Sunday 29 April 2012

Lazy Sunday and Making Stock

I love lazy Sundays. I'm sad that Hubby will be working every Sunday for the next few months. Sundays always feel like lazy family days and it will a shame to lose that feeling - it never feels so lazy when it is just me and the girls.

We had a roast dinner today to commiserate. I do love roast chicken and yorkshire puddings and mashed potatoes and veg and gravy. YUMMY. Possibly my favourite meal ever, and it tastes so much better eating it on a Sunday.

I always feel wasteful buying a whole chicken, I don't know why, it just feels like it isn't properly being used up. So I make stock with the carcass (I hate that word) and then freeze it or turn it into soup.


It's not very pretty to look at is it. But it's marvellous stuff. I don't think there are set rules for making stock. I just put whatever leftover bones we had (picked the remaining chicken off and we had it with fajitas just now) into a big pan, add whatever veg you have hanging around, leftover or fresh, no need to peel anything. I also added a couple of onions (didn't peel those, just halved them). I then added boiling water until everything was just covered and left it simmering for a few hours. Once it had cooled I put it through a fine sieve and put the liquid in a jug in the fridge. By tomorrow morning it will have turned a bit jelly like and the fat at the top will be easy to scrape off and bin. I'll then I'll either make soup or freeze the clear stock. Lovely!

The girls have been quite lovely the last couple of days which has been nice, less tantrums and screaming than the previous week which is a relief. And less fighting between them. They do love each other so much!


How cute! A rare occurrence but lovely none the less.

And what else is brightening up the endless rain we've been having (it hasn't stopped raining since they announced the hose-pipe ban, ironic huh!)...


Tulips. I love tulips. They are my favourite flower (along with daffodils and daisies). Hubby bought them for me in my favourite colour - sunshine yellow, so they have been making my kitchen look happier for the last few days... ahhhhh


Saturday 28 April 2012

Waybuloo Birthday Cake

This cake was ordered a couple of months ago and I've been thinking and thinking about it. I made the characters earlier in the week so that they could harden but other than that everything had to be done fresh for the cake. I baked it and decorated it in (a very manic) 5 hours.


There are four Waybuloo characters, a 'Nara bug', ladybirds, two trees and lots and lots of flowers.


I think this is the most fun I've ever had making a cake. I loved the bright colours I got to use and it just looked like a happy cake. The top tier was lemon sponge with lemon buttercream and lemon curd. The bottom tier was vanilla sponge with vanilla cream and strawberry jam. Yum.



Today (after delivering the cake!) we took the train into our nearest city. I got the pleasure of going to one of my friend's 4D baby scan, it was amazing! The girls loved going on the train and we went on a bus after too so they were very very excited, and beautifully behaved all day. Planning a yummy roast dinner tomorrow as it is Hubby's last Sunday off of work for a while... mmm I do love a roast dinner!


Thursday 26 April 2012

Piri Piri Pork

I found this recipe on the Slimming World website here and thought it sounded simple and yummy and so I added it to my meal plan for this week.

Basically you seal some pork loins in a pan, put them in an oven-proof dish and cover them in a mixture of passata, tinned tomatoes, piri piri seasoning and stock cubes plus whatever vegetables you fancy and then you stick in the oven for half hour.



How did it taste? YUMMY. I wasn't so keen on the piri piri seasoning, we used a lemon and herb piri piri and it was too herby for me but the pork was really yummy and not chewy at all and I can see the dish really working with maybe some other herbs or a different seasoning mix. Plus it is so healthy and quick that it will definitely be on the menu again.


We ate ours with new potatoes but the recipe suggests salad or couscous.

Cost:

Pork: £4.00 (5 loin steaks, would have fed 3 adults)
Potatoes; £0.60
Mixed veg: £0.30
Tomatoes/passata: £0.50
Piri piri seasoning: £0.75

=£6.35



NOW... meet our house guests


Mary and Mertyl have been in the coop with the other chicks for a couple of days but they were staying in the same corner together and not even going outside for food and drink so we've bought them in where it is warmer and where they have their own food and drink, the first thing they did was head for the food. I think we'll keep them in until they are a bit bigger :D

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Rambly Ramblings...

This post is going to be a ramble. I don't have one specific thing to talk about but I realllllly want to blog. So I will!

