It's a man thing

When I saw the health visitor today and talked about Arthur's diet she commented on how mobile he will ne over the next few months and therefore all the extra energy he will need. Arthur. Move? Really.? Bless him, its a bit too much like hard work at the moment! He is quite happy to sit and rest.  I laughed and mentioned this to the health visitor, recalling how isobel was well on her way by now. And the health visitor response?"she's a girl". Say no more.

Anyway, Peter decided to do some Christmas cooking tonight, to go with the cake and chocolates. He tried out his new Kenwood mincer which worked a treat and made a lovely looking terrine and pate, thanks to Ellizabeth David. Men and their meat.

We wish you a merry Christmas

I can't believe its almost Christmas. The year seems to have rushed by. Does having children make you more aware of the passing of time? Mmh.

We have had a productive day today. I packed things for going away. Always easier when Arthur us asleep and isobel at nursery! Had some cream which needed finishing off so decided to make some truffles to take with us - fruit and nut and plain ones.....I say plain, I think I added too much al-k-hol! They taste yummy but maybe not good for chicklings.

After weighing Arthur at the health visitor, I collected isobel and when we arrived home we set about icing the crimbo cake. Now then, when I asked isobel what we should put on the top she wanted 'pink' so eventually she turned this into peppa pig. After a no doubt eating a bucket load of icing between us, dying our hands different colours and a few tantrums, we have an iced cake. Complete with peppa on a snowy slide, a tree, snowman and of course some ducks! Very christmassy.....and I now feel sick!

Christmas baking - yummy yummy

Chocolate covered orange peel - yummy yummy

 

I have made a few Christmas presents this year and had a lot of fun doing so!  Isobel has also helped - though the big Isobel moment is coming tomorrow when we attempt to ice the cake!!!

Firstly, I made some chocolate covered orange peel - oh I love this stuff.  It costs a fortune in Brussels chocolate shops so I was beside myself with excitement when I saw a recipe in the Waitrose magazine.  And I got to test out my free citrus peeler which I got at a Jamie at Home party.  It's really quite good despite being a bit of an unnecessary item.  Here it is together with the resulting orange peel pieces:

Now, I've tried to find an online version of the recipe to link to but can't so here it is:

- take 2 large oranges and remove peel.  Cut peel into strips about 0.5 cm wide;
- plunge strips into boiling water and simmer for 5 minutes;
- drain and then repeat;
- put 250 g of caster sugar in a pan with 250 ml of water and heat until the sugar is fully dissolved;
- add 5 cardamon pods (bruised) and a tablespoon of orange blossom water (which you can get in Sainsburys and such places) and the peel;
- simmer for one hour until the peel is soft and translusent;
- leave to cool on wire rack (put some greaseproof under it as it sticks to everything!) for 24 - 48 hours or until it's basically dried out.

- then melt 150g plain chocolate over a pan of water and dip the orange peel in the chocolate.  Sprinkle with cocoa powder and chopped pistachios (we used about 20g cocoa and 30g chopped nuts).
- leave to set.  Then eat...or should I say, wrap as gifts!

My second baking effort was biscotti - I remember talking to Mrs WP about it whilst out looking for coffee mugs in Starbuckles.  How do you make biscotti we wondered? Surely it's low in fat/sugar and high in goodness we thought (??!).  So, I had a go at the BBC recipe for Christmas Biscotti:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8022/fruity-christmas-biscotti


And they were pretty good really - Mrs WP should comment as we gave some to her and Mr WP for a gifty.  And suprisingly easy to make!  Really recommended.

Summer is on the way!

Yes, today is the shortest day of the year.  It always makes me happy - it means the days are getting longer again from tomorrow and summer is on it's way!  A real reason for celebration.

I went to the doctor yesterday having been on the pills for 6 months now.  I wanted to get an idea about what happens next.  Whilst in there I bumped into the counsellor - obviously he didn't recognise me but it reminded me to comment on it to the doctor.  No apologies made.  Just 'well, he is a man, and maybe has a different approach to a woman....'.  Anyway, the doctor wants me to continue with the medication until March - basically for two main reasons:

• the weather (dull, damp, dark, short days etc etc)
• going back to work in early March and the changes that might bring (positive or negative)

I think that's sensible.  Part of me wants to rush to come off them, but the other part of me doesn't want to end up like I was in the summer again.  So, the pills continue.

