Pulled Pork Recipe - No photo's!

I've been meaning to add this recipe to a blog and share it for a while now, but every time I make it I'm in such a hurry to eat it that I forget to take pictures!

So I'm posting the recipe anyway! It's too good not to share!

The recipe is not totally my own, I adapted it from a recipe that was posted on a friend's Facebook, when she found herself kitcheless, with only a slow cooker for family meals.
Now those of you who know me will know how much I love my slow cooker! I'm proud of the fact that I've converted a couple of friends to use them too!

This recipe is an American recipe. I don't have American measuring cups so for a recipe like this when quantities don't need to be precise, just in proportion I use a tea cup as a measure and call it measuring in 'ish'. Using this method for this recipe has never let me down!

I use a 1.2 - 1.5 kg piece of Pork shoulder. I look for a piece with very little fat or skin, as unlike when I do a roast & want it all crispy, you'll just be cutting it off.
This cut is very often on offer in the supermarkets so I always buy a piece and make this recipe. It feeds 6 easily with left overs and can be stretched to feed further depending on how you serve it.

Today we had it with potato & sweet potato wedges, corn, coleslaw & onion rings.
We've also had it mixed with beans, rice & cheese in a wrap to make burrito's or in Burger buns with fries & salad. Either of the last two suggestions work really well for a crowd!

So grab a teacup and make this marinade!

Into the slow cooker dish goes

1 large onion roughly chopped
1/2 a cup ketchup
1/3 cup cider or wine vinegar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp American mustard
1/2 tsp salt
a good grind of black pepper

Mix well and put on LOW.

Take the pork and cut away any fat or rind & discard. Cut the pork into 4 pieces, no need to be fancy you just want 4 hunks of meat!

Place the pork into the slow cooker & coat thoroughly with the marinade. Place the lid on the slow cooker & leave to do it's thing for 8-10 hours, yes really!

There's no need to add any liquid, just leave it on low and walk away.

Once ready remove pork from the slow cooker and turn heat setting to HIGH to reduce the sauce. I always skim the fat from the top if there is any.
Take 2 forks & shred the pork. Once all shredded either spoon over the cooking sauce or place the meat back in the slow cooker and turn heat setting down to 'WARM'

Serve in any of the ways suggested above and enjoy :o)

If you like a little spice I suggest adding a little Harissa paste to the mix or Chipotle chilli paste but do so with CAUTION! Slow cookers intensify the heat, I'm thinking a teaspoon would be more than enough!

Cake of the week - Lauren's Birthday Cake

Once again I have the opportunity to join in with Helen's Cake Of The Week link on her fabulous blog CasaCostello I linked up a couple of weeks ago for Megan's Birthday where I not only made my first fully iced birthday cake, but a two tier one at that!
Thankfully Lauren's request was simpler, a chocolate cake with blue feathers on! So that's what she got!

As usual I left it until very late on the night before her birthday to decorate it and didn't really have an idea of how I was going to decorate it until I started. It's fair to say it was less than perfect. The chocolate icing didn't behave quite like the white I'd used for Megan's cake and it wasn't nearly as forgiving, hence the double ribbon round the sides.
Lauren had chosen the feathers so I popped those on, along with her candles and her name but it looked far too plain. I decided on butterflies with a couple of little flowers and it just kind of grew from there.

Helen made some lovely comments on my last cake, but this one has confirmed to me that iced cakes are not my strong point!! Maybe on day in the future when I have more time (who am I kidding, right??!!) I'll learn the art of decorating celebration cakes, until then they'll be for the children only and I'll concentrate on cakes for the shop!

But most importantly the Birthday girl loved it! Happy 11th Birthday Lauren! xxx

Pop over to see Helen's last wedding cake for a while, talk about go out with a bang! It's amazing!

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner.....

I missed the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony last night as we had a wedding reception to go to and I don't mind admitting I really would rather have stayed at home to watch it. I rarely watch sports on TV but I have to say I've been really looking forward to the Olympics and plan to watch as much of it as I can. I love the fact that we have 'the red button' and can pick and choose what events we watch.