Hopefully tomorrow's post will have a proper theme, probably food related (piri piri pork!). I've been doing some crafting. I finished a crochet blanket (will post about it soon) and I've been creating Waybuloo characters out of sugarpaste for a cake for the weekend. I'll post pics once the cake is finished. It's been a challenge as my modelling skills aren't as good as I'd like but they look ok and will hopefully look better on the cake.


Look what I ordered! Cake making goodies - a non-stick mat and rolling pin, some frosting scrapers, some tools and a cake smoother. I have also now got some letter cutters <3

My beautiful big baby has been struggling in her 9 month-4 year car seat, so we decided it was time that she got a big girl's seat. We asked her what sort she'd like and she said PRINCESS so she is now the very proud owner of a pink disney princess car seat. She loves it. That is enough to make me happy!


And this next picture is just because daffodils are pretty.


And we all nee a bit of pretty <3



Monday 23 April 2012

Healthy Pasta and Sauce Recipe - and a Whinge

I'll start with the recipe so you can skip my whining if you prefer :D

This was made up by me (though I doubt it is original) when I was wondering what I could eat that was healthy and yummy. It wasn't the yummiest thing I've ever eaten but it wasn't too bad!

You need:

Mushrooms
Onions
Garlic
Pasta
Chopped tomatoes
Frylight (or oil if you'd rather)
Fat free yoghurt

Cook the mushrooms for a few minutes in some Frylight/oil, then add the onions and garlic and cook for another couple of minutes. Bung the chopped tomatoes in a saucepan and add the mushroom, garlic and onion. Bring to the boil and simmer for maybe 8-10 minutes? Something like that. Whilst it's simmering cook your pasta. Once it has simmered add the yoghurt and just heat it through. Drain the pasta and serve with the sauce. And done. Except I added some (light) cheese. Because everything tastes better with cheese!




Easy-peasy.


Now for the whinge.

I HATE POTTY TRAINING. I never realised that it would be the hardest and worst bit about parenting. I hadn't even ever given it much thought. As far as I was aware when your kid reached a certain age you put a potty in front of them, stuck underwear on and with a little encouragement TADA. But nope. 

F has been dry in the day since last July, we have other issues that would take up a whole other post and that don't really go well with a recipe post.

This morning I put E in knickers, had the potty in front of her, we talked about where wee wees go etc. I asked her to sit on the potty 10 minutes later and she did and after a few minutes she did do a wee. Well that was it for the day. She weed on the sofa (cleverly over all 7 cushions!), on the floor, on the sofa a couple more times, in front of the tv... now she is clever, talks loads and has done for a long time, she understands everything but she does not seem to care that she is wetting herself. She doesn't even seem to notice! And I don't know whether that means I should give up and try again in a few months or if I should just keep going and maybe it will click? With F she didn't train until she was over 3 - she had a deep fear of the potty (and still won't use a normal toilet, arggg, another another story) but when I took the nappies away and she had no choice she used it, and had no accidents. Part of me thinks that I should just wait with E and just wait until it is easier.

ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Off for a cup of tea. And some sugarpaste modelling, I've some Waybuloo characters to make!



P.S HAPPY WORLD BOOK NIGHT!!! Take a book to bed tonight and have a read! I will be!

Saturday 21 April 2012

Spartacus Cake

I was asked to make a Spartacus cake for a birthday. I was emailed an image of the sort of thing that was wanted and this is the final product!

Two tiers (one carved) of chocolate sponge with chocolate butter-cream in between the layers. Then I covered the cake with light grey sugarpaste. I then cut out 'rock' shapes and painted them, and painted some on the flat cake surface too.

I brushed the cake with edible glue and sprinkled biscuit crumbs onto the glue to help them stick. The plaque was made out of grey icing which I allowed to harden and then I painted the wording onto that.


The helmet and sword shapes were made a week beforehand and I added some gum tragacanth to help them set. Once the pieces had hardened I used edible glue to stick them together and  painted them with edible metallic dust (and some vodka to make it into a pain type mixture!). I painted the pieces and let them dry.

The 'blood' is a little strawberry jam heated in the microwave and drizzled onto the 'sand'.


The cake did take a while to do and I found it quite tricky to ice because of the shape but I really enjoyed the challenge and trying something different!



On a separate note... we popped to the beach again today and I treated myself to this...


How could I not! Rainbow colours and thick and sturdy and a lovely big size. Happiness in the form of a windmill!


Thursday 19 April 2012

Chicken Breast Stuffed with Brie and Balsamic Onions

Today I made the dinner that I had planned to make Tuesday. The recipe comes from mealplanning101.com - I use this site lots for recipes as I find it has a great range and the meals are all do-able, they don't require too many fancy ingredients or hours of preparation.

