My parents arrive any minute now

Assuming the roads aren't too crazy, so I haven't got long to write.

All is well here. We're enjoying the warmer weather, at last and had a great day for Jas's birthday.

We went to Giraffe, at the Trafford Centre, which was nice, if a little slow on service. It is only somewhere I would go with children as they don't seem to mind that they were all over the place! Thankfully, it wasn't too busy, otherwise I suspect we would still be there!!

Jas did very well out of her birthday and I ended up buying too much. She has a doll's cradle which she loves, and some crafty bits that will probably inspire her when she is a bit bigger. I'm hoping to get Oz interested in some of the things too. For now we share toys, but I don't think that will last much longer, to be honest.

The children (touch wood... what is the internet equivalent!!) have been really good the last few days. No really bad behaviour, they play well together, and seem to be having fun. Long may it continue. Jas has started settling in for nursery and should do her first day next Thurs. I might have a whole day.

Speaking of which, I joined a gym. Lindy, it ain't too bad! I have been twice now, and actually really enjoyed it. Its £4.50 a go, but I don't have to commit to a years sub (which I can't do, with uni, and cheap gym, rapidly approaching) I go at the same times I went to Aqua and it works quite well, but I am also thinking of using my few free Thursday's to get there instead. I hope it helps me get rid of a few pounds.

However, with all the birthday bashes this weekend, it might be a case of saving face, rather than actually losing anything. No change there then! he he

Pics to follow after the weekend festivities!

What I have been up to!

I can't believe how long it has been since I last updated. I bet a lot of bad bloggers say that!

It then gets to the point when you are so busy and have done so much that the chore of writing about it takes over and procrastination sets in.

So, this is a quickie, to prevent that happening even more!

I have been, and continue to be busy, every weekend throughout July and a lot of August. On 12th I had my friend's hen night. We had a blast. Unfortunately no photos on here. My camera was with Span at the York train museum while he entertained Oz and Jas. They loved it.

I spent 2 blissful hours on a train both the Saturday and the Sunday ALL.ON.MY.OWN. And the trains were both quiet. Heaven.

Last weekend, my friend Laura had her 30th. Unfortunately, I missed almost all my other school friend's 30th as they all still live in London. Span and I had a wonderful time. We got a glimpse of summer, and the weather was mild, the company great, and the booze tasty. And I didn't have a sore head the next day. YAY. The children thoroughly enjoyed seeing their grandparents so that was good too.

Tomorrow is Jas's birthday, so we are all gearing up for that. Tomorrow, for the first time in nearly 4 years, I won't have a child under 2. Bittersweet.

These are 3 pics of her. A couple of days after she came home from hospital, the heatwave was breaking ever so slightly. We sat in the garden with her and it was so so nice to be home, and not pregnant, and not too hot. The other two are from the weekend. Neither are too clear, but I left my camera at a mate's house last week, so can't upload anything better until i get it back! he he

A long, party weekend begins tomorrow!

Car Boot success

This time I really have excelled myself. I popped off to the Car boot sale just across the road. I wasn't expecting much as it has been dreafully wet, and I should think that put a lot of people off.

I was right, and it was quiet, but I was still in the mood for a browse, Well, within 10 secs, I had found a Ladybird book for 25p and a Richard Scarry book which I had been casually looking for, for a while.

Then, I found a toy tape measure that we didn't get round to getting for Oscar, for 50p (sells for about a fiver) and THEN I found this HEEEYUGE box of happy land like train track, road and eurostar. It looked exactly like what I was looking for, for Jas's birthday. It said it fits in with ELC's happy land stuff, and included track and road, which I have found hard to find on Ebay. So I asked how much it was and she said two quid. TWO QUID. Oh.my.god. I was expecting her to say a tenner, and I would have easily paid a fiver. What.A.Bargain. (can you tell how excited I am??)

It is a "european express" set and has a tunnel, the eiffel tower and Big Ben, and train plays the national anthems of each country as it comes out of the tunnel. Hilarious.

Since it was so cheap, I consulted with Span on my return and we decided they could have the set now. We'll just get Jas a building to go with it, for her birthday. I set up the whole route, as per the instructions (yes, they were still there, as was all the boxes it came in!) and all the parts were there. The only things missing where a few signs and a few characters. Meh, you can get them anywhere. And the train still had batteries.

I think it would be around £30 new.

The photo has turned itself on upload. God knows why. But it gives you an idea of the size!

Cooking, both success and disaster!

What with our glut of strawberries I decided to cook a strawberry tart recipe that I had found on the BBC food website. I had all the ingredients, and what with my meal planning (and thus food buying to accomodate) I didn't want to buy any more, so kept to something I could do.

The recipe is from here http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/strawberrytart_74752.shtml

Ingredients

30g/1oz caster sugar

110g/4oz strawberries, hulled and cut in half drizzle of balsamic vinegar

round of rolled shortcrust pastry (approx. 12cm/5in diameter)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

2. Heat the sugar in a pan until a caramel has formed. Add the strawberries, shaking the pan to coat.

3. Drizzle balsamic vinegar onto the pastry and then top with the caramelised strawberries.

4. Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 6-8 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and golden.

Looks nice and simple, doesn't it.

Except, I don't think one bit worked!

The sugar melted as expected, but when I added the strawberries, it cooled the sugar down to such a degree that it hardened into one lump. This then stuck to my spoon. This also meant that my strawberries and sauce had no sweetness.

Then, where on the recipe is the bit about baking blind?? huh, huh? It wasn't there so I didn't precook. So the pastry was raw in the middle.

Next, it wanted the tart to be 12cm diameter, for one. That is a BIG tart. And what about pastry cases? No mention of that either.

So, you will see from the picture that they look quite nice, but they tasted like shite. Ah well. I have learnt my lesson and have found a simple recipe for tart in a Take a Break that I saved. I will check the ingredients and make sure I have them in for the day after our next picking trip!!

I did have some success though. We've just finished lunch and I made a recipe that my mother-in-law found years ago. It was lovely.

It is Chocolate up and over pudding, and was delicious.

The disaster tarts
The sugary mistake

My beautiful up-and-over pud.

Strawberry Picking

Last Wednesday we went strawberry picking at Kenyon Hall Farm. The farm also runs Northern Harvest who deliver our fruit and veg box etc every week, so it was nice to be able to see where it all starts from!

We had a great day, picking (and nibbling) on gorgeous strawberries. I must admit, that the children ate more than they picked, but I managed to pick £7.50 worth of them and they were all gone within two days!

The farm was brilliant, and considering I was worried there might not be any left, I was amazed at how many strawberries they actually have! As far as I could tell, there were 3 whole fields, a lot of which probably haven't been tapped into as yet, especially as the weather isn't exactly condusive to being outside!

After we picked the strawberries we had a lovely picnic with our friends and a mooch around the fields where we found a tractor and trailer, whose wheels caused great excitement!

And all this was 25 mins drive away. I will definitely be going again soon.