Skip to main content

Monthly Munch: May

Spring is definitely here, and our boys are growing as fast as the plants.  We managed outings to a medieval market, a vintage car show, and an art festival, and celebrated Graham's birthday.


Toby

- is reading more and more.  He made a good attempt at Dr Seuss' Great Day for UP! from the library, and read a short thank you note that I'd written to some friends.  He amused us one time we were out by picking up one of my books, dragging a chair into a playhouse, and sitting down to read.

- says his favourite colours are purple and red, his favourite food is noodles, and his favourite toy is an "odd-stickle" (obstacle) course.

- loves running around in the rain with the laundry basket on his head.

- also enjoys it when we open all the windows in the car.


- went to a birthday party in a Superman costume, but hasn't quite mastered the Superman pose.

Like this?

Or this?
How about this?

- ate "the biggest strawberry in the world"

Quotes:
"Dad's forty-one now, and on Tuesday he's going to be forty-blinking-two!"

On seeing a particularly long-legged dog: "That's bigger than a giraffe!"

To me: "You're a little girl."
Me: "I used to be a little girl, but I'm not any more."
Toby: "Did you die?"

Theo
- still has big blue eyes, and has developed a sweet smile (not shown!)


- weighed 14 lb 10 oz at his latest weigh-in (6.65 kg if you prefer metric).

- finds his big brother most entertaining.

- reckons he could stand up if only Mum would let go of him


Thankful for:
- a lot of laughs with my church small group

- sunny days in the garden

- more than £1 a day to buy food (one of my friends did the Live Below the Line challenge this month)

Recipe of the Month

I seem to have got into making regular cakes into cupcakes - and my mum has just given me some beautiful cupcake cases, so there will be more to come!  I adapted this carrot cake recipe long ago, and as far as I know it's still delighting customers at Cairns Cafe.  If you want a large cake, bake in a lined 8" x 12" pan.


Carrot Cake Cupcakes

8 oz plain (all-purpose) flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
12 oz sugar
8 oz grated carrot
3 eggs
10 fl oz vegetable oil

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until well combined.
Fill cupcake cases 2/3 full.  Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes until springy.
Ice with cream cheese icing.

Cream cheese icing
3 oz softened butter
3 oz full-fat cream cheese
12 oz icing (confectioner's) sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Beat well until fluffy and creamy.  Pipe onto the cupcakes using a large star tube.  If you want to add carrots to your cupcakes, tint a few spoonfuls orange and a few spoonfuls green.  Use a no. 10 writing nozzle for the carrot and a leaf nozzle for the tops.

I got 12 rather well-filled cupcakes (the deep American kind, not the shallow fairy cake size) plus a mini loaf cake.  I reckon it would stretch to 15 not-quite-so-over-filled ones if you wanted.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Springtime walks: Croxden Abbey and Shining Cliff Woods

It seems to be taking a long time to get properly warm, this spring. But suddenly there are flowers everywhere and the world has turned green. We had to go and see it all. Croxden Abbey 800 years ago, there was a community of 70 monks at Croxden Abbey, hidden away in a beautiful nook of Staffordshire. Now there are peaceful ruins, carpeted with soft green grass. It was hard to imagine the space filled with busy worship and work. Croxden abbey cloisters the west door of the church We had parked at the village of Hollington and walked down the hill, playing a game of spot-the-animal. In just a few short fields we had seen sheep, cattle, horses, alpacas, rabbits, a dog, and even a donkey. We decided we only needed pigs to make our farm animal collection complete! It wasn't a long hike - we probably spent just as long eating snacks and playing hide and seek in the abbey ruins, as we did walking. Our return journey took us past a few horses, but sadly no pigs. We followed an old Roman r

God is Not a White Man: Spiritual Formation Book 8

"I studied Theology... Despite the fact that most of the world's religious people are not white, we learnt very little about the theological thinking and experiences of Black and brown people." Chine McDonald is director of Theos, an organisation which provides research and opinion on the place of religion in society. She moved to the UK from Nigeria at the age of four. McDonald has been involved with the Evangelical Alliance, Christian Aid, and Greenbelt, as well as working as a journalist, so she has some wide-ranging experiences within the Christian and secular culture. This book uses stories from her own life, and historical examples, to illustrate the problem of racism in the church. She focuses on the British church in particular, although she refers to American events too. What are the main themes of this book? McDonald's argument is that white people - men in particular - have been assumed to be superior. They are regarded as more intelligent, more authoritati

Walking the National Forest Way (with a two year break)

Remember when it was lockdown and we were all stuck in our houses for months on end? Well, way back then I hatched a plan of walking the National Forest Way as a family project. I ordered the map, downloaded the route guides, and we did the first section in 2021: Yoxall to the National Memorial Arboretum (Stage 12). The photos tell me it was a beautiful April day - I was wearing shorts! The 5-mile route was pleasant, across fields and through scraps of woodland, then hopping over the Trent and Mersey Canal into the village of Alrewas. After that we had a hair-raising walk along a pavement right next to the A38 dual carriageway, with cars zipping past at 70mph, but fortunately that was a very short section before we turned off towards the National Memorial Arboretum. Of course we had to celebrate with an ice cream - why else would we finish at the Arboretum instead of starting there?  Smaller boys! Lockdown haircuts! At the finishing point A well-deserved treat There followed a very. l