Tis the season of mellow fruitfulness...

And I have been busy in the kitchen! In the last week I have made chocolate walnut brownies, blackberry and apple tarts, slow cooker apple and blackberry jam and currently baking a carrot and courgette cake. Oh, the agony of falling headlong into a patch of nettles as I plucked juicy blackberries from their brambles. Seriously, why are nettles and brambles companion plants - it's madness, madness I say! Anyway, after many scratches, and stings (to which I am becoming innured) I picked 2.5 pints of blackberries. They will be the last of the season I suspect as many are withered dessicated husks, and the few remaining lurk deep within a thicket of nettles and thorns. I looked up a slow cooker jam recipe and decided to give it a go (I was getting rather bored with apple and blackberry tartlets, even with a dollop of clotted cream on top!). Basically you lightly mash the blackberries in the slow cooker, and add a finely diced, lightly cooked golden delicious apple and 2 cups of sugar. You can use more, I objected on moral principles :P Then you cook on low for 3 hours, stirring occasionally, then turn up to high with the lid off for another 2 hours. Decant them into jars and they will last 6 weeks in the fridge. The jam was runny, but sooo DELICIOUS!  Today, due to a slight miscalculation with Tesco where I ordered 5kg's of carrots I made carrot and courgette cake. Naturally I used the recipe as a guide and made all sorts of substitutions and additions :) Now the recipe says to cook it for 30 minutes, and you can do that if you like your cakes liquid in the centre. I shall be cooking mine for at least 40 minutes :) So here's the recipe if you want to try it.

Carrot and Courgette Cake
2 eggs
170g (6 oz) brown soft sugar - I added a splash of golden syrup
75g (3 oz) soured cream - I used greek yoghurt and a teaspoon of mayonnaise
75g (3 oz) carrots, peeled and grated (peeled? what is this peeling of which they speak?)
75g (3 oz) courgettes, peeled and grated (see above lol)

80ml (3 fl oz) sunflower oil
225g (8 oz)  wholemeal flour
3 Tbsp baking powder
75g (3 oz) raisins - I used sultanas
I added dried cherries, mixed spice, vanilla essence and cinnamon

In other news the Maths GCSE is going well. I passed the surprise test in the first session (which half the class failed) and to my eternal surprise seem to be tutoring my seatmate! If my maths classmates could see me now they would believe the world had ended lol. I nipped off to the library for a GCSE book and am waiting until payday so I can purchase the proper textbook. However I am doing exceptionally well if I do say so myself, and am getting everything right so far! It won't last :)

School is going well for the boys. Kieran is loving his new teacher and has shown no reluctance to head off to school in the mornings. Cameron switched over to mornings this week and it has been a trial by fire. He fought to be able to eat his chocolate muffin before his savoury stuff (sausages) and as a result ate nothing that day. He threw a massive tantrum the next morning as he had determined that school was a tool of the devil, designed to frustrate small boys, and haunt them with pangs of starvation. However we seem to be shifting to a more positive outlook :)

Cubs started back last night and I have mapped out activities for the Cubs to work towards three badges this Autumn term. I plan for them to read WW1 books, give report on them and then use that information to present a group play on a WW1 theme where they can sing, dance, write a script and tell a story. It will be good fun and will earn them a Book reader badge and a Creative performance badge! The other badge is athletics and I have come up with some thoughts on that too :)

Yesterday was busy as I was preparing agendas and the documentation for FOUR meeting next week. Four of them!! My hands will be cramped little claws by the time I finish minuting that lot :) Mind you, my arms have only just stopped hurting after I pruned every bush in the back garden with the bluntest, stiffest pair of shears it has ever been my misfortune to use. Then I got to drag the vegetative remains to the wheelie bins, smearing rotting vegetable matter on my shirt. Oh yeah, I was living the dream :) However I did a trawl around the op shops looking for cheap white polo shirts for the boys (school uniform) with no success. However I did find a smashing pair of brown leather boots that turned out to be Doctor Martins. And I bought them for the princely sum of 2 pounds - BARGAIN!!

School's back!

Yes indeed. St James went back today. Chris fled the house early for a presentation and interview. Kieran got kitted up in his uniform and Cam and I dropped him off at school before heading off to the Adult Education Centre so I could have my first session of GCSE maths. Once that finished, we frisked home and changed Cam into his uniform - bless. He was so very excited to start school. This afternoon we have the health visitor coming to check him out, then I have to go get the Scout hut sorted. I have popped into the school and found out the meeting dates for my role as Clerk to the Governors - yay! At the moment I am making apple tartlets for dessert and may pop off to pick some blackberries. Life is good :)

Days Forty-six to Forty-nine: School holidays

In short, we chilled out and then we went to Wales :)

Days Forty to Forty-five : School Holidays

On day 40 of the 49 days of summer holidays we headed out to the Glossop charity shops. Bubbling with delight at the thought of being able to buy whatever they liked with their pound the boys practically frolicked out the door. We stopped by the library first and the boys happily played on the computers and chose a few books. Chris staggered under the weight of the massive pile of boys that he chose, and in fact had to head off home to drop them off. meeting us at one of the nicer charity shops. The boys had a lovely time choosing things, and eventually chose a Spongebob lunchbox (which Kieran broke 3 hours later, jumping off the bed) and a smiley face stuffed toy. I bought a Junior Scrabble, which both boys were very keen to play. On day 41 it was the boys swimming lesson. We sauntered up the hill to the pools, just missing the deluge in our 30 minute walk. The swimming lessons went smashingly, and the boys did really well. On our way home we found a patch of mushrooms, which the boys were quite excited about, as well as a caterpillar and 2 butterflies. I headed out later that afternoon to pick up some dress-ups which I had found cheaply online. I walked for miles! Literally! I did find a lovely new playground though so this, the exercise and the bargain made all well in my world. Plus it wasn't raining. On day 42 We cancelled the Legoland plans and I took the boys to Whistlestop cafe for the fun day - bouncy castle, face painting etc. We invited Frankie and Minnie along and they had a blast. We were the only people there, as the fun day had been cancelled. However, all four children had a blast which is the important thing :) On day 43 We headed out on a playground mission. We headed out to the new playground and the boys were in alt when we got there. It was brilliant. They were knackered when they finally trudged home though given that it was a mile each way, but not so knackered that they couldn't pause for an invigorating 20 minute play at the playground by the stream :). On day 44 we took the boys along to the dentist as Kieran's shark teeth remain firmly in place. Once there we discovered that one of his back (adult) teeth is developing a little hole where the toothbrush wasn't reaching it. So we had a little chat about how to brush our teeth properly. Then we discovered that Cameron has a cavity on one of his teeth, so he gets to go and get that filled on Thursday. Yippee yi yay! All in all it was rather depressing, and expensive. On day 45 (today) I threw on some decent clothes and some makeup and headed off to St James for the interview for the Clerk to the Governor role. After a fairly decent interview I prowled around the house waiting for news, before picking blackberries and prowling some more. I was extremely pleased to get a phonecall giving me the job late this afternoon :) Then Cameron managed to acquire my glittery, red nail polish and paint his face, fingers and toes with it - lavishly. Sometimes I despair of that child :P
In other news Chris has been spending his holiday time by applying for work and cooking up a storm! I have been mooching around and getting school supplies in for the boys, and applying for jobs. Lots and lots of jobs. Cameron now has school shoes, school pants and shirts and a lovely new school book bag. Roll on Monday when school starts, I have my first GCSE session, Cam has the Health visitor around and life starts getting back to normal!