Pancake numbers
14 adults and 16 kids. 10 batches of pancakes, and 1 of chocolate pancakes (choc milk instead of milk). 2 batches of crepes left for sometime this week, and 1 batch of chocolate pancakes sent home with someone:-)
The Genial Hearth
I’ve just put the kettle on, join me for a cuppa and a chat.Archive for Season
2010, I resolve…
I’m sticking quite close to the resolutions of the past couple of years. They haven’t been resounding successes (probably because they’re not SMART:-) ), but I am still referencing them.
So, in 2010, I plan to Make More Music, and Play More Games. In some ways, these both get easier as the kids get older:-)
I plan to add Make More (interesting) Bread. (I do a couple of loaves a week, but they’re a pretty standard loaf. I have a few specialist loaves I’ve been meaning to experiment with, so i reckon one every couple of months would be a good effort. Turkish Bread, Ciabatta, Naan, Pita… I have a feeling there was another I was considering [Paddington has suggested Parathas:-) ]. Basically though, if I can master the first two, I’ll count it as a successful year:-) )
I need to Drink More Water, and I really do need to do something to get more fit (hmm… I didn’t even deign to capitalise that… that says a lot!)
I’m hoping to start reading (well, if we’re doing Don Quixote, I’ll be listening!) through some Great Books with another Home Schooling mum:-) We’ve been talking about it… but maybe it’s a good time to start:-)
That’s quite a bit! So a good place to stop:-)
2009, the year that was
In spite of the evidence of my blog, it’s actually been a pretty productive year! But it was rather one of those ‘if you’re doing, there’s no time to be writing about it’ years.
I had (as has been the case the last couple of years) resolved to make more music and play more games. Although we sang a little less than we have been (basically in the last couple of months, although, I’m getting better again now), we did do occasional ‘Music Nights’, and I did a lot more recorder with Puggle (and Bilby:-) ) Thanks to Swancon, and their fabulous Gaming Stream, I played a lot more games than usual—sadly, I didn’t really maintain the momentum for the rest of the year…
I hadn’t ’signed on’ for the Handmade Holidays challenge, but I did kind of decide to attempt it. I did pretty well when it came to kids presents! (I think) I basically made all bar 2—which were both a couple of days after Swancon. Certainly that was the case for other people’s children. I made some stuff for ours, but I’m not making books yet, and lego is still beyond me:-)
I didn’t do so well on regular blogging (obviously:-( ) But I am still thinking about it, so I anticipate returning:-) I took more photos, and managed to upload a number—haven’t managed our usual family photo calendar yet, but I hope to very shortly (it’s a great way to actually use some of the photos:-) )
Aside from the handmade presents, most of my crafting this year has been patchworking. B and M’s wedding quilt got me enthused enough to start a Virtual Quilting Bee. We’re in our fifth month now, although I’m still finishing block 3:-(
All up, it’s been a pretty reasonable year:-) It is of course a constant learning curve with the kids, just as soon as you think you have a handle on where they are, they go and change… but mostly it’s been good:-)
Christmas 2009
A couple of years ago, the Advent season was when I started blogging daily (or nearly so). I maintained it until probably May-ish last year, and then a few times a week for about another 12 months. This year? I think I managed a couple of Food Posts through Advent, and that’s about it.
Mind you, this Advent has been lacking in a lot of my usual preparations! I have Ice Cream Plum Pudding in the house, because that’s essentially what I was doing for our family Christmas dinner. I have Gingerbread Dough in the freezer, because I made a double quantity when we made gingerbread houses at Halloween. I have the makings of Fruit Mince Pies (pre-rolled pastry in the freezer and a bottle of mince). We’ve read a pile of Christmas books. We made an Advent Chain. But that’s about as far as any similarity to previous Christmasses goes.
Before I get too disappointed though, I should point out that we have made quite a few presents this year! There should (I hope!) be several individual posts, once I download photos, but Puggle and I have been woodworking, and Bilby and I have sewn. Puggle made a small wooden boat for Cygnet, and a set of stilts for Bilby (as well as a pair of stilts for his Secret Santa, and he helped to sew an apron for Cygnet’s Secret Santa). Bilby made a woodworking apron for Puggle, five balloon juggling balls and a grab bag for her Secret Santa, and some Chocolate Coated Almonds for her grandparents. Me? I have finally finished the Pink Tower and (almost! still have to put the finish on) the Brown Stair. I’ve made (with some help from Puggle) several sets of Tree Blocks for some of the smaller children of our acquaintance. I have made three Bench Hooks (two to suit western saws, and one for japanese saws). And I’ve made a wooden forest (barring the dye-ing and finishing) (like blocks, but shaped like trees, rather than trees made from tree branches). I’ve sewn bags for the tree blocks (I still have one more to go, and a similar bag for the wooden forest), and three apron/chef’s hat sets… with accompanying bag. I’ve also been painting the IKEA abacus we got for Cygnet, to match the colours of the Right Start one:-) We did also make jam as part of our Christmas preparation.
