Onek onek bump



Lalbagh Fort, Old Dhaka - can you feel the sweaty heat???

Onek Onek Bump - translates as 'many many bumps'.  Now I could be referring to the bumps along the way whilst out and about with the kids in the rickshaw ( there are indeed, onek onek bumps) or I could be referring to the bumps on Arty's head.  Playing with his sister whilst waiting for the school bus - fall over, massive bump to head and cut lip.  Playing with mummy inside - pretending to in fact be a rickshaw wallah.  Fall off bike - onek onek bump.




So I promised an update on Eid and it's been a little slow coming.  Eid.  Seems like a lifetime ago already - now we are into hartels, burning buses and molotov cocktails!  Even in the diplomatic zone - imagine that!  The kids are oblivious to it all, as are most of us in reality as it's not something you see every day out on the streets in this area of Dhaka.  There are a lot more policy about now and there were reports of a burnt out bus on the road on my way to work, but it was gone this morning.  Otherwise, life for the lucky ones in Dhaka continues as normal - we go to work (the streets are empty - a plus side of a hartal) and come home and continue reading 'Room on the Broom' with the kids.  For those who are less lucky, they can't get to work (due to the hartel) and therefore lose a day of income, and if they do come to work they are at risk from demonstrations on the street and attack in certain areas of the country.

Why?  Well, because of the elections.  I won't go into it all here but it's quite an interesting time here.  You can read all about it on Wikipedia if you want to!




Afternoon tea - as a distraction from the dead cows!

Anyway, back to Eid.  So, this was the bloody Eid.  The Eid where the cattle are lowing....until they are killed - and then distributed - 1/3 for family and friends, 1/3 for the household and 1/3 for the poor.  The cows are fattened up apparently before Eid - and an interesting side effect of this is that cows are sometimes given pain killers to reduce the fever which might be associated with it.  The pain killer of use has been, until recent times, Diclofenac.  This is also given to humans but the cattle version has been widely used in South Asia - not only for fattening up cows but also as a general pain killer.  This drug has now been banned for use in cattle because it has been found to be responsible causing the death of vultures - 99% of the vultures in South Asia have died out in the past 10 years!  That is a remarkable rate. Vultures - not the most attractive birds it has to be said, but so vital for the food chain and ecosystem to help with the removal of dead and decaying animals from the landscape. You can read more about it here - http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/vultures/

So Eid (I am easily distracted).  We took it in turns to venture out onto the streets to see what was happening.  The kids (well, Isobel) displayed what some may think is a slightly odd interest in dead cows - on looking through Peter's pictures (which were erm, well, quite graffic is one to describe them!) she wanted to see more of the 'blood cows'.  So much for us trying to protect her.  The actual process was quite interesting - it was very orderly and over relatively quickly.  There wasn't a lot of noise.  There were a lot of men wandering around with large knives which was slightly scary, but no one seemed to mind the strange westerners standing looking at them.  Some pictures (from a distance!) are below (right at the bottom) - be warned.

Egg stacking - at SandaGhat

We then took the kids down to Old Dhaka the next day - we took advantage of the empty streets to go off on our adventure.  Half an hour it took.  Half an hour - for Dhaka this is remarkable as normally it would take 2 on a good day!  So, we went first to the Lalbagh Fort - built about 300 years ago.  An oasis amongst the madness.  On the way there were dead cow remnants - a few horns, heads, skins and the like piled at the side of the road (I say a few, I really mean A LOT).  The kids though were mainly oblivious.


Taking pictures of the picture takers

The fort, an oasis of calm.  Unless of course you are aged between 2.5 and 4.5 and have crazy blonde hair, in which case you are mobbed by amateur photographers who all want a snap of you - ideally cuddling them (not ideal for a small child who is slightly overcome by it all).  I took some photos of the photo takers.  Then it was on to SandaGhat - the main passenger port in Dhaka. 



And that was even more crazy.  People, people, people.  Everywhere.  And then there were two little blonde ones.   There were probably about 20 ships, massive things - some in a far better state of repair than others.  Then behind these ships you could see another row of boats trying to get in to pick people up.  There were little wooden boats manoevering themsevles between them - jostling for space with these giant hulks.  On the boats were fruits of different kinds, though mainly pineapples.  It was smelly, it was hot, we had helpers (well, men following us), the water was filthy, the people all starred.  It was brilliant.  The kids were put up high on our shoulders to rescue them somewhat from the chaos and photo taking people all around but it really was Asia - crowded, chaotic, full of colour and noise, smelly but also full of people with smiling faces and an interest in where we were from, why we were there and whether we liked it in their country.



