Photo diary: week 28, project 365

We had a carnival today in town. After spending half a day in the sun, I'm feeling totally shattered, so here is a very quick glimpse at our week.

Sunday: phloxes in our garden

Monday: I opened a carton of Swedish bilberry soup, which I discovered in Ocado online. It's a lovely berry soup/drink.

I am trying to find the "right" cake for Eddie's birthday later this month, and took a few pictures of different cakes for him to choose. He did like the T-Rex cake, but after long deliberations opted for the Pokemon design.

I love watching bees in the garden, they are always gathering nectar on the lavender.

We were reading at bedtime as usual, and I snapped my tired boy, as he snuggled next to me.

The clouds were fluffy on Friday, and this one looked like a dragon poking its head out of the white.
Or a seahorse.

After the carnival procession we looked at all the stalls and attractions on The Leys, and Eddie loved jumping on the Flight simulator. He had a go on it last year, and kept asking me to do it again.

Gazillion Bubble Pong Game

Friday, yippee! And while for many this is the night to go out and party, we are a relatively quiet folk and just enjoy a lazy afternoon after school, without any homework or prep for the next morning.
My younger son considers it the best day of the week, because his best mate comes over for several hours after school.
He couldn't wait to show his bestie a new bubble game from Gazillion Bubbles, Gazillion Bubble Pong Game (£19.99). The original plan was to play in the garden. But we were too optimistic regarding the weather, it started to rain in the early afternoon and kept raining non-stop. No garden activities then.

It didn't prevent our boys from playing indoors, though this is definitely a game for outdoors, as the bubbles plus vivacious, enthusiastic people equal a big mess.

This game is the first of its kind, as it is a combination of everyone's favourites - bubbles - and a variety of ping pong game without the small bats. It's a fun, competitive activity for the whole family, where you need to bounce ping pong balls into your opponent's side to score points and blast them with a gazillion of bubbles.

The game comes in a sturdy box and includes 1 game console, 6 ping pong balls, 2 removable trays and 2 removable bumpers, plus an 8oz bottle of Gazillion bubbles.

You need to assemble the game, but it is an easy, quick and straightforward process.

You will need 8 AA batteries, so might want to pop into your nearest Poundland for a big stash of them.

The game is aimed at children aged 3+.
There are four levels of difficulty. As you can see from the photo below, you turn the switch either to pong or to bubbles.
The winner is the first person who scores 3 times.

When the warmer weather arrives, you might want to get ready for fun ahead with a good supply of bubble liquid, as I remember with the previous bubble machine games that we had, the solution goes pretty fast.
The refills come in two types of bubble solution - Original and Big Bubble (available in 8oz, 2l and 4L bottles in all big retailers, such as Amazon, Argos, Smyths etc).

Both boys had great fun with the game, and would have kept playing if I didn't stop them, as the floor was getting too slippery. If you play in the garden, this won't be an issue.
We can't wait for the warm days to play outdoors.

Disclosure: we received the game for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are our own.

Snowball fights and bread'n'butter pudding

The snow was supposed to arrive over two weeks ago, but the British forecast is not always reliable, so when I read the snow was due the next day, I thought Yeah, yeah, of course... But for once the forecast was correct, and the snow did come. I went to the kitchen in the middle of the night to get a glass of water, and realised the ground was covered with white. It kept falling down in fluffy snowflakes.
Eddie was ecstatic. He's been talking about building a snowman for the last couple of winters, alas, we didn't have enough snow to build even a snow mouse. Off he skedaddled in the garden to play in the snow. He had convinced his Dad to join him, and even Sasha decided to get out for 15 minutes, but then sensibly went back home, into the warmth and comfort.

Our garden was transformed, painted white.

My guys were playing in the snow, I watched them from the kitchen and smiled, making bread and butter pudding. I don't often cook it, but it's a great comfort food, especially after running in the cold.

All the quantities are approximate. I used about 6 slices of Warburton's Medium sliced bread (bigger size pack).

Remove crusts from the bread, and butter on one side, then cut into triangles.
Place them, overlapping each other, in a buttered baking tray, and scatter raisins, dried cranberries and chocolate buttons. Cover with more buttered slices.

I used Planters Fruity Chocolate crunch mix (omitting peanuts) from the last DEgustabox, but just raisins and/or chocolate buttons will be fine too.

In a medium sized mixing bowl beat together 2 eggs with 100g caster sugar, 100ml single cream.
Pour the batter over the bread and let the mix soak for at least half an hour.
Put the baking dish in the oven preheated to 180C. Bake for about 35-40 minutes.
Sprinkle with the icing sugar. Serve hot. If you have some single cream, it's even better.

I'm not sure if I might have a chance to write before Christmas, and think of having a blogging break.
Wishing you all a merry Christmas!

