Wally

So amazing son number 2 is off to school in his Where's Wally costume. I've done my best, and still think I am better at cakes than costumes. But he is happy - mostly because he gets to wear skinny jeans to school and have hair product in his hair. I have to admit that he manages to look cool even when dressing up in costume. I think I might suggest the book character 'Gangsta Granny' next time.  I have a feeling he would even manage to pull that one off too.

Enough cheekiness!

#BFF becomes #BFW

#BFF is sadly no more. Amazing son number 1 is now out every Friday evening at a "yoof group". So #BFF has had to move to a Wednesday. Making it #BFW obviously.

Today we had pulled pork with spicy carrot salad, and BBQ sauce which was a combination of 2 different recipes (this one and this one) because I couldn't decide which one I preferred. Oh, and homemade hummus which I made up as I went along. Basically, chick peas, tahini, olive oil, yoghurt, garlic, salt and pepper. And I also made tortilla wraps to eat everything in. Because I felt like it and was obviously avoiding the housework or ironing. And we had cake - my version of St Clement's cupcakes as I have decided I really don't like buttercream icing. Definitely housework avoidance issues.

Everything was guzzled before I had time to remember to take a photograph. But it was tasty and the boys are all happy. Good job because we will be eating leftovers tomorrow.

I've also just finished putting together the outfit amazing son number 2 will be wearing to school tomorrow as part of Book Week. We compromised agreed on him going as Wally from the Where's Wally books as I thought it would be fairly straight forward to do. Who would have thought that finding a red and white striped top or hat would prove so problematic. Admittedly I only started looking today, and he is meant to be wearing it tomorrow. Will I ever learn? So the top is red and grey, and the hat definitely not red and white. I think I am better at cakes than costumes.

Feed A Cold

I've been feeling somewhat under the weather with a nasty cold for a few days. A good excuse then to follow the old advice of 'Feed a cold, starve a fever'. I'm so glad I haven't got a temperature. I started with something sweet and made some Breakfast Muffins, basically combining a couple of recipes according to the ingredients I had in the cupboards. Nice, but they didn't quite hit the spot. So I started to flick through my recipe books for something savoury and stumbled across Dan Lepard's Lentil Stuffed Flatbreads. Easy. Tasty. Spot on. Definitely one to make again. The amazing sons declared them 'delicious' and 'amazing', so I think they might make their way into lunch boxes for tomorrow. Which saves me having to make sandwiches. Always a good thing.

Lentil Stuffed Flatbreads

Big Trip

Please excuse the lack of posts recently. I've had the most fantastic August away with the amazing sons and the gorgeous husband. The headlines of the big trip (now that the jet lag is dealt with) have been:

Aunty CC and Jack-Jon
First off, the amazing sons and I flew to Eugene to see my twin sister and her family. What a great week we had seeing Toria, Mr Dave and Lady P. We ate a lot of ice cream, frequenting most of the various establishments nearby. The boys bought some baseball caps that go oh so nicely with their new trainers. I don't think sarcasm comes across in the written word as well as the spoken one does it. We went to a theme park and a Scandinavian food festival. And I got lost several times out running.

We got a bit damp on the log flume!

The Girls

Missing Flights and Missing Luggage in Vancouver

After a week in Eugene, the amazing sons and I flew to Vancouver to meet the gorgeous husband at the airport. Except we didn't. We did fly to Vancouver (albeit after some delay). But we didn't manage to meet the gorgeous husband there. Or retrieve my bag which went missing. So we flew on to Prince George to see the gorgeous husband's brother and his family without said husband or bag. We laughed a lot the next day once we were all reunited and after some sleep.

Prince George and More Chuis
It was good to see the gorgeous husband's brother and family for 6 days. We visited Barkerville, a former gold rush town and the cousins enjoyed panning for gold together. There were also trips to lakes, fishing, kayaking, swimming, tennis and much discussion as to why I had to pay for a glass of wine on my long haul flights despite the fact that I was the one travelling with the children. Apparently the gorgeous husband was offered copious amounts of different alcohol on his flight, seemingly from take-off to landing.

