Peppa Pig Tastic

So, just about recovered from the toddler mayhem at the Body Shop party.  Had a good weekend - spent most of Saturday chopping vegetables for some Sichuan food I was making for Saturday night.  Isobel wanted to help chop but luckily the weather was good so she could run around outside with Daddy and help him dig the garden (with a teaspoon or two of course....).  She found many worms to which she delighted in wanting to cuddle them but then was slightly dubious if they got too close.

Sichuan food is yummy.  It has lots of chilli.  Chilli is good.  Not good for small children though.  This book is great.

Hot and numbing

It tells you alternative ingredients if you can't find the authentic stuff (although Mr Wing Yip sells a good range!).  The main thing I love is the Sichuan Pepper which is also known as the 'hot and numbing' pepper.






We followed the Sichuan food with this lovely Lemon and Chocolate terrine from 'I Love Food'.  It basically calls for 600ml double cream which you whisk with a tin of condensed milk (397g - so not very healthy as you can already see!) together with rind and juice of 3 lemons.  You can also add a tablespoon of Grand Marnier apparently but I added some brandy instead.  Put half the mix in a terrine dish and freeze for about 30 mins.


Melt 150g dark chocolate with 6 tablespoons cream and pour this over the terrine.  Freeze again for another 20 - 30 mins.  Then add the remaining cream/milk mix and freeze for 4 hours or so (or overnight - though we had rock hard chocolate in the middle which was entertaining to cut through!).  Yummy.

Not quite like the picture in the book!

Monday morning we eventually set off to the lovely New Forest to meet a friend for a few days R&R (? R&R - with too toddlers and a baby? What were we thinking???).  Stopped at Peppa Pig World on the way.  Oh my.  'I want to see the real Pecca pig mummy'.  Luckily there was a real Peppa Pig (and George the pig) as otherwise my life would not have been worth living.  It was already nearly a disaster as I had been promising Peppa Pig without looking at when it was open! And it was closed most of the time we were down there.....

Peppa World in all it's glory!

Arty decided he didn't like it though and screamed and screamed whilst Isobel shrieked with delight 'it's Peppa Pig's house mummy, it's Peppa Pig's house, Peppa Pig'.  I wonder if Arty actually just wanted to go on the rides and was complaining that he wasn't quick big enough to enjoy properly.  Becca and Joe Joe took Isobel onto a few rides while I calmed him down, including boats and Daddy Pigs cars (complete with fuel refilling station!).  We then strapped Arty into his sling and squeezed on to the rides - including the windy windmill which caused a lot of concern for small people as we went high up in the sky! But much fun was had by all until the meltdowns started.  Isobel took about 3 hours to eat her ice cream as we wondered out of the park to head to the New Forest proper but it kept her happy!

Top Tips for Peppa Pig world - if it's sunny take some swimming stuff for toddlers as there are fountains they can play in; take lots of suncream and water too if it's sunny as there isn't a lot of shade; protect heads from the dinosaur scales on the Mr Dine-saw ride; take your own food as it costs a fortune; be prepared for the Peppa Pig shop which sells everything from Peppa Pig shampoo to wellies, umbrellas and chocolate lollies!