Listography – My top 5 biscuits

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Catparrott

Could Kate have picked a topic for which I am any better suited? Surely not. I may have trouble narrowing it down to 5 but I’ll give it a damn good try. I’ll probably have to eat some to ensure I really give you the best. It’s important to be sure after all.

1 Waitrose chocolate chip and hazelnut cookies

For me these win the award for Best Biscuit In The World Ever. They’ve got the perfect ratio of chocolate to biscuit to crunchy nutty bits. A quiet cup of tea and two of these (yes, two, one would be mean) is just heaven. In fact it’s hard not to rant on for ages about just how good they are. Just trust me, you must get some. Mmmmmm. Continue reading →

Silent Sunday

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Catparrott

What Halloween Looks Like In Our House

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Catparrott

We start with a pumpkin

Cut the top off

And scoop it out

Roast the seeds

And demonstrate exceptional artistic carving skill

We put together some decorations

And stick them up

We make up some spooky coloured icingWhip up some cupcakes (domestic goddess that I am)

And display them on a suitably themed stand

We don some not remotely scary costumes

Some of which are a bit on the big side

And go next door to Trick or Treat our lovely neighbours

And give this response when I suggest sharing the booty

And once the sugar high has dissipated we go to bed, quite relieved it’s only once a year.

Listography – What we did this summer

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Catparrott

For Listography this week Kate is asking for a quick run down of how we’ve amused ourselves this summer. We’ve had a fairly quiet summer mainly because me being on maternity leave means we’re skint but here are some highlights:

1 E’s Birthday

This was E’s third birthday but first proper party. He’s a massive Fireman Sam fan so we had a fireman theme including the fab fire engine cake (not my work, I’m afraid, but the ever reliable M&S). We had 15 kids coming so I chickened out of having it at home and hired a local church hall, booked a bouncy castle, packed some party bags, wrapped a pass the parcel and hoped for the best. It all went swimmingly on the day bar once boy getting a bit upset at having to give away a present he’d obviously got a bit attached to. They came, they bounced until they could barely stand and then we filled them with sugar and unpronounceable additives just before we sent them home. What more could you ask for?

2 Our Mini-Staycation Part 1

We’d planned a trip down south to see my sister for the weekend and decided to spend the first night in a hotel so we could take both the boys swimming which they loved (the fact that we could then have a decent meal without requiring a baby sitter was an added bonus). The next day we headed over to Eastbourne and found a couple of square feet of sand for E to play in along with my sister and one of my oldest friends. E had a fab time and the adults actually enjoyed themselves more than this picture implies.

3 Our Mini-Staycation Part 2

After Eastbourne we transported the kids and our mountain of stuff to my sister’s flat in Brighton. She lives right on the seafront and yards from this really well designed playground so again E was in his element. The sun was out by this point and we had a lovely afternoon tiring out the boys so that we could enjoy some tasty fish and chips and a glass of wine that evening.

4 Hatton Country World

Hub and I grew up very close to Hatton Country World but we hadn’t been for years. They’ve got a great combination of farm animals, mini rides and loads of room to run around safely. E loved feeding the goats but would jump back in fits of giggles every time their lips tickled his hand. He was also very brave, going up the huge inflatable slide all by himself so we were very proud.

5 Hub’s Birthday

I mentioned Hub’s birthday in my last Listography but thought I’d show you the hamburger bun sized whoopie pies. We made sponge ones with jam and buttercream in and chocolate ones with cream. As you can see not all of them lasted long enough to be in the photo. Yummy!

So that’s my summer. What have you been up to?
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Listography – My 5 Guilty Pleasures (catsyellowdays.wordpress.com)

Listography – What we did this week

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Catparrott

This week there’s no deep dark secrets for Listography. Kate is taking it a bit easier on us and asking for a run down of our week. Actually, since I’ve been a bit lazy on the blogging front over the last couple of weeks I suppose it’s a good prompt to get me to sit down and concentrate for more than five minutes. So what did I do this week?

1 Hubby’s Birthday

In honour of my husband reaching the grand old age of 32 the boys and I spent the afternoon creating Whoopie Pies while he was out golfing and then ate them as a picnic on the floor when he came home. The recipe was surprisingly forgiving in the hands of a three year old and they were yummy. The only problem was I underestimated how much they’d expand in the oven and what should have been delicate little mouthfuls ended up looking like chocolate hamburger buns. If you like cake, not the end of the world I suppose.

