Life As We Know It

366 photos: day 156-162

 

Wow! Thank you for all your amazing comments yesterday! I am totally floored by them. They were so loving and supportive. You guys rock!

It feels kind of odd going back to a 366 photos post after that! But here we go...

 

Week 23 was a bit of an odd week. Alan had Monday and Tuesday off because of the jubilee, and Aoife had the rest of the week off from school because of half term. I loved having them all at home,  but it all seemed a bit strange.

 

 

Monday: An outing to the Roald Dahl children's gallery in Aylesbury that both kids loved.

 

Tuesday: A street party for the Diamond Jubilee (Al took this picture. You can just about see me on the left hand side talking with the woman in the white gilet.

 

Wednesday: Anyone for "sosiyis" (sausages)?

 

Thursday: Aoife: "Mum, do you like my picture?". Me: "Yes honey, I love it!". Aoife: "Can you not believe your eyes?". Me: "No honey, I can't believe my eyes!". Aoife: "Take a picture of it then!!!"

 

Friday: currant buns, handmade by the little missy (with minimal help from mummy).

 

Saturday: One of Aoife's current obsessions... wearing one pink, one purple sock. And it has to be these thick ones cos they slide!

 

Sunday: Kirby at 17 months, feeding his label addiction.

 

That was the end of week 23. My mum is over, so I'm going to take the rest of the week off now and enjoy her company. See you next week.

366 photos: day 121- 127

 

Wow! That was fun!

Thank you so much to everyone who dropped by and left such sweet comments during the bloghop at the weekend! I loved visiting everyone on the list and was so inspired by everyone's projects.

Okay. Back to the 366 photos.

I think I'll rename week 18 the food edition. I didn't realise I had taken so many pictures of food until I went to edit them all. I'm trying to get back on track food-wise after having gone seriously off-track ever since the coughs and colds started a while back.

 

Monday: Menu planning for the week.

 

Tuesday: Ever since I made that quick and easy nut-bread, I've been desperate to try it as a pizza base. It worked, but was a bit dry, so will have to tweak it a bit more.

 

Wednesday: I am a messy cook. My old home ec teacher would have a fit!

 

Thursday: When the school bell rings, Kirby looks at the door, smiling from ear to ear. Aoife rushes out the door, side-steps me, and throws herself at Kirby in the buggy, showering him with kisses. Every. Single. Day.

 

Friday: Playing around with a sketch of Kirby's elephant, hoping to get it done for the hop. It didn't really work out this time, but I'll come back to it soon.

 

Saturday: Stir-fried sesame pork. Yum!

 

Sunday: Trying out a recipe for coconut milk panacotta. Bleh! My hunt for a good low-carb dessert/ treat continues.

366 photos: day 114- 120

 

Hello there!

It's Monday! And it's sunny!!! I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved doing the school run this morning without getting soaked through to the skin.

I was still shying away from the big camera last week, the phone is just so darn convenient for this sort of thing, but am hoping to use it more this week.

 

Monday: Have you ever loved a background so much you were afraid to carry on in case you wrecked it? This was one of those. I had to take a deep breath, then mess it up a bit on purpose so I wouldn't get too precious about it (a little tip I learned from Junelle). It worked. I'll show the finished page later in the week.

 

Tuesday: 7.15. In the morning. We're heading out the door for Aoife's first Irish dancing class with the before school club. She'd been pestering me about it for ages (and ballet), and I'm glad to say she loved it.

 

Wednesday: Warming up on the sofa for a while after getting soaked through in yet another heavy rain shower. Kirby took the opportunity to catch up on the latest news in tv-land.

 

Thursday: I found this, and dozens more, on the point and shoot. The toys set up "just so" between each and every shot. At one point poor Winnie the Pooh even had the sheep on top of his head! You gotta love that girl! She loves the camera as much as her mummy.

 

Friday: Alan was out on the lash with some of the lads, so I went to bed early and curled up with a good book. I needed that.

 

Saturday: Another blurry shot of the kids, but I love watching them play and seeing how much fun they have together.

 

Sunday: Sunday dinner. It was casserole weather last week. For sure.

 

And that's the end of week 17 in pictures.

 

366 photos: day 100- 106.

 

Hello again my dears,

So here's the second installment of 366 photos this week. These are from last week, which was mostly spent at home again since we were still sick (in other words; expect loads of pictures of the kids!).

