The Five Fs blog

My son, the future husband

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:03:00 +0000

The children are at an age now where I begin to wonder what sort of adults they'll turn into. Not just what they will do for a living, what they will be like as people. As much as they are learning at school, they are learning values from my husband and myself, our wider family, their friends and their families and so on. I hope I am raising children that will turn into adults whose company will be enjoyed, who will be good friends, and make great life partners.

Something tells me that Monkey is going to be quite a catch and not just because he's a gorgeous boy. (And still blonde at 8, that can't last!).

The other evening, we were travelling home from the gym, and we had the local commercial radio station on in the car. On came an advertisement for FHM's 100 Sexiest Women to which I growled and tutted. Monkey was sat next to me in the front of the car and he asked me what was wrong. I told him the advert annoyed me and so he asked me why.

So, I said to him, "OK then, what is more important - how someone looks, or what sort of person they are?"

Without a second's hesitation, he replied, "What sort of person they are."

I think we're doing a decent job at this parenting lark.

I'll take bids if anyone wants to sign him up as a future husband for their daughters... he's not bothered about girls at the moment, it will definitely have to be for later.

Meal Planning Monday - the busy pre-bank holiday edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Sun, 19 May 2013 23:01:00 +0000

Yes, I know - we seem to be busy all the time at the moment but this week, we've had some added complications, which I'm sure you'd know about if you followed me on Twitter. On Monday evening, Monkey broke his arm. Well, we think it's broken - the hospital aren't actually sure but he's got his arm in a cast until at least this Wednesday when he returns to fracture clinic for his temporary cast to be removed, be x-rayed again - without swelling this time - and then they will decide if there is a break and if so, he'll have a proper cast put on which will probably be easier than the one he's got on at present. Needless to say, I could have done without a 3 hour trip to A&E on Monday, and having been there with Missy, I know that fracture clinic can eat up a day very quickly. On top of that, I'm spending most of the day at school today as I'm one of the governors on an interview panel to appoint a new teacher, plus I'm still working extra hours. And it's nearly half term, how did that happen?

The only positive I can find so far about Monkey having his arm in a cast is that he can't go swimming, meaning Thursday afternoons are a little less fraught right now.

I gave everyone an opportunity to choose food and only Monkey came up with something definite - his favourite dish, something we haven't had for ages so that was allowed. Later, husband chipped in with a choice of a risotto. You'll note the chicken stew is on there - I completely forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer on Thursday night and then spent a good chunk of Friday morning in school (see above) so we ended up with steak pudding with chips all round! I WILL get it made this week, I truly will. Missy vaguely said she wanted some pasta and that stew will go with it.

After much waffling from me, here is the meal plan for this week.

Monday - Salmon with butterbean mash (as it can be done in 10 mins flat)
Tuesday - Honey mustard pork with mash
Wednesday - Prawn and pea risotto
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Chicken, pancetta and mushroom stew
Saturday - Corned beef and beans pie
Sunday - Slow cooker lamb and sweet potato curry

That is the plan anyway, assuming that children stop breaking limbs, of course.

I must be going, I have too much to do! Go see what else lies in store meal planning wise by visiting Mrs M's, by clicking on the badge above.

Walkers Hoops and Crosses - what the XOXO are they?

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:28:00 +0000

This post is sponsored.

A box arrived in the post the other day. The contents didn't last long - in fact, I didn't even get a chance to get a photograph of the box before things got grabbed. This is all I have left to show you (child not included):

The other thing was a pack of a new snack from Walkers called Hoops and Crosses. These are wholegrain corn snacks, that are baked not fried, and therefore meant to be a healthier version of a potato type snack, because it has 30% less fat and helps towards your wholegrain intake, which is lacking in most people, especially children.

A pack of Hoops and Crosses contains only 85 calories, but they are lighter than most packets of crisps in that they contain 18g instead of 25g or 28g. They are far from a low fat product but an average serving only contains 3.8g fat.

Tastewise, we were sent the Roast Beef flavour, mysteriously in a yellow packet (I get confused by variations in colour coding of crisp flavours!). Tastewise, they tasted just like Monster Munch to me, which is not my favourite thing but not unpalatable. They also come in Prawn Cocktail - Missy Woo's favourite flavour - and Salt and Vinegar. A packet lasted approximately 4.9 seconds but that was everyone getting a look in. I suspect they wouldn't last in a lunchbox for too long and I wonder just how filling the wholegrains make it as a snack. The children enjoyed them and keep asking for them in the supermarket.

Personally, I'd prefer Cheese and Onion but that's my favourite flavour.

Obviously, they are shaped like noughts and crosses but I suspect your games would get eaten quickly if you tried to play the game with them!

