choices). One of the things he's told me is that I should try to have protein and carbohydrate at each meal and, I have to say, I've been feeling better for it.

16 May 2012

I went to my friend Mary last night to have my highlights topped up.  I really like the colours she's used this time.

xx

Photo a Day : 05 March 2012

Monday was quite a quiet day. Alice and I stayed home and played and I didn't get round to taking any photos. It was only as I was dishing up dinner that I realised this so a photo of dinner is my photo for the day.  Chilli prawns and rice - yum!
xx

52:365(+1)

It was great to get a chance to chat to Deb on Skype yesterday afternoon and I had meant to take a photo for my photo a day - but we were so busy chatting I forgot all about it. 

However, as it was Shrove Tuesday, we made pancakes for dinner last night and I remembered to take a photo of them.  I like my pancakes with lemon juice and cinnamon sugar - what do you like with yours?
xx

32:365(+1)

Dinner last night was using what I had in the fridge/freezer ;o)  Fortunately it turned out to be really tasty. We had stir fried chicken, onion, carrot and spinach with a dash of dark soya sauce served with Waitrose sweet chilli egg noodles. Yum!

xx

17:365(+1)

Korean pancakes

This afternoon Emily and I had Korean pancakes. I have a Korean friend, Myung San who lives a couple of minutes from us.

I met her when our children were in Primary school. I was sitting in my car, doing some patchwork, while I waited to pick Emily up. I'd just joined my first patchwork and quilting class and was making a sampler quilt by hand. Myung San saw me sewing and came over and knocked on the window. We got chatting and she told me she'd been quilting for a number of years and asked if I'd like to go round and see some of the quilts she's made - which are absolutely beautiful and all made by hand. We've been friends ever since.

Last year Myung San's friend, Young Lin, came over from Korea to stay with her and to do some studying in the UK. When she heard that Emily was teaching herself Korean she offered to give her some lessons when she got back from her Christmas in Korea. Emily started the lessons last week and is loving this opportunity (she wants to teach English in Korea for a year or so after University. We're talking 6+ years from now but she feels if she starts learning to speak the language now she'll be that much more fluent by the time she goes) but she wasn't able to go today because she has an exam tomorrow and needed to do some studying. Myung San had promised to make her some Korean pancakes today so, instead of making them at her house, she brought the mixture over here and showed us how to make them. 

I think they're probably more like American pancakes as they are thicker than pancakes I've made before and the one Myung San made was big enough to fill a small side plate.  I tried mine with lemon juice and cinnamon & sugar.  I don't know if that's something they would normally have but it was very tasty :o)

xx

Day 7

Pancakes for breakfast

Emily couldn't make up her mind what she wanted for breakfast but settled on pancakes. We haven't made them for ages so they made a change.  I used Jamie Oliver's 'one cup' pancake recipe for the first time and they worked out quite well.


UPDATE : RECIPE ADDED 

Sweet Tea, here's the recipe for you :o)


One Cup Pancakes


Use a cup to measure the ingredients, doesn't matter what size so long as you use the same cup to measure both the flour and milk.


1 cup  Self Raising flour

1 cup Milk

1 egg

Pinch of salt

& I added 1 Tbsp sugar


Mix them all together until well blended. Melt some butter in the frying pan and add small ladle fulls of batter (this makes small pancakes). When bubbles form on top, turn and cook on the other side. Should be golden brown on both sides.  Really easy.

xx

Our weekend

Our weekend. On Saturday afternoon my nephew, Kyle and his girlfriend, Emma, came round with a birthday present for Alice and, as Craig was playing football in Eastbourne, Claire and Alice came round to spend some time with us too. 

We decided that Alice could open a couple of birthday presents early so she could take them home to play with.

 She got one from us

 which I think she liked (even if it gets used as a walker half the time)

 And she got the playtime bus from Kyle and Emma :)

We had cakes

And Emily took this photo of Jon on Rememberance Sunday. 

There was also grocery shopping to do, birthday cards to be bought, meals to be made and washing to be done. All in all, a good weekend that went too quickly.

xx

Memories

On Friday, Mum and I had a trip to the South African shop in Redhill :)

 I had only been going for a few bits but ended up leaving with three bags full of goodies ;-)

Biltong

 As we walked round the shop we were both going "remember ....." or "remember when we had ....."   One chocolate bar in particular used to be my treat for the week, I'd buy a chocolate bar and the weekly magazine and eat the chocolate while reading it.  I just have to see it to remember that. 

 Needless to say, some chocolate managed to find it's way into the bag and the Cream Soda at the back is what Hugh and Claire used to drink when they were little. The Cream Soda they have here in the UK is quite different to our South African one so when I go I have to buy at least two bottles.

Funnily enough, peanut butter was never really something we had when I was growing up (I don't think Mum likes it) but I've always quite liked it and my children also do.  However, again, we like the South African Black Cat version (though can happily eat local brands when we don't have Black Cat). 

Are there any foods that have a strong memory for you?

xx

So Happy :)

I haven't been able to get this for ages!!

 but today it was back on the shelf at Waitrose - which makes me so happy!! Nothing nicer than a cup of Turkish Delight Hot Chocolate on a cold night, mmmmm :)

And a couple of photos of Jon opening cards and presents yesterday.

He had a good birthday and we had a lovely meal out with Emily and my Mum and Dad (but I forgot to take my camera).

Quieter day today - coffee with friends this morning; a quick visit to Claire and Alice to see how Alice is - she's not been 100%, has been very clingy and has a runny nose. We think she may be teething again but she's definitely not her normal happy self :(   Now to go and make a start on the last six months filing!

xx

Quick recap of today

What an eventful day! It started with Jon leaving for work as normal, around 5.50am; I got up at 6 and had my shower and then at 6.30 I heard Jon arriving home again. Turns out there had been an accident and they'd closed the M25 off. As Jon needs to go on the M25 to get to work he had to turn round and come home again. Fortunately he is able to work from home as he has a work computer he can use and connect to his data. I left him to it while I went to pick up Mum.

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Next stop was Sainsburys for our shopping and coffee at Starbucks. The coffee was just what I needed this morning and was delicious! We had our weekly catch up before heading home again. Shopping unpacked and it was time to make lunch. I had bought some fresh bread and had that with left over curried mince. Yum!

After lunch there was a large basket of ironing waiting to be done. I switched on the TV in the kitchen (which is now working thanks to aerial man coming to sort it out last week) and watched 30 Minute Makeover. I always find watching something helps the ironing to disappear quicker ;o).

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Emily got home shortly after that and before we knew it, it was time for her to go to the dentist. The orthodontist wanted her last baby tooth taken out and she was so brave. I was a total ninny but she just had gel to numb the area and then the dentist pulled the tooth out. I couldn't look, held her hand and looked the opposite way (or rather faced the opposite way with my eyes closed!).

Emily's "my poor mouth" pose ;o)

And in this one you can see where the tooth came out (sorry to anyone who may be a bit squeamish!)

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We had some rather unexpected news today but nothing that we can't handle and I'm sure everything will be fine in the end. More about this at a later stage.

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My eyes are starting to droop and I'm ready to head off and read my book (Take a chance on me by Jill Mansell - which Claire gave me for Mother's Day) before heading off to bed.

Have a good evening

xx