So, in summary, a brief equation for our day out in Old Dhaka: we have people, people people + small blonde children = onek onek photographs and onek onek tired children! At the end of the day, Isobel said 'mummy, I don't want anyone else to take a picture'.  I really can't blame her.

And so I end this little update not only with some pictures from our recent adventures but also with a link to a blog I was reading about.  I'm loving it - it really brings a smile to my face.  Isobel used to cry for (a) having sandwiches cut as squares not triangles; (b) having weetabix for breaksfast 2 seconds after saying she wanted weetabix; (c) and my favourite - having a tantrum when the cake miz which she had made had to be put in the oven to cook.  'NOOoooooo, mummy, I want the cake NOooooWWWW'. Ah, the joy.  Check it out if you have kids and maybe even if you don't (it would explain what's going on perhaps with a screaming child in a supermarket trolley - nothing that makes any sense to an adult that's what!). 

http://www.reasonsmysoniscrying.com/

A few dead cows below! Warning (not that graphic as from a distance)...

 

  

   

Extreme swinging and just the right number of linear!

I've just realised that the title may be a bit misleading for some.....I am obviously referring to swinging on a swing. Had friend over for a bbq and one little girl (older than Isobel) was doing some great gymnastics on the swing - one leg, one arm, trying to climb up the side etc etc.

'It won't be long until Isobel is doing that' said her mum.

5 minutes later, there she was, trying to copy her - so a bit faster than we were imagining and filling me with terror as she dangled off about to fall but somehow saving herself! I'm trying to remain calm - inside thinking, OMG, she could fall and quite hurt herself. But she is a brave little thing and I don't want to instill fear - she wouldn't have broken anything, just added another few grazes to her battered legs! What would social services say?

Anyway, a tart update. Well, the pastry didn't shrink and the egg wash (I didn't know about this - thank u Jamie!) stopped it getting a soggy botty. Now then I'm writing this on my phone so its hard to organise the photos to do a 'here is one Jamie made' and 'here is mine' but needless to say, Jamie's was all perfect on the top and mine was, well, a little bit brown. But, suffice to say with a bit of icing sugar sprinkled on it looked good and tasted good - just the right amount lime apparently as I was told! Not sure its the healthiest option with 8 eggs and 300 ml cream but who cares, its pudding!

The pavlova went down a treat too - great for kids and you can hide a relatively small piece under loads if fruit!

I also kept the asparagus theme going with another naked chef recipe - asparagus, broad bean and French bean salad with a mustard dressing. Now the recipe called for French beans and I must say we improvised and added fresh peas but it was still lovely. And interestingly, I used to hate broad beans but I followed the recipe and off I was eating broad beans! Quite nice they were too! Arty also enjoyed it so a hit with the kids which is always good.

And, as we were in a Jamie mode, we also made the potato salad with a salsa Verde which was good - full of capers and anchovies and yummy yummy!

So, another Jamie verdict - good sweet crust pastry recipe and tips, great salads and another asparagus option for that lovely veggie!

Tired now. Have a few days off from the kids as am off to sunny Norfolk for training! I wonder if it will be rude to just go to be at 630 when the course finishes each day? Imagine, 12 hours sleep. What is that? In fact, what is 6 hours sleep?

It's a naked chefess asparagus-thon!

Well we went to Crystal Palace earlier in the week, to see the dinosaurs.  Now then, Isobel was very excited about seeing the dinosaurs.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the dinosaurs, they were built by the Victorians in about 1854 and represent the first dinosaur sculptures in the world! They were designed and sculpted by Benjamin Hawkins and Richard Owen.  They were based on the best scientific info to hand at the time but are now seen as inaccurate in many ways.

Anyway, I digress.  Yes, the dinosaurs.  It was the first time for me to visit them and the first time for Isobel and Arthur.  The excitement built in the car....

'Mummy, are they real dinosaurs'....

'Why aren't they real?'....

'Are they pink?'

'Are they big ones or very very small ones?'

Upon arrival at said dinosaur park, Isobel saw the mural on the side of the cafe - 'look mummy, that one is eating carrot pie with bones in it and that one has a blueberry drink'.  When she actually saw the dinosaur, she wasn't that impressed....she was too busy wanting to scoot off with her friend and climb up muddy banks and tree stumps, play in the sandpit, eat sand, eat food generally and graze her knees almost out of existence.