 

Monday: Alan putting up the curtain pole in Aoife's new room.

 

Tuesday: A wonderful sight to wake up to, even though neither of them are supposed to co-sleep with us anymore!

 

Wednesday: Baking savoury cheese muffins for the kids as a treat.

 

Thursday: Guess who was painting?!?!

 

Friday: Friday night craziness.

 

Saturday: Looking through the scrap bowl for quick art ideas.

 

Sunday: The kids watching Sunday morning telly.

 

And that was last week in pictures. See you in a day or two for loads of art journal fun and other stuff.

366 photos: day 93- 99

 

Hey there lovelies,

Hope you had a lovely Easter.

We're slowly clawing our way back to health over here. Aoife has gone back to school today after the Easter break, and I have to say I'm looking forward to getting back into some semblance of a routine.

I have decided to break up the photos from the last fortnight into two posts. I'll show week 14 today, and week 15 tomorrow. I also have loads of art journal pages to show you this week. And I want to talk about some stuff that's on my mind. One good thing about being home sick for most of two weeks... I have had plenty of time to think (and read).

Anyway, let's see what happened the week before last:

 

Monday: Sorting all of Aoife's jigsaws before bringing them up to her new room.

 

Tuesday: Thick as thieves. I love the looks on their faces. Something tells me they were up to no good.

 

Wednesday: Trying out a new, quick and easy low-carb bread recipe. Yummy! I'm hoping to experiment with it a bit this week, because I can see a couple of other uses for it too.

Thursday: It happened! I forgot to take a picture! Aoife and I baked hot cross buns. I had Kirby glued to my hip all day, crying his little heart out, and I wasn't feeling too clever myself, but had promised Aoife we'd make some.

 

Friday: Good Friday... apparently. It went by in a febrile daze. At some point I apologised to the others for not having had the time, or energy, to decorate for Easter. Aoife said "no problem", disappeared around the corner, messed about in her craft drawers for a minute, and came back with this Easter egg scribble that she taped to the wall. That was the extent of our Easter decorations this year. And it was precious.

 

Saturday: She was so good with him. She always is, but I was so impressed with how patient and caring she was with him while he was ill.

 

Sunday: Easter egg hunt in the back garden. Her first at home. She was so happy every time she found an egg, she held it up to show me.

And that was week 14. Back tomorrow with week 15.

 

 

366 photos: day 65-71

 

Hello my lovelies,

Hope you had a good week. I feel like I spent the whole week keeping Kirby out of harm's way! He's into everything at the moment and keeping me on my toes. I also had Alan home most of the week, recovering from an operation (more later) and some workmen coming and going, doing stuff to Aoife's new room.

 

Monday: A neighbour popped in to borrow the sewing machine for half an hour. I think it's the most action it's seen in a couple of years!

 

Tuesday: Alan had keyhole surgery on his knee (an old rugby injury that finally caught up with him in the last few months).  He was 5/8 on the afternoon list so it didn't look like he'd make it home that day. But he did. Hooray!

 

Wednesday: Anyone call for a sparky? Richard, our electrician, came to pull the wires in Aoife's new room and Kirby took a shine to his toolbox.

 

Thursday: We're not raising a child, we're raising a mountain goat. He may not be able to walk yet, but he sure can climb. On anything. This is tame, but I'm usually too busy keeping him safe to take pictures!

 

Friday: I have a milestone birthday coming up in June, and I want to celebrate it in style, so I'm trying out some new low-carb recipes. This was the beginnings of a chocolate pudding. I'm trying a simple, low-carb Baci recipe next I think (found through the lovely Helena).

 

Saturday: From low-carb to high-carb in 24 hours! Baking marble cake with Aoife.

 

Sunday: Sunday night. Kids in bed. Collapse on sofa with a glass of wine, a bowl of nuts, and Boardwalk Empire.

That's the end of week 10.

This week is going to be fun. Alan is back at work (i'm not saying he got under my feet last week or anything, but...), the plumber is here today, and I hope we'll make a start on the flooring later this week. I'm also starting The Art of Wild Abandonment workshop with Junelle Jacobsen at Christy Tomlinson's place today. I can't wait.

I'll be back in a day or two with some new journal pages.Till then, my friends.

