Are you [meerkat] experienced?

Today we went down to Drusilla's Park, a zoo/park/playground down near Eastbourne, so that Alex could have his "Meerkat Experience" which was a belated birthday treat, bought using nectar points (we originally had something else in mind, but for various reasons it didn't work out, so this was the substitute excursion). 

His experience included learning about the animals' feeding routines [this wasn't for the meerkats, necessarily, though they are mainly carnivores - but the sign amused me], 

a behind-the-scenes tour, preparing the food for the meerkats' snack - which included catching a number of locusts and crickets - 

somewhat easier said than done, as the locusts and crickets liked to hop around and didn't much enjoy being picked up and popped in a plastic bottle - 

and filling some baskets with hay and hiding some grapes inside. This was much easier to accomplish, as the grapes were far less interested in jumping out of the plastic bottle than the locusts had been...

Alex then took the snacks to the meerkat enclosure and was able to feed them to the meerkats. The meerkats were very keen on having their snacks - in fact, Alex wasn't quick enough giving out the crickets and locusts, so one of them decided to have a nibble of Alex...

So Alex's meerkat experience included a bonus meerkat bite and an extra tour of the staff first aid cabin.  Luckily, it was a small bite and only hurt for a little while. And his tetanus is up to date, so there should be no problems...

The meerkats enjoyed the grapes - here they are trying to figure out how many meerkats can fit into a single hanging plant basket at one time - I think the answer was about five...

The experience itself only lasted about 45 minutes, so we had the rest of the day in the park, with plenty of time to 

play on all the (rather impressive) playground climbing equipment,

ride on Thomas trains

and eat hot dogs.

Oh yeah, and see some animals!

The zoo had mostly small and/or domestic animals - farm animals, llamas and so on, then mammals such as raccoons, coatis, small monkeys like tamarins and squirrel monkeys, gibbons, macaques, beavers, otters, meerkats and prairie dogs, and birds like flamingoes, lorikeets, owls, a few penguins. And a selection of reptiles, amphibians, insects, etc. The sort of animals it's fairly practical to have in a space which is large but not huge.

We enjoyed watching all these ring-tailed lemurs sleeping in a pile. The zoo had a lovely lemur enclosure (the walk-in kind) with lots of climbing equipment and playing & hiding areas for the lemurs, but all they wanted to do was sleep in a big pile.  Admittedly, it was midday or thereabouts and actually warm and sunny for once...

There were a couple of red pandas - new this year, apparently - who were sleeping the first time we went past their enclosure, but were a bit more active the second time around. 

I enjoyed this Emperor tamarin  and his (her?) fantastic moustache. 

And after quite a wait, I manage to get the owl to actually look at the camera!

The flamingos, on the other hand, weren't bothered about having their photos taken - unlike Sarah, who will probably be annoyed that I posted a photo of her eating a hotdog, so to make up for it, here's another photo of her, this time, taking a photo of flamingos...

Alex and Olivia were far happy to pose for photos, especially if they could be shown with Ferenc Fox ears...

In all, a fun day despite the injuiry, and so nice to be outside in the sunshine!

Dinner, 29/5/13: Eggs, Asparagus, Toast

We still have lots of asparagus in the house from our recent trip to the PYO, so we decided to make a feature of it - tonight's supper mainly asparagus, along with eggs (several different cooking methods) and stacks and stacks of toast. I actually had more of everything than this, but it looks nice on the plate like this...  More asparagus on Friday, but that will be the end of it (unless we pick again) and will be soup - I've saved the smallest, stubbiest spears for the soup night. I'm glad we live in a world where you can get a wide variety of produce most of the year, but some of the short-season fruit and veg are quite special precisely because of their short seasons - asparagus, strawberries, fresh apricots, figs, and so on.

Phone convention

There is probably a little corner of your home somewhere that looks a lot like this...

Dinner, 28/5/13: Cheesy Leek, Broccoli & Bacon Bake

Proof of the old add cheese sauce and or bacon to something and YUM! I also had some leftover new potatoes which I threw in. And I put in a few more tomatoes than the recipe called for. Cheesy goodness ensued...  No idea how long I've had this recipe and not tried it - it's from a Somerfield magazine. I'm not sure Somerfield even exists anymore - it certainly doesn't around here...it's been years!

Dinner, 27/5/13: Sausages, Asparagus, New Potatoes

To go with our freshly picked asparagus, we went to the Farm Shop at Garson's and got some of their excellent sausages - two different types: the traditional and the Gloucester Old Spot. Yum.