The cousins hunting for frogs.

The gorgeous husband took some amazing wildlife shots!

Lots of Chuis

Road Trip Through The Rockies
Then began our road trip though some of Canada. We drove to Jasper, then Banff before flying to Vancouver for a few days. Amazing. Breathtaking. Stunning. Awe-inspiring. Those are (I think) the 4 words we chose to describe all that we saw. Highlights would be the grizzly bears, the earl grey tea, the chocolate buffet, the oysters and all the scenery. And Tim Horton's, who we have probably kept in business for another year after all the coffee and doughnuts we ate there.

Me and my boys at Lake Louise.

More wildlife photos and my pedicured toes.

Doughnuts again!

Back to Eugene to Finish
The amazing sons and I then went back to Eugene for a few days while the gorgeous husband flew back to the UK. Undoubtedly with plenty of alcohol offered to him throughout the flight. We wanted to stay longer but were unable to change our flights. We made the most of the final part of our holiday by eating ice cream again. And I fell over on a run, which did mean I didn't get lost as I had to stop and go back. We also stocked up on Biscoff, which is the most amazing invention. I say we, but I fully intend to eat all of it single handedly.

It was simply a once in a lifetime family holiday, that has given us many wonderful memories. Shame it had to end.

Lake Louise

Bakewell Tart Macarons

Following my coffee eclairs the mince pie maker set me another challenge. This time the ante was well and truly upped with Bakewell Tart Macarons being suggested. Macarons have proved to be a bit of a nemesis of mine. My last batch were pretty good but it's been a while. I started with the easy bit and made the almond/frangipane creme patisserie filling a few days ago. I also cheated by buying a jar of cherry conserve to use alongside this. I am happy to report that not only did I manage to resist eating all the aforementioned filling beforehand but that the macarons themselves are my best attempt so far. The gorgeous husband and the amazing sons told me so, so it must be true.

Coffee Eclairs Challenge.....Apologies to Ruth

I love a challenge. So when my friend the mince pie maker set me the task of chocolate eclairs with a coffee creme patisserie there was no way I was going to refuse. I've never made choux pastry before, although I vividly recall my Mum making amazing profiteroles and chocolate sauce throughout my childhood. We had a different name for them, but it's probably not appropriate to share that in this forum.

I have to admit that it was Dan Lepard to the rescue again. He covers sweet choux pastry, water icing AND creme patisserie in his amazing book. We all agree that they taste pretty good. The gorgeous husband (who is obviously now fulfilling a new role as my creative director of baking) said they were a "little on the large side". How can cakes be too big I ask? I will make them smaller next time, but only so that I can eat two without appearing greedy.

These are all that are now left. Despite the cat's obvious indifference I don't think they are going to last very long.......

Cuppa Tea and A Biscuit

I really must stop trying out all the recipes in Dan Lepard's book Short and Sweet sometime very soon. This afternoon I found myself inexplicably (and indeed inextricably) drawn to his Tollhouse Yo-Yos.

It may be that after all the cakes I have consumed made I felt the need for a something a little crunchy. I should have opted for a carrot stick, or an apple, or possibly a stick of celery. But no, once spotted, I had to make this recipe. Apparently the recipe makes more than the 13 or 14 biscuits I made. But then I feel my yo-yos are slightly on the large size, and I did nibble on a large fair teeny tiny bit of dough. Just for quality control you understand. It was more than acceptable, but I will obviously be sampling the finished product just to make sure.

Cake Cake Cake

I love cake. That is a known fact. I love chocolate too. And chocolate cake. And especially chocolate brownies. But sometimes you need to think a little healthier, especially when you eat make as much cake as me. So I've been testing some slightly healthier recipes. Admittedly they are still cake, and not altogether meant for every meal but they do contain a little less sugar and fat. I think. They taste pretty good regardless. Another slice?

