Photo diary: Project 365, weeks 20, 21

 

Playing Solitaire in peace, I was rather annoyed when my laptop shut down with a message Fatal Error. I absolutely detest using my iphone for blogging, so had to wait for my laptop to be repaired to write anything. Hence two weeks' worth of photos today.

Our darling Sasha kept showing me the images of the church in his social story and random books, indicating that he would like to visit the church. But, of course, he expects it always to be as jolly as the Christmas Carol service, or a very short visit, like when we go in and out after looking around (for example, when we are in Cornwall we always pop in at the local church in Perranuthnoe).

I told my husband we should sit in the back in case we need to make a quick escape. Does he listen? No, he plops himself right in the middle row. Sasha kept yawning (and rightly so, I felt like yawning myself; it wasn't the most inspiring service). When everyone got up to shake hands and wish peace to each other, he thought it was the end of the service and got quite upset that we all sat down again. As Sasha was getting distressed, they had to leave. Eddie and I stayed until the end. To be fair, nobody seemed to mind, as they all know our family and are aware of Sasha's condition, and everyone is very welcoming and friendly. 

It was not a complete disaster, but not exactly a success either. Oh well, at least for now Sasha changed his plans and keeps showing me the old photo of the bowling alley he went to with his old school. Bracing myself to a trip to the bowling place now. :)

I did quite a bit of gardening - covered my three potted berry plants (two honeysuckles/lonicera and a white currant bush) with netting against the blasted birds, who gobble up any berry growing in the garden.

We have a very old rose in the garden, which we inherited, when we bought the house. My Mum keeps asking me what the name of this rose is, but how would I know? It truly is beautiful, and the scent is amazing. If anyone could help me with the name, I would be eternally grateful.

Trying a new Magnum pistachio ice cream. The flavour is not overwhelmingly nutty, as you would expect, and a bit too sweet for me. The texture is nice. Still undecided, whether I would buy it again.

Gorgeous peonies that I treated myself with. Such a deep intense colour, and most beautiful shape. They lasted about a week before collapsing in a bright pile of petals.

For the last couple of years my husband works in Paris, so he spends three-five days there and the rest of the week with us. Not easy for me, but it is what it is.

Since he can just about make a coffee and a toast for himself, and cannot cook for toffee, he eats out, and often has a pizza in an Italian place nearby his flat. We went there once together, and since then I call it a "sad place" (as in Have you been eating pizza in the sad place again?). He says the pizza is good.

Stuck at home and not able to leave Sasha on his own, unless he has PAs to take him out, I have recently started to use UberEats more often for grocery deliveries. The problem is, of course, you don't choose the produce yourself. The last Uber delivery brought a rotting watermelon. They have refunded me after I sent some photos, but alas, the watermelon wasn't edible and I put it out in the garden for the birds. The contents were all polished off in a couple of days, so it wasn't a complete waste.

And here is my photo, let's call it conceptual art. 

There was an annual food fair in town last Saturday. It usually takes place in & outside St Mary's Church, with lots of stalls selling local produce.

Eddie and I were wandering around, checking out what was on display. He fancied a crepe with Nutella (£5.70, eeek). 

I got a little haul of cheese (including my favourite Oxford Blue), honey, blueberry and peach jam, very nice sourdough bread and some salami. 

On the way to the fair, some random chap stopped me to compliment on the Hunger Games badge on my jacket. 

In the evening Eddie went bowling with his friends, and then on to the sleepover, so my husband and I watched Eurovision on our own. I had to re-watch it with Eddie the next day. It was the usual silliness from most of the contestants. 

I liked the Italian singer Lucio Corsi's song the best, as the lyrics were beautiful. His make-up and outfit was a mix of Ziggy Stardust and the Venetian carnevale character of Pierrot.

Vocal-wise, I thought the lady from Israel was one of the strongest contestants. 

Cerne Abbas Man Cheddar was one of the purchases from the food fair, and very nice it is. Sharp and crumbly, it's a proper Cheddar, not one of those plasticky varieties that give this cheese a bad name.

I saw this beautiful bouquet in Waitrose. Not sure if it's one of the agapanthus family, but whatever it is, it's very pretty.

A new Middle Eastern cafe has just opened in town. Looking at the menu, they have dishes from Palestine, Lebanon, Israel. Sasha was out with his PAs, and I invited Eddie to check the new place out after school. We only had drinks. I ordered a lemon and mint spritz, and could hardly drink it. There was zero sugar. It was pure lemon juice with ice and mint leaves. Perhaps nice with fatty rich and spicy food, but on its own, very sharp and sour. Eddie fared better with a blueberry and cashew smoothie.

