Happy New Year 2014!

Its 8pm and all three children are high on the excitement of going out on New Years Eve.
I'd be more than delighted to have them home and sleep normally, they have all their lives to do the NYE thing, but seem to be the only one who thinks so among friends etc, so off we go. Will deal with the crankiness and tiredness tomorrow. Hopefully all fine and they will play until post midnight.
Meanwhile Happy New Year all, lots of health and happiness in 2014!
Three cheers :)

Unrelated pleasure givers..... stuffed squid and Christmas cactus

Two unrelated things - this is the Christmas cactus that was struggling along since I bought it at the church fair last Christmas, forgotten about in the toilet ledge, occasionally watered, and then, beginning December, these pink things started appearing and this is the current pic of the plant - such a pretty flower, from me, who is not a gardener/plant lover.  Its very little, around a handspan, but has been currently promoted to upstairs toilet shelf, with my mum's cross stitch thingie underneath. Currently seen in Ikea and Morrisons, but this appearing from the wasted looking cactus is soo pretty.

Second surprise/pleasure giver/whatever was the arrival of a friend of these gorgeous stuffed squids late last night, they are divine......never had anything like them, think they are prawns and tentacles chopped up inside with something like mole masala. Everything's melt in the mouth and something H (who's tasted everything Goan possible, or so he thought) has never had in its entirety.
Gorgeous, and didnt know the lady could cook like this. Feni added to sorpotel she says, makes the difference. Told her the cookbook should be out in 6 months.
Little things in the middle of this mad week of sorting the eldest's parties.

Christmas pudding in the slow cooker

Merry Belated Christmas!!
After a mad 4-5 days, finally a semblance of normality in our house. The children have decided their favorite thing out of the pile of presents is the ubiquitous Mario Party (Mummy, it has to be the 9). They've seen it in many friends houses and have wanted one for yonks. The strange bit is it was given on Christmas eve as a reward for stuff at school, and has over ridden every other present received. Our house has finally succumbed to the Mario mania or whatever.
Did a goose for Christmas lunch, turned out fantastic and is going to become a must have every year I think. Love the brown meat, the 2.5 hours it took to cook, the non dryness, the lovely goose fat for the potatoes etc.
Had sorpotel next day for lunch before visitors went back.
Then the Christmas pudding, H loves it, its the only Christmas dessert Ive had in the Uk in all the years I've lived here and I dont like it much. H said we must have it as a tradition sort of thing? Read up a few recipes, did it in the slow cooker and it was loooooovely, moist and all the kids ate it too as a first. Must try, lovely and moist and much less fat/sugar than I thought.
Didnt get to take a pic of the final product but this is it being mixed with the non breadcrumbs bits of bread on the top. And in the slow cooker with no string around it.
Here is the basic recipe.

Butter for greasing
100g sugar ( I used light brown)
100g  suet
450gm raisins
50 g plain flour (used self raising)
50g fresh wet white bread chunks
Grated zest of one orange
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
small pinch salt
2 eggs
50ml rum
 2 pint pudding bowl
tin foil
I mixed everything together, got everyone to stir and put it in a Pyrex bowl. Covered with two layers of foil and put it on a tin biscuit cutter. Steamed for 7 hours on high. No refrigeration required. Serves 8

 

Started batch 2 of the kulkuls and Christmas pudding in the slow cooker!

 Kulkuls in progress, I've now tweaked the recipe to add a bit more sugar and a bit more semolina/rava...... this is the result of more than an hour of shaping, with the children and H helping....?
Wish it would be quicker. I've done a fruit cake, which took 15 mins of prep and then the baking.

 Fortunately, the end result wasnt as dark brown as my usual,figured out how to be patient and let the kulkuls fry on low heat for longer.
Unfortunately a quarter of what I've made is finished by children who think its the best thing to happen to food on a Sat (I think its forgetting to feed them a full lunch and their empty tummies).

This is my oldest's shortbread, made into smaller shapes using a plastic bottle lid. Just flour butter and sugar, nothing else, baked for 8 mins. Tastes gorgeous, suggested she dip half into melted chocolate.
A new addition to our Christmas sweets.

