Petits Haricots

i am not at all sure i know how to catch up! Both girls worked really hard last week and did an excellent week of home ed, as we knew this week would be ‘lighter’ . Grandad went home as nana came out of hospital, and liana [niece] stayed with them and we all met up on the weds. Sb did some more crafting ready for the village craft fair.

Thurs i think was a bit busy, with sports and gym, fri they did baking ready for village show, and saturday was all entirely devoted to getting the things done, including some absolutely fab decorated cakes. we thought both girls had worked really hard on their submissions and were pretty proud of them.

sunday was actually going to the village fair and dropping them off and playing in the park. the girls did well, SB got a first with her toffee apple, second with her circus diorama and third with her 5 decorated cakes. BB came second with her circus poster and her toffee apple, and third with her craft. they both played with village friends – always nice – for a bit after, and we packed up and drove to leicester.

whilst i was doing an immense course, the girls and dh shopped and museumed in leicester and thought it a fab city. we had a lvely meal at a keralan restaurant one night, and a world all you can eat another. we were clearly divided by which place we thought best, with adults going for the first, and girls the second

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we did alot today together. partly to make up for me being way off for the rest of the week! Started with SB telling me it was time to get up and make jam as i had said first thing!! it wasn’t even 9am! so i rebelled and got up with the bells went for the church service. One of the things i love about living here is the church bells. practie thursday, service sunday and wedding s if lucky on a saturday. the girls were still breakfasting and so i went out and watered greenhouse and picked some more french and broad beans.

[flickr id="5824236925" thumbnail="thumbnail" overlay="true" size="small" group="" align="left"] I did then start the jam making with SB [recorded in its own blogpost ] and we had the plums simmering for a bit. SInce we were in the kitchen with the simmering, ithought we should make the most of stereotypes, so got the work books out SB did galore park english junior 2, BB read me 3c story, did a couple of pages of a maths workbook and i read to her about caves

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having got the plums all squishy, they were still too hot to take the stones out, so we did some more home ed whilst waiting. Well, Sb did some music theory, but BB was ds-ing. DH had found her rumblepack,so she was playing pokemon. SB then also did some piano prac as we were going to have lunch shortly

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cheesy beans on toast eaten, and SB and grandad did the straining and destoning of the jam whilst I read story of the world 3 about china having a third of the worlds population at the time, and then the jam was put on to boil. obviously, there were some moments to use so SB did some recorder practice. SHe is sounding really nice currently

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SB then popped the jam into jars, having supervised the setting point bit [it seems the just under is prob just right after all that!] and was v happy with the result. Grandad begged to hear the clarinet, so she practiced the high notes. there is a definite improvement.

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we looked at her ticksheet for the week, which was looking pretty sparse [no music prac at all until today - eek!] and decided to do story of the world. however BB wanted to finish a level on her pokemon, so SB read to me in french.

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we did look at story of the world altogether – the punic wars etc and then went out to catch the rabbits. it was a torrential downpour and we all got entirely soaked. SB and i changed clothes even… BB agreed to do a short recorder practice, sb then helped her with a bit in pokemon whilst shelling our broad beans, and we then all played a board game – 10 days in europe,which SB won.

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And that is how you child led educate one and autonomously educate the other. or is that playing to yours/their strengths and taking account of differences? dunno, but we had a lovely day altogether, encouraging, snuggling, peering over shoulders and just being a family.

dunno a lot of what has happened this week. been a bit otherwise focussed. Otherwise focussed always has a detrimental effect on the family. DH gets grumpier and shouty, BB gets massively shoutier plus waily, SB gets tearful and martyred, and I feel a failure. SO through this stress, I have tried to play it low key! i have loved them, read to them and played with them. However, I have had some v v late working days as well.

What has happened this week then? the usual groups, a sprinkling of home ed, lots of playing – the girls are having an adorable cooperative time currently, and this does make me really happy. Seeing BB and SB sitting with arms entwined [much better than the times when I have to remind them to use their loving voices to each other...] Since we have done a lot of gardening, the girls have spent a lot of time outside. they have made a den area by a climbing tree, helped me with some of the veg bed stuff – mainly I suspect so they can hoover up all the ripe strawberries, raspberries, mangetout and peas!

they had multisport, and then played with the deepedners before gym i think. it all went pearshaped on friday though, the day that DH realised he had lost both sets of carkeys, and possibly they are in the boot of the mondeo . all weekend he has looked for these keys, and the house has been turned inside out to try and find them all the girls also then missed the arts award class whcih they had been really looking forward to since it was mosaic

however, the other thing in progress is SB working on things for the village fete. she is hoping to enter hundreds of things it seems. on weds and sat she was hard at work on her entry for ‘circus in a shoebox’ . i will pop in a pic of the clowns. Unfortunately i failed to realise that fimo goes floppy again on rebaking, so her ladder has taken a few goes, and the person will have to be glued on, as too heavy when it is all wobbly. I think it is such a fab idea she has had . And also today with the jam. when she wants to, that girl can be very focussed

