Kate's (family) blog

Feb 1st: Courgette and tarragon soup (new)

2012-02-01T23:56:00.002Z

Recipe Source: New Covent Garden Soup Company, A Soup for Every Day

Tasting notes: we liked the tarragon in this, found it a bit creamy without being too rich. Only problem was, the recipe didn't really make enough - next time, I will increase quantities. Couldn't find fresh tarragon (not usually a problem) but worked fine with freeze-dried instead.

January Roundup

2012-02-01T22:57:00.000Z

What's was for Dinner, January 2012

31st: Goan Prawn Curry
30th: Tagliatelli with Sausage and Porcini Mushrooms
29th: Deep Filled Chicken and Mushroom Pie, courgettes, chantenay carrots, baby new potatoes.
28th: Savoy Pork Rolls, Dumplings, Pak Choi
27th: "Cheat's Lasagne" - will blog another time
26th: Jerusalem Artichoke and Carrot Soup
25th: Linguine alla Amatriciana
24th: Chicken Korma
23rd: Leftovers
22nd: Red pork curry with green beans and hearts of palm
21st: Mushroom pie with stilton, courgettes
20th: Fresh tomato lasagne with pesto, salad
19th: Jacket potatoes with beans, bacon, etc
18th: French-style chicken with peas & bacon, mashed potato
17th: Penne putanesca, garlic bread (no recipe)
16th: Thai style chicken and vegetable soup (no recipe)
15th: Cauliflower and Broccoli Canneloni, Salad
14th: Coconut vegetable stew (ok, not brilliant)
13th: Roast vegetables with feta cheese & cous cous
12th: Pasta with garlicky greens (uninspiring)
11th: 5-spice chicken stir fry
10th: Night at Les Miserables - everyone fend for yourself
9th: Broccoli and Stilton Soup, bread
8th: Wholemeal spinach & potato pasties, salad
7th: Beef stew (in slow cooker, no recipe)
6th: Salmon, baked potatoes, peas
5th: (leftover) Broccoli bake
4th: Chicken with chili and basil, rice
3rd: Night at the pantomime - everyone fend for yourself
2nd: Crusty pasta & broccoli bake with ham
1st: Ham, slow-cooked with coca-cola, potatoes, vegetables

Jan 31st: Goan Prawn Curry

2012-01-31T23:55:00.000Z

Recipe Source: 30 Minute Indian, Sunil Vijayakar

Tasting Notes: This is a dish we've had several times before, though not recently as I tend to get complaints from at least one child about prawns (it's getting better, though). It's very flavourful and quite spicy, but in a good way, according to my young critics!

Jan 30th: Tagliatelli with Sausage and Porcini Mushrooms (new)

2012-01-30T20:04:00.000Z

Recipe Source: Gino's Pasta, Gino D'Acampo

Tasting Notes: Recipe said this serves 4 - we think it might even serve 6, if you used an appropriately larger amount of pasta, as the sauce was very rich and coated the pasta well. A great, deep, earthy flavour, thanks no doubt to the porcini mushrooms.

Crafty weekend

2012-01-29T23:30:00.000Z

The kids have been very crafty this weekend (well, two of them. One of them has been away all weekend.). First, Alex and Olivia made these cup warmers to go around their mugs (Alex stitched his, though I helped a lot with placement and pinning).

Then Olivia used some of the fleece she got at a recent sale to make two cushions and a pillowcase (the other cushion is blue and she gave it to a friend for her birthday, so it's not here in the photo).

And she finished up this owl kit she bought somewhere - can't remember where - which she started ages ago. She put the feet on kind of sideways, but decided she actually liked it that way, so left them (and it's not just laziness - she can be a real perfectionist about these things, trust me!)

Jan 29th: Pears in red wine (new!) with vanilla ice cream

2012-01-29T22:28:00.003Z

Recipe Sources: Pears - Good Food Magazine, Dec 2011 (Michel Roux Jr); Ice Cream - Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and Dessert Book.

Tasting Notes: The pears were gorgeous - after this photo was taken, I poured some of the sauce around the pears, which made it look even better. They were just right in texture - lovely and soft (you could cut them with a spoon) while still being a bit resistant to bite. The recipe only used 6 pears but mine were fairly small and we had more than 6 people, so I just did the number that would fit readily in the pan. I probably could have done two or three more. We'll definitely do this again. The ice cream is my standard vanilla recipe, I make it a lot. In fact, it took me a while to find in the recipe book because I never use the book to make it! I also use this recipe for fruit ice creams - for instance, blackberry in the summer - I just add a bit less milk to the recipe and use the fruit juice instead, maybe reduce the amount of vanilla.

Jan 29th: Deep dish chicken pie with mushrooms (new!)

2012-01-29T22:20:00.000Z

Recipe Source: The Hairy Bikers: Perfect Pies

Tasting Notes: Sadly, I forgot to take a photo of this one! It was delicious, though. We had friends around for lunch, and I simply wasn't thinking about it. Served it with courgettes, chantenay carrots and tiny baby new potatoes. Yum. I added a bit more chicken than in the recipe and about doubled the mushrooms, as I knew it would need to feed quite a few people. And I slightly increased the amount of liquid as well to compensate for the extra filling.

Jan 28th: Vietnamese Pork in Savy Cabbage, Dumplings, Pak Choi with Oyster Sauce

2012-01-28T18:51:00.001Z

Recipe Source: unknown. I got it off a slowcooker recipe list in 2004 (apparently, according to the printout) but it wasn't an original recipe of the person posting it, and the source isn't quoted, as far as I can tell.

Tasting notes: I've made this about a billion times, as we all like it. However, I've never made it in the slow-cooker; I just use a steamer (so have modified the directions bellow accordingly). I usually add a bit of grated carrot to the mix. And we prefer the sauce with less lemon juice in it. The rolls work ok cold the next day, as well, if there are any left. The dumplings aren't homemade; they come from the Chinese supermarkets. And the pakchoi is just stir fried a little then steamed with some oyster sauce.