(This is a sponsored review as I have been paid a fee to cover my time to review this product. I was sent a packet to try along with the cuddly toy to keep. All opinions are my own and genuinely held.)

Meal Planning Monday - the lacking in enthusiasm edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Sun, 12 May 2013 23:01:00 +0000

Yes, I'm afraid that is me! Every now and then, I really struggle to put a plan together. I do it, because I know the benefits for me and the rest of the family but this week, I think I'd really rather have not. Still, the children offered a couple of suggestions (although "sandwiches for Thursday" wasn't that helpful, thanks Missy Woo!) I had a carry over from last week, and one dish filed away to try but then I struggled, and struggled, and struggled. Being hungry towards the end of this probably didn't help. I wanted everything and nothing. I know, I'm odd.

I put this apathy down to a busy week and hopefully next week, my enthusiasm will return as we have a far more normal week this week although it is the school summer fair on Saturday.

Don't get excited, there isn't much ground-breaking here and there appears to be a lot of dough in my future.

Monday - Curry lentil stew with tomatoes
Tuesday - Homemade pizza (which will be half pepperoni and half ham and pineapple)
Wednesday - Falafel burgers
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Chicken, pancetta and mushroom stew
Saturday - Slow cooker pork belly
Sunday - Chicken and stuffing baguettes

Normal service next week? I hope so.

Click on the badge above to discover more marvellous meal plans.

Meal Planning Monday - the quick and easy May edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Sun, 05 May 2013 23:01:00 +0000

I wasn't really sure what to call this. I thought I'd cobbled it together but there are four new dishes on the plan that I've never cooked before. I was going to make it an empty the freezers/fridges edition but they're pretty empty to start with and only two of the meals have major elements already in. It's all designed to be quick and easy because work is mad and it's nearly new sale day on Saturday, meaning we will probably have takeaway on Saturday night. And Wednesday, I can justify because we're going out early evening and I have a houseful of volunteers coming round at 8pm to stuff bags for said sale.

The plan? Oh yes. I was rambling slightly.

Monday - Sweet potato, spinach and goats' cheese quesadillas (recipe is similar, not exactly the same)
Tuesday - Zesty haddock with crushed potatoes and peas
Wednesday - Egg, chips and beans
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Chicken, pancetta and mushroom stew
Saturday - keeping free
Sunday - Greek lamb filo pie (made with beef mince!)

So it's looking quite good. How is your week shaping up?

Click on the badge above to get to Mrs M's Meal Planning Monday linky.

Meal Planning Monday - the largely recycled edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 23:02:00 +0000

It was a busy week last week involving birthdays, a husband running a marathon and making 3 cakes. Never. Again. Much as I love baking, it was too much and some of the normal cooking went right out of the window. Some things got placed on the backburner so I have a few things to make leftover. And then, this week is busy in a different way - I am working on Saturday running some training at a volunteer training day which involves an overnight trip on Friday, which puts cooking down the pecking order. And then, it's our wedding anniversary on Sunday so we're going to go out for lunch. No less busy then! Husband has asked fora simple tea on Friday, meaning there is really only one or two other meals to choose. One of those days Monkey has a friend coming and has chosen tea.

This is how it's looking then.

Monday - Spiced bulghar pilaf with fish
Tuesday - Fish fingers, beans and chips
Wednesday - Curried squash, lentil and coconut soup
Thursday - Sandwiches
Friday - Pasta with bacon and tomato sauce
Saturday - Keeping free
Sunday - Keeping free

Maybe, just maybe, next week will be a little calmer. As I enter chasing mode at work next week and I have a day of volunteering on Saturday, it's probably unlikely. May is always busy!

After you've told me what you are eating this week, pop on over to Mrs M where she will have more meal planning loveliness from lots of other bloggers.

Fajitas, enchiladas and fish fingers

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 23:42:00 +0000

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.)

What would you do with the free time if you didn't have to be a taxi to your kids? Tell me and you could win a £25 Sainsbury's voucher

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:01:00 +0000

Photo credit - DJ_maxim

This competition was created by Sainsbury’s Bank Car Insurance and I'm taking part as a member of the
Sainsbury's Bank Parent Blogger Network.

Sainsbury's recently introduced the ‘Taxi of Mum and Dad Calculator’ — a fun way to see how much you could earn in taxi fares, if your children were ‘on the clock.’

It’s not all about money, your time is also precious. How would you spend the hours if you weren't playing taxi? Finish a good book, getting outdoors or just doing nothing, are some of the little luxuries the Money Matters team would enjoy.

To find out how parents would rather spend their time, I'm offering a £25 Sainsbury’s Voucher as a prize. All I need to know is 'What would you do with your time saved?'

