So, it appears the drains don't work that well in Dhaka

Wonder Woman! The joys of visiting Singapore when you are older...

The rainy season has started.  So has Ramadan.  The rainy season in the desh is full of contrasts - baking hot one moment, dust blowing everywhere and then ridiculously heavy rain and cooler temperatures the next!  The rain, when it comes, it quite special.  It comes down hard.  Not necessarily for that long but very hard.

Now you might be aware that the roads near where we live in Dhaka recently had some new 'storm drains' added.  They dug the holes in the road - by hand.  They moved the new drains into the ground - by hand.  They covered it over with some rubble - by hand.  Then it rained.  And the rubble all disappeared and massive holes appeared - which obviously you can't see when it's been raining and there are a few feet of water on the road!  Result - a number of cars driving into them and getting a little bit stuck.

So, next step in the process?  Covering the holes and rubble in the road with tarmac - by hand.  Picture the scene, old metal barrels on their side with a kind of metal tray on top. Underneath a fire made from burning old bits of cloth and rubbish.  On top, bits of stone and hot tar.  People all around adding to the fire or to the hot tar - and all in a pair of flip-flops and a longi (or a sari for the women). Payment for a days work on this - approximately 500 BDT per day (for the men - which is about 3 UK pounds) and less than that for the women.

So, the new road and the new drains, they should stand up to the rainfall yes?  Well, no.  The rain at the weekend flooded the road outside the British High Commission - approximately 1 - 2 feet of water after about 1 hours rain.  We now have more pot holes appearing - kindly marked out by a bit of tree so that drivers and rickshaw wallahs don't drive into it!

Meanwhile, down in Old Dhaka, markets were still under 1 - 2 feet of water the next day.  Why is this?  Now some will argue 'oh it's climate change' and yes, with climate change we can expect the rainfall patterns to change and intensify.  But this is a multi-layered problem.  It involves corruption, it involves lack of planning and budgeting, it involves land grabbing.  Oh the list goes on.

Moving onto more lighthearted issues, Isobel and I went to Singapore for a long weekend.  When I was young, Singapore was a little bit dull to be honest.  It was so clean and functional.  I wanted chaos and excitement.  Now when I went to Singapore from Dhaka I thought - oh my, this is paradise.  It functions, there are pavements, there is public transport, there is a cable car (with Wonder Woman no less), there is Ben and Jerrys.  It was a great visit.  And happily in the airport on the way home I found some Belgian chocolates....which tasted lovely with a bottle of Belgian beer back here in Dhaka!

Thinking of beer, one of the many conversations amongst expats here (apart from 'where can I buy food without formulin in it' and 'where is good to go for a weekend break from Dhaka and how long will it take?') is around which of the many expat clubs has the best beer.  Bangladesh is a dry country- so as an expat you can only get alcohol through diplomatic missions (if you are a diplomat), through a 'warehouse' (if you have what they call a passbook) or through some of the clubs.  We have the Dutch club (complete with little climbing wall and bitterballen), the German club (good pizza), the Nordic club (good cinnamon buns) and so on.  But the beer vote goes to......the American club.  What a range of beer! In fact as one colleague of mine said 'thats the fridge I long to sit outside'.

A selection of the beers at the American Club Dhaka

In addition to beer, the other industry which is growing in Dhaka is that related to bread and baking!  I love a good bake.  I'm looking forward to the next Great British Bake Off which I'll be watching thanks to modern technology.  An English guy has moved to Dhaka and is helping train up a group of bakers who are going to open a new bakery for all to enjoy.  Bread and baked products in Asia are often disappointing if what you are after is a croissant or western type product (obviously, Asian roti and other such breads are easily available and incredibly tasty!).  However, growing middle classes in many Asian countries are looking for these western baked goods.  And so Dhaka has now launched the Holey Artisan Bakery.  So far we've only tasted almond croissants, pain au chocolat, sourdough and fruit loaf but they were very very tasty!  Let's hope the Bangladeshi bakers can keep it up when they realise that most bakeries bake through the night and early morning to have bread ready for breakfast as opposed to 7pm at night! I'll be supporting them.

