Blackberry heaven

There is nothing more delicious than a perfect blackberry! Don't get me wrong, I would never refuse a bowl of juicy, sweet, red strawberries or luscious pink, slightly tart raspberries but there is something about the determination of blackberries to grow in every overgrown patch of neglected garden/field that makes them special. And the fact that in a normal year each handful picked fluctuates between teeth clenching sour to divine bliss makes them a little like playing russian roulette with fruit ...

I always think that blackberries are ripe in late September but this year I happened to wander down the path behind the houses in our road a couple of weeks ago (so early August) and there, in all their glory, were ripe, juicy, big blackberries. And not just a few eager berries but everywhere I looked were more and more, asking to be picked.

So after a quick trip back to the house to grab a few bowls, Sophie, Justin and I went blackberry picking. There were so many ripe ones that I hardly had to move to fill a couple of bowls. The kids did a reasonable job of filling a bowl and then emptying it (into their tummies) when they got bored of picking/ had had enough of getting stung by the protecting nettles!

So what to do with all those yummy berries? I froze a bowl full (by spreading on a tray and freezing before transferring to a bag), I made some blackberry and apple jam and I made some blackberry diggles. The few remaining berries were enjoyed on breakfast!

I made diggles (a yummy biscuit) with rhubarb a little while ago (see here) but I my favourite version so far has to be with blackberries. Needless to say, they didn't last long ... 

© 2012 Nicola Noble: Please observe the rules of copyright and blog etiquette. If you use my ideas or images, please link back to my blog. And do let me know - I'd love to take a look.

What happens when the Tooth Fairy goes on holiday: Part 2

Sophie lost the second tooth (her sixth actually) in as many weeks while she was at Nana's house for a sleepover. Thankfully, Mummy was suitably prepared and had sent the tooth pillow with her.

In the morning Sophie found a note, from the Tooth Dragon again, who was still filling in for the Tooth Fairy - apparently she had lost her passport and was waiting for the postman to deliver her a new one so she could get home!

Let's hope she doesn't lose anymore soon, so the Tooth Fairy is back for the next one, although Sophie did suggest that maybe next time it might be the Tooth Bat who came - I wonder where her vivid imagination comes from?

© 2012 Nicola Noble: Please observe the rules of copyright and blog etiquette. If you use my ideas or images, please link back to my blog. And do let me know - I'd love to take a look.

What happens when the Tooth Fairy goes on holiday?

Sophie lost her first tooth when she was just a little over 5 years old, so quite early amongst her peers. Thankfully, I was prepared and already had a cute pillow with a pink gingham pocket on the front so we popped the tooth in and waited for the tooth fairy to work her magic.

 

We weren't quite sure what the going rate for teeth is these days but it turns out it is £1. And Sophie must be special as the Tooth Fairy has left her a tiny note with each of the teeth.

But what happens when the Tooth Fairy goes on holiday? Surely she can't be expected to work 24x7x365? It turns out that she does have a summer holiday and the Tooth Dragon fills in for her. The Tooth Dragon is still learning it seems and a little clumsy with her flames but she did manage to take the tooth without waking Sophie ...

I wonder what will happen with the next tooth?

© 2012 Nicola Noble: Please observe the rules of copyright and blog etiquette. If you use my ideas or images, please link back to my blog. And do let me know - I'd love to take a look.

Homemade Lemon Curd

 

One of the things I wanted to do with the children over the summer holidays was to make homemade lemon curd. I made this when I was a Girl Guide for my homemaker badge (many years ago) and I still remember how delicious it was.

I used a recipe on the BBC website from the Hairy Bikers but looking for the page again today I found another recipe, also from the Hairy Bikers that is much simpler and requires a lot less effort than the one I used!

The recipe I followed told me to stir for 10 minutes and whisk for 15 minutes, which meant staying whilst the lemon curd cooked - very satisfying to see it turn from sloppy to thick and shiny - but after two minutes stirring the kids went off to do something else! When I make it again I will definitely try the version I found today (which I have included below), allowing me to go off and do other things while it cooks (like make meringues from the left over egg white).

The finished product was as delicious as I hoped, deep yellow and thick and sharp in taste, and Sophie requested "homemade lemon curd on toast for lunch today, please" so a success with her too.

So for those interested in making your own lemon curd, here is the version I didn't do but will be making next time! Pretty similar in quantities of ingredients but a lot less physical input ...

Homemade Lemon Curd 

Ingredients
4 unwaxed lemons, zest and juice
200g/7oz unrefined caster sugar

100g/3½oz unsalted butter, cut into cubes
3 free-range eggs, plus 1 free-range egg yolk

To sterilise jars, wash the jars in very hot, soapy water or put through the hot cycle of a dishwasher. Place the jars onto a baking tray and slide into an oven set to 160C/325F/Gas 3 for 10-15 minutes.

Put the lemon zest and juice, the sugar and the butter into a heatproof bowl. Sit the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Stir the mixture every now and again until all of the butter has melted.