Then last night I went to see the counsellor.  It was helpful, although Peter feels that he's been saying these things to me anyway - I think it's perhaps an issue of you owning it yourself.  It's ok for other people to say things, make suggestions, all of which might be highly sensible.  But, for me at least, it seems that unless you own it, you don't take it onboard and act on it.  'Ownership'.  A great word. I remember trying to get Peter to 'own' his dinner choices when I wasn't going to be around - I could tell him what was in the fridge that he might like to eat but I could tell he wasn't paying a huge amount of attention.  So to help with health health and to avoid the 'what can I eat' question later on, I used to encourage him to own it (so, basically he would tell me what he could have for dinner) - ha ha, how ridiculous!  I should have just left him to his own devices.  He could have eaten a kebab for dinner (healthy don't you know - they have salad in them!) and it doesn't really matter.  

Anyway, so the counsellor got me thinking.  I realised yesterday quite how often I say 'I have to do this' or 'I should do that'.  It was when I said to Peter that I had to make the soup for dinner that it struck me that perhaps I try to do too much.  I've never been good at sitting still.  I suppose I've always had the view that you have one life and so I tried to pack as much into as possible.  Anyway, I think that it has something to do with the PND - after Isobel and Arthur were born I remember baking cakes and trying to just get on with life - perhaps almost as though nothing has changed.  Instead I should have been sitting and resting and drinking tea perhaps.  Too late now.

So, I have to challenge myself and Peter is going to help - everytime I rattle off a list of all the things I say I have to do, I need to ask 'do I have to do that? does it need to be done? will I enjoy doing it? who am I feeling I have to do it for' and so on.  Let's see what happens!

On reflection, a few things I think have really helped me this year with the PND, apart from the pills:

• turning off the doom and gloom on the radio in the morning and putting on some dance tunes
• running
• having more prepared meals (though we think we need to kickstart this again)
• having more time to myself and more nights out with Peter
• baking new things (it's the achievement I like and the time it can give for some peace and quiet)
• drinking more water
• having a mantra in my head - like on returning from a run in the morning at the weekend 'it doesn't matter if the table is dirty and there is weetabix on the floor, we can clean it up later'

Feeling Christmas baking vibe

Been baking and making and its made me feel good. Now I can't share all of the baking yet as some are gifts for someone who I know might read this!making mince pies with arty was great fun. He was really jivving to some Xmas song on the radio. He can move (well, I say move, more shake his body about!).

Mince pies made the house smell all christmasy. And I tried out my Jamie at home mini bites tray to make small ones - good for diets but more importantly good for kids so adults can keep the large ones!

Then isobel and I made Christmas cards. She was very enthusiastic with the paint but it waned a bit on sticking so I had to finish off. And a right mix of cards we have! Glitter and gold spray everywhere but not a pink card I sight, despite her best efforts!

The fairy tree

Oh my, a week to go until Christmas. On my run this evening I was comparing outdoor lights - from the blue icicles to the rapid flashing to the full on inflatable snowmen blowing in the wind. No need for street lights really, could save the council a few pounds!

On a walk in the woods yesterday we came across a fairy tree which the fairies had chosen for decoration this year. Apparently nicer than others which are decorated with mill bottles and cds. Isobel was very excited about the fairies!

So I have been to see the new counsellor. She seems nice and is much more organised than the other one. Maybe that's part of my issue - I have always been quite am organised person and as everyone tells me, its much harder with children as they don't always do what you want or expect and you can't reason with them. But knowing that and knowing I should go with the flow more is easily said....but harder to do!next session is Tuesday.

Toddlers do the funniest things

Isobel has been making me laugh. I have blogged before about her interest in eating raw eggs and flour when baking. This morning she was clomping round the house in my pink heels which she found rummaging through the cupboard. Practically killed herself falling over the carpet but jumped up non the worse for wear and delcared she was going to work! When I pointed out that they were my shoes, she said 'no mummy, my pink shoes'.

