52 Weeks of Happy...39/52

Thank you for your comments on the honeycups post  - I loved reading them so much! The butter trick - where you hold a buttercup - sorry, honeycup - under someones chin (while looking for the yellow reflection to see if they like butter or not) - I thought everyone did that. I'd love to know if you did too. And it was fun learning about all the different words for things that have crept in to each family's history. I really enjoy stories like that. For ages both my two called sneezes "bless yous" as in "Mummy, I've blessyou-ed, I need a tissue." and I was a little sad when they realised that everyone else called them sneezes.

It's been a hot week, and there have been tired, unreasonable children and tired, unreasonable adults too, but it's not all bad. The weather has been wonderful (if you like 30°C - I do) and we've fallen into a warm weather routine where we pretend we live in the Mediterranean. We close all the curtains upstairs during the day, to keep out the sun, and stay indoors between 12 and 3 as it's just too hot to be in the garden. We collect Bella from school then spend the rest of the afternoon and evening outside, or inside with all the doors wide open. The kids wear their swim suits from 3.30 till bathtime and we've eaten outdoors every day this week. It's easy and light and free. So, joining in with the lovely Jen at little birdie, here are my happy moments from the last week:

1. Every afternoon this week, after their tea, the kids retreat to the playhouse in the garden. They take a pile of books, paper and felt pens in with them and just amuse themselves, quiet and busy and content, until I drag them inside at bedtime. The playhouse makeover is not finished yet - I still need to mend the cracked windowpanes among other things - but already they are using that little space again in a way that makes me so happy.

2. A brand spanking new Marimekko make-up bag in one of my favourite prints, found in a local charity shop for a mere 50p.

3. When I was in my early twenties I worked in a bookshop in the centre of Leeds. The air conditioning never seemed to work and on warm days the ground floor, where I worked, would be stiflingly hot. I would go out on my lunch hour and buy an iced latte from the Starbucks on the corner and wander around the shops sipping my drink and cooling down until it was time to go back to work. It was the best job I ever had, not least because of the lunch hour shopping opportunities that were available to me. I recreated the coffee and have been drinking it all week: espresso, cold milk and lots of ice. Cooling and delicious.

4. Our first strawberry, almost ready to harvest from our very own tiny strawberry patch.

Honeycups

Angus understands - vaguely - that bees make honey and that honey comes from flowers ("The bees are sniffing up the honey, Mummy.") One of the flowers we see most frequently where we live is buttercups; they grow in the garden, all over the school playing field, in the grass verges and along the footpaths on our walk to school. 

We often stop and pick some. "Look, honeycups!" says Angus. "They're called buttercups, Angus, butter-cups," I tell him, over and over. "Yes. Honeycups." he says, looking at me as if to say...that's what I said. I wonder why I am insisting on correcting him, and drop it.

So now we call them honeycups. I can't remember most of Angus's first words - although I'm sure they are all recorded in his baby book - but I want to always be able to remember that at four years old Angus called buttercups honeycups.

Crochet Bunting For Yarndale

In between painting playhouses and applying sun cream, I have been having a lot of fun lately making this little pile of crocheted triangles. They are a delightful project; quick to make, easy (just a granny square pattern minus the fourth side), lots of colour changes to stop you getting bored and a good way to use up yarn ends. And ultimately they will end up as part of a huge bunting display at Yarndale.

Both the pattern and the whole bunting idea come from Lucy's wonderful blog Attic 24. Do you know it? Of course you do, everyone does! It's been a favourite of mine for some years now and I've enjoyed Lucy's posts so much and been grateful for her excellent, clear tutorials on more than one occasion. In fact, Lucy's generosity in sharing her crochet patterns and knowledge for nothing is part of what makes Attic 24 so special. So when she asked here for people to use up their yarn ends and get to work making bunting for a fun cause, I thought yes, I want to contribute to that. Partly to say thank you for the free tutorials and partly because I love it when crafty types come together on something. Oh, and I'm going to Yarndale too so I'll get to see it all!

There is some important information about the bunting (including FAQs like size, type of yarn) on Lucy's blog here and her tutorial is here.

I used up the last of the squeaky acrylic from Mr Snake here. Actually, that kind of cheap yarn is great for this sort of project. It doesn't matter how soft it feels or how well it washes. The colours are a little bright for my taste but will look great hung up with hundreds of other triangles.  I hung the bunting from the shelf in Bella's bedroom just to take a photo - I'll be packing it in a jiffy bag and posting it soon.* Lucy requested that the bunting not be joined as that will be done by others at a later date, so I used these teeny tiny little pegs I bought in Hobbycraft once to attach them to a length of yarn.