And whilst on the baking theme and before signing off for the day, I have still been baking!  This time, baked doughnuts with cinnamon sugar!  Baked! Yummy.  So much healthier I'm sure (if you ignore the sugar).  Did you know you can get a book just about doughnuts - it's good, look it up - by Rosie Reynolds.  It's small but full of lovely recipes!

The countdown begins....

Well there has been a slight gap in the blogging.  I think a holiday in Croatia managed to get in the way.  Croatia was lovely. For the first time in 4 years we had decided 'let's go away, let's have guaranteed sunshine, no more of this rain'.

What happened?  Longest heatwave in the UK since 2006.....

Mmh.


Kids loved it and we loved.  For all the warm weather in the UK, being able to step outside and jump into crystal clear water was worth every penny of that flight with dodgy jet.  It was perhaps the most relaxing holiday we've had in years! Same thing every day - up, breakfast, beach, home, lunch, sleep, up, swim, dinner, pass out.  Sometimes there was even an ice cream to break up the routine!

Anyway, the return from Croatia meant one thing (well two actually) - more jabs for the kids and the countdown really beginning.  The kids are now well and truely jabbed up.  The last one was the worst - BCG for TB.  Arty was NOT happy. And boy did he make that known.  Luckily I escaped and took Isobel for a walk leaving Peter to struggle on with the wriggler.

But they are all done.  You need a lot of jabs for the Desh - TB, Hep A and B, Typhoid, Rabies and so on.  That's the least of their worries though - the next major challenge is trying to get Arty to stop drinking the bath water...or in fact to understand that he can't drink any water which comes out of the tap!  Ha ha.  Good luck with that one many people have said.

So, the countdown.  I think it's 6 weeks today that we fly.  We have put the house on the market - something which saw me hoovering at midnight the other night and vaguely trying to hide all the bits of plastic the kids accumulate in various cupboards, hoping no one would open them!  Peter has given up work - that's quite a major step.  Not only does it mean that for the first time since we met he isn't working for the same organisation, he is unemployed effectively and will mainly be spending his days painting and preparing the dinner (well, I'm hoping for the latter!).

It also means I'm the breadwinner! Scary.  I suddenly feel this massive responsibility to be extra cautious with money to ensure we have enough on my 3.5 day a week salary.  I'm hoping the lottery tickets might have come up trumps but I've not checked yet!

And finally it means attacking the task list.  It seems like a never ending task list and it's not a particularly interesting one:

(1) Go to tip
(2) Paint walls
(3) Spill paint on carpet
(4) Clear up paint on carpet
(5) Go back to tip
(6) Sell car
(7) Rent car
(8) Go to tip
(9) Attempt to chuck out really old toys while the kids aren't looking
(10) Fail in (9)

And so on.

Yesterday I distracted myself fully from this venture and went on a bread baking course.  It was a Christmas gift from all the family - and it was such fun!  It was held at the Lighthouse Bakery in Sussex and I had plumped for European Breads.  Ooh, the poolishes, the bigas, the other fermenty things I'd never heard of.  But the best bit was the bread!!! We now have a freezer full of it.  Which will basically add a few tasks to the list:

(11) Eat contents of freezer
(12) Keep eating contents of freezer
(13) Try not to add anything else to freezer.

Anyway, for some reason I am off to Tanzania this evening.  Not ideal timing as it means leaving Peter and the kids with the chaos of the overflowing bread filled freezer but an opportunity to see some overflowing pit latrines I suppose (just what you wanted to read I'm sure!).

So on that note I will leave you with some pictures of some lovely bread I made yesterday and a picture of the Dhaka skyline which awaits us in 6 weeks time.