I’m still anticipating doing our usual family calendar, and I’m hoping we’ll get to the cards—but obviously that won’t be happening by Christmas time!
So, a bit of a hit and miss. I keep reminding myself though, we can’t do everything! And we have been doing a lot of French during this time:-) Reminding me of more posts I have been meaning to write!
Hope your Christmasses were all lovely, and that the rest of your Festive Season is safe and joyous!
Birthday Cake
Bilby is now three. She had been insistent for nearly a year that she wanted a train cake.
A couple of weeks ago though, she decided that she wanted a ‘hammer cake, like Dada’s… and a Humpty’ (I made Paddington a pinata cake for his birthday, and she was quite taken with it, she’d also been looking through some of our cake books, and come across a couple of Humpty cakes).
I was very pleased with the end result—even if we couldn’t find the hammer! We ended up using a softish mallet, that made no headway on Humpty (until we turned him side on:-) He was much easier to crack through his seam! )
Smiley + Scar
Days later, and another birthday cake is required. Cygnet’s had been so succesful, I thought I’d repeat it—just with an extra touch to match the recipient! (The staples were the only fiddly bit:-) )
First Birthday
We don’t do much for first birthdays, we keep it simple. But there is always cake:-)
Cygnet is generally a smiley fellow (although, not so much today:-( ) So we figured this was an appropriate choice!
I’m not a fan of licorice as a flavour—but it is invaluable in decorating cakes:-)
Pinata Cake
For Paddington’s birthday.
It was surprisingly straightforward—and a real hit!:-)
Birthday Blaze
To celebrate being a year older, I’m planning to sit around a campfire for a couple of hours.
So, Friday night, you’re all welcome to come by from about 8ish onwards. Our kids will (hopefully!) be in bed, but kids are welcome. We’ll have a fire, some spiced apple juice and mulled wine, and some marshmallows. Bring anything else you’d like to eat or drink, and maybe something on which to sit. Dress warmly, I think they’re forecasting about 3˚C that night!
I anticipate being there until either we run out of fire, or until the cold/rain (none forecast for that day, but the days each side might be wet) gets to us.
I’d love to see some of you… but there’s no need to rsvp (although, if you feel inclined I’m happy to hear from you:-) ) Email me (the address is in About Me) for the address if you need it.
Mother’s Day Cake
For Mother’s Day, Puggle took this
and made me this!
(Paddington had been to a Buck’s Night the night before, but still supervised Puggle making the cake, and decorating it—even though decorating is not something he has much experience with:-) )
Birthday Flag
This year’s image for Puggle’s birthday flag was a Dalek. Although he’s only briefly seen the smallest sample of them (Daleks take Manhatten), he was smitten! This is the year he made his dalek costume for the Masquerade:-)
Tipper Truck
So this year, Puggle chose another Tipper Truck for his birthday cake! It was different from last year’s though (and easier:-) ), so I was happy to oblige:-)
Hot Cross Buns
I made these last year, and failed to blog them. I did make a number of notes in MacGourmet though:-)
I tried them again this year. I didn’t manage to take a photo, but I thought I should actually put them up:-) I was pretty pleased with the way this worked out, although it’s not quite right yet. Last year I had found the spices a bit lacking, that was better, but the texture of the bread is a bit dry. Last year I had planned to make Hot Buns a few more times to get it right—we’ll see if I manage it this year:-)
Hot Cross Buns from Times Online
450 grams flour, (strong bread)
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons cinnamon, ground
3 teaspoons allspice, ground
7 grams yeast
75 grams sultanas
75 grams currants
60 grams mixed peel
110 grams caster sugar
50 grams unsalted butter
2 grams vanilla extract
250 mls milk
1 egg, beaten
40 grams plain flour
1 tablespoon sugar
50 millilitres water
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoon milk
Sift flour, salt and spices into a large bowl and mix in the yeast, fruit, rind and sugar. Melt butter, stir in milk and vanilla extract and heat until tepid. Whisk into egg, add to flour mixture, form a dough and knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic (be sure not to add too much flour as you knead). Divide into 12 buns, cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place for about 90 minutes, till doubled in size.
Mix a paste of the plain flour, sugar and water, bung it in a piping bag (or a plastic freezer bag with one corner snipped off… just don’t mix it in the bag, even though it means a little less washing up!) and pipe a cross on each bun. Bake at 180˚C for 10 minute, reduce the heat to 150˚C and bake for a further 15 minute. Lightly brush with the glaze (brown sugar and milk) and cool on a rack.
New Additions to the Archives
I’ve just gone through and added a number of posts that I have been meaning to post for a while… so far back that they may not have shown up in your feeds. Some of them were things I really wanted to share (but I also wanted the timing to be correct…), so I thought I’d post links to them all, here. I’m not promising scintillating reading though… I’ve forgotten much of the nuance, so these tend towards the bare-bones details:-(
Museum Visit
Mum’s Laprug
EChO Concert
Art Prints
Cuddlies
Puppet Theatre
Progress 2008
Planning for 2009
Our January Wine Dinner
