What`s for dinner Clarey?: Lessons in love
I had the most hilarious email ch...: Lessons in love I had the most hilarious email chat with my daughter`s French teacher last night apologising for recycling Lily`s French b...
Friday, 27 September 2013
Lessons in love
I had the most hilarious email chat with my daughter`s French teacher last night apologising for recycling Lily`s French book. The night before we had had a very productive Mamman bebe revision session all about going to Paris. In my dreams!
Then I bid Lily bonne nuit and after a little glass of Cava decided to recycle my stash of Food magazines (dogg eared and well read) and my Health and fitness magazines (pristine and unread unsurprisingly)and took them down to my local surgery.
Next evening Quelle horreur Lily had lost her French book and I could just imagine Iris and Daphne sitting in Captain French Lane surgery waiting for a flu jab reading Lilys French book graffitti saying how much Elle aimez Harry Styles!!
After mucho teenage eye rolling and door slamming at my recycling debacle I wrote her French teacher a cheeky email promising never to mix housework and homework again.
Of course the charming man sent one back saying it had given him the biggest laugh of the day and of course he would supply her with a new one today.
Today he confessed to having found Lily`s French book and so I was exonnerated!!
Lily and James came first and second in their class test and it goes to show, however awful the predicament if you face your problems face on, with a smile on that face, nothing is ever as bad as you fear it may be. Most of the things we worry about never happen.
All that matters is NOW.
Enjoy your weekend O gorgeous ones and homework can wait.
Gnocchi
Shallow fry two packs of gnocchi in olive oil until crispy, then stir in a small pot of green pesto and some pancetta or bacon lardons fried til crispy. Pour into a warm bowl and top with shards of fresh parmesan.
Sit and eat it with your children and tell them that they are wonderful, beautiful, clever and brilliant. It` s just an idea that they may allow to grow into reality. Dreams grow if you water them, if you never feed dreams they die.
I had the most hilarious email chat with my daughter`s French teacher last night apologising for recycling Lily`s French book. The night before we had had a very productive Mamman bebe revision session all about going to Paris. In my dreams!
Then I bid Lily bonne nuit and after a little glass of Cava decided to recycle my stash of Food magazines (dogg eared and well read) and my Health and fitness magazines (pristine and unread unsurprisingly)and took them down to my local surgery.
Next evening Quelle horreur Lily had lost her French book and I could just imagine Iris and Daphne sitting in Captain French Lane surgery waiting for a flu jab reading Lilys French book graffitti saying how much Elle aimez Harry Styles!!
After mucho teenage eye rolling and door slamming at my recycling debacle I wrote her French teacher a cheeky email promising never to mix housework and homework again.
Of course the charming man sent one back saying it had given him the biggest laugh of the day and of course he would supply her with a new one today.
Today he confessed to having found Lily`s French book and so I was exonnerated!!
Lily and James came first and second in their class test and it goes to show, however awful the predicament if you face your problems face on, with a smile on that face, nothing is ever as bad as you fear it may be. Most of the things we worry about never happen.
All that matters is NOW.
Enjoy your weekend O gorgeous ones and homework can wait.
Gnocchi
Shallow fry two packs of gnocchi in olive oil until crispy, then stir in a small pot of green pesto and some pancetta or bacon lardons fried til crispy. Pour into a warm bowl and top with shards of fresh parmesan.
Sit and eat it with your children and tell them that they are wonderful, beautiful, clever and brilliant. It` s just an idea that they may allow to grow into reality. Dreams grow if you water them, if you never feed dreams they die.
Thursday, 12 September 2013
What`s for dinner Clarey?: BlackberriesMy Mum Joey is quite simply the best...
What`s for dinner Clarey?: Blackberries
My Mum Joey is quite simply the best...: Blackberries My Mum Joey is quite simply the best person I know. When I was young , growing up with an impossibly beautiful mother when yo...
My Mum Joey is quite simply the best...: Blackberries My Mum Joey is quite simply the best person I know. When I was young , growing up with an impossibly beautiful mother when yo...
