Meal Planning Monday - on Tuesday!

Yes, yes, yes. I know. Don't ask.

I didn't make last week at all as we were out one night and on Thursday, we went to Wimbledon which was uh-mazing.

I have a plan for this week but just not got round to it due to some stuff I need to sort out this week. This week is Missy Woo's 8th birthday. Oh my God! We're also planning to go to see the Tour de France although Monkey currently wants to play cricket on Sunday. Oh and it could be Sports Day on Friday but rain is forecast.

So, that's two days sorted!

Here we go.

Monday - Tangy Asian meatballs (these were fab, try them!)
Tuesday - Warm new potato and smoked mackerel salad
Wednesday - Ham with maple mustard slaw
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Slow cooker barbeque drumsticks
Saturday - out for tea
Sunday - out

Don't forget Mrs M's blog is now here

Meal Planning Monday - a birthday week edition!

I'm shattered after my weekend away working but I've just cobbled my plan together. I'm not cooking much over the weekend as Monkey is 9 on Sunday. How'd that happen? He's having a party Saturday afternoon so Saturday is likely to be frozen pizza.

The rest of the week is planned, mostly from this month's Good Food which landed on my doorstep this weekend. If you want a recipe, wait a few weeks and it will appear on their site.

Monday - Spring chicken paella
Tuesday - Lamb and chickpea fritter wraps
Wednesday - Smoky bacon and tomato spaghetti
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Boerenkool Stamppot
Saturday - Freezer stuff
Sunday - Out for birthday tea

That's my week. More meal plans will be at Mrs M's. (Badge above).

And now, you are seven.

Jazz hands

My darling Missy Woo,

Today, you become seven. It doesn't seem possible but then, people ask me if you and Monkey are twins and are surprised when I say you are still six if they ask your age. There are girls at school two years above you who aren't as tall as you. People naturally think you are older because you are tall but also you have a grown up way about you most of the time. They obviously don't see you when you are being giddy and giggly. 

You love to dance and so it seems apt that today is also your first ever dance exam. And you can't wait. You are almost as excited about your exam as your birthday. You love the idea and you're so proud to be doing your exam. You are not scared at all, and you've practised your moves in the conservatory to the music a few times. I'm not sure if it's the fact you get a couple of hours off school or just that you are going to be dancing. 

Today is going to pass by in a blur. Presents and breakfast, dance exam, school, where you'll have golden time and celebration assembly as it's a Friday. Then, we'll be going to Blackpool to see Granny and Granddad and go out for tea with them. 

It seems like the complete opposite of the day you were born. Having arrived in this world at 4.52am, all hell broke loose after you were born and you spent much of your first couple of hours in a hospital cot whilst the staff dealt with me, put me on drips and stopped me bleeding. I lost half the blood in my body that morning but luckily, the staff were ready and did a fantastic job, but I had to stay lying down all day. I did get to hold you but it was hard to hold you constantly with a drip in my hand. That day felt like it was frozen in time but eventually, they moved me down to a ward and in the afternoon, Monkey came to see you and I and jumped on my stomach. By the time they allowed me to stand upright again, you were already 14 hours old. Of course, you didn't know this - you were either sleeping, or lying wide awake looking around. And boy, you could sleep as a newborn! Even now, you are the one I have to wake up in the mornings. 

Seven years on, you are still my baby. You are funny and you can talk the hind legs off a donkey. If I ask you what you did at school today, I get a blow by blow account and it takes you five minutes to tell me about the first lesson! You are kind and you are a great friend. You rarely fall out with your friends and if someone says something horrid to you, you let it go over your head. You often sort out arguments between other girls in your circle of friends. 

You love to draw and if I'd kept every one that you'd done, we'd have had to move house. You are always drawing, colouring, making and creating. But you're also really good at maths and it's your favourite subject. Actually, you love school all round. You first walked in your school just before you were two and when we went back a couple of months later, you sat down in the reception classroom and started to try and write with the children. You wanted to go to school when Monkey started the year before you did and when it was finally your turn, you walked in without a tear or a moment of worry and you have blossomed there. Every now and then, you have a crisis of confidence in some aspect of learnin - it's been reading, writing, and even some of your dance moves so far. I have to remember to keep telling you that no-one is brilliant at anything first time around and you have to keep trying to get better. Then you do it and you completely forget that you ever doubted your abilities.

At seven, we have a glimpse of the woman you will become. The world is opening up to you, a world of possibilities. You don't know what you want to be when you grow up, mainly because you want to do so many things. You'd like to be an author, an illustrator, a dancer or a mathematician (although you are not sure you can do maths as a job). If you could work out a way to do them all together, I have no doubt you would - unless you change your mind about any of those things. 

And so, on your birthday, I want to wish you happy birthday and tell you how much I love you - although you knew that anyway, didn't you?

I have one final message for you, Missy Woo, on this day of days. Don't stop being you. 

Love,

Mummy xx

Fajitas, enchiladas and fish fingers

So. Husband's birthday earlier this week. A midweek birthday is always a tough one to work out what to do - when the children were younger, we'd have arranged a babysitter and just gone out for the evening, but they are much more aware these days. God love 'em - they even managed to keep a secret so well, they didn't even tell him we went to pick up a present from one of his favourite shops.

The children are not for being left out any more. A family meal out it had to be, so it was more than lucky that Chiquito Mexican Restaurant offered us a voucher to give them a try. When I lived down south, I'd been to quite a few of their restaurants but when I first moved here, there were none. In the last couple of years, we have made one or two trips to the newer local branches in the area. In the meantime, we've been to newer chains like Las Iguanas which offered greater variety of food options.

