A Drizzle of Honey

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The Boy and I have been making cakes again. He loves it so much and is getting so good at mixing the ingredients together, he's really got the hang on holding onto the bowl while whisking and stirring. I used to love cooking with my mum when I was little, and I want him to enjoy cooking so that I've raised a self-sufficient son!

So today's really simple (but very scrummy recipe) is:

Honey and Raisin Cupcakes

  • 4oz self-raising flour
  • 4oz butter
  • 4oz caster sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • couple of handfuls of raisins
  • squeeze of Beech Forest HoneyDew

Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.

Whisk in the eggs, adding a little flour if it starts to curdle.

Add the flour and mix.

Fold in the raisins.

Put a spoonful of cake mix into each case (enough to cover the base) and then drizzle some honey on top. Put another small spoonful of cake mix on top.

Bake for 20 minutes at 170°C.

Remove from oven and while still hot drizzle honey over the top. It will soak into the top of the cake, leaving a crispy residue.

Enjoy while still warm!

We were sent a squeezy bottle of  New Zealand Honey Co.'s Beech Forest Honeydew to review. It made scrummy cakes and our tastebuds opinion is unbiased and honest.

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I've added this to Reluctant Housedad's 'Recipe Shed' linky (where the theme is Bakes and Cakes) and to The Crazy Kitchen's 'Cooking With Your Toddler' linky.

Recipe ShedThe Crazy Kitchen

Friday Funny

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Both of these come from bath and bedtime last night.

We were both giving The Boy his bath, and he was merrily playing with his toys while I was telling Mr. TheBoyandMe about a situation at work. When he fell over for the third time, with a mild splash, we looked to see what he was doing. The Boy was performing some extremely energetic yoga position which consisted of him looking at the sole of his foot. We asked him what he was doing. He looked at us quite worriedly and said, "Mummy, daddy, look look! My feets are wrong!"

I looked at his foot and it was fine, apart from extremely waterlogged. Explaining that it was because his feet were wet and that hands and feet went wrinkly in the water, he then checked his other foot and spent the next three minutes trying to keep his feet out of the water complaining because "my feets are all brinkly!"

Once he'd got dried and dressed in his pyjamas, he ran out onto the landing to call down to me for his bedtime drink of milk. I was particularly organised and had already passed it up through the spindles onto the landing. He stopped in his tracks and shouted, "Wowsers!"

He makes me laugh.

The New Mary Poppins

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Recently, I've been thinking back over the past decade. In a month's time I will have been married for ten years, but further to this I have been teaching for the same amount of time.

Prior to my teaching degree, I trained to be a nursery nurse and during that time, I had a post in a private nursery, but I also had a nannying job. Let me tell you now, nannying is an incredibly hard career and I take my hat off to anyone who does it. Imagine looking after one or two children nearly each and every day, in their own home, nurturing and caring for them, but they aren't your children. Knowing to step back the moment their parents come into the house is an important skill, and being able to keep the little ones close but not etched too deeply in your heart is nigh on impossible. The rewards though in being involved in a little person's life are incredible, and sometimes so is the relief at being able to go home at the end of the day!

An online friend of mine is a nanny, and I can imagine that she is magnificent at it. Caring, friendly, loving and giving, I know that she adores her charges and they her. If I was to employ a nanny, then she would be the one that I trust with The Boy. I heard from her the other day that the family's circumstances have changed and she will be finishing with them in a month or so. I can't imagine how difficult a transition that will be for both her and her charges. And not only that, but she is going to have to find a new job, this side of Christmas.

Nanny jobs are becoming increasingly popular, as mothers' guilt increases. Often torn at the idea of putting their child into a nursery, a nanny provides the easier solution: your child is cared for in your home with your rules and on a (normally) one-one basis. I was chatting with someone who is returning to work and they are taking a nanny on as it is cheaper than putting their two children into a nursery.

Maybe this friend of mine will fancy a career change? Maybe it's time to try something new? Maybe she'll want to find another family? Either way, a good place online to look for part time work is the wide-ranging site, Gumtree.com. You want a house or a new pair of shoes? What about a band for a wedding or a double pushchair? Gumtree's popularity is increasing, with good reason.

The Sleep Fairy

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I can't remember the last time that The Boy slept through.

It has been at least two months, possibly three, since he went to bed at half past seven and woke up eleven hours later. The two nights when he was comatosed due to a cold don't count because I didn't sleep well through worry.