Blackberries
My Mum Joey is quite simply the best person I know. When I was young , growing up with an impossibly beautiful mother when your nickname at school was "sturdy girl!"could have caused tensions- not a bit of it. She was a true lioness for my brothers and I and we adored her for it. She used to go to dinner dances with my Dad at the Grosvenor in London and Blenheim palace and we would all swoon as she rustled past us in silk and taffeta. She was the post lady in our eyes as she always delivered!
Once when we lived in St.Albans (the old Roman Verulanium) , she found a Roman coin in our garden. She bought my brother Tim a leather jacket with the proceedings.When I was forced to eat beans at school she came in and wiped the table with the dinner ladies. When my fat little brother Jamie couldn`t get a game of footy, she wrote to York City and he got signed! Ah Motherlove ...if only we could bottle it , it could power the Nation.
Now I am a mother, and that is all I require to be written on my tombstone,I know all about motherlove and it`s power.The overriding desire to protect your special ones is preternatural , if any one harmed any of them I would want blood. My Mum used to tell us a story about when she was little in the 1950s and went blackberrying. Joey went cycling to Strensall aerodrome to pick berries for a pie. A man said "there`s lots of big ones over here" and always fond of her food she was about to follow and perhaps come a cropper with the strange guy in the bushes. Fortunately her much wiser friend Pat screamed "Get on your bike and ride lass!"So Pat saved her and Joey lived to bramble another day and grow up to be my brilliant Mother.
I went blackberrying this week with my class, we went into the churchyard and found oodles of juicy brambles(obviously very fertile soil in there!) We went back to school and made mini crumbles to give away as a random act of kindness at the Westmorland County Show.
After a weary day I returned to the showground to collect our stand, and was thrilled to hear that the President of the show thought they were superb.
Anything made with unconditional love as my Mum showed me always turns out grand!
Mini Blackberry and pear crumbles
silver foil pudding cases
brambles
pears
sugar
flour
Stork margarine
Line each case with a little chopped up pear and 4 blackberries and a tsp sugar, top with crumble made from 8oz plain flour, 5oz stork margarine - rub in until crumb like then add 4tbs sugar 1 tbs oats 1 tbs muscovado sugar and press onto fruit. Bake at 180 degrees for 15 mins until golden.
The best things in life are free like marvellous Mummies and brambles for tea.xxx
My Mum Joey is quite simply the best person I know. When I was young , growing up with an impossibly beautiful mother when your nickname at school was "sturdy girl!"could have caused tensions- not a bit of it. She was a true lioness for my brothers and I and we adored her for it. She used to go to dinner dances with my Dad at the Grosvenor in London and Blenheim palace and we would all swoon as she rustled past us in silk and taffeta. She was the post lady in our eyes as she always delivered!
Once when we lived in St.Albans (the old Roman Verulanium) , she found a Roman coin in our garden. She bought my brother Tim a leather jacket with the proceedings.When I was forced to eat beans at school she came in and wiped the table with the dinner ladies. When my fat little brother Jamie couldn`t get a game of footy, she wrote to York City and he got signed! Ah Motherlove ...if only we could bottle it , it could power the Nation.
Now I am a mother, and that is all I require to be written on my tombstone,I know all about motherlove and it`s power.The overriding desire to protect your special ones is preternatural , if any one harmed any of them I would want blood. My Mum used to tell us a story about when she was little in the 1950s and went blackberrying. Joey went cycling to Strensall aerodrome to pick berries for a pie. A man said "there`s lots of big ones over here" and always fond of her food she was about to follow and perhaps come a cropper with the strange guy in the bushes. Fortunately her much wiser friend Pat screamed "Get on your bike and ride lass!"So Pat saved her and Joey lived to bramble another day and grow up to be my brilliant Mother.
I went blackberrying this week with my class, we went into the churchyard and found oodles of juicy brambles(obviously very fertile soil in there!) We went back to school and made mini crumbles to give away as a random act of kindness at the Westmorland County Show.
