Mothers Day

So with mothers day approaching we have a busy weekend ahead. The Wheat free chocolate cake is in the oven and smelling gorgeous, the pressies are bought, the meals planned and the cards are in the thought process. My m-i-l is over tonight for a meal, It's all planned

Starter

Aubergines

Main

Paella

Dessert

Chocolate Cake

Obviously all homemade. The paella recipe is the one used previously, The aubergines were 50p each at the market and the chocolate cake has been made from left over choclate at xmas. The chocolate cake will also cover tomorrows puudding, when the other half of the in laws are coming round. I'm really looking forward to seeing my little neice who i havent seen for almost 1 month!

The pressies for both my Mum and M-i-l is Chivas Regal which is a very nice blended whisky that's currently 5 pound off at tescos. In general my mum will only drink single malt but this blended is so nice you can make an exception.

Ohh i would just like to recommend my new book. Blind Willow Sleeping Woman, it's an amazing collection of short stories. I can always tell when i'm reading a good book because it makes me want to write!

What is Facebook Etiquette and fairy cakes

I have no idea what facebook etiquette is? What happens if you dont wanna add someone? I dunno it's tough. You may be wondering where this has come from...hmmmm. Stuff and Stuff!

Any ho. No grrr i cant think. Heres a pretty cake that i made for my little girlies first birthday years ago. It's just made from 1 square sponge cake and 1 round sponge cake all homemade. A good few hours and a hell of alot of icing sugar and red food dye some ice cream cones and a few swiss rolls and marshmallows later i had this beautiful pink masterpiece.

Heres roughly how it's pieced together- Place the square cake onto a strong cake board, cut about an 1/8th of the circular cake out and cut out steps. You should be able to slot the steps back into the hole you took the segment from and the other half coming immediately from them.Cover the whole cake in pink ready to roll icing. Cover 3 mini swiss rolls in the same fashion and attatcg using a little soft icing to each corner. Roll 4 cornets in white icing and place ontop of the swiss rolls. Then have fun decorating with marshmallows and icing, I have also made a boys version which was grey and didnt have turrets but lots of marzipan knights.

Mums Birthday

Yesterday was me mums birthday and our 5 year wedding anniversary. We tend to just celebrate our wedding anniversary the day before so we can spend most of the day with mum. She wanted to have a little get together in the evening, so i took her out for lunch then we all went round in the evening. She put on a beautiful spread, not a soggy sandwich in sight. She makes amazing samosas and yesterday was no exception. She made pork and stilton samosas, delicious!
We also made the quick paella previously mentioned and made parcels with filo pastry with it.
Below is a great recipe for an accompaniment to curry or maybe just a good snack. The kids love it and really enjoy helping to make it.

Lentil Curry

1 mug lentils
1 beef stock cube
2 mugs boiling water
4 grated carrots
1 grated onion
1tsp mild curry powder
1 tsp Ground allspice
1 tsp of turmeric
1/2 grated pepper

Combine all ingriedients in a pan and simmer, covered, adding more water if needed for about 1/2 hour. Serve with naan, or pitta.

Holiday.

Gosh it seems like ages since i typed anything. We came back from holiday tosay. It was a brilliant week. I forgot how much fun it is being away fom everything. The Cottage was amazing. Very swanky, huge television, fourposter bed, American style fridge, en-suite for the master bedroom. I picked up loads of things i want to do in our house/ flat when we can finally buy one ourselves. The children loved it. Though we were all fed up with pub food buy the end of the holiday. There is only so much scampi and chips or lasagne you can have. We always had one meal out and 2 meals in a day. That seemed to work well. We did shit loads of walking. Mainly up hills. If you've ever visited the Isle of Wight then you'll agree that there are alot of up hills and very few down hills. My lovely little kiddies walked liked champions. The holiday also reminded me how much i love spending all my time around hubby, it's crap we have to do things like work!
I have no idea whats been going on it the real world since the IOW officially still thinks that WW2 is going on so i cannot count it as 'the real world' also we didnt put BBC News 24 on once. For us that' s very good. We're news junkies. There are worse things to be addicted to. Like Tic Tacs, speaking of which we watched Juno. Hmmm not sure it doesnt deserve oscar nominations but it is a really good little Indie film and much better that the usual hollywood twaddle ( i love that word).
The Hubby is now on Facebook. He's giggling with glee at each new face he recognises and is so chuffed that most of his old school friends look older than him.
I am also still enjoying Facebook, still recognising people. I love emailing everyone to find out what they've been up to. It's so interesting seeing where there lives have led them. One of my old friends is training to be a Doctor. Seriously if you had met her at school you'd be as baffled as me. She was one of those people that could of been on the herbal essences adverts and now she's being a doctor...weird. Another of my old friends is married and training to be a teacher, she was so great, she used to always big up Kashmir and one of the greatest compliments ever given to me came from her.
Guess it makes you wonder what they think of you? If it's weird to them what your doing? Or is it completely normal and they always saw you doing what your doing now? For instance one old friend is now working for an airline and it well suits him, through and through. I'm just pleased that Facebook introduces you back into peoples lives so you get to keep up with all the little twists and turns without, yes i know it's harsh, but without expending to much effort or time. Really it's soo easy to type an email and lets face it everyone is busy, an email can be sent and replied to whenever unlike a phone call. You can also keep in touch wherever they are for free.