Vietnamese Pork in Savoy Cabbage

20 Leaves Savoy Cabbage

Filling:

500g lean ground pork

1 medium carrot, grated (optional)

finely chopped Savoy Cabbage (if you have some left after removing leaves) (optional)

1 small tin water chestnuts, chopped

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 bunch spring onions, chopped

2 tbsps chopped fresh mint

1 1/2 tsp minced ginger

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp Chinese hot chili oil

1/4 tsp sugar

1/8 tsp salt

Sauce:

1/3 cup soy sauce

3 tbsp lemon juice (we use less)

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp minced ginger

1/4 tsp chili oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh coriander

1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh mint

1. Drop cabbage leaves into boiling water and cook 1 or 2 minutes until pliable. Immediately plunge into cold water to stop cooking; drain well. Trim the thick end of the stem where necessary on each leaf, to allow them to roll.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the filling ingredients. Place about 1 1/2 tbsp mixture in centre of each cabbage leaf (or more or less according to size of leaf). Roll to enclose mixture.

3. Place rolls in bamboo steamer (2 tiers of an 8" steamer will fit, if you stack some on top); alternatively place on crumbled foil or trivet inside a large saucepan, stacking if necessary. Add a small amount of boiling water (not touching rolls), pop lid on and steam until cooked, 20-30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, make sauce. Bring all ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan over a medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 2-3 minutes, pour over cooked rolls or serve in small dishes for dipping.

Jan 26th: Jerusalem Artichoke and Carrot Soup (new)

2012-01-26T22:50:00.002Z

Recipe Source: New Covent Garden Company - A Soup for Every Day

Tasting Notes: I have another Jerusalem Artichoke Soup recipe I usually use (from Lindsey Bareham, A Celebration of Soup), and although this one doesn't necessarily improve on the flavour (it's a little sweeter, no doubt due to the carrot) we really liked the grated carrot added at the end - nice texture. As usual, I just scrubbed the JA's - far too much like hard work to peel them and the peel is no trouble, just makes some brown flecks in the soup. I didn't do the garnishes. But I'm sure they would be nice!

Jan 25th: Linguine alla Amatriciana (new!)

2012-01-25T19:01:00.002Z

Recipe Source: Gino's Pasta by Gino D'Acampo

Tasting Notes: Yes, the astute observers among you may have spotted that this is actually spaghetti alla Amatriciana - due to my having rather less linguine in the house than I thought I did. Not very different to be honest. We all enjoyed this - it's quite spicy, but not overly so. Very saucy, but not in an overwhelming way. I might put a second onion in; one wasn't much by the time it cooked down. Of course mine might have been smaller than the "large" red onion specified anyway.

Jan 24th: Chicken Korma (low fat version!)

2012-01-24T19:23:00.005Z

Recipe Source: Top 200 Low Fat Recipes (Judith Wills)

Tasting Notes: a family favourite. We actually prefer this version of chicken korma, which is spicier (though not hot, just things like cinnamon and cardamom) and less creamy than your standard, to what you often get. The recipe apparently serves two, so I tend to more or less double the spices in it, and I usually use 4 chicken breasts (rather than thighs) for 5 people. I also usually use 0 per cent fat Greek Yogurt in place of the natural, as it's creamier that way. I stir it in right before serving, after it's been taken off the heat. We also usually use more cashews than this recipe says. But as creamy curries go, it works out fairly low fat.

Jan 22nd: Dessert! Key Lime Pie (new)

2012-01-22T23:37:00.000Z

Recipe Source: BBC Food Website

Tasting notes: Very good, very easy. Crust perhaps a little thicker than it needed to be. Didn't make the crystallized lime zest.

Jan 22nd: Red pork curry with green beans

2012-01-22T23:35:00.000Z

Recipe source: Good Food Magazine, date unknown.

Tasting notes: we always enjoy this. The first time I made it, we felt the palm hearts got a little mushy, so I now add them right at the end and only leave them in long enough to heat through. I usually only use about 2 tsp red curry paste as it's a bit spicy for the kids otherwise.

Jan 21st: Peppered mushroom & Stilton pie (new)

2012-01-21T22:18:00.001Z

Source: Good Food Magazine, April 2009

Tasting notes. Stunningly good. I made one large pie as I don't have individual dishes. Used two types of mushrooms - regular white mushrooms and chestnut mushrooms. And used a bit more than in the recipe, as I knew the dish would be larger volume than four small pies. Couldn't find green peppercorns in brine, so just used some crushed dried green peppercorns. Didn't serve this to the kids, who had pizza instead - a dish entirely composed of mushrooms is pushing things a little far, even for my relatively good eaters.

Jan 20th: Fresh Tomato Lasagne with pesto

2012-01-21T22:14:00.001Z

Recipe Source: Good Food Magazine, unsure of date.

Tasting notes - be sure to use a large lasagne dish, as this takes up lots of space. I usually cut the cherry tomatoes in half rather than leaving them whole.

Jan 18th: French-style Chicken with Peas & Bacon

2012-01-21T21:03:00.002Z

Recipe source: Good Food Magazine, not sure of date

Tasting notes: Often use pre-cut lardons of bacon instead of streaky - they are slightly thicker and chewier in the finished product. Usually serve with mash, as the sauce is lovely with mashed potato.

Jan 15th: Cauliflower and broccoli canneloni

2012-01-21T20:11:00.000Z

Recipe source: uncertain, but not Good Food, I think - doesn't look like their font. OK, found the recipe on the Food Network website as well, and it's by Jamie Oliver, which means I probably got it from Sainsbury's Magazine.

Tasting notes: we love this. Found it a little gloopy the first time, but better the second, I think I used a little less passata - maybe 500g instead of 700g. I've done this with both lasagne sheets and canneloni tubes, and it's good both ways. It really does take the prep time it says - and maybe a little more - the whole process of making the veg puree is a little time consuming, but once it's in the oven, you can just leave it. Once when I made it, I didn't have enough creme fraiche, so I just made a small amount of white sauce and used that with what creme fraiche I had.