Not to forget the Christmas pudding I've tried in the slow cooker, its been cooking since afternoon and hopefully will turn out ok. Much easier to do than I expected, the proof is in the ........

Tomorrow is time for the rose cookies - notoriously difficult I've heard and seen, never tried. Also the marzipan penguins. To post pics later.

Our attempt at handmade cards

I've wanted to do the handmade cards by the children for years now, never got down to it until last weekend, when the supposedly too many packs of M&S/WH Smith cards vanished.
Have we got more friends/family since last year to send cards to was our first thought, no, of course not, its the children who do. Cue getting out the paint, shapes etc and attempts to create something Christmassy Many opinions, views, ideas etc but finally got some done.
Unfortunately, the children's cards have now taken over the lounge, lots more cards to be written - by tomorrow or Friday. So, am I doing another round of paint, cutting, sticking etc - hopefully not and its back to M&S this afternoon. Its lovely to see the children so excited about their own cards, and making them, but given that each card takes a while, I'd like to do it when we have more time. Not in the middle of all the Christmas plays, choir performances etc etc.
Need to start our sweets nowww - the kulkul ingredients have been on the countertop for days now, should be home and free for more than 30 mins this evening......

Already the 10th of December......2 weeks left

How cliched is that.....there is Christmas coming out of every person and place's mouths etc.
Been to 3 shops this morning and have had Jingle Bells in its 100 versions stuck in my head (unpleasantly).

Before I sound like a complete sad grouch, I am excited. Seriously. 2 weeks left. I havent posted in a very long time, as usual, lots happening and I have had lots to post about but am making a start.
Back to Christmas, 2 weeks left and we haven't bought any presents. At all.
Would be normal for some I suppose. Hopefully Amazon will come to our rescue, there are lots of items in its baskets, waiting to be paid for and delivered.
We've decided on food hampers for our lovely ex neighbours and friends without children (who spoil ours rotten all year long). Bit boring, but better than getting them 10 mantelpiece ornaments.
Then our children's presents - the middle child has decided he wants the xbox 300 something, and all 4 ps versions, besides which, there are around 20 toys picked up from tv ads on his list. I dont think he actually wants any, will be happy with anything he gets - hopefully!
Don't like the peer pressure at school where all the 6-7 year old friends he has have the above mentioned console thingies......anyway.
Then the saga of our tree - we got a real one this year, little realising the hassle of sorting out a stand. Cue H looking for very expensive stands costing much more than the tree. Found a cheapish one finally. I was keen on the sand in bucket thing but never mind.
Got it last week, its been sitting for over 10 days in a little bit of water, with any luck, we will have a few branches left for Christmas.
Our good old fibreoptic artificial one seems like a good idea.

Then the sweets/cake. Children very excited about everything and its very sweet and contagious. Next weekend the sweet making thing. I am doing cake, kulkuls, trying rose cookies for the first time, barth/baath. Non Goan - white choc truffles, Christmas pudding chocs and I'd like to try besan ladoos.  Will post pics
Sounds ambitious, and I dont think its all going to happen, after typing it out........might have some kulkuls at least :)

Goodies from Goa!

 Friends coming back from Goa, pack of goodies :)
My mum loves Pascoal's Bakery in Mapusa, picture shows the doce she's bought from there. Usually its the bolinas. They are very fresh and we get a big huge box when she comes or we go to Calangute.
The doce is very good. Conclusion from H who usually doesnt like the standard version.
I went to Pascoal's last year, actually this Jan. Its bang in the middle of Mapusa market, in all the madness, a very small but very busy bakery, staffed by 4-5 even busier women (at the time I went). They dont have a huge selection but what there is, is very good.
Reminded me of St Xavier's Cafe, which I have been going to since I was a year old or younger, been told. Now of course, its jazzed up and a potato chop costs much more than it did. Think a mince samosa is Rs14? Still love going there.
 We arent going to India for a while now, things happening here,

plus both sides of parents have been over a few months ago. I'm going to miss our annual trip and all the shopping/eating my pani puris and meeting friends. Lots to look forward to here though.

