Neat and tidy - how long will it last?

I have been having a sort out. You need to understand that there are currently seven people living in our house. Two of them have moved back home complete with all their student house possessions and one is just here for the summer. One has a collection of shoes to rival Imelda Marcos and one is into music. He has keyboard and digital drums in his room. The main problem is the piano which is being delivered tomorrow. It has to go in the lounge.

I began by moving a pine bureau from the lounge into the hall. I opened the drawers and found many photos from when the children were young. I couldn’t just put them back without looking could I? So I spent an hour looking through them, remembering good times when they slept at night and played out during the day, unlike now. Then I moved the shoe rack in the hall into … nowhere because I need to clear out the cloakroom to make room for it. In order to clear out the cloakroom I need the owners of the coats it contains to identify and remove them so that only those which are actually worn remain. Ditto shoes. Everyone was asleep or out so I gave up and made meringue instead!

When I managed to pin them down they didn’t want 90% of what was in the cloakroom so I now have a lovely streamlined look. I also have a big bag of good coats for the charity shop and a few items to freecycle. There are still a few stray items but a job well(ish) done I think.

Now does anyone have any idea where to stash the contents of two student houses?

I recently began selling Jamie at Home products as a self-employed consultant. The concept is not unlike the old favourite Tupperware party. Get a few friends round for a drink and a chat and to hopefully buy some of the products on sale and the host gets commission to buy goods on the night, or bank the points to save up for something special.

The difference is you get to watch an exclusive DVD of Jamie Oliver cooking up a lovely recipe using all those must have products. So far I love it. Some friends have had parties for me and the home, kitchen and garden products are such good quality they practically sell themselves. The hosts are happy with their free stuff; I have an enjoyable evening, am kitting my kitchen out and earn commission too. I still have a couple of parties booked in but need to find a few new circles of people to hold parties for me. I think that will be the hardest part but worth the effort as I love all my new kitchen equipment and look forward to earning some money for a night out.  If you have any great ideas for getting new hosts then let me know.

I especially love the new outdoor products and I am getting some of these items together in anticipation of a lovely summer!

I have only managed 37 so far and am unlikely to do most of the others so maybe I will have a go at my own list. I’ll share that too when I’ve done it.

1. Started your own blog (You’re reading it!)

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped (Never!!)

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child (or 4!!)

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (No but seen a couple of good ones in Iceland)

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (They don’t come much stranger than my family!!)

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance (why would I wish for that?)

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling (Snorkelling on The Great Barrier Reef – I’m so lucky!)

52. Kissed in the rain (A long time ago!!)

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theatre

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favourite childhood toy (My Barbie dolls)

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar (not very veggi!)

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone (No thanks)

78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book 

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve (Does been kissed by a stranger count?!)

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club                                  

93. Got a tattoo

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

I don’t actually think I want to do all 99 anyway! Most of the American ones are a no-no for me as I have never been to America and have no particular desire to go (sorry to all my American readers – nothing personal you understand!) I’m sure The Blue Lagoon in Iceland, where I have swum, is better than The Great Salt Lake!

Do let me know if you put this on your blog or have any great ideas for my list (be sensible, I’m not as young as I was!)

It has been a while since my last post. Life has been busy, and stressful. I have been ill and one of my daughters involved in a car accident, fortunately she is ok just a broken ankle.
I decided it was time to get back to my blog and back to baking so this post combines the two!
Latest fun thing for me to make is bagels. I have to follow a low fat diet at the moment and they are great for that. I have tried out different types of flour and different toppings and decided that I like fennel seeds as a topping and 75% white, 25% wholemeal mix for the flour (although all white is good too!).
I use 450g flour, 1tsp quick yeast, 1Tabsp sugar, 2 tsp salt and 300ml warm water to make the dough. My trusty Kenwood Chef makes short work of the kneading and then I leave the dough to rise for an hour.
The fun aspect is dropping the bagels into boiling water with three tablespoons of sugar dissolved in it. After the dough has risen and the bagels shaped (twirling them round the handle of a wooden spoon is quite fun too!) they are dropped, 3 or 4 at a time into the water. They rise up to the top and you turn them over. After a couple of minutes you lift them out, drain off any water, sprinkle them with yummy seeds if you like and then bake them for 25 minutes. Delicious!
Check out my photo and give them a try, they really are easy. Let me know how you get on