I've heard so many people on social media sites and people I know saying how they're not bothered about the Olympics and won't be watching and I think it's a real shame. Most of us will probably never get to see it hosted in our home country again in our life time, so why not make the most of it and get involved, even if that simply means tuning in to watch it on the TV.
Half of me is sad not to be closer to London to be able to soak up the atmosphere but the other half is relieved not to get caught up in crowds and traffic and chaos!

Yesterday the children made banners and posters to put in the windows and we kept the Union Jack paper chains they made for the Jubilee so we're doing our bit to show our support for Team GB.

I don't get to go down to London to visit Family and friends as much as I'd like and when we decided to take a trip down in the summer holidays I hadn't taken the Olympics into account, so not wanting to get caught up in all the traffic etc we chose to go as soon as the children broke up.

There were a few places that I hadn't been for many years that I wanted to visit and show the children and Mr P. My sister came along for the day too so it made for a really nice family day out. We even spotted some of the Olympic mascots.

London is such a wonderfully varied place. You can visit areas not more than a mile or so apart and yet they have a totally different feel and atmosphere to the one you were in before. I worked in London for many years, tubing it in everyday and even before I was out at work, spent many weekends and school holiday jumping on and off the underground exploring the city that was on our doorstep. This visit I wanted to return to some old haunts, area's I had worked in and favourite places from my teenage years, so that's exactly what we did.

Spitalfields and Bishopsgate were the first stop. I worked in a branch on the corner of Commercial Street on and off for years. It was great to see that most of the tiny side streets remained pretty much unchanged. I always think that in this part of London with it's tiny wonky streets and old buildings you could be anywhere in the world. I think the shops in the top four pictures above wouldn't look out of place in Paris or Rome and probably aren't images people would come up with when thinking of London. Spitalfields market on the other hand had changed almost beyond recognition! I actually remember the days when it was the old fruit & veg market full of traders. It moved to Leyton in 1991 just after I started working at the bank. Slowly the old  Spitalfields started to fill with restaurants and stalls and has built itself into a really great space full of uber trendy shop, stalls, boutiques and eateries. I strongly recommend you stop by if ever you're in London.

Friday is Fashion Day at the market

Next we hopped on the tube and went over to Covent Garden. We took in the street entertainers and walked through the market admiring the shops and taking in all the sights, sounds and smells. Covent Garden was definitely one of my favourite places to go in my teens and I still love it now. You get such a diverse mix of people and there is always something to see.

Lastly we headed down to Leicester Square and on to Oxford Circus. I can honestly say I can't remember seeing London as busy as it was for a long time. It was great to see coach loads of tourists and school parties, it's how a city should be and how I remember London being. I love the hustle and bustle of a city, it recharges my batteries a bit like the countryside does for other people. We walked miles that day but no one complained as there was just so much to take in, aching feet were that last thing on our minds.

The rest of our time in London was spent catching up with friends and family. We spent a really wonderful evening at Gill's. Nancy and her family came along too. We spent the whole late afternoon and evening sitting in the garden catching up on a years worth of natter, eating wonderful food and enjoying all being together. Our collective children, 7 in total, ran wild, also catching up on a year of not seeing each other and Bruno and Maisie, our dogs, got to meet for the first time, which was a great success! None of us wanted to evening to end.

But now we're home and the Olympics have started. Despite not being in London I fully intend to enjoy the Games and I hope that everyone else gets into the spirit of things too!

Our New 'Baby'

It's all out in the open now, so I feel like I can finally speak about our plans for the future. The more I think about it the more it feels like 'the shop', as we refer to it,  is our new baby.
Now, before anyone shouts at me and questions how I could possibly equate this to the amazing wonder that is having a child, I can, easily. Yes I have been blessed with three beautiful, amazing, wonderful children, but there was a time when I thought that wouldn't happen. No, nothing can ever replace or equal the joy that comes from having a child, but there are similarities to this life changing event.