Fresh Asparagus!

Dinner, 26/5/13: Middle Eastern Lamb with Figs and Honey

Another slow cooker recipe from the I Love My Slow Cooker cookbook by Beverly LeBlanc. (Couldn't find the recipe online, but let me know if anyone wants it.) This used two types of figs - dried, in the slow cooker from the beginning, and fresh, put in just before the end. It also had fennel in it, which I love, but which is not universally popular due to the aniseedy flavour. However, in this dish, all the flavours just mellowed gently into one another - the way your results should be in a slow cooker - and it was lovely. It also had preserved lemons in it, which was useful, as I have half a jar of preserved lemons in my fridge still.  I'm thinking chicken with preserved lemons and almonds might make an appearance soon, too!

Watermelon fingers

Olivia's latest creation!

Dinner, 25/5/13: Bacon and Asparagus Flan

Another Hairy Dieters recipe - the flan uses filo pastry rather that shortcrust, so it's a much lighter pastry crust. And only a sprinkling of cheese on the top. I changed the recipe a tiny bit - used 4 eggs instead of three so we'd have a bit left over and there's probably  more cheese on top than in the recipe, but I had some grated cheese in the freezer I wanted to use up...  Served with a salad and some bread. Very nice!  The recipe is online on the Good Food website... (oh, and I used a larger tin than specified as I didn't think the ingredients would all fit in the size they suggested!

Dinner, 24/5/13: Spicy Pineapple Pork

Despite the fact that one of my kids complains about any meat dish with fruit in it, this was quite popular at dinner - it was a nice way to have the pork, with a good sauce and the chili and 5 spice powder combo was very tasty. It was also dead simple. A matter of moments.  Recipe conveniently online here on Good Food's website.

Dinner, 23/5/13: Tomato and Mascarpone Bake

Sarah made this one (Thursday again!) which was fairly simple, except it involved roasting a load of tomatoes first, before blitzing them into a sauce. I had some when I came home from yoga - it was nice.

Dinner, 22/5/13: Tarragon Chicken with Haricot Beans (and sauted courgettes)

The chicken is an adaptation of a Nigel Slater recipe from Real Fast Food - I used half fat creme fraiche instead of double cream, and also, skinless chicken breasts. But I liked the idea to serve this with beans instead of potatoes or noodles (though noodles would be nice, too), so heated some up with a little shallot, garlic & chicken stock. Very nice.

Dinner, 21/5/13: Beef Stroganoff

From a low-fat cookbook Top 200 Low Fat Recipes, Judith Wills. It uses greek yogurt in the sauce instead of sour cream (or whatever is traditional). Still tastes great though of course I get complaints about mushrooms from children... (one likes them, one hates them and complains, one doesn't really like them but doesn't complain). 

Dinner, 20/5/13: Vegetable Soup with Cheesy Toasts

Another easy mid-week supper - the veg soup is just leeks, carrots, celery, chickpeas, tinned tomatoes (blended smooth) and some stock - some herbs and seasoning, but very simple.  The cheesy toasts are even easier - just garlic bread slices with a bit of grated cheese on the top. Indulgent, I know, but I do by the lower-fat garlic bread to start with...

Dinner, 19/5/13: Vegan Lancashire Hotpot

We've had this many times before as we really like it. It's a Simon Rimmer recipe and I've not made many adjustments - I usually add mushrooms, and I use less olive oil than he does on the potatoes. Othwerise, yum.

Dinner, 18/5/13: Country Pork with Vegetables (and Asparagus)

I meant to cook new potatoes to go with this, and forgot, but it was still fine - from a Slimming World cookbook, this pork and veg dish is lowfat, but the pork is still relatively moist, as it's all cooked in the oven together, covered in foil.  I couldn't find a recipe online, but essentially it's pork steaks or loin cut into small pieces, with leeks, celery, red pepper and tomatoes, and some dried sage, a bit of chicken stock and covered in foil and cooked for about 45 minutes, or until it's done.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy as we say. Which reminds me, there's a squeeze of lemon juice in it, as well. 

And some asparagus (first of the season - thanks to my friend Lana for going along and picking it - we tried last weekend, but they weren't open yet) along the side. Yum.

