You bakey cakey?

Recipe for Muffin Loaf

Before I write the recipe, I will have to include my special chef terms that you may not be familiar with.

Wang it in is a technical term for placing the ingredient(s) into said vessel if one can't be arsed with measuring out.

Whack 'em together is another interchangeable term for correctly and accurately mixing in ingredients.

2 cups of flour (plain or self-raising; to be honest, it makes little difference.)

3/4 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of oil (I use sunflower)

3/4 cup of milk

3 teasp of baking powder

1/2 teasp of salt

1 egg (fresh from hen's backside is preferable, other that that, any is acceptable)

1 cup of whatever ingredients you want the flavour to be.

Today's cakey bakey is is Lemon Muffin Loaf

First, wang in 2 cups of flour

Shove in 3/4 cups of sugar, more if you need extra sweetness

Baking powder in

Then chuck salt in and give it a bit of a thrash together

(At this point, you should probably add in the dry ingredients - whatever fruit or chocolate you have.)

Add the egg, oil and milk.

Next, zest a lemon

and wang it in with the juice of a lemon (save the last couple of squeezes for the icing sugar)

Whack it all together and plop in a loaf tin (or muffin cups if you want individual cakeys)

Pop in a pre-heated 200°C oven for 15-20 minutes. 

Enlist the help of a curly girl for icing duty (if you have no curly girl, you'll have to improvise)

Make up the icing as the packet dictates. Or, if you're like me and far too lazy to sift, just wang it in a jug and mix it with a little lemon juice and water.

Spread on top of cakey, lick the drips/spoon/jug and stand back in awe at your cakey bakey masterpiece.

*You could save a little zest to garnish the top, but if you have forgot and composted the spent lemon already, no panic. Just flippin' eat the cakey anyway. It won't taste any different without zest.

Thank you for joining the no-frills, no-shit bakery class this fine Sunday afternoon

Sunday stroll

A smiling pixie

Gorgeous trailing fuchsias we spotted

Oh no - who filled my backpack with something so cute and heavy??

Corn on the cob

A cutesy cow

Mid-tantrum I think...

Family monkey shot - see the two pixies holding hands? Melts my heart how loving they are to each other.

Yumble scrumble in our tumbles...foraged blackberry muffin loaf with a healthy slathering of icing on top :)

Perfect day :)

Big Cup, Little Cup...

Mine and Tiddly Pom's bedtime chamomile tea. Because we're ladies you know :)

And her new Beddy Bear. Daddy has some for sale so he gave me and Tiddly Pom one each. They are lovely and cuddly and microwaveable with lavender wheat inside.

Here is my new cuddle partner :)

Babies Don't Keep

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo

Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

- Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

My afternoon

We had a lovely afternoon stroll out this afternoon to Granny's Bay in St Annes and Fairhaven Lake too,

Lots of lovely fresh air. Well actually, it was chuffing cold. See below for proof.

The blanket-wrapped Tiddly Pom (Tiddly Wink was snug in the pram having an afternoon snoozle).

On the way back, we got ice cream and were just sat in the car overlooking the bay when I spotted a lady behaving a bit oddly.

She looked like she was staggering a bit, and was on the grass, teetering on the edge of a drop towards the sea. Mark said that it looked like she was playing with a child, but I wasn't convinced.

I left the car and walked towards her, and saw her drop off the ledge of grass onto the sand, out of view. Another chap had also reached her at the same time. After a few minutes of trying to talk to her, it became obvious she was two sheets to the wind. But the thing that got me was that she was so upset. Her eyes just radiated sadness and she held onto my hand and just looked so sorrowful, I can still see her face now this evening.

She was incredibly tearful and told me she was drunk. Then a man who said he was her husband walked towards her and said he would take her home and put her to bed. I have no doubt he was her husband, that's not a concern. Actually, I'm not sure what is but I feel sick at the thought of her face. Me and the other chap walked her to the car and helped her in - she really was hammered, but more so in a distraught way and when I helped her in, she took my hand again and said she was dying. I'm not sure whether she meant metaphorically, due to her inebriation, or she really was sick...I guess I'll never know. I asked her husband if she drunk often. He said she used to, but not for a few years.

Her husband showed little concern to be honest. He said he'd been out at work all day. Mark said she may have been heading for the sea. I personally don't think she would have made it that far - she was too out of it.

No one else on the beach or promenade even bothered their arses when it was clear this lady was in trouble, falling over etc. People just seemed to stare. I would not have thought twice about helping someone. At all. Full stop. What is the matter with folk these days?

I had to blog this because I can't get it out of mind and should I have done more, maybe asked for a telephone number to check on her tomorrow or something?

I hope she's ok.

Sunday Post Offices

Our bargain find in the charity shop this week...£2..99 and YES I know it's shitty plastic, but I figured we'd saved it from a life on the tip, cluttering up with the crap of the world.

And little girls LOVE pretend things.

And even smaller girls love to touch/swipe/destroy anything that looks a bit interesting.

We made some stamps by cutting out coloured pictures from a magazine.

And we posted things all over the world - it was mighty cheap too, just "one" for everything - I highly recommend the Post Office at our house.

And the first carrot from our harvest this year. They taste great.

And I know what you're thinking, seeing my children in their night attire. Again. And the answer is that we rarely get dressed before midday. Too much playing, cooking, baking, mess-making and being silly to worry about yet again answering the door looking like an old hag.

Jamtastic!

From Friday's forage (does it count that the father-in-law foraged for them??) Anyhoooo, greengages (and obviously there were slightly more than those above...)

Bubbly simmery yummity yum

Into jars...

...and on my toast. In. My. Belly. Oh yeah.

*NB I didn't take any pictures of the sticky children/kitchen/floor/dog so don't think I'm a tidy, smug chuffer here please.

7 years today

7 years of marriage

9 years together

2 beautiful babies

Sunshine on my darkest days

Love, unconditionally

Happiness, unreservedly

Snoring, for free

Hardworking 

Raging carnivore

Genuine and honest

Amazing daddy

Potato killer

DIY genius 

My blue-eyed boy

I love you

This was the song for our first dance after our wedding. Says it all.

xxx

Postie parcels

Via Facebook, Weleda were giving away free Wild Rose-scented soaps. Although in the past I have been a bit of a product brand tart, I am rather partial and loyal to Weleda - their products do exactly what they say they will, with no fluff and nonsense.

So this morning's postie arrival of my parcel was met with excitement

Can't wait to try it out.

And another two parcels

Our weekly Graze box. If you haven't tried them, you can get one for free using this code 6CCMRBD3 - we get a discount of our box if you use this code, and then you can pass on your own code to receive discounts for your future boxes. Excellent nibbly bits instead of reaching straight for the choccie (or in my case, eat this first, then reach for the choccie...)

Anyway, the boxes don't usually last so long in our house, with Tiddly Pom claiming the olives straight away before Daddy sees them.

And this lovely parcel from Gill - I love Spiezia and haven't tried these products yet.

So bath time this evening will be a test and play session, followed by opening the Graze box with maybe a little glass of wine :)

And as it is once again raining up north, my children have informed me this is what they will be doing for the remainder of the day...

Playing semi-naked on the rocking horse together. Oh to be little again.