Monkey staring aimlessly at the Reebok

We went to the restaurant near Bolton Wanderers' stadium, which impressed Monkey as our table had a panoramic view of the ground . Wednesday early evening was never going to be a busy time and sure enough, it was half empty when we arrived so the service was very attentive. The guy that showed us to our table had some good banter going with the children.

Checking out the menu, I liked that they had two children's menus - Monkey has a voracious appetite whereas Missy Woo is not as hungry. The "young adults" menu was also more adventurous than the kids menu, again reflecting their respective food personalities. Whilst we demolished a couple of bowls of what I think was sour cream and chive flavoured popcorn, Monkey chose fajitas with chicken in tomato sauce, which is one of his favourite things to eat, and Missy Woo? She went for fish fingers! As it was that or their standard choice of pasta, I wasn't going to fight a battle. They both chose a milkshake as their drink, which cost a little extra than those that are part of their meal deal. The adult menu was huge - far wider than I remember it and I struggled to choose because it was like reading a book!

We skipped starters on this occasion and went straight to mains. It meant, along with the fact that it was quiet, that our food arrived pretty quickly after we'd ordered. Like Monkey, I'd gone for fajitas and we both received substantial portions, so I was glad I'd skipped starters. Husband chose enchiladas which he demolished fairly quickly and actually had some of my fajitas. Mine was pulled pork which was  gorgeous - the barbeque sauce was a great mix of sweet and sour. My only minor criticisms of the fajitas were that I had no plate so no place to lay out a tortilla, fill it and roll it and that my tortillas were rolled so tightly that they had all torn in the middle. That did not detract from the enjoyment of the food. Monkey enjoyed his fajitas although he didn't touch the salsa. Missy Woo enjoyed her fish fingers but they were fish fingers and chips, nothing fancy.

My fajita filling - pulled pork and veg

Knowing that there was chocolate orange cake at home, we were going to skip dessert too. However, the children's meals both included a dessert so husband cracked and ordered one too. Missy chose strawberry sundae and Monkey went adventurous again, choosing churros that he has never had before.  Both of them got substantial portions so although I hadn't ordered anything, I got to snaffle a fair bit and very nice they were too.

All throughout our visit, the service was friendly and attentive. If I were to have a criticism, it would be that because it was quiet, it was a little too attentive at times, and they did that thing where they asked us if our meals were OK almost seconds after we got them as we were served by a number of people. Apart from that, it was good and we were certainly made to feel welcome and there was no pressure to finish our food quickly so it was nice and relaxed. Being a fairly new unit, the layout is good so you're not on top of all the tables and the children love the light fitting made from beer bottles.

We left, carrying birthday balloons with full tummies and smiles on our faces. We had a great time and with the increased variety on the Chiquito menu, we will definitely be back soon.

(Chiquito kindly sent us a £50 voucher to use in one of their restaurants and were aware in advance of the approximate time and location of our visit. We were also asked to tell the staff on arrival that we had a voucher. All pictures and opinions are our own.) 

Cake of the Week - Tennis ball cake

So it was Monkey's birthday at the weekend. Eight. Bloody hell!

Apart from the chocolate oat flips that we have to eat the night before his birthday (we bought some in Booths when we were told to go for a walk when I was progressing and in Preston and in my mind, they are forever associated with his birth!), of course we have to have a cake. This year, Monkey had a tennis party for his birthday so, rather than do yet ANOTHER Barcelona cake, I talked him into a tennis ball cake to fit the theme.

Fitting in making a cake shouldn't have been hard but Monkey insisted he helped me make the cake and the evenings were mad last week. In the end, I pre-weighed everything so we could mix and bung into the oven before bed on Wednesday. And then it was Friday night before I managed to finish it off after the children went to bed. Talking about leaving it late, but we got there.

And here it is.

I decided on this because it's a simple design. Underneath is a standard chocolate cake recipe from my lovely friend Ruth - in her book, the chocolate cake recipe is scaleable according to the size of pan which I find so helpful. The recipe is easy and it always works. Then I split it and filled with a standard buttercream, covered it and chilled. It's then filled with lime green sugarpaste. Some wag on Facebook said aren't tennis balls yellow but yellow sugarpaste was too sunny so I went for the lime green as it's a yellowy green.

Then, I used some white sugarpaste to finish the decorations. I tried to find a way to extrude and if I'd found a way, I would have done so. Instead, I had to make do with rolling it out sausage style and sticking it on with water. A final 8 pressed out with a cutter finished the cake.

Another birthday.

Yes, it's my birthday today. When you get to my age, you kind of stop thinking about the numbers.

As I lay in bed last night, trying to fall asleep at the start of yet another birthday, I started reflecting. On things I've done - trying to stay positive rather than dwell on the inevitable mistakes I've made in my life.

Of all the things I've done, I decided that what I'm most proud of are my children. Yes, they drive me nuts sometimes - Monkey is particularly challenging and hard work quite a bit although he decided off his own back to make "be nice" his New Year's resolution. They are however gorgeous, funny, intelligent and loving. I've had oodles of birthday cuddles today and they count for way more than any present ever would.

In other matters, do you like my cake? Made it myself. It's a bit of a monster - hazelnut meringue cake with hazelnut ganache, strawberries and cream.

Happy birthday to me!

Meal Planning Monday - the first 2013 edition!

So, that was 2012, that was. Today is the last day and 2013 starts tomorrow. Really, this is my first meal plan of the year, especially as I'm not planning to cook tonight so the 2012 kitchen is well and truly closed. The children and I are planning to have a Chinese tonight - hubby will be at work until midnight so won't be partaking. I'm leaving New Year's Day open as well as I'm not really sure what we're doing - we still have family to deliver presents to, so we might be out.