Dinner out, 17/5/13

Poor Sharon, who follows my dinners, has accused me of starving my family as I haven't posted much about food lately.  Well, there were good reasons - I haven't been cooking much. Which doesn't mean we haven't been eating! Friday night, we tried a new Tex-Mex place near Wimbledon Theatre, as we were going out to the theatre anyway.  Verdict: good!  I had a chimichanga - not the healthiest, but it's not a type of Mexican food I make at home (as opposed to fajitas, enchiladas and burritos, which I might) so it was a nice restaurant choice. 

And of course, there was a Margarita. Or two.

Dinner, 14/5/13: Sweet and Sour Chicken

This was lovely - tasted like a very good takeaway sweet and sour chicken - not so flurorescent orange, either. Another hit from the Hairy Bikers' cookbook (Hairy Dieters).  I found the recipe on the BBC website.

Dinner, 13/5/13: Vegetable Frittata

I can't find a recipe for this particular frittata online, but I'm sure there are lots of others - this one has onion, spinach, potatoes and cherry tomatoes as its non-egg content, and a bit of dijon mustard, which we thought was a nice touch. Tasty!  And some left for lunch tomorrow (though not much).  I made biscuits to go with it as well, added some grated cheddar (to the biscuits). 

Dinner, 12/5/13: Beef and Aubergine Tagine

This was very nice. We all liked it, although we had some ideas for how to make it even better next time - for one thing, the ratio of veg to meat could be increased, and we thought some of the veg could be added towards the end of the cooking time to give a little more variety of texture. Also, it could easily have had a third salted lemon, or even two more. And I thought it wanted just a little more cooking liquid, as the sauce was very thick. But the taste was lovely and the flavours rich and deep. The pomegranates were a nice touch and besides looking pretty, tasted fresh and light with the tagine. Certainly a winner.

From the book I Love My Slow Cooker by Beverly LeBlanc. I found an American version of the recipe online in google books, here.

Feelgood Flapjacks

Whipped up a batch of these today - almost a flapjack, though not quite as sweet and with a chewier texture - these are made with almost no added sugar (lots of fruit, e.g. mashed banana and grated apple and just a little honey or maple syrup) and very little fat. Still pretty tasty, though. The recipe is from Good Food, but I couldn't find it online.

Dinner, 11/5/13: Chicken Jalfrezi

It's the Hairy Bikers' diet version of Chicken Jalfrezi again, as we liked it so much last time. This time Olivia helped me do the cooking - I used different chilis this time and we thought it wasn't quite as good (though still very tasty) - back to the small, thin, green ones next time...

Dinner, 10/5/13: Stir-fried veg and tofu with noodles

Not really a recipe, per se, just some veg and marinated tofu stir fried, along with some egg noodles. A bit of hoisin sauce and soy sauce and hey presto - instant dinner. Ok, not quite instant, but not time-consuming either.

Dinner, 9/5/13: Mince and new potato curry (Sarah cooking)

Usually on a Thursday night I go to yoga, so Sarah cooks dinner - this time, I didn't go as I am still trying to kick a cold and am really tired and finding breathing deeply a bit of a struggle - lots of coughing.  Decided to give it a miss, but still had Sarah cook (should definitely do that more often!). This is a recipe we've had many times before and always enjoy. 

This time, we had some nice bread from our local shop (Middle Eastern, though it has most English things you could want as well). They have a bread oven and do lots of great naan style bread, these ones, which are puffier (no idea what they are called) and some lovely Middle Eastern flatbreads with spicy meat topping. Mmmm.  These were so hot out of the oven that I couldn't hold the bag at the bottom where it touched the bread. Now that's fresh!

Welcome (and less welcome) visitors

Couldn't get a good photo of this woodpecker, as the feeder was swinging quite wildly - I had just about snapped another, more stable one, when off flies the woodpecker and down scampers...

Mr Squirrel.  It's a constant battle to keep the squirrels off the feeders - annoying things - as if eating all my bulbs isn't enough!

Dinner, 6/5/13: Bacon, Potato and Broad Bean Supper

The perfect dish for eating outside on the patio on a lovely, sunny, bank holiday evening. Very simple to make, and very tasty. And frankly, although you can peel the broad beans if you like, you don't really need to - they work fine. Recipe is from a book called Top 200 Low Fat Recipes by Judith Wills (has quite a few good ones in it) and while I couldn't find it online, this one on Good Food's website is very similar.

