How not to make marmalade

Mmmh, marmalade

So, a busy week.  I've ended off the day with a quick blast of the Sound of Music - Isobel loves it! Good to get them started young on singing 'How do you solve a problem' really badly!!! Although, perhaps she will sing well...who knows.

Had a bit of a bad day last Friday - was it because it was Friday 13th? Was it the moon? No, I think it was basically the fact that I was tired and I thought that finishing off the marmalade I'd started the day before would be a good thing to do whilst also looking after Isobel and Arthur.....surely it couldn't be that difficult - all I needed to do was let it bubble away for 3 hours......or so I thought.

I decided to make marmalade as frankly, I love marmalade.  I could eat marmalade toast every day, probably for every meal (though that might not be the healthiest of diets!).  I've never made marmalade and in the age of austerity thought that making it would surely be cheaper than buying jars of the stuff.  So, I followed the recipe of the trusty Delia:

http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/preserves/how-to-make-marmalade.html

Now the problem was I started it on an Isobel free day - all the poaching etc was done whilst Arthur was asleep.  I read the instructions and I thought I could just do the boiling the next day, get it started and then play with Isobel and Arthur until we needed to test it to see if it was done.

Problem 1 - Arthur was teething and not wanting to not scream and want lots of cuddles and attention

Problem 2 - Isobel was not wanting to make marmalade

Problem 3 - I was completely convinced that if I could just get the marmalade on to simmer for 3 hours I'd be laughing....

Problem 4 - the pan was far too small......ah, and the blood pressure went up as the marmalade spewed over the sides, Isobel wanted to try to eat it (despite the fact it was bubbling on the cooker) and Arthur was screaming.....

Note to self - get a bigger pan

Oh the joys.  Anyway, I made vats of marmalade - loads of it.  It's lovely and dark, slightly runny but still really really yummy.  And the ingredients? About £9 I think to make probably about £35 of marmalade.

I need to learn - don't try to do these things when the timing just isn't right!

Anyway, we then went off to the lovely Coolings (voted the no. 1 Garden Centre in the UK don't you know!)...not to do any gardening but to look at the nature trail.  However, by the time we got there (some tantrums and massive baby poos delaying the process) it was practically pitch black so we had to make do with the polar bears instead!

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

Wild Wisley and herbaceous borders

So the Great Bake Off was all about pies - I was quite excited by some of this meringue pies, especially the swirly ones with raspberry or whatever it was.

Anyway, took Arty to Wisley to meet a friend the other day. My mum would laugh - what next? First there was sewing and now there is the RHS! According to my health visitor, gardening is apparently being prescribed to women with postnatal depression. The garden itself is lovely - quite inspiring and relaxing too.  If only my herbaceous borders looked as lovely as theirs - unfortunately I don't think the people who work there would be willing to come and sort out our garden for free!  They also had some sculptures on display - I think the ones of the birds were about £2,000 if you have some spare cash to buy them!

They have a kids play area in one of the caves and an outdoor play area with wooden sculptures and a place to build wigwams (see below)! The cake isn't too bad either - try the coffee and walnut.

However, the challenge was the journey to Wisley which was anything but relaxing - what is it with lorries on the M25? It's like they come out of the Clackett Lane services and crash or topple over! Then they put up those flashing '40' signs....but what they should really say is '2' given that that is about the speed you go! Luckily Arty was quite happy sleeping. Isobel took great delight I feeding arty last night - she was particulary good at trying to get him to eat the spoon.

The neighbours dropped off some pears early yesterday morning, said they needed cooking. So as we're due to spend quite a while in the car this afternoon and Isobel and I went out for lunch (very nice quiche we had too!), I made some pear muffins. Last time I made muffins they ended up like bits of flapjack - this lot seem better!  I found the recipe on this website and adapted it slightly - it's apparently a healthy muffin recipe.....