Here we have a Limpa at the back, Pan Gallego on the right, Pain de Campagne in the middle and Pane Pugliese on the left

Dhaka belly in the desh

Yes, I’ve had my first encounter with Dhaka belly.  Like Delhi belly but luckily for me it only lasted a few days.  People die of diarrheoa every day – in fact Diarrhoea (88% of which in low income countries is due to poor water and sanitation^[1]) kills more children than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined.  In this case it was something I ate.  Peter had gone and I thought to myself, I know, I'll treat myself to room service.  Ah.  Not such a good idea.

Oh well. 

So, life in Dhaka, what will it be like?

-       Hot.  There is not escaping it.  It will be hot (well apart from the winter when it apparently becomes chilly and we will need jumpers!).  We’re lucky.  We will have air-con and fans.  The office has air-con, the cars have air-con.  But outside, it’s hot and very sticky.

-       Busy.  People, rickshaws, cars, motorbikes, more people, buses.  Everywhere you look.  On the pavements (yes, rickshaws, cars and motorbikes also on the pavements).

-       Noisy.  Horns beeping.  Buildings being knocked down.  New ones being built.  The mosque calling everyone to prayer.

-       Hazardous for tall people – Peter almost lost his head to a ceiling fan whilst coming down some stairs.  That and the low hanging electrical cables which he has to duck.  He has now declared ‘I think I might have to look where I’m going here rather than horizon scan’…

-       Challenging – how to help the kids understand the poverty they will be faced with.  The beggars who bang on the car windows, the children running around in the middle of the road, the disabilities which make life so much more challenging.  How to help them understand how lucky they are and how much there is to be done to improve the opportunities for so many people around the world.

-       Rewarding – the people have been so friendly. So smiley. So willing to help teach us some basic Bangla and tell us about Dhaka, their lives and so on. 

-       Colourful.  Dhaka is so colourful.  The airport is so colourful – the seats are orange and red, but not the dull colours you see at Heathrow and Gatwick, vibrant colours.  The saris and salwar kameez that the women wear are so colourful and beautiful. .

-       Sporty.  It seems that for those not working (so that will be Peter to start with), life will involve tennis, swimming, golf, yoga, more tennis, squash, surfing (yes, surfing!), cycling, running, more golf…..

-       Filling.  So, the curry is good.  That goes without saying. But, for me the excitement was the cinnamon buns I found at the Nordic club.  Yes, cinnamon buns. They were massive and very cinnamonny! 

And on that note, bread that is (and baking), I am still thinking that sourdough needs to come to Dhaka.  So, that's the plan.  I'll get a new kilner jar and we'll make sourdough.  I'm already imagining what kind of bacteria there will be in there helping it to grow.....

---

[1] WHO (2004) Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Links to Health: Facts and Figures

We're moving.....to Dhaka!

So, it's been a while.  Life has gone a bit bonkers.  The weather remains cold and depressing - I've been wondering if it's a conspiracy by British Gas and the like to keep our bills high!

Anyway, I was going to start writing some blogs about my sourdough attempts.  There have been many and varied. 

This is how my starter started (thank you Mr HollyWood).  Contents - a festering organic apple, some flour and some water:

This is a more recent success (i.e - it actually rose and was light and airy!):

However, times have now moved on and it's time to reinvigorate this blogging m-larky.

In fact, I'm going to change the name slightly, a play on words.  From now on I think it should be known as 'Tales of Sundarban motherhood....' after the Sundarbans (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/452) which represent the world's largest stretch of mangrove forest.

We are moving to Dhaka.  Why I hear many people ask?  Well, in terms of work it's one of the best places for me - I'm a climate change and environment nut and so to work in one of the main countries which is going to feel the full impact of climate change it makes such huge sense.  For the kids, well, OK it's going to be a shock (the sheer numbers of people, the air quality, the new schools etc) but I am hoping that it will open their minds to the world, the realities in which so many people have to live and give them opportunities to travel to places beyond most people's wildest dreams (Sri Lanka, Nepal, China, Bhutan....the list goes on!).