Forgot to mention, thats aam papad in the picture, H likes it and my mum remembered to send it. I'm not a fan.
Costa's Bebinca is a fantastic solution to transporting and then gorging on homemade non preservative filled Bebinca before it gets spoilt.
The kids used to love it, still do, but eat less of it now.
And of course, the mandatory cashewnuts.......again in Mapusa market, I was told to only buy drum roasted and nothing else.....never heard of it before but they did taste nicer. Like roasting them in an oven, or better......

White chocolate bundt cake with strawberries/raspberries

This is H's birthday cake, no chocolate other than white ok for him. Tried adding an element of healthy eating with the fruit added.
The kids loved making the chocolate curls, of course, as is obvious, half the chocolate was eaten while making.
Standard sponge with a bit of white chocolate.
White chocolate, yogurt and butter icing.
White chocolate shards made by spreading melted chocolate on parchment, putting in fridge and then breaking up.
Love my bundt tin bought in Bombay for Rs120 (£1.20) Where is the rupee going........

Majorca in October half term for around £700 for 5 of us

 Cheap ish getaways in school holidays are possible. To my initial disbelief.

My previous post has a few pictures of beautiful Majorca, we only went to Cala D'Or and a little bit of Playa De Palma. Speaking to people who've been there many times, Cala D'Or is probably the nicest place there (no clue of comparisons).
Given the beautiful beaches, lovely salads and better weather than England, all of Majorca would have been lovely for us I think.
We were told to avoid Magaluf and Arenal........

Starting with H saying we needed to go away, bit surprised because he does.not.like.travelling.at all. At all. Anyway, this was a few weeks before half term. Anyway, we decided on Scotland - Loch Ness etc and decided to drive there and stop at hotels on the way. Pricing it up made more sense to stay at home, so I began looking at Ryanair flights to Spain. Greece came up as an option - Corfu, for the 5 of us for £420 return, I was excited and began to look at hotels, by which time the fares had gone up. Never mind.
Randomly entering Spain in the search, found this Ryanair flight to Majorca half term Monday to Monday (Teacher training day bonus) for £330 for the 5 of us.
Spoke to H.
Booked.
On travel republic, booked 6 nights at Hotel Cala Gran half board for £240 and a night at the Iberostar Royal Cristina for roughly the same price. Less than £300 for half board. The Iberostar, we just got lucky, its usually much more expensive and I'd found the Helios which was the same price.
Booked, after seeing the reviews of the hotel.
Booked an airport transfer for £43 and came back by bus for £20. For the 5 of us again.
Half board meant no lunch, we bought nice bread, a huge jar of olives, mussels and sardines every couple of days and had  the mandatory ice cream/water bottles - around 25 Euros. Oh and a 2 Euro bottle of lovely Sangria included.

And thats it - around £700. 

Yes, we did spend 5 Euros on phone calls, 6 Euros on a towel, 8 Euros on little treats for the children and not including tips which were at each meal in the hotel etc but didnt bring back much stuff, other than a few turron packs for friends. Chorizo is cheaper in Sainsburys as I have found out after carrying 10 packs from the Canaries.

So whats the point of my post - expensive half term doesnt have to be so, the only caveat is that you have to keep looking and keep looking until the last minute.
And be prepared to sit at home with day trips out if nothing materialises (else there's always our good old Holiday Inn)
£700 was what it was going to cost us for hotels and meals going to Scotland. Plus the driving and the cold. We will go someday of course, but Majorca was a lovely bargain break and I hope hope hope we get a similar deal again.

Lastly, we were apprehensive about flying Ryanair, too many stories of how they fleece people. Happy that we had a very pleasant flight both ways, spoke to some lovely co-passengers and overall had a good experience. As long as you stick to their rules (eg print boarding passes at home, luggage right size and weight), everything's fine.

How many bags did we go with? 4 rucksacks and a trunki, each weighing less than 5 kgs. Seriously.
:)

Majorca Oct 2013...to be completed....

We've been away in Majorca for a week, a week before booking and planning and the week before that a bit mad. Anyway, back refreshed but freezing in the horrible early British winter. Early as in 2-3 degrees for early Nov......too soon.
Majorca was not Goa weather, the temperature was 22-23 degrees, too cold to swim in the sea but for us, fine.
 This is the Balearic Sea, from Cala Esmeralda. We walked to look for the beach, but ended up at this rocky path which led to a diving station. Sat there for a bit and enjoyed the stunning views.