We have also had some surprise visitors. My parents on friday, and staying over to sat. they came for dh to fix dad’s computer, and played with the girls, and lots of card games, chatting, and just feeling loved. Then on sat, M-i-l was rushed into hospital with suspected temporal arteritis. awaiting biopsy as an inpatient, and actually feeling ok. we , therefore, have f-i-l staying with us, as wouldn’t want him to be at home on own. I hope you haven’t forgotten the keys saga, cos we have just one car… Anyway, sat a mixture of fimo with SB, gardening and playing with both, DH rushing around in my car and entertaining my f-i-l. I am going to give today a separate post.

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My elder girl made jam today, with negligible help from me, just some health and safety supervision . We have one of those purple leaved wild cherryplums in the garden [and numerous little ones appear that we have to chase after, as wild and widespread as the elders] . They are nearly nearly ripe – a bit sharpish. However, the village craft fair is soon, and she wanted to enter the jam section with the jam we made last year with these plums plus whatever [and it really was as laid back as that!] .

This year we more or less followed a recipe from this book, which I have had for many years and love

She sterilised jars and equipment, picked as many of the plums we could reach [and i sawed a few small branches off that stopped DD1 climbing up to reach a few more] – 1.3kg .

She put these into our heavy pan and covered with 750mls water and simmered until they were all mushy. DD1 and grandad [staying here as an emergency visit as nana has been admitted over the weekend to hospital - frantic is the name remember!] mushed through a colander and took out all the stones. DD1 wanted some bits in the jam, so then added some of the smushed stuff too.

She measured and had 1.2l of pulp and water. So she added 1400g of sugar [eek!] and also as much grated ginger as we could [about 40g] from the dried knobbly bit lurking by the cooker [ :blush: ] .

Then put on a good rolling boil until we reached jam temp on my sugar thermometer. Since this is the first time she has made jam, I had her trying the different ways of testing done-ness.

At her first call I thought we were prob slightly under, so filled 2 jars [I have a jam funnel, so much easier for her], and then she boiled some more, tested again and was much more convinced. She has a nice jar each of under and over [possibly!] and will try some of each from the not so pretty jars to decide which one to enter.

I am getting way behind with blogging. the world has been far too busy and stressful, and I have been concentrating entirely on work out of those moments when directly interacting with the girls. This completely workcentric period is hopefully coming to an end, but it is clear that in this economic climate, i just can’t afford not to be a type A person at work,  and that this will eat horribly into my home time.

we did have a really fabulous historyetc nearly a fortnight ago, which I promised to blog! It was a full house, with all the families there. there were also some additions. My niece and nephew, G’s nephew and B with daughter R who came with Michelle, and will hopefully come fairly regularly.

My parents tooke the opportunity to visit friends and play golf – I suggested that might be a more relaxing day

At this distance it is harder to remember all the ins and outs of a day, unfortunately, which is why i should have blogged at the time. I thought M and E did really well. They are both schooled, they both want a fair bit of my attention when I am around [understandable] and they are not so used to mixed ages and some freedom in choosing what to do. E settled with me and making the herbal remedies, as did M. However, E was grad persuaded to do more things without me so close, tho always nipping, admiring, hugging etc before moving on. M decided that he was a bit uncomfortable doing more crafts, initially grumping that he had to do schoolwork in half term! and mostly played with G’s nephew. He did say he had a great time tho.

SO, I started with the elderflower herbal remedy and pretty much everyone made this, and at the end of the day, with the 2 R’s I made the rosepetal distilled water

a) elderflower water

The Romans, as Pliny records, made use of it in medicine and in Italy in the medicine of the School of Salernum. Elder still keeps its place in the British Pharmacopoeia, the cooling effects of Elder flowers being well known.

How to make!

Fill a large jar with Elder blossoms, pressing them down, the stalks of course having been removed previously. Pour on them boiling water to half way up the jar, stand the jar in a warm place for some hours. Then allow it to get quite cold and strain through muslin. Put into bottles and cork securely.

Uses

washing to whiten and soften the skin
drink as a tea to help with chest complaints
soak linen and place agains boils and afflictions of the skin
soak linen and place against temples for migraine.

b) rose water

the Romans found it prudent to continually spray the audience with rose water, simultaneously making its members smell better and protecting them from errant germs with the rose’s antibacterial properties.

How to make!