Dinner, 5/5/13: Lamb and Butternut Squash Tagine

This was nice and easy to cook - it needs a long time, but you don't have to do a lot, just let it get on with it by itself. It was tasty, though perhaps could have been a little more spicy for our taste. Geoff remedied this by adding a little harissa paste to his - I might stir some through the whole thing myself in future. Recipe was from Cook Yourself Thin, so is lowfat, to boot. You can find it online here.

A short bike ride

Now that the weather has finally turned into something resembling spring, Alex and I wanted to get our bikes out and check them over, so we can ride to and from school most days. So after pumping up some tyres a little, and so on, we (and Olivia) went off for a small bike ride, through our local cemetary and along some paths into the back entrance of a local housing estate which has an environmental area with wetlands.

We wanted to check out the duckhouses on the ponds there - there are four of them, each of them designed by a child from our school (the estate is very close to school - just over the road). Alex entered the competition, but his design wasn't chosen to be made into a duckhouse. Still, it was fun to check them out in person. [They are to help keep the foxes from getting all the baby ducks - we have a real problem with urban (or in our case, suburban) foxes in our area. They are almost completely tame - I've seen them in my own back garden in broad daylight - and in addition to getting into everything, they aren't good for baby ducks (and other ground-nesting birds) at all.]

And then we popped up to the high street to grab a few things from Waitrose and to have a nice refreshing drink in Costa. I tried their new tropical cooler, which was excellent. Add rum and it would taste like a frozen pina colada. Result!

Dinner, 4/5/13: Southern Style Jambalaya

From the Hairy Bikers' Hairy Dieters Cookbook.  This was excellent. Full of flavour and nicely filling and yet not stupidly high in fat or calories.  Luckily for you, you can find it online here...

A few Norths

My brother-in-law Stuart took these photos recently, when we were up in Leicester for Grandma Lucy's funeral. This is a great shot of the girls together - one I am especially glad to have because Sarah usually won't let me take her photo.

Here are the three brothers together - obviously Stuart didn't take this one, but it was on his camera. One of my girls took it - not sure which one. Geoff on the left, then Stuart, John on the right. 

And here is a shot of the girls with their Dad, at the pub where we had a meal after the service. This seems very in character for all of them...

There was one photo of Alex, but it wasn't particularly exciting and a photo of me with the girls, which wasn't very flattering of any of us - we'll skip those ones...

April Round up

As usual, I like to have a look back on what we had for dinner over the course of the previous month. This month was quite a busy one, so I doubt I tried many new recipes, though there were a couple, like the potatoe & carrot tart, which was great (though in future I may need to make 2 of them to feed us).

WHAT'S FOR DINNER, APRIL 2013

• 30th: away
• 29th: Pasta bake
• 28th: Roast pork belly with cabbage and red potatoes
• 27th: Leek, artichoke and blue cheese wellington
• 26th: Salmon Tikka
• 25th: Greek island salad (Sarah)
• 24th: leftovers
• 23rd: Linguine with sausage and rocket
• 22nd: Spinach, lentil and fresh spring herb soup
• 21st: Chicken with black bean sauce, stir-fried veg
• 20th: spaghetti bolognese (Geoff cooking)
• 19th: out to dinner & theatre
• 18th: out to a concert
• 17th: Potato & Carrot Tart
• 16th: Courgette and Lemon Linguine
• 15th: leftover ham, etc
• 14th: Slow-cooked ham, potatoes, carrots
• 13th: Chicken, Ham and Leek Pie
• 12th: Pesto, Proscuitto and Artichoke Pizza
• 11th: lunch out
• 10th: Massaman style veg curry
• 9th: Fish and Chips
• 8th: Dinner at a Friend's House
• 7th: Spring Feast (Rack of Lamb, Galic Potatoes, Veggies)
• 6th: Creamy Sausage and Mushroom Pasta
• 5th: Bang Bang Chicken
• 4th: Cauliflower Cheese Lasagne
• 3rd: leftovers/fend for yourself
• 2nd: One-pan spicy rice
• 1st: Chicken Noodle Soup

What I read in April

Here's my round up and comments for April reading. 11 Books - not bad. Technically finished the last one on the 2nd of May, but hey, it was mostly read in April. There are actually 13 books on my list, a few more than normal, but two of them were ones I gave up on quite quickly. I still like to note them, though, so if I look back and try to remember whether I've read something or why I abandoned it, I might have a clue...