Oh well.  I enjoyed it anyway!

So, onto the next step in the Jamie Oliver cookathon.  As it's English Asparagus season I have decided to do all the asparagus recipes from the Naked Chef - why not, saves food miles!  There are about 6 including some exciting home made asparagus and ricotta tortellini!  But, that excitement is for later.

We decided to have asparagus with anchovy butter.....not a combination I had thought of I must say.  Anyway, my trusty kenwood failed me - the recipe calls for the soft butter, anchovies, chilli (yum yum), lemon juice and black pepper to be whizzed in the food processor.....the kenwood seemed to just mush it up and then refuse to blend it at all! So I resorted to using a large knife and attempting to cut it in to a smooth consistency....

As you can see....I don't think it really worked....

But anyway, I kept going! Not going to be swayed by such a small think as a dodgy processor.

The asparagus was tossed in the butter as per instructions et voila - and it was yummy, very yummy.  Peter even thought it was a particularly good combo and he doesn't like anchovies!


I thought I would share two examples of the final product, one from the book and one from my plate:

Now this is Jamie's version - with flash

And mine - much better don't you think????

So, so far for Jamie's recipes - maximum points - tasty, easy and quite healthy too!

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.

Now we are three.....

And so far, we've been quite a challenge!  I find going to work to be a huge relief - is that wrong?  At work I can go to the toilet with no one wanting to get me out, scream at me, hit her brother and so on and so on.

Isobel has been crying.  A lot.  It's as though she turned three and decided to turn on the tears.  This sometimes brings me to tears.  Everything ends up being some form of tantrum or meltdown.  OK, so I might be exaggerating but that is how it feels!  I see other 3 year olds sitting there, quietly getting on with their jigsaw puzzle or drinking their drink and I wonder how they manage it as mine screams or runs around like a nutter!  It's not as though I don't try to discipline her - I've tried focusing on the 'big stuff' and not nit picking.  I've tried rewards/stickers.  I've tried the 'time out step'.  I'm worn out from trying!  I find myself blaming myself for having done something wrong - does she resent the fact that I'm back at work? Does she resent the fact that Arthur came along? Does she get enough to eat? Too much? Enough sleep? Too much?  I'm tired.  I'm tired of dreading my days off when she wakes up screaming and continues all day.  She is so lovely when she's calm and relaxed and playing but recently she just hasn't been doing that all that much!  Is it the PND, is it still there making me more sensitive or is it just her? Just a phase she is going through?

Juggling work and children is tiring.  I think it's tiring because you almost want your days at home with them to be lovely and to do lots of fun things.  So it's sad when they aren't and when your children don't seem to be happy.  The constant rushing from a to b - to drop them off, pick them up, make sure there is something to eat, pay the bills, get up earlier than normal is tiring too.  There also seems to be less time to see your partner!  I've taken than on too - trying to book in some time with babysitters so we can go out to the pub or something.  Peter is lovely, but he is also quite happy to just be in, putting the children to bed and sitting on the sofa (not necessarily watching TV as we have TV free nights!). I like that too, but I also want to feel like a person again - not just a mother to two lovely children!  A couple of hours out every now and then can make all the difference!

Anyway, I shouldn't moan.  We are all quite happy really and I'm lucky to have such great children and a lovely husband, however much they might challenge me at times!

I can't believe he's one

Where has the time gone?  So I made the jolly green dinosaur and jolly pleased I was too!

It went down a treat too.

Work is still going well.  In fact, I'm really enjoying it which is good.  I'm strict on my hours but it's going OK and the men I work with (and women) are great.  It's interesting though as I've worked for some quite high powered women in the past - women with children who I thought would be understanding about the need to leave to pick up children and the challenges in balancing it all.  They weren't quite as understanding as I thought they might be.  It eventually came out that that's because they had nannies - nannies who were there bright and early, all day and sometimes at night too! So no rushing from A to B to drop them off, pick them up, think about tea, do the washing, get to work, and so on and so on.  The men I'm working with on the other hand are full of the old 'I wish I'd spent more time with my kids when they were little'. 

So we're now gearing up for Isobel turning 3.  Will the tantrums stop? Ha. I do wonder.  After today's performance.  We went to an Easter Egg Hunt (the first of a few she has been invited to).  To start with she was a little unsure of what to do.  I could see this look of 'why is everyone else running about all excited? What do I do with this plastic pot?'. But she soon got the hang of it and piled up the eggs....and then promptly sat down and started unwrapping them and shovelling them in as quickly as she could.  Anyone would think they were going to get up and walk!  Eventually I thought, that's probably enough now (as she was practically bursting chocolate out of every part of her!) so I had to remove them.  Oh my. Oh my.  One and a half hours of screaming.  And lying on the ground. And screaming a bit more.  What did the other children do?  Look at her then carry on eating their breadsticks.  Oh the joy.  How I needed a gin at 11am!