2-3 quarts fresh roses or rose petals
Water
Ice cubes or crushed ice
1. In the center of a large pot (the speckled blue canning pots are ideal) with an inverted lid (a rounded lid), place a fireplace brick. On top of the brick place the bowl. Put the roses in the pot; add enough flowers to reach the top of the brick. Pour in just enough water to cover the roses. The water should be just above the top of the brick.
2. Place the lid upside down on the pot. Turn on the stove and bring the water to a rolling boil, then lower heat to a slow steady simmer. As soon as the water begins to boil, toss two or three trays of ice cubes (or a bag of ice) on top of the lid.
3. You’ve now created a home still! As the water boils the steam rises, hits the top of the cold lid, and condenses. As it condenses it flows to the center of the lid and drops into the bowl. Every 20 minutes, quickly lift the lid and take out a tablespoon or two of the rose water. It’s time to stop when you have between a pint and a quart of water that smells and tastes strongly like roses.

Uses

Antibacterial for skin infections
tea for digestive disorders or nervous tension
to flavour foods or as a perfume.

Other activities ongoing were making roman pestles and mortars for grinding fruit with clay, making a bulla, making roman coins and some roman maths, dressing peg dolls in a toga, making mosaics – several varieties – sticky felt squares; fimo; happy maize pictures. There were also some really delicious roman foods cooked up.

a) globuli

Globuli Curd cheese, 500 g or about 1lb, A cup of semolina, honey, olive oil.
Press curd cheese through sieve or let it hang in cheese cloth until it’s drained well. Mix with the semolina into a loose dough. Let it sit for a few hours. (Have a sip of the vino Caroenum while you wait). With wet hands form the mixture into dumplings. Quickly fry them in olive oil for a few minutes. Drain and roll in honey.
http://www.squidoo.com/ancient-food-rome#module11989737

b)Libum (sweet cheesecake)

Libum was a sacrificial cake sometimes offered to household spirits during Rome’s early history. The recipe below comes from the Roman consul Cato’s agricultural writings, which included simple recipes for farmers. Libum, sometimes served hot, is a cheesecake he included.

Ancient Roman Libum Recipe
Libum to be made as follows: 2 pounds cheese well crushed in a mortar; when it is well crushed, add in 1 pound bread-wheat flour or, if you want it to be lighter, just 1/2 a pound, to be mixed with the cheese. Add one egg and mix all together well. Make a loaf of this, with the leaves under it, and cook slowly in a hot fire under a brick.

Modern Roman Libum Recipe (serves 4)
1 cup plain, all purpose flour
8 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg, beaten
bay leaves
1/2 cup clear honey

Sift the flour into a bowl. Beat the cheese until it’s soft and stir it into the flour along with the egg. Form a soft dough and divide into 4. Mold each one into a bun and place them on a greased baking tray with a fresh bay leaf underneath. Heat the oven to 425° F. Cover the cakes with your brick^* and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden-brown. Warm the honey and place the warm cakes in it so that they absorb it. Allow to stand 30 minutes before serving.

^*The Romans often covered their food while it was cooking with a domed earthenware cover called a testo. You can use an overturned, shallow clay pot, a metal bowl, or casserole dish as a brick.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/roman-recipes.html

Also sweet and salty dates – for which I can’t find the recipes. They were absolutely all delicious. I think more enjoyed by adults rather than the children. However, I am really enjoying the addition of some of the food of the time as well

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which would be no bad thing, but a lot of that is work. and a lot of that is highly stressful. so blogging both not a high priority and also not much time! so it is going to be v short.

lovely week this week for the kids and family with my mum and dad bringing E and M to stay for half term. went to a lovely party which they all enjoyed v much, and the younger girls did lots of crafts. they all had fun racing about in the afternoon and playing together.

weds was historyetc, which i hope to blog too! e and m had a few shaky moments but on the whole did well, and said they really enjoyed it. e was lots of the time with me, and m found he had a lot in common with another boy, and they did some rampaging around.

lovely evening chatting with parents

thursday th kids mostly played and my parents did some diy. unfortunately mum mistook a finger for a branch so as i got home, she was in a and e. still a lovely time playing with nephew and niece, and then lovely eve with parents again.

now at the weekend. wish i just didn’t have that pit-of-stomach feeling about work issues.

we have loved going up to SOTP weekend parties now for a number of years, and wouldnt miss it for te world. the weather was less than friendly, with rain and wind, but the hosts and company more than made up for that. This group of friends often feels like a chosen family and always great to be spending time all together. we had lots of laughter, lots of tea and lots of cake. there was plenty of alcohol for those drinking too.