2 Shoe shopping

Before I could go to Wednesday’s wedding I needed to go into town for some new shoes. I swear pregnancy has done irrevocable damage to my feet. I’m sure they are loads wider than they used to be and the shoes I wore to my friend’s wedding a couple of weeks ago were so uncomfortable I was forced to medicate with copious amounts of wine and even some vodka. As this wedding would involve hubby’s family I decided new shoes were a better option. I surveyed the best the Bull Ring had to offer, tried on countless pairs and in the end came back with a new dress instead. Oops!

3 Family Wedding

Having a mid-week wedding was a lovely break. The boys were angels, silent all through the ceremony and then E ate his dinner and played nicely with the other kids at the reception. I was a super proud mummy and to top it all they were so worn out we even got a lie-in in the morning.

4 Party Planning

My sister is about to move to Australia and we are in the middle of organising an epic leaving party. She came up to stay for the weekend and we had a massive planning session including a trip to Hobbycraft for party supplies. What started out as dinner for friends is fast becoming an elaborate weekend house party. There has been talk of a magician and even a bouncy castle. By the time it actually happens I thinks it’s going to look like we’re hosting the Eurovision Song Contest.

5 Arguing with my Sky+ box

My Sky+ box has become a TV critic and is refusing to record The Borgias. It’s been programmed three separate times, with and without the series link, and not clashing with anything and yet when I check in the morning it says it has ‘failed’ even though everything else is recording as normal. Maybe it is saving me from myself as I managed to get one episode from the ‘Anytime’ menu and it does seem to have gone down the soft porn panto route which isn’t generally my cup of tea.

Wow, quite a busy week looking back. Why don’t you pop over to Kate Takes 5 and see what everyone else has been up to? (But be nice, I think she’s feeling a bit delicate!)

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Making Shortbread in the Real World

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Catparrott

Now the summer holidays are upon us what could be nicer, I thought to myself yesterday, than to attempt a spot of baking with three year old E. Shortbread is pretty simple, isn’t it? We’ll give that a go.I’d popped on to the BBC website, which is always my first stop for spontaneous cooking, and found this easy peasy recipe:

Preparation method

Image via Wikipedia

Heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.
Beat 4oz butter and 2oz sugar together until smooth.
Stir in 6oz flour to get a smooth paste. Turn on to a work surface and gently roll out until the paste is 1cm/½in thick.
Cut into rounds or fingers and place onto a baking tray. Sprinkle with icing sugar and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.

Excellent as this guidance was, I think it missed a few critical steps so I thought I’d update it for you.

Bung baby T into his chair with Curly (soft toy sheep) for company.
Wrestle E into Gruffalo apron.
Wash hands very enthusiastically while singing the fab I Can Cook hand washing song, imagining self as the smiley, unflappable Katy.
Realise butter is in fridge and therefore rock hard.
Conduct swift mental calculation (time for butter to soften at ambient temperature) – (time before E gets bored of waiting) = Problem!
Decide to put granite-butter in microwave to soften.
Retrieve Curly from floor for shouting T.
Return to microwave to find island of butter surrounded by melted golden sea (Never mind, what difference can it really make, hey?)
Locate sugar at back of cupboard, standing on chair on one leg, while explaining to E that he must never stand on chairs because it’s dangerous.
Conduct further mental calculation a fraction of a second too late: (E’s enthusiasm for pouring in the sugar) > (E’s understanding of measurement).
Spoon excess sugar into bin.
Watch E sneeze all over hands.
Wash hands with slightly less enthusiasm still singing the I Can Cook hand washing song and imagining Katy has numerous crew around to help out.
Allow E to stir … erm … briskly (anorak with hood may have been useful here to avoid sudden sugar shower).
Having learnt from sugar experience, measure flour into separate bowl for E to pour in.
Let E tip the flour into bowl.
Try not to breathe for 5 minutes while dense flour cloud dissipates.
Give it a good mix to start to bring together and then let E get his hands in to form a ball.
Gasp as E stick dough covered finger up nose.
Wash hands again while E sings that irritating hand washing song, imagining Katy getting breaks to recover between takes.
Tip dough onto table and watch for a few minute as E beats it with the rolling pin.
Tell him what a good job he’s done and ask if he would mind ‘some help finishing off’.
Attempt to reassemble dough and roll out.
Find biscuit cutter and return to find E trying to feed dough to T.
Explain calmly, for the hundredth time, that T is too small to share E’s food.
Remove dough from T’s hands while supervising E’s random stamping of shapes out of the dough.
Scrape shapes off table and onto baking tray.
Don’t bother to sprinkle on sugar because frankly enough is enough.
Whack into oven which isn’t preheated, natch.
Return wearily to sink for more hand washing and grit teeth through that song, picturing Katy reclining in dressing room with vodka bottle at the end of the day.
Leave washing up for Daddy due to fear that E will start the Big Cook Little Cook washing up song.