To enter and win the prize of a £25 Sainsbury's voucher, you simply have to leave a comment below telling me what you would do with the time saved not being the Taxi of Mum and Dad.You can increase your chances of winning by tweeting about the giveaway and referring a friend to enter.The more times you enter, the better your chance of winning the £25 Sainsbury's voucher.

Whether or not you’re our prize winner, your affordable family activity ideas could also potentially appear in a future Money Matters Blog post. The winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter (which uses random.org) and announced on this page. The deadline for entering the giveaway is Wednesday 1st May.

Terms & Conditions

This giveaway is open to all readers in the UK.
Rafflecopter will accept entries for this giveaway at 12am on Wednesday 24th April.
Rafflecopter will close the competition at 12am on Wednesday 1st May
Sainsbury's Bank will run this competition via Rafflecopter.
The winner will be chosen by Sainsbury's Bank via Rafflecopter (which uses random.org) and announced on this page.
Entrants must have a UK address to enter. No bulk or third party entrants.
The prize is non-transferable, and will be sent out from Sainsbury’s Bank.
The giveaway winner will be contacted by the blog host to retrieve name and address.
The name and address of the winner will not be used for marketing purposes by Sainsbury’s Bank.
All entries may be featured on the Sainsbury’s Bank Money Matters blog post without further payment.
The winner will be contacted by e-mail, if they do not respond within seven days another winner may be chosen.
Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will be disqualified.

(Disclosure - I have received a Sainsbury's voucher for hosting this giveaway)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meal Planning Monday - the uber organised busy week edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 23:01:00 +0000

Hopefully, the title says it all. This week seems really busy for a number of reasons. Firstly, it's husband's birthday on Wednesday and I have to make not one, but two, cakes for him. His work colleagues have requested he bring in a "Kate cake" after I did one for him for a colleague's birthday just before Christmas. Who am I to refuse? And then, it's cake club day on Saturday. That's a three cake week! On top of all that, we are out for tea on his birthday, I have a meeting on Tuesday night and husband is running the Greater Manchester Marathon next Sunday. And I have a busy work week. Oh yes, and the children are out at multisports this afternoon, and their usual stuff on Thursday.

It's a good job therefore that I have been very organised this week. Realising it was a busy week, I started writing our schedule on Saturday and ended up putting a plan together within an hour. So then, I did my online shopping that evening and picked up on Sunday afternoon. So the plan was done, and the shopping in the house before the week even started. How organised is that?!

So, we have a plan and it's a little lighter than normal because of tea out on Wednesday plus only husband needs feeding Saturday night as the children are coming with me to cake club.

Here it is.

Monday - Chicken mustard crumble (adapted)
Tuesday - Sweet potato hash with bacon, pepper and sage
Wednesday - out for tea
Thursday - Curried butternut squash, lentil and coconut soup
Friday - Spiced bulghar pilaf with fish
Saturday - Orzo pasta "risotto" for husband
Sunday - Lamb, chickpea and spinach curry with masala mash (curry done in slow cooker)

Is your week as busy as ours? How do you cope when you have a busy week ahead? Do you plan more carefully or does it all go to pot? Let me know and then visit the other meal planning entries over on Mrs M's which you can find by clicking on the badge above.

Meal Planning Monday - the Monkey chooses edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 23:01:00 +0000

So this week, I let Monkey choose most of our meals as Missy Woo went to play at a friend's (and forgot to come home for tea, had to send Monkey to get her!) so we were home alone when I was planning meals. His first thought was "spaghetti" so I'm introducing them to carbonara as it's a damn sight easier than bolognese. He helped me choose the rest of the week although I inserted something I wanted to cook from my trawl of the other MPM entries last week. And then I ended up doing a sort out of my recipe file, which threw out a recipe I wanted to make about a year ago that I never quite got round to (no idea why!) which has gone on a menu. Expect many more of those in coming weeks as I have a list of everything I have and some are asterisked to cook soon.

So, the menu according to Monkey is

Monday - Curry lentil stew with tomatoes
Tuesday - Spaghetti carbonara
Wednesday - Sausage, bean and cheese pasties
Thursday - Cauliflower cheese soup
Friday - Cherry tomato and ham bread and butter bake
Saturday - Cowboy corned beef and beans pie
Sunday - Roast chicken (expect leftover chicken recipes next week)

I think it's obvious which ones I chose there! He is definitely a meat and two veg child, happiest with meat, pies, gravy and more meat.

So this is us. Let me know what you're having, I always like to know. And more MPM entries can be discovered at Mrs M's by clicking the badge above. Have a good week.

