what's for tea mum's posterous

what's for tea mum's posterous

Lorna Harris  //  I am a mum seeking a spot for her musings on trivia to while away the day, distract her from the dreaded housework and generally get things off her chest

 
Mar 14 / 12:05pm

My Whippet Blue

What are you on about??  bit of a saucy bedroom arrangement?  an unwell dog? no, none of the above.  My Whippet Blue is my friend Sarah's new enterprise - go to her website and have a look http://mywhippetblue.myshopify.com/ and see her lovely pinafores for little girls.  Bright colours and pretty designs - so nice to see something different - Boden it ain't !!!  Alternatively catch her at Spitalfields Market
this Saturday from 11am til 5pm where she will be show-casing her range of dresses, pyjamas, skirts and accessories.
 
Mar 14 / 11:59am

Comfort food for a 6 year old

Today my youngest daughter was not very well and so she had the day off school.  On those days I really love being a mummy.  I just potter round the house, doing ironing, making hot Ribena drinks for the invalid, having an invalidy chat and generally getting a few jobs done (somehow it is different to when the kids are on holiday when they just annoy me cos they just want to watch telly and I feel I should be doing something improving with them but really I have just got loads of boring jobs to do!!!!  am I allowed to say that?).   Anyway, as the day progressed 'the sick one' felt a bit better and we ended up watching Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard.  I only saw a little bit but the one cake my daughter really liked the sound of was his Marmalade Tray Bake.   Personally I liked the sound of the addition of Cointreau but anyway, am going to give it a go. (PS Sorry about the rather large ingredients font - bit of a technical hitch - and I am going to leave out the cherries - cherries and orange? ewww !!)  
By Eric Lanlard from Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard

A wonderfully orangey cake with a sticky marmalade glaze from Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard

INGREDIENTS

175g unsalted butter
175gGOLDEN CASTER SUGAR
3 EGGS
250G SALF-RAISING FLOUR
2 TSP BAKING POWDER
3 TBSP MILK
2 TABSP ORANGE LIQUER
2 TBSP THICK CUT MARMALADE (PLUS EXTRA TO GLAZE)
100G GLACE CHERRIES
2 TBSP APRICOT JAM

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas mark 4. Grease and line a shallow baking tray with baking paper.

  2. Using a mixer, beat the butter and the sugar together until creamy. Add the eggs in one at a time and mix, then sieve in the flour and baking powder and fold to combine.

  3. Add in the milk, liqueur and marmalade and fold in the chopped cherries by hand. Turn the mixture out into the prepared tin and flatten down.

  4. Bake for 35-40 minutes then remove from the oven and leave to cool.

  5. For the glaze, melt some apricot jam in a bowl over a boiling pan of water. While it's melting, spread an even layer of marmalade over the surface of the sponge. Then, using a pastry brush, glaze the top of the cake with the apricot jam.

 
Mar 14 / 11:48am

Pease Pudding Hot

Peas...they are green...and that is why my kids won't eat them... but then again I can only really get them to eat one vegetable and that is carrots.  Personally I love peas and that is why I love this fantastic soup  - PEA and PESTO that my friend Katy cooked the other day when we met up together in order for her to help me sort my work life out.  We didn't quite manage that but had a lovely lunch together and I suggest you try this Nigella recipe.  It is from her Express book and was one of those things that didn't look very appetising to make when flicking through the book but is really delicious...try it.  Waitrose fresh pesto is delicious with it or homemade of course !!  

INGREDIENTS

  • 750ml water
  • 375g frozen peas
  • 2 spring onions, trimmed but whole
  • 1 teaspoon Maldon salt or 1/2 teaspoon table salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon lime juice
  • 4 x 15ml tablespoons fresh pesto (from tub not jar)
  • 2 x 15ml tablespoons pine nuts (optional)

METHOD

Serves: Makes enough for 2 hearty bowl
  1. Fill a kettle and put it on to boil. When it's boiled, measure the amount you need into a pan, or the small Flameware Marmitout, and put on the hob to come back to the boil.
  2. Fill a thermos (if using) with the remaining hot water.
  3. Add the frozen peas, spring onions, salt and lime juice to the pan/Marmitout and let everything bubble together for 7 minutes.
  4. Discard the spring onions and blitz the peas and their liquid with the pesto in a blender.
  5. If using a thermos, then empty out the hot water and then pour in the soup, making sure you screw the top on securely.  Otherwise, our the liquidised soup back into the Marmitout and keep warm over a gentle heat until you are ready to ladle into bowls.
  6. If using, tip the pinenuts into the Marmitout lid, or a small frying pan, and toast over a medium heat until they begin to colour.  Sprinkle over each bowl of soup.
  7. Additional information - for vegetarians check the ingredients in the pesto as some brands may use cheese containing rennet.

(download)

 
Feb 17 / 1:38am

Just a little something

I love the website, Folksy.  There is always something interesting to look at and buy.  If I had an iPhone or Oyster card, would love one of these handmade leather covers by Tovi   http://folksy.com/items/2753058-Leather-iPhone-ALL-iTouch-ALL-case-Geometric
 
Feb 14 / 10:59am

I need a job !!

Aaarrgghhh....two days into half term and I am back onto thinking that I need more in my life in terms of brain activity.  Last week I sent off my CV to a few local job agencies but having no response, not even an acknowledgement, I think that I will need to pop down in person.  In fact I always knew I should have done that in the first place but was rather hoping that the ideal job would just plop into lap without much effort.  Anyway, half term has decided me...........as demonstrated by taking out my frustrations on this blog..........G'E'S A JOB MISTER !!!