Jan 11th: 5-spice Chicken stir fry (new)

2012-01-21T20:05:00.001Z

Recipe source: uncertain, but from the font, looks like Good Food magazine.

Tasting Notes: although the photo looks a little blah, this was actually very tasty. All the kids enjoyed it, despite the courgettes (which often get a little complaint from at least one child - but in this recipe they were quite firm and crunchy still). Very easy. Olivia thought something like cashews would add a nice crunch to it, so we might try that next time.

Jan 9th: Broccoli and Stilton Soup

2012-01-21T20:03:00.000Z

Recipe Source: A Soup for Every Day, New Covent Garden Food Co.

Jan 8th: Wholemeal spinach and potato pies, salad

2012-01-21T20:01:00.000Z

Recipe source: Good Food Magazine, April 2009.

Tasting notes: this photo shows the pies made with white flour, as we were out of wholemeal, but we usually use wholemeal and all agree the texture is slightly better that way. I usually use more spinach (and sometimes more potato) than specified in the recipe. I don't use the cream, but it tastes lovely anyway.

Jan 4th: Chicken with chili & basil

2012-01-21T19:56:00.002Z

Recipe source: Good Food Magazine, October 2003. I also have this recipe in the book Ken Hom's top 100 Stir-Fry Recipes, published by BBC books. An excellent book - highly recommended.

tasting notes: We usually add beansprouts to this, and often only use 2 chilis, though as the kids get older, I am often increasing the number of chilis I use in cooking. Served with Jasmine Rice.

Jan 2nd: Crusty Broccoli & Pasta Bake (with ham)

2012-01-21T19:53:00.000Z

Recipe source: Good Food Magazine, May 2004

The first time we had this, we enjoyed it and thought it would also be a good way of using up leftover ham, so as we had ham on NY's day, with lots of leftovers, we tried it - success!

What's for dinner

2012-01-21T19:49:00.001Z

Given how bad I am at update this blog, and given how often I post food pictures and recipes to Facebook, I'm going to try something new for 2012, which is to share those food recipes and pics here (as they will make their way to FB anyway, this way). I 'm not going to do it every day (although I will keep a list of what was for dinner every day in the sidebar, for a month (I've been keeping a list this year anyway) - and do a round up at the end of each month) partly because sometimes, it's just not that interesting. Especially on some weekdays when we have lots of conflicts and end up eating leftovers or everyone just getting something for themselves. But we do eat as a family a lot and are interested in food a lot, so there's a lot of what I consider to be interesting home cooking.

Wherever possible I will provide a recipe, including citation as to cookbook or source, though with magazine recipes I don't always have that info. Hopefully this will encourage you to look out for good cookbooks to try for yourselves! And hopefully it will encourage people to try some new things for themselves and their families... To start with, I'll go back through January and add some recipes and photos, then in future, I'll try to do it on or near the date itself. It should be fun, I hope.

I'll make a note if it's a new recipe we are trying (though I'm not going to blog about the recipes that we didn't really like and aren't keeping) and of course, if there's anything I mention in the sidebar but don't put up a blog post about, just ask and I'll tell you what I can - stuff I cook from memory or make up on the spot, I'm not going to blog unless asked or unless I photograph it for some other reason!

Farnham Maltings

2012-01-15T22:29:00.000Z

Farnham Maltings is a combination sale and quilt show - this year, bigger than ever, it included some displays from beading and lacemaking guilds. I absolutely couldn't resist photographing this amazing beaded Dr Who display - Alex and I just loved it! Isn't it great?

He and Olivia both took turns having a go at some lacemaking as well. And of course, quilts were admired and fabric was purchased, too.

Day in Oxford

2011-12-28T23:50:00.000Z

A trip to Oxford today to meet up with Geoff's brother John - he doesn't live in Oxford, but it's about halfway between us and it's a nice place to spend a few hours. We saw the Radcliffe Camera in cake (and in person, too, but didn't take a photo of that) and my another of my favourite buildings in Oxford...

Other sites included masses of bicycles,

the alleyway by the Turf Tavern

another great building (something which, admittedly, Oxford is full of)

and an Olde Fashioned Sweet Shoppe.

The kids (and Geoff) were like, well, kids in a sweet shop...

Christmassy London

2011-12-21T23:21:00.002Z

Today we took our annual trip up to see the windows and lights in the West End. Frankly, I was less impressed with the windows this year, both in Harrods and Selfridges, than in some previous years, but we have fun poking around anyway.

We had a stroll through the Food Hall in Harrods - didn't buy anything, but it's always fun to look at the way things are displayed,

such as this ice-sculpture at the lobster counter.

We then hopped a bus up to Hyde Park, where we had a visit to the Winter Wonderland. Alex had some candy floss, and we poked around, watching the rides and looking at some of the vendors. Again, didn't buy much of anything except some snacks (and some mulled wine for the grownups!).

It was a really mild day, so nice to walk outside. Lots of people strolling along the Serpentine apparently thought so as well.

Not to mention a number of seagulls in puddles.

The windows in Selfridges were a little better than Harrods, though both of them were all white, silver and crystal this year. I did like this bird, though.

Here's one of the large star lights in Oxford Street.

The windows at Hamley's were a little better - all Lego-themed, including a large Lego Father Christmas and some dwarves, etc. We then had a stroll through Carnaby Street and down to Picadilly Circus with a stop on the way at

Scoop in Brewer Street in Soho, for a small treat...