I think i'm all blogged out for now. Actually i feel like writing a list so here is a list of random things

1. Laminate flooring ( no hoover just dustpan and brush, is there anything better)
2. Massage it makes you feel all warm and snuggly and randy if you dont fall asleep first
3. Packs of tissues. Very Handy hence Handy Packs
4. Phil and Teds pram, I LOVE IT
5. Good Camera and Serif Photo plus- hides a multitude of sins
6. Dawn Porter*- lets big up real women
7. SCUZZ
8. Red Dwarf and Father Ted- is ther anything cosier before bed.
9. Packs of Peppers for 98p in Tesco
10. New Jobs

* by the way try to watch her new series on BBC3. She is an amazing journalist who stands up for real women and all our little quirks and wobbles.

Do you ever feel like screaming for no reason?

Lots to say today-

Yesterday was valentines day. We decided not to buy anything for each other but to spend all the money on buying in a really great meal. We had-

Starter

Smoked Salmon and Caviar on Ciabatta

Smoked Mackeral and Prawns

Main

Squid ink spaghetti with tomato and mascarpone sauce with stuffed olives and peppers.

Dessert

Pavlova

It was delicious.

We're going away tomorrow, just a trip to the Isle Of Wight but still a well earned rest i think. We're renting a cottage for the week in Shanklin Old Village, it's a really lovely part of the world. Yes part of me does want to just hop onto the eurostar but we have to holiday in England sometimes!

On a completely different subject i'm so fed up with the Heather Mills bashing, i thought we had stopped witch hunts a long time ago but it appears not. This poor woman has done very little wrong and yet has been hounded and abused every step along the way. Why is it that we feel the need to attack anyone with a political agenda in this country. She is one of the few women in the public eye that will actually stand up for what she believes in and yet all of this is forgotten because she's going through a messy divorce. I love the Beatles but i have to admit that i will never like Paul McCartney Again. He seems to be a complete weasly media attention seeking *******.

Heres a quick lunch recipe that you can whip up in about 10 mins, it's healthy and cheap.

Ingriedients- Serves 4

2 Peppers

2 onions

5 mushrooms

2 fresh toms chopped

1 veg stock cube

1 tbsp of p/flour

1 tin toms

1/2 pint boiling water

1 tbsp of tomato puree

1 tsp of sugar

1 cooked smoked salmon fillet sliced.

Slice the top 3 ingriedients quite coarsly and fry in a little olive oil until cooked. Add the stock cube and lfour and stir through. Then add the rest of the ingriedients in order above, stirring after each addition. Once all the ingriedients are in, simmer for about 5 mins until piping.

Top with Cheese and serve with pitta bread for a lunch. Serve with Rice, nachos and soured cream for dinner.

Variations: Add chilli to make it spicy, or curry powder to have a quick and simple little curry.

As for te title. Thats just because soemtimes you know i just think it would be fun to scream at the top of your voice, just to release a little tension.

Painting

Obviously not having much opportunity to leave the house in the evening to pursue hobbies and entertainment alot of the time we have to entertain ourselves at home, like all parents. But i find that television can become very tedious. We have a wii which is great fun and we both enjoy exploring the internet and playing on civ things like that but we're also very awarre that all of theses pastimes have an impact on the environment. So we try to also other activities that help us interact, communicate and maybe learn something too.



It's a great idea to try and switch the screens off even for just 1 evening a week, it's very easy to get suckered into the television all evening but i promise nothing bad will happen if you dont watch eastenders!



My husband is an avid warhammer fan and so i have to play that every now and again. We also play chess but in the drinking game form, we enjoy challenging each other at cards and wordsgames and boardgames.



My personal favourite is painting. I have no talent for painting whatsoever but i find it very relaxing and therapeutic. Just give it a bash. Acrylics are the best to use for novices and you can pick up a canvas for a few quid. Here's a couple of my paintings as i say i have no talent but i really enjoy doing it and thats the important thing for me.