Missy Woo bakes her first cake!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 20:15:00 +0000

Since we took a trip to the Cake and Bake Show in Manchester last week and Missy Woo got to help with one of the demos when there was a sudden and unexpected lack of peeled apples, which is fairly critical for a toffee apple cake, Missy Woo has been on at me to make a cake. I told her when we were there that she could make her own cake sometime when we were talking to the lovely Ruth from the Pink Whisk, the person she ended up helping.

Missy Woo is now like an elephant - she never forgets. You can't make promises like that and then conveniently forget them. She will keep on until she gets it. On Friday, she asked me again when she could make it and I suggested that she could on Saturday, her last weekend of freedom before she and her brother go back to school. We have a whole weekend to fill, just me and the children as husband is at work. She was further inspired by finding out her 8 year old friend often makes cakes for her family that turn out yummy, apparently.

I knew she would choose chocolate cake and luckily, had most things in. Whenever I am making chocolate cake, my first thought is to turn to Ruth again and use her recipe, which is super simple as it uses cocoa powder rather than having to melt chocolate, and it always works. The original recipe is here (it's actually for chocolate muffins but those quantities work for an 8 inch tin) but Ruth was lovely enough to give me a copy of her book which has the recipe scaled for different sized tins which is so handy.

So, Missy Woo set to work baking with me as adviser. This is what I did:

- Told her how to line a tin
- spray cake release around the tin
- got all the ingredients out for her
- explained some things to her about weighing and measuring some ingredients
- reminded her of a few things to do
- got the mixer out for her and fitted the blade
- cracked the eggs into the bowl
- scraped down the sides of the mixer bowl when she couldn't reach
- poured the cake mixture in tin from the mixer bowl
- put the cake in the oven
- took it out and tested
- removed from the tin to cool
- cleaned the blade of the mixer so she could reuse it
- finished off weighing out icing sugar
- added cocoa powder and milk to bowl to make buttercream
- split the cake
- helped her spread buttercream in the middle and top
- spread the buttercream round the sides
- open the sprinkles
- been around to answer questions when she wanted help

And Missy Woo

- drew a circle of baking paper
- cut it out
- turned the oven on
- weighed out all the ingredients for the cake
- microwaved the butter briefly to soften it
- put the ingredients into the mixer and turned it on
- decided when to stop the mixer and add new ingredients
- scraped some of the sides of the bowl
- timed the cooking of the cake
- helped to test the cake with a cocktail stick
- weighed out the butter and some of the icing sugar for the icing
- placed the buttercream ingredients in the mixer
- mixed the buttercream to her satisfaction
- spread some of the buttercream
- sprinkled stars and gold glitter on the cake
- licked the bowl, and the scraper, and the mixer blade, and the bowl. And the palette knife. And the little knife. You get the idea.

And here, in all its glory, is the finished cake.

Not bad for a first attempt, huh?

Meal Planning Monday - the keeping it simple edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 23:01:00 +0000

Still holidays here although I have to work this week. No rest for the wicked! I opened out choices to everyone and the children came up trumps with a couple of ideas. We have one meal leftover from last week after I ended up taking the children on consecutive days to the Cake and Bake Show in Manchester so I was home late two days in a row. Monkey has discovered Filet-O-Fish recently so I now have to make a home alternative (*whispers* I'm buying pre-made fish burgers!) and Missy Woo asked for cauliflower cheese. I picked the rest - husband was no use whatsoever!

This is what we have.

Monday - Cauliflower cheese with jacket potatoes
Tuesday - Tandoori chicken with rice
Wednesday - Fish burgers in a bun (with tartare sauce) and chips
Thursday - Pea and new potato curry with naan
Friday - Creole jambalaya
Saturday - Mince and onions with mash (tho this might get turned into a pie!)
Sunday - keeping free

What are you having this week? Fingers crossed that it continues to get warmer now.

Click on the badge above to discover more meal planning wonderment. Or something like that, anyway.

Ice Tea?

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:01:00 +0000

Not really the drink for the time of year (well, the weather at the moment at least), but I'm not actually talking about the drink. No, no, no. We were invited to a tea party by the people from Ice and it seemed like a good idea for a trip out during the school holidays. I mean, cake is something my children never turn down so free cake is even better, right?

The venue for the tea party was Farmer Copley's in West Yorkshire, a farm shop who is a member of the Ice scheme, more of which in a moment. They have a fab cafe which produces huge slabs of yummy cakes, a farm shop and lots of fun activities at weekends, although sadly, the weather had put paid to a lot of their outdoor Easter activities.

Still, there were baby chicks to hold. Missy was surprisingly keen to hold them - the chick pecking her hand made her laugh.