 I really need some more space in the study so that I can work whenever I get some time so that will be my number one priority, the kitchen is okay for now as it is quite new but the kids lounge and all the bedrooms could do with some attention so they will be tackled one at a time once the study is sorted. The garage also needs major de-cluttering but I hope that task will fall to my husband!

 We are major hoarders in this house so not only will we have to let go of some things which are rubbish but also those things which one day may come in useful and those which conjure up memories when we look at them. A lot of the children’s old stuff falls into that last category but as three of them are now grown up I am going to be strict with myself.

 Clutter not only looks untidy and makes it difficult to clean but it causes emotional stress too. It is frustrating to have to search every time you need something. I know it will take time to get the clutter under control but I also know it has to be done. So I am going to make a start by clearing the pile of papers on the right hand side of my computer. I knocked my coffee all over them this morning so they are slightly damp and have to be sorted NOW.

 If you have any tips or strategies to help me I will be grateful to hear them. I will keep you posted as I go.

Fairytale Castle cake

I took my son to Imperial War Museum North yesterday. If you haven’t been and you are in striking distance of Manchester you should go.

I was immediately impressed by the dramatic architecture of the building and the inside impressed me even more.

It was educational, moving and entertaining all at once. It is hard to describe the sound and picture shows each hour which cover the high, white walls of this ultra-modern space with the images and memories of war, which touch your heart and make you wonder how anyone could wish the horrors of war on their own people or any other yet also bring out the courage and humour of people who coped because they had to.

My son is twelve and the exhibits contained the right mix of facts, images and artefacts to keep us both engrossed for almost four hours. A timeline from the start of the First World War to modern times explains how wars started and who was involved, a special exhibition on prisoners of war gave a different perspective to the conditions of their lives and their escape attempts than any film I’ve seen.

There is a pleasant café overlooking the canal and the added benefit of The Lowry Outlet being only five minutes walk away across the bridge! An excellent day out.

They did this

I did this

Is it only me that hates Alton Towers? I took my 12 year old son there this week, the first time I have been, and it was awful. We queued on the road to get in the entrance, we queued all the way to car park J, we queued to get the monorail to the park entrance then we queued for half an hour to get our tickets. We had been there an hour before we got into the park! Now, I am British and know how to queue but this is ridiculous.

I used Tesco Clubcard vouchers to pay for our tickets so it felt like a free trip but I had actually had to buy £3800 worth of groceries to get the tickets for myself, son, daughter and daughter’s boyfriend. Daughter and boyfriend were essential to the trip as I no longer go on rides since getting a whiplash injury at Blackpool Pleasure(??) Beach 20 odd years ago!

The weather was fine but not too sunny, we were armed with a picnic and a map and headed off into the park to spend the day queuing! The queues were so long that in the eight hours we spent there they managed to go on only seven rides. I spent the majority of the eight hours walking or standing around as there was nowhere to sit to wait for them as they queued for half an hour or so for a two minute ride. To crown the day I got stung by one of the several million wasps that were buzzing around!

The one pleasant part of the day was a peaceful hour sitting in the beautiful gardens reading Mansfield Park on my Sony Reader but I don’t think that alone would be worth the entrance fee of £37. My son had looked forward to this trip for weeks as a highlight of his summer break and he did enjoy it but was frustrated at the lengths of the queues and the number of rides he couldn’t go on, including most of the big ones he was looking forward to most. I suspect it will be a long time before we go there again.

The most important thing is to start with what they like. Don’t make too many changes at once and try to add to the foods they are already happy with rather than giving them completely new foods. You may have adventurous youngsters who love to try new things, I’ve heard they exist, your little one may refuse to eat anything except chicken nuggets and marmite or, most likely, you’ve got something in between. It doesn’t matter. Start from where your child is and make the changes small and gradual.

