a little bit of cooking

things have been very hectic here lately so we've slowed up in the evenings to do a bit of cooking.

not from this book but from the tv programme on 4od

I really want all the children to be able to cook for themselves by the time they leave home and these meals are even uncomplicated enough (but interesting enough) for my seventeen year old so I'm going to buy him the book for the next time he's home alone (he can cook meat to his heart's content then!)

we cooked this. 

I should point out that this is a picture of Jamie's pie not ours as ours was eaten too quickly for us to photograph it

It was utterly delicious, the best recipe we've tried (we had to use puff pastry as we had no filo, so not authentic but delish anyway)

and today classic school cookery, rock buns, I don't think I've eaten these since I was school age!  We used the recipe from this book which I love despite all the meat recipes.  She just has some great ideas for people like me who are never organized!

We're away celebrating J's sister's 40th this weekend so we will have to wait until next week to make Jamie's mushroom risotto!  Yum!!

Teaching each other

Teague has just started piano lessons.  It was something he suddenly decided he wanted to do and he seems to be really focused on practicing

Annis would also like piano lessons but we can't really afford two lots at the moment so Teague has started teaching her, and he is a wonderful teacher.  More patient than me (that might not mean a lot!)  and they don't seem to bicker at all while they're learning together.

I think this is one of the nicer things about home learning.  Sharing their skills with each other seems so much more meaningful than simply showing me what they can do. 

and we don't have to pay for a second lot of piano lessons yet ;o)

Annis on gardening

i'm Annis and i'm ten years old and i'm guest blogging.

we have been doing some gardening at a friends house.

she has a BIG garden and four cats and two dogs.      

we had to move some top soil (below) down a hill in

a wheel barrow.            

                                          

we are sharing everything we grow. these are our seedlings we have

quite a lot of seedlings and are biggest is kale (eurrgh).

this is Tulouse she is sausage dog cross jack russel.

she is very friendly.

this is kitsie pitsie he's very friendly but a bit clumsy.

this our little plot and the poly tunnel with rased beds in.

Perfect stitching, but not mine

I am slightly astounded by the perfection of this stitching.  Not least because it's my 'I don't like hand sewing' daughter's perfect stitching.

when Annis asked me if she could make a purse for her auntie's 40th and I suggested she find a pattern to embroider onto it she said she'd changed her mind because dad was taking some metal poles apart with an allen key and she'd rather do that

Not to be defeated I brought out the exciting iron on transfers (it feels like magic!) and she came back (after playing with metal poles for quite a while) and chose a pattern that's definitely too big for a purse and proceeded to stitch far more perfectly than I ever do!

I know this bird will look beautiful when she finishes it but I don't know what we will make it into for her auntie.  Oh to be able to move from metal work to perfect stitching!  Oh to be ten years old again!!

flowers without gardens

Because we don't have a garden, more of a yard with lots of steps, we have to use our town parks for garden stuff.  The kids and Jason do grow food with some friends on a plot of land, but this time we wanted flowers

so this is Morrab gardens, full of beautiful flowering magnolia trees at the moment

and of course daffodils, we sketched and sketched, there are so many beautiful flowers there.

we photographed too

We feel lucky to have such a beautiful garden a five minute walk away

we did have some crocuses in a pot in our yard but they died so quickly

and I just love magnolia trees when they're flowering.  It feels like summer is on its way...

sporty days

I have never been a very sporty type, I enjoy swimming but am not too much into running around but my whole family seem to love running around.  In fact when they can't run around they do get a little stir crazy and bickery.

so, a little bit of sun over Marazion beach and

french cricket, which I think is a vicious game but the children love (perhaps because it's vicious).

I escaped lightly with a bat bashed finger but I have to admit we did have a lot of fun and we really needed a bit of outdoors, it was definitely tooooo cold to stand around.

and my inventive sport obsessed children have created a sort of table tennis court behind the sofa.  Are those library books?!!  So I am going to have to learn to love sport!  Or sit and knit on the beach once the weather's warm enough.

Falling like dominoes

that's what is happening to the peeps in our house at the moment

first one then the next then it all seems to start again.  So much coughing!!

We're all stuck in the house on sunny days driving each other mad

So I took a trip around the house 

Annis's disturbing and yet sooo cool gallery.  I wish I could paint like this I just love them

a post card from friends we miss living far away from us

Teague's strange little stage with a solitary actor

a gorgeous cake plate my nanna has given me because she doesn't really bake anymore, which is sad because my nanna's baking is part of my childhood

a lovely sandwich plate from J's mum because she had too much pottery

two pretty fairtrade glass bowls that Annis and I bought before christmas to make the table look prettier

and three men in a boat, reminding me that summer is on it's way and we won't be ill forever, even if it feels a bit like that right now. 

And now soup making is called for