Pasta lika papa makesa

Our work top pasta roller is one of our best loved kitchen gadgets as Andy loves to make homemade pasta. This weekend saw him rolling dough again as it’s is so simple to make with an end result  far tastier than commercially made pasta.   I’m not exaggerating when I say it resulted in the most delicious lasagne I’ve ever eaten.  It was a wonderful combination of flavours and textures and each mouthful was a sheer delight.  The recipe was from an Italian cookery book we bought years ago and so far, we’ve not had a single disappointing dish from it. 

A morning constitutional?

Andy is away in Reading this week so my workday morning routine has to change to include dog walking.  Ordinarily, Andy is responsible for Molly’s morning constitutional so I am free to organise tea and porridge breakfasts, prepare our packed lunches, sort loads of washing and supervise Nerea’s exit to school.  Inevitably, I’m having to get up earlier to fit everything in although with Andy away, I only need to prepare one lunch  so I can claw back a little time before cycling to work! Thankfully the evening routine is much less hectic as dinner can be a moveable feast!

Birthday party time!

Fiona’s 50th birthday party held at the Rugby Club was a great night!  I made Chocolate Chip Cookies and presented them as an edible birthday card in an origami box I’d made out of brown paper.  Most people entered into the party spirit and enthusiastically participated in the dancing and musical charades.  Rumour has it that a photo of Andy and me, standing on chairs and acting out Kate and Leo in Titanic to “My heart must go on” may be in circulation.  Unlike others, I can’t even use the excuse that “drink had been taken” as I was driving!

Toll house or Chocolate Chip cookies

The original chocolate chip cookie, said to have been invented by Ruth Wakefield of the Toll House Restaurant in Massachusetts. She sold the recipe to the Nestle company which made it famous throughout America.

Makes 25-30

Ingredients:

10oz (280g) plain flour

1tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1 egg

3tbs milk

1tsp vanilla essence

6oz (170g) slightly salted butter, softened

5oz (140g) caster sugar

4oz (110g) light muscovado sugar

14oz (400g) chocolate chips or diced plain chocolate

4oz (110g) chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preparation: Line several baking sheets with non-stick baking parchment, or butter them generously. Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt. Beat the egg lightly with the milk and vanilla essence. Cream the butter with the caster sugar until light and fluffy. Add the muscovado sugar and keep beating until it is evenly incorporated. Now add about a third of the egg mixture, beat well and then stir in a third of the flour. Repeat until all used up, by which time you should have a thick, smooth batter. Stir in the chocolate and pecans.

Drop dessertspoonfuls of the mixture on to the sheets, leaving plenty of space between them. Bake at 190C/375F/gas 5 for 12-16 minutes. Cool for a couple of minutes on the sheets so they begin to firm, then transfer to a wire rack.

Baby nostalgia

Rachael in the office is leaving today to have a baby so I had a short period of indulgent, nostalgic reflection.  Although it’s 17 years since I was expecting Nerea, it still seems like yesterday.  I remember the dual feelings of excitement and dread as her due date came nearer and then, as I waddled around like a fattened turkey, just the overwhelming desire for it “all to be over”.  How little did I appreciate that Nerea’s birth would be merely the beginning of a wonderful new phase in our lives. And despite the upheaval and change, it’s been fantastic.

Home made birthday gift

We’re going to a “20th celebration of a 30th Birthday” on Saturday and I’m deliberating about a home-made gift.  We’ve been advised that “the girl has everything” and doesn’t want any pressis but I’d feel uncomfortable not taking anything.  Equally, I wouldn’t want to offend any one with an inappropriate gift.  Hopefully, a small, home baked offering will be appreciated.  Shall it be a selection of cup cakes or a box of chocolate brownies?  Or perhaps a batch of Florentines or mature cheese sables?  I’ll enjoy deciding on the choice of edibles almost as much as  baking the goodies themselves