After a weary day I returned to the showground to collect our stand, and was thrilled to hear that the President of the show thought they were superb.
Anything made with unconditional love as my Mum showed me always turns out grand!
Mini Blackberry and pear crumbles
silver foil pudding cases
brambles
pears
sugar
flour
Stork margarine
Line each case with a little chopped up pear and 4 blackberries and a tsp sugar, top with crumble made from 8oz plain flour, 5oz stork margarine - rub in until crumb like then add 4tbs sugar 1 tbs oats 1 tbs muscovado sugar and press onto fruit. Bake at 180 degrees for 15 mins until golden.
The best things in life are free like marvellous Mummies and brambles for tea.xxx
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
What`s for dinner Clarey?: Heartbreak pieHave you ever been chucked or hear...
What`s for dinner Clarey?: Heartbreak pie
Have you ever been chucked or hear...: Heartbreak pie Have you ever been chucked or heartbroken. I have lots of times. All adolescent cravings and just not meant to be, but at t...
Have you ever been chucked or hear...: Heartbreak pie Have you ever been chucked or heartbroken. I have lots of times. All adolescent cravings and just not meant to be, but at t...
Heartbreak pie
Have you ever been chucked or heartbroken. I have lots of times. All adolescent cravings and just not meant to be, but at the time, although it wasn`t the end of the World -it felt like it. I can remember driving dramatically in the rain sobbing along to "Breaking up is hard to do" and another time getting on a bus with no money and the conductor at seeing my distress just giving me a cuddle and then let me off the fare.(He must have been an angel in disguise.)
Usually I was thrown over for another girl (with the figure of Baywatch and the face of Crimewatch!!)
I really am grateful for being so trusting and so disappointed in equal measures because it never made me hard , quite the opposite it gave me the will to go on and find someone who deserved me. When you are loved you fulfil your potential and confidence makes you beautiful.
All those boys who I loved and lost I salute you, I hope you are loved and have married great cooks!
Losing someone you love is Universal, this recipe helps to heal if you have like me a "terminally romantic never give up hope" condition of the heart.
Clareyxx
Love pie
When I grew up I had three children who are the loves of my life, my love for them is not like a pie that they get a third of...they get a pie each!
8oz shortcrust pastry (double all quantities if you are having a little pity party!)
1 block feta cheese
1 red onion
1 bag spinach wilted (like our heroine) in a little butter and garlic
Roll out the pastry into a large oval, if homemade you can add a little olive oil and grated cheese to the pastry.
Put the spinach , crumbled feta , fried onion in the middle then pull the edges together so it looks like a giant pasty or Klingon`s forehead. Bake on a tray for 25 mins until the pastry is cooked and the cheese has melted. Even the hardest of hearts go gooey for this in our house. Serve with tabouleh salad and a spoon of hummus.
mucho love.xx
Have you ever been chucked or heartbroken. I have lots of times. All adolescent cravings and just not meant to be, but at the time, although it wasn`t the end of the World -it felt like it. I can remember driving dramatically in the rain sobbing along to "Breaking up is hard to do" and another time getting on a bus with no money and the conductor at seeing my distress just giving me a cuddle and then let me off the fare.(He must have been an angel in disguise.)
Usually I was thrown over for another girl (with the figure of Baywatch and the face of Crimewatch!!)
I really am grateful for being so trusting and so disappointed in equal measures because it never made me hard , quite the opposite it gave me the will to go on and find someone who deserved me. When you are loved you fulfil your potential and confidence makes you beautiful.
All those boys who I loved and lost I salute you, I hope you are loved and have married great cooks!
Losing someone you love is Universal, this recipe helps to heal if you have like me a "terminally romantic never give up hope" condition of the heart.
Clareyxx
Love pie
When I grew up I had three children who are the loves of my life, my love for them is not like a pie that they get a third of...they get a pie each!
8oz shortcrust pastry (double all quantities if you are having a little pity party!)