The best way I found to give my finicky eaters more of what I wanted them to eat was to hide it in something they already liked. When my daughter was six she decided to become a vegetarian. I couldn’t argue with this, as I am a vegetarian myself. The trouble was she didn’t really like vegetables! While she was at school the food processor came out and in went onions, mushrooms, butter beans or chickpeas for protein and any other things she wasn’t too keen on. Then I made a casserole with potatoes, carrots, peas and sweet corn and incorporated my healthy puree into the sauce. She had no idea how healthy her tea was. It is easy to do the same with a tomato sauce for pasta, add in some red lentils which cook down to nothing, carrots, onions, courgettes, broccoli and herbs and whiz it up in the blender. You can spread this sauce on a pizza too.

A great way to incorporate vegetables into meals is to make soup. Even the cheapest stick blender will hide any number of vegetables beyond recognition. Onions, carrots and potato fried gently then cooked with some stock and herbs and a tin of tomatoes will blend into a sweet, tasty soup most children, and adults, will enjoy. Lentils can be added to any mixture of vegetables and stock to give a more substantial soup. Serve the soup in bowls as part of a meal or in mugs to drink after school in the winter, filling, warming and good for you too.

When it comes to packed lunches and snacks you can have lots of fun. Make sandwiches tiny or in fancy shapes, my youngest daughter had a duck shaped cutter she loved when she was nursery school age. Make them appeal to the child’s taste, a wizard’s hat for your Harry Potter fan, chicks and Easter egg shapes, Christmas trees and stars, horses or cats. There are lots of cookie cutters available so make lunchtime fun. Children as young as one or two can easily cut out shapes with a little help. When it comes to fillings you really want a little protein and plenty of vegetables or fruit. Peanut butter, cheese spread or hummus make good fillings with salad vegetables. Don’t worry if they don’t like salad; add crunchy carrot and cucumber sticks, bags of mini carrots and grapes, satsumas or little apples into their lunchbox. When they need a drink or snack make that healthy too. Banana milkshake, strawberry smoothie, mango smoothie or fruit salad are always popular. If your children love their desserts then make some fruit puree to pour over ice cream or stir into natural yogurt. Stewed apples, pears or rhubarb are good with ice cream, yogurt or custard too and don’t forget that old favourite bananas and custard.

When you really want to introduce them to new foods you can hide them at first in sauces as above. Then try chopping the food up really small so it’s difficult to distinguish and only when they’ve accepted that should you move to bite size pieces. This may take several weeks or even months but it is worth the effort. Of course they may still resist but does it really matter? Think of any foods that you’re not keen on; there are probably a few. Does it affect your life or health if you don’t eat these foods? Probably not, so don’t worry if your children don’t like the same foods as you. As long as their diet is healthy most of the time and they get a variety of foods and nutrients during the week one poor meal won’t hurt them. You can always make a game of eating new foods too, a three year old can be allowed to have three spoonfuls of a new food before leaving the rest, moving up to four after a birthday.

When it comes to family meals no one wants to make several meals to give everyone their own choice. Try to make the choices part of the meal and your children may surprise you by trying things you may not usually offer them. A pasta bake can be made quite basic (with hidden vegetables in the sauce maybe) and then served with separate bowls of tuna, sweet corn and roasted vegetables for everyone to help themselves.

So, the general advice is to make the changes small at first. Try again after a few weeks if they resist change. Make mealtimes fun, relaxed mealtimes are pleasanter for everyone. Let the children get involved in choices and preparation. Lead by example, you may be so busy with the family you forget about yourself, so make sure you are getting plenty of fruit and vegetables too and eat a healthy snack at the table while the children eat tea if you are eating later.

Finally, don’t worry, faddy young children often grow up to be health conscious teenagers and adults, so don’t give up, have fun, enjoy your children and your food.