The idea for the shop actually came about over two years ago. It started off with considering to buy the local Post Office with a coffee shop as a side business. The more I looked into it, the more I realised that I didn't want the Post Office side, just the coffee shop. The search for premises was started and we found a suitable site but it needed an awful lot of work. The landlord wasn't a particularly reasonable man and to cut a long story short, after months of trying to agree a lease I had to walk away. I'd also missed out on an alternative premises while on a weeks holiday, despite registering my interest. It was all very frustrating and disappointing but I felt it just wasn't meant to be.
The job of food education presenter came up at about the same time that I decided to put the plans for the coffee shop on hold, so I went with it, believing that everything happens for a reason.

It's hard when something you want very much seems out of reach, whether that's a baby or a new venture, you just have to 'get on' with life and hope that one day your dreams will be realised. For the most part I enjoyed my new job and I threw myself into it 110% but the idea of the shop never went away. It was always there in the back of my mind and I'd daydream about it a lot, especially when leaving home at 630am to get to a school by 8am and getting stuck in traffic!

Then I lost my job and had an awful car accident on the same day, just before Christmas. Things like that make you think and make you realise that you only get one shot so best make the most of it.

So I started looking for premises, there was nothing on our High Street and that was my chosen location. I started to look a little further afield, but there was nothing that grabbed my attention until an old converted pub came up. I fell instantly in love with the beautiful old red brick building, with its original windows and glazed tiling around impressive solid wood doors. So I booked to go and have a look around at the three units that had been created on the ground floor.
Somewhere deep inside, as much as I loved the building, I wasn't convinced on the location so decided to keep looking, as you should and on the off chance called an agent about a premises on our High Street. I was pretty sure it wouldn't be suitable, but made the call just to rule it out. The agent confirmed that indeed it would not be suitable for our intended purpose but suggested I look at another shop that had come onto the market. How had I missed this? A great shop and I hadn't noticed it was up for let! (turns out the board had only been put up a few days before, so I won't beat myself up about it) I arranged to view this shop on the same day as viewing the Pub conversion, the 29th of Feb. I hoped that somehow this unusual date would bring me luck!

I went to view the Pub conversion first and I really wanted to fall in love with it, but if I'm honest my heart was already in the shop on our High St. But I put my business head on and went to the viewing with an open mind. I have to say the conversion into three retail units had been done to a very high standard and the agent for them was a genuinely lovely man. Unfortunately none of the units were right for our needs. One was simply too small, one was over two floors and meant seating  would have to have been on the first floor and trays of hot drinks would have had to been carried up a very steep narrow flight of stairs and the last unit was large but so dark and had no less that three large pillars in really awkward spots making a workable layout virtually impossible.
So I went to my next appointment on the High Street. All my hopes now rested with this shop, so again I put my business head on and told myself not to get too carried away. This is where I'd love to gush and say it was perfect, I fell in love with it, it was made for us.........but I won't do that. What I did see when I walked in was a shop with potential. There are walls where we wouldn't want them to be and floors at different levels, doors that are narrow and a lack of facilities, but it had potential. I took lots of photographs and started thinking about how we could make it work for us.
We made an appointment for Mr P to have a look and see what he thought about it. I thought we could make it work, but could see that there was some quite serious work involved. I'd prepared myself for the worst but I'm glad to say I need not have worried. He agreed that with some work we could make this a great shop and that was all I needed to hear.

The shop was formerly an accident claims office, so I already knew that we would need planning consent to change it to A3 usage. Luckily the owner agreed to wait for us to see if we could get consent as she could see that we were serious about the premises and would, if granted A3, be a long term tenant.

Planning is a nightmare! Forms and information coming out of our ears, we muddled through without professional help, submitted our plans and then all we could do was wait.

All this excitement was going on and I felt like I couldn't talk about it. Just like when you're 'trying' for a baby you don't want to jinx things by telling people, but at times it gets to be too much so you ended up telling a few people for fear that you might just burst if you don't share what's going on!
So we waited and waited and on Friday I got a call from the planning office asking for a few minor details and telling me that we would have an answer on Monday, all I had to do was call.

