Things I learnt today

And I also wrote this one and pressed the wrong button and it all went away! Doooooh.

Oh well.  So, I went to Wisley today.  I love Wisley (as you know).  It was very cold but the sun was out (my favourite type of weather).  I went to see some old family friends, one of whom is very poorly with cancer. 

I learnt a few things whilst out and about though, including:

• Henry VIII had an older brother called Arthur, who died and therefore the crown passed to him (bypassing his sister who I think is in that book 'She Wolves' which I gave Peter for Xmas to which he said 'is this more feminist propaganda'? Men, honestly);
• That 33 children have died in custody since 1990;
• That Woman's Hour (Radio 4) had run a part of their programme on favouring one child over another which sparked a whole load of responses, including this one on a blog:
•  http://bluebirdsunshine.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/favouring-one-child-over-another/

It made me think about last week when I had a bad day.  Isobel was being particularly challenging and I was being particularly sensitive!  I've been trying to keep a note of when I have bad days to see if they fit with any pattern - in particular hormonal ones!  Nothing yet, but let's see.  A friend came over and witnessed the Isobel tantrum in full flow - I lost count of how many she had in the space of a few hours!  Not because she wasn't allowed to do something like have a toy or watch TV, but because she was sooooo frustrated at wanting to do something which she isn't yet capable of doing (or it isn't safe to do - like scooter in the car park!.  My friend made me feel better as she couldn't think of anything else I could try to do differently to try to reduce the number of tantrums!  I managed to get her (Isobel that is, not the friend!) to go to sleep at lunch time for the following few days - a miracle as that isn't something she likes to do at the moment.  It made a massive difference but by the end of the week (yeeks, it's Friday tomorrow!), she is so tired it starts all over again.

My friend is lovely.  She's an honest parent.  I know lots of honest parents now - ones who tell you when they have had a bad day, how hard they find it at times etc. (as opposed to the ones who have angels for children, and are no doubt already fluent in latin and greek at the age of 3 and only ever eat fruit, vegetables and never any cake!).  Honest parents make you feel better and keep that smile on your face even when everything inside is screwed up in a ball! I love Isobel really.  She is quite delightful most of the time.  She can also be highly independent, spirited, challenging, difficult....oh how many ways to describe it!

So, what are we currently doing to let her have more independence?  Well, much is the same as others - choose which of 2 tops to wear, put things in the bin, go to the toilet herself - and now, I purchased a small jug (cheap, doesn't matter if Arthur grabs it and engages it in his current game of 'I wonder what will happen if I throw this on the floor') which she can have milk in and add to her cereal in the morning to avoid the meltdowns when she realises she can't lift the large milk carton as it's too heavy!  Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Tomorrow.  Apparently it might snow.  We will mainly be making grandpa a birthday cake.  We have a plan.  And Isobel has found him some lovely pink candles.  Bring it on.

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

Finally some sewing & spiced apple chutney

Spiced apple chutney - cost about £0.50 a jar

I've had a lovely few runs since Peter got home.  I'm really trying to get to the top of a hill near our house without stopping.  I'm getting there though I'm almost sick when I get to the top!  Running really does lift my mood.  I noticed today that there is a running club in Sevenoaks specifically for women with depression - good idea I think, especially if people can start off running with others.  The club is called 'up and running' - http://www.upandrunninginsevenoaks.org.uk/Upandrunninginsevenoaks/Welcome.html

Much to Peter's concern, I've changed the morning radio station from Radio 4 to some music - whichever channel has the most uplifting music!  I love Radio 4 it must be said, the Today Programme, Just a Minute, The Politics Show, I've Never Seen Star Wars....oh and Woman's Hour.  However, I realised that happy music is making for a happier person - a bit of disco dancing to Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer just works it's magic and makes both little ones laugh and join in (I know someone who would be so happy with this - bringing back memories of that classy joint Infernos on Clapham High Street!). So, apart from first thing in the morning (gentle wake up), it's no more Radio 4!  Having said that, I did listen to Woman's Hour the other day where there was quite an interesting interview with a host of ladies about how to stay married.  Apparently Louise Mench has made some remark about women not letting themselves go or making sure they look glam for their husband.  And Jilly Cooper has reissued her book from 1969.  Programme is on Iplayer or through this link (10th November) - http://tunein.com/radio/Womans-Hour-p657/

Anyway, I have finally done a bit more sewing.  Isobel's hair is beginning to go a bit nuts so I made her a hairband!  It took slightly longer than I thought it would but I think the finished item is ok really - especially considering it's (a) pink and (b) made from fabric my mum had when I was little!

