Skip to main content

Monthly Munch: April 2015

We've had some beautiful weather this month, so have spent lots of time out in the garden, or out and about.  Graham took voluntary redundancy from his job at the end of March, so the boys have enjoyed having their dad around to play with them while he works out what to do next!

Toby


- has had two visits to "big school" and appears to have enjoyed every minute of them.  He and his fellow preschoolers are going most Friday afternoons this term, so they should be very familiar with the primary school by September.

Sitting on a sheep at Beacon Hill

- is becoming a bit more adventurous about climbing things.  He recruited Dad to come up this steep slope with him.

Up we go...
Made it!
- enjoyed a day watching car racing with Graham at the Donington racetrack

A contemplative moment
 - prefers drawing to colouring in

"I want to draw my plate."

Theo


- is into everything.  Seriously.  Anywhere you don't want a curious baby is exactly where his little face will pop up.

- has the best laugh.  Sometimes he will just sit there cackling to himself at some private joke.

And when you get the two of them together...
- enjoys being outside, and will sometimes crawl off on his own journey of exploration (closely followed of course!)


- had his first haircut!  He was very good.


Thankful for:


- a great ladies' weekend away with some old school friends (and one new friend).

If you're ever in Chester, go find Hanky Panky pancakes.
- a few weeks of beautiful warm sunny weather - summer in April!

We even managed a barbeque!
- some friends who gave us their trampoline!  It isn't up yet, but Toby will really enjoy it when it is.


Recipe of the Month: Blackcurrant Cornmeal Cake



This is one of the most delicious cakes I have made in a long time.  I baked it when Graham and Toby were out for the day, and Theo and I had to restrain ourselves from eating the entire thing before they got back!  It's a blatant rip-off of Nigella Lawson's rhubarb cornmeal cake, and rhubarb is actually more seasonal this time of year, but I had some of last year's blackcurrants in the freezer and thought they would work.  They did.  Brilliantly.

350-500g blackcurrants (I had 330g in the freezer but the original recipe called for 500g rhubarb)
250g sugar
150g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
155g fine cornmeal
125g butter or margarine
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g natural yoghurt (I had Greek-style, so thinned it with a bit of milk)

Grease and line a 23cm Springform cake tin.  Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.

Well, the original recipe says to put the fruit in a bowl and cover with 100g of the sugar, but if you have frozen blackcurrants this achieves precisely nothing, so you probably might as well just mix in the sugar with the rest of it.  Anyway.

Stir together the flour, bicarb, cinnamon and cornmeal in a small bowl.  In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla, then add the flour mixture alternately with the yoghurt, stirring just to mix.  Stir in the blackcurrants, with the sugar and juices if you took that step.

Spread in the tin and bake for about an hour until springy.  Let cool in the tin for a bit before trying to get it out.  Serve warm or cold, but don't eat the whole thing at once!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Greece is the word! Part 1: Athens

The last few times we have been on holiday, my family has asked, "Mum, are you going to blog about this one?" It's felt like an overwhelming task. For a start, we now have FOUR phones with photos on, rather than one digital camera. Also, I regularly write quite long blog posts about three-hour walks. How on earth will I summarise a full week's holiday? But this time, I thought I should try. It's one of the most enjoyable holidays we've had in a while, and I've definitely done too many Peak District posts recently. Everyone needs a change of scenery. So here we go, jetting off to Athens. Day 1 We landed at Athens airport in a looming thunderstorm, but the worst of the rain held off until we'd made it safely to our apartment. Graham had earmarked a nice little restaurant called Lolos for dinner - eating shell-on prawns in tomato sauce was a deliciously messy experience - and we went to bed early after our 3am start. Day 2 Next day we climbed Philopappos ...

Greece is the word! Part 2: Epidaurus

For the first part of our Greek holiday, see here . Day 4 - continued After much waiting around, we acquired a hire car and set off for the second part of our holiday. I am so glad that Graham can get into a strange car in a foreign country and drive away with no problems. I would be a nervous wreck. Even Graham was a little spooked by the Athens traffic - very narrow lanes crowded with cars and buses, and mopeds zipping in and out of every available gap. I had left Google Maps set to "avoid tolls", which meant that we stayed off the fancy new highway and took the old road towards Corinth instead. There was practically no traffic, so although it was slower, it felt very relaxed. We passed hills, hotels and oil refineries. Along the way, we stopped at a supermarket for supplies and drank Green Cola at the beach over the road. Crossing the Corinth Canal at Isthmia, we started heading south through the mountains of the Peloponnese. The sky had been growing darker and darker, and...

Derwent Valley: Belper and Duffield

I'm getting into familiar territory with this walk. Duffield is one of the closest places that I can easily drive to and climb a hill, so I've done lots of walking around here. It's surprising how many new places I still see, though. Temperature: warm. Likelihood of being attacked by hordes of nettles: low. I decide to wear shorts. It's a good choice. The paths are well-trodden, and the sun is bright, though there's a pleasant breeze. There's plenty of free parking by Duffield church, so I drive there and walk across a field to the main road. Veering left up King Street, there is lots to see: the Methodist church, a butchers, and a penny-farthing gate. At the cemetery, I turn right and pick up a path towards the golf course. I'm heading towards the Chevin Hills here, which are the absolute lower reaches of the Pennine range. The ancient trackway along the ridge of the hills is another favourite walk. But today I'm just going straight down the other side ...