I love brie. I love chicken. I love onions. I love balsamic vinegar. So for that reason in my head the meal was already a hit. Mine were not neat. My fillings sploshed out and my bread-crumbing method was messy. This is what they looked like after I had browned them a little in the pan:


They were fiddly to make - and getting the fillings to stay in was quite a challenge. We served them with mashed potato, broccoli and peas!



They were tasty. The brie was all melted and added a nice texture and taste and the onions added a nice zing to it too.

Would I make them again? Maybe. I'd probably just cook some chicken, melt some brie and cook some onions and serve it all together. But I am inherently lazy!

Cost (would have served 3-4):

Chicken breasts: £3.29
Onions: £0.20
Brie: £0.98
Seasonings/bread/oil etc: £0.50
Potatoes: £0.80
Veg: £0.50

= £6.27


P.S Sadly Picnik - the photo editor I have been using - close their online editing service today and so I have been trying out some new ones to see what effects and frames I can get... so over the next few days my photos make look a bit different while I try and find a new style that I love!


Wednesday 18 April 2012

When it Rains...

I was going to blog about making a cheese sauce. Scintillating or what. But then, after dinner, F peered out the window and saw that it was raining and she requested to go outside and splash in muddy puddles. What a good idea!

We donned our wellies and our coats (note to self: next time choose a coat with a HOOD) and stepped out into the pouring rain.


E was concentrating hard to find the biggest and splashiest puddles that she could. She was all wrapped up in her coat with her hood up...


Who would have thought that such a grey day could bring so much pleasure to two bouncing kiddies. 


On a different note, Blogger informs me that this is my 50th post!! Wow! I had no idea I'd posted so much. I'm really enjoying blogging, it feels good to document some of the things that go on in our lives and to have it all here with photos for me to look back on.

And on another slightly different note, this poem is at the start of The Time Traveller's Wife and as I read it I realised that it was one of the poems I studied for GCSE English many moons ago. I really do love it.


Love After Love
The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life. 
Derek Walcott




Tuesday 17 April 2012

World Book Night 2012

Have you heard of World Book Night? I'm sure you've heard of World Book Day, but this is something slightly different! World Book Night is an initiative where tens of thousands of people are GIVEN books to hand out for FREE to people at events, groups, in public, anywhere at all! The aim is to get people reading, especially those who wouldn't usually read. When you apply to be a 'book giver' you get put down your book preference from a list of choices and this year I chose 'The Time Traveller's Wife' as my first choice - and I was lucky enough to get this book!

So this afternoon I popped to my local library to collect the 24 books I'll be giving away...


World Book Night is on 23rd April and this is when I'll start distributing the books. It's better than that though - every book inside it has this:


I'll fill this in in every one of the 24 books so that the books can be tracked online - that way the people who I give the books to can pass them on and they can pass them on and on and on it will go (hopefully) with lots of people getting to read each book and each book's journey being tracked online.


I was lucky enough to be a giver last year too - in the first ever World Book Night when I distributed 'Rachel's Holiday'. If you want any more information about World Book Night and events in your area then please visit their website.

As for this book? I can't give you my opinion yet as I've not actually read it - it's been on my 'to-read' list for a while now so I'll get stuck into it this evening I think. With a big mug of tea. And maybe a biscuit or two. Or three...


Monday 16 April 2012

A (much needed) Slow Day

Ahhhhhhhhh
Today has been good. Not a lot has happened and that has been LOVELY. We did another bootsale yesterday and the whole day felt very manic and long and tiring.

This morning E went to Grandad's house for a couple of hours and F was at nursery. I got to wash our bedding, put away several baskets of clean washing, scrub the bathroom and generally have a tidy up. I always feel so much better with a tidier house! I watched yesterday's F1 as I did it so it was quite relaxing really.

And then I sat down with my tax return and this...


YUM. 
Our chicks are a week old now, so here is another little picture of their cuteness!


Tomorrow I am cooking chicken breasts stuffed with brie and balsamic onions, never made it before, am adapting a recipe I found so tomorrow's post will be food-related!


Saturday 14 April 2012

New Coop

Not a lot to report at the moment! The girls at at the in-laws again tonight so that we can do another bootsale tomorrow, hopefully the weather will be brighter and warmer!

Today we got this...


Cute or what! We got it fairly locally from an add on Gumtree! The chooks seem to like it and the little chicks seem to be managing the slope. We'll keep our old coop too, just in case we want some more chooks...