Bonfire Night: the full Moon, friends and marshmallows

My Mum started her journey back home very early this morning. As I write it now, she must have arrived to Moscow, if there was no delay. I am always very sad when she goes home. We see each other once a year, and this year her trip almost didn't happen. She was very poorly, and had to cancel her trip arrangements.
She usually stays earlier in the year, mostly in summer, and this was the first time when she spent October and early days of November with us.
I thought it might be a fun idea to do something for the Bonfire Night, while Mum was with us.

You have to be English-born to fully understand the reasoning behind the 5th of November festivities. What this celebration glorifies is in fact the gruesome persecution of Catholics in this country (hasten to add, I'm not a Catholic, so let's say, an impartial side). I don't find any cause for joy in killing Guy Fawkes, and it seems bizarre that this fact is being lauded for centuries.
Living in the UK for more than 21 years, I rarely acknowledge this day. In the past we have attended a couple of big bonfires and fireworks displays, but this year we decided to make a smaller scale bonfire in our garden and invite friends over.

I wanted to make my Mum happy. She loves bonfires, and I have been telling her off for lighting the fires in the garden since she arrived. Eddie was ecstatic when Baba (grandma) roasted frankfurters for him over the bonfire in the garden a couple of weeks ago. He wanted to invite his best friend Peter over and roast marshmallows.
We bought a pack of Mega marshmallows for the occasion.

It was a beautiful night, with the full Moon and a starry night, clearly visible in the darkness.

On Saturday I cooked a big pan of carrot, sweet potato and ginger soup.
Take 1kg of carrots, peel them, chop into smaller chunks and cook on low, simmering for an hour+. Add a chopped sweet potato, 1tbsp vegetable stock, 2 tbsp red lentils, grate ginger (as much as you like, I had quite a big piece), season with sea salt, and when the veg is all cooked, blitz it all.
Serve hot in smaller cups or mugs.

I have also baked a gluten free parkin and made a big batch of white chocolate Oreo fudge, on request from my men.

We had lots of sausages, with a simple potato salad, Russian-style (with soured cream and gherkins) and a big bowl of pickled onion among other things.
Prepare the pickled onion a day in advance: slice 2 onions in thin rings, using a mandolin slicer, then add 2tbsp of demerara sugar, 2-3tbsp cider vinegar, 1tbsp honey, 1-2 tsp paprika, mix well, and put a smaller heavier dish on top of onion + add some weight on top (like a soup tin) to slightly squash the onion mix. Place in the fridge overnight. It is great in sandwiches or with cold meats.
It might not look very pretty but it tastes really nice.

Eddie and his friend were very excited about roasting marshmallows. My Mum was in charge of the fire.

We looked up at the bright stars and the full Moon, and even howled at the Moon jokingly, like urban werewolves.

After stuffing ourselves with marshmallows, we had a go with sparklers (cheap ones, from Poundland). Two of our younger guests are disabled, and couldn't go in the garden, so we had lights off in the sitting room, with a mini-display of sparklers outside the windows.

It was a lovely evening, and having Mum with us made it extra special for me.

Visiting Burford garden centre

Easter break is now a memory. Back to school. And our house is again "invaded" by the decorators. You might remember me telling about how the ceiling in the entrance hall has collapsed with a mighty crash after the pipes leaked (thank you, British Gas people, for putting nails through the pipes!). The saga still continues.
The old plaster has been removed, and the ceiling has been re-plastered and painted, but the walls got so splashed and stained that we had to strip the wallpaper (and good riddance too, I didn't like it).
Now we need to smooth the walls with more plasterwork and then paint over.
Pleasures of living in a very old house is that there's always another job to do.
We didn't go to Italy for Easter, and stayed at home. We were quite lucky with the weather and had several sunny days. Not like today, when I'm feeling cold at home. I sit by my laptop, wrapped in the blanket, and sip the tenth cup of tea to keep me warm.

Our friend Jen took our boys and me to Burford Garden Centre twice in the last two weeks. My sons love visiting it, as there is a lot to do and see. We always go to the cafe first. I do begrudge their prices. You can buy a decent supermarket cake for the same amount of money you have to pay for a slice of cake at the cafe, but then you can say - stay at home then.

There is a toy shop where you can imagine yourself time-travelling with Dr Who.

I love browsing in the food and drink section...

 ...as well as looking at the seeds and beautiful potted plants - shrubs, flowers, herbs.

This photo was taken back in February

And my boys just love the playground with a wooden tractor, train, two sets of swings and climbing frames.

Swings make everyone happy. They are such a joy, aren't they?!

When I see my kids  going up and down, I often think of an old song which I loved as a child. It originally appeared in one of the Soviet films for children. And the song was called Winged Swings:

Childhood will end one day,
It won't last forever.
Children will grow up,
And fly away...
But right now we are still children,
There's still time to grow up -
It's just the sky,
just the wind,
just the joy ahead.
... And the winged swings are flying..