Tour guide

I’ve started my tour guide training!!  It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while and with things on the public sector employment front looking decidedly unstable, I’ve decided to broaden my skill base.  I love history and talking so what better thing than to attempt to combine the two.  I’m beginning my training with Carlisle Castle and then, if I’m any good, I will be allowed to graduate onto other sites and tours. I’ll  also achieve a recognised qualification if I make the grade.  I’m excited and ready to take this the first step on a much longer journey

Hair! Not the musical

I’m having my annual angst about my hair.  It’s thin, fine, turning grey and has a natural wave so that the moment it gets damp, it dissolves into wiry curls. It doesn’t respond well if I use too many products or heat on it so I am limited to styling options. I’m not vain but I think if fair to say that if there was one personal feature I could change, then it would be my hair.  I’d love to have thick lustrous locks that take very little managing and retain their styling for slightly longer than half an hour

Chocolate and orange flapjacks

I discovered a few squares of dark chocolate in the fridge at the weekend which were a legacy from the profiteroles I made at Christmas.  There were too few to make anything terribly chocolately but I was reluctant to buy any more, being on a post Christmas healthy eating campaign.  Then, in a moment of inspiration I decided to make chocolate orange flapjacks.  We were planning a walk so flapjacks were intended in any case and as they’re very forgiving, were unlikely to be ruined by the addition of orange zest and chocolate.  And I was right! They were delicious

Chocolate and Orange Flapjacks

110g or 4oz soft brown sugar
110g or 4oz butter
80g or 3oz golden syrup( an extra spoonful of syrup will make them slightly chewier)
220g or 8oz jumbo oats (you can use rolled oats or a mixture of the two)
zest of 1 orange
50g chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Set oven to 180C or gas 4
Grease a 20cm or 8” square baking tin

Melt butter, sugar and syrup.
Stir in oats.
Add orange zest and chocolate chips and mix well
Press evenly  into tin
Bake for 20 mins until golden (Longer than this will make them crispier)
Leave in tin to cool for about 10 minutes before cutting into squares

UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS

We recorded the new BBC production of “Upstairs Downstairs”, broadcast over the Christmas period so we could watch it at our leisure.  We weren’t disappointed. My family were avid viewers of the original series’, depicting London life in an aristocratic family during the early 1900s.  Although originally an ITV production from the early 1970s, this reprise, written by the original authors and set in the pre-war 1930s with new characters, delightful sets and costumes was a welcome return. Now we’ve seen the 3 “taster” episodes, we’re waiting with bated breath for the next series, which must surely be a given.

Christmas 2010

 

So, the Christmas holiday is over and it’s back to normality.  Apart from the usual round of coughs and colds that seem to plague everyone during the holiday season, we had a lovely quiet time with good food and company.  We didn’t venture out doors for any major adventures apart from the New Year Tar Bar’ls at Allendale as sadly, the pre – Christmas sharp, cold weather has been replaced with the damp, grey, dreariness that epitomises the traditional English winter.  But, dogs must be walked and a breath of fresh air is always beneficial, even when the recipient is snuffly

Allendale Tar Bar'ls

 
We enjoyed an ancient New Year’s Eve (or Old Year’s Night) custom for the first time in several years, finding ourselves in Allendale, home of Grandma and the pagan Tar Bar’l celebrations.  Local men dress up as “guisers” and process around the village, carrying flaming tar barrels on their heads, accompanied by an eclectic mix of musicians.  As midnight approaches, the barrels are thrown into the fire in the village square to “burn the old year out”.  Luckily, it was a still night. When it’s windy, everyone holds their breath that the roof of the Co-Op doesn’t catch fire again!

Kristina's Strictly Christmas

I was delighted that lovely Kristina Rihanoff won the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special with her celebrity partner, John Barrowman.  Not only did Kristina look stunning as always, in a red, wide-legged cat suit but her quick step choreography was perfect for both of their bright, sparkling personalities.  As this year’s Strictly season has been decidedly lack lustre (No Brian Fortuna, Too many props, Did you know Pamela Stephenson is a Doctor? And that her husband is Billy Connelly?), Kristina’s win added a quantity of some much needed gloss.  Let’s hope it heralds a new dancing dawn for Kristina during 2011