When we first got the chickens I said that 2 would do... and I was warned that I'd change my mind and I have. I want a few more. The 3 chicks (if they are hens) will stay with us, and maybe another couple. Maybe.

Oops!

Friday 13 April 2012

Wroxham Barns - A review

*** This review is completely my own and written of my own accord. Everything purchased was paid for by ourselves. ***


Today we visited Wroxham Barns in the North Nofolk countryside. It is a family attraction with craft shops, animals, a fairground, playground, picnic areas, restaurant and mini golf. We've visited before and we used to visit even before we had children to entertain!


The Food

One of the first things we did when we arrived was eat. It was raining outside and we decided that it was better to eat while it was raining in the hope that it'd dry up!

We ate in the main restaurant. It lovely inside and looks really homely and inviting. The cake displays are AMAZING and the choice of cake is really good. It all looks really appetising. 

I ordered a 'ham salad' which looked like this:



Visually impressive! It cost *gulp* £10.95. I might be a bit tight and I don't expect to pay a lot for food. So to me it was expensive. Delicious but expensive. I also didn't think the salad tasted of much, it was a bit grassy for me!

They do offer a good menu with some impressive sounding dishes as well as simpler things such as jacket potatoes and paninis. However, price is still an issue. I resent paying £6.75 for a panini. It just seems a lot to me.

The children's menu is ok. Some nice options. One thing that sticks out is that they don't do chips of any sort. My (quite fussy chip lovers) weren't keen on the menu options. In the end E chose the beans on toast (£3.50) and F chose to have 2 lots of toast!




The children also had a drink each. A cup of milk, it was £1.50 for a very small plastic cup of milk. I could probably have bought 8 pints of milk and 2 cups for the £3 that it cost just for their drinks.

We had dessert too (£4.95 a dessert). The treacle tart I had was ok. It didn't taste of much and was slightly burnt on on side. The custard was lovely. The girls had a shortbread biscuit from the cake cabinet for 75p each and they ate it all!


The Shops

Price-wise the shops follow the trend set by the restaurant. The selection of shops includes a sketching gallery (closed on Fridays so we didn't see in), a store selling children's clothes and accessories, a fabric and habadashery shop, an art supply shop, a gem stone shop, a carved wood shop, a stained glass shop, a pottery shop, a little cider/apple juice shop, a 'pantry' food shop and a bar, a garden shop and a general gift shop and sweet shop.

All the shops sell nice items. I've been coming to Wroxham Barns for a good few years so I've seen them all and they've not changed much. This means I don't get enthused about them and I didn't buy anything other than some fudge! Prices are high, the variety of items available is good however and you can get some very cute things! 

The Farm

We had season passes (that were bought for us last year and run out next week) but had we paid to get in then it would have cost us £5.75 each (under 2s go free) and 50p a bag of animal food.

There are various farm animals to feed and pet and a chance to hold a guinea pig, bottle feed a lamb and see  some other animals. The site itself isn't huge and it felt a bit empty in some places. Also the chickens aren't the least bit interested in the food but that's not mentioned when you buy it! 

The kids had fund feeding sheep, cows and donkeys and cooing at the lambs. The pigs were cute too!


The girls got to hold a guinea pig each too


F especially enjoyed that!

The Pig Sty is a (fairly) new indoor soft play for the children, in the animal part. It is good inside, just the right sort of size for my girls and with somewhere to sit for the adults. 


The Fairground

I think the term fairground is a little optimistic. There is a small train ride and a couple of circular type rides plus some ride on cars and a small arcade. There is mini golf too (£3.50 per person) which we didn't do.

The rides cost £1 each and supervising adults have to pay too. I think that this is a bit much for rides so short and small and where I needed to accompany the children. 


The Place

Wroxham Barns is beautiful. Set in the countryside, lots of old buildings. It is all generally very clean and tidy and well looked after. 

Every member of staff we encountered was friendly and smiling and happy to help and they are definitely a credit to the barns.

The toilets are a bit, lacking. They were smelly and the hand driers were useless and they just felt a bit claustrophobic and unpleasant. There is a separate baby change/disabled toilet too.


Overall

Overall we enjoyed our day. The place is lovely and we will visit again, although probably not for a while. The amenities are good and we spent about 4 hours there and that with the 45 minute journey for us makes it a day out.

The main thing that lets the barns down for me is the price of everything. It isn't a cheap day out and you won't get a bargain. But you will have fun and make some memories, which, after all, is priceless.

