6ichthusfish

Borscht Soup.... (!)

OK... it's no secret I am not the world's keenest cook.  I love to wash-up if someone else cooks.  The family gets fed.   What can I say.  So when Smurf asked me "What does Borscht Soup taste like?"  I had no idea (would you?)  My obvious answer was "Why do you wannna know what Borscht Soup tastes like anyway?"  And his answer was "I read about it in a book."  Obviously. He's reading an adventure story called 'Alexi's Secret Mission' about a boy who smuggles Bibles in his home country of Russia.  That's where the Borscht Soup comes in.  This conversation blossomed into some serious excitement about a boy who was going to research the ingredients and method to make some Borscht Soup, write out a (doubled) shopping list to get what was needed and then make some.  He watched countless 'You Tube' clips  and cooking site clips on how to make it (who knew there would be so many!).  He took notes and compiled a shopping list (doubled as I said because we generally double all things we cook as this is a hungry family of 6 we're talking about).  So yesterday was the day he made some.  Chef was the other cook involved.

First there was some peeling...

 

...then there was some chopping (lots of chopping)...

...some team-work went on too...

A dollop of sour cream went on top and here's the finished soup (it's supposed to be chunky)...

...buttered Tiger bread to go with it..YUM! 

 

A present in a jar!

Ali, over at IACW crafty website  posted a little while ago about 'Store Cupboard Presents' .  I thought her jars  of chocolate chip cookie mix were fab and used her recipe to make a couple of jars to give away as pressies...

The reverse side of the tag holds the instructions.  I got the jars from WILKINSONS and paid about £2 each.  Smurf helped with the layering of the ingredients...

Once the jars were full of the different layers in the recipe, I turned my attention to the tags (which I used instead of sticky labels)...

I inked the edges of the tag and lightly over the front/back with red and green ink, then stamped "Happy Christmas" on with STAZON ink.  I selected green ribbon to tie around the wooden spoon and red to go around the jar.  I used very strong, thin, green crochet thread to tie the wooden spoon to the jar.  Here's Smurf posing by the tree...

For now the jars are on display as they are so pretty!

 yep... I'm loving the Christmas crafts.

[P.S. I will be the guest designer on IACW site on Christmas Eve.]

cookies..cookies....cookies...

 
Here's my girlie baking cookies.  It's her thing...

Yep, they were scrummy. 

The Jam making is on a Roll... (but not literally!)...

Chef has made some more jam... 

 

Yep it's delicious!

 

And so was the first batch of jam which we had on scones...

 

The damsons and second variety of plums came from the neighbours of Auntie S. and Uncle Foghorn.  Tiger-girl, my little nieces and Uncle Foghorn picked them while T-G was staying for a few days.  She had a lovely time playing with her cousins, and spending quality time with the family.  My nephew, Davinci, (who stayed with us for a few days) and Smurf were permanently super-glued together while he was here.  We all enjoyed his visit and he was so polite & well-mannered.  It is so, so, good to be family  :)

Dalek cookies & everyday moments...

This post is linked to Homemade Thursdays on the blog  Ship Full O'Pirates.

 

Husb is working odd hours today.  He's been home in the middle of the day having been out at the crack of dawn & heading out again soon to do late afternoon & evening, so he was here to get some warm biccies baked by Smurf & Tiger-girl  :)  They used a cookie-box-kit (shame horror) as Smurf had had it in his Christmas stocking, (mostly for the freebie Dalek cookie-cutter shape).  Although totally homemade cookies are better, this simple packet mix was quick & easy and the sibling bonding was the cutest!

 

 

Tiger-girl is the main baker in the family & she gave just the right amount of help to Smurf ...

...letting him do most of the stages by himself...

 

 

Serious concentration while decorating the cooked biccies...

 

I got to enjoy one with a cup of tea, while catching-up with some Bible reading. [Although between you & me the flavour of the orange goo on the biscuit reminded me of the dentist when I was little!]

 

I do seem to be posting about Smurf & Tiger-girl such a lot .. here's what I found the others up to this afternoon when I tracked them down with my camera in hand...