Monday came and I felt sick with nerves. I called and was told the news we'd been waiting to hear, for what felt like so long. A3 usage has been approved. I wanted to cry and then, just like the first time I found out I was pregnant those mixed emotions came flooding into my head. Half of me was "Wow!! We did it, it's really happening" and the other half was laughing hysterically thinking "what have I let myself in for and can I do this?" but all with a smile on my face.

And this is where the fun begins, all the hard work and sleepless nights, teething troubles and tantrums. Life will never be the same again! It's life changing but it will be rewarding, we'll get out of it what we put into it. We will need support from family and friends and at times I'm sure we'll wonder if we're cut out for it, or if we're doing it right and just like when you have a child we'll have to trust ourselves to do the right things for the right reasons and make it turn out right.

For the first time in a long time I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, just like I did when I found out I was expecting a baby and luckily for me, my babies (aged 12, 10 & 8) are happy for us. They too are excited at this new venture, they want to be part of it and to be involved. They seem to understand that at times this 'baby' might take up a lot of my time an attention, but they also know that they, my amazingly wonderful children will always come first.

So, buckle up and come along for the ride! I'm sure at times it will be like a roller coaster with highs and lows but always thrilling and I look forward to sharing the experience with you all!

Busy Doing Nothing

Yesterday I took Mr P's lovely Mum to Dobbies Garden World In Liverpool, as I felt she could use a little cheering up. I'd spotted it on my way to a school one morning and instantly thought, Angela would LOVE it there. So yesterday I dropped Mr P off to go to the pub with his Dad to watch the match and Angela and I set off with the children in tow. The garden centre is huge with so much more than plants and gardening items. There were crafts and gifts, candles, furniture, all kinds of fish in the aquatic section and best of all a farm shop. This consisted of a butchery section, a deli counter, a bakery and shelves and shelves of really lovely produce. In one corner they had specialty oils and vinegars with baskets of bread so you could try before you buy. The children loved that and tried all 8 vinegars! I tasted a few and decided that the Blackcurrant Balsamic was my favourite so asked the assistant to fill me a small bottle.

We stopped in the cafe area had had a drink and cakes and managed to spend over three hours in Dobbies World!

I decided that today would be a lazy day. I planned on doing noting much at all, until I found myself wide awake before 8am!
Rather than lay in bed not sleeping I got up, showered, got into clean Pj's, loaded the washing machine, tidied the kitchen and started cooking. I cooked apples and plums ready for our crumble later and made the almondy topping to go on top of the fruit.

Next I got out the Filo pastry from the fridge and made the fillings for the little parcels I'd decided to make for lunch.

Feta, Mint and Pea

Feta, Sundried Tomatoes and Black Olives

I had some Filo left over so made some sweet Apricot and Almond parcels.

These were a light bulb creation, not sure where the idea came from but they worked! I crushed some Amaretti biscuits and mixed with ground almonds finely chopped dried apricots and some double cream until it formed a thick almost moldable paste. I layered four squares of filo with a ball of the paste in the middle scrunched to make a parcel and baked for about ten minutes. They were delicious.

I also popped some peppers stuffed with couscous in the oven to bake, while I made my 'new' favourite salad.

Beetroot and Orange Salad

This is a combination I love and only discovered last weekend while out to lunch with friends.
To make the salad you need -

1 Large orange
1 medium fresh beetroots, cooked
A bag of mixed salad leaves (baby spinach, rocket etc)
Honey and black pepper or
Blackcurrant Balsamic Vinegar

Put the salad leaves into a bowl. Remove the orange peel with a knife and slice segments from the orange, making sure you have no pith or tough skin, you just want the juicy flesh. While cutting, hold the orange over a small bowl to catch all the juice. Scatter over the salad leaves and squeeze out any extra juice from what you have left of the orange. Slice the beetroot in wedges to reflect the shape of the orange segments, dip in the saved orange juice and scatter over the salad leaves and mix. Either drizzle over the blackcurrant vinegar OR make a dressing from the left over orange juice. Simply add a teaspoon of honey to the orange juice and a good grinding of fresh black pepper and mix well. Simply delicious.