One of my sketches of Eddie with a pistachio ice cream, using a photo from our last trip to Paris as a prop. It was a very quick exercise. I've nearly fisnished my Moleskine watercolour notebook, which I started last summer. I tend to use several different notebooks and paperpads for sketching, of different paper types and textures, rather than filling in one at a time, so it takes me longer to complete each one.

I'm quite pleased with this sketch. It might not be the best likeness, but I think it conveys the happy vibe.

On Thursday Eddie went to London to see Romeo and Juliet at Globe. There were only fifty tickets for the whole school, and they were allocated randomly. On the day of the trip we had a big argument, as my silly child was moaning that he didn't want to go as none of his friends were going. I was so cross with him, saying that if he didn't go, that would mean, he has taken a place of someone who would have been very happy to have such an opportunity. We parted ways on a sour note.

They came back from London around 1am. In the morning Eddie said that he actually enjoyed it, and it was very cool. Teenagers, eh?!

That's one of the snaps Eddie has taken during the break (no photos during the performance).

I could see that one of my potted honesuckle honeyberry plants had ripe berries.

And that's my ginormous harvest of ten berries. I had to laugh. I've been looking after the plant, feeding it, covering with a special netting against the birds, and that's my reward for all the trouble. The berries are an acquired taste. They are supposed to be rich in antioxidants and have several health benefits.

And more pics from our garden - this ladybird looks so shiny, as if polished.

What I was reading these two weeks:

I finished two e-books by Eva Björg Ægisdottir - Girls Who Lie and Night Shadows, both from Forbidden Iceland series (books 2 and 3), which I started earlier this year. Icelandic detective Elma is the main protagonist. She arrives to her hometown Akranes after a tragic death of her boyfriend and joins the local police force. It's a small community, where everyone seems to know each other.

Both books are twisty and chilling. If you enjoy psychological thrillers with a strong police procedural element, it's quite an addictive series with a likeable detective. 

There are murders, but they are not as graphic as in Camilla Lackberg's creations. I read a couple of books by Lackberg, and found them so explicit and full of unnecessary gore, that I am still traumatised, and I'm not usually that squeamish when it comes to thrillers. 

How did your week go?

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Ice cream sandwiches

It was my dearest friend Trudy who has first introduced me to Jules Destrooper biscuits. She was very fond of the almond thins. Every time I pick up a box of JD butter waffles, crisps or crocante (florentines), I think of her.
She's been gone these last two years, and I miss her terribly. How much I'd love to see her and give her the biggest hug ever, and hear her calling me sweetheart and her darling girl in her smooth American accent.
Ice cream sandwiches are an American invention. I don't know actually if my friend ever made them, but I can imagine her as a young girl, having a go at making ice cream sandwiches. She was an inspiring cook, and I still keep her letters with recipes for a fruit crisp, orange or lemon syrup loaf, broccoli salad and a curry chutney mold she's written down for me in her distinct style.

Today Eddie's off school, as he was poorly yesterday, and couldn't go to school. To cheer him up, I decided to make some ice cream sandwiches, using Jules Destrooper Butter Crisps which arrived last week in the Degustabox food box.

We do love butter crisps, and I buy them often enough.
I nicked the recipe for ice cream sandwiches with Jules Destrooper biscuits from last year's Waitrose Food magazine (June 2017). They have Meal Maths recipes in each issue, with ideas for cheats and quick meals, using a few ingredients.

I have done a few swaps: they used JD butter waffles, I had JD butter crisps. Dark chocolate was swapped for a milk one (as my kids prefer the milk chocolate), I didn't have hazelnuts and used almonds, and lastly, I used Kelly's Cornish clotted cream ice cream rather than salted caramel ice cream.
But the whole idea is totally theirs, so all credit goes to Waitrose Food mag.

You will need
1 pack of Jules Destrooper butter crisps or butter waffles
1 bar of milk or dark chocolate
30g chopped almonds, hazelnuts or any other nut you prefer
clotted cream or vanilla ice cream

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering hot water. Spoon 1tsp of melted chocolate over one end of each butter crisp, then sprinkle with chopped nuts. Place the crisps on the rack for about 5 minutes so that the chocolate would start to set.

Using a serrated knife, cut the ice cream into 1.5+cm slices. Make sandwiches, by placing the ice cream slices between two butter crisps. Eat straight away, or put some of them in the freezer inside a plastic container.

I only made 3 sandwiches as the remaining cookies were all broken into pieces. I whizzed the pieces with a blender and mixed them into the melted chocolate with the remaining chopped nuts, then spooned into small paper cases. I've got about 6 "truffles".