She has since almost forgotten about the eggs which I've put away in the fridge ready for Easter itself.  Clearly I am some sort of mean mummy.  Fancy taking the eggs away from her.  She did actually vomit up chocolate though so I think I was right!  A friend told me once how everyone had told them about the terrible twos but no one had mentioned how three year olds might become 'demonic' (that might have been a bit harsh but it got the message across!).

She is lovely though.  We made hot cross buns this afternoon.  To take to Grandma.  I'm slightly concerned that they are going to be full of her hair but ho hum.  Since when did a bit of hair hurt?  She is now in bed singing the Sound of Music very very loudly to her 'little rabbit' (which is actually Arthur's but he doesn't seem to have noticed).

I'm slowly reducing the pills as per the doctors orders.  Now on 50mg a day for the next 10 days, then 50mg every other day then nothing! Am feeling OK about it.  Slightly scared as I seem to be feeling awfully tired and have a strange taste in my mouth (is that the pills? I am hoping it's either that or PMT and not anything else!!!!).

Right, I think that gin is most definately calling!!!

These are a few of my favourite things

In my attempt to keep Isobel happy and calm over the weekend (she wasn't well either - both of them have produced a lot of bodily fluids out of both ends, it's just Arthur is continuing!), we all sat down in front of the Sound of Music.  And how she loves it.  She is completely transfixed.  And the good thing is, we all love the Sound of Music don't we - I mean, who can't smile as they sing-a-long to 'Climb every Mountain'.  I've been singing it whilst running too!  God bless it.  I downloaded the soundtrack yesterday, as well as Adele who I just think is a legend.  I love the way that when Adele sings she has that amazing voice and then she speaks and she sounds right sarf landan.  It's great.

Anyway, I was thinking of the sound of music and thinking about some of my favourite things which I should think about when feeling fed up and came up with the following (not a complete list of course):

Barafundle Bay - beautiful

• cold, crisp winter days (and ideally being out for a walk or run);
• turquoise sea which is crystal clear (and which exists in the UK yes indeed - we found some at Barafundle Bay in Wales);
• Isobel singing Baa Baa in bed when she wakes up;
• Freshly made coffee and freshly baked pain au chocolate;
• a hot shower without anyone telling me to hurry up;
• warm, snuggly socks;
• a nice glass of Champagne (well, why not);
• Peter making me dinner (!) - maybe I'll have dinner cooked tonight, it is Valentines afterall!
• banoffi pie;
• Victoria Sandwich Cake;
• fitting into a new pair of jeans;
• listening to Just a Minute on Radio 4.

What else?  I shall be pondering and putting some more up I think

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.

Toddler taming - terrible twos?

I just realised that the photo of the brows is really quite scary.  Obviously they have now been plucked to a proper shape and are no longer Charlie Chaplin type brows!!

So, it's been another one of those days.  Can't decide if its a bit of PND, just a challenging day with a toddler or a combination of the two together with the fact I appear to have got tonsillitis.  Maybe it was too much running last night......

Arthur is tired.  Too many parties (they went to Pooh Corner at the weekend and played Pooh Sticks!) and too little sleep I think.  Yesterday, Isobel slept at lunchtime for the first time in ages!  3 hours she had!  I tried again today to try to ward off the monster behaviour....but no.

A friend said a few weeks ago that everyone warned her about the terrible twos, but no one mentioned the potential even more terrible threes!  Isobel is turning towards three.  Has behaviour got better????? Errrr, no. Not at all.  I thought I was getting better coping strategies but honestly. 

So, I turned to a recommended book last night - 'New Toddler Taming', Australian I think.  I read through the recommendations - things that work (as opposed to shouting, smacking and the like which don't work apparently):

- time out (we've used this, doesn't appear to work - but then I think perhaps a different take on it might work?  See it, as the book says, as time out to cool down rather than as punishment - so, note to self on that one);
- diversion - this can work, but with a baby who still doesn't move and is therefore crying a lot with frustration, trying to divert both of them at the same time is a challenge!  If I divert Isobel's attention towards Arthur, then she hits him! Pretending that Baloo the bear is coming does work (she has a fixation on the jungle book at the moment) but when I mentioned Shere Khan might be coming she said 'really, can I see him' and basically didn't believe me!;
- using rewards rather than punishment.... we tried this before, she wasn't interested in stickers but was interested in Peppa Pig or biscuits!  However, the book stresses the need to focus on rewards, not bribery.