Lots happened, there was a storm with our hotel apartment flooded, as a result of which we were given this gorgeous room/suite overlooking the beach. Below is the view from the children's bedroom window.

This is another view of the beach a minute from our hotel, Cala Gran, from the icecream shop. Majorca is expensive, like the Canaries, I assume its because its an island, or maybe just touristy prices. Never been to mainland Spain to compare.

Our hotel in Cala D'Or shut for the season end Oct so we moved to Playa De Palma Iberostar for a bit. This is the stunning Playa de Palma, the length reminded me of the Caandolim-Calangute-Baga stretch, but a deep green/bright blue sea and white sand. 100 m from our hotel.

Another beach pic, there are loads more but need to block out the kids faces before I put them on.

Very beautiful, very scenic, very touristy, very lovely salads and a must see!

Next post on just how cheap it was for us :)

The magic of Youtube on Virgin

I've spent most of last week with a sick cranky 3 year old, missing his grandmother and with a bad cough/cold/fever. Fortunately all is well now other than me being left with a hacking cough.
In the middle of it all, I was very pleased with Virgin's YouTube on the TV thingie. The sick child has watched endless reruns of Peppa Pig, including one hour long compilations, Peppa Pig in Spanish (on his insistence) and so on. We dont subscribe to the paid for Nick Jr etc anymore so this was a blessing, at least for the week.
Not over the moon with Virgin's services though, BT was much better for phone and Talk Talk for the internet. Their promised fibreoptic broadband was the reason we switched, and its almost the same as TalkTalk........however, the TV service is much much better than Sky. We've had Sky for years now, and dont miss it at all now. There is much more variety and features with the box and of course, if you havent already twigged by now, YouTube!
The children have spent an hour today dancing to 'We Didn't Start the Fire' after a school assembly which started off a chain of Billy Joel songs. Need to get them onto Dire Straits next time! Will leave Lenny Kravitz for a bit though.

B&Q 's Kids Do It classes

My mum's left...and we're all sad, seen the elder two in tears for the first time when someone leaves, the youngest is confused and not himself - I miss the help so much and of course, other stuff about her in Goa etc.
Anyway, H is working, today I booked the elder two for a B&Q Kids Do It class at Halesowen. Read about it, heard about it, seen it in action and so we went.
Its highly recommended. Free for members of the DIY Club, sign up online or instore. Else its £5 per child, which I think is well worth it.
The children made a Halloween sign, they drilled, screwed in nuts and bolts and of course, painted. Loved it all, the lovely Jim even let the youngest have a turn with his own stuff. Apparently this was an easier one compared to the sawing etc done on other weekends.
Much better than taking them to a softplay or whatever, we're going to be regulars, well at least once a month i think. It runs every weekend, for approx an hour.

I've erased the children's faces, heard worrying stuff (probably being paranoid...)

My first 'selfie'!

Everyone gone swimming, tried to dress up for church, tried on a few other things and horror - stuff I haven't worn recently is tight :( I have put on 17 kgs since my eldest's birth :( This is my first ever selfie to make me feel a bit better - Size 12 does still fit and Size 14 skirt - consoling myself both from Next which is smallish anyway.......probably not. Need to fit into everything else now.
Health reasons put before vanity according to H.
Onwards and upwards, need to give up my big bags of crisps No 1.

Real life take over

Its been more than two weeks since I last posted - I do not currently have a full or part time job but life has been so filled with all sorts, need to document the sagas that have happened at some stage.
Current dilemma is whether to start my own business with all my voluntary and professional experience behind me or find my elusive part time job in the media.
Little did I know before getting married and moving to Birmingham how coveted jobs in the media were in this country. To add to it, I have had three children and long extended periods of maternity leave. The two together does not make me a fantastic candidate for the jobs I am looking for.........hopefully someday.
The option of starting my children's events business seems appealing but.......God willing, will post a positive update in a few months time.
My mum is leaving next week.......after giving me a long break from the cooking and household chores. The garden is looking astonishingly different, thanks to her constant trimming and taking 100 odd bags to Lifford Lane!
Had a lovely horse riding party for my middle child, will post pictures in a bit. Made a huge batch of blackberry liqueur, its all over! Need to do another one but the blackberries arent happening as much as earlier.
Have made lots of apple tart, apple cake etc, Now another 40 odd apples waiting to be prepared. A friend of mine has made this gorgeous apple miskut.
Need to look for some pictures to post now.