I was there, with some other lovely bloggers, to learn about the Ice loyalty scheme. It's a loyalty card, just like the supermarkets have, but one with a difference. Ice aims to be different. They want their loyalty scheme to be beneficial to the environment. Most of its retailers are farm shops, offering mostly locally grown or made produce. Others are public transport operators, as well as some larger national brands like John Lewis and Marks and Spencer. All of them have good environmental credentials - something they must have for Ice to allow them into the scheme.

Points can be earned and spent at the farm shops or by visiting the retailer's sites via the Ice website. Points can be redeemed as total or part payment for purchases, rather than having to cover the total cost like some insist. If you forget to redeem your points - you get 3 years to redeem them - the money is put towards projects that benefit the environment. In terms of the environment, it's a win all round. As a shopper, you're getting to do your bit and perhaps get something back too. It's particularly great to have local farm shops as part of the scheme as it will encourage people to buy local produce, perhaps over buying everything from the supermarket. There aren't too many farm shops across the country at the moment, but hopefully, more will continue to sign up. There are a couple in the North West, including one about half an hour from me which I've been meaning to visit and has a great reputation so I'll be making tracks up there soon.

The kids got to enjoy some Easter fun, doing an egg hunt and quiz around the farm, which gave them the opportunity to see some more animals, and then to meet Jasper the Easter bunny. I think Monkey and Missy Woo cleaned them out of eggs and chocolate bunnies, judging by the amount of chocolate that ended up in my bag.

Ice were kind enough to give us a card already loaded with points, so we had a mooch around the farm shop before we went, taking home some lovely treats, including pork and black pudding sausages and smoked bacon for brunch. It was the best bacon we'd ever tasted, that cooked without leaking all that horrible white liquid all over the pan that cheap stuff does.

If you don't usually shop at a farm shop, it's really worth trying to find a good one in your area. If they're members of Ice, you can register here and start to earn points. And if they're not, suggest they sign up to the scheme so that everyone can start to benefit.

Thanks to Tots 100 and Ice for inviting us, and to Farmer Copleys for being fantastic hosts and providing fantastic cakes. Ice gave me a reward card loaded with some points to spend as I choose.

My blog posts are like bloomers

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 23:43:00 +0000

I just can't seem to blog easily anymore. Things happen, but I have much less to say about it all. Well, that I'm prepared to commit to the blogosphere anyway.

The kids are growing up and I'm less inclined to write about them in case it comes back to haunt them.

Things happen but our life isn't that remarkable. We're all healthy, we're not especially wealthy or especially poor, no major drama is playing out in our lives.

Life bumbles on but we're not able to spend out on lots of trips out or holidays. I don't craft although Missy Woo likes to make things. We bake, but we make other people's recipes so I can't blog them without infringing copyright.

I have opinions but I'm not necessarily sure anyone wants to read it or whether I'd cause an uproar for my terrible views. Sometimes, I end up ranting in my head and then mentally slap myself for being so judgemental.

What's left? Not a lot. I know I will never be no1 at blogging and having the world fall at my feet. I just don't have the time. But you know what? I'm OK with that. I'm glad I've had this time in a way - it proves that blogging really is just a hobby to me; if I was top dog, I'd be feeling the pressure to write lots of posts and I just don't.

You'll just have to wait. Having mastered making bloomer bread recently thanks to Paul Hollywood, taking your time makes for a better, more enjoyable product. My blog posts are like bloomers (not that sort) - I'm hoping the wait is going to be worth it.

Meal Planning Monday - the Easter holidays edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 23:01:00 +0000

So yeah, Easter holidays. Husband has just worked the whole of the Easter weekend so this week, we are off with a vengeance. We have a few things to go out and about to but we're not off anywhere so it's a pretty normal week of meals. Despite that, I've had various requests from the children and husband for different things so I have gone with them - couldn't be bothered to fight and we might as well have something different.

This is it.

Monday - Fish fingers (children's choice!)
Tuesday - Pizza (possibly, we're out in the afternoon)
Wednesday - Vegetable chilli and rice
Thursday - A curry of undetermined type
Friday - Keeping free
Saturday - Bacon and ricotta oven baked frittata
Sunday - Tandoori chicken

Certainly not that inspired but the children will be (mostly) happy. What about you? What's on your menu this week? Click on the badge to discover more meal plans over at Mrs M's.

(PS and no, this is not an April fool!)

Meal Planning Monday - the freezer springclean edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:01:00 +0000

It might well feel like it's still Winter - we had snow on 22nd March with massive drifts on some of the roads, what is going on? - my freezer is desperately in need of a spring clean. I've got things in there I could really do with using so this week, before I put together my plan, I did a quick audit of things that need turning into meals in my two freezers and added in a couple of things from my cupboards (which could also do with sorting out but not quite so urgently). This keeps the food bill down, and reduces wastage.