2011 Christmas Baking

2011-12-18T18:13:00.000Z

We seemed to accomplish a lot this year, perhaps because both girls were able to help with little or no supervision so three things really could be made at once (allowing for oven temps, etc). In the centre are Jam Thumbprints, then clockwise from top we have No-Bake Peanut Butter Bites, Stained Glass Cookies, Rice Krispie Treats, Butter Horn Cookies, Butterscotch shortbread (just realised that in this photo, you can't see that those are cut out in ornament shapes because the top of the ornament was obscured by another goodie!), Fudge Meltaways, Christmas Fruit Biscotti, Peppermint Creams and Florentines. Started at about 9.30am and finished by about 3.30, with a lunchbreak - not bad! Also greatly helped by the fact that Grandma is here and did loads and loads of washing up as we went along so that I didn't have to keep stopping and washing things...

Christmas Tree

2011-12-11T23:27:00.001Z

After and Before

In the holiday mood

2011-12-04T23:38:00.004Z

We had a little trip up to town today, to the Pimlico Road/Sloane Square area, as a friend of ours was playing Christmas carols with her brass quintet to help get shoppers in the Christmas mood. It's a fairly posh area, so we didn't do a lot of shopping ourselves (some browsing, especially during the 15 minutes when it decided to rain on us), but we did enjoy wandering around and looking at things, including the

organic food shop, which was doing mulled wine and turkey rolls in a little outside stall (we bought a gorgeous chocolate brioche loaf from the inside part of the shop - yum!).

We also had a look at the camels (yes, camels - three - tended by guys in Wise Men costumes) and

enjoyed the exploits of two Jack Frost characters...

When we were bored (and cold) we hopped on a bus over to South Ken, and hit the Science Museum for an hour or so...

always fun to do.

Sarah had a go at walking across the bridge (no fastenings, just held in place with forces) but wouldn't let me take her picture while doing it. I didn't push it...

I liked this wall of bubbles...

...and we al enjoyed the lights and watching the ice skaters outside the Natural History Museum (forgot my camera, so had to rely on my phone for photos - not so good!)

Banana Glut - the solution...

2011-11-16T21:58:00.000Z

More from the Lord Mayor's Show

2011-11-13T15:58:00.004Z

More interesting things spotted at the Lord Mayor's Show - Samba dancers...

of both genders,

a giant yellow dog

a Giant Inflatable Octopus

a funky 6 person bike

tanks

people walking (and leaping about) on springy things

Vikings

a flute band

Dancers from Hong Kong

An actual steamroller

Gog and Magog

Another octopus

Lord Mayor's Show

2011-11-12T22:15:00.003Z

Sarah marched with the Guides in the Lord Mayor's Show today - I took loads of photos, but I will spare you some of them - perhaps a few more tomorrow... It was hard to catch a glimpse of them actually walking as they go quite fast, but here she is with her friend Katharine. And here are some other fun shots:

This is their float as it was coming along the road towards us.

A pearly King and Queen.

This one was the Phillipines - so was the gentleman below who posed for me...

These folks were from a Samba float - they were less exotically dressed (and more substantially) than many of their colleagues - more photos of that perhaps tomorrow...

At the end, having a well deserved rest.

Trick or treat...

2011-10-31T21:58:00.001Z

The only child I managed to get a photo of this year. It was a very hectic, confused evening.

2011 Pumpkins

2011-10-30T18:07:00.002Z

This is mine - witch with clouds.

This is Sarah's - some kind of demon or sprite I think.

Sarah's friend, Katharine, went for the traditional look.

Alex's cyclops pumpkin. Love this one!

This one doesn't show as well, but it's brilliant - Olivia's "creepy" pumpkin with bats.

Birthday outing

2011-10-24T23:06:00.000+01:00

Olivia & Nina - queuing outside the London Dungeon. For ages. (Though I did most of the queuing and they went off and explored the local shops and landmarks. I had a book.)

But it was fun.

Gourmet Burger. Yum.

Wandering along the South Bank, including a bit of poking around on the "beach", as the tide was out.

Heading home as the sun started to set.

Bread

2011-10-23T17:46:00.002+01:00

Alex and I made some bread today - by hand, not in the bread machine. It's a wholemeal bread with seeds in it. Smells great (we are having it for dinner with some minestrone soup which I need to go make instead of carrying on doing computer stuff) - feels nice and light, so hopefully it will taste great as well.

Here's the dought - you can see some seeds -

and here it is after the final proving. All the seeds on top pretty much fell off in the baking, though. I think it probably needs an egg-wash to glue them on!

Flower cupcakes

2011-09-30T00:25:00.000+01:00

"By the way, Mum, it's our class cake sale tomorrow..."

Birthday party madness

2011-09-24T23:02:00.002+01:00

I took Sarah and 6 friends swimming (or rather, I dropped them off) this afternoon. The above was a brief interval between the swimming and us going out to eat (being joined by two more friends who couldn't come to the swimming part) at Gourmet Burger Kitchen... Nice to see they are so mature!

Lamb Meatballs with rosemary tomato sauce

2011-09-23T22:44:00.002+01:00

As several people asked for the recipe...

2 tsp olive oil

1 pk 12 ready-made lamb meatballs (approx 450g) [nb, I made my own meatballs with lamb mince and some breadcrumbs and an egg]

4 onions, finely sliced

4 garlic cloves, finely sliced

1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary leaves, plus extra to sprinkle

2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes

pasta, to serve

1. Heat 1 tsp oil in a large frying pan. Add the meatballs and cook, turning often, until browned. Remove from the pan.

2. Tip the onions inot the pan with the remaining oil and a pinch of salt and cook until very soft, 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook for 2 min more.

3. Add the tomatoes and return meatballs to the pan. Simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened and the meatballs are cooked through. Season and serve with the pasta, sprinkle with rosemary.

Dead simple and very yummy - would no doubt work with beef meatballs as well (or even minced turkey or a vegetarian option like felafel).

Arty kids

2011-09-23T22:38:00.002+01:00

Two fairly recent creations from the girls - Olivia's art homework, above, was to take some photos of the area where you live, then choose one of them to draw. Her drawing is great, but I like her presentation as well.

And this is a watercolour Sarah did back at the end of the summer holidays - she actually started with the tree trunk and branches and filled the rest in around it...