The first recipe I tried was Dan Lepard's Alchemist's Chocolate Cake from his book Short and Sweet which is simply amazing. You need tinned pears in juice. I had tinned pears in syrup, but it still worked well. I sliced this cake in half and sandwiched it with a dark chocolate and creme fraiche filling. Basically I melted 100g dark chocolate and stirred in 100g creme fraiche. OK, that and the syrup from the pears, made it not so healthy but it was delicious in my humble opinion.

Next up was the need to deal with some very manky over-ripe bananas. Out came my Hummingbird Bakery cookbook for their Banana Loaf. Except that I added cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips. Because I felt like it really. I also had some buttercream frosting left over from making a cake with amazing son number 2 (more on that in a bit), so I mixed more cocoa powder into this and iced the top of the loaf. I am clearly incapable of keeping my recipes as healthy as they are intended to be. No complaints from the gorgeous husband or the amazing sons though.

And finally, a not so healthy variety of cake. Amazing son number 2 had to make a cake for a Jubilee Cake Competition at his school. We were a little ambitious but having seen this recipe how could we not give it a go? Yes it was fiddly and time consuming. Yes there is quite a bit of blue food colouring/buttercream/icing thrown in. But it was fun to make, and even tasted pretty nice. Although I did find the colour a little off-putting to eat. Maybe blue cake is the way to stop me eating so much of it?

Incidentally, amazing son number 2 won the competition for his year group. Award-winning cake seemed to taste even better when he brought it home. Blue or not.

Lazy Sundays

Our usual Sunday routine involves getting up relatively early to go to church. Once a month the gorgeous husband and amazing son number one are involved in helping at the evening service at church instead so we take the opportunity to have a lazy, family morning at home. We have a big breakfast together and generally lounge around in our pyjamas for much of the morning.

Breakfast means egg and bacon muffins, hash browns, beans, coffees and smoothies mainly sorted by the gorgeous husband. I then refuse to cook again for the rest of the day. Except for chips, because you should know by know that Sunday night is chip night in our house. Even the cat likes to join us for brunch. It seems he is partial to bran flakes, but we are not mentioning that little incident in public.

Chilli Bean Wraps (BFF)

It's that time of the week again. It's Boy Food Friday. I cheated a little this week. I made a huge vat pot of 5-bean chilli earlier in the week and gave some to a friend who is having their kitchen done. It means BFF tonight is technically leftovers. Except that I bought tortilla wraps (should have made them, but had a hair appointment very important meeting scheduled) and assembled a few extra bits to jazz it all up.

We also had tortilla crisps, some chopped tomatoes/cucumber, diced cheddar (would you forgive me if I admitted that I couldn't be bothered to grate it?), creme fraiche (sshhhh, healthier than sour cream, I won't tell if you won't) and hot sauce.

I can't take the credit for the hot sauce, although I have tweaked the recipe very slightly. It is a thing of wonder. You simply whizz the following ingredients in a blender:

• a tin of tomatoes
• some lime juice
• some honey
• a good amount of fresh coriander
• as many chillies as you can handle

It tastes even better the next day, if it lasts that long.

I also got my ice-cream maker out of the cupboard. I haven't used it in quite a while which is disappointing when you consider that ice-cream is probably my favourite food. Even more than so chocolate. Or cake. Or even triple chocolate and sour cherry brownies. I made a dark chocolate gelato to use up the egg yolks left over from making a pavlova* for a BBQ tomorrow. I have a feeling the well scraped plates and bowls tell me that the gorgeous husband and the amazing sons are pretty full right now.

*The pavlova has just been consumed by us and some friends, but I managed to snap a photo before it was demolished. I can recommend mixing the whipped cream with low-fat greek yoghurt to make it slightly healthier. Which in my book just means that you can eat more.......

