Skip to main content

Monthly Munch: November

Fireworks: We went to a local fireworks display with a spectacular bonfire, enjoyed burgers and a somewhat more manageable bonfire with our church small group, and Graham and I escaped for a date night and watched fireworks from Breedon Hill.

Bonfire at Hartshorne fireworks display

Frost: and rain.  The weather has definitely turned Novemberish.  We've been scraping car windscreens, donning hats and mittens, and occasionally getting severely soaked.

Fatigue: It's "that time of year" as everyone keeps saying, meaning that all the kids are ill.  We had an emergency trip with Theo to the hospital when he woke up coughing and struggling to breathe (he recovered very quickly), and some very unsettled nights.

Toby

- is a fan of spaceships and planets.  He got me to make some toilet roll rockets to fly from planet to planet on his space playmat.


 - helped make hedgehog bread rolls from a recipe in the Peppa Pig magazine.  He enjoyed the kneading and they came out really cute.

adding raisin eyes and noses

 - read a whole letter from Grandma, only needing help with a few words, and keeps hoping there will be something else for him in the mail.

- got a jigsaw of the UK and took about a hundred photos of it once completed (most of which were blurry!)

Quotes:

"This is the first time I've peeled a carrot in my whole life!"  Four isn't a bad age to start, I guess.

"Pudding face!  Pudding face!  Pudding face!" over and over.  Theo giggled at him the first hundred times but I think the repetition bored even him in the end.

Theo


- wants to stand up all. the. time.  Occasionally he forgets he can't quite do it without holding on yet.


 - loves having baths with Toby - even if he's not quite sure about the bubble hats.


- charmed all the nurses at the hospital and didn't sleep one bit, even though we were there till 2 am.  Unfortunately he keeps waking up hoping for a repeat performance, now.

Thankful for

- some beautiful starry nights

- the boys' illnesses mostly being limited to coughs and sniffles

- that when I got the wrong day for the cupcake competition, we turned up the day before and not the day after!

Recipe of the Month - caramel chocolate bar cupcakes



This was one of my winning cupcake flavours, meant to evoke the kind of sweet snack you might have while out for a cycle ride.

Cupcakes
160g butter
160g sugar
3 eggs
100g plain flour
100g self-raising flour
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Mix cocoa powder with a little boiling water and set aside to cool.  Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then add flour, vanilla and cocoa and combine thoroughly.  Spoon into cupcake cases, filling about 2/3 full.  Bake at 180C / 350F 15-20 minutes until risen and firm.  Meanwhile, make the caramel.

Caramel filling
100g caster sugar
50 ml cold water
100 ml double cream

In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved, swirling the pan to help but not stirring.  When it's all dissolved, increase the heat and boil until the liquid turns dark golden.  Take off the heat and slowly add the cream, whisking it in as it froths up.  Heat through for another minute, whisking until smooth.  Leave to cool.

When the cupcakes are cold, slice the tops off with the knife at an angle, so that you cut out a little cone shape.  Cut off the point of the cone.  Put a teaspoon of the caramel into the hole in the cupcake, and replace your now flat lid to conceal the sweet surprise.

I then added the fondant icing and decoration, but I would suggest chocolate ganache (because you're bound to have some cream left) or chocolate buttercream as delicious alternatives.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Models of Contextual Theology: Spiritual Formation Book 7

"A theology that neither issues forth in action nor takes account of the way one lives one's life can hardly be theology that is worth very much." Models of Contextual Theology looks like the most boring book in the world. Dry academic title, weird geometric cover design - you'd definitely only pick this up if you were required to write an essay on it, wouldn't you? Well, I wish the outside did it justice, because the contents are much more exciting than the cover. It asks some very interesting and important questions about how our faith relates to the world around us. Is culture mostly good or bad? Is there such a thing as the "naked gospel", free of context? Do you have to be a trained academic to theologize, or can anyone do it? How much does theology from one culture transfer to a different culture? Bevans describes six models of theology which offer different answers to these questions. All are valid, he says, but they all understand the gospel an

Unto us a son is given...

Did I mention something about life getting back to normal in October? Oh yes, I was just finishing work and looking forward to at least two weeks off to organise the house, stock up the freezer and buy baby stuff. Then little Toby threw a spanner in the works by turning up five weeks early! Which would put his birthday in... let's see... October. So much for normal! For those who would like the gory details, here goes. If you are a mother who had a long and protracted labour, I advise you to skip the next bit - or if you don't, please don't start sending me hate mail. You have been warned. You see, we'd been to all the childbirth classes (yes, just about managed to finish them) and learned all about the different stages of labour, and how many hours each lasted. We learned some relaxation techniques and various things Graham could do to help coach me through long periods of contractions. And then we turned out not to need any of them, because the entire thing

A birthday weekend in York

We were surprised to discover that York is only a 90 minute drive from our house. It's somewhere we'd been thinking of going for a few years, but I'd assumed it was much further away. So when we wanted to go away for the weekend to celebrate my birthday in January, York was the obvious choice. The city did not disappoint us. I'd been to York years ago, and my only clear memory was of a tower on top of a grassy mound. That was Clifford's Tower, owned by English Heritage, and recently updated with a rather snazzy series of platforms and staircases inside. We saw a 13th century toilet which had been inaccessible for 400 years (I think I was more excited about this than the boys) and got a great view of York from the rooftop viewing platform. View from the top of Clifford's Tower Most people's memories of York probably involve the Shambles - an ancient street of shops - and York Minster. Apparently there isn't a clear difference between a minster and a cathe