This week is different for a number of reasons. Firstly, a friend who used to live across the road and now lives in Cambodia is coming to stay for a few days. The children are still off school, and husband's shifts are longer than usual. Finally *whispers* it's my birthday on Sunday and we're probably going to go out for lunch then. More normal service WILL be resumed next week. I hope.

Here is the plan, such as it is, for the week.

Monday - Chinese
Tuesday - keeping free
Wednesday - Chilli Marrakech
Thursday - Sausages with cauliflower cheese mash
Friday - Chicken satay with rice (I think!)
Saturday - Crispy cheddar pies
Sunday - I am so not cooking today!

That is us. How is 2013 starting in meals for you? Do tell. And then pop by Mrs M's to check out some other meal plans.

Happy New Year!

Mocha crunch cake - a totally over-the-top birthday cake

Sunday was the first birthday event of the local Clandestine Cake Club. If you don't know what it is, see here - basically, you book onto an event, make a cake to fit the theme, then turn up at the venue (which is kept a secret until a few days before), eat lots of cake, chat with cakey people and get to take cake home. What is not to like?

So, as I said, it was our first birthday event. I have been going since the second meeting ever so I missed the first and although I haven't been every time, I'm a fairly established regular attendee, this being my fifth event.

The theme was, of course, Happy Birthday and I wanted to make a decadent, over the top cake for a special occasion that would be suitable for a grown up birthday. In our house, that means chocolate cake, by and large. I found the original recipe for chocolate crunch cake in a booklet from a Good Food magazine but I wanted to do more to it so I have combined with details from a coffee crunch cake on the Good Food website and added my own details.

I wasn't totally convinced that this would work, particularly as the cake batter was quite runny so it is a bit of  leap of faith, but the meringue stayed on top and baked nicely. I have tweaked the amount of water going into the cake batter as the cake took a lot longer to cook than it should have done. If you find the mixture a bit stiff, loosen the batter with a drop of water.

Just feet from cake club venue.

This is probably best made on the day you want to eat it. I couldn't because logistics didn't allow for it - I was at Body Pump until an hour before. So I made the cakes, stored them in plastic containers overnight, then filled with the cream just before I left for the event, which was held a few feet from Bradley Wiggins's other golden postbox. The cream softened the meringue very quickly, so if you want to keep the crunchy effect of the crisp meringue, I would recommend filling it with cream at the very last minute. And then you have every excuse for finishing it off on the day you make it.

Mocha Crunch Cake
Cuts into about 12-16 pieces

Ingredients

For the cake batter
50g good quality cocoa powder
175ml hot water
100g butter, softened
280g caster sugar, preferably golden
2 large eggs
175g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) bicarbonate of soda

For the meringue topping
2 egg whites
100g caster sugar, again preferably golden
Coffee flavouring (see below)

For the cake filling
284ml double cream
2-3 tbsp icing sugar
Coffee flavouring (see below)

Also required
100g dark chocolate drops

1, Start by making the coffee flavouring. I make a small cup of double strength espresso from our coffee machine and allow to cool. If you can't make fresh coffee, use as much instant coffee as you dare and dissolve in 100ml hot water. You may need a little more than this but the stronger you make it, the less you will need. Also before you start, place the cocoa powder in a jug or bowl, pour over the hot water and whisk until you have a fairly uniform lump free liquid. Place on one side to cool while you get the cake ready.

2. Grease and line the bases of 2 20cm (8in in old money) sandwich tins with baking parchment and grease the linings. I find the best way to do this is to use cake release spray but you can use softened butter if you like.

3. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and whisk for 2-3 mins, preferably with an electric hand or stand mixer. There is a lot of sugar in this mix, so it won't go all pale and fluffy like it normally does but do not panic. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking after each addition and this time, it will go all pale, light and fluffy. Pour the cooled cocoa mixture on top, and then sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda. Fold everything together gently until thoroughly mixed and smooth. Divide the mixture equally between the two tins. Smooth the tops if necessary. Place the tins on the side whilst you prepare the meringue topping.

4. Preheat the oven to 160C/Fan 150C/Gas 3. You will need to reuse your mixer to make the meringue unless you are very strong or like me, possess two mixers! If you have to clean it first, clean the beaters very well to remove all traces of fat or the eggs will not whisk. Make sure you have a clean bowl too and when you separate your eggs that not a trace of yolk has got into it. (I find it easier to separate the eggs into a small bowl first before adding to the mixing bowl. Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks - when you lift the beaters out, the eggs should make a peak that stays formed very easily. Add half of the sugar to the bowl and whisk again until the mixture becomes glossy. Gently fold in the rest of the sugar and 1-2 tsp of your coffee flavouring.

5. When combined, spoon half of the meringue on top of the cake mixture. Leave a 2cm gap around the edge of the tin as the meringue will spread as it cooks. The tins are now ready to go into the preheated oven.

6. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the meringue is crisp and the cake cooked. Use a long skewer at an angle to test the cake under the middle of the meringue. If the cake needs longer cooking, check how the meringue looks - if it is looking like it will burn, turn the oven down to about 140C and keep in there until the cake is finally done.

Cakes cooling after baking

7. Remove the tins from the oven and leave the cakes to cool in their tins for 5 minutes. Then, really carefully remove the cakes from the tins - this is where loose bottomed tins come into their own! Peel off the paper and leave to cool completely, meringue topping uppermost.

8. When it's time to eat the cake, make the cream filling. You'll need your mixer beaters again - cold if possible (I put clean ones in the fridge to chill) as this makes better whipped cream. Whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks. Sift in the icing sugar and add 1-2 tbsp of coffee flavouring, folding both gently into the cream. Add more coffee or sugar to taste, folding gently as before. You can do this an hour or so ahead if you want and store in the fridge.