Dimpling....

Someone recently said that when I smile I am 'dimpling', on account of the very large dimples in my cheeks. I have yet to meet anyone** who has larger dimples than me, though I would love to do so. As a child I disliked them as they were so unusual. As an adult I have come to love them as they are so unique.  These are some of the things that have made me dimple today.....

1. Lunch with a wonderful friend in an Indian luncheon club.
2. The cat purring as he lay in a sun beam.
3. The gorgeous husband coming home early from work.
4. My fringe finally being trimmed.
5. Baking 'ricky toad' rock cakes for BFF.
6. The amazing sons happily playing with Lego.
7. The ping on my phone as friends messaged me over the day.

Little things that please me much.

** With the exception of Bebe, my late Grandmother. But mine are actually getting bigger as I get older, so I am pretty certain they will end up being even larger than hers! They are developing their own wrinkles too, but that is a whole other story.

Cannelloni

I do love Fridays and in particular Boy Food Friday. Today we had ricotta and spinach cannelloni and I even made my own pasta. I wasn't intending to make my own pasta but I couldn't find fresh lasagna sheets to cheat with in Tesco's this morning. So out came the KitchenAid and my Imperia Pasta Machine. I'd forgotten how easy it is to make pasta, why don't I do it more often?

Note to self - next time put a layer of the tomato sauce below the pasta to help stop the pasta slightly sticking to the bottom of the dish.

Just a bit of mozzarella (and parmesan) on the top, because we had 3/4 of a ball languishing leftover in the fridge.

We ate the pasta with a tomato salad, a rocket/leaf salad (I know, I know salad for BFF, appallingly healthy) and homemade garlic bread (to make up for serving the salad). Followed by a Hummingbird Cake Days rhubarb and almond loaf and some rhubarb yoghurt. All fed. All happy. All good.

Pirates

I've had a lot of fun this week making pirate cookie pops for a friend's little girl's birthday. That is a lot of apostrophes I know, but I think my grammar is accurate. These are like cake pops, but made using a simple sugar biscuit dough.

The tricky bit is the icing. You have to start by outlining your basic shape using a thicker piping consistency.

The black icing was not easy to colour but a mad dash to Sainsbury's helped.

Then you can start to 'flood' the different areas and add details such at the white spots on the bandannas. 

Please don't ask me what ethnicity these pirates are, the skin tone was particularly orange at one point and they were in danger of looking as if they had been given a dodgy fake tan!

Finally some more piping/flooding to create the facial details. Unfortunately the black icing bled a little into the surrounding colours despite the fact I left them to dry in between each stage.

These are in no way my own invention, I closely followed the instructions here. Yes, you read that correctly I 'followed instructions'. It was quite a novel experience for me as I'm sure the gorgeous husband would agree.

A short one today. I forgot to take a photo too. This was our meal this evening. Delicious, filling and quick. I made a few changes and substituted:

• the Puy lentils for lentilles vertes (very similar but a lot cheaper, be warned they are different to ordinary green lentils and recently I can only find them in Tesco)
• the parsley for coriander (a Chui household favourite)
• the creme fraiche for natural yoghurt (that's what was in the fridge)

And we all tucked in. Nigel Slater you are a genius.

Any good, my food-loving friend?

Any Excuse For Cake

Amazing son number one left the house on Friday morning smelling rather fragrant. It seemed he decided to liberally douse himself in the gorgeous husband's aftershave. I do feel for anyone he had to sit next to on the bus or in the classroom. Whilst I love the smell of this particular fragrance there is a limit as to how much is acceptable when wearing it, and the amazing son number one has yet to understand this. Oh the joys of teenagers.

Following on from this, I intercepted amazing son number two trying to take money to school. In his shoes. The unusual gait gave it away. I think it is a good job I discovered this before we left the house to walk the mile to school. Blisters or holes in his socks would have been inevitable and rather unfortunate. I think he has also gone to school with Diprobase (remember this stuff?) in his hair. Don't ask me why. A good hair wash is definitely needed when he gets home.