Teenage years

When i was a teenager i had a funny group of friends. Like all teenage girls my friends meant the world to me at the time. Teenage girls live for there friends. It's strange that due to facebook it's making me remember all the little sayings and things i did as a teenager. I met my husband when i was 17 and so i lost a fair few of my friends for one reason or another around then and gained new ones. Obviously as a parent you enter a different realm of friendship you enter the useful friends stage. You have friends that have children, or are plumbers, or locksmiths or something else useful so you have someone to phone when you need a plumber or what not. You make friends with you childrens friends parents so that it's easier to have you kiddies little friends over. You stop having friends that are fun and reckless and silly and just have friends that make sense. I dont know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I know that now when i make a friend i have to consider all my family, not just ,do they like butterflies!
The only trouble being that when you join something like facebook it reminds you of all the silly things you did that had no effect on anyone. I like being a Parent and i like being a wife and i enjoy being silly in those roles and i guess thats the way life carries on. You stop being a silly friend and start being a silly mummy and silly wifey.
But for old time sake, i had a blast being a silly teenager and all the silly little dramas that went with that be it boyfriends or the price of tea, purple or otherwise. I will raise my metaphorical glass to all those people that are still being a silly teenager, a toast, LIFE JUST GETS BETTER!
and to the people i was once a silly teenager with - thanks for all the pen stabbing, purple tea, flavoured vodka, screaming, crying, drama, oofs, robert rankin, philosophical debates, late nights, awful gigs, drunkeness, self indulgence, cuddles, hugs and obviously thanks for all the fish.

The little prince

I've just started reading The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery to my children. This is an amazing book that carries a message for all ages. For me it's the perfect book to give my little boy confidence to do and say things that others may not appreciate. He is at an stage in his life when he is questioning everything and looks at the world with curious eyes. When this combines with the ideology he is taught at school (it's c of e) we get some very interesting beliefs. For instance he's convinced that In The Night Garden is about God and that God is the little boy at the beginning because the whole world is in his hand. I love his theories and ideas on the world and i always listen and try not to patronise but so often he's taught he's wrong. It's a hard thing to do, watch your little lad be broken ever so slightly by the 'real' world. I will always insist that he can see all the dragons and magic he wants why take it away from him?

I am a great lover of books. My 4 year old can read already and that's because he sees the enjoyment i get from reading and wants the same thing and unlike alot of parents i will always find time to read to them and with them. Here's a little list of amazing childrens books that i loved and will encourage my little ones to read when the times right.

1. The Magic Finger by roald dahl
2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by roald dahl
3. Dirty beasts and Revolting Rhymes by roald dahl
4. Matilda by roald dahl
5. The Little Prince
6. Swiss Family Robinson ( it was the Tree house that did it.)
7. Lizzie Dripping and the Witch
8. Coraline
9. Wolves in The Wall
10. The Phantom Toll booth
11. The Hobbit
12. The Farthest Away Mountain
13. Alice in Wonderland

the book people

Today some books arrived from The Book People. I would highly recommend them at www.thebookpeople.co.uk i mainly bought books for the children. The READ AT HOME OXFORD READING TREE is only a tenner and the alan ahlberg reading tree is only 8.99 for 16 books.

I've gone off facebook, it was a short lived affair.

I would now like to recommend a film that has been slated by critics but which i enjoyed and that's the Coens The Ladykillers.

Facebook?

A friend suggested i joined face book so i did and promptly forgot. Well yesterday i got a 'friend invite' from said friend. So i proceeded to get completely engrossed in the world of facebook for about 2 and half hours. Is the whole world on there? I couldn't believe the amount of people i knew. However i am completely confused by 'Poking' What does that mean? It's all very shiny but baffling at the same time. Theres a wall, people write on the wall,are you then supposed to write on otheres walls. Why is there a wall?

It also posed another problem, the profile photo. It was so difficult choosing one. Having 3 children means that invariably look tired and so i very rarely have a nice picture taken of me. Coupled with the fact hubby cant even point and click. There are lots of pics of hubby and children and not to many of me. It's also difficult because i couldnt find a space to put about children.

What is facebook etiquette? Do you invite someone to be your friend? or do you 'poke them' ?

I can manage to give birth to and bring up 3 wonderful children but facebook baffles me!

Lets move on

My wonderful new camera is here and i spent yesteday afternoon playing with the children taking photos. They certainly know how to pose. Especially girly, she just looks at the camera and she's gorgeous. I'm trying to get a good photo of all 3 of them for the wall. I intend to tinker with it on serif and then send away for it to get blown up to A3 on posh paper. We'll see if i ever get the perfect picture. I doubt it, if one keeps still the other fidgets.