Anyway, I thought it would be good to start documenting this process.  And my is it a process.  My first visit in almost 10 years is next week.  For Peter it's his first visit.  He's hard core though.  I don't have any concerns.  After all, he has picked up dead bodies post-genocide in Rwanda.  Here's hoping he can find some sort of job - I'm not sure how long he could really cope with playing tennis at the club and going for tea with the spouses......

The kids aren't coming with us on this trip. They are staying at home with granny and papa.  Granny and Papa have got a house full of gin to cope with the aftermarth! Isobel seems relatively interested in the notion of moving to 'Blangladesh' although I'm not entirely (well, not at all) convinced she really has a clue what it means.  I say that, she understands she has to go on a plane - and then completely freaks out at the thought of them shutting the doors on the plane after she has got on!  Which makes me chuckle, especially as she asks in the same sentence whether the plane 'goes upside down' to Blangladesh.

So, from now on this blog is going to focus on the trials and tribulations of moving to Dhaka and living there with a small family.  The things we see, the smells, the tastes, the chaos, the frustration and the happiness.  I hope it will give an insight into life overseas not only for us but also and in particular for those for whom Bangladesh is home.

And of course, I can always try to make sourdough in Dhaka....and maybe branch out to make sourdough bagels for the expats?

My favourite food is.....gruffalo crumble!

So, last weekend I went to Brixton Market with a friend for brunch.  I've not been for years so it was nice to have a bit of time sans les enfants to potter about.  So many food options in the market and the 'Brixton Village', including of course, the well known Franco Mancas pizza place (http://francomanca.co.uk/).  We had noodles with chilli for brunch and it really made me think about those years I spent in tropical climates eating noodles for breakfast.  It's lovely!!

Anyway, I'm digressing.  So, Isobel has been very well, erm, 'spirited' (or maybe I should say challenging) lately!  Not helped by her sudden wish to get up at 4am - normally because something has broken such as the Peppa Pig watch or her hairband or.....anything she can think of really.  I'm wondering if we'll have to start some tough love as I hate that time of the morning. Always brings back those memories of insomnia!  She has clearly decided to be a defiant child of late though - I've moved on from marbles (I kept forgetting and we had to keep putting them away to stop Arthur eating them!) to a sticker chart.  It seems to work but let's see.  Today she has been quite delightful to her brother which has been lovely - and she loves telling him the rules 'Arthur, we don't hit, that's the rule'...followed by 'Arthur, I'm going to tell my mummy on you'.

We've had a weekend of cookery which has been a great way to spend the bank holiday, interspersed with trips to playground, swimming and a party.  Even daddy cooked - using the products from the garden he cooked up a Gruffalo Crumble (recipe can be downloaded from the Gruffalo.com website).

Isobel helped me make meatballs (Jamie Oliver again - god bless).  She wanted to smell the ingredients - rosemary (yuck mummy), garlic (yuck mummy), cumin (yuck mummy), chilli (can I eat this mummy?) and make her very own little meat balls - some of which were soooo small but when I tried to suggest making them bigger was told 'don't be silly mummy, they are for the children'.  So there you go.

We baked cinnamon buns too - which I have to say were the best start to the day this morning when suffering from a massive hangover (I blame Peter and his 'fancy a nightcap?' which consisted of a very large nightcap and subsequently a very very large headache!).

And, to kickstart the Jamie Oliver campaign again, I've made hummus.  For a light tea I think before going to bed at 8 to recover from last night!!!

Why don't people vote?

I'm just saddened by the low turnout - just about a third of people who could vote did vote. I just think its shocking. The thought of countries like Syria where people are dying in their efforts to bring about more democracy and then of course the women and the suffragettes. Makes me really sad. I hope I can bring our children up to value their right to vote and to use it, no matter how fed up they might be with the state of politics and politicians.

