Well, I just about managed to get
everything done before our friends arrived.
Although the hoover was still in use when the doorbell went!
I had also found the time
to make a bottle of Limoncello
It looks (and tastes) innocent enough,
but it’s not!
You have been warned…
here’s the recipe from my family favourites cook book.
 

Year, after year I’ve made blackberry and apple jam.
But, I haven’t been given the cooking apples this year.
And I’m far too thrifty to buy them just for jam.
So, I’ve had to try something different with the results of my blackberry picking obsession:
Bramble jelly.
And guess what? It’s even nicer than blackberry and apple jam.
 

I took my mother […]

never
ever
turn your back
on a courgette plant.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

the rain is falling
my work is still waiting
the boys are bickering
but 
kind friends are helping me
Thank you. thank you. thank you.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The boys have been playing a game at school which I’ve never heard of before:
You go up to someone and wave.
If they wave back they’re sweet and if they don’t you shout ’sour’ at them and run off laughing.
Which makes me sweet because I always, always wave at children whenever they wave at me.
I mean why […]

It’s hot here and we are thirsty all the time. But, we’re fed up of plain water, juice is too sticky and I’m refusing to buy fizzy drinks.
The solution?
A big jug of homemade Still Ginger Lemonade to keep in the fridge. I like it neat over ice (but it is very sharp), the boys dilute theirs with sparkling water.
Tony and […]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
My friend Charlotte has a cake making business.
Yesterday, she asked us to taste her new range of fairy cakes with the posh buttercream toppings
and let her know what we thought of them.
And so, just to help Charlotte we have munched our way through cakes with mint choc chip, chocolate orange, strawberries and cream, caramel and hazelnut, banoffee and cappuccino toppings.
Let me tell you, they […]

On Saturday, we got up and decided that it would be strawberry picking day.
But, when we got to the pick your own place they said it was too early for strawberries.
 
We could, however, pick gooseberries instead.
I wasn’t so sure (after all, gooseberries are hairy green sour things which grow on thorny bushes) but the boys were determined.
Once home I managed to make something similar […]

If you want to make my boys happy
and yourself feel like a yummy mummy and domestic goddess,
simply make them a cake, lay the table properly and then pick them up from school.
After some chatting, eating and general wrecking of the tablecloth
all will be right with your little part of the world.
 
 
 
 
 
 

I have been encouraging the boys to make some presents too.
So out came the cook books and after some consideration (arguing) they decided to make these:
ridiculously sweet but fantastic fun to make.
Here’s the recipe.
And just for the record, I couldn’t find any corn syrup over here (not even in Waitrose!) so used golden syrup instead and […]