Park Life

2011-09-19T23:05:00.002+01:00

Kite flying spotted on the way home from school today.

A week or so ago - seagull convention!

Sleeping Beauties

2011-09-17T23:56:00.002+01:00

They'll probably kill me for this later, but I couldn't resist. I guess a full week of school and a busy Saturday was a bit more than either of them could handle - it wasn't very late, either - only about 10.30...

Alexosaurus

2011-09-17T10:45:00.000+01:00

Small boy with new shirt

Chocolate Reject Biscuits...

2011-09-10T22:46:00.002+01:00

There was only supposed to be one batch of biscuits - the Snickerdoodles below - but Sarah was baking with Alex and got distracted by something else and forgot to put the eggs in until the end, so the dough was very stiff and wouldn't really work for Snickerdoodles. So we baked it anyway, and dipped them in chocolate - they taste ok, just are a bit heavy in texture. Sarah has officially christened them "Chocolate Reject Biscuits".

But of course we remade the dough - more carefully the second time - and ended up with Snickerdoodles as well...

Third and last first day of school

2011-09-08T08:00:00.003+01:00

Not a great photo, but I had a hard enough time getting her to stand still for this one, without either sticking out her tongue or having her entire fringe cover her face... Oh well, at least she's happy because she got the teachers she wanted for art, Spanish, history and science.

First day of school, part 2

2011-09-07T07:48:00.001+01:00

Olivia is off to her first day of secondary school in about 10 minutes - at least it's not chucking down rain, like yesterday - especially as she is going to have to walk, whatever the weather!

First day of school, part 1

2011-09-06T22:33:00.002+01:00

Not a great photo, with the light in the wrong place, but it was chucking rain, so I wasn't going to make him stand outside. Tomorrow, Olivia will start secondary school - but it's a Year 7 only day, which means that Sarah doesn't start until Thursday, so we have lots of first days this year...

Scenes from Kew

2011-09-02T22:20:00.002+01:00

A few snaps (views rather than flowers) from Kew today - it was so bright and sunny (for a change) that most of the shots with actual people in them show them squinting in the bright light, so I'm leaving those out!

In the rock garden - I remember when they first built this, it was nice but quite spartan - it's really come into its own now...

A selection of Mexican Day of the Dead artwork, in the Princess of Wales Conservatory (the desert section of it, anyway).

Treetop walkway, from below - we did go up as well, but the height shows better from the ground.

Inside the Temperate House. I love these giant ferns.

Morden Summer Fete

2011-08-29T22:48:00.002+01:00

We spent an hour or two at a local fete today - just a small one, with car boot sale, local stalls, a few rides and games, a little live music - and some vintage cars to admire...

And of course, the pre-requistite ferrets to take for a walk. We left before the ferret races began. Shame, really!

Black Cap

2011-08-28T22:56:00.002+01:00

Headed out to the South Downs this afternoon, to meet a friend, for a little climb up Black Cap...

...followed by a lovely meal at the Half Moon, Ditchling. Gotta love the South Downs.

Spiced Apple & Sultana Cake

2011-08-27T23:29:00.002+01:00

Less Spiced Apple & Sultana Cake...

I am down to 5 small apples and 7 pears from the Big Bag of Fruit. I missed photographing the Pear Tarte Tatin we had yesterday - it was gone before I thought of it...

Roman Villa

2011-08-27T23:19:00.004+01:00

Finished at last.

Don't seem to have a photo of Alex, who did much of the work. Though we all pitched in at the end to finish off the figures and trees...

365 Project - again

2011-08-25T23:40:00.002+01:00

Well, it's no good. I have tried going without it for two months, and although it's nice not to have the pressure of putting up a photo daily, to be honest, I miss it. And it's not working so well to simply post them on my blog. So, I've decided I'm going to go back to doing the 365... And if I have to fill in occasionally, well, so be it. I am also, however, thinking about getting a better camera, so if that happens, I might have more variety of stuff to post! I'll still put some random stuff up here, of course, but as most of the people I know who read this blog see it networked to Facebook, they'll see 365 stuff as well.

Muffins...

2011-08-24T21:46:00.000+01:00

Rainy day in London

2011-08-23T21:36:00.004+01:00

Despite the weather, we've been up to town to sightsee today - this is because we were due to spend a day with my brother-in-law, John, who lives up in Leicester, and his train ticket was already booked. Of course yesterday and the day before were gorgeous, and today - well, at least it kept the crowds down a bit...

But being good Brits (most of us, at any rate), we didn't let the weather stop us from hopping on a boat down the Thames to Greenwich, where the kids made faces while standing on the Prime Meridian (notice the complete lack of hordes of tourists waiting to have their photos taken on the PM? Bad weather isn't all bad...)

and we wandered around the Observatory looking at various things about time and space.

It was also, as you can tell, extremely foggy at times - barely any view at all from the top of the Observatory hill in Greenwich Park. On a clear day, you can see, if not forever, at least well across to the other side of the river!

All that said, it was actually a highly enjoyable day out with the family, including a nice Italian lunch and a walk around the maritime museum as well...

New playground

2011-08-22T22:51:00.002+01:00

We went to Morden Hall Park today as it was another lovely day and we wanted to get out - had a stroll through the grounds rather than our usual, through the wetland area to Deen City Farm (which is closed on Mondays) - glad we did, as we found this new playground - as far as I can determine, it appears to have just been finished off in the last month or so.

Juniper Top

2011-08-21T22:29:00.002+01:00

Autumn Ladies Tresses - a wild orchid I've not seen before on Juniper Top (though Geoff has once before) - this may be mainly because we don't usually go this late in the year, but rather tend to go in April, May and June during Bluebell season and the earlier orchids... When we first spotted them, we saw only a few, but later, quite high up on the hill, there was a patch with at least a dozen - maybe closer to 20. I'd guess they will be even nicer in a few weeks' time, when they are fully out, but they are really lovely and delicate - also much smaller than many of the other wild ones we tend to see.