Lunch is served

So much for not doing anything today! As soon as this is posted I'm logging off and starting my book for the new reading group and I will not be moving off the sofa until tea time! (unless I need a cup of tea!)
I really am rubbish a 'not doing anything' a trait I get from my Mum. My Dad used to say to her "If you sat still  long enough your backside would be making buttons!" I really have no clue what that means, but it used to make me giggle!
I hope you're all having a lovely weekend

The Gallery - A family Story

So this weeks theme was to show a picture that tells a family story. I quite often end up wiping away tears when I look at all the other Gallery posts. The entries are often so personal and touching that I have to choose my moment to read them or I'll just be a mess for the rest of the day!

It was hard to choose just one picture, so I have two but they are connected, honest!!

Here's the first. A typical 1970's (love the outfits & decor!!) family snap of a newborn and her proud parents.

Well no one could blame you for thinking that, after all it's what it looks like. But actually what you are looking at is a picture of me, the baby, and my sister and brother, aged 25 and 23! My parents had me 'later', they were both 46 when I was born. There were many times when one of my siblings would be mistaken for a parent and I can remember them being so proud to say "No, she's my little sister!"

The next picture is this one

Again, I'm the little girl in the middle and the boy whose lap I'm sitting on is my nephew, Antony, my sisters son. Yes, that's right! My eldest nephew is eight years older than I am, so here I think we are about 2 and 10 years old. In fact by the time I was born my sister and brother had five children altogether, all my nieces and nephews!

Our family seems a bit strange to other people, but to us it's perfectly normal!

Pop over to see some of the other entries on Tara's Blog and don't forget your tissues!

Click Here

A game called Needs Must!

So times are hard, most of us know that and with my current job situation (or lack of one) our family too is feeling the pinch.
At times like this I go back to meal planning. I sit down and work out what we will eat for the next week, rather than wandering aimlessly round the supermarket, filling my trolley with random items. Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, desserts, snacks and treats all have to be catered for and sometimes it takes a while to sort it all out. I like to give the family variety and I'm determined that the children will be less fussy. In all fairness they're really not that bad, but I want them to be more adventurous and more open to eating what is put in front of them without the need to dissect and identify every single ingredient! I was finding, even though I was meal planning, at the end of the week there would still be the odd few things rattling around in the fridge, not always but sometimes going to waste. So the other week Mr P gave me a challenge. He suggested that when I meal plan, I only account for six out of the seven days, and on that last day (usually a Thursday as I shop on a Friday) I make a dinner using only what is left over from last weeks shop, be it in the fridge, freezer or cupboard.
Now, I have to say whenever in the past I've complained about the cupboards being empty Mr P always says "my empty or your empty" because you see, they are two entirely different things. He always says he could live for a month off of what I call empty cupboards! Hmmm.....I'm not so sure, but I was up for his challenge.

I like the idea of making things a game or a challenge, call it what you will, but I get that from my Mum. She always said there was a certain excitement about having to stick to a budget and seeing what you could get for your money ( she was remember used to rationing ) or setting yourself a task, ironing, cleaning a room whatever needs doing, and seeing how quickly you can get it done. Silly? Maybe, but if it makes things just that little more interesting, why not?

So week one of the challenge saw us having a yummy vegetable curry made from all the left over veggies in the fridge (carrots, potatoes, an onion, a bit of broccoli) some tinned tomatoes and a jar of sauce I had in the back of the cupboard  along with some chick peas and butter beans. I also had some naan breads which was lucky as there was barely any rice left. It turned out really nice and the children all ate it, despite asking several times if there was any meat in it. So week one went well.