Nothing is particularly complicated - they're often things I've made before with a couple of new things thrown in for good measure (or at Monkey's request, he wants to try Tandoori Chicken!) One of the recipes comes from another blog that links up to Meal Planning Monday - when I have time, I like to look around and note down ideas for future weeks so I'm never faced with a blank sheet of paper when starting my plans. Saves me even more time and I get to discover new blogs all the time!

Here's the week - the children here don't finish until Thursday by the way so it's fairly "normal" until Thursday and then they are off Friday. Husband is working the weekend so it's just the kids and me so it won't feel that much different than any other weekends and won't feel much like Easter.

Monday - Spicy bean fajitas
Tuesday - Thai Fish Pie
Wednesday - Slow cooker pork goulash
Thursday - Home made burgers and baked chips
Friday - Tandoori chicken
Saturday - Freezer surprise (there's a pie in there that needs some extra potato topping but I can't remember what it is!)
Sunday - Ham hock and cabbage hash

Don't forget - there are lots of entries on Mrs M's Meal Planning Monday - click on the badge to start discovering.

Proud mummy moment

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:01:00 +0000

Indulge me if you will for a few moments. I don't write enough about the children on this blog these days, even though they are still the most brilliant thing and keep me on my toes daily, if not hourly.

Since the start of the school year, Monkey has been learning to play the ukulele. His school decided a few years ago that Year 3 would learn an instrument and chose a ukulele because they are small and easier to handle. We had to buy a ukulele for him but luckily, the school managed to buy a job lot of them from another school and it cost us £5.

Photo credit: wjunior

For the first term, Monkey would randomly practice upstairs and we could hear nothing but random strumming. Just before Christmas, we went to an assembly to hear them play and they weren't bad but obviously still learning. The teacher they get in to teach them is great with them; she sings and plays along with them and they obviously all have a ball doing it.

Then, a few weeks ago, Monkey started mentioning something about playing in a concert at a festival but the details were unclear. Just before half term, school sent home some details and asked for permission for the children to take part. Unfortunately, it was on a Thursday evening when the children have everything on. The only way I could manage it was for my husband to go into work late, taking Monkey to swimming and onto the venue, leaving him there with another parent until I arrived with Missy Woo after picking her up from dancing.

On the day, it became apparent that Monkey was getting a little nervous, but I told him to try his best and smile! The children were all raring to go but had to wait sometime as there were other classes first. When their class came around, they were the last of 3 groups to come onto the stage. Having sat through two other groups which were brass bands, they were certainly different.. It was obvious they were enjoying themselves and I thought how much they had progressed since I had last heard them play. They did three songs, and the class were ably abetted by a few children from older classes doing percussion and one sang a solo. When they finished, they got rapturous applause and I remember thinking they had a chance of winning. They were quite clearly the youngest group in terms of average age out of the 3 groups competing.

The adjudicator stood up after their performance to give her comments to all 3 groups. She was brilliant with the children and had some really constructive feedback for them all. Then it was results time. Third was one of the brass bands so we were at least second. They had a chance and I remember thinking that at least they hadn't come last.

Then she announced the second place went to.... the other brass band. I could see the children from where I sat as the realisation dawned on them. They'd won! I will admit, I was nearly crying as I turned to Missy Woo and said "They've won, they've won!" as she hadn't realised. When the adjudicator finally announced the school's name as the winners, a big cheer went up. Looking at Monkey, I'm not sure he wasn't crying too but I could see he was bursting with pride. The adjudicator handed over the trophy and a certificate. Then we all had to settle down again for the final class, the secondary ensemble, which was won by a guitar group run by the same teacher who teaches the ukulele to Monkey's class!

At the end, the children were all very excited and happy, but they'd been so well-behaved considering it was getting late, past 9pm. After sharing fish and chips at home before ringing Daddy and grandparents, two tired children finally got them to bed. Monkey had a bit of a reaction the next day as he developed a tummy ache and I had to pick him up from school early.

Then came news that the local paper was coming in. Not only to photograph them, but video them playing a song. They all had to wear uniform in the morning to school (it was non-uniform day) although they were allowed to change afterwards. Monkey reported afterwards that it went OK and I knew from school assembly that it was due to be in the paper on the Saturday.

On Sunday, (late in the way only local papers can) the video finally appeared. I was sat in the café at the gym when I saw it and watched the video, once again nearly in tears. Monkey is right there at the front, although this does seem to show up how much he is looking around and not actually playing. I'm sure he wasn't like that for the concert. Now, I'd love to share the video, but since I don't publicly name the children's school on this blog or on Twitter, I can't because the school name is all over it. However, if you ask me nicely, I'll share it with you.

And then today, there they were in the paper - on page 3, and a big write up too and a big colour photo.