1 block feta cheese
1 red onion
1 bag spinach wilted (like our heroine) in a little butter and garlic
Roll out the pastry into a large oval, if homemade you can add a little olive oil and grated cheese to the pastry.
Put the spinach , crumbled feta , fried onion in the middle then pull the edges together so it looks like a giant pasty or Klingon`s forehead. Bake on a tray for 25 mins until the pastry is cooked and the cheese has melted. Even the hardest of hearts go gooey for this in our house. Serve with tabouleh salad and a spoon of hummus.
mucho love.xx
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
What`s for dinner Clarey?: Slummy MummyThis morning I did the walk of shame...
What`s for dinner Clarey?: Slummy Mummy
This morning I did the walk of shame...: Slummy Mummy This morning I did the walk of shame...late...late ...late through the playground with my youngest little darling Jem in tow....
This morning I did the walk of shame...: Slummy Mummy This morning I did the walk of shame...late...late ...late through the playground with my youngest little darling Jem in tow....
Slummy Mummy
This morning I did the walk of shame...late...late ...late through the playground with my youngest little darling Jem in tow. We were cruising through town at a quarter to nine singing along loudly to "Sir Duke" , sunny day in Kendal on our way to a training day at my school. Jemima had selected her outfit the night before skinny jeans, stripey blazer and shades and had come prepared for a lazy day clutching equal amounts of chocolate and DVDs (chick flicks she had pilfered from her teen dream sister Lily!) As we prepared to blow a raspberry at her school gates and sing in unison "No school today!" her little face dropped. Lots of shiny looking little people all squeaking along in new shoes , book bags and PE kits flying in the wind were swarming into the playground ready for the first day back.
"Fishfingers!"(or something rather ruder I gasped) as I swooped round U turning like Cagney and Lacey.At exactly 9.02 am she was on the carpet in her new classroom answering the register, probably with price tags allover her person as we had moved in SAS style. Her packed lunch was a makeshift sausage sarnie, mars bar, huge bag of tortillas, huge bag of popcorn, I drew the line at a can of Red Bull , not wanting her to go loco on her first morning in the Junior department.
The unfalappable Jemima Neal glided through it all , delighted to see all her friends again and grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of the World`s unhealthiest lunch bag ever.
The slummy Mummy had landed , all the other pushchair strolling gang were popping into town for coffees as I screeched out of the car park trying to get to my school not too late.
I thought I`d just tiptoe in and not share my stressful start with my colleagues- I needn`t have worried the aforementioned lovely Lilster had rung ahead to inform my boss of her Mummy`s slumminess! If you pay your PA in Haribo what more could you expect?
When I got home and we all sat down to tea I had to laugh at the greatness of my lateness. I still managed to knock out a gorgeous dinner and secretly high fived myself at knocking out such resilient, cool children too.
We all had a nip of sherry and toasted my Nanna "Cheers my luvvybums!" we chorused. Slummy Mummys rule OK!
Glamorgan sausages
2onions
4eggs
12oz mature cheddar
almost a full white loaf for breadcrumbs
herbs, seasoning and mustard
mix finely chopped onions, grated cheese 200g breadcrumbs, herbs, egg yolks
roll mixture into approx 24 small sausages use beaten egg white to coat sausages in the remaining breadcrumbs, deep fry for 5 mins
Serve with chilli jam and a poached egg
Eat with those who love you the most.xx
This morning I did the walk of shame...late...late ...late through the playground with my youngest little darling Jem in tow. We were cruising through town at a quarter to nine singing along loudly to "Sir Duke" , sunny day in Kendal on our way to a training day at my school. Jemima had selected her outfit the night before skinny jeans, stripey blazer and shades and had come prepared for a lazy day clutching equal amounts of chocolate and DVDs (chick flicks she had pilfered from her teen dream sister Lily!) As we prepared to blow a raspberry at her school gates and sing in unison "No school today!" her little face dropped. Lots of shiny looking little people all squeaking along in new shoes , book bags and PE kits flying in the wind were swarming into the playground ready for the first day back.