Experiment with different flavours of ice cream. I think vanilla or clotted cream would work best. The recipe in the magazine suggests using the salted caramel ice cream, but to my taste that would be way too sweet, as the crisps are sweet already, plus there is chocolate. But by all means, use any ice cream you fancy.

This quick dessert will appeal to both children and grown-ups.

Adding this recipe to #KitchenClearout linky hosted by Cheryl at Madhouse Family Reviews, as I've used the remains of the whole almonds (chopped with a blender) and we also finished the clotted cream ice cream.

ChillFactor Pull Pops - Create your own popsicles

Eddie is a king of ice lollies, he is happy to eat them in summer and winter alike. We buy different brands of ice lollies, from Fab to Haribo push up lollies, from Rocket to Nobbly Bobbly. I think it's a funky shape as well as the taste that appeal to him.
With ChillFactor Pull Pops you can create your own popsicles. You can even sneak in very healthy fruit and veg smoothies or yogurts. They are fun to make: pull, freeze and pop.

The possibilities are endless, you can experiment with a variety of flavour combinations and textures. Add fresh berries or mashed banana, flavoured milk or yogurt for delicious summer (or any season) treats.

I offered a selection of drinks and milk for Eddie to choose, and he wanted to make an ice lolly with - do I dare to mention it? - blackcurrant & apple Fruit Shoot.

The pull pop works as a big colourful syringe. We struggled a bit to fill in the syringe up to the very top, so in the end just turned it over and poured the juice in, then closed the top, so as not to spill any liquid. I'm probably not the techie-wise person, and couldn't quite figure out how to block the very tip of the lid, and put a Haribo sweetie there as a plug.
It went in the freezer, and the end result was a blackcurrant-flavoured ice lolly.
Eddie loved it, and keeps asking me to make another one with the same flavour.

We also made a popsicle from Rachel's Coconut yogurt, to which I have added three or four little Haribos for the fun effect. And again, the syringe was not filled in easily to the very end. I topped up the yogurt with the spoon.
Eddie, who usually wouldn't eat any coconut yogurt, ate it as an ice lolly with great enthusiasm.

You will aslo find an injector and a bottle in the set, to make a long well inside the popsicle and fill it in with a different flavour, if you like.

Find ChillFactor product at Character Online.

Disclosure: We received the ChillFactor product for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are our own.

Raspberry ripple parfait with pistachios

And so Valentine's Day is upon us... We have no plans of going out. I'm not a Valentine's Day grinch, but apart from a festive meal at home, I don't bother with gifts or cards.
According to Olly Smith, "the key to winning the heart of the one you love this Valentine's Day lies in... a carefully chosen bottle of pink fizz". Well, I'm not sure about that. Personally I'd rather have a glass of prosecco or a good old Bellini.
My "Valentine" doesn't care much for pink fizzy drinks either. But he has a sweet tooth, so I will make an effort and cook a lovely dessert for tomorrow.
I haven't decided yet, whether it will be a chocolate cake or some berry ice cream concoction.
A while ago I have tried a delicious raspberry ripple parfait, and though it is a summer recipe, it is a great contender for Valentine's day. It is sweet, it has a red sauce and berries, so ticks off all the boxes.

The original recipe appeared in Delicious magazine (July 2015), and since then it has become available on their website - see Raspberry ripple and pistachio parfait for the full recipe. As I followed the recipe close enough and haven't adapted it, I cannot reproduce it on my blog without permission. Please click on the link above to find the recipe.
I have also skipped the honeycomb crumbs, only because I forgot to add them. I actually made my own honeycomb, but only realised I didn't add it to the dessert after we ate it all. So, honeycomb was eaten separately later.
It is a delicious dessert, refreshing and flavourful. The pistachios add a lovely crunch, and the raspberry sauce gives a necessary tart note to a sweet creamy parfait.

In case you are thinking of cooking a Valentine's Day meal and are looking for ideas, I may suggest a scrumptious Austrian chocolate cake Sacher Torte.
I also have a Valentine's Day menu (non-vegetarian), if you fancy having a look. There is another chocolate cake suggested as a festive dessert, made with Nutella.

Are you cooking a meal for your Valentine? Or do you have other plans?

New Haagen Dazs flavour and baked apples with mincemeat

We are big fans of Haagen-Dazs and you can find a couple of tubs of Vanilla in our freezer at any time. Their Vanilla is a classic flavour, purely indulgent and perfect on all accounts. We have tried Vanilla ice cream as made by all major brands, here and abroad, and this is the one we return to again and again.
I'm also very fond of Dulce de Leche, it is absolutely decadent. I can't say we have tried every single flavour from Haagen Dazs, but definitely most of those which are widely available in supermarkets.
In summer we often eat ice cream with fruit salads, in winter we enjoy it with baked apples, hot puds and stewed fruit.
Haagen-Dazs has recently released a new beautiful seasonal flavour for Autumn/Winter 2016 - Honey, Walnut & Cream. It should be available now in all leading supermarkets and online. I found it in Sainsbury's locally.