Thinking of children, another very challenging day with the little lady. I partly wished I was still at work rather than being hit and having her push her brother head first out of the front door! I don't understand why she is so nasty to him. With her teddy bears she is all gentle and kind and plays softly softly with them.  As soon as her little brother comes along she just wants to whack him one! I know I can't do anything but it makes me so sad.  I try to be even handed but it is so difficult when she is being so mean to him and he just wants to play. I know shes little and doesn't really know what she is doing but it breaks my heart.

She had a big fall from the top of the slide the other day - oh my god I almost had a heart attack. I caught her and broke the fall but that didn't stop me taking her to A&E as her mouth didn't stop bleeding! And my how she has enjoyed it - 'my mouth hurts....no I dont want it....I don't like it.....my mouth hurts' despite being offered ice cream as per doctors orders! Then she merrily went off to nursery, said goodbye and sat down to eat a big bowl of weetabix without a word! Ha ha. Caught out. Mind you her mouth does look sore. Poor little thing.

We made some lovely cakes for her birthday party which was therapeutic. I love baking. I find it helps me focus and you get to eat it too! Have made a big batch of cinnamon rolls this evening which are in the fridge waiting till tomorrow for some bank holiday breakfast treats! Can't wait. Might have a sugar high baby girl as a result - but I'm out all day so will leave daddy in charge! I asked isobel what colour hair I should have.....answer? Pink.....watch this space.

We made the cake and made a smurf!

Papa's cake - he loves all things Russian

So, Isobel and I made grandpa's cake. Dairy free so granny could eat it. Entertainingly, Isobel decided to wipe the blue food colouring on her hands, and her face, and her hair, and in her mouth......and we had our very own smurf! Luckily the snow washed it off.

Daddy made a snowman. Isobel didn't really help.  Arthur went sledging and so did mummy and daddy.  Felt really quite young again!

Today has been a harder day. Don't know why really.  Tired I think.  Peter sat up til 315 watching the superbowl (he used to live in America and still has his American ways about him!). His team won so he has been very happy all day!  I haven't been sleeping too well though.  Not sure if its the going back to work thing or the fact Arthur is going to nursery tomorrow for first of his settling in days. Will be quite a shock. He doesn't seem old enough!  The counsellor asked me if I was ready for him to go.....am I? I don't know.  And mum isn't too good at the moment.  Maybe its just all happening at once. More chocolate might help I think.

Snow at Granny's House

Vintage ice cream

So, after nearly 30 years if festering in a box I finally christened the ice cream machine my parents were given for some Christmas gift. And it worked! Unbelievable. Made some whiskey and brown bread ice cream (it was Burns night last week and we have loads if single malt in the house for some reason). It was truely delicious.

It came after Peter made pizza dough - first time he had ever made dough apparently....pretty good too though I don't think he was too fond of the mess!

Isobel hasn't done any baking recently.  We are saving it for making grandpa's birthday cake. She has however devoured her first lamington - on Australia day. Disappeared in about 2 seconds. Think that was a hit! She is also ever so slightly obsessed by the Jungle Book at the moment, baloo the bear in particular. I have to read it over and over and over......

Meringues....

Mmmh, fat free....!

 
This week, whilst Peter is away, I'm going to try to crack on with some sewing.  It's been a while since I did any - I think I've been distracted by baking!  But now I need to lose a little more weight before Xmas so should probably refocus on sewing some Christmas gifties.

Before I move on though, I thought I would share our meringue attempt.  I've seen these giant meringues for sale in shops at ridiculous prices so Isobel and I decided to make some!  Mixed and matched with some recipes.  And the result was a lovely crispy meringue on the outside and gooey-ness in the centre!  And a sugar rush.  Here goes -

- preheat oven to 200 degrees C (gas mark 6) and warm 300g of caster sugar on a roasting tray for 7 minutes or until hot but not melted

- in an electric mixer, whisk 150g eggs whites until they are foamy and then add the hot sugar all in one go.  Put the mixed on high and whisk for about 10 minutes until the mixture is cool and white, shiny and stiff!