To help cope with the SHENANIGANS I made cake. Obviously so that I could eat cake. But it was also to practise making a layer cake before a friend comes to make one with me on Sunday. Believe it or not I have never previously made a layer cake. Shocking I know. The cake is now no more. I didn't eat it all I hasten to add. I'm not telling how much I did eat, but it wasn't quite all of it. I might have to make more cake soon.

I followed Delia's all-in-one recipe which was pretty straightforward, especially using my KitchenAid. However, the frosting I made up as I went along. It was amazing, but I now have only a vague notion how to recreate it. I'm certain it involved various amounts of butter, dark chocolate, golden syrup, condensed milk, icing sugar and cocoa. I'm sure any quantities of those ingredients melted and mixed together will taste pretty delicious though.

Fill 'Em Up - Cheesy Tuna Pasta Bake

I've had a request for more recipes on here from a food-loving friend. Now, I love cooking and baking but I don't love writing down my 'in my head' recipes. I do link to the ones I use from recipes books that are published online by the author (you see, I'm both lazy and respecting of copyright), but I find remembering and writing out ingredients and methods quite difficult. I think it is because when I cook I often don't weigh or measure or time, I just do it. So trying to tell someone else what I used and what I did so that they can possibly recreate it leaves me feeling responsible for their next meal in case it all goes horribly wrong as they try to recreate my kitchen bumblings.

Fill 'Em Up is how it goes in our house - they are boys and they need feeding. Boy Food Friday is a weekly indulgence that can't be repeated every day due to budget, time and waistline constraints. Fill 'Em Up is what we eat on a school night, a work night, a no-time-to-cook night and it's usually simple and fuss free. So, this is what we had for tea/dinner/supper last night.....Cheesy Tuna Pasta Bake.

Personally I'm not sure I can think of anything worse than cheese and tuna combined. I'm not always very keen on tinned tuna. Call it one of my idiosyncrasies if you like. Sometimes I will eat it and other times I won't. It's probably another foible from boarding school. I do love cheese though. But the thought of cheese with tuna. No thank you. But I know the amazing sons love it, so I whipped this up either side of piano and trumpet lessons for tea. There's leftovers for tonight too - that I do like. And despite my doubts it was actually very tasty and the gorgeous husband enjoyed it too. It's not fine dining, it's not haute cuisine, but it is filling and cheap and simple to make.

What You Will Need:

• butter
• plain flour
• milk
• cheese - lots, grated or cut up into small chunks
• tinned tuna
• pasta shapes
• sweetcorn
• tortilla crisps - crushed

What You Do:

1. Make a basic cheese sauce by melting the butter in a large sauce pan over a low heat.
2. Add the flour to make a thick paste.
3. Then slowly add the milk, whisking and stirring all the time until all the milk is added and it just starts to gently bubble.
4. Stir in the cheese until it is melted and season with salt and pepper.
5. Stir in the sweetcorn and the tinned tuna. Just add as much as you like.
6. Cook and drain your pasta and rinse in cold water.
7. Add your pasta to your cheesy sauce and put into an ovenproof dish.
8. Sprinkle with the crushed tortilla crisps and a bit of cheese.
9. Put in to the oven at about 180C (fan) for about 30 minutes or until bubbling.
10. Serve to hungry boys and listen to the silence as they tuck in. 

Pie and Peas

Well, it's Boy Food Friday in our house yet again. I decided to try another recipe from Dan Lepard's book Short & Sweet, and it didn't disappoint. Particularly the crispy pastry lid - no sogginess at our table thank you.

I made the chicken pie albeit with a few changes based on what I had in the fridge/cupboards/freezer. And served it with mushy peas. If Boy Food Friday is all about keeping the males in my house fed and happy, I think I succeeded!

