The promised snow has yet to fall in our neck of the woods, though I have seen evidence on Notes From Lapland Lancashire that there is some further North (and West). But we did have some appalling rain and hail this morning which rather cramped our plans to get out on the beach for some fresh air. Before Christmas, as is our tradition, we sat down to make cards for family and God-parents. Because we have a local charity that collects plastic … [Read more...]
Project 366 Week 4
On Sunday we had a lovely day with family: the cousins are at the age where they are finally starting to play as a group, meaning less input from parents. And therefore more chance of us having a complete conversation. We had a great time making marble runs with pipe lagging (an idea I got from pinterest) and playing in the park. On Monday we spent time with Granny M, and made splatter paint Haggises, then on Tuesday the builders arrived with the … [Read more...]
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
I am new to slow cooking. In fact my mantra of late has been fast cooking: the kind of cooking that can be whipped up in twenty minutes from when I come downstairs having left The Girls screaming put The Girls to bed to when DH walks through the door. My life involves short-cuts and cheats (hence the -esque in the blog title, in case you were wondering). Now what better cheat could there be than to take a bunch of prepared ingredients, … [Read more...]
Valentine’s Rocky Road treats
I found the most wonderful heart-shaped foil cases recently and really wanted to use them for something. Then Anchor Butter got in touch about their Bring Back Elevenses Campaign, and the first thing I thought of was Rocky Road. Others may like a crumpet, or a wedge of cake at 11am, but I want a morsel of chocolate. Elevenses never really went anywhere, it's just been a little forgotten. We want to empower people who feel the need to have … [Read more...]
Kitchen Stars cooking classes, Croydon.
When Gymboree made my daughters cry, I was utterly devastated. Needless to say I handed in our notice, writing a furious accompanying letter. And then I had to work out what to do next. Tuesday is Dimples' Day: LBG is at school so it's just me and her. We used to do Gymboree then get errands done before the school run. I had to find something new to fill the time slot Gymboree had left vacant. Lucky for me, there was a place left on the … [Read more...]
Haggis craft for Burns’ Night
DH and I took The Girls to the supermarket this weekend, which is something we rarely do. Remarkably, things went smoothly. Even more remarkably, the staff gave DH a voucher as a 'goodwill gesture' from the management: the man in front of us was short of money and DH very kindly made up the difference. If this is an example of the level of service you get in a Waitrose then I shall spend more time in there: at the very least I want to try out the … [Read more...]
Snowflakes from cupcake cases
I like making things from cupcake cases almost as much as I like making things from corks. Just before Christmas I saw a really lovely snowflake wreath on Pinterest. It sat around in the back of my mind for a while until one afternoon when The Girls were unexpectedly occupied and I was twiddling a cupcake case in my hand, when the idea came back to me. So, you know how to make paper snowflakes, right? I had to think about it for a minute, … [Read more...]