- then it's up to you what you do.  Isobel and I made two batches - so we split the mix in two and with one of them very loosely folded through a tiny drop or 2 of red food colouring.  In the other, we loosely folded through some sifted cocoa and cinnamon.  We probably only used about 3 'folds'.

- put large 'blobs' on a baking tray covered with baking paper and decorate. 

Which one was Isobel's?

-  bake in oven at 110 degree C for 1 hour and 45 mins.  Cool.

Eat! They were very yummy!

Finished article - they spread out quite a bit on cooking!

Oh, and our meat free time is going well - we might have had a few slip ups but basically it's all good and it's been a great opportunity to learn how to cook new veggie dishes and to get our 5 a day in one meal!  Now, the next step is to not eat cake.....or drink Amaretto with ice (!)

Brighton and Baking

I went to a Jamie at Home party with a friend the other day.  Jamie Oliver - he has his fingers in so many pies!  We joked that it's like world domination....but we all seemed to agree that his recipes work.  Question though - is it really him who comes up with all these recipes, or does he have teams of people developing them for him???  Mmmh.

The next day, a few of us had a well deserved day off in Brighton.  We considered going for a dip in the sea but then decided that the call of pints of beer, wine....and a bit more wine was too much.  Even had a quick go on the slots on Brighton Pier (made a 12% profit in 10 minutes which were pleased about) before heading to the pub on the way home.  Brighton looked glorious in the mix of sun/storm weather.

The slots on Brighton Pier

Isobel wanted to eat this ice cream!

Dinner consisted of a bottle of water and a wispa gold on the train in a vague attempt to sober up!

I then set about a little bit more baking.  We have a glut of apples.  I've mushed some up for arthur, made some crumble filling and put it in the freezer and so I decided to make a pie.  I was inspired by Jamie O I think as it was what he was cooking at the Jamie at Home party (though  not in person).....

I ended up making a bit of a mix of various recipes (Delia and Jamie x2).  Ended up quite nice really - bit too saucy for some perhaps, but we love a bit of sauce! Basically this is what I did:

(a) preheat oven to 190 degree centigrade and grease and line a pie dish with shortcrust pastry and sprinkled with a little semolina then put back in fridge. I used a pack of shortcrust pastry from the supermarket - used 2/3 for the base and 1/3 for the top.

(b) peel, core and cut into wedges about 6 apples - I used more but some were quite small.  I basically kept going until the amount I had looked like it would fill the pie dish.  I used a mixture of cooking and eating apples.

(c) melt a knob of butter in a large frying pan and add a teaspoon of cinammon, one finally chopped piece of stem ginger (in syrup) and a drizzle of the syrup, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, some elderflower cordial (maybe 1 - 2 tablespoons) and half a grated nutmeg.

(d) add the apples and cook until they are just beginning to go a bit soft.

(e) put the apples into the pie dish, keeping back some of the juice and then cover the pie dish with a lid.  Crimp the edges together and (if you like) decorate with some little leaves (my mum always put leaves on the tops of pies).  Beat one egg in a cup and then brush over the top.  Cut some little holes in the lid to let the steam out and sprinkle with a little brown sugar and some cinammon.

(f) bake for 45 mins or so and then leave to cool for 10 - 15 minutes.  Serve.  Yummy

Macaron anyone? Or maybe macaroon?

Now, I've been looking at the difference - and it seems that the difference is that macaroon relates to the coconut one which is dipped in chocolate whereas macaron is the colourful one made from egg whites and almonds and sandwiched together (see below)!