9. Right, cake building time. Decide which cake has the best looking topping and reserve that for the top. Place the other cake carefully on a plate and spread thickly with the coffee flavoured cream. Scatter about half the chocolate drops on top of the cream.

Cream on top of bottom layer, with chocolate chips

10. Make some coffee drizzle icing. Place 2-3 tbsp icing sugar in a bowl and add about 1-2 tsp coffee flavouring then mix together. You need an icing that is runny enough to drizzle but thick enough for it to set quite quickly and not dribble over the sides.  You may need to add more icing sugar - mine was too runny but I didn't have time to thicken it further! Drizzle the icing over the top of the cake, then scatter the remaining chocolate drops over the top so they stick to the icing. A final dusting of some icing sugar is completely optional - I didn't bother as I was out of the door within a minute with the cake in a box.

You may like to try other combinations with the chocolate - I can think of using orange juice and an orange liqueur to make a chocolate orange cake or peppermint essence to make mint choc cake. How about some chopped hazelnuts folded gently into the meringue with some frangelico in the cream? Or even some squashed berries in the cream! The possibilities are endless.

Thanks to Susan and Linzi for organising today's event.

Missy's birthday surprises

I have been a bit quiet recently, thanks to work, and life. Oh yes, and birthdays. Well, one in particular. Missy Woo was six last Thursday and I had a few days of lining up surprises and then carrying them out.

You see, she is a child that doesn't want for much. Yes, she does always want new toys but she's just as happy with small ones (and usually tat at that). We bought her a bike last year, she doesn't always want new games for her DS, and the thing she likes to do most is draw, colour and make things. She is very difficult to buy for if you want to spend more than a tenner.

She told us she wanted a scooter but she said this when we were in Devon and my sister offered to buy it for her. Still no closer.

The only thing I had to go on was her love of dancing. I tried to look for London shows but then we were at the other extreme of cost. With added hotel and travel costs, I couldn't justify it. Then I discovered a show in Manchester on the weekend of her birthday, featuring ballet and streetdance. And the tickets were £15, so two were purchased very quickly after consultation with her that she wanted to go.

Opening her presents

This didn't feel like much of a birthday surprise so we decided to extend her trip by booking a night in a hotel after the show. Given that the show was at the Palace Theatre, I booked a room at the Palace Hotel across the road. Then I typed up a note to her from Hello Kitty telling her about this to put in with the tickets she was expecting to open on the day. We managed to find a few smaller bits and bobs for her to open - mostly with a Hello Kitty theme - on the day.

So, on the big day itself, she had a few nice presents to open, but didn't look as much as it did on Monkey's birthday. (He got a bike this year). She was very excited about her "sleepover" in a hotel, had a special breakfast and got to speak to grandparents before school, where she got to wear the Birthday Hat all day and gave sweets out at the end of the day. Granny met us there on a flying surprise visit, bringing presents and giving her a big hug before hopping back on the bus home. For we were off on our usual Thursday odyssey - Monkey to football, Missy Woo to her dance lessons - as she had insisted that she was really looking forward to going to dance on her birthday. Mainly so she could be centre of attention, for the first thing they did was sing her Happy Birthday.

Then, and only then, and after a quick change, we went out for tea where she could make her own pizza! This meant a bit of a late night on a school night for both her and Monkey, which I suspect was the motive for insisting on going to her dance lessons!

Saturday was a big day, despite it not being her birthday. She had her party here - 9 girls and poor old Monkey totally outnumbered! One of the girls coming was a girl she used to play with before she went to school and hadn't seen for ages but I had kept from her that she was coming and the little girl didn't know she was coming either! That was another little surprise which she enjoyed.

She was very excited about her cake which she had helped to mix the day before. This was not my idea - I got it from Susan's post and it seemed really easy yet effective. I had to source non-Nestlé equivalent to Smarties but I discovered all the supermarkets did them. These are from Asda. My tip, if you want to make it yourself, is get your Cadbury's fingers from Aldi or Lidl and put the cake on a bigger plate than you think you need because the fingers increase the size of the cake quite substantially.

Once the party was finished, it was all systems go to get to Manchester. We took the train in, Missy adopting a granny we met in the station along the way and insisting on sitting next to her on the train. We popped into the hotel before the show to check in and the room was WOW. Look at this. The ceilings were about 20 feet high and the windows went right up to the ceiling.

Unfortunately, because the room was on the main road and at the same level as the railway track not 20 feet away, it was too noisy, necessitating a move to a new room later in the evening when Missy tried and failed to sleep.

The show was brilliant. It was called Against Time. I would urge you to go to see it but sadly, the performances in Manchester were the last ones and it's now finished. The promo video gives you a flavour of it here. It was a collaboration between English National Ballet and Flawless, who were on Britain's Got Talent.



Missy was mesmerised and loved every minute of it, especially there was a lot of familiar and contemporary music. She joined in with the clapping and was singing along to the songs too. I asked her what she thought of the show during the interval and she just said "Fab".

Chilling after the show.

After the show, and finding her new adopted granny to say goodbye to, we went out for tea to a nearby Italian before retiring to our room and attempting to get Missy to sleep, as I mentioned before. By the time we moved to a new room, it was nearly 10pm but once we were settled, she was asleep in a couple of minutes. In the morning, she was awake before me and got up to play with her sticker book and watch telly. When I did wake up, she told me off for snoring! We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, at which she discovered fried bread and sautéed potatoes, and followed it up with a quick coffee before heading home to piles of leftover pizza and birthday cake.