Where does the pink thing come from?we have tried not to have lots of pink but a variety of colours and yet the pink obsession has started! So we asked her what colour we should paint the hall, what colour curtains to have in the front room, what colour wrapping paper to use etc...and the answer - why pink of course. What else?

So I was pleased to hear that hamleys have removed their pink and blue signs for girls and boys toys respectively. Apparently they had one floor for girls toys, which consisted of cleaning stuff, beauty stuff and general 'girls' things like that and the boys floor which was full of dinosaurs, adventure and no doubt war relayed stuff. Poor Arthur. He is missing out clearly, in his hand me down pink sleeping bag!

I found a few links to this issue about Hamleys and gender stereotyped marketing - for those who are interested - clearly Isobel loves the colour pink but she also likes sticks and trains and helping daddy build and climb ladders....(not yet seen a pink toy drill for sale - thank goodness!!!!):

• http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/blogs/ruth-mortimer/hamleys-heralds-a-less-sexist-era-of-retailing/3032689.article
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/13/hamleys-steps-towards-gender-equality?newsfeed=true
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/dec/13/women-children?newsfeed=true 
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/8952627/Toy-signs-changed-after-Hamleys-accused-of-sexism.html

Yes more stollen

So I seem to be making another stollen. Peter didn't get any of the last one and was feeling most put out so to distract me from my job application and the ridiculous wind and rain outside I have started my stollen - with pecan nuts in it though to use them up! Bake, bake, bake....diet starts in January I think.

Seem to have started my baking a bit late tonight. Arthur is teething so already been awake twice. Have been trying out hewletts cream on his rash from all that dribble! Anyway. So much for my early night while peter was away.

Off to see new counsellor on Wednesday. Having said something to the doctor about the
NHS counsellor I've now had three texts from him saying to text if I need to see him. Seems to me that if you are seeing a counsellor with PND it shouldn't be up to you to pewter them and make your appointments for them. Not sure its the best use of precious NHS resources.....I am hoping this new, non-NHS counsellor can help me more.

What does Isobel want from Santa?

....cake

That was the answer given when we saw father Christmas on Saturday. Admitedly that was daddy giving him the answer as Isobel was in awe of her hero in red.  Today she told me she loved father Christmas. Made me smile.

Anyway, so needless to say when the gift was opened and it wasn't cake she was mortified!tears and more tears. Arthur on the other hand was oblivious to the whole thing. Poor father Christmas.

Anyway, a quick trip to pizza express soon solved the crisis. And she even at the olives. What a star.

We had a mug of hot chocolate when we got home. Some hotel chocolate stuff with chilli and cinnamon.  Was ok but peter reckoned it needed more chocolate.

Sunday was Xmas dinner day with friends. I was so excited I even made a giblet gravy! And we had a waitrose Xmas pudding which was lovely but not as lovely as Isobel who was dressed up in her pudding outfit and I think was a little tipsy after her taste of the real pudding. Think that might have had something to do with the amount of brandy I poured on to set fire to!

And finally we tried my pecan lord and they were YUMMY!

Health health - stollen with pomegranate

Yum.

Ok, enough of the stollen. Off to see Santa later and his reindeer. Isobel is finally happy as daddy is home and so the screaming has stopped. Then daddy said he is going away agai on Monday. I feel more stollen coming on!

Must eat more healthily

One of the pieces of advice for PND is to make sure you eat properly. Not been very good today. It started well with some fruit and fibre and I even managed an Apple, some blueberries and pomegranate at lunch. But seem to have eaten another large piece of stollen (will there be any left for peter?), a Tim tam, some toast and some ice cream!

Then this evening I made some mini pecan tarts in preparation for the weekend. Not made them before as was intrigued by cream cheese in the pastry. Could not believe they would come out of the tin but they did (Jamie o mini bites tin, very good). And even more excitingly they have bourbon in! Yum. Only eaten one which am pleased about. Must put them away!

Pinterest

So, Mrs Wonky Pocket suggested I join Pinterest and so I have! It's quite fun but I can see myself spending many an hour just looking for pictures to add!!! I've been going through old photo albums looking back at some of the places I worked in/visited all those years ago before the little ones came along.  One day perhaps we can take them to some of these places.  Between us I reckon we've done quite well on the travel front although South America remains to be explored.