Here's Alex taking his turn at flying the kite - the photos of the girls were terrible when I looked at them at home on the computer - the sun was so bright I couldn't see whether they were any good while actually outdoors!

the way up the hill...

Dangles

2011-08-20T22:14:00.002+01:00

Olivia has a required school bag next year - black messenger bag (they have a choice of messenger bag or backpack). They are, however, encouraged to personalise them with charms and whatnot, so yesterday and today we've been making some dangles...

There will probably be more...

Ham House

2011-08-18T23:06:00.002+01:00

(located in Ham, near Richmond, thus the name). Taking advantage of the kids being at tennis camp, my mother and I went off to have a look at Ham House, a 17th century estate which I've never visited, despite it being no distance at all from where I live - 20 minutes drive or so.

It was lovely - no photos from inside the house as there was no flash photography allowed and not many from the garden as it was quite rainy - and we really enjoyed it. I've been meaning to go for ages - besides it being local, I've heard good things from a friend's mum, who volunteers there. We didn't bump into her today, but funny enough I did bump into a friend and former colleague from my New Scientist days - I knew she lived in Kingston, so it's not totally surprising, but it was rather unexpected to walk into Ham House and have her be the person I had to show my ticket to!

While we were walking through the house, there was a group of 3 kids, similarly spaced in age to mine (though younger overall) who were wandering around the house playing games and exploring - I couldn't help thinking how nice it was to be able to stroll through a place of historical interest without having to worry about kids touching things or being too loud or whining about being bored...

...and of course tea and cake in the cafe was much cheaper for two than it would have been for five people!

Apple pie

2011-08-16T23:14:00.001+01:00

I think I peeled about 15 apples (they were fairly small) but I still have a huge bowl of apples and pears (mostly pears) to use... Crumble perhaps?

Apples and Pears

2011-08-15T23:45:00.003+01:00

a whole bag full, courtesy of some friends with fruit trees. I see fruity desserts in our future...

St Fagans

2011-08-14T23:57:00.002+01:00

Another place we visited while in Wales is the Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagans, which is a fantastic open air (mostly) museum with loads of old buildings from various eras of Welsh history. It's huge, and we didn't see nearly everything there, but had a nice time anyway. I didn't take many pictures, apparently, though I did like this one of the lavender in front of the cottage window...

...and a hollyhock.

Here, Alex (and the other kids) had a go at weaving the wattle part of a wattle-and-daub panel in one of the buildings.

And here's Olivia with my friend's youngest (she'll be 4 in the autumn) - I haven't spent much time with 3 year olds lately; I had forgotten how determined they are to do things their own way - and I mean that in the best possible way - she's lovely, but knows just what she wants and how things are going to be!

Southerndown

2011-08-13T23:49:00.003+01:00

Just realised I didn't post any pictures from our trip down to Wales to visit our friends who moved there (from around here) last year. These are from Southerndown, outside Brigend. We walked a little along the cliffs and had a look at the old walled gardens from when there was a castle there. It was high tide, so we couldn't go down to the beach, which is a shame, as I understand the cliffs are full of fossils.

More flowers

2011-08-11T08:33:00.001+01:00

Flowers...

2011-08-10T08:29:00.002+01:00

I stopped doing the 365 project after a year because I didn't like the pressure of having to do a photo every day (and sometimes I had to fill in from old stuff, which felt fake) but there are lots of photos I take - especially flowers and plants - which I never seem to do anything with. So, from my recent Cornish holiday, here are a number of shots of flowers. Just because!

These were all taken at the Eden Project.

Fowey

2011-08-06T22:32:00.004+01:00

Fowey (pronounced "Foy") is probably the most scenic place (in a good way) I've ever been... We spent the day there yesterday, and were incredibly lucky with warm, sunny weather. First we poked around the town and had a bite to eat, then went on a boat trip around the harbour and up the river. This view is actually looking across the harbour, so technically is Polruan, not Fowey, but the buildings are very similar on the Fowey side.

This building is the du Maurier house, across the river from Fowey just by the ferry crossing (actually, there are two - this is the upriver one, which takes cars as well as foot passengers, not the foot passenger only one which crosses the harbour to Polruan). After our boat trip and a little poking around, we crossed the river (on foot) and went to the inn by the du Maurier house, had a drink, and then Geoff and I took all the kids and set off on a walk along the cliffs towards Polruan. As we had 5 kids with us, some better walkers than others (and three of them were 8 and under), and as our friends were waiting for us back at the Inn, we didn't walk all the way to Polruan via Pont (5 miles or so) and back - just walked for a mile or so and turned around, but it was lovely, nonetheless.

And here are the kids, walking back down to the Inn to have another drink. My girls were great with Cathi and Dave's girls, who are 7 and 8 1/2 (nearly 9) - they spent a lot of time playing games with them and minding them (and Alex, too), so that the grownups didn't have to do as much of that aspect of things - a true holiday!

Lost Gardens of Heligan

2011-08-03T21:16:00.000+01:00

The Lost Gardens of Heligan, very close to where we are staying, and really lovely. This sculpture, called The Giant's Head and the mud maid, which I uploaded a photo of straight to Facebook when we were there, are both fantastic, but the gardens themselves are also really wonderful. Lots of great plants and the jungle section, which is located in a deep sort of valley in the garden, is fantastic...

View of the Jungle...

Loved this sign - and it was true, there was unrestrained livestock. However, it wasn't very threatening...

Newquay & Padstow

2011-08-01T18:10:00.000+01:00

Beach at Newquay

We hadn't planned to hang out on the beach, which is why no one has sensible beach clothes on!

The kids - including the larger, older, male one - wanted me to take their picture on this pile of rocks.

Harbour at Padstow. Padstow was teeming with tourists, but I have to say, I can see why - it's really a lovely town.

Loved this little close with almshouses in it.