This week I hadn't given much thought to our 'needs must' dinner, kind of defeats the object for one thing and yesterday I made a batch of soup from all the left over veg, while I was making the casserole for last nights dinner. So it won't be vegetable curry again.
The children were asking this morning and seemed very concerned that I had no clue as to what I would cook, which just makes me smile, they're so used to my planning.

But tonight I'm thinking L & R will have something along the lines of bacon, beans and potato wedges and M will have the same as Mr P and I, Bacon, tomato and green pesto pasta with garlic bread.
Tomorrow I will shop and refill the almost empty fridge (at the moment housing sauces, bacon, butter and not much else) and the unloved looking shelves, with supplies to last us the week.

It does mean being more organised and it does mean that we can't just go to the fridge or cupboards and help ourselves to whatever, whenever but that's the way it is right now. We're an awful lot better off than many other families are right now and we all have three decent meals a day. I don't think teaching children to be 'careful' with food or money is a bad thing. On another positive note we're wasting an awful lot less than we used to, and wasting food means wasting money, not something we can afford to do right now.

So there we are, Mr P's 'Needs Must' challenge! Feel free to join in and if you do be sure to share your Needs Must recipes :o)

A quilt's not just for Christmas.....

We have three girls and a boy, which when giving gifts can be tricky. It's easy to give the girls similar things but sometimes hard to find something that suits all four children. I like to make them all a gift at Christmas and last year I made them all rolls ups, make up and stationary ones for the older girls and pencil ones for R and MB.

R's pencil roll in marble fabric

Special button fastner

One for pens and pencils..........

 and one for the handbag

All four children already have cushions so that wasn't an option for this years gift. Our girls all love writing lists and keeping journals so it was easy to choose a notebook cover for them, but not really suitable for R. Maybe when he's older, but not now.
For ages now I've wanted to make a quilt, so I decided that the girls would get their notebook covers and R would get a small simple quilt. Being the 'odd one out' might have benefits after all!
I had a brief chat with my friend N about how I planned to go about making the quilt and she gave me a couple of tips for finishing, which I was grateful for.
I had in my head the design for the quilt, simple squares in rows and offset so that I didn't have to worry too much about lining everything up perfectly. I used a fleece blanket for the backing, meaning I didn't need to worry about wadding, like I say, nice and simple.
I bought some pre-cut novelty 5x5 inch squares and hand cut the rest from fabrics I already had. The backing fleece was red, R's favourite colour so I decided to edge the patchwork section in red cotton that I had left over from making his cushion. Once I had all my pieces together all I needed was a quiet day at home.
When that day came I sorted the squares into rough colour groups and set about laying them out into a pattern I was happy with.

Almost the final design......

I laid all the squares out on a fleece blanket until I was happy with the pattern. The middle section was ten squares by six squares. I sewed each strip of ten squares so that I now had six strips. Each time I sewed a strip together I put it back in it's place and moved onto the next set of ten squares. Once I'd done them all I offset the strips so I had a brick like pattern. I pinned the second strip to the first to sew them together, then when I came to do the third strip I made sure that the squares from the first and third were lined up.

I lined up alternate rows

Once they had all been sewn together I joined a border in plain red cotton. I don't mind admitting that I did give a little squeal of delight once the front was finished, it actually looked how I had hoped it would!
I pinned the front to the new red fleece blanket, face down and sewed round the edge leaving a gap for turning. Once turned (I was very pleased at this point) I stitched round the edge to close the seam and then round the edge of the patchwork section and decided to leave it at that.

The quilt had taken me four and a half hours from start to finish, not including cutting the fabric and without any breaks, As I went along and could see it growing, I simply couldn't stop. For so long I had wanted to try making a quilt, but I really wasn't sure I could do it.

The fabrics included are some I've used before, like the marble and football prints, some that I saved from my Mums house, various novelty ones with bugs and creatures on and two Christmas themed squares, just in case he ever forgets when it was he got this quilt.