Chef was in his room reading about food/cooking related stuff...

 

Husb was in the schoolroom marking a pile of schoolwork...

 

Roman was in his room reading a leaflet about 'THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARD' which we are considering for him & Chef to do through 'Boys Brigade' (which they have been going to recently).

 

Ordinary stuff, which our days are peppered with  :)

I have enjoyed all the bloggy attention which I got resulting from the Kreativ Blogger Award yesterday  :]  Thanks again Mother Hen from Ship Full O'Pirates in America.  I joined in again by linking my Cupcake Quilt to her 'Homemade Thursday' weekly post.

A busy weekend ahead, so see you next week.

 

Norman Bear's Birthday..!

Pretty quiet, same old same old around here.  We do have an important weekend ahead with a trip to see my family.  A certain special Mum will be having a special birthday & we are all getting together to celebrate.  However this week has been slow, as was last week-end.  I seem to keep losing bloggy readers if I don't post regularly so I decided to look back into the photo archives.   Well, i discovered that today (27th Jan) is Norman Bear's birthday.  Let me explain...  When the children were small they used to plan & play 'parties' for their teddy bears or other cuddlies.  They usually announced it was the birthday of a beloved ted whenever there wasn't much else going on.  Well in 2007 Smurf decided it was the 3rd birthday of Norbert Norman Bear, an ugly blue Ted who'd been won in a raffle years before.  So... Here are a few pics of january 27th 2007, when everyone got involved in this bear's birthday...

The party tea... complete with home-made Birthday cake & donuts, honey on bread, sausages, fries & jam rolls...  (no points for healthy eating... all foods chosen for their 'bear' appeal!) 

   

 

 

 

The Paddington Bear I'm holding below was my ted from when I was little.  He now belongs to Tiger-girl.

 

Smurf had organised some party games... musical statues where the bears did the dancing (of course)...

 

Pass the parcel...

 

Sleeping lions ..

 

Then Norman had a card (painted by Nanny in Wales), a hand-puppet (made by Tiger-girl)   & a new scarf (knitted by Smurf with Mum's help)...

Tiger-girl had baked a yummy chocolate cake...

 

 

One of the most exciting things (as I remember) was the Goody bag for each guest...given out by Smurf when all the guests were lined up waiting...

 

 

 

  I've enjoyed looking back at this family time we had together.  In the weeks after I made Smurf a pop-up book about this party we had for his Bear.  As I finish this post, Smurf has got out the book & is looking through it again   :)

More preparations for Christmas...

This has been a fun week.  We are still doing school work in the morning, but have enjoyed some extra free time in the afternoon.  One afternoon we watched 'White Christmas' on DVD and ate teeny candy canes...

 

Tiger girl baked another big batch of gingerbread cookies which we decorated with some cute shop-bought Christmas sweetie decorations.  She had tried a new/modified recipe but the general consensus was that the old faithful tried and tested one is still best & that's what she went with when baking for the Homeschooler's Christmas party.

 

 

It took us 2 buses 2 trains and over 2 hours to get to the party but I'm so glad we went.  It was really good to hang out with other families who have chosen to home educate their children.  We laughed, chatted & told funny stories to one another.  One person was telling me all about a homeschooler who'd recently gone to a fairly local University to do medicine.  I was telling another person all the ins & outs of what's required for the General Level Certificate.  The atmosphere is always about sharing what you know & helping/encouraging one another... great not to be in competition with others.  Tigergirl & Smurf had a blast playing the old fashioned party games like pass the parcel, musical chairs/statues and a fun team game with a straw and tiny bits of paper...   

Roman & Chef generally helped moving chairs/furniture when asked & enjoyed the party food.

Tiger girl made a new friend and it was great to see them chatting away and getting to know each other. They swapped addresses and T-g's already written her a letter and we plan to meet up.  Smurf was in the thick of a big bunch of boys and enjoyed playing with old friends & making new ones too. 