 
May 6 / 9:51am

I've said it before...but I'll say it again..

I just love the Woman's hour newsletter - just a little fluff to brighten Friday afternoon - read on, you know its worth it http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/womans-hour/newsletter/
 
Nov 12 / 10:05am

vouchers, vouchers everywhere and not a present (to drink) !!

Oh dear, I am feeling all baa humbug and basically a bit sad (there's a surprise I hear you say, you are always so chipper).....starting to gear up to go Xmas shopping etc (don't tell me, you've done yours already) but always do like to get a few clues from the rellies before heading off,  just in case my ideas have already been dealt with at recent birthdays etc.  However, to my distress the response all round has been "vouchers or money please" (from teenage neices/nephews - fair enough - right up to aged parents in law).

Now I don't know about you but just being handed a wad of notes for Christmas/birthday just doesn't do it for me.  First off, I am completely hopeless with vouchers....either losing them or not losing them but forgetting to take them shopping with me everytime just in case I am near the relevant shop - it usually goes something like this - get voucher, go shopping, choose a thing, take to till, realise not got voucher with me, buy thing anyway, still got voucher, loose voucher !!!

Secondly, it just doesn't feel like you are putting any thought into the present - and that is sort of what getting someone a present is about isn't it.  But then again, I suppose you are allowing that person to choose something they'd really like so maybe that is more thoughtful.  I think it is just being given money is linked with a time when I turned 40 and my parents in law gave me £15 in cash so I could buy what I wanted and I suppose I felt that having known me since I was 18, that somehow it was almost as if they couldn't be bothered to think about a present - is that unfair and nasty of me? probably.

Alternatively, maybe they are all trying to tell me something - that my present purchasing is totally rubbish and that they'd rather choose for themselves.

The other dilemma with giving money/voucher is that difficult question - how much do you give??  Whereas you might buy your sister a lovely book you know she'd enjoy and a really nice necklace (it was a bargain) that all adds up to £10 (I did say it was a bargain) - can you really just give her a £10 voucher ??  looks a bit tight doesn't it.  My sister in law has asked for a White Stuff voucher - blimey, there probably isn't anything in there for £10 !!

Also, nothing beats watching someones face as they open their present that you have chosen and they really like the book you've given or necklace etc etc.  Can't imagine anyone is going to get very animated....."oh thank you soooo much, I love it" .....about being handed an envelope (especially if when they open it they think that being given £15 is a bit tight-fisted) !!

Anyway,  shouldn't complain, it is VERY easy Christmas shopping.......JOB DONE
 
Nov 6 / 1:02am

We are all in this together - really?

The recent Govt. spending review is obviously very necessary and everyone is ready for cuts and to do their bit I am sure but is it just me (very probably) or are the recent proposed changes in Child Benefit completely unfair?   Now don't get me wrong, it is pretty obvious that those earning over the 40% tax threshold probably do not need a government handout everyweek but why cannot this proposal be implemented in an equitable way - by which I mean that there should not be the anomally that if a family has 2 workers, both earning under the 40% limit ( a possible total of £84,000) they would still get the child benefit payments but if there is only one worker in the family unit but that person earns just over £44K then the family would not get it.   I am not often moved to write to my MP, but on this occasion I did and his response indicated that he thought that I was cross at no longer having a spare bit of cash.  Not at all, I accept that our family should not have this money as we can probably muddle through (although it is very handy and is very often needed) but I just feel that they have not thought this proposal through and if they propose to implement it unfairly it will always be disagreed with and any compelling argument in favour of it looses its impact.   It seems to me that the reason that the proposal can be applied to those earning over £45K is that presumably the Inland Revenue can just do a little PAYE/Self Assessment search and find all those people earning over the limit and just write to them asking them to declare whether they/their partner is in receipt of Child Benefit.  However, my MP says that for those families with the high joint income "the only way to assess such joint income families would be to create a new complex, costly and intrusive means test, bringing every family in the country into a new tax credits system where they had to provide details of their household income every year" - really?  Why can't the Inland Revenue just write to those people too asking them to declare who they are married to/cohabit with and then link everyone up - just like they are doing to those earning over the high tax bracket.    Of course, the reason they don't want to do this is that this will cost money - and by the time they have written to everyone concerned, chased up responses, administered fine letters/taken people to court (surely not?)  for not responding etc etc it will probably wipe out the savings altogether.  This may be so, but if they are going to get rid of a benefit that they deem too expensive to carry on long-term then they need to get on top of who gets what and have a properly linked up Revenue/Benefits system is probably what they need anyway (of course it all does smack a bit of '1984').   Anyway, enough ranting, but whilst Mr Lilley believes "that Ministers are absolutely right to take the view that we are all in this together", it is clear that some of us are more in it together than others !!!
 
Jul 15 / 2:31pm

if you are female and want to subscribe to something free....this is it...in fact even if you are a man

I love it, every Thursday night (and especially rejuventaiting after I have jsut spent 3 hours of my life watching a year 6 school play) I get a little pick me up and here it is, the Woman's Hour newsletter and it can be yours too for the fantastic price of nothing....always brings a smile to my face....just do it http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/womans-hour/newsletter/