The school the children go to is relatively small nor is it particularly well known. That's not to say it's a bad school - far from it, the children love school, are doing well and get lots of opportunities to do things outside of school. It's the first time since the headteacher joined the school that they have actually won something. Winning something like this gives the chance for the children to see themselves in a different way as well as others to see the school in a different light. On top of that, it is a fabulous achievement on only a term and a half of lessons - so not only did the children do a fantastic job, their teacher did too!

I will stop banging on about my children's achievements now. Normal service is about to resume...

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noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:55:00 +0000

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Meal Planning Monday - the Missy Woo edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 00:01:00 +0000

It's been a busy week in our house for various reasons. We had cake club at the weekend, Monkey has been away at Granny's having a birthday treat, and we seem to haveD after school clubs galore at the moment. It's been a bit busy to have time to put together a full meal plan so I asked Missy Woo to choose some things she liked to have again. And she only went and chose the pea and potato soup again. Yes, I did actually ACTUALLY make it last week and now we're having it again.

Here is the plan a la Missy Woo (with a couple of suggestions from me)

Monday - Mixed vegetable curry
Tuesday - Sausages in onion gravy
Wednesday - Cottage pie (with a twist)
Thursday - Minty pea and potato soup
Friday - Chicken jambalaya
Saturday - Pasta "risotto" with pea and pancetta
Sunday - Let's keep free, huh?

More Meal Planning Monday mayhem available at Mrs M's by clicking the badge above.

Giveaway time! Win a pair of tickets to the Cake & Bake show in Manchester

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:12:00 +0000

In April, The Cake and Bake Show is coming to Manchester Central (what most people still refer to as GMEX!) It's an opportunity to see your favourite baking stars in action, watch demonstrations, learn new skills. Oh, and eat cake too! Come on, what is not to like about that?

I've been offered a pair of tickets to visit the show myself but in the spirit of sharing, I also have secured another pair to give away to one of my lovely cakey readers. Well, the readers aren't cakey as such; I mean the ones that love cake. Which is most of them. Oh, shut up, Kate.

The show is on from Friday 5th April to Sunday 7th April. Some of the highlights include

- Paul Hollywood (Friday only)
- Eric Lanlard
- John Whaite and all the other contestants of last year's Great British Bake Off
- Chances to learn or develop skills from top bakers
- Baking competitions

to name but a few.

If you fancy going but don't want to take your chances with the giveaway, you can buy tickets for the show here.

To enter, all you need to do is follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget below. All entries will be verified and entries that do not fulfil the criteria will be removed before the winner is chosen.

Rafflecopter will pick a winner at random.

This competition runs from 15th March until 22nd March 2013. Full terms and conditions are listed on the Rafflecopter widget.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cake of the Week - Tennis ball cake

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:01:00 +0000

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.

Meal Planning Monday - the trying to eat more veg edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:01:00 +0000

It seems like the only time I come here at the moment is to do my meal plans. I know, I know but really, I've been busy. Monkey had a birthday on Saturday and preparing for it whilst juggling work seemed to take it out of me - I was in bed early (for me) on Thursday and Friday and then on Saturday, I got in bed shortly after 11pm - unheard of for me - and slept like a log until nearly 9.

I have to admit, I've been feeling a bit sluggish lately and even Monkey got sent home from school on Friday with a tummyache. This turned into nothing, thank God, but it made me reflect on the fact that we don't seem to have had much in the way of veg these last few weeks. So, this week, there are more in the plan. And no, I still haven't got around to doing that pea soup. It WILL happen this week. It WILL. Looking at the plan, it seems to be a lot of beans and pulses actually but onions and tomatoes are featuring too.

The children seem to have signed themselves up for every after school activity going lately. One or both of them have something on 3 days of the week, we go to the gym on Wednesdays, leaving only Fridays for down time. Not ideal, but some of the activities are only for a few weeks and it is entirely their choice so I don't feel so bad. Monday is going to be good because they are both at school until 4.30! Then, at the weekend, both the children are coming to Clandestine Cake Club with me then Monkey is going to stay at the grandparents for his birthday treat (a trip to see Horrible Histories!).

This is what I have planned.

Monday - Roast beef hash (adapted slightly)
Tuesday - Chicken with spices and cream (aka Nigel Slater's chicken curry)
Wednesday - Chipotle bean chilli with baked eggs
Thursday - Minty pea and potato soup (don't laugh)
Friday - Mushroom risotto
Saturday - keeping free, I will have cakeache
Sunday - Sticky roasted sausages with lentils

This is us for the potentially cold week ahead. What about you? When you've told me, mosey on over to Mrs M's for more Meal Planning Monday (non) mayhem.