I earned my pie and peas with a 10k (ok, 7 miles) run at lunchtime, including 3 trips up and down the infamous Park Steps to get my heart rate up. It's good to get back to my running, but I'm mostly pleased that I found the Steps and found my way home. Remembering new running routes is not a strength. This running poster sums up my day really rather well.

Ricky Toad

The gorgeous husband recently bought me Dan Lepard's amazing baking book Short & Sweet. I'm not sure why I have waited so long to start using it but today I made 2 recipes - one savoury and one sweet. The amazing sons had a taste of the Blue Cheese and Oatmeal Biscuits and gave them their seal of approval.

 They have yet to know about the Rocky Road Rock Cakes I then whipped up. I might not tell and keep them all for me. Thanks to the predictive text on my iPhone Rocky Road is known as Ricky Toad in our house. This is a new take on an old favourite for me, and I LIKE IT! Now, to share or not to share?

You've Got To Be Impressed!

Amazing son number 2 has quite brilliantly outdone himself again in the SHENANIGANS department. Upon discovering a £5 note in his school bag I interrogated quizzed him about where it had come from. You probably need to understand that his piggy bank is (I think!) hidden away after he raided it and spent £10 on chocolate after sneaking up to the cafe at our gym when he was meant to be swimming.

So, it seems the £5 was actually the change from a £20 note. Apparently he took his old felt tips to school and sold them to another child for £20. TWENTY POUNDS FOR OLD FELT TIPS!!! This boy has a huge future in the business world.

Not so cleverly he then spent £15 of his newly found wealth on sweets when allowed to walk home from school by himself one day. However, I am very proud of the fact that he shared these sweets with his friends - he is a very generous child, much like the gorgeous husband.

He was also recently heard to mutter (after passing a shop buying gold) "cash for gold, I wonder if we have any gold at home". I'll be hiding wearing all my jewellery from now on then. Good job he is utterly charming and has a smile that makes your heart melt!

Crunchy Carrot Salad

This is a new favourite in our family. Instead of coleslaw I make this and it is so much nicer. Plus it has chillies in it which is ALWAYS a good thing. It never lasts very long so I always make a huge bowl. Although I think that just encourages us to eat more instead of having lots left over. Here's how to make it.

What You Need:

• lots of grated carrots
• some spring onions finely sliced
• sunflower seeds
• pumpkin seeds
• raisins or sultanas or whatever dried fruit you fancy
• fresh coriander finely chopped
• several chillies finely sliced
• lime juice
• olive oil
• honey

What You Do:

1. Mix the carrots, spring onions, seeds, dried fruit, coriander and chillies in a large bowl. I leave the chilli seeds in, makes mealtimes a little more exciting - you never know who will be the first to bite a chilli seed.

2. In another container whisk together the lime juice, olive oil and honey according to taste. We like lots of lime juice, nice and zingy.

3. Pour over the dressing and mix well. Taste (just one spoonful mind) and add more of whichever ingredient you fancy.

4. Try not to eat all in one sitting - this will keep well for a few days in the fridge. I think it tastes better on day 2. I can't tell you if it is even better still on day 3, we've never had any left by then.

Didn't I Say Never Again?

So amazing son number 2 was 9 a few weeks ago and tomorrow we are taking him with some friends for a climbing wall party. Despite my previous misgivings about making more cake pops for the sons'  birthdays I couldn't resist. However, due to a broken hand (out of plaster, in a splint, still sore, but healing nicely, thanks for asking) I am somewhat limited in what I can do. So I did cheat a little and ordered a Lego ice cube mould. I used this to make Lego brick cake pops. I think he will be pleased.  Cake, Lego, chocolate combined - can't argue with that really.

