The Year Of The Horse

I think Chinese New Year is a great festival to celebrate with kids.  It's a chance to do something different and fun, to get stuck into some arts and crafts, to try new food and to educate them about China.  A good friend of mine is a real inspiration when it comes to things like this especially when it has to do with food.  School also seems to have jumped onto the band wagon, as the boys did quite a bit in the classroom, and came home with a wealth of information.  The pinnacle of our celebrations was a night out in China Town.  Going there is a real treat for the boys - they love the hustle and bustle, all the lanterns and dragons and the roasted ducks on display in the restaurant windows - most of all they really enjoy the feast.  All of which made the boys jump for joy!

In the lead-up Chinese New Year, I did an Asian cooking class, where I learnt to make spring rolls and won tons.  My teacher was my friend, Rotchana, who has started a little business giving Asian cooking classes at her house.  My class mates were some of my friends too so it was a lovely way to spend a day!

Armed with all the ingredients I did a cooking session at home passing on my newly acquired skills to Danny and Dad.  Nicholas got home just in time for the deep frying bit, something we never do at home, so quite exciting indeed.  That night we had a lovely feast of spring rolls and won tons for supper!

Just in case you're wondering what year you were born in

have a look at this Chinese Zodiac!

A bit of culture

We had great intentions of going to see the Chinese New Year celebrations in China Town but in the end nothing could make us go out into the pouring rain. Instead we went for a new year's dinner at China Boulevard, and it really was a feast, the food just kept coming and coming. We also had a Chinese themed feast the day before with our friends in the country. Claire is an excellent cook, and she is always full of good ideas for arts and crafts things to do with the kids. We came home with yummy tummies and snakes (because it's the year of the snake this year) and lanterns (because they are fun and pretty). We also made some paper art (in red to chase away demons) and made lion masks (inspired by a show at the Polka Theatre).  So although not exactly what I had in mind it all turned out perfect anyway!

Inspired by Chinese New Year we went to watch Why The Lion Danced at the Polka Theatre.  It was a lovely little play and it gave a great idea about the traditions surrounding Chinese New Year.  A few weeks earlier we went to see Wind in the Willows at the same theatre.  It was a brilliant show that told the old traditional story in a memorable way.  We haven't been to the theatre in ages so it was a nice change!

We also had one of our usual outings to the National Gallery followed by a Mini Maestro concert at St Martin in the Fields.  The theme for this one was Vivaldi's Four Seasons so most enjoyable for us.  The way they format the whole thing is great as it really gets the kids' imagination going.  I forgot my camera that day so no photos.  February's FUNharmonics concert had the rather unusual theme of The Roaring Twenties.  We really enjoyed the concert even though we didn't know much of the music.  This time the boys chose to queue for the brass instruments and they each got a go on the tuba.  Amazingly they got some loud sounds out of it!

You may know that Nicholas absolutely loves the How to Train Your Dragon books and movie.  So when we saw a presentation by Cressida Cowell at the Imagine Children's Festival we knew it was something we had to do.  She was so inspiring and it was fascinating gaining some insight into her life and how she became an author and, most importantly, how she comes up with her ideas for the series.  She even made me want to start writing ... because anyone can do it!

As you know, a trip to a museum is obligatory for us during the holidays.  This time we took one of Nick's buddies, Francesco, with us and they wanted to go to ... surprise surprise ... see the dinosaurs!  So off to the Natural History Museum we went.  After the mezzanine level and the dinosaurs we spent the rest of the time in the Investigate Centre, something new for us, and most enjoyable since it had a lot of hands-on action.  The highlight was definitely a show on Animal Vision which provided the inspiration for Nicholas' latest show and tell!

Food glorious food

If you want to spoil your kids, have a pizza making evening.  The boys were absolutely thrilled when I suggested we make our own pizza.  They had so much fun choosing their toppings and creating their own pizza.  It was a great success and we will definitely do it more often!

Kids either love or hate jelly.  My boys fall into the first category.  Danny enjoys making it too and every now and then wants to be creative about it.  I always remember getting jelly when I was sick as a kid.  So when the boys are not well I, like my mom, make jelly.  Especially when they have tonsilitis and bike accidents!

I've already blogged a bit about the special feasts we had to celebrate Chinese New Year.  I also wanted to do something different at home for the boys.  We usually have a stir fry, with different ingrediants every week.  So I had to think some something unusual.  I  decided to do Peking Duck Pancakes (with a twist of colour)!

Pancakes are another special treat for my children.  We usually have a little party for Shrove Tuesday but it didn't work out this year despite my good intentions.  That didn't stop us from having more than one pancake feast.  Thick banana pancakes in star and heart shapes were on the menu for breakfast.  For supper we had pancakes filled with pancetta ham and gruyere cheese.  You can really do all sorts with pancakes!

Even though I don't buy into the commercial hype of Valentine's day I do quite enjoy the excuse to do something a little different in the kitchen to celebrate.  Heart shaped fried eggs on toast were a great idea to love-up something usual.  Dad made home baked croissants for breakfast on the weekend.  And Danny and I tried out a healthy beetroot muffin recipe for tea time.  All to be repeated for sure!

Beetroot Muffin Recipe

500g grated fresh beetroot
210g saltanas (I left this out)
300g self raising flour
100g fine brown sugar
1t baking powder
1t cinnamon
180ml sunflower oil
3 medium eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. Line muffin tray with muffin cases
3. Mix beetroot, saltanas, flour, sugar, baking poweder and cinnamon
4. Beat eggs and oil
5. Pour into dry ingredients and mix together well
6. Fill muffin cases almost to the top
7. Bake for 25 minutes

Enjoy 

Birthday

The Last Night of the Proms always takes place around my birthday so it is a good excuse to go out for a bit of a celebration.  We always go to Hyde Park so that we can take the boys along.  They love classical music and happily sing along to Land of Hope and Glory, Rule Britannia (or Botswana sometimes) etc and there was even a bit of Abba (familiar thanks to last year's interhouse singing competition at Donhead) and Kylie herself (believe it or not she is still going strong).  It was great fun as usual!

Yes, it's true, I turned 40!  Does that mean I am middled aged?  The boys wouldn't have been happy if we didn't do some baking.  Since one of the topics at school at the time for both of them was self portraits, I went for these face decorating kits.  I kind of regret not having a big party so I'm planning to have a 41st next year to make up for it!