Easter Holibags

April is the month of no return; the kids are at school for a total of approx. 7 days, the rest being dedicated to Easter holidays, bank holidays, the Royal Wedding and there may be an election in there too.   So how do you keep them entertained?   No, seriously, HOW.........?   Nah, only kidding, I have this down to a tee after years of practice.   It's a finely tuned balance of food, entertainment, jammie days and the occasional throwing money at the situation.

The secret is not to peak too early ain't that the truth....; so here's how it's going so far: Saturday after school ends, have great friends who throw a party or throw it yourself to celebrate the start of the holidays and who will supply you with a constant flow of gin and champagne, the kids a constant supply of sweeties, Easter egg hunts and dvds.   A bit of sunshine helps, if you can arrange it as an hour at the park for the kids, and only the kids, you'll be sitting sipping that gin and tonic helps tremendously.

The Sunday, arrange for some visitors...not too early, you've been drinking gin remember, but not too late either, you'll be in need of those bacon rolls and lemon cake to aid your recovery.   It just so happened it was Mothers Day...perfect; breakfast in bed, for me a toasted bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese and huge mugs of tea....then up to make the cake and then chill on the sofa with the Sunday papers until mum and sisters arrive.   See, we're all happy; the kids are happy to see their family, adrenalin pounds at the excitement of it all tiring them out and you get to sit still.  And eat.   Doing not much at all.   That's important.  

So they've had a busy weekend, it's time to take stock and chill for a few days but only if it's raining; if it's sunny, you must go out in Glasgow as we don't know when that rare ball in the sky might surface once more or at least, throw the kids out but in general, Monday is the day for jammies, dvds, cookies, food and games.

Tuesday was a wee bit similar, truth be told I spent the day cooking, see below, but it gets them ready for a nice long walk to the train station come Wednesday for a trip the the cinema .   By 7.30pm, they're home, fed and tired and mum can go meet her pals at the pub.   

 

That leads us nicely to today; the girls are having a pony day where they get to clean out, pony ride etc. and me and the lad get to have some laddie time:
"So, Fraser, what shall we do today?"
"Stay in, play the Wii"
"The sun is shining, son, lets go do something"
"I think that would be good, but for now, I really think you should have a coffee and a biscuit first and why don't you go on the computer for a wee while?   You deserve it"
"Well...ok....."

Hence my bloggy update.  

Now to the issue of food: this week, I cooked Martha's Beef Goulash, Moroccan Style Chicken with Couscous and my Original Chilli recipe; I've experimented over the past year with chilli, my favourite having sirloin steak in it as well as mince but you know how I like to get value for money and although it is indeed a tasty chilli, the sirloin and extra ingredients push up the cost enormously.   My original chilli costs less and is a good starting point where extra ingredients can be added.  

Helen's Original Chilli

 

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced (I like the long, pointed peppers as sweeter) 
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 500g lean minced beef
• 1 beef stock cube
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• ½ tsp dried marjoram or mixed herbs containing marjoram
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 410g can red kidney beans 
• Square of dark chocolate
• Teaspoon cocoa powder
• Half cup coffee

1. Add oil to a large pan and add the onions and cook for 5 minutes on medium; stir occasionally.  Once the onions are soft, add the garlic, red pepper, chilli, paprika and cumin. Give it a stir, then leave it to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Brown the mince. Turn the heat up, add the meat to the pan and brown; break up the mince with your wooden spoon.  Keep stirring and breaking up the mince until totally browned.
3. Mix the stock cube with 300ml/1⁄2 pint of hot water. Pour this into the pan with the mince. Add the can of chopped tomatoes and the marjoram, sugar, cocoa powder, coffee, tomato puree and add a good shake of salt and pepper. Stir.
4. Bring to the boil, give it a good stir and put a lid on. Turn down the heat until it is simmering and leave for 1 hour. Stir every now and then.
5. Add the beans and chocolate.   Bring to the boil again, and gently simmer without the lid for another 15 minutes, adding a little water if you think it needs it. Taste and season well.   Have a wee bowlful because hey, you made it, you deserve it but then leave for at least an hour or overnight before serving for dinner as the flavours really get a chance to adhere.

* I serve mine with flatbread or rice, topped with a little grated cheese and natural yoghurt.
** Add chopped up chillies for an extra kick.

Sunday morning, up with the lark...

Brian woke me at 8am, the morning after the night before. He seemed as fresh as a daisy, heading out to treasure hunt or dive or some such thing involving water. "You're off your head" I mumbles as he cheerily waved me goodbye and I reluctantly got up, I thudded downstairs, on the hunt for water and after aimlessly walking around for a few minutes, went back to bed for an hour or two.

The party was wonderful. I spent most of the day ferrying children to sleepovers, buying items required for all the different events of the day and night, picking up balloons, setting up cakes etc, etc. When it came down to it, I had approx. 30 minutes to get ready and it was a mad dash to get to the party in time.

The garden was filled with hundreds of candles and the tables and chairs set up on the lawn sparkled with the lights reflecting off water bowls filled with floating waxed balls, lit up like Christmas trees. The sound of happy chatter and the chink of ice came from every direction, and the light breeze with the smell of autumn and the rotisserie barbecue was in the air. The bar was set and lined up along it was rows and rows of mojitos and French martinis. The singer, resembling Dean Martin, started to perform his rat pack and swing numbers, belting out tune after tune as we sang along.