Places we'd like to go back to:

Oh Cambodia

China, India, France, Spain, USA, Canada, Oz, Laos, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, Malaysia, Japan oh the list goes on....

Places we'd like to go to:

Portugal, Mozambique, Brazil,  Croatia, Madagascar (well, that's me really).....

 Places we've been, maybe not so good for small children:

Liberia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan....etc 

Afghanistan

 

The Aral Sea

Coffs Harbour

Obviously Peter isn't actually here so I'm kind of creating my own list here - but I know he doesn't want to take the family to Liberia so I reckon I'm ok on that one!

Kashgar Market

OK, enough of the photos....but it is making me happy looking at some of these.

Arty is asleep and I'm attempting to write a job application (back to work....) but clearly being distracted by Pinterest....oh, and phoning to complain about the counsellor I saw for my PND - I saw him twice.  I was meant to see him 6 times.  He was so disorganised he kept cancelling appointments - which just added to the stress and irritation rather than helping it!

Oh, and for those who are interested, there were some interesting interviews on Radio 4 last week (I know, I'm not meant to be listening to it - happy music all the way):

• Woman's Hour on Thursday had a phone in with Mary Berry answering lots of baking questions
• Woman's Hour also had an interesting article on JobSharing (of interest to me as I jobshare and love it)

You can find them on the BBC Iplayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qlvb/episodes/player

Oops my second piece...

Of stollen this evening. I now feel a little ill! It is very nice. Peter is away in Kenya, Arthur is recovering from being on a nebuliser and isobel is isobel. So I'm relaxing and eating stollen!

Radio 5 live

So I just have to share this. I am wondering if I am alone. Peter loves to listen to radio 5 live on a Sunday. I don't mind, it can be quite entertaining. But I am fascinated by the sheer amount of time and energy people put into thinking about whether some footballer or coach will or won't do something. Will he score a goal. Oh maybe he won't. Oh I think he will. I don't. If he does will he kick it with his right toe. Or left. Or head. Or......and so it goes on!

Smelling lovely stollen

The house smells lovely. Mixed spice. Mmh. It's a happy smell and slowly getting me into the Christmas spirit! Been baking the stollen from Jo's blue aga blog. Not tasted it yet but it smells yummy. I ate the molten marzipan which seemed to burst out of it - isobel will love it.

Went running again today. Needed to escape from the house and my toddler who was in one of her screaming moods!maybe the left over sugar rush from the party yesterday? Anyway, happily ran about 10km. So feeling very pleased. And ever so slightly tired.

What is it with the weather - climate change?

Oh my, I have an energetic and crazy toddler.  'Is she always like this' the health visitor said at her 2.5 year review.  Yes. No stopping her.  Busy busy busy.  At the moment she is excited by trying to make a 'capapino' with hot milk and chocolate bits and is most distressed when you don't join in! Then there is the mini-bites tray I recently purchased, to make mini banoffi pies and other such lovely things....Isobel uses it to make cakes and then decorate with pink peppa pig icing (all pretend of course...I haven't got the energy to have baked 24 by 7.10am!).

Heard some shocking things yesterday - firstly that apparently there are people who blend/puree up cheeseburgers and chips and give it to their babies as part of the weaning process (hoping I'm not alone in being shocked by this!) and then that someone in France apparently has been jailed for putting their 3 year old in the washing machine on a cold rinse cycle because they had been naughty at nursery.  What happy news.  That and the state of the economy had me feeling really chirpy yesterday (.!?).

Had a poorly Arthur today.  A lot of crying and vomit which is most unlike him. He's in bed now.  And it's given me time to ponder the wonder of nature which is going on outside in the garden.  I planted some bulbs in October in the hope that we would have some lovely new colour in the spring (can't afford to get the drive redone so bulb planting is the way to go to make it look nicer!).  Anyway, there they are - little daffodils trying to grow.  I couldn't believe it - definately green shoots from daffodils. 

