Baker Man

Danny loves helping in the kitchen especially if it involves baking.  So the other day when his friend, Jake, was visiting I decided to be brave and do a baking play date.  It went down really well and the two boys had loads of fun especially licking out the bowl.  While they each decorated their own mini cake I decorated some cupcakes for a cake sale at school.  I thought the spider webs came out really nicely!

Danny's friend's mum always whips up some rock cakes for the kids after school.  So I got the recipe and we tried it out too.  Apparently rock cakes are a traditional English treat and one of Harry Potter's favourite tea time treats.  They are really quick and easy to make so perfect to get the kids involved. You can make them 'healthy' by adding any kind of dried fruit or even fresh fruit like apple works well.  Eat just like that on the run for a little energy boost or serve them warm with a little butter as a tea time treat.  Can't believe I've never come across them before!

Rock Cakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
• 225g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 110g soft butter or margarine
• 55g granulated sugar
• 110g mixed dried fruit / currants / apricots / raisons / apple
• 1 medium egg
• 1 - 3 tbsp milk
• Demerara sugar for sprinkling
• Oil for greasing

Preparation:
• Heat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large baking bowl
• Add the softened butter or margarine
• Lightly rub together with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
• Add the sugar and the dried fruit and mix so all ingredients are well incorporated
• Add the egg and 1 tbsp of the milk and mix to create a stiff dough
• If the mixture is still dry add milk a tbsp at a time until required consistency
• Lightly grease two baking sheets
• Using a tablespoon divide the mixture into 12 mounds evenly spaced on the 2 baking sheets
• Sprinkle with the demerara sugar
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 mins or until golden brown and well risen

St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day to everyone!

Any excuse for pancakes right? Why not green ones for St Patrick's Day! The boys had great fun trying to flip the pancakes themselves and even more fun eating them!

I love rainbows and St Patrick's Day provides a good excuse to do some rainbow arts and crafts with the children.  A while back I found a great idea to make Kaleidoscope Rice and thought it would provide the perfect materials for a rainbow with a difference.  Although our rice didn't come out half as nice as theirs, Danny and I enjoyed mixing food colouring to make the different colours of the rainbow, and he thought our rice was beautiful.  Both boys enjoyed the actitity!

Another activity I did with the boys for St Patrick's Day was a Limerick Scavenger Hunt.  It involves printing some clues (hopefully next time I will be organised and creative enough to make my own clues) and a pot of gold at the end (each boy got a bag of gold coins).  It was a hit!

I also thought this was a cool idea - DIY tattoos - I must try it next time there's a sporting event or a birthday party perhaps.  You can you find some amazing ideas out there on the blog sphere!

Jubilee

I am sure everyone all over the world is aware that it was Queen's Diamond Jubilee this past weekend. Since it is the half term break and an extra long weekend to boot we thought we would attempt to soak up some of the British patriotism along with the masses. We made crowns, painted flags, and did a bit of baking at home. All of the above are always a win with the boys!

Cupcakes

Mini Scones

Jubilee Jam Tarts

On Saturday we decided to go to Hyde Park for the Sainsburys Jubilee Festival. We had high expectations after attending other events in Hyde Park like the Royal Wedding last April and the Proms that we go to every September. In comparison this festival was a huge let down. The boys enjoyed seeing Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine in the kids zone, chilling out at the commonwealth stage and of course the Disney finale on the main stage. So we made the most of it!

The Thames River pageant was the highlight of the celebrations. What an amazing spectacle from start to finish. We didn't really have a plan of action but in the end I think we had a taste of it all. We started off watching the mustering up river. The views from the Putney Bridge and Bishops Park were brilliant. It was great seeing all the man-powered boats up close. This part was the highlight for us!

Photos in real life

The queen and her entourage were only embarking further upstream so we thought we might as well make an attempt to see her too. Off we headed to the heart of it all, Westminster, in the shadow of Big Ben. I have never in my life seen so many people. As expected we couldn't get close to the river but we could see the procession on the big screens. There was something special being admidst all that atmosphere. When we had enough of the crowds we took a stroll through St James Park to have a look at the Mall and Buckingham Palace. The boys especially enjoyed the classical music booming out of the speakers that were being prepared for Monday night's concert. We watched the final part of the whole palaver in a lovely old traditional pub next to Buckingham Palace. And then we had to try and get home!

Photos from the screen

I want to share two funny stories about the day. First, Nicholas approached a man sitting on a bench and engaged in conversation with him about his union jack socks and tie and the fact that they matched. The man in turn complimented Nick on his face paint. He was none other than Richard E Grant from Withnail and I. Second, Nicholas loves singing Nkosi Sikilela, and as a result knows all the words off by heart and does a pretty good rendition of it. We weren't the only ones who found it amusing that a little boy covered in union jacks was singing the South African national anthem to himself on the tube on the way home from the jubilee celebrations. I guess we should teach him God save the Queen for occasions like this. I love it that Nicholas is so casually confident and is able to have sensible conversations with adults and is totally unphased about singing infront of an audience. I think it might have something to do with the show and tell routine they have at school. On that topic, I'll end off with the pages he prepared for his last show and tell about Queen Elizabeth!