Spring Weekend

Spring flirted with us this weekend and gave us blue skies and temperatures in the double figures. Incredible! Oh, but wait, it is mid-April. So we made the most of it and visited the fountains with friends yesterday morning. Bella and Angus had a lot of fun paddling (barefoot!) and getting totally soaked. Yes, that is Angus above wearing his only his pants and his cardigan. Everything else had been taken off to stop him getting too wet. I am still touched by how much pleasure children get from playing in water, it is endlessly fascinating to them. All that running around and fresh air meant they were happy to entertain themselves in the afternoon while I embarked on a baking frenzy. I'm not really sure where it came from, I just thought "I need to bake! Right now!" I made two batches of cookies - peanut butter and chocolate, and oatmeal and raisin - tried and tested recipes, easy and tasty. Emboldened by my success, I then decided to brave macarons for the second time. The first time was not what you might call successful. The second time was a total disaster. They didn't rise one bit, were various random shapes, and were much too sticky inside. They looked like little mini pink pancakes, flat and limp. Horrid. Can anyone recommend a good macaron recipe? Obviously I'm blaming the recipe and not my (lack of) skill!

Warmer weather turned my thoughts to the garden and to planting some seeds, so I asked the children what they would like to grow, not really expecting much of a response. Bella  looked up from what she was doing, thought very carefully and then said "Peas. And tomatoes. And some flowers." Angus requested "Sunflowers that grow very very tall." (They have planted sunflowers at nursery - it is it only flower he is aware of.) So we went to the garden centre, bought the required seeds and planted them. I planted some chilli seeds too but I think I'm a bit late with them. Oh well. However, despite it being the warmest day of the year so far, it was also the windiest, so we did our gardening on the kitchen floor.

I made a delicious banana and coffee smoothie for breakfast this morning with all the leftover bananas that come to die in our fridge. Angus will ask for a banana, eat half of it, then discard it somewhere in the house for me to find later. I can't bring myself to throw it away so I put it in the fridge, where it sits for a few days looking sadder and sadder. Smoothies are the answer: banana, milk, espresso powder and little honey or hot chocolate powder to sweeten. Yum.

Did you have a nice weekend? Did spring arrive, briefly?