Monday 9 April 2012

Our chicks hatched!!

High excitement here today. Hubby went out to see the chickens first thing this morning and found our first chick!!!


I've been more nervous about these chicks hatching than I was about my own babies. This one, our first born is called Mabel.

Then, I went out to see the chicks, about 5.30pm and....


Mildred had arrived! You can see how fresh she is by how rough she looks, bless her. They soon fluff up :D

My brother-in-law came round a little while ago and helped another 3 eggs hatched as they were taking there time and so with a little helping hand another 3 chicks have joined the crew. No photos as yet as they are very very new and are being kept warm by their mummies.

So! Margaret and Martha (our chickens) now have 5 babies... Mabel, Mildred, Mavis, Marjory and Meredith.

We decided to keep with the same theme for names - old fashioned and beginning with 'M'. If some of them are cockerels, well, they'll still have the same names! They won't live with us though but they will go to a nice home. I hope at least 2 are hens! 

Oh... and we're going to need a bigger coop!

Sunday 8 April 2012

Happy Easter!

Ahh Easter. The day of lots of sugar highs and chocolate induced comas! A good day! I've yet to actually tuck into an Easter egg. Instead I've spent the day entertaining the family and feeding them and clearing up after that.

Poor little E had an encounter with the floor. She fell off of her Daddy's back and landed flat on her face. She has a fat lip, bumped head, swollen and bleeding nose and she generally looks rough! Bless her heart, she seemed fine once she was over the shock!

Our chickens are sat on some eggs which could hatch any day now! None hatched today though so we borrowed my sister-in-laws's two day old chicks for some Easter cuddles!


Beautiful or what! So cute and fluffy and chirpy, the kiddies loved seeing them too <3 proper Easter chooks!

I hope your day has been chocolate filled and happy!

Saturday 7 April 2012

Car Boot Sale, Cake and Post!

This morning (or more like night!) at 4.30am my alarm went off. We were getting up to do a car boot sale to try and shift some of the stuff from the garage that was too good to bin but that we no longer wanted. It was drizzling with rain. And cold. OH so cold. I still feel like my bones are thawing.

Anyway! I spent some time sat in the boot of the car watching the grey skies...


Despite the awful weather there were lots of people looking round and we made a decent amount, definitely worth the early start! We're hoping to do another one next week to shift the last of the stuff and maybe have made enough to put towards a new television as ours is on its way out.



After we came back I had baking to do, a cake for an order. Mickey Mouse! It was a lot harder than it looks purely because of the shape of the face and working out how to flat ice it! This is the result...



The other exciting part to my day came in an airmail envelope...




It's a journal, not just any journal a Gadanke journal. For now I'm just flicking through the pages and sighing with happiness, I'll review it properly once I've gotten to know it a bit better <3


Thursday 5 April 2012

Asparagus Stuffed Chicken and a Hollandaise Sauce - Recipe!

Today for dinner we had asparagus stuffed chicken and a hollandaise sauce - I've never cooked asparagus before and I can't remember the last time I ate it but I knew I loved it and wanted a recipe that included it. It's not cheap but it's readily available at the moment so I decided to splurge on some.

This recipe is my own - but made from a variety of sources from the net, I found lots of recipes and merged them into something that I wanted to try and that was simple enough and cheap enough. I've never made or tasted a hollandaise sauce before and when I tried it from a spoon I wasn't overly keen, it just seemed to taste like creamy eggy milk. But added to the actual meal it was really tasty and really suited it!

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts - I used 4 smallish ones (enough to serve however many you want to feed!)
3 cloves of garlic - minced
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
Chicken stock - 3/4 of a pint (1 stock cube)
Bunch of asparagus
Cocktail sticks

Hollandaise:


2 tsp lemon juice
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp mustard powder
Dash of tabasco (can be left out)


Method:


Wash the asparagus and cut 2 inches off of the bottom of it. Cut the spears in half.



Slice the chicken breasts horizontally so that you have thin-ish slices. Season the top of the chicken slices with salt and pepper and rub in the minced garlic.
Lay 2-3 asparagus pieces onto the chicken, wrap the chicken around it and secure using a couple of cocktail sticks.
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan, add the chicken and brown for a few minutes on high.
Add the chicken stock, turn the heat down to medium and simmer for 15-20 minutes (until the chicken is cooked through).