Eden Project

2011-07-31T19:01:00.000+01:00

Rather impressive from above. Unfortunately, we couldn't go up in the viewing platform in the Rainforest Dome, as it was too hot (only up at the top of the dome, mind you - although it was fairly steamy lower down), but we still had a nice visit to the project. Even the little kids had begun to enjoy themselves by the end...

Walk over to Charlestown

2011-07-30T21:52:00.001+01:00

From where we are staying, there's a path - small at first, but opening up, over to the harbour in Charlestown. We walked down on our first evening there...

Charlestown Harbour from above:

There are some tall ships in the harbour, not sure quite what they are doing there (other than hanging out)...

The beach is pebbly, rather than sandy, but that didn't stop the kids from having a quick paddle...

Haircut

2011-07-28T22:39:00.002+01:00

Here's the other haircut - she was feeling too lazy to pose properly, but you get the general idea. It's still long, but nicely layered with a long side fringe...

A grand day out...

2011-07-27T23:32:00.003+01:00

In a pre-emptive strike against the cries of "I am so bored, what should I do" I dragged the kids (plus a friend) up to town today to have a quick peep in an art gallery and a lot of messing about looking at cool stuff in London. The photo above was actually from the end of the day, the large astroturfed chairs on the South Bank, outside the National Theatre. But otherwise, more or less in order, here was our day:

Installation outside the Festival Hall, which we checked out, along with

their current installment of themed Beach Huts (to do with the anniversary of the Festival of Britain),

most of which containing some or other sort of installation (this one had mannequins with swimsuits - 50s style (I think, I only had a quick peep) - inside.

One had an exhibit of various mosaics, including this great London South Bank one. We then crossed the river, popped into the National Gallery to have a look at a few famous paintings, then had lunch and went along to Covent Garden, where we bought some cheese in Neal's Yard Dairy, and checked out a few shops...

A wander back through Covent Garden took us past (and into) The Icecreamists, where we all indulged. This was actually the small size...

He soon got it under control, though - pistachio and milk chocolate were his two flavours - others had white chocolate, lemon (ice cream, not sorbet - gorgeous!), custard, chocolate hazelnut and one sort of coffee flavour, not sure precisely what it was. Mmm.

A walk back over Waterloo Bridge, with interesting scenery on both sides...

...and the aforementioned stop to play on the giant astroturfed furniture before taking the train back home.

Sometimes I do really miss working in downtown London, though I don't miss the commute or the crowds...

Out for a walk

2011-07-25T22:57:00.002+01:00

Wall outside the Apostles Wine Bar, Raynes Park.

Publish Post

Hollyhock, along West Barnes Lane

Stir fry

2011-07-24T19:33:00.000+01:00

To go with the spare ribs which Sarah made the marinade for this morning...

Basketball in the park

2011-07-24T16:27:00.000+01:00

Bubble boy

2011-07-24T10:30:00.000+01:00

End of Year 6...

2011-07-23T23:04:00.002+01:00

Traditionally, at the end of Year 6 (end of primary school), they get as many people as possible to sign their shirts - and in Olivia's case, her arms as well (and her face, too, as it happened!).

They spent the better part of Thursday afternoon - despite the fact that it was a bit rainy - hanging out at the park.

Although these two boys have been in the same class/year with Olivia and her friends since nursery, they have never, to my knowledge, hung out before Thursday. I think it's mainly because one of the boys really likes one of the girls in Olivia's group (not Olivia, thank goodness - though they are very nice boys - I don't object to them specifically, just don't want her hanging with any boys except as general friends...)

Haircut & Leavers' Party

2011-07-22T22:46:00.002+01:00

New haircut...

Singing Karaoke at the Leavers' Party - better pictures of all the Year 6 stuff to follow when I get the official pictures in the post!

Grease is the word...

2011-07-18T22:47:00.001+01:00

Here's Olivia with some of her friends after the show tonight - and below, a rather out of focus (taken on my phone) photo of her dancing during "We go together"...

Sunday stuff

2011-07-10T21:31:00.002+01:00

Popped into Kingston today with Sarah to grab a few bits and pieces (we needed a new shower curtain for one thing) - plus, Cath Kidston was having a BIG SALE. Here's Sarah looking at bags in Cath Kidston - she didn't want me to take her photo, so I promised to only do it from the back... She did buy a bag in the end - not this one - a bigger, stripey one, which she can use as a school bag. She loves the bags at CK (as I do), but the normal prices are rather dear for her...

Personally, I love the changing rooms upstairs at CK, with their quilted patchwork curtains and the retro wallpaper - and see how I've cleverly left just the smallest bit of me in the photo?

Another thing Sarah bought was a curling iron - she was practicing on Olivia tonight. Ringlets ahoy!

Sheep in the High Street

2011-07-09T20:29:00.002+01:00

It's quite common in the UK to see people with their dogs on a lead in the high street - sheep, on the other hand, are a bit less common.... But it was the Malden Fortnight this weekend and New Malden was full of various stalls for local businesses, etc, and this chap had brought his sheep along to show as well. He was collecting for a charity, can't remember which one - nothing to do with sheep...

Snail

2011-07-05T23:31:00.002+01:00

It rained earlier today, which brought out all the snails, as usual. There were half a dozen or so crawling up my garden fence. Not quite sure what the attraction is, but at least it means they were doing something other than eating my plants...

American Food!

2011-07-04T23:48:00.000+01:00

In honour of the fourth of July - it's American biscuits (biscuits over here being what we call cookies). Although to be truthful, it has less to do with July 4th and more to do with the fact that they are quick and simple to make and go nicely with soup, which was what dinner was. So simple to make that I had Olivia and her friend Nina make them while I dictated - I was making the soup at the time...

...and here they are, having eaten and waiting for it to be time to go off to Guides.

Sunday snippets

2011-07-03T22:08:00.003+01:00

Flute practice (for some reason, Blogger didn't want to upload the video, so it's over here on YouTube instead).

Some sort of grand car game, complete with either a giant killer frog or a very clever hiding place:

Mini golf in the park:

Thai red pork curry with green beans and hearts of palm.

