Sun, Sea and a Picnic in Brighton.

Oh I've been a bit slow on the update scene! And now I have a few minutes I barely know where to start. Perhaps with the weather and the weekend!? It has been so beautifully sunny the last few days, and yesterday seemed like the perfect opportunity to take Nye to the seaside. It started off rather cold when we left London but as we drove it got warmer and warmer until we reached the edges of Brighton and I sat in the car waving my hands in the air shouting "I can see the sea." Nye of course was asleep in the car and didn't really have a chance to see the sea very much but I know he could hear it as the waves crashed down whilst we had a lovely picnic on the pebble beach.

With me at home looking after a baby fulltime the pennies are a little stretched so instead of going out for a meal we decided to take a picnic.  When we were first together Neil and I made a picnic and actually made a couple of recipe cards that you get free at Waitrose (normally they just sit cluttering up my shelves. Just me!?)  We had a steak and beetroot salad with home made lemonade.  This time I made the lemonade  but managed to leave it in the fridge, doh!

Instead of the steak and beetroot salad I tried to recreate a delicious salad I had at the Blue Brick Cafe in Dulwich last week. (Well worth a visit).  My version was tasty but not quite as good as the original but basically it was a roasted butter nut squash salad with mixed leaves, coriander, crumbled feta and walnuts.  I think there was a dressing on the proper version which I'm still trying to work out, possibly some kind of citrus.

We also picked up some froxen macaroons from Lidl to see what they were like and I can tell you that they were delicious and £2.99 for 12 mini ones.

Home made print for baby boy

I have a backlog of things to post. But here's my proudest achievement of the week.
Font Art March 2012.2

Tuesday Linking Love

More links this lovely Tuesday evening.

I love flowers!

 

I still REALLY want to make a patchwork blanket for Nye.  This one is gorgeous and matches my plans for his changing table....

OMG crochet booties

And finally... food for thought! These look fresh and delicious.

Lemon Creme Fraiche Sponge

Had a friend round for tea the other day and needed to throw some baking together pretty quickly.  It was mid-week and stores in the fridge were dwindling. So I threw the following together, despite a lack of anything similar online (I usually google to check that my ideas of what goes together arent TOTALLY off the wall.)

So here goes:

photo from pinterest (I forgot to take a photo)

Basic sponge a la delia with a fresh lemon twist.

Ingredients
For an 8 inch (20 cm) cake:
6 oz (175 g) self-raising flour
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs at room temperature
6 oz (175 g) very soft butter
6 oz (175 g) golden caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract (ours has run out so I used a packet of vanilla sugar from Lidl,
For the filling:
7 fl oz (200 ml) (half a tub) Creme Fraiche
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C)

For the topping:

1/2 cup water
1 lemon juice and rind
1/2 cup caster sugar

This recipe is taken from How to Cook Book One and Delia's Complete How To Cook

Method

Put the flour and baking powder in a sieve and sift it into the bowl.

Add all the other cake ingredients to the bowl (soften butter in microwave if necessary).

Use electric hand whisk and whisk everything together until you have a smooth, well-combined mixture, which will take about 1 minute. 

Divide the mixture between 2 tins, and place the tins on the centre shelf of the oven. The cakes will take 30-35 minutes to cook and don't open the oven door until 30 minutes have elapsed. To test whether the cakes are cooked or not, I shove in a fork to see if it comes out clean.

Next, remove from the oven, then wait about 5 minutes before turning them out on to a wire cooling rack and wait till they cool before adding the filling.

Place the first sponge cake on a plate or cake stand, then spread the creme fraiche evenly over the surface.

Next place the other cake on top, press it gently so that the filling oozes out at the edges.

Finally prepare the lemony topping.
Heat the water and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat and add in the grated rind and juice of one lemon and heat until it thickens and bubbles.

Poke a few holes in the top of the sponge for the lemon to drizzle through then poor the sticky mixture on top and quickly spread with a knife before it cools and hardens.

Breastfeeding 999

photo by Keli Hoskins

It is a new day and like every day with a new born baby each is a surprise.  But today I am specifically wanting to reflect on my experience of breastfeeding.

I have found breastfeeding to be a challenge.  When it works it makes me feel so proud, empowered and happy that I'm giving Nye the best thing I can to keep him healthy.  However those thoughts fly out of your head quite quickly when you start to reach a rocky period, whether its aches and pains or feels neverending. Breast feeding often tricks you into thinking you have mastered it only for something to come along and knock you off track.  Then just as you are despairing once again everything clicks into place and you feel elated and greatful and full of joy that you didnt give up.

So here I am in bed at 8am with a sleeping baby.  I cannot tell you how wonderful that feels to write after several days of constant feeding from around 7am every morning until 11am.  I was getting so concerned last night about his unsatisfied nature that I wrote down a details diary of feeds and sleeps to take to the Health Visitor today when I go and get him weighed.

It's funny this always seems to happen, just as I get to the point of asking for help everything resolves itself and I feel like we as a duo are back to ourselves.

I am thankful that there is so much support available online, but what amazes me is that although there are so many people out there who will be able to explain what you are experience and empathise as they have been there before.  There will be as many people who are experiencing the exact opposite.

There are ladies on the forums I read who are concerned that their babies are not eating enough.  I always smile to myself because this is certainly not my son's problem.  I think his main problem is that he doesn't know when to stop feeding!  With breastfed babies you are told you cant feed them too much and that if they want to feed you should let them but if I let my son have his way all the time I would be in agonising pain! And then of course you go to the weigh in and he's loosing weight and you feel like an evil mother for not feeding him 24hrs a day. But on reflection everyone needs to find their own way to cope, there has to be a middle ground.

Cake

Baking cake makes me feel human again. Breastfeeding taking its toll...

Tuesday Linking love

I've been back on Pinterest with a vengeance.  Here's a couple of images from this week that I've been admiring.

Firstly H&M have tracked me down and started sending me catalougues, this cannot lead to good things.  I bought some stuff from their home range for our bathroom and for dressing our table at Christmas and I am now addicted.  It reflects the seasons trends and is SO cheap.

I'm going to try and copy this, once I get round to it...

and finally some FOOD for thought.

Tis my birthday tomorrow, let's see if I can get round to making a yummy cheesecake as I have been dreaming.  A bit like this...