While the chicken is simmering you can make your hollandaise (takes 5-10 minutes).
Add the egg yolks to a saucepan but DON'T put it on any heat yet. Whisk the egg yolks together and then add the mustard powder and tobasco, whisk this in. Very gradually whisk in the melted butter (still no heat at this point). Once the butter is incorporated put it on a low-medium heat, whisking gently all the time. Gradually add in the milk (keep whisking!) until it is all in. Bring the sauce to nearly boiling and then remove from the heat.



Remove the sticks from the chicken and serve with whatever you fancy - we had mashed potato as we love it and some broccoli. Drizzle the hollandaise over and ENJOY!





We really enjoyed this meal, it was tasty, full of flavour and something a bit different (for us at least). I will definitely make it again, I might even see if I can source cheaper asparagus - I wonder if there is a 'pick your own' locally that might have it? Will have to see.

Cost (for 2 adults and 1 child (the other refused to try it):


Chicken breasts (frozen): £1.50
Asparagus: £1.50
Potatoes: £0.70
Eggs: £0.50
Butter: £0.50
Milk: £0.10
Mustard powder: £0.10
Lemon juice/tabasco/oil: £0.10
Stock: £0.10
Garlic: £0.10
Broccoli: £0.20

Total: £5.40

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Sorting the Garage

Thrilling stuff I know! It may not be nicest job to do but it REALLY needed doing.

I'm a hoarder by nature. I find sentiment in the most random of things and I cling onto things just because they might be useful one day. I blame my mother. She's just the same, in fact it is a good job she wasn't here today as she'd have been fishing things out of the rubbish left right and centre!

We have never really sorted through all of our stuff. We've moved 4 times in less than 4 years and every time we've moved it's been a bit of a rush - either with a young baby, with a toddler and heavily pregnant, with a baby and a toddler or with 2 toddlers, add into that that we've only ever had at most 8 weeks notice of moving everything has been manic. We would just shove things into boxes, tape them up and never open them again, until today.

The garage is nearly done now. 9 hours of sorting, 3 tip runs plus a driveway still full of rubbish, lots of stuff for a carboot sale and only a few boxes left to sort. It was cathartic. I went through a lot of emotions as I sorted through the things from my past but overall it was a good experience. Cleansing. I ache all over though. And my housework has been neglected. Never mind!

I'll leave you with a picture of my daffodils, aren't they pretty? They are a peachy colour in the middle, I've never seen ones like that before! Can't beat a £1 bunch of daffs in an old jam jar.


Monday 2 April 2012

How to Poach an Egg

Random blog post alert! I was poaching an egg earlier and my Mum asked to watch me to see how I did it. I've only just learnt how to poach an egg. I'm not really a fan of eggs but I've found a recent love of eggs in a toasted muffin. Yum. My old method involved me fluttering my eyelashes at my husband and hoping he'd do it for me. Then I decided that it was a skill I needed to master.

There are many ways to poach an egg (so I'm told and so google will tell you). But mine has never failed!



You need:

An egg
Boiling water in a saucepan
Vinegar - 1 tbsp ish (preferably white or white wine vinegar but regular will do)
A bowl
A slotted spoon (or a normal big spoon and some kitchen roll)


Method:

  • Get your water boiling with your vinegar in it.
  • Break an egg into the bowl (don't break the yolk as you do this)
  • Use the spoon to stir the water vigorously so that it make a vortex (all the water swirling into the middle)
  • While the water is swirling pour the egg into to - keep the bowl close to the water - the vortex will swirl the egg into a lovely poached shape.
  • Leave it in the pan boiling away for about 5 minutes for a runny yolk, a couple more minutes for a hard one.
  • Take out with a slotted spoon, blot dry with kitchen roll if you need to.

Eat and enjoy!

Would you vote for me?

I feel cheeky asking this. Really cheeky.

Have you heard of  Enterprise Nation? They have a fund called fund101 where you can apply for upto £500 to start or grow your business. They approve applications and then you have to get votes - 1 vote for every pound that you ask for.

I make cupcakes and celebration cakes and sell them locally. I've made the fund but now need votes!

If I got the £300 I would use it for:

*Advertising locally
*Getting a website set up
*Business cards/car stitckers etc
*Tools - a sugarcraft mat, some cake tins etc


You can vote for me HERE you do have to sign up to vote (I know it is a little bit of a hassle) but the process is easy and quick.

It would mean the world to me if I could get these funds. We live on a  tight budget and so I can rarely afford to buy new things for the business and this would make so much difference to me!

Thanks in advance!