It's not as bad as it could be because Mr. TheBoyandMe is really kind and does the middle of the night wake-ups. I tend to sit and sob otherwise. However, just because I'm not up with him doesn't mean that I'm asleep.

So I can't work out what the problem is. Just as soon as I thought I'd worked out that it was the night terrors, it was teething that was waking him. In the last few days I've come to the conclusion that it might be a full bladder.

More and more he's calling out in his sleep that he needs to go to the toilet. Last night was the third time in a week that we've lifted him, put him on the potty and he's done an enormous wee.

What do you do? Do you lift your child for a wee halfway through the night?

Then we have the morning wake-ups. He used to wake up anytime between half past six and seven o'clock, but recently it's been getting earlier and earlier and we have no idea why. The six o'clock is just too early when he hasn't stopped buggering around at bedtime until nine, then has a half an hour disturbance at around midnight for a wee. And the clocks are going back in a week or so; that's going to make it five o'clock!

He is exhausted, we are exhausted. And I can't see the wood for the trees. I feel I'm missing something obvious but can't work it out.

Has anyone got any ideas please?

One Last Fling With Summer

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Just as soon as I'd packed away The Boy's shorts and sunsuit, the sun comes out with temperatures in the mid twenties, azure blue skies and Mother Nature beckoning us outside for one last frolic.

So we did, we've spent much of the weekend outdoors. Yesterday we went to a beautiful Victorian park in Cardiff, then went and played on our town's beach. The Boy's never been on a pebbly beach before, I had been waiting until he was more stable on his feet and then I kept forgetting to take him down. Which is ridiculous because it's our beach! He and Mr. TheBoyandMe had a good old play while I ordered the take-out pizza and chips, then we went and sat on the pier and scoffed a veritable feast!

Today we took advantage of the fabulous weather and went 'down the Island'. The tide was just going out as we arrived so we set up on the slightly damp sand and set to building a moat and castle. Several hours later, picnic consumed and moats built we tottered home for showers and sleep.

We've just finished the weekend up with a lovely light meal of asparagus risotto and a glass of white zinfandel. Bye-bye Summer, I'll see you again in March!

ShowOff ShowCase: The One About Food

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There seems to be a tsunami of food posts around at the moment! Linkies, competitions, recipes. You name it, most bloggers have got one or two posts in the past few weeks to do with culinary delights.

Being the type of person who hates to miss out on anything, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and choose 'food' as this fortnight's theme for ShowOff ShowCase. However, it doesn't have to be recipe to rival Mrs. Beeton or Mr. Ramsey; it could be a tale of food, a memorable meal, a humourous tale involving shellfish or sweetcorn.

Dig out your old posts that meet the very vague criteria, whack my badge at the bottom and link it up. See if other people enjoy your experiments of  being a Fanny or a Heston.

Go on, for this is The One About Food!

ShowOff ShowCase

 

Friday Funny

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Earlier this week when tiredness was extreme and patience low, The Boy seemed to sense me inability to reason and continued to push and push. I'm trying extremely hard at the moment to get him to say "I'd like…" rather than "I want…". He does use 'please' at the end, but "I'd like" sounds so much nicer.

After half a day of "I want… I want…" and being told "no", I eventually came out with "Well I want a million pounds but that's not going to happen either, so give it a rest!"

I know. It was pointless and an example of how not to talk to your little one. However, I was tired.

He's just finished his tea and all I could hear him saying was "Mummy, do you want a million pounds? Daddy, do you want a million pounds? I was a million pounds." Only imagine it with a slight Dr. Evil twang.

Whoops!

The Grass is Always Greener!

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That's pretty isn't it?

NO!

I always thought I had a nice lawn but according to the lovely man from Green Thumb just because it's green doesn't mean it's a good lawn. So look at that picture and tell me what's wrong with it?

If you guessed that 75% of it is made up of clover, you'd be right. If you also guessed that there is a further 10% of other weeds in it, you'd be right. Now I'm no mathematician but even I can work out that that leaves me  with only 15% of my lawn being grass.

As a part of the Bosch Garden Makeover Challenge, we will receive two lawn treatments. Which, quite frankly bearing in mind what the lovely fellow from Green Thumb told me on Friday, is just as well! I never knew that lawns were so complicated. Surely you just keep them watered and mown? No, no, no! You also need to aeriate them (which they did for me), scarify them (!) and preferably give them some lawn treatments. Many of the DIY lawn treatments just kill the leaves, the Green Thumb treatments get right to the root of the problem (ha, see what I did there?).