We need a good hard frost to stop them (and to kill the weeds which appear to be growing from the manure in the new vegetable patch).  The weather has been too warm I think and so the poor bulbs are confused.  It's perhaps a more local illustration of le changement climatique which they (they being officials and NGO reps and consultants and researchers etc) are all talking about in Durban at the moment as part of the latest Climate Change negotiations.  You can read all about it here:

http://www.cop17-cmp7durban.com/

as well as getting updates from various NGO organisations including WWF and Oxfam:

http://www.wwf.org.uk/news_feed.cfm?5467/Durban-climate-talks-a-chance-to-end-political-posturing

http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/climate

Help end violence against women and girls

There are a number of campaigns running at the moment to mark 16 days of activism against gender based violence.  The UN reckons that gender based violence is experienced by approximately 70% of women across the world. 

The campaign, called 'The 16 Days Campaign' began on November 25, the International Day Against Violence Against Women, and ends on December 10, International Human Rights Day. 

General info on violence against women can be found on a number of sites, including the WHO which highlights not only the % of women who experience physical assault but also some of the risk factors and the role of conflict. .

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs239/en/

Make A Difference!

You can read more about the campaign and the work of one organisation, International Medical Corps, on the following link.   IMC work in some of the poorest countries in the world, and in particular in countries in the midst of or recovering from conflict and other humanitarian crises. If you are moved to give a donation, please do.  Your contribution will help IMC make a difference to the lives of women and girls around the world:

http://www.internationalmedicalcorps.org.uk/__GBV/content.asp?pid=321

Oh and another - danish pastries

Yummy yummy, I'm pleased with these

 
OK, another blog-a-thon seems to be happening (although I'm about to be called for dinner - am multitasking whilst attempting to sell stuff for Peter on ebay!).

I'm feeling very happy as I did more baking yesterday.  I was going to make a pumpkin pie but got sidetracked by the idea of making danish pastries.  I've never made them before and I have to say, the result was good, not perfect but good. And I got another chance to use my Lakeland baking tray which is great!

So, I used a recipe from the Good Housekeeping but I only made half quantities (I'd love to say for health reasons, but mainly because I wanted to try it out and didn't want to waste a lot in this age of austerity!).  I now realise quite how much butter there is in a danish pastry!  Oh, and the first attempt at dough had to be binned as I forgot to add the sugar!

Once I was a bit more organised this is basically what I did:

(a) Take 150g of unsalted butter out of fridge and let it warm up until it's soft.  Meanwhile, put 225g, 1/2 tsp salt in a bow and mix together.  Then rub in 25g lard (I presume you could also use vegetable marg) and add 3/4 tsp dried yeast and 1 tablespoon of caster sugar.

(b) add 75ml of handhot water and one beaten egg and mix together, then kneed for about 5 mins or until you have a smooth, elastic dough

(c) Cover and put in fridge for 10 minutes.  Then, and there is where I tried to guess the details of the recipe as there was a really long description with no pictures to clarify, mould the soft butter into an oblong and roll the dough out on a floured surface until it is 3x as wide.

(d) Fold the sides over the butter until it's covered and then roll it out so it's length is 3x it's width. 

(e) Then fold the top 1/3 down and the bottom 1/3 down.  Cover and rest for 10 minutes.  Then turn the dough round and repeat steps d and e two more times (so I think you end up rolling it out 3 times)

(f) Cover the dough with cinnamon butter which you make by creaming together 25g caster sugar with 25g butter and 1tsp or so of cinnamon (I didn't used enough cinnamon - I love cinnamon and would add more next time).  Sprinkle over some sultanas.

(g) Roll it up like a swiss roll and then cut into rounds about 1inch (2.5cm) thick.  Put on the baking tray and leave for about 30 minutes in a warm place and covered up.  Preheat the oven to 220 deg C.

(h) Brush with beaten egg then bake for about 15 minutes.

(i) Remove from oven and let cool a bit before eating!  You can also cover with thin glace icing apparently (according to les instructions in the book).  Yummy yummy.

I know, I've used this pic before!

Starting to think about 'back to work'

I've got to start thinking about going back to work.  Boo hiss.  The year seems to have flown by.  I can't believe that it's been 6 months since they diagnosed the PND and that Arthur is now 8 months old.  Despite the ups and downs, I've really enjoyed it.  I think that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now with the PND and I think that going back to work will help.  However, it also means a new set of stresses and strains.