It was a cold, clear night but the outside heaters helped and I made sure I had a nice little cardigan to match my outfit whilst Brian, being much more sensible, had worn thermals under his suit and sat there, drinking and eating with a smile on his face all night.

My friends, Ricky and Irene really seemed to enjoy themselves and they had a dance and a cutting of the cake in memory of their previous wedding 25 years earlier. Near the end of the evening, we ventured back inside and were handed glasses of Amber, a liqueur made with my favourite malt whisky, Macallan. It tasted just like the Schneken cakes I made last month, what with the pecan and maple syrup flavour and I stopped after just one, which was difficult but I'd had my fair share of French Martinis and didn't want to be carried home.

We left sometime after 2am, even though there was still a good few folk partying into the wee hours. It was a great night and one that they will remember, I'm sure.

I unfortunately didn't take too many pictures but the food was rotisserie chicken and pork, stuffed and marinaded in, amongst other things, sweet chilli and olives, fresh salads with tomato and mozzarella, honey mustard glazed sausages, baby new jersey potatoes and lovely cheesecakes. Delicious.

This morning has been spent rounding up the kids, tea at every location, a few paracetamol...for the cold I have of course, what else......

It will be fish and chips for dinner tonight, despite it being Sunday and we shall all return to normal in the morning.

Fried Prawn Patties

I had a lovely lunch with Maureen today; well, when I say lovely, it was grand to see her but the Burnbrae has been bought over by some cost cutting, penny pinching morons who provided us with half the portion of food we were used to and decided on a 'half hot half cold' theme when providing grub. When asking for a latte, they informed us that it was instant coffee for now. Bill please. We headed to Costa for a proper cup of the black stuff.

So, hunger set in rather quickly on my return and on searching the freezer for some sustenance I uncovered frozen, raw prawns (shrimps) hidden at the back. What to do, what to do? I could stir fry, breadcrumb, curry or chop. Saute, flambe, souffle or plop. Hmmm. Skewered? Fried? Fried! I had a brainwave.

Fried Prawn blobs Patties! Just the thing.

First job was to defrost the prawns. Obviously, fresh prawns would be better but hey, when hungry and frugal, frozen will do.

I shelled the prawns, shoved them in a blender alongside a finely chopped clove of garlic and 2 finely chopped spring onions. I added half a teaspoon salt, a good grinding black pepper, a little cayenne and 60g plain flour. If using Nigella's recipe, you'd add 4 teaspoons of sherry as well but I prefer wine to the mix. I then added water and mixed to make a thick batter, covered with clingfilm and waited 1 hour.

During this hour, I continued painting; I have been decorating. I have one room half completed, five more to go. Why do I start these things? Kelly is moving into the big room so she was first; after some deliberation, she decided on lilac for one wall, magnolia for the rest. She then decided she wanted painted onto the wall, a girl holding a baby dove, looking over at a mummy dove on a branch........yes, this is what she decided. HUH?? Was my first response. What the freakin'......?? my second. "Ooooookay, Kelly" I said "I shall do my best". Well, it's finished, for better or worse....

So, the hour has passed and I heat some olive oil in a pan. I take teaspoons of the mix and fry in the oil, turning after a minute and cooking on the other side. When brown on both sides, place onto plate covered with paper towels.

I like to make homemade mayo for this but Hellmans will do the job just as well! Add some lime and fresh coriander though. If not partial to mayo, squeeze some lime juice over the tasty little blobs and eat immediately. Bleedin' luverly.

Tomorrow is the big silver wedding anniversary party. My friend Sam did the cake:

Isn't it wonderful? I know you can't see the whole thing, I was not averse to pulling it out and setting it up for your perusal but you just know what would happen, don't you? Especially with three wee acrobats around. I shall take some more pics at the event and report back on the deliciousness of this tasty baked lovely.

Have a freakin AWESOME weekend!

Missed reunions, silver weddings and rolls, rolls, rolls...

The two-nights-out-in-a-row-night-out last night didn't happen for reasons outwith my control. It was a reunion night and I was looking forward to meeting up. I felt really bad for not going and hope they'll invite me to the next one.

There had to be a certain amount of serendipity in it though as today was the busiest day I've had in a long while and no doubt, with even just a slight hangover, I would not have been able to cope.

Before heading out, the kids and I made rolls for lunch. The weird and wonderful shapes they moulded them into were bizarre to say the least but they turned out lovely; it's amazing how much more the kids enjoy eating them when they've had a wee hand in creating them.

From this.....

To this.

My large roll, to be sliced and shared.

Everyone is happy.

I spent what was left of the evening writing out the invitations I had made for my friend's wedding anniversary party. It is very simple with silver hearts, one little white heart and silver grey font; I bought silver card which unfortunately was damaged when I opened the packet so I just went ahead and made them with two white layers instead of three as time was running out.
It's nicer than it looks, the photograph doesn't do it justice; more to do with my shaky, tired aim than anything else. I've faded out the address and telephone number, as you can see (for obvious reasons).

Tomorrow, I will be attending Help for our Heroes event organised by my local pub, The Burnbrae and the kids are excited at the thought of helicopters, soldiers and sailors milling around....not that the helicopter should be doing any actual milling but you never know.... It's a great day for Sundays in my City as started by Unknown Mami. So pictures galore tomorrow.