Now, those artistic beauties above were made by me! I can't believe it.  I don't know what came over me but I'm incredibly happy.....and likely to get incredibly fat if I eat them all!  I forgot to take my happy pill this morning - I've just remembered this and won't bother today now (not sure what happens if you forget...I've forgotten before) but I'm wondering if making and eating macarons is the new way to overcome PND!

I've been thinking of making them since watching the Great British Bakeoff when they all said 'oh those tricky little wotsits, reduce you to tears etc etc'.  I thought I would give it a go - but oh my, which method to choose?  There seem to be two - one uses what I would call a normal meringue approach (i.e whisking the egg whites with sugar in a bowl) and the other is apparently an 'italian meringue' which creates a hot syrup liquid to pour into the almonds...or something.  The advice re. colour is also mixed - some say to use a gel based colour and others a liquid one.  Mmh.

So, as we had plasterers in today and Arty was tired, I stayed in to rest.....and make macarons using the normal meringue recipe.  I used a combination of the recipe on the Pink Whisk (runner up in GBBO last year) and also one from the BBC food magazine.  Made half the amount the recipe called for as wasn't sure how they would turn out.  I also used liquid egg whites for the first time which was exciting and, as many others have said, has meant I don't need to find a use for all those egg yolks.  I used these ones - Two Chicks

Here is my approach to macarons (makes 9 largish ones, so maybe 12 - 15 smaller ones):

(a) line two baking trays with greaseproof paper and draw little circles on them (my circles were maybe a bit big - I used an almost empty sellotape roll to go round)

(b) mix 87.5g icing sugar and 62.5 g ground almonds in the food processor and keep mixing while you make the meringues (this was me following the Pink Whisk)

(c) whisk 55g egg whites (probably about 1.5 eggs) until they reach soft peak (I did this by hand so I could see how the egg whites were doing) and then gradually add 37.5 g caster sugar (I added in 3 lots) until it is smooth and glossy.  My mum taught me to rub my fingers together with a little of the mix to see if it was still grainy.  If no longer grainy, it's done

(d) add your food colouring.  Now I used Natural Food Colourings which I found in the shop and tried to make them pink (as you can see, they are not - either because I didn't use enough or because they are sensitive to heat and so changed....next time I'll use plenty of E numbers!).  Whisk a bit more.

(e) Fold in half of the almond/icing sugar mix, seiving it in first.  Always fold with a metal spoon (or spatula...just not a wooden one).  Then add the other half.

(f) I then folded for a couple of minutes but followed the tip I found on the BBC website that it should form a thick ribbon coming off the spatula when it's done and then 'melt' back into the mix within 30 seconds

(g) Pipe (or use a teaspoon as I did as I couldn't muster the energy to make a piping bag) your mix onto the trays, bang the trays a few times to sort out the air bubbles and leave to form a skin for about 30 - 40 mins.

(h) Bake for 13 minutes in 160 degrees.  Remove from oven and leave to cool

Here are mine resting:

(i) Fill with whatever filling you fancy.  I made a chocolate one - with 55g of dark chocolate chopped finely (I had to use a mix with some orange lindt chocolate) and add to that some warm double cream (60g).  Leave for a few mins then mix together.  Then add 12.5 g of soft unsalted butter and mix.  Leave to cool/set a bit and then fill your macarons.

Oh my.  I have eaten one.  I have never had a macaron before.  I shall be making them every day (well, ok, maybe not everyday....).  Lovely. lovely.  Am already contemplating various flavours.

Here are is another pic to bore you with.

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.

Brancaster beach and blackberry crumble

Had a lovely day at Brancaster beach which is basically a long expanse of sand and dunes on the edge of some tidal marshes. Owned by the National Trust who are happy to warn you that the beach gets cut off at high tide when the road in floods. Very good. Quick check then needed with the car park man re. tides and we were good to go. Now then the challenge with long expanses of sand in Norfolk appears to be the wind.....it was like being in a sandstorm so not really conducive to a long walk with a toddler who was finding it difficult to hold onto her bucket and spade. Few runs needed by mummy down the beach to rescue it.