I didn't really want to think about it, but my job share is going back in January so we had to go into the office to talk about it with our new boss.  Yeeks, seeing all those stressed out people made me feel stressed! But at the same time, I know that when I go back, I have to be strict on my hours as if I'm on duty to pick the children up, then I have to leave by a certain time to get them.  No messing or it's £15 per every 10 minutes you are late!!!!! Now I understand why all those people used to rush off and say 'sorry, I can't do it now, I have to go' before I had children!

Still, when you get into the office way before everyone else and then leave slightly earlier than everyone else it's amazing how many people frown at you and think you're shirking.  Maybe some people do.  I think my memories of the job and being up at midnight trying to get some of the work done before getting in early the next day makes me feel happy that my jobshare and I certainly weren't shirking.

Anyway, back to work in the new year.  Perhaps next year will have a set of challenges (eg. going back to work) which will also be real steps forward in getting my mental state sorted out for certain!

Storage Box is finished!

Here we go - pretty pleased with that really for a first attempt.

Oh some sewing at last

So, I found that focusing on some lovely new sewing goals has helped recently.  It's also avoided the baking (though I am still hoping to make some biscotti and stollen before the week is out - partly cos I love stollen).

So, Isobel has now another new hairband - I was quite excited by it!  I followed the same instructions from this great site Nina Makes - http://ninimakes.typepad.com/nini_makes/2007/08/very-easy-headb.html.  This time I slightly changed it though and added some lining to the top piece, just some light weight iron in lining.  Keeps the shape better now I think.  Isobel loved it and has worn it to be every night since!

Then I started work on some fabric storage boxes.  I have wanted to make some for ages and now they have a set of instructions in this months 'Making' magazine.  So, here is the box as it currently stands - just need to make the lining now:

This is the smallest one and is random yellow as my mum gave me some old fabric, including this yellow and some 1970s brown stuff which has yellow and orange in it:

Just looking for one more fabric to go with it and complete the theme!!  Any ideas welcome.

This morning Isobel decided to re-enact 'Guess How much I love you in the Autumn' and ran round the house as a box monster with the yellow box on her head!  Multipurpose sewing. That's what I like.

What happens when PND causes a wobble?

I had a bit of a wobble on Sunday.  Everything is OK now.  But I thought maybe I should share what a wobble feels like when it happens in case it helps anyone else.  Basically, I just feel overwhelmed by everything.  I am really irritable and everything Peter does is wrong.  I just want Isobel and Arthur to go to bed and be quiet.  I feel that my life has become a relentless set of chores where I can see no end in sight.  I sat on the floor holding Arthur to help calm him down, with tears flowing down my cheeks and just thinking - is this really it?  I just wanted to walk out of the house.

Now its funny as I don't think feelings like this are that extreme.  Before I took the pills, this would happen a lot and last a lot longer.  And the tears would stay all day.  And I know I have it quite lightly really.  I feel almost guilty for sharing this as I feel that people will judge me and think I'm a bad mother or something for feeling like this.  Perhaps that's why it's not really talked about?  How many people (men can have it too apparently) are out there not really talking about how they are feeling?

I'm so glad I'm getting better.  Most days my children are a joy.  Peter is great - and he is great with the children.  I am very lucky and I can't wait to get myself off these pills and back to my old self - it feels like it's more likely every day now.

Run run run...

I'm clearly having a blog-a-thon.

I've been running a lot over the past few days - ok, so not necessarily a huge distance but I've been out on a route I've been doing which includes some lovely hills and...happy oh happy, I can now run up them without stopping!  I'm so pleased with myself.

The running is great.  I am almost tempted by running the marathon again next year.....mmmh, but maybe one step at a time (phew I can hear my friends say - it would be the 4th London one which I still reckon I've got in me.....but maybe when things are a bit calmer).

I was thinking about it last night when out running, how difficult it is to find the time to go for a run now.  I used to be able to put my trainers on and go.  Now I have to wait until there is someone to look after the little ones.  And as it's winter it's also dark and damp which isn't the most enticing weather.  But, I'm trying to keep it up and it is making me feel like a new woman.  I really must buy some new trainers - another thing I don't know how I'll fit in.  Why can't they have someone come to your house and measure you up, watch you run and sell you trainers?????  I would love that.  My trainers are knackered - I'm sure it would make me run twice as fast to have new ones!