Folded ready to be wrapped

I was very pleased with it (can you tell?) It's the perfect size for R. Big enough to go on the end of his bed, for him to snuggle under while he watches a movie or if ever he's poorly and when I finally got to give it to him on Christmas day, despite all his other gifts, he says this is his favourite. Now I'm just wondering how long it will be before the girls ask if they can have one!
It's made me realise I need to 'have a go' more. Maybe the girls will finally get their comfy pants they've been asking me to make for months, after all I've had the fabric and the pattern for ages and now I have the time.

Christmas Tradition

I grew up with a family tradition started by my parents. At 12 noon on Christmas day, we always raised a glass to friends and family who couldn't be with us.
Even as a child I was given a tiny glass of sweet sherry to join in with the toast, a tradition I believe, was started by my parents who got engaged on Christmas day.
It was a toast to friends and loved ones that were no longer with us, or just simply couldn't be with us on that day, even if we were seeing them the next!
A simple idea that where ever we are, we all raise a glass at the same time to toast each other and for that few seconds we are united.
So I'm asking you, my friends & family to join us in a toast tomorrow. Lets carry on this lovely, simple tradition started by two wonderful people

Mum & Dad

Let me know if you're joining in, if you're not, know that I'll be toasting you! Merry Christmas & Best Wishes for 2012 xxx

Bitter Sweet

Yesterday I finally did a job that I have been putting of for weeks months.
I inherited my Mums dressing table. I asked my sister if she would mind me having it and she very kindly delivered it on her first visit 'Up North' back in May.
It made the journey from Mum's in London to our house in three pieces. I'd cleared a space for it, Mr P put the pieces back together and there it sat, collecting dust, until yesterday.

It wasn't that I didn't want to use it, I did, I needed a dressing table, I'd actually been looking around for one but couldn't find anything I liked and then I inherited my Mum's.

This was a piece of furniture I had always admired. We moved house when I was twelve. My parents bought a few items of furniture from the owner, Mrs Boarderson, a lady who we knew through the church we attended.
There was a little white wardrobe, (which I desperately wanted to keep when we cleared the house, but sadly we had no room for it in our current house and nowhere to store it until we do have room. Many tears were shed over that) a set of for carved dining chairs and the dressing table. All were made by the owners husband, a carpenter by trade, for their family home.
I used to joke with my Mum about the dressing table, saying that it would look better in my room than hers and sometimes, when I still lived at home I'd get ready in her room so that I could use it.

So there it was, standing in the corner of our room gathering dust and the odd pile of washing. Mr P had been encouraging me to clear it off and sort it out. He even moved all my things (hairdryer, straighteners, make up and related items) over to that side of the room, which meant I was half using it, half not.

The reason I've been so reluctant to use it is because, that's me accepting that she's gone. Yes I have my Mum's beautiful dressing table, Yes I think she would be happy that I kept it but at the same time that means accepting that she's not with us anymore.
I didn't want to clean it off, I didn't want to fill it with my things, I wanted it just as it was, with a mark on the front where Mum had dripped tea and a chalky pink dust in the joins where sprinkles of her blusher had landed, but yesterday I did it.
I cleaned the marks, filled the drawers and placed on the top some very special trinkets.

On the left I have my Mum's Blue glass basket and My Nan's cut glass bottles which I blogged about here teamed with two Giraffe's. One was bought for me by a little boy I used to look after, she's Swarovski  and the other a little 'gold' and 'diamond' encrusted Faberge style Giraffe trinket box, who like me, is a little damaged. If you don't look too closely you'll never notice it, it's only on really close inspection that it becomes noticeable.
Hanging just above that is a heart pendant, bought for me by L on our last holiday. It's made from a bronze coloured stone which is supposed to symbolize prosperity. On the right I have an envelope housing tickets to the show M is performing in, a little 'Worlds greatest Mum' plaque and Mama & baby Birds, that look vintage but are actually from a high street store.
Centre stage is my favourite picture of my parents. My handsome Dad in his Naval uniform and my beautiful Mum looking stunning as ever.