Monster Cake - Hulk?

My now 7 year old's birthday :) First cake choice was a racing car, ideally Formula 1 which I was completely stumped - its complex and I am not a crafter. Fortunately he jumped at this version of the Incredible Hulk - I know it looks nothing like the Hulk but for my lovely 7 year old, calling it a Monster Cake was fine, the beauty of childhood.......where the number of presents and wrapping matter more than the inside. Never spent more than £10-£15 on a present for the children, the DS's and Wii games haven't happened in our house as birthday or Christmas presents, well.....yet.
Back to the Cake, would not recommend Dr Oetker gel food colouring at all. Used many of their products loads of times, this was supposed to be better than the liquid and available from Sainsbury's so decided to give it a go. The result is a bowl of pastel green icing which looks very pretty but wont do for a monster cake. Plus I've put the whole tube of icing in, more than recommended. Will have to stick to the specialist colouring pastes I think. This time its good old Renshaw's coloured icing for a £ odd. Over and done with in half an hour (the green bit).
This is a simple square cake with a loaf cut diagonally at the corners. One of the simpler cakes I've done.
Now to sort out the weekend party and his school friends party. Going horse riding, hope its fun for the children.

Comfort food - aloo parathas

Rainy day, after my last post about Indian news, my mum, who is here for a bit, made some aloo parathas - a staple growing up in North India. With pickle and dahi - even more staple North Indian accompaniments.
Love the parathas and love that all three of our children consider them one of their favourite foods!
Now need to get them to eat it authentically - ie breaking off pieces and scooping up some dahi, rather than waiting for me to do it all :)

The death sentences.....and then Narendra Modi

So they've been sentenced to death - no pleasure or happiness, just this sense of waste, of their lives and Jyoti's.
Headlines under this is the appointment of Narendra Modi as the BJP's PM candidate......how much worse can this get.
Best to stay out of politics I think.....have a lovely weekend to look forward to, my children, and some experimental cooking......easier than the Indian news.

The Nirbhaya / Jyoti / Delhi rape case sentencing

So the sentencing is finally tomorrow. I've had these feelings of extreme anger when I think of the 3 year sentence given to the youngest and worst of the *&^$££&* lot. Spoken/written to my friends in the Delhi media who of course, feel the same like all of the horrific enormity of the situation - where are the new laws to prevent this happening, etc etc. It all boils down to the same story of the corruption prevalent at all levels, increasing the higher up the political ladder.
Apparently, there are much more similar cases the media have no permission to breathe about.
Then the Mumbai journalist rape case....its never going to end. I stopped reading the Indian news for a while after that in frustration. Which doesn't help at all.
More important than sentencing them to death tomorrow is making the public aware of the enormity of doing something like this - I think of that poor girl and feel sick - how many times I've passed the same road at night returning from work or a night out etc, many years ago - the difference was I was in a car, not walking.
A couple of my friends, one at NDTV and one at the Indian Express have written fantastic in depth blogs on this, upsetting to read but both eye-openers.
Thoughts in a muddle as is visible from this writing, but, I've given up, India's attitude to women is not going to change.

Garden blackberry pickings ........Mousse and Squash

 The never ending horrid thorny blackberries seem to be proliferating in the back garden. Decided to make the most of it and pluck and freeze - its kept the children busy for brief intervals.
This is blackberry mousse, made for Sunday pudding - whipped cream, whipped egg white and then mixed with boiled blackberries and sugar. Pronounced lovely so will hopefully make again.

 This is the leftover boiled blackberries and sugar strained into a jug.

This is the blackberry squash or cordial, as the recipes call it, tasted great if not as sweet as our usual squashes. H very happy with it and gave up his Sunday margarita to drink this!