Great link to some hairband tutorials here - http://www.sewchicandunique.com/tag/headbandhairband/

I love those curly blond locks!

 Finally, I thought I would share another apple activity - as you know, we seem to have had a lot of apples (mainly through Peter foraging!) and I've slowly been turning them into things to make them last longer.  Last week I made a spiced apple cake (when testing out the cake release) and over the weekend we had a joint effort at some spiced apple chutney! 

We used this lovely book to instruct us (it's a great book - soooo many recipes and easy for people without a lot of jam making skill!) Jams, Preserves and Chutneys by Marguerite Patten.  Basically you need about 2lb apples (when peeled and cored), 1lb onions, some mixed spice (1 tsp), vinegar, raisins/sultanas and 350g soft brown sugar [will post details later - children just woken up!].  To sterilise the jars I always use the same method - wash the jars then put in a cool-ish oven at 140 deg until you need them.

Back to reality and naan breads!

So we're now back from holiday and it's back to reality - getting the boiler fixed, Peter going to work, constantly having to think about what everyone else is going to eat (is that a mum thing? no idea.  I never used to think about it - marmite on toast would suffice when I was unmarried and couldn't think of anything else/didn't have anything in to cook....but now?), etc etc.

I am going to keep my crafts up to help keep fighting this PND - even went and purchased some batting and lining in preparation for some Xmas present making.  Did my bit for the 'big society' and helped out at a local Nearly New Sale which was entertaining - why does anyone buy anything new for children???

So, Peter and I have decided to stop eating meat for a bit.  The thing that sparked this was a Radio 4 interview with Hugh F-W (can't spell it) from River Cottage who had apparently lost loads of weight after reducing his meat intake, cream etc (and probably al-k-hol).  Now the challenge is - what on earth to cook?  Obvious things are pasta based and pie based (eg. spinach pie, a favourite, yummy) but a good opportunity to open new doors to new things?

Made a curry root vegetable thing (2 medium onions, 3 cloves garlic, 5 carrots, 2 parsnips, 4 biggish potatoes all mixed together and cooked for 8 minutes or so in some vegetable oil; then add about 120g of red split peas and curry powder - which I had to make up and consisted of about 1 tsp garam masala, turmeric, mustard powder (not too much), dried chilli flakes, fennel seeds and cumin I think - and some stock.  Simmer until vegetables tender.

It was yummy.  But the most yummy thing (apart from the MD Mango Chutney which is the best in the world - have only found it in shops in Tooting in SW London and not where we live now.....oh my it's lovely!) was the naan bread! 

mmmh, yummy

My first attempt at naan bread (based on a M Jaffrey recipe) and it was pretty good - used 150 ml warm milk, 1 tsp sugar, 7g active dried yeast which I left in a bowl for about 20 minutes until it was frothy.

Then add this, 1 egg, 150ml yoghurt, 0.5 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp baking powder to 450g of plain flour.  Mix it, kneed it for at least 10 minutes (I had to add about 10g more flour as it was quite sticky) then put in greased and covered bowl and leave to rise.  I ended up leaving it for about 4 hours due to various other tasks!

Then knock it back when it's doubled in size and form 6 balls.  Pre-heat oven to highest temperature and put in baking tray, and preheat grill.  With one of the balls, form a naan bread shape - round, teardrop, however you like really, and then plonk on baking tray (which should be hot from oven) and put in hot oven for 3 minutes then move over to grill and grill for about 1 to 1.5 minutes or until brown on top.  And voila.  Naan Bread.  Yummy.  We tried various toppings - garlic, seasame and caraway being particularly exciting.

Finished garlic naans

Good 'crumb' I thought.