Compared to how it looked when Mum had it, this is pretty minimalist! She had all kinds of little trinkets and keepsakes stored on there. Things I had given her when I was a child or things given to her or made for her by one of her many Grandchildren. Little memento's from days or nights out and of course make up and hair things dotted around too. It wasn't the tidiest of dressing tables, but it was well used and well loved, and now it's mine and I cherish it. I was going to say that I'm sure in time the bitter-sweet feeling will fade, but if I'm honest I'm not really sure it will.

Bowling Cupcakes

I'm going to be cheeky and double up on this blog as these cakes are also my entry to this weeks Cake of the week.

This week sees the last of my three children's birthdays for another year. M was happy with a shop bought cake, thank goodness, as her birthday is in the first week of the new academic term, always a busy time. (I've vowed that I will make her one next year, no matter what!) L asked for a Horse cake which she helped me to make although again because of work it was a little late. But she didn't mind and it was my first entry to the Cake of the week blog.
So next is R's birthday. It's actually on Wednesday but he had his party yesterday, so for him the cakes came early! He originally asked for a chocolate tray bake covered in sweeties but I didn't have a tin that was a good size. They were all too big or too small so I suggested chocolate cupcakes instead and luckily he agreed! I told him to leave it with me and I promised him I'd make them special.
I baked the cupcakes on the Friday night using my usual recipe and then sat down to see if I could pull off my idea.
I was originally going to transfer the sweetie topping idea from the tray bake to the cupcakes but then, from nowhere the idea of Bowling Balls and Bowling Pins came into my head. Well, I say from nowhere, R was having a Bowling party but the idea to put the theme onto the cakes just seemed to pop into my head. I like it when that happens!
So I bought a small pack of ready coloured icing and a pack of white icing and once all the children were tucked up in bed I attempted to make the cake toppers.

Fiddly to make but I really enjoyed it 

The next morning I was up early to decorate the cakes. I piped them with swirls of chocolate butter cream and popped on either a bowling ball or pin to each cake.

Cakes ready to go in the early morning sun

Set up at the party

I was very pleased with how they turned out and so was R. His little face when I showed him the toppers when he got up that morning was worth all the effort. He had a lovely party with his sisters and friends and he still has his actual birthday to come!

My Little boy, not sure how much longer he'll let me call him that!

another lighter lasagne.....

I blogged a while back about my lighter lasagne white is made with turkey, bacon & leek in a cream and white wine sauce. Two of us in the house really love it but not everyone is as keen. In general, I really like lasagne, but Mr P finds a beef lasagne a bit heavy and the TBL one a bit too creamy. So I came up with yet another version of lasagne that seems to please every one in the house! (hallelujah to that!)
Chicken and pesto Lasagne
It uses Chicken or Turkey mince, a standard size pack from the supermarket (around 300/400g I think)
a couple of carrots
a couple of peppers (any colour except green)
an onion
a carton of passata
a small jar of green pesto.
a stock cube (chicken or veg)
a splash of balsamic
a squeeze of tomato puree
Basic white sauce (about a pint)
Grated cheese of your choice

Fry off the mince in a large pan. Top and tail the carrots cut into chunks, de-seed and quarter the peppers, peel a roughly chop the onion. Put all the veggies, passata, pesto, vinegar, stock cube into the food processor. Whizz into an almost but not quite smooth sauce. Pour over the mince and turn down the heat to a gentle simmer.
Make a basic white sauce (I use about 25g/1oz of butter and the same of plain flour and make a roux, add a pint of milk and whisk continuously until you get a smooth white sauce) check seasoning add a little salt/pepper/nutmeg to taste.

Layer the mince mixture with lasagne sheets. I use a 23cm square pyrex dish and get about three layers of pasta in. Top off with a final layer of pasta. Pour on the white sauce, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake at  180c/gas4 for about 35 minutes.

Sorry for the lack of pictures!! But I just wanted to share the recipe! Quick, simple and very very tasty. Yummy enjoy! :o)