Costco meat shopping and pork vindaloo with Karma's masala

 Our regular weekend trek to Costco for our raw meat / milk etc ends up a trolley full of stuff. As the children grow older, the quantities of food we buy are increasing....
First pic is pork vindaloo with LOTS of potatoes on the top (made by my mum so have to ask her why the copious quantity of potatoes). Karma's vindaloo masala - the one in a jar thingie for Rs100 odd is lovely. From my other post, I am a big fan of Karma's masalas and stock up when we go to Goa. Taste lovely and available readily. Comes a close second to my MIL's homemade ones.

This is a pic of some of our freezer shopping from Costco - pork tenderloin, pork shoulder and chicken thighs, one skinless and one skinned (difference is a couple of pounds between the two). Used to last us almost a month, now hopefully more than 10 days!
The mince is the only thing I find more expensive than elsewhere, at almost £8 a kilo, other than that, its mostly cheaper and nicer to buy a big quantity.

The children are enjoying the chapatis/parathas from their grandma these days though......

Hoburne Torbay review - draft

First things first, spoke to Hoburne Torbay on the phone and got a stupendous (for August) deal for a week for us. Much lower than their internet price.
Chose Hoburne for proximity to the beach, stayed in the Cotswolds one 6-7 years ago and mainly, the cheapest in the category of near £1000 pounds for a caravan for a week Aug holiday prices. Yes, close to £1000 for a week. Self catering. For 6.

Anyway, it was a lovely experience, need to figure
 out where to start.


The Birmingham-Devon journey was awful, took 6 hours instead of the 3, traffic jams, single carriageways etc. Prepared for it fortunately, experienced it last year on the way to Cornwall. The view of the sea rising up in front of your eyes as you go down a slope approaching Hoburne, in fact a few places in South Devon is something else. 
First of all, from the price we paid, expected a dump, the park looked nice and well maintained when we entered. Checkin staff lovely and gave us our keys along with a map and showed us where to look for the entertainment schedule Went to the caravan a bit worried but it turned out to be spotless. Seriously very very clean. It wasn't an apartment/cottage/hotel room/B&B so the tiny spaces were expected. Kids overjoyed at a mini house.
Got to continue this later.....the joys of having 3 tired children on a Sat evening when I'm meant to be going out :)

Roses

Saddled with a large neglected garden........Since we moved, I've focused on the house and sorting it out. Put the garden out of my mind for a while. With the advent of my mum along with the gardener's absence along with buying hedge trimmers, have been forced to sort the neglected overgrown bushes out. The few flowers that have survived are these stunning huge roses that keep popping up at various parts. The largest is the size of my splayed hand....cut one of these as seen below.

These tiny beauties are not from the garden but from Morrisons - the second flowering. They were just a pound and some and very pretty to look at. There's another similar plant upstairs on the landing with lots more roses. I'm now discovering the thing of cutting roses back after they are dead and have new growth leading to flowers happen again.

Edited to add, this is the rose plant on the landing:

This is the cyclamen, again flowering the second time round, from Cofton Nursery (the City Council) where I've found lovely much cheaper plants. This was bought 4-5 months ago, flowered, died, was left in the garage, resurrected, watered and voila!

Seems to be good luck with the flowers and roses in this house which I have always been careful to stay away from. Hopefully it will continue. Happy to receive any tips for rose growing!

Back from Devon

Seems like a long time since I last posted. Have come back refreshed from a week in Devon. Lots of beautiful pictures to post, yet to be uploaded.
Lots to post, will do it bit by bit. Separate review of Hoburne Torbay though - merits one.
Last Aug, we went to Cornwall and stayed at the lovely Esplanade Hotel, Ive written about it on here.
Great time, fantastic hotel and most of all, stunning Cornwall - Fistral Beach and St Ives.
This year, decided on South Devon as a last minute break. Very very expensive, as was obvious for August. After much looking, I found a slightly less expensive priced caravan at Hoburne - will go into details separately :)
Lots to hear from friends about why stay in a caravan, go to a cottage, its nicer, Salcombe is much nicer than Torbay etc etc. Never mind, we'd already booked so went ahead.
First thing, Torbay, which includes Torquay, Paignton and Brixham was not as run down as reviews and friends suggested. Apart from the lovely sea views, each was different. Paignton is probably my best from the three, with a sandy beach (smallish), then a fantastic very big Geopark (?) play area for the children and then the main road leading to the high street with the usual arcades/amusements. If there is a next time, we are going to book one of the seafront hotels with a 1 min walk to the beach and the play area.
Next is Brixham, lovely little town - called a fishing village. No beach - we drove there once and then went by ferry from Torquay.