The children all had fun, BB running in a posse with J and R for lots of the time, but also with bigger groups. SB spent a lot of time with E and also dsing or playing board games. They both had a great time. we did a short walk one day with a cache, and there was a longer walk the next day.

lots of music and laughter, a caberet and then further playing and singing [somewhat raucously in the end!] and general conviviality and late nights

thanks SOTP for another lovely weekend

Twitter is a fantastic thing. Reminded me to make some elderflower cordial. We have lots of elderflowers in the garden [pernicious weed!] and usually make elderberry jelly. There are lots of recipes on the net. Here is another one

first pick 20 elderflower heads

Then add 1.6kg of sugar [preserving makes it clear but granulated or caster will work] to 1.25l of water. Heat gently until all the sugar dissolved and then boil.

Whilst you are doing this, get 2 oranges and 2 lemons. If you are keen, you can zest them first, or if not just cut in half and then thin slices

When your syrup has boiled, add it to the bowl full of elderflowers [with most of stalks removed] and sliced citrus. Add 50g of citric acid and then give a good stir.it smells fabulous [though DD1 who was making it doesn't agree]

Leave it to stand 24 hours and then strain it through a jelly bag [or a sieve with a muslin so fine enough] into sterilised bottles to sit in the fridge. hadn’t thought of freezing some before, but I might try that this time to see how it works out.

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TBH, I should be updating all the guidelines for one of my roles at work, but i can’t get microsoft office to open without crashing, so no powerpoints or word docs can be commented on.

SO i thought i would do a rambly post about jessie’s song in toy story. A friend posted that she was girding herself for it whilst her daughter watched the dvd, and we all understood. What is it about that that makes it so potent. the loved toy of childhood being relegated to under the bed when the child grows into a young woman, who eventually drives off into the sunset. Why are we mothers all finding ourselves with the toy? Is it because we look at our own wonderful children and feel sad for the stages they have past, and the toys that remind us of those times. Or is it because one day we will be like those toys. our wonderful, gorgeous, offspring will one day be driving off into the sunset, and like jessie we will be bereft. i think that is it. I love my daughters, and am glad for every precious moment i spend with them. Watching them grow up, find interests, change them, be challenged and move on from that, all of this is very precious to me. It is a gift to have a child, and be able to share in their lives so fully. It is a gift tinged with the knowledge of its very brevity. We all want our children to have happy and loving childhoods filled with fun, and we also want to prepare them and raise them so that they can drive off into the sunset, secure in themselves, full of enthusiasm and confidence to start life ‘their way’ . And yet, the thoughts of them leaving is a hard one. SB is 10. I hope that she will go to university at 18, an independant woman who is quietly confident and full of enthusiasm. I will be waving her off, determinedly proud and encouraging, not letting the tear fall until she has gone. But i know it will fall. My little firstborn baby. Followed by BB, and suddenly the house will be 2ce as big and unbearably quiet. But beyond that moment comes other happy moments. having more time for my own passions and enthusiasms, and that of my DH. working out how we are going to enjoy the rest of our life together as a couple rather than a family. Punctuated by the joyful return for short bursts of our girls, and maybe oneday their girls too. who knows. I don’t want to hold my girls in a cocoon, and I love watching them change and grow. but I also won’t be hurrying the time on, but making the most of what i have now. unlike the doll Jessie, I know of the change to come, but i also know there is a future beyond.

both girls have got new to them bikes this week. SB has got a bike from ebay [islabike] and BB has SB’s first bike, the Puky bike that SB got when BB was born – awwwwwwwwww. So we decided we would go cycling and caching today. It didn’t quite happen like that … the window ppl finally came, so we had to get things ready again. i watered the plants, DH sorted out bikes, i did some pre course prep, SB did some galore park junior history and then finished her singapore maths books 4 [woohoo!!] we had thought we had got level 5, but i was mistaken. SB now v happy that there is land mail, but she will have to do mathletics and other maths instead in this time! BB also finished a book, her explode the code book 1, and was v v happy with that. She read another level 2 book with near no help, so i think it is time for level 3 . SB did some piano prac as well, both had great fun roller skating in the garden, and we finally went out cycling after lunch.

[flickr id="5762091441" thumbnail="small" overlay="true" size="small" group="" align="left"] unfortunately… the route we planned to take had been shut 2 days ago and won’t reopen for a couple of months!! argh. We did a different cycle ride instead, but no caching. BB rode really well as we didn’t have a trailgator and she didn’t make any fuss. there was an icecream involved – which always makes life easier though and lots of shrieks of happiness and fun. We really enjoyed it. shame we didn’t get out earlier or be able to do the initial route tho . BOTH girls did judo tonight. BB in the younger group and really enjoyed it and is happy to go back – phew. sb and i did some crafting and bottled up our elderflower cordial whilst BB did that, and I read an usborne book about romans. then SB did the late session. does make for a late bedtime, and hence late blog. night night all

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