I expressed my concerns that in four weeks time, the lawn would look a little naff to put it bluntly, but I was reassured that whilst that may happen temporarily, the fertiliser that they put down would help the grass to grow.

Green Thumb recommend four treatments a year and at only £15 (starting price) a time, I think that's quite good value for money, especially to have the ability to walk barefoot in emerald grass in the summer.

Meanwhile, our tools from Bosch have arrived. I love gadgets and we have two new ones! A cordless strimmer for Mr. TheBoyandMe to use, and an Isio Cordless Shape and Edge (for me, although hubby is having kittens with my safety: I'm known for saying, "I'll be fine" and then cutting myself).

Now, Mr. TheBoyandMe need not worry because while I am a klutz, I'm not a complete idiot with garden tools (that's why I've chosen him a cordless strimmer), and neither are Bosch. The Isio Cordless Shape and Edge is really nifty and has a brilliant safety catch on it which means it stops if you release the pressure on either of the switches. It also has an edging tool for the lawn which is going to save hubby from having to manually cut them with shears and comes in a nifty metal storage case. I'm going to test it out on the lavender and rosemary bushes that line the drive, I've left it until now so that the bees get their fill of them, but now they are gargantuam.

Wish me luck!

Courgette and Chocolate Cake

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Last Summer I went to a picnic meet-up with my baby and toddler group. One of the mums had brought along a courgette cake which I wasn't at all keen on trying, but actually tasted really nice. I've had it at her house a few times since and it is really quite scrummy. The one thing that I noticed it is that although it's moist, it is actually quite bland. The courgette doesn't really come through and therefore the cake just tastes of, well, cake.

I decided to have a go at making this with The Boy this morning, and had the idea of adding chocolate to give a contrasting flavour. I knew I had the ingredients and there were courgettes waiting to be used up in the fridge. Only, they'd gone too far and had to go into the compost, which is when Mr. TheBoyandMe was despatched to pick up more!

Courgette & Chocolate Cake

Ingredients: 220g plain or wholewheat flour, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, 1 teaspoon mixed spice, ½ teaspoon baking powder, 250g sugar, 200ml vegetable oil, 60g of butter, 3 eggs, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 2 medium courgettes coarsely grated, 1 large handful raisins, half a bar of milk chocolate, handful of chocolate chips.

Prior to cooking sprinkle a teaspoon of salt into the courgette, place in a sieve over a bowl with a piece of kitchen towel and a plate on top to weigh it down. The excess juice from the courgette will be removed.

1. Cream the butter and sugar together.

2. Add the egg with a little flour to prevent curdling.

3. Add the remainder of the flour and whisk.

4. Add the oil and vanilla essence and mix together thoroughly, the mixture will be runny.

5. Stir in the remainder of the dry ingredients and the raisins.

6. Gently fold in the courgettes and chocolate chips, along with the melted chocolate.

7. Mix thoroughly and then divide between cake cases. This recipe made 20 individual cakes.

8. Place the cakes in a preheated oven at 150°C for 30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

9. We drizzled white chocolate on ours to add some colour.

These cakes are moist and really tasty. The Boy and Me (ha!) made them before Chef Brother came over to see us, and I was nervous about giving him one. He said they were really tasty and would be perfect for Christmas time, he then ate two! Wahoo, thumbs up if ever there was one.

The irony is that The Boy doesn't like them!

The Crazy Kitchen

I Love Cake

Tension-Breaker

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I've just completely lost it with Mr. TheBoyandMe over something ridiculously small, but of course vitally important. Unfortunately I did it in front of The Boy which, having grown up with arguments galore, I have always tried not to do.

We were sat down at the dinner table eating whilst this tirade was happening, and as much as I tried to remain calm, I was finding it difficult. In the end I thought I'll belt up now because my point is not being understood and I'm just repeating myself.

A silence descended over the table while I stabbed at my carrots, broken by The Boy's babble of "Daddy, you naughty. Mummy, you cross. Mummy, you not cross. Daddy, you not naughty. Mummy, you happy?" and I started to feel bloody awful about myself for putting him through that.

He then pulled his t-shirt up (while he was sat in his highchair) and started fiddling with his buckle. I repeatedly asked him what he was doing but he was so busy concentrating that he didn't listen properly. I turned his head slightly and said, "Look at mummy. What are you doing?"

He looked me fully in the face with his eyes wide and said "I'm itching my willy, Mummy"

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