The ferry Torquay-Brixham is a must do, for £2 return for around a half hour trip each way. Fantastic views.
Torquay itself is better than I expected, not rundown, cheapest place to park is the Fleet Walk Shopping Centre, walking from most things. Bit strange to find a TK Maxx and Debenhams a few minutes from the seaside!

Berry Head off Brixham is stunning, with a clifftop view of Torbay, the Jurassic Coast and the sea on three sides. Its in the middle of nowhere, yet costs a pound and some to park, like all places in the area. There's a small visitor centre with a lovely volunteer who gave the children cannon balls to hold etc (remains of the Napoleonic Fort).

Last of all and the best bit of our week away was the crabbing at Stoke Gabriel - fantastic! H said it reminded him of crabbing at the river in Bardez in his childhood. The difference being in Goa you get to eat the crabs and here they need to be put back in. Its is a must must must do for anyone with children, or without. Much easier than fishing and there's the instant gratification of pulling up one or two little crabs up in the net in a couple of minutes. The equipment - wire, bait, net and bucket costs a few pounds. In my book its one of the best things to do with children ever.

My final observations -
The beaches in South Devon (and we went to a few) arent a patch on those in Cornwall, and do not compare to the long coastlines in Goa.
There is much less sand on the beaches ie they are littler.
More pebbled beaches than sandy ones.
Horrible traffic jams all along after the M5 (thought Cornwall was bad, this is the same)
Still had a good time and South Devon is lovely!

Uncle S's coconut curry

Uncle S and Aunty H came and went a couple of months ago and a lovely time was had by all, they are H's relatives who live in another country and were on a whirlwind trip in Europe. Endeared themselves to our children in 3 days and left behind lots of memories, one of which is Uncle S's coconut curry  - its similar to kaldin, similar to a mild Thai curry, but its very very easy to do and liked by all who I've made it for.

Fry onions, add ginger garlic, turmeric, and coconut milk, sugar and tamarind to taste. Thats it! This picture is with mussels from Costco. I haven't added the mandatory red Kashmiri chillies because of the children but its even better with them. Also missed out the veg (potatoes/broccoli etc)
Must try :)

Babies growing up

So much has happened in the last few weeks for me professionally, have got my act together as a non mummy/cook/friend and been the other side ie work. Its a bit unnerving when you go back to work after a few years and then it comes together and you find your footing. All good, but now a pause until the holidays finish.
This has actually been secondary compared to the children's activities, I come home, and there's this calendar of activities - again, resulting in another piano grade for my daughter and a guard of honour at Edgbaston for my son (not sure of what it means but know what he did).
Its true, what the old ladies at Sainsbury's checkouts would tell me when they were babies - it will all get easier and you will miss this time. They are no longer 'carryable', do their own tasks etc, have conversations with me and play on their own (mostly).
Watching them grow into normal children is what makes parenting worth it - all the sleepless months breastfeeding, and then still sleepless nights, clinginess, toys, exhaustion, doing the same thing over and over again etc is all temporary, and then.........as our friends with teenagers point out, it happens all over again, but in a different way......

Wild strawberries and easy microwave jam

Of all places, in a corner of our front garden, there are hundreds (literally) of wild strawberries growing. The boys are enjoying themselves plucking some daily. Though tiny compared to standard ones, they taste the same and I have made some jam/compote in the microwave.
Its very simple:
Add the same amount of sugar as strawberries or a bit more.
Add some lemon juice for pectin to get it to set. 
Leave overnight in the fridge. ( This is to get the strawberries to keep their shape without becoming a mush)
Microwave for a few minutes.
Put in clean jar.
Thats it.
Its lovely.

Filo pastry / spring roll pastry samosas at home

Had this big pack of spring roll pastry in the freezer, bought on offer. Aforementioned visiting relatives love samosas, so do the children. Leftover mince. Decided to try them on a Sunday afternoon. They were much easier than imagined. A must view is the 30 second folding samosa video on Youtube.
This is folding the pastry bit, quick and easy to do once you get the hang of it. These were done by my 8 year old.