Lots of people have commented on them and admired them (the appeal of bunting is enormous it seems!) and I am making some as a "new home" present for my friend over the summer. I'll make some more for our home too at some point. I'd quite like to try it in black, grey and white with maybe a neon pink centre - something modern and bright.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this photo to demonstrate, once again, the power of blocking:

* Does anyone know if the address to post the bunting to is up on Lucy's blog yet? I can't see it, but that could well be me.

High Summer

Oh, wow. It's been such a lovely weekend. And it's been so hot! Really, properly hot, the sort of heat you remember from endless childhood summers, even a bit too hot at times, and I rarely say that. It's been about 28°C/82°F which is pretty warm for these parts. All the doors and windows are open and breezes waft through the house. The washing dries in about half an hour. We had to buy more sun cream.

We always seem to eat more fresh fruit at this time of year. I've been eating cherries by the bowlful, I just love them. And they are so pretty to look at too. We made ham and pineapple pizzas with the kids and I made pineapple-upside-down cake with the leftover fruit. You put some of the pineapple juice into the batter and it's so moist and sticky. We ate it slightly warm with vanilla ice cream.

I was up and out early with the kids yesterday morning to Hobbycraft. Funny how those little bits and bobs add up so...I wish it came up as something else on the bank statement, like "household essentials" or "totally necessary items". We were back by ten and I spent most of the day painting the inside of the Bella and Angus's outdoor playhouse. It's currently used to store toys and they never play in it - they can't get through the door - and I want to make it nice for them. I emptied and sorted it and got to work with my white emulsion. Good grief it was hot in there. I didn't really think that through but once I'd started I had to carry on. The kids were in the paddling pool and came over to help every now and then, before losing interest after about six minutes of painting in a very hot wooden box. But it was good to get it done and that shower and gin and tonic later in the day never felt so good. Then we went out to my friend Rachel's for a barbecue with some other friends. She'd prepared such a lovely meal; mezze-style dips and nibbles, then a leg of lamb marinaded then barbecued, served with flat breads, bulgar wheat, salad, amazing dips - all homemade - then for dessert what Rachel called "a sort of deconstructed baklava" consisting of honey ice cream, filo pastry, pistachos and apricots. All so good! We ate outside surrounded by hurricane lamps and tealights until by ten pm it was too cold and we came inside.

Angus was really unsettled last night - I suspect another ear infection - so we were tired this morning. We muddled through and after lunch we went to Bella's school summer fair. We wandered around looking at the stalls and games. We sweated a lot. We retreated into the school "woodland area" for shade with our ice creams. Angus was so hot and tired he didn't really know what to do with himself so we left after an hour and came home to sit indoors and watch the Wimbledon final. How fantastic! I was pretty excited and had to keep leaving the room at tense moments. John was quite pleased with Murray's win but he can only think and talk about the Tour De France at the moment - there isn't room in his head for tennis too. I'm between books so have been reading Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen in bed and I already want to cook everything in it.

We have only two weeks left now before the school holidays start and it already feels as though everything is winding down and the pace is slowing. Or maybe that's just what the heat does to me? 

52 Weeks of Happy...38/52

The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.

It's Friday and the sun is shining so we're already off to a good start. The weather today has been warm, really properly warm. I don't know if it's the southerner in me, but I think this summer has - bar the odd day - been quite cool up here in Yorkshire. The sun may be shining but the wind is often cold and calls for a jumper or cardigan. But today, the sky was a hazy blue and the breeze deliciously warm - even hot!! I love it. I swear I was made to live in warmer climates than ours.  So, joining in with the lovely Jen at little birdie, here are my happy moments from the last week.

1. Give Angus a hose on a hot day and he's happy for hours. I am treasuring every last moment I have with my boy before he starts school in September. 

2. This is Bella's picture of London. I love her little drawings and keep them all in a box, sentimental hoarder that I am. She has been learning about London at school and is already fascinated by anything to do with the royal family, but when she learned we'd be visiting London over the summer holidays her excitement reached fever pitch. I'm quite excited too.

3. Family meals. We've been trying to eat with the children more. John doesn't get home early enough when he's working but on his days off we try to eat together, and have been rewarded by some truly lovely family meals that have been both rewarding and entertaining, although not particularly relaxing.

4. Murray is through to the Wimbledon finals. Woo hoo!

Wishing you all a very happy weekend. x

Victoria Sandwich Cake

I always think of a Victoria sandwich cake as a summer cake. I associate it with strawberries, warm weather, cups of tea, eating in the garden, and when I saw the "Pick Your Own Strawberries" sign go up at our local PYO farm, I started thinking about jam and cake straightaway. Traditionally the two sponge layers are sandwiched together with jam, often with whipped cream as well, sometimes fresh fruit - soft berry fruits work best - but I had a jar of lemon curd in the fridge that needed eating up and discovered that this cake is excellent with a lemony, creamy centre.