All in all, it was a fun weekend and Missy took away some fabulous memories of her sixth birthday, that will hopefully stay with her for a long time. I got to enjoy time with my little girl and it reminded me how much I enjoy just being with her. And for now, I'm revelling in that, because these experiences can be all too fleeting.

Happy birthday Missy Woo. We love you.

Meal Planning Monday - the July birthday week edition!

Yes, it's another birthday week in our house. This time, it's Missy Woo's turn - she turns six (6!) on Thursday, and has her party on Saturday. We've some nice surprises lined up for her - she thinks she knows all the nice thing, but she so doesn't. Not saying anymore as I had better keep them to myself.

So, the week is split by festivities. Also, husband is on a course this week, which may mean he is home a bit later, though I'm also hoping it means he can do the school run once or twice for me as I've got a lot of work on. Still not sure what we are doing on Missy Woo's birthday - she is adamant she wants to go to her dancing so she needs to have a sandwich before going as she has two lessons back to back but she is also adamant that she wants to go out for tea after that!

I actually wrote this plan on Saturday as last night, I was at Clandestine Cake Club and am always stuffed by cake after, so I got busy and filled the three or four days needed. Monkey has asked for the lamb pilau as it is one of his favourites. Two of the others are basically using up things I have, to keep the shopping list short in lieu of all the party food I'm having to buy for Saturday.

Here we go.

Monday - Roast summer vegetables with chickpeas
Tuesday - Lamb, coconut and mango pilau
Wednesday - Easy cheesy chicken
Thursday - To be decided
Friday - Saucy sausage pasta
Saturday - party day
Sunday - keeping free

That'll do me. I have a cake to make as well! Don't forget to pop over to Mrs M's and see what else is on offer this week. Next week will be less manic, she lied.

Cake of the week - A (Blackpool) football cake

This is one of those cakes that I thought up at the last minute. As I mentioned last week, it was husband's birthday on Tuesday and needed to make a cake. I decided I was going to cover it and do some design but I wasn't really sure what.

Suddenly I thought that perhaps I could make a Blackpool cake - for which I'd need tangerine (bright orange in other words) sugar paste. As I am not good at piping or intricate designs, I struggled as to what to do when I came up with the idea of using hexagonal tiles to make it look like a football, allowing some of the tangerine shine through.

All I had to do was make it. The cake was actually chocolate, from Ruth's recipe. As I have her book, I was so glad to see she's included a scaleable version of it in her new book with different quantities and cooking times for different sized tins because sometimes, you just don't have the right sized tin. I make this recipe a lot now; it's easy and it never lets me down.

Having made it and left it to cool on Monday afternoon, I decided I had better get it covered with sugarpaste that evening as I wouldn't have too much time to do cake decorating the next day. I am so glad I did as it then took me most of the rest of the evening. First, I had to colour my sugarpaste. This proved to be way harder than I thought and however much I added, it never seemed to reach the required shade, even when wrapping it and leaving for 10 mins to let the colour develop, as Ruth advises. And trying to work it in to the paste was harder work than kneading bread dough! Eventually, I gave up and settled for a pale orange colour - or maybe it's more peach. Lesson learned - bright colours need huge amounts of food colour.

Then I followed Ruth's instructions for covering the cake with sugarpaste. I now know that the secret is keeping the sugarpaste quite thick as this makes it easier to handle. After a big deep breath, I got it on the cake without rips or holes, and it looked pretty good. Result! By this time, it was past midnight but I thought I had better plough on.

The hexagonal tiles were a challenge. I would have preferred a hexagonal cutter but had no time to get one so I scaled a hexagon to the size I wanted, printed it out then once cut out, used it as a template to cut around, having rolled out some black and white sugarpaste. I placed the tiles gently on the top of the cake to figure out the pattern and after a few goes, I came up with a pattern I was happy with and I brushed where I was sticking each tile with a little water to stick them to the cake. By the time I'd finished, it was way past 1am and my kitchen looked like a bomb had hit it. According to Helen, that's early for cake makers! I left everything as I was very tired by then, but I went to bed with a sense of achievement that it looked quite good. And it tasted nice too!

What do you think?

Linking up with Helen's Cake of the Week feature.

Meal Planning Monday - the birthday / marathon edition!

So, this week is a strange combination and there is not a lot of fancy cooking going on here. Tomorrow is my husband's birthday and then, on Sunday, he's running the Greater Manchester Marathon so he has requested carby things at the end of the week. We've decided we're going out to eat after that, and on his birthday, we're going out for lunch so evening meal will be snacks for us and something quick and easy for the children. In other words, don't expect this to be the most inspiring menu plan I've ever done. I have most things in at the moment so don't really need to do a big shop this week. Always a bonus when you've had birthday presents to buy (not going to reveal what they are in case someone reads this post - and he does occasionally, to check what's for tea!).

Monday -  home made burgers and wedges
Tuesday - beans on toast or something for the children
Wednesday - Jacket spuds filled with quorn chilli or bolognese
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Slow cooker risotto of some sort
Saturday - Squash, ricotta and sage pasta bake
Sunday - marathon day, keeping free.

It will be back to normal next week. Well, kind of - I'm not actually sure there is a normal in this house! Don't forget to check out the other entries to Meal Planning Monday over at  Mrs M's place. And how about you tell me what delights you're having this week. It has to be more inspirational than my plan.

Have a great week, all.

A birthday party at home? I must be mad!

I haven't had a party at home for the children for years. I just didn't feel we had the space, particularly when trying to amuse a lot of boys who want to throw themselves around. But then, we got a chance to try out a home-based party.