But nothing as dramatic as daddy who decided to have a go at flying his new stunt kites (for the kids he said.....despite the fact they were nowhere near it....). The kite twirled and twirled and then whoosh it was off, blowing down the beach with Peter sprinting after it. I laughed so much it almost made me cry.

Anyway, after the dramatic kite experience we headed off for a walk to Brancaster Staithe along theq coast path. The trusty maclaren made it yet again. It is truly a wonderful pram.

Did some foraging for blackberries on the way back which allowed some more baking now that the bake off is over! Blackberry, apple and pear crumble was made. Peter loves a nice thick crumble but each to their own when making it. Basically, the crumble needs about 3 apples (we had eating apples but they were quite big) and one pear (conference this time but Comice is also nice) which I sliced into thick slices then stewed slightly with a bit of water for about 10 mins. No sugar added as wanted to keep some of the fruit to wean Arty. Then add the blackberries and simmer for another few minutes, think we had about 600g so it was quite blackberry heavy. Crumble mixture made with 75 g or so of butter rubbed with about 200g flour and then a handful or two of porridge oats and one handful sugar. Baked in oven for about 35 minutes at 200 degrees. Yummy. Isobel loved it and so did arty though he was restricted to just the fruit.

Close up to show the depth of crumble to keep Peter happy!

Baking with toddlers - attempting the pistachio cake

Today, given it's a day of rest, Isobel and I decided to do some baking. We tried to recreate the pistachio cake from the other day. Found a few recipes online which varied quite a lot but we decided to use polenta in addition to flour and used two sites as the main basis (for info, the two main sites which used polenta were this Australian one and this Franco-Irish kitchen one).

The whole process was another lesson learning opportunity for things to watch for when baking with toddlers (although it might just be baking with Isobel!).  I will share these but here goes the recipe and some photos of the process:

1. Mix 50g plain flour, 50g polenta, 1tsp baking powder with 200g of ground pistachios (this gave me a great opportunity to use a new bit of my lovely Kenwood - the multimill - Isobel however found the noise 'scary mummy')

2.     Melt 100g of butter and add 120 ml olive oil.

3.     Whisk together 3 medium eggs and 200g caster sugar until fluffy (and if a toddler, stick your fingers in and eat as much as possible while mummy isn't looking!)

4.     Then add the olive oil/butter mix and whisk, and finally the pistachio/flour etc mix.  Whisk it all together.  Eat a bit more.  Then add zest and juice of one large lemon (we used a lemon that was too small so the flavour could be a bit stronger) and some orange if you like.

5.     Pour into a greased and floured tin (23 cm diameter gives a good depth cake) and bake in 160 degrees for 40 - 45 minutes until it comes away from the side but is still moist in the middle.

6.     Let it cool and dust with icing sugar.  Eat.

We all had a slice when Peter got home - and it was yummy so would strongly recommend it even if you have to watch for toddler fingers!  Don't you think it looks just like the one in the pub picture?

So what further lessons did I learn about baking with Isobel apart from the obvious things like not letting her near the oven and keeping sharp objects out of reach? Well, firstly she likes raw egg, and raw flour, raw sugar, raw polenta, raw anything really.  She should probably be quite ill! Secondly, she loves pressing the button on the electric scales - so you move rapidly from g to oz and back again and then all of a sudden all weights disappear and you're back to zero! So no accurate measuring.  Thirdly, the accurate measuring is made even harder as she goes on to 'test' the recipe straight from the bowl, especially lumps of butter.  And my last lesson learning from this baking session is that she tries very hard to fall off the chair she is balanced on by jumping up and down with excitement shouting 'ready, it's ready' when the beeper goes off on the oven!

All in all a good day.  Topped off with my first run in ages - slow but steady.  Role on the 10k next year (!>!)