Lightly whisk the eggs and egg yolk and stir them into the lemon mixture. Whisk until all of the ingredients are well combined, then leave to cook for 10-13 minutes, stirring every now and again, until the mixture is creamy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove the lemon curd from the heat and set aside to cool, stirring occasionally as it cools. Once cooled, spoon the lemon curd into sterilised jars and seal. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.

Recipe by the Hairy Bikers taken from the BBC Food website.

© 2012 Nicola Noble: Please observe the rules of copyright and blog etiquette. If you use my ideas or images, please link back to my blog. And do let me know - I'd love to take a look.

London 2012 Olympics

Since the announcement that London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics back in 2005, we have gradually been getting more and more excited about it all. We have definitely never been one of those Bah Humbug Brits who thought it was all a waste of money and time and now it is almost here, I'm sure our optimism and enthusiasm will be justified!

We live about 15 minutes from Heathrow Airport so Mr Snowballs decided last Sunday that we would wander on over to do a bit of Olympic team spotting. We managed to see Olympians from Australia, Estonia, Japan, India, UAE and USA and even spoke to a few of them.

We have managed to see the Olympic flame twice this week to on its nationwide relay: once in our local town Richmond and today on the Royal Barge Gloriana being rowed down the River Thames - amazing.

Tonight we are having a few friends and grandparents over to watch the Opening Ceremony with us. I spotted a great idea here about creating a bingo sheet to keep the children amused for some of the time and adapted the idea to be more specific (based on the little snippets of information that have been released). Don't think it needs to be limited to the kids either!

And finally, we managed to get some tickets (despite the ticket fiasco - which is the one negative thing we have encountered so far) and are going to see rowing on Monday at Eton Rowing lake. Sadly not one of the main Olympic venues which would have been very cool but still great. Let's hope the glorious sun we have had this week continues and we don't need brollies!

© 2012 Nicola Noble: Please observe the rules of copyright and blog etiquette. If you use my ideas or images, please link back to my blog. And do let me know - I'd love to take a look.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (in fondant!)

As I may have mentioned before, there was a cake competition as part of our recent street party. I had designed the winning entry in my head and created the cake topper, before I decided to bake and sell cakes for charity instead!

Following on from the lovely ribbon cake I made for my niece's 18th birthday (take a look here), I had great visions of creating a Union Jack type decoration with appropriate sized ribbons in red and blue across a white cake and to top it all, a mini Queen along the lines of the cute Happy Land one from Early Learning Centre.

I made Her Majesty a week or so before the street party to allow her to harden and be able to stand unsupported and I think she turned out quite cute. Rather than let her go to waste, I still entered her into the competition but uniquely positioned on top of her own cupcake. Needless to say, she didn't win but I'm still glad she got to see the light of day ...

We had fun taking photos of her with a couple of doppelgangers and some corgis ...

before I unceremoneously cut her in half vertically for the kids to eat ...

Thank you Ma'am!

© 2012 Nicola Noble: Please observe the rules of copyright and blog etiquette. If you use my ideas or images, please link back to my blog. And do let me know - I'd love to take a look.

Banana and "honey" teabread

Mr Snowball has just started a new job, commuting into central London for the first time in about 10 years, so I thought I would make a gluten-free cake to cheer him up when he got home last night. I had a whole bunch of very ripe bananas sitting in my fruit bowl and normally I peel them and pop them in a bag in the freezer to use another time but found a Mary Berry recipe for banana and honey tea bread so used them "fresh".

I also realised I didn't have the thick honey the recipe calls for, and actually not even enough honey, so I used what I had and made up the quantity with golden syrup.

I'm not sure what difference the golden syrup made - perhaps it made it a bit sweeter than if it had been made entirely with honey, but the sweetness wasn't overpowering. The resulting teabread was delicious and almost half was consumed within five minutes of slicing the first slice ...

Banana and Honey Teabread

Ingredients
225g self-raising flour
¼ level tsp freshly grated nutmeg
100g margarine
225g bananas
100g caster sugar
grated rind of 1 lemon
2 large eggs
6 tbsp thick pale honey

For the topping
2 tbsp honey
nibbed sugar

Preheat the oven to 160C/Gas 4. Lightly grease and base line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with greased greaseproof paper.

Measure the flour and nutmeg into a large bowl and rub in the margarine using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Peel and mash the bananas and stir into the flour mixture, along with the sugar, lemon rind, eggs and honey. Beat well until evenly mixed, then turn into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 1¼ hours or until a fine skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cover the teabread loosely with foil during the end of the cooking time if it is browning too much. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack.

For the topping, gently warm the honey in a small pan, then brush over the top of the tea bread. Sprinkle with the nibbled sugar.

© 2012 Nicola Noble: Please observe the rules of copyright and blog etiquette. If you use my ideas or images, please link back to my blog. And do let me know - I'd love to take a look.