Birthday Brownies

Amazing son number 2 turns 9 on Monday and is currently out socialising for the day. My plaster cast means the proper birthday cake (yes, I am thinking cake pops again despite my previous misgivings) is going to have to wait until his party at the end of the month. I can still mange to make brownies though, and asked amazing son number 1 if he wanted to make them with me for his brother's birthday. After our embarrassing little bus journey a few days ago I wasn't sure whether he would actually want to be seen with me in the kitchen, especially if I was wearing an apron! I am glad to say it's clearly OK to be seen with your mother if chocolate is involved. I might take to carrying some with me at all times to ensure I'm less embarrassing to him in future. Particularly on buses.

ssshhhh....more SHENANIGANS!

I thought it was a bit too quiet recently. It was making me a little uneasy. But I can now relax as I have uncovered the amazing sons' most recent bout of SHENANIGANS. What can I tell you? The abridged version is as follows:

• A new bottle of bubble bath practically used up in a single bath, but cunningly refilled with water so all appears as it should.
• A box of chocolate eclairs belonging to the gorgeous husband mysteriously missing from the kitchen.
• The same goes for a box of Thornton's fudge that was mine.
• Oh, and likewise for several chunky kit-kats, some large bars of cooking chocolate, a big bag of tortilla crisps and strangely the bran flakes kept on top of the fridge.
• And apples and oatcakes (the 'healthy' options in their packed lunches) stuffed in various places around the playroom and in various states of decay. Nice.
• Holes deliberately made in different articles of school uniform. Please don't ask me why.

Splendid. They are on top form aren't they! The weekend is going to be fun I'm sure. I have got a bottle of wine already chilling in the fridge I can assure you.

And, a question for you. As a parent of a now teenaged son, I would like to know if it is normal for them to follow you onto a bus and then proceed to sit as far away from you as possible? No, I wasn't dressed embarrassingly, or singing or dancing my way along the aisle to my seat, and just moments before we had been having a perfectly normal conversation (be advised that I do use the term 'conversation' loosely in this context). Odd. Or to be expected?

Catch Up

It's been unexpectedly quiet here recently. By that I obviously mean that there has been little in the way of SHENANIGANS from the amazing sons. And by that I clearly mean that there has been little in the way of DISCOVERING any SHENANIGANS as I'm sure there will have been some.

The gorgeous husband is recovering from a nasty sickness bug. He had the audacity to initially blame his illness on a pearl barley mushroom risotto I made. The cheek! I'm very glad he is starting to feel better because I am needing a little bit of help with a few things.

I've broken a bone in my hand. It's a long and silly story how that happened, and the initial plaster cast was ever so slightly over-dramatic. Thankfully I'm now wearing this:

No driving or (gulp) exercising for 3 weeks. I'm off to get a bus pass this morning. You've got to laugh.

Sticky Bottoms and Frilly Feet

I have finally defeated my nemesis - MACARONS. I spent last weekend working on my campaign to successful bake them. Saturday's lemon version were tasty, but ugly beyond belief not very pretty. Sunday's dark chocolate and raspberry variety were a beauty to behold complete with charming frilly feet. Their bottoms were sadly a little sticky, but nothing a couple of minutes longer in the oven wouldn't have solved, and did nothing to detract from how good they tasted and looked. I'm not sure whether my euphoria was as a result of their success or the sugar high from eating so many. Either way I know I need to try again very soon to ensure it wasn't a fluke.

Boy Food Friday

Boy Food Friday or #bff in Twitterspeak is quickly becoming an institution in our house. I think it started over Christmas and New Year, and there seems to be no going back. It basically means that on a Friday I cook a meal that the males in the house will love even more than the usual fare they are served. This often means chips. I should probably point out that Sunday night is also Chip Night chez Chui. I'm now starting to think that our diet is not as healthy as I thought. Tonight I made Nigel Slater's toad in the hole with onion gravy and peas. We are now all "stuffed as a puff" and can't even manage the millionaire's shortbread I also rustled up earlier in the week. Success!

Please note the pyjamas and dressing gowns. These are essential for #bff - we have a very strict dress code. Slippers are acceptable.