You might remember we reviewed some Sand Art kits earlier this year. We were also offered the chance to review one of their parties. With Monkey's birthday coming up, I asked him if he was interested in holding one for his birthday this year. To my surprise, he said yes - I think it's testament how much the children enjoyed the kits.

So we set a date with Alistair, who is the owner of Kids Bee Happy. And then I thought - I must be mad; what am I doing? Have I lost my marbles? I let Monkey choose who to invite but ensured he didn't invite too many friends. We settled on 5 school friends and 2 neighbours, all boys. In other words, 8 boys aged between 5 and 8 and Missy Woo. I kept my fingers tightly crossed that they would enjoy it - keeping that many boys contained and entertained for 2 hours can be a tall order.

On the day, Alistair arrived bright and early. I didn't realise Alistair himself was coming as he is based in Scotland, but it turns out that he'd been down South working with some of his franchisees and had stopped over on the way back. The equipment took very little time to set up  - two tables, each with 6 metal bowls  filled with the different coloured sands. And that's it, apart from a laminator which we set up out of the children's way in the kitchen.

Making one of his pictures

The children were desperate to start making and were already making their pictures by the time the first guest arrived, as they already knew what to do. The other children couldn't wait to get started as they arrived and dived in. I was amazed how interested and thrilled the boys were. One of Monkey's friends said to me excitedly, "This is much better than I thought it was going to be!" as he dashed between bowls. Boys being boys meant it was slightly random - some colour mixing was definitely going on. But for the first 45 minutes at least, you would not have realised how many children were in the house, meaning I didn't need to worry about sloping off to cook pizza. After that, the boys gradually wandered off to play outside in the garden (thank God it wasn't raining!) whilst Alistair started to laminate their pictures. Most made two pictures to take home - Alistair even mentioned that some parents don't bother with party bags, even though we did.

The two hours of the party flew by - it was a good balance of activity time, letting off steam, food and cake, of course! All the children really enjoyed themselves and were totally absorbed by the sand art. Alistair was brilliant with the children, and I'm sure his franchisees will be too. They don't just do parties as they will also do sand art for school fairs, festivals, and weddings. It's so easy to do and the children get it really quickly.

What I loved most of all was how little mess there was - the mum of one of the boys stopped for a cup of tea after the party so we had a quick sit down whilst the boys played on the Wii, yet everything was cleared up well before 3pm, less than an hour after the party had finished.

I had 8 boys in my house for 2 hours and survived. It was quite relaxing actually - I never thought I'd say that.

Where do I get my medal?


(Kids Bee Happy kindly arranged for a free sand art party to be held at our house. I have not been paid further for writing this post. I have not been told what to write and all words and opinions are my own.)

Cake of the Week - a chocolate Barca cake (in away colours)

Of course, my cake of the week just HAD to be Monkey's birthday cake. The origins of this cake go back a whole year actually, and I like to think comparing these two cakes will give you an idea of where I have gone with baking over the last year and also displays how great tutorials and recipes from other bloggers can really make a difference.

So, last year, when Monkey turned 6, we took him to Barcelona for the weekend as husband was running his first marathon and he had asked to go. Whilst we were there, we took him to see Barcelona play and I took him to the museum during the morning of the marathon, once husband had run past where we were staying and before we went to see him cross the finish line.

His birthday wasn't until just after we came back so I had time to make him a cake and I came up with the idea of turning into a Barcelona cake like this:

Which at the time, I was pretty impressed with. All I did was buy some ready to roll icing and the blue and red seemed to be close to Barcelona home colours and then of course, cut out the 6 from yellow icing, adding an offcut that looks mysteriously NOT like a football. Monkey loved it, especially as he had no idea I was making it and it was a bit of a spur of the moment late night decision which I basically winged my way through. 

At the time, we teased Monkey that if he'd been a year older, he could have had a David Villa cake as his squad number was 7. This is because when we were out there, he chose an away shirt with David Villa's name on the back as a present. You can see him in it here. 

Fast forward a year, and when I asked Monkey what kind of cake he wanted, his answer was unequivocal: a David Villa cake, in the away colours of his shirt, which is now so last season. Hey ho. So, this is how I did it, with links to recipes or instructions that I used. 

First, I made a chocolate cake. My go to recipe at the moment is on The Pink Whisk by the lovely Ruth. Yes, the recipe is for chocolate muffins but Ruth says you can use the same quantities to split between two 20cm/8 inch sandwich tins. I actually make it in a single tin, cook it for about an hour. I allow it to cool in the tin, so that I can shave the top level, then slice it in two, admittedly not very straight. 

Then, I referred again to Ruth's blog to follow instructions for covering the cake with sugarpaste. This can be summarised by saying having levelled and sliced it, I sandwiched the cakes with chocolate buttercream, chilled the cake, topped it with icing and spread it around the sides then chilled it again. Having bought the same pack of ready to roll icing, I realised my mistake in that there was far too little green for the job, but I ran out to the supermarket and bought some white sugarpaste and kneaded about half of it into the green and very quickly, it became evenly coloured. It probably was about right as the green needed to be lighter than the stuff in the packet. I rolled it out, and learned that I need to keep turning it or it sticks very easily, even if you have lightly dusted your workspace! Placing it on the cake is always a nervy moment but I get there and it's never as perfect as Ruth's final result but it will do. 

Next, I needed to do the red and blue flash that was on the front. For this, Monkey had given me his shirt for me to work from which was actually quite handy. I rolled out the red icing into an oblong shape, then trimmed it to the width I wanted and cutting it to the desired angle on the right hand side. I rolled out the blue icing and again trimmed it to the width I needed, overlapped it onto the red icing so I made sure when I cut that side, it was at the same angle. Then I fixed them both to the bottom third of the cake, using a few dabs of water from a clean paintbrush, another trick I learned from Ruth. I made sure they lined up against each other. 