Saturday evening

2011-07-02T22:47:00.002+01:00

Olivia makes a salad, after having helped with the main part of dinner (in the oven when this photo taken)...

spinach and potato pastries.

Meanwhile, Alex is working on his Roman Villa...

365 Project...or not

2011-06-24T22:42:00.005+01:00

Last year, at the beginning of July, I started doing the 365 Project - the idea being to post a photo every day, helping you document your life, refine your photography skills, take time to look around a little more, or whatever. It was a fun experiment, but I found that there were some days - weeks even - when it simply felt like a task. Or, I'd take loads of great photos one day and then nothing for weeks... I'm going to see out my year (6 days to go) but not going to carry it on. I am, however, going to post more random (in the sense of not necessarily related to anything other than being a picture I took for whatever reason) photos on this blog. When I see something interesting, I am going to post it. Haven't yet decided if I will do a "Wordless Wednesday" like some bloggers do (seems unlikely, as I should think I'll want to talk about whatever I post - I'm not so good at Wordless) or simply try to do at least one post a week which just has a photo or two in it. Probably the latter.

This photo above is actually one which appeared already in the 365 project, but it's recent, and I like it - and it's the kind of thing I mean when I say I'm going to blog something random - this isn't a photo of the kids or a house improvement or somewhere we went (well, it is, but not in a scenic view sort of way). I am always telling myself I should blog more on this blog, but I don't want it to be forced or artificial - but a sort of "photo(s) of the week" slot would be a fun addition...

New summer dress

2011-06-23T18:38:00.000+01:00

She really should wear dresses more often...

Roman shield

2011-06-19T23:46:00.002+01:00

Homework assignment (topic is Romans at the moment, you might have guessed). We've also been building a (paper model of a) Roman Villa - but we're waiting until it's done to show it - perhaps as a slide show, as a photo is being taken after every step, just about!

Woodpeckers

2011-06-19T15:44:00.000+01:00

Spotted today in the garden - thanks to Geoff for spotting them and Sarah for the photo - a pair of lesser spotted woodpeckers, digging for bugs (I assume) in the raised border on our patio. We often get woodpeckers at our feeder and I've very occasionally seen the other kind (green) on the ground in the garden, but I've never seen them in the border before!

Barcelona

2011-06-05T16:40:00.002+01:00

Recently, Sarah went on a school trip to Barcelona (lucky thing) - here are some highlights.

One day they did a glass-bottom boat tour - in and out of caves.

They visited a theme park and rode roller coasters (this one looks brilliant, I admit).

They visited the Parque Guell

and had a look at the Sagrada Familia Cathedral (many of her other photos show it covered in scaffolding, of course).

There was ice cream in a variety of flavours and colours

and a nice pool at the hotel.

Here's the beach at Tossa de Mar, where they were staying...

Favourite tree

2011-06-05T09:24:00.000+01:00

Practicing updating my blog from my phone, because it's about time I worked out how to do that...

Rural Life Centre

2011-06-03T19:28:00.002+01:00

A glorious sunny day today, so I insisted that the kids and I go somewhere outside - Sarah had already made plans with some friends, so she didn't come along, but the other two and I headed off to, after some debate, the Rural Life Centre in Tilford, outside Farnham. It's sweet and although it may sometimes get busy - particularly on weekends when there are events, I should think - the two times we've been there, there have only been a handful of other people around, which is great for being able to really look at stuff in depth and play around.

The place is a collection of old buildings from various periods, along with more farm implements, ploughs, tools, etc than you've ever seen before in your life. But it's quite interesting and definitely geared towards families - Alex did a little kid's trail where you have to find specific objects in various buildings - and there are activities set up throughout.

Old signs abound...

You can try your hand at pumping water...

There were a few very young sheep to see, as well.

...you could help make a rag rug... and much more.

Driveway done!

2011-06-02T19:40:00.000+01:00

Cooked breakfast

2011-05-29T16:38:00.002+01:00

Not something I do very often - but we saw these amazing gorgeous mushrooms at Garson's farm shop yesterday and couldn't resist...

Later, there was strawberry tart...

2011-05-28T09:28:00.000+01:00

PGL

2011-05-27T10:07:00.000+01:00

Olivia was away last week (not this one past, but the one before) at PGL, a residential camp, for her school trip. At some point, they will give us an official CD of the trip with pictures taken by grownups on it, but we did get the film developed from her disposable cameras, and there are some nice shots on it (also, some which are quite blurry or have a hand partially obscuring the lens!).

Anyway. Here she is about to do something - not sure what, but she's all harnessed up and helmeted up ready to go. Zip wire, perhaps.

This looks like the end of the zipwire to me. Whee!

Fencing, obviously.

This one I love - this was on the coach before they even left school, I think. The mustaches are great, though, aren't they!

Another model maker in the family...

2011-05-15T23:10:00.003+01:00

It's a TFI - tiny flying insect - a spy fly, in fact.

Alex's assignment was to design a spy gadget, then build a model of it. Can he choose something easy like a jetpack (cereal boxes & kitchen roll tubes, covered in foil)? No, he picks a robot fly with microphone, camera and laster gun mounted on it. Sigh.

With a little help, it's come out pretty well, though, don't you think?

How to keep a small boy entertained on a Sunday morning

2011-05-15T23:07:00.001+01:00

The shape of things to come...

2011-05-11T08:06:00.002+01:00

When we went to the garden centre to get some spring plants for out pots, the kids saw a display of strawberry plants, and wanted to try to grow some. So we planted three small plants, and lo and behold, they are actually fruiting - this is the first one to ripen and it's nowhere near eating, but it's certainly a good sign!

Olivia's world

2011-05-07T21:56:00.002+01:00

Another model for a school project - if a model can be made to go with a project, Olivia will make one. This started out as a balloon, and metamorphosed into a globe - honestly, no idea where she gets the patience to do this sort of thing from - I'm much more of an instant gratification kind of artist...