One thing I like about running in the winter is the fact that so many people leave their curtains open and their lights on - great for nosey parkers like me!  I ran past one house which had all it's christmas lights up - outside and in, including a christmas tree in the window! Maybe I've got the month wrong....

What on earth is a bat tower?

OK, so as Arthur is feeling a little better we went to Toys Hill in Kent.  It was very misty but also very lovely - great with kids as you get to places early enough that there is hardly anyone else there!

It was so lovely - apparently the views are meant to be great......clearly too misty for that.  It made me think of that poem by John Keats:

To Autumn, 1820:

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

And it made me feel much better - it's good for the soul being out in the great outdoors with all those lovely colours.  I've had a few PND wobbles recently - think it's maybe tiredness (after the chinese takeaway? - MSG?) and those thoughts about how relentless it is keep creeping in, so being able to run around outside made a real difference.  I hate being stuck inside.

Anyway, whilst at Toys Hill we came across a bat tower - which excited Isobel a lot as she thought it was a castle with a gruffalo inside!

So, the good old National Trusty has turned this old water tower into a bat tower to provide a place for them to hibernate.  We had a peep in but nothing....then again, according to the rubrick it's only now that they start coming to hibernate there.  Think it was for pipistrelle and some other bats....

Yet more bagels!

Mmh, cinnamon and raisin, my favourite.  Having had a poorly Arthur for a few days, Isobel and I made bagels on Friday whilst Arthur was in bed!  It was fun - though you have to be in the right mood to cook with a toddler I think.

We decided that we didn't have any bagels left in the freezer so action was needed and a change of bagel was also needed.  Found a few recipes, and mixed and matched a bit.  We ended up doing one which you left in the fridge overnight and cooked first thing so you have lovely freshly baked bagels for breakfast - lovely (though not so lovely for the waistline!).  We only made 6 as we were testing out the whole leave in the fridge thing.

So here, goes:

(a) Sift 1lb of bread flour into a bowl with 2.5 tsp of cinnamon and about 3/4 tsp of salt.  Mix together then make a well in the centre.

(b) Measure out 280ml of hand hot water and add to that about 3g dried active yeast (we used about half a sachet of the Allinsons yeast which is 7g in total but I wasn't being hugely accurate!) and 3g sugar.  One recipe we saw asked for Malt Extract instead of sugar but as we didn't have any and the previous recipe we used only used sugar, we plumped for sugar.  Seemed OK!

(c) Add this warm water to the flour and mix it in, then kneed for about 8 - 10 minutes until you have a smooth dough.

Toddler kneeding - not sure how effective it is!

(d) Add about 135g raisins (or mix of raisins and sultanas - we had to use sultanas as the raisins were no more!) and kneed those in.

(e) Then make the bagels - divide the dough into 6 balls.  We used a more prescriptive technique this time - after the random shapes last time (which were quite fun though!).  Found some instructions on an American blog which I'll try to find the link to.  Flatten each ball with your hand.  Then fold over one side into the centre and press down.  Do the same with the other side - so you get a seam in the middle where the two sides have come together.

(f) fold this in half and press down again and then roll into a sausage about 20 cm long and tapering at one end.

OK, so this isn't 20cm long but this is a sausage shape - roughly....

(g) Open up the seam at one end and then put the tapered end into it to make a bagel shape.  Pinch them closed.  Put the finished bagels on a floured towel on a baking tray.

There is a little Isobel one in there somewhere.....

(h) Cover with cling film and leave in fridge overnight.  Now, ours didn't rise that much overnight which we were a little concerned about but decided to keep going anyway!

(i) Preheat the oven to 250 deg centigrade (or max temperature) and put pan of water on to boil.  When it's boiling add 2 tbs sugar and then, using a slotted spoon, pop in about 3 bagels.  Turn them over after about 45 seconds and leave them to poach until they float.  Take them out and put them, seam side down, on a baking tray.

(j) Bake in the oven for about 14 minutes or until brown and lovely looking.

'I want my bagel'

(K) Cut open, add some butter and eat! Yummy yummy.