I was a real prawn though... Roman & Chef decided to stay in town to get a coupla last minute pressies and Tiger-girl, Smurf & I came straight home.  It was dark by this time & I was pegging out for a cup of tea.  It was only after we stepped off the bus that I realised I didn't have a key to get in the house!  GGrr...  Roman & Chef both ALWAYS carry a key so I wasn't too keen to carry my big bunch of keys and had left it at home.  The boys came straight home asap but the three of us were frozen (even though we'd lingered in the corner shop for as long as we dared!) 

Last week-end the children went to stay over night with their Nanny & Grandad.  They went on the train & now Roman is 16 he needs an adult fare.  We got a family railcard and the train is direct (but with lots of stops in teeny places).  They went to the village pantomime and Chef won a cuddly snowman in the raffle.  Tiger-girl has always loved snowmen & gladly accepted this new cuddly into her snowman collection.

 

Sadly, Husb has to work on Christmas Eve so we can't go & have a Christmas meal at Nanny & Grandad's this year. 

I was glad to hear that the parcel I sent to Hungary arrived safely & had a lovely letter from our friends. 

Quilt panels & Gingerbread...

There was some excitement and joy in setting out all the quilt panels.  The lime-green-bogey colour & dark purple hour glass panels certainly create a cool optical illusion when alternated with the chunky churndash panels.  Chef has been intrigued with the clever effect.  Smurf and Chef patiently arranged & re-arranged the panels & it was quite tricky getting the colour combinations to sit nicely together.

 

Here's the final lay-out... 

I'm pretty excited to sew it all together  :)

During this time Tiger-girl baked-up a batch of Gingerbread cookies... 

 

Warm gingerbread straight from the oven, hot tea and a short break reading a quilting techniques book...  One happy Mama....

Apple-picking on the Common...

On Tuesday we had a really lovely family walk to the Common.  It was a warm Autumn evening and we decided to get some fresh air and pick some apples.  Earlier in the season the chidlers had gone to the Common several times to gather blackberries & Tiger-girl made a couple of pies and crumbles. 

Smurf & Tigergirl enjoyed going on their scooters.

We are so blessed to be near wide open space and countryside.

Loving the signs of Autumn.

We pass through a very pretty village to get to the Common...

Girlie on a scooter...

Chef is looking at the apple tree.

We don't gather the ones off the ground.. only ones we shake down ourselves or can reach to pick.

Smurf & Roman climbed the tree to shake the branches and reach more apples.

We gathered quite a good harvest.

To make the most of the apples we washed, cored, peeled, chopped and stewed them! 

Many hands made light work.

The stewed apple went into clean plastic containers, ready to freeze.

We tasted the stewed apple & it was yum!

 

Chess and Cupcakes...!

Husb and Chef have been playing Chess in every spare moment (or so it seems).  The Chess set has been missing a Bishop for as long as I can remember, and Chef has recently replaced this old set with a 50p second-hand one. This has caused some excitement among the Chess players who live here (!)

Although this may look like an ordinary cupcake (if there is such a thing) it is infact a totally yum molten chocolate centred cupcake.  Tigergirl has discovered a new trick ... basically follow the easy choccy sponge recipe below, BUT THE TRICK IS to pop a largish chunk of chocolate (milk or white) onto the half filled cakecase, then cover over with more mixture.  When they come out of the oven they hide the warm, gooey scrummy melted choccy centre.  We were all impressed & apparently it's so easy! 

Makes  8 Warm molten-centred chocolate cupcakes

2 oz soft margarine

2oz caster sugar (we just use ordinary)

1 large egg

3oz self-raising flour

1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

2oz of chocolate for the chunks that go in the middle

Super easy... bung everything into a bowl and whisk it all up till it's smooth.  Spoon half the mixture into the paper cases.  Use a teaspoon to make an indentation in the centre of each one.  Break the 2oz of chocolate into 8 chunks and pop a bit in each indentation.  Then just spoon the remaining mix on top.  Bake for 20 mins.  But let them cool 2-3 mins so you don't burn your mouth.

190oC  or 375oF  or Gas mark 5      

I'd recommend doubling the recipe like we did or it's not really enough!  I often see recipes on blogs and we've even tried a few.  This recipe is easy & yum ...what could be better?!

This pic is not the best but you can see the melted gooey centre a bit.