This afternoon we set about making a reward chart which combines it all.  Stickers for positive actions and if she gets a certain number a day she can watch one Peppa Pig!  Let's see whether it works.  So far it's ok but I can see the danger signs - as soon as she knows she has a certain number of stickers, a quick clip round Arthur's ear seems to emerge!!!  Oh the joys of toddlers.

Now, where is my gin.

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

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

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.

Pastry, pies and potty training

Have had a fun few days (apart from my grumpiness yesterday!).  Isobel is really getting on with the whole potty training thing.  It's funny, friends who had older children all kept saying 'you'll know when she is ready' and we went through the 'mummy I don't want a nappy, I want Peppa Pig pants' phase and the accidents which followed and then almost a month a go, she decided 'no nappy' and that was it.  She's loving it - especially when she gets to sit and wait for us to make up yet another story about Peppa Pig (yesterday she went to the moon with Lucy locket to rescue the man and the rabbit in the moon and bring them back to play with a giant pink dinosaur!).  Anyway, yesterday I went into the local wilkinsons and purchased a couple of their own brand toilet training seats - bargain as they were only just over £1 and fit on the toilet really well.  Would love to put a link here but can't find one online.  So, Isobel is now even more excited.

Then, I had another go at making pastry. I've not made pastry for ages as the stuff from the shop seems so good.  But, with all the random vegetables we've been storing up I found a recipe for a pie which used some celeriac (anyone with good celeriac recipes - please do let me know!).  It's a Delia dish and it was very nice.  The pastry had parmesan in it and the whole thing seemed to have loads of nutmeg in it which is always great.  I must say I was really pleased with the result.

This was after it had been in the fridge overnight

So, if you have lots of random vegetables at this time of year, give it a go - loads left as well for weaning Arthur as I didn't add any salt.

Basically this is what you do:

• This pie needs cooking at 220 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes or until golden on top and bubbling.  Put a baking tray under the pie to catch the drips!
• For the pastry - rub 25g of cold butter and 25g lard (or vegetable fat) into 110g sifted plain flour and a little salt.  Then mix in 25g parmesan.  Slowly add cold water, by the teaspoon, and mix together until you have a smooth dough which leaves the bowl sides clean.  Wrap in clingfilm and put in fridge for at least 30 mins
• For the vegetables - I used 225g of steamed butternut sqash, celeriac and leek as well as 110g steamed carrot.  I steamed them for about 10 min with some nutmeg.  You could also use parsnips and swede and things if you have them.  Then add 225g sweet potato and steam for another 10 minutes.  Leave to cool.
• For the sauce - Melt 40g butter and then add one medium onion (finely chopped) and cook over a gentle heat for 15 - 20 minutes until the onion is soft.  Add 40g plain flour and then slowly mix in 1 pint of milk.  Keep stirring and heating until it thickens.  Then add some rosemary and thyme (I used pinch of dried stuff for both), some mustard (Delia says 1 tablespoon but perhaps up to you - we forgot to add it so just had some on the side), 25g parmesan and 50g grated cheese (I used Emmental) with some nutmeg and pepper.
• To put it together - mix the vegetables with the sauce and then put half of it into a pie dish.  Then scatter over about 60g of grated cheese.  Put the remaining veg mix in and put more cheese (60g or so) on the top.  Roll out your pastry.  Make a little rim by taking spare pastry and rolling into a sausage shape and then pressing along the side of the pie dish.  Put a bit of water on that to dampen it and put you pastry lid on top - bringing the lid together with the rim in small pinches.  Put some holes in the lid, brush with beaten egg and cook.

 It was really yummy and Arthur liked it too.

Close up of the pastry which I was really excited by (I need to get out more!)

New Forest Tree Climbing

It seems Isobel doesn't like donkeys.  We were out for a walk near Lyndhurst and a donkey pottered along towards us.  The bravado of my little toddler suddenly disappeared....'duddle mummy, I want a duddle' she said as she hid behind my legs whilst the donkey tried to eat Arty's lunch!  Soon forgotten with a visit to the sandpit.