These are the filled samosas.

The end product, wolfed down in a few minutes!

White chocolate blueberry torte, caprese salad and an easy Peppa Pig cake

Its been a long time since I last blogged properly - real life being too busy. It was my youngest's 3rd birthday, this is the easy option I went for, for his much wanted Peppa Pig cake. If I had the time, and not had to focus on the cooking for his party, cleaning etc etc, would have done the figures in icing, but the main thing was that he was happy. Cake toppers from eBay are an easy quick option for a pound.

For another time we had people over for lunch, this is a 'caprese' salad, cherry tomatoes with a bit of mozzarella and mint/basil on the top. My version here used our wild garlic in the garden :)

This is the dessert I made for the 3rd birthday lunch - White Chocolate Torte with blueberries on the top. Its gorgeous and a must try. Cannot do proper chocolate because of H so have to experiment with the white. I've tweaked the BBC Good Food recipe a bit for us and its still divine.
To those who keep asking, its not a cheesecake, there is no cheese, just cream and white chocolate!

The fox in our garden

On its daily afternoon visit - dont know if there are more than one, but this daily appearance has fascinated all our visitors who have seen it, this picture has been emailed to us :)

Our family hotel.....

The past 10 days have been a bit mad.......have had different sets of people over to stay and my life seems to solely consist of taking people shopping or sightseeing and cooking different meals for different appetites.

And I thought moving house and starting work again and the kids were a bit busy.

However it has all been lovely and very nice to catch up with people. When they are living in your house, its a different picture to when you meet them for a meal or coffee. I love sitting at the table after a meal and chatting about the good old days and whatever.

Also have been honing my long unused cooking skills - with the children, its mostly non spicy food or the standard Jeera Meera or Rechad. The past few days I have experimented and enjoyed it. Will post some pictures soon.

Best bit is the children are enjoying the company of close friends and relatives and being pampered - not with gifts but with time, which for me is the biggest bonus of all. They have played Housie, Ludo, Monopoly, Seven Hands, Donkey, made projector movies on a video cam and also just played cricket...... :)

Now life will start to go back to normal, or maybe not, have some more house guests for the next few months now...

After Earth review - what on earth has happened to MN Shyamalan

After weeks of procrastinating and other things coming in the way, H and I finally decided to go for a movie Sunday afternoon. My first choice was the Great Gatsby, read the books many many years ago and liked it. Also, there's meant to be a cameo by Amitabh Bachchan. Unfortunately the timings weren't right. Saw that M. Night Shyamalan had a new movie out, so booked and went.
And what a disappointment! I cannot believe this is the same director who made the Sixth Sense, or even Signs for that matter. Sixth Sense is one of my all time favourites, need him to make a movie like that, not another huge Hollywood studio mass formula production full of cheesy predictable material.
No point going into the story because its too predictable - synopsis is that its based in the future and Will Smith and his son are stranded on a very dangerous Earth, the son has to sort out a beacon 100kms away which will rescue them etc. Too predictable in the way Jaden Smith is saved and kept safe, in the special effects, in the background of what happened to his sister etc.
The one and only one moment in the film I perked up was when his sister appears and yells at him to wake up, turning into a nasty looking ghost(?) I kept thinking its going to turn surreal and unpredictable after that, but, never mind.
I actually looked at H a few times during the movie wondering what we'd paid to watch. Hopefully Shyamalan's next wont be the same and Columbia will let him make his movies without the mass formula.
As an aside, Zoe Kravitz, who plays the sister is extremely pretty. She is Lenny Kravitz's daughter (as is obvious). His song Again is one of my most loved. :)

20 degrees finally - Eating in the Garden

Yesterday, after ages, finally the temperature reached 20 degrees, with it being half term, the children were waiting to have a picnic in the garden. Had lunch outside with their visiting auntie. The garden needs lots of work/cutting back but taking it bit by bit. Its got lots of flowers, fruit etc but we're still discovering most of the plants.
Hopefully the weather will last and at least stay more than the 10 degrees we've been having. Their auntie has gone back to Bombay and 33 degrees or more there now....