1, 2, & 3.  The Windsinger, Slaves of the Mastery, Firesong (The Wind on Fire Trilogy): William Nicholson.  This is actually a young adult/fantasy trilogy - counts as three books, but only needs one entry as it's an ongoing story. I read the first of these a long time ago, and Geoff has read them to the girls as bedtime stories, way back, but I never read the second and third and as I was tidying up the bookcase, I decided to give them a go. They are a nice, solid fantasy series, which I enjoyed.  Not a huge amount to say about them.  Interesting trivia fact: the author wrote the screenplay Life Story (about the discovery of the structure of DNA), Shadowlands (about CS Lewis) and Gladiator (yes, that Gladiator). 

4. The Troubled Man, Henning Mankell. This is a Wallander novel, and I love Wallander, especially the Swedish series with Krister Henriksson. So when I saw one in a charity shop, I thought I'd give it a go. However, I didn't last more than 50 pages. Not sure if it was the writing style or the translation or what, but I just didn't like the way it was written, so stopped.

5. The Girl Who Chased the Moon, Sarah Addison Allen. Magical realism, enjoyable, fun story while serious at the same time. I enjoyed this.

6. Daydream Girl, Bella Pollen.  Again, a light, satisfying read, though not the be-all and end-all implied in some of the reviews. Quite amusing in places without being too over the top.

7. The Other Side of You, Sally Vickers. An intense novel about a psychiatrist and his patient and the nature of love (sort of). A nice take on this relationship, I thought, lacking in some of the things that bother me about psychiatrists in novels (ususally, they just love themselves way too much). I thought this one tried to keep the relationship and the introspection much more honest and real. 

8. The Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks. A novel about a village which sequesters itself during an outbreak of Plague, in order to keep the disease from spreading. Based on a true story.  Heartbreaking in places and historically interesting, definitely one for the fan of the historical novel. Unlike the other novel of hers which I have read (People of the Book) there are no modern time intrusions in this one (not that I mind modern time intrusions and books set across various historical periods, but if those things bother you, you won't find them here in Year of Wonders). 

9. The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared. Jonas Jonasson. The cover of this proclaims it to be  "The International Bestselling Sensation" and I can see why. This was very funny, like a good farce, but one which restrained itself and was quite subtle in places. (Or like a  Mr Magoo cartoon where you keep thinking some major crisis is about to happen, and then it all just smooths itself out.)  A fantastic mix of the absurb and the surreal and the mundane. I thought this was great.  

10. Instructions for a Heatwave, Maggie O'Farrell. More Maggie O'Farrell, I know, but I had it on reserve from the library, so I had to read it straight away when it came in. I think I've read them all now, though, so you won't see any for a while.  Again, a good novel, nice and solid, similar themes to her other novels, family relatiobnships, secrets and the damage they do, the dangers of not talking to each other and repercussions of these things.

11. An Awfully Big Adventure, Beryl Bainbridge. This is another one which I couldn't get into. I've tried a couple of times now and I just hate the tone (probably why I also didn't like Wise Children by Angela Carter). It's off to the charity shop for this one.

12. Valeria's Last Stand, Marc Fitten. Picked this one up in a charity shop, I think, knowing nothing about it, but I really enjoyed it. Quite a dramatic (as in drama queen) novel in places, but entertaining. Described in places as a comic romp, and I suppose it was, rather. 

13. The Panopticon, Jenny Fagan.  And now for something completely different, as they say. Serious and intense novel about a teenager in care who is accused of a serious crime (or on the verge of being accused) and finds herself at one last (somewhat unusual) carehome before being sent to prison or placed in high security care. If the word "fuck" bothers you, don't read this. And a lot of it is in Scottish - slang, saying dinnae & cannae and various other Scottishisms - I was always teetering on the brink of finding this annoying, but never quite got to the throwing across the room point. This was good, though not brilliant.

Dinner: 1/5/13: Courgette and Mushroom Tart

with some salads...  And a lovely loaf of fresh, seedy bread, which I totally forget and was still sitting in the kitchen at the end of the meal!  Oh well.

Goodbye to Grandma Lucy

Some of you will know, and some won't that Geoff's mother (aka "Grandma Lucy") sadly passed away last week, after a batle with pneumonia and other health issues. We've been up to Leicester for the past two days to attend a lovely, simple service on a beautiful sunny day and to spend some time with family, remembering and honouring her. Thanks to everyone who has had kind things to say and my apologies to all my friends who I haven't previously passed on news to about this sad event. Here's a photo from 2006 (I don't have many with both Geoff and his mum in, apparently)... Can't believe how little the kids were in this photo!  (Cross posted on FB - apologies if you've had a repeat!)