The nice thing about being on holiday is having a gin and tonic at the end of the day whilst sitting out enjoying this lovely weather we're having at the moment!  And we decided we deserved the gin and tonic having battled with energetic toddlers all day.  I can't drink more than about 1 as with these pills I have noticed that I don't sleep as well and sleep is the big thing that I had problems with with the depression.  Gin and cadburys fruit and nut - a recipe for a happy life!

We found a lovely spot for a walk and a spot of tree climbing.

It appears that Isobel loves to climb trees - I am very happy about this.  I like climbing trees.  She was really quite the little adventurer, refusing to be held and wanting to do it alone!  I thought of something I read in the papers a while ago about how kids aren't getting the outdoor activity that they need/used to get.  Found something whilst looking for it online:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/03/schools.children

Having climbed her trees, she just had a major meltdown....too much fresh air maybe?  I couldn't do anything more than laugh as she asked for a cuddle, then said no cuddle, then cuddle, then no mummy, then cuddle......She is getting a bit big to carry on shoulders for too long I found out!

Anyway, the journey home was relatively calm and now we're preparing for the holiday to Norfolk! Can't wait - we're going to be near the sea so buckets and spades will need to be packed!!

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!

Body Shop at home (with 10 toddlers)

Yes, so I hosted a Body Shop at Home party today. Was chaos but fun. 10 toddlers in total. Isobel (who seems to have dropped her sleep at midday - she just lies in her cot singing twinkle twinkle really loudly!) was a little tired and slightly overwhelmed by all the visitors. There were products to test, tea and cake. Peppa pig went down well. As did the vic sponge (can't beat a vic sponge with buttercream and jam) and some raisin and carrot muffins (from Annabel Karmel and vaguely healthy as they have wholemeal flour and carrots!) and the yummy scones Mrs Wonky Pocket made.

So what did I learn about having a party with toddlers:

•  toddlers (well, Isobel) like to stick their hands in the body shop creams and wipe them all over the floor 
• Peppa Pig biscuits lead to a sugar high..... 
• you have to be very careful with the cups of tea....I made myself a few and didn't drink any of them!
• the house looks like a bomb has hit it 

In summary it is ideally better to have an evening one with no children and lots of wine!

Been making a pudding for tomorrow night when we are having Mr and Mrs Wonky Pocket round for some Sichuan heat! Thought I would make something cooling. Will post something on this after the meal as the pudding so far tastes yummy! In fact I've eaten so much of it whilst making it that a) I feel sick and b) am not sure how much will be left. Definitely not one for small fry.

Al fresco painting - the next Banksy?

What a beautiful day it was yesterday. Isobel refused to wear trousers, wanting to sport her new red tights instead so was quite a sight! I decided it was time to share some savoury coking with her so she doesn't think its all about cake (though that would be ideal). Being a toddler, she decided to ignore mummy saying 'don't eat the raw garlic' and proceeded to put the who clove in her mouth.....mmmh.

With it being such a nice day, Isobel did some outdoor painting - I thought it might keep her busy for 15 mins or so but no - 2 hours! She didn't quite get the concept of rinsing the brushes in water, instead pouring water into paint, back into the water pot then all over her tights! She ended up wanting to 'paint the ground' so we now have some lovely multicoloured grade and paths! Quite the next little Banksy!

Ended up with a mass more greengages and cooking apples yesterday, so after Isobel had gone to bed, Peter and I set about making greengage jam. We followed the lovely Marguerite Pattern's recipe which basically has 450g of fruit to same amount of sugar with up to 5 tablespoons of water.

Two questions were raised:

• what is the difference between jam sugar and preserving sugar? Mmmh, well, one has bigger granules that's for sure (the preserving one) but what else? Well, a few minutes investigating on the silver spoon website and it seems that preserving sugar is best for fruits with high pectin levels naturally whilst jam sugar has pectin added so is good for fruits like strawberries and peaches. So there you go - learn something every day! 
• why is marmalade called marmalade and not orange jam? Mmmh, good question. No idea I thought. Well, another quick search (love google) and we find that marmalade as a word has evolved from the Portuguese (who made 'marmelada' of quinces and sugar and apparently gave some to Henry VIII) and then the French..... 

Anyway, our jam ended up rock solid as we obviously got too excited watching it boil.....

 
Peter reckons you could use it to fill walls! Oh well.

Watched the great British bake off again. I don't know why I enjoy this show. I love Janet and Mary Anne. They just seem to enjoy the cooking so much in a kind of relaxed and having fun kind of way. Bring on the choux pastry towers.

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 (!>!)