As i type, girly (she's 2yrs) has taken all her clothes off laid a blanket out on the floor and told me she's going swimming. This doesnt bode well for her teenage years. Hopefully i'll be able to instill in her the fundamentals of keeping her clothes on by then...i hope.

Serif Photo plus

As previously mentioned i use Serif Photoplus, the free version to edit all of my photographs. Photography is a hobby i know will grow as the children get older since i have always enjoyed the art of photography. I am just buying a new camera which is a relatively good camera called Fuji FinePix S5700. I mainly got it because it was an amazing price at 100 squid, from www.pixmania.com . I cannot wait to start using it, it's due to be delivered tomorrow and i just know that there will be no housework done in this house for a few days.

Another great bargain nabbed recently was the Alien Quadrilogy 9 Disc Edition from HMV at http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/simpleSearch.do?searchUID=&pGroupID=-1&adultFlag=false&simpleSearchString=alien&primaryID=-1 it was only 9.99.

The pressie i have bought for our wedding anniversary arrived today too and it looks wonderful. I hope he likes it.

My husband and i experimented with a new recipe for paella laast night it's really quick and easy here it is-

Quick Paella

4 onions
4 fresh tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
1 pint chicken stock ( use a value stock cube in 1 pint of boiling water)
1/2 carton passata
2 Smoked mackerel fillets
salami
1 cup of rice

Fry coarsly chopped onions toms and garlic until browning. Add the stock and rice, bring to the boil and then lightly simmer for 10 mins stirring half way through. Once rice has cooked and taken most of the stock add the passata and fish along with the salami stir and heat through unitl all is piping. Then serve.

Wheat free meatloaf and in laws.

We had hubbys family over yesterday for lunch, as usual they were late (mainly due to m-i-l poor time management ie Football not taken into account). However thankfully no meat was ruined since i tried a new recipe, Meatloaf. Now whilst it's not adventurous to some, having never cooked it i was worried especially because inlaws cant eat wheat so i h ad to come up with a recipe. Anyway here's a recipe for

Wheat free Meat Loaf.

2 eggs
1kg Mince
2 Potatoes Grated
2 Onions Grated
1/2 pepper grated
2 cups wine
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar ( or a few dashes)
Oregano, Basil, parsley ( whatever you have.

Mix all the ingriedients with your hands until it's it's thoroughly combined and quite squidgy.

Bake at 180C for 1 hr 15 mins in a small roasting tin or whatever you have to hand. Obviously check it's thoroughly cooked before serving.

Everyone enjoyed it especially my biggest boy. I served it with roast tatties , roast carrots, parsnips and boiled cabbage

Free Resources

If you have access to the internet then quite often you have the ability to get almost anything for free. Here are a few of the programs that i have found to be very good that are completely free.

open office http://www.openoffice.org/

- Just as good as word and it's free, it also opens any word documents. You also get a draw program and all the other stuff you would get in microsoft works.

Photoplus- http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/

- I love this software and have found it invaluable when tinckering with the kiddies pics.

Google Earth- http://earth.google.com/

-Great for directions and nosing at peoples houses. I love it. Also good for helping the children

with geography.

Music- http://music.download.com/

-I'm quite new to this site but it looks good and comes higghly recommended.

la Fée Verte

Here are some tips that i've used over the last few days.

1. Check www.hotukdeals.co.uk . I found a brilliant camera on here. I just love looking at all the bargains i even found something for our anniversary.
2. Buy selling off food. Just because it has todays date doesnt mean it wont be good tomorrow. Obviously use some common sense but you can certainly eat very well and cheaply if you buy food that supermarkets are selling at a reduced price.
3. Dont throw away leftovers, we had my sister and her fella over yesterday and i cooked a little to much Bolognaise sauce so i kept it added 3 tbsp lentils and some boiling water simmered it for 25 mins and voila a delicious Beef and Tomato Soup.
4. Buy the best quality you can afford, i cannot believe that people still buy Smirnoff when Stolichnaya is practically the same price but 100 x better. Stoli is much smoother and much better value for money.

Aside from these few pearls of wisdom i have little to say today. Ohh i'm very much enjoying absinthe at the minute. MMMMMMMM. Just in case someone isnt to sure on how to prepare it-

Absinthe

1. Add a little water to the bottom of a tumbler.
2. Rest a teaspoon across the top of the glass.
3. Place a sugar cube (or a teaspoon of sugar) onto the spoon.
4. Pour the absinthe over the sugar about a shot.
5. Light the sugar using a matchstick and allow the sugar to mealt but not burn or caramalise.
6. Stir through the burning sugarand absinthe and water.
7. ENJOY