 

A birthday tradition

 

 

I love family traditions. Not only because they can be really fun, but because they are so unique to every family. No two families will ever do exactly the same things in exactly the same way. I love the (possibility of) closeness and togetherness that comes from that.

And as a foodie, I can't get enough of food traditions.

One of our special food traditions is to bake the first batch of mince pies of the season for Alan's birthday. He loves them. A lot. And since his birthday happens to be 7 weeks before Christmas, they kick start our Christmas preparations.

But when I first moved over here, I didn't have a clue what a mince pie was...

 

Mince pies are small pastry pies filled with a sweet sticky fruit mixture. They're usually eaten at Christmas and are absolutely gorgeous. If you want to try making them yourself, here's how:

 

How to make mince pies

 

1. Make a batch of mincemeat *

2. Make a batch of shortcrust pastry by mixing  350 g (12 oz) plain flour and a pinch of salt, then rubbing in 150 g (6 oz) butter (or half butter, half lard) until it resembles fine crumbs. Then gently add in a little cold water until it forms a dough and leaves the bowl clean. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 200C (400F)

4. Lightly grease a patty tray (a muffin tray works too)

5. Dust your work surface with flour. Roll out the pastry as thinly as possible and cut equal amounts of 7.5 cm (3") and 6 cm (2 1/2") rounds. Gather up any scraps and re-roll (but try getting as many as possible out of the first roll since the pastry gets harder to work with each roll).

 

 

6. Add a teaspoon of mincemeat mixture to the center of the larger rounds. Dampen all around the edges with a little bit of cold water, then gently squeeze the lid (the smaller round) into place, sealing the edges.

 

 

 7. Cut two snips in the lid (so the steam can escape), and brush with milk or a lightly beaten egg. Then bake near the top of the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden. Cool in tray for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

 

* The booze  stops the mincemeat from fermenting quite so quickly. The mince pies will still taste gorgeous without it, but can't be made too far in advance (a few days tops).

 

All pictures from 2009 since I accidentally deleted the ones I took for this post!

 

 

LCHF: chicken chorizo casserole

 

I was experimenting in the kitchen this evening and just had to share this recipe straight away because it's a keeper. In fact, it's possibly a new favourite.

 

 

Ingredients:

 

knob of butter

750 g chicken fillets, chopped

200 g (good) chorizo, chopped

125 g stuffed green olives, drained (optional)

300 ml double (heavy) cream

200 ml chopped tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato puree (paste to the Americans)

1 tbsp paprika

seasoning to taste

 

How to make:

 

1. Preheat oven to 220C/ 425F/ Gas mark 7. Melt the butter in a pan, and brown the chicken for a few minutes until cooked through. Tip into a casserole dish and set aside for a minute.

2. Fry the chorizo for a few minutes until the yummy juices start coming out. Tip into the casserole dish.

3. Mix in the green olives, if using.

4. In a separate bowl mix together the cream, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, and paprika. Pour over the chicken, chorizo and olives and mix well.

5. Heat through in the oven for about 20 minutes.

 

Enjoy!

 

LCHF: blue cheese mayo

 

Lunch: Burger with blue cheese mayo (Aoife had hers in a bun)

 

Over the summer I'll share a number super easy sides, sauces and dips that can bulk up the fat content of your meal, without you having to spend ages in the kitchen. Most can be prepared in advance. Today:

 

Blue cheese mayo.

 

 

2 parts mayonnaise

1 part blue cheese, crumbled (I prefer a little more)

chives to taste

 

Mix, then keep chilled until you serve. That's it!

 

Told you they were easy recipes!

 

Lunch: Chicken and bacon with blue cheese mayo (I would usually increase the fat even more by melting some cheese on the chicken fillet at the last minute, but plain forgot, so added a slice at the table instead)

 

This is one of my absolute favourite summer recipes. It's a great addition to the barbecue table because it it is so quick, easy and versatile. It works great with beefburgers, chicken, steak, and as a dip for the veg platter.

No, I don't make the mayonnaise myself. I make many things from scratch, but not mayo. If you would prefer to make your own, then hats off to you. I'm sure it will be fabulous. If you're like me, then just make sure you use a good free- range, organic one with a low carb content.

But whether you make the basic mayo yourself or not...

Enjoy!