For the lettering, I had thought ahead enough to go and buy number and letter cutters from Dunelm Mill a few days before, so I rolled out the rest of the blue icing, cut out the lettering I needed, and again fixed them to the cake with a bit of water. This was the nerviest part, making sure I got the spacing about right and I wished that I'd made a bigger cake at this point! 

Once it was done, I was ready to go for a lie down. 

And here it is, with candles on Monkey's big day.

And do take a look at Cake of the Week, over on Helen's blog.

Seven

At 10am on 9th March 2005, Monkey was born with the yank of some forceps. He made a grand entrance, covering me, the doctor, half the room and himself in poo as he came out; a fact he finds very funny, being a boy of the age that truly appreciates toilet humour.

He needed a clean before being handed to me. Not that I cared, I was exhausted and didn't feel that elation that many new mums experience. Instead, I was relieved it was all finally over as his birth had been a stop-start labour running over several days, involving trips back and forth to maternity units and antenatal clinics, most of them fruitless.

On my birthday meme - a challenge for all bloggers!

Yes, yes, my birthday was a while back but I've had this idea in my head for a while for a meme. It was something that we did for fun when I used to post on the Handbag forums, when Wikipedia was first becoming popular and vaguely useful.

I'm kind of reviving it for the blog but I'm going to try and be ambitious for this one. I'm going to set up a linky and attempt to get at least one post for all 366 days of the year. If you add your post to it, please try to mention the date of your birthday in the link title if you can. That way, I can check through the list quickly to check how we're doing. It won't matter if we get more than one post for the same date, the aim will be at least one post for each day on the calendar.

What you will have to do is answer questions about your birthday. If you don't know where to look, the best way is to go to Wikpedia, type in your birthday in the search box and it will tell you all you ever want to know (and more) about your special day. Obviously, you can take what is said with a pinch of salt but it's mostly correct. There is also a site called On This Day which you can use but it's not as user-friendly and the lists are not as extensive.

I'm always fascinated with people and things that happened on my birthday. I'm nosey enough to want to know about all your birthdays too, and what you find fascinating about your own birthday. I'm going to tag a few people at the end of this post but don't wait to be tagged if you want to join in - blog and link up, but I would be grateful if you could tag others for me so we can spread it around a bit.

Better get on with the questions then.

When is your birthday? 6th January

Pick three people who share your birthday and share what you know about them.
My three are:
- Kahil Gibran, whose book The Prophet is an absolute favourite of mine, and I've read quite a lot of his work. He even has the same initials as me before I was married. He died before my parents were born, let alone me, so I couldn't really tell you what he was like but I bet he was interesting.
- Nigella Lawson; can you see the similarity? Whaddya mean no?!
- Andy Carroll. Oh dear.

That would make for an interesting dinner party, wouldn't it?

When I was growing up, the only famous person it was ever mentioned shared my birthday with me was Sylvia Syms. Yeah, who? Now, there seems to be a sprinkling of ageing comedian/TV presenter (Angus Deayton, Rowan Atkinson), a dodgy but loveable national football manager (Terry Venables) and a saint (Joan of Arc, allegedly). All very interesting.

Is anyone listed as being born on the same day as you (ie the same year)? If so, what do you know about them?
Erm, well, Wikipedia lists three people - an American Muslim writer, a Cuban wrestler and a Danish political scientist. Again, an eclectic mix but I've never heard of any of them ever before. I know not a sausage. I could tell you from their Wikipedia entries but I suspect you'd drop off.

List three people who died on your birthday and tell us what you know about them. 
Looking down the list, a name leapt out at me - Theodore Roosevelt, the former US president, who died in 1919. And then, in 1993, both Dizzy Gillespie the jazz trumpeter, and Rudolf Nureyev, the ballet dancer, died on the same day. Which was a surprise to me - I remembered Nureyev dying of an AIDS related illness as it was the talk of the newspapers but I don't remember Dizzy Gillespie dying at the same time.

List three notable events that took place on your birthday.
At the top of the list, it mentions that King Harold (or Harold Godwinson) was crowned on 6 January 1066. Err, yes. That ended well and was a long reign. Not. Then, a little more recently in 1947, Pan-Am became the first airline to schedule a flight around the world - yes, around the whole world! Finally, 6 January 1994 will become forever notorious as the day when the American figure skater Nancy Kerrigan got clubbed on the knee by someone paid by her rival's husband. Do you remember that? I certainly do!

Tell us about a holiday that falls on your birthday.
Well, my birthday is Epiphany and is a public holiday in many parts of the world (I live in the wrong country - I could guaranteee my birthday off every year if I moved abroad!) but it's also Pathet Lao Day in Laos and Armed Forces Day in Iraq. Also, I didn't know that it also marks the start of Carnival period which ends on Shrove Tuesday. Why did no-one tell me that another party season starts in January? We're mostly partied out once New Year has been and gone but Carnival appears to be a tradition that has passed this country by. But it would be a great excuse to start yet another party!

Finally, please tag some people who will hate you some lovely people to carry on this meme, then link back to this post so they can find the badge and link up their post once published.


I am tagging:

Ruth at Geekmummy
Nickie at Typecast
Fay at Glass Half Full
Heidi at Him, Me & Three
Angela at This is Life
Claire at CJ's Palace

Badge code is here:

  
<a href="http://thefivefsblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/on-my-birthday-meme-challenge-for-all.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjyxhv5_GZx0xYaehuzzmOFCOrmVrFNEQS5lzsKt-yqDwCMV4Cpixo-5YmVtW_3ZpU6sPfngsyZNRb5vIIbMGi4wgKTqA7FlN_ZrVFy2sIIyxPNZ_j3NKM9aXf7SbVysJHBma9ONNAFHHw/s1600/birthdaybadge.jpg" border="0" alt="On my birthday" /></a>

And linky is here. I will leave it open for over a year, but I should be able to reopen it if necessary. Get entering, people! I'm counting on you.