Meal Planning Monday - the birthday and Mother's Day edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:44:00 +0000

The short weeks are coming thick and fast at the moment. On Saturday, Monkey turns 8 (how the hell did that happen?) so is having a tennis party and then on Sunday, it's Mother's Day and I am not cooking. I'm not sure WHAT we are doing yet but I did suggest to husband that he and the children made a roast for us to have at home. We'll see.

The weekend is therefore busy. On top of that, Monkey is taking part in a ukulele concert at a small music festival on Thursday night, on top of doing badminton AND swimming after school. I don't know when he's going to fit eating in. For now, I'm sticking to soup and might finally get around to making the soup I keep putting on the plan and then it not happening.

Here is what I have so far.

Monday - Prawn and coconut curry
Tuesday - Honey mustard pork
Wednesday - Corned beef and beans pie
Thursday - Minty pea and potato soup
Friday - keeping free
Saturday - keeping free (and party food)
Sunday - keeping free

What about you, oh wonderful meal planners? My plan was done in a rush, and I'm hoping I can return to normal next week. In the meantime, Mrs M has more meal planning marvellousness.

Meal Planning Monday - the short week into March edition!

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:01:00 +0000

Yes, this is another short week. This is because I am working/playing this weekend and heading to Derbyshire for a work event that doubles as a social. Husband is working too so the children are going to their grandparents on Saturday and staying there until I pick them up on Sunday afternoon. I'm leaving here Friday lunchtime so Friday has been designed for the slow cooker so that they can pick up tea when they are ready.

The rest of the week has been chosen to fulfill Monkey's desire to have "pie", a leftover dish from last week, something I chose because I fancied it and a dish to use up some meat in the freezer. Sounds thrilling, eh?

The devil, of course, is in the detail and here that detail is.

Monday - Thai pork and peanut curry
Tuesday - Cauliflower cheese and jacket potatoes
Wednesday - Minced beef pie
Thursday - Minty pea and potato soup
Friday - Sausages in onion gravy from the slow cooker for everyone else
Saturday - kept free
Sunday - kept free

After last week's summery feel, that looks pretty wintery again! Cannot wait to have cauliflower cheese myself. Once you've drooled over this menu, (what do you mean you haven't?) hop over to Mrs M's for more MPM mayhem.

Big fun with little trains - halfterm fun at the NRM

noreply@blogger.com (kateab) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

For the start of the half term, we took a little holiday. We went to Yorkshire to revisit two museums we have visited before. As we were going on consecutive days, we took the opportunity to stay over in Yorkshire - actually in Bradford, the location of our second museum.

On Saturday, however, we returned to a place we have been to several times, the National Railway Museum in York. This time, we had been invited back to their "Big fun for little trains" event they are running over half term.

As usual, entry is free with some activities attracting a small charge - although fewer activities than usual seemed to cost. The children now know the place well and have favourite things we have to go and visit - the pinball game in the Flying Scotsman section, the viewing platform to see the "real trains" arriving at and leaving York station, the bullet train. Everything has to fit around those things and this time there was certainly a lot to see and do - a garden railway display, a miniature diesel ride and a model tramway too. There was also a Chuggington play area and a StackTrack challenge but Monkey now believes he is too old for Chuggington, although it doesn't stop him playing with the diecast models when he feels like it!

Monkey's favourite activities was the Scalextric racing (although he now wants a 6 car track for his birthday!), and the Lego workshop where children build a 4 wheeled Lego vehicle to try and make it go down a slope. He loves Lego so he was in his element. Missy found all the pink Lego bricks and joined in. Strangely, he wouldn't for some reason go near the Meccano workshop - I think he views it as too difficult for him still. But the unexpected hit with him was the pedal train - he pulled a face like it was all too babyish for him, until he suddenly joined the queue, grabbed the next available vehicle and pedalled round madly with a broad grin on his face for a few minutes. He's definitely still a little boy at heart.

We certainly picked a lovely day to go, with the sun shining and the temperature rising to a surprisingly pleasant level. This made the outdoor activities surprisingly pleasant for the time of year - we took a ride on both miniature and full sized steam trains and the children had a quick go in the park, although again, Monkey is just reaching that stage where he is a little too big for the play area.

As usual, we ran out of time and energy to do all the activities on offer so if you are after a day out and your children love trains (Monkey still wants to be a train driver when he grows up), this would be perfect. Most people are fascinated by trains anyway and little ones in particular are enthralled. Even if you've been recently, there's always something new to see as they move the stock around a lot, and you always find something that's a bit different. We never manage to cram it all in so you definitely will fill a whole day and if you like to take your time, maybe two.

Big fun with little trains event runs until Sunday 24 February. The NRM invited us to try out this event and gave us vouchers to try some of the chargeable events for free and free parking. They also kindly provided lunch.