I first discovered Haagen-Dazs over 14 years ago, when we lived in New Haven, Connecticut. I was pregnant with Sasha, and this delicious ice cream was one of my big cravings.

What did we all think of the new seasonal flavour? It proved to be a great success.
It is an inspired combination of flavours and textures. You get smooth creamy ice cream, speckled with crunchy pieces of walnut. It tastes wonderful too, sweet and aromatic.

I have served it with baked apples, as well as with plums roasted in sweet cider, and both desserts were temptingly tasty, yet very simple to make.

If you go out in our garden, our old apple trees are now naked, all the leaves have fallen. Yet there are still some very stubborn red apples clinging to the branches at the very top. Last week I picked a good amount of windfalls from the lawn. They wouldn't keep long, as some of them are slightly bruised from the fall. However, they are perfectly fine for cooking.
I have recently made a batch of mincemeat (recipe courtesy of Tate & Lyle) and had 1/3 mincemeat leftovers in one of the jars.

Baked apples with mincemeat
Ingredients:
5 small to medium apples
5 heaped tsp of mincemeat
75ml apple juice
cinnamon
good quality ice cream to serve with

Set the oven to 180C. Slice tops of the apples and core them using a small knife, taking care not to cut right through to the bottom.
Place the apples in a deep ceramic dish or smaller size roasting tray. Fill each apple with a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Put the apple lids on. Pour the apple juice around the apples.

Bake in the oven for 40+ minutes until the apples are soft and fluffy inside.

Serve with a good dollop of ice cream. We are never patient enough to wait until the ice cream is soft enough to make a perfect ball-like scoop.

You might also like to try serving this ice cream with plums roasted in sweet cider.

Of course, you might just enjoy eating it straight from the tub, without any additional fruit.
This new Haagen Dazs flavour gets top marks from us.

Have you tried the new Haagen Dazs ice cream flavour?

Disclosure: I received two vouchers to buy two tubs of new ice cream. All opinions are our own.

Mr Frosty the ice crunchy maker

I confess I have never had a Mr Frosty, when I was a child, so don't have any personal nostalgic memories to share. But I understand there is a lot of excitement around from bloggers who were kids in the 80s and Mr Frosty was one of the top toys on their Christmas wish list. The Original Mr Frosty is back, with a fresh new look. And doesn't he look cute?!

Mr Frosty the ice crunchy and slushy maker has been revamped and is eager to meet the new generation of mini-chefs. His cool ice-crushing function allows kids to create slushy drinks.

What is included in the kit?
There's Mr Frosty with a pull-out drawer, of course, two ice cube trays, two mini-bowls and spoons, a penguin squirter and a set of ice lolly moulds.

Last week we had a few very warm days, including a scorcher of a Saturday. It was a perfect weather for ice lollies. That was easy-peasy. Since the moulds are quite small, it didn't take long for the juice to set, and we had lovely refreshing fruit juice lollies.

The big bonus of this gadget is that you can make your lollies as healthy as you like, mixing the fruit and vegetable juice. For example, I used Yellow Mellow smoothie from Waitrose which is a mix of fruit and vegetable juice with turmeric.

Eddie was very excited about the ice lolly moulds. He remembers our trip to Cornwall two years ago, when his cousin Sasha and he made ice lollies together from the apple juice and milk. These lolly moulds are quite small, you will get mini-ice lollies.

Now, moving onto a trickier part of the kit - Mr Frosty himself.
First  you need to make novelty shaped ice cubes, using two of the yellow ice cube trays.

Mr Frosty yellow cube tray

Once frozen, take the tray out and let the ice soften a bit before putting them inside Mr Frosty under his hat. Plop the hat on, and turn the handle in the back to crush the ice. Sounds easy enough, alas, my first attempt at slushy making was a total failure.
Maybe I waited for too long for the ice cubes to soften, but all we got was a coloured muddy puddle with little bits of ice, with half of the ice still inside the main body of Mr Frosty.
So, you'll need to find a fine balance between ice being too soft and turning into a puddle of too hard and causing a possible damage to the handle.

ice slushy

I liked the yellow trays, as I think we'll make good use of them this summer, making coloured funky-shaped cubes for drinks in the garden.

Mr Frosty costs £19.99 and is available at Smyths and The Entertainer. It will be a part of a collection of frozen treat making toys including an ice cream maker coming later this year.

Find out more about Flair's range of creative products for children at CoolCreateClub.


Disclosure: I received Mr Frosty for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are mine.