The case of the missing birthday present

So, yesterday was my birthday. Anyone who has an early January birthday will tell you it's a difficult time to have a birthday because you kind of get merged into Christmas. Folk either forget it, or you get an afterthought. Sometimes, you get joint Christmas and birthday presents. In my family, because I am so far from the rest of them away down south, they tend to send something with the Christmas presents - because husband often works over the Christmas period, making it difficult to go down there - and anyway, its easier to be here for Christmas.

This year was no different. My mum packed up the presents and posted them off to me, much as I had done the same. They arrived, thankfully without seemingly any interference from courier companies - as we had a year where my parcel of presents arrived at my Mum's opened but all presents thankfully intact. We checked the box straight away and because the children were excited about presents, we had to take them all out and sort them to put them under the Christmas tree. I saw some cards and I thought I put at least one saying birthday to one side. I stress the thought bit.

Anyway, Christmas came around and when we were opening presents, we found a couple of birthday cards which I gave to my husband to put to one side for him to give back to me on the day.

The morning of my birthday dawns. The children get up with Daddy and prepare breakfast in bed for me and they arrive in my room with presents and cards. After opening a few, I notice there was no card in my mother's distinctive handwriting. "Where's Mum's card?" I said. Husband looks blank and tells me they were all the cards he had been given. As she normally sends me a voucher in a card, this is a bit worrying.

We decide that perhaps it's fallen down the back of a chair somewhere. After the children had been deposited at school, husband has a look and comes to tell me we can't see it. So, we set about looking. We pull out all the furniture, and find things that have fallen down the back of the sofas. We at least know where half the pens in the house have gone, and discover things like the missing camera case and a receipt I need. We turn everything upside down.

Husband suggests I ask her whether she sent anything to me. I tell him I can't possibly do that as she'll go mad. It is something she gets very touchy about, as she frequently reminds people that once, when we were children, some money got thrown away with the wrapping paper one Christmas. Now, we'd been careful as we could over Christmas to catch all the vouchers and cards we thought but the doubt was placed in my mind that perhaps we'd thrown it out.

We carried on looking but it was fruitless, and anyway, I needed to get ready to go out for lunch. At the back of my mind, I knew that my mother would inevitably ring at some point. I decided I had better say thanks for the present anyway and disguise our apparent incompetence. I would much rather do that than suffer my ear being bent for losing it. (If you were one of my sisters, you'd understand).

And inevitably, whilst I was getting ready and husband disappeared for a shower, the phone rang and I saw it was her number. The conversation went a bit like this.

"Hello"
"Hello, happy birthday."
"Thank you."
"Did you get some nice presents?"
"Yes, thanks. And thanks for yours."
"What did I get you?"
"Er, what? Um... vouchers?"
"Which ones?"
"Erm, love2shop?"
"Oh good, I couldn't remember what I'd given you or even if I'd put it in the parcel. My operation in November threw out my Christmas shopping this year."

Damn. Oh well...

125 years of Anchor

We always have butter in this house. Yes, we really do. I may do healthy eating but I don't really like low fat spread - it tastes all wrong, you can't use it for baking and if you use butter sparingly, it's not that injurious to a healthy lifestyle. Butter is a great choice and I only ever buy margarine to make one particular cake that calls for it as the recipe is designed around having a softer fat.

Anchor sent me some memorabilia to commemorate their 125th birthday. They sent a rather fancy cake stand (surely too posh and fancy for this house!), some oven gloves, a mug, a hessian bag, and two eggcups. Unfortunately, Monkey was so excited about receiving "presents" in the post, he dropped one of the eggcups on the floor and broke it, even though it was wrapped in bubble wrap. Hey ho. Here they are anyway:

I love the cow! I believe that's Doreen the Anchor cow looking very regal there. You can win these and other items of birthday memorabilia - I've got my eye on the cake tin and the butter dish to complete the set - over at Anchor's facebook page where there are 125 prizes on offer over 125 days - which is a lot of prizes! You need to enter codes from packs of Anchor butter, Anchor Spreadable or Lighter Spreadable to take part in that day's draw. They're currently about halfway through so you have a couple of months left to have a go if you want. There is also a huge prize of £50,000 and 75 prizes of £1,000 to be won so it's worth having a go.

If you don't fancy trying your luck, you can also buy your favourite items of memorabilia from the same place. So, I might just be forking out for the cake tin.

Thanks to Anchor for sending me all this lovely stuff - and happy 125th birthday!

(I was sent the items above to try out for free. I have not been paid to write this post and all opinions are my own.)

Forever in my thoughts

Today would have been Dad's 76th birthday. Instead of reflecting on that fact, we're taking Missy Woo, Monkey and a few of her friends to the cinema to see Tangled and then to McDonald's(yeah, bad mother - what of it?). An entirely different birthday to the one my dad would have liked, although no doubt, he so would have indulged Missy Woo - she would have had him wrapped around her little finger.

Five

Sparkly girl

When you are five, life is simple. As long as you have the same as your brother, something pink in your life and a teddy to cuddle in bed, you're happy.

When you are five, life can be complicated. I mean, why isn't July followed straight away by December? They're the two best months of the year!

When you are five, life is interesting. You already have a boyfriend. You tell me in the car one day, then shout "Mummy" sheepishly when I tell Daddy what you said. Then you tell me afterwards it was a secret.