Also, I tried a new way of making Victoria sponge at the weekend and it worked so well, seriously, the best sponge I've ever made, that I'm totally converted and will make it this way every time from now on. You weigh the eggs first, then use the equivalent weight of butter, sugar and flour in your mixture. I've seen this done a few times on cookery programmes and in a couple of recipe books but was quite happy with my tried and tested "6, 6, 6 & 3"* method. But no, this is better, for flavour and texture.

You need:

• 3 eggs - at room temperature ideally.
• Butter, softened.
• Caster sugar.
• Self raising flour, or plain flour with one teaspoon of baking powder.
• Jam, a couple of large tablespoons.
• About 150ml whipping cream.

The 3 eggs could weigh anywhere around 170 to 210 grams or 6 to 7½ ounces depending on the size of the eggs, just to give you a rough idea of the sort of amounts of butter, sugar and flour you'll need. 

To make:

• Pre-heat your oven to 170°C or 340°F.
• Grease and line two 18cm/7" round, loose-bottomed baking tins.
• Weigh your eggs, still in their shells.
• Weigh the equivalent amount of butter and sugar, and put these into your mixing bowl.
• Weigh the self raising flour the same way and put to one side.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy - I use my mixer for this but you could use a hand mixer, or your own arms if you're muscular than me.
• Crack the eggs in one at a time, adding a tablespoonful of flour between each egg.
• Then add the rest of the flour and mix together until just combined. Don't over mix.

At this stage you could also add some vanilla extract, if you like, and a couple of tablespoons of milk just to give a runnier batter. I didn't use either - I quite liked the purist feel of only four ingredients. Also, for a lemon curd-filled cake, you could add some lemon zest to the mixture but again, I didn't. The contrast of the plain, buttery sponge and the tangy filling worked beautifully as it was.

• Divide the mixture between your two tins, smoothing the top flat with the back of a spoon.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cake comes away from the sides of the tin slightly and a skewer comes out clean.
• Leave to cool on a rack before assembling.

• When it's quite cold, add the filling. Jam is the traditional choice. I like raspberry or strawberry. I don't usually buy such expensive jam as this but I think that when the cake filling is jam - and you've already gone to so much effort - then buy good jam. Or make your own!

• Put your bottom layer of sponge on a cake stand or plate and spread with jam.
• Softly whip some cream and spread that on top of the jam.
• Carefully place the other piece of sponge on top and sprinkle with caster sugar.

• Or swap the jam for lemon curd, it's up to you.

It is a cake best eaten freshly made, on the day it's baked ideally. The inclusion of fresh cream makes it quite a special occasion cake, not an every day tray bake that will keep in a tin for a week (not that any cake lasts for a week in this house), and it works nicely as a pudding. If you choose to add cream to the cake you'll need to eat it within two days and store it in the fridge, remembering to remove if from the fridge half an hour before eating so it can come up to room temperature. Fridge-cold cake doesn't taste half as nice.

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* Your standard sponge cake recipe: 6 oz butter, 6 oz sugar, 6 oz flour and 3 eggs. Or 4, 4, 4 and 2, or 8, 8, 8 and 4, depending on the size of cake you are making. It can, of course, be translated into metric but it's easier to remember in imperial. This is about the only time I think in imperial weights when cooking.

Instagram - June

One photo a day throughout June on Instagram. Here are twenty five of them:

1. A cottage interior at Beamish.
2. Bella on the beach,
3. Blue skies in the back garden.
4. Dahlias in the pots by the front door.
5. Angus having a cuddle on the sofa after waking from a bad dream.
6. A wildflower posy from the garden.
7. Crocheting my throw.
8. Some Liberty print washi tape.
9. Lilac growing outside the church hall where Bella goes to Rainbows.
10. Crunchy-nut cornflakes for breakfast.
11. Afternoon jigsaws with Angus.
12. Weekend cuddles in bed.
13. Decorating a cake with smarties.
14. More wildflower love.
15. Making lemon curd.
16. Coffee in the garden.
17. Prettifying the mantle.
18. The bright evening sun taken looking out of Bella's bedroom window.
19. The ceiling of our local bookshop.
20. York Minster.
21. Blocking the throw.
22. A pretty fence.
23. Lasagna and red wine on a Friday night.
24. The Yorkshire Dales.
25. Macaroons.

I've been having enormous fun with Instagram lately. I started using it in April and have been taking photos more and more until it became a daily thing. Just one a day, like a little photo journal. It's such a liberating way to take photographs; no need to think about light levels, or focus, or where the lens cap is (usually in the back pocket of my jeans), just a quick click on the phone. I love to play with the filters and effects. I especially like the way it captures the everyday. Lots of what you see above I've blogged about, but it's more of a behind the scenes look at my life. But Instagram is what it is - diverting, fun, easy, effortless, instant. But it's not blogging, which will always be my first love.