"Fishfingers!"(or something rather ruder I gasped) as I swooped round U turning like Cagney and Lacey.At exactly 9.02 am she was on the carpet in her new classroom answering the register, probably with price tags allover her person as we had moved in SAS style. Her packed lunch was a makeshift sausage sarnie, mars bar, huge bag of tortillas, huge bag of popcorn, I drew the line at a can of Red Bull , not wanting her to go loco on her first morning in the Junior department.
The unfalappable Jemima Neal glided through it all , delighted to see all her friends again and grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of the World`s unhealthiest lunch bag ever.
The slummy Mummy had landed , all the other pushchair strolling gang were popping into town for coffees as I screeched out of the car park trying to get to my school not too late.
I thought I`d just tiptoe in and not share my stressful start with my colleagues- I needn`t have worried the aforementioned lovely Lilster had rung ahead to inform my boss of her Mummy`s slumminess! If you pay your PA in Haribo what more could you expect?
When I got home and we all sat down to tea I had to laugh at the greatness of my lateness. I still managed to knock out a gorgeous dinner and secretly high fived myself at knocking out such resilient, cool children too.
We all had a nip of sherry and toasted my Nanna "Cheers my luvvybums!" we chorused. Slummy Mummys rule OK!
Glamorgan sausages
2onions
4eggs
12oz mature cheddar
almost a full white loaf for breadcrumbs
herbs, seasoning and mustard
mix finely chopped onions, grated cheese 200g breadcrumbs, herbs, egg yolks
roll mixture into approx 24 small sausages use beaten egg white to coat sausages in the remaining breadcrumbs, deep fry for 5 mins
Serve with chilli jam and a poached egg
Eat with those who love you the most.xx
Monday, 2 September 2013
What`s for dinner Clarey?: The dining roomMy dining room has been a compute...
What`s for dinner Clarey?: The dining room
My dining room has been a compute...: The dining room My dining room has been a computer room/office for years now but today I am reclaiming it back. This is going to take cons...
My dining room has been a compute...: The dining room My dining room has been a computer room/office for years now but today I am reclaiming it back. This is going to take cons...
The dining room
My dining room has been a computer room/office for years now but today I am reclaiming it back. This is going to take considerable effort on my part to chuck out a lifetime of teaching resources that I`ve been hanging onto for 20 years , yes I am that old. When did the new girl suddenly become the old bag? Time is moving too fast . I want to slow it down and maybe returning my dining room into a space to eat not work or waste time checking out my facebook friends when I should be spending time with real people will assist my turn back time mission.
I have loved every year of my teaching career and remember all the first days of little ones I have been privileged to oversee. They are of course now growing and grown up , some with families of their own , or at University. My maiden name was Davison and the biggest compliment a child ever paid me was mispronouncing it as Miss Daisysun. I want to be her again, cycling to work, going out for drinks, meeting my sweetheart at the York Tandoori.
I thought by the time I was 40 I would have friends over for dinner and be a grown up. But I am yet young in deed I feel just as apprehensive before the first day back as the little five year olds who come to my classroom in search of untold fun and the nearest I get to a dinner party is my nightly party of five who should all become food critics. Enough!
I am going to reclaim my dining room back today and then have lots of friends round to play and there`s a big lad called Matty whom I `m going to ask for a sleepover!!
Grownup jelly part 2
Raspberry jelly
raspberries
fresh orange juice
slosh of Vodka
1/4 pt sparkly rose wine
Make up the jelly with boiling water and then add wine and orange juice and vodka to top up to 1pt of liquid. Pour into wine glasses with a few fresh raspberries in the bottom. Leave to set in the fridge.
Serve with your best mates and some squirty cream, so trashy , so fabulous!!!
My dining room has been a computer room/office for years now but today I am reclaiming it back. This is going to take considerable effort on my part to chuck out a lifetime of teaching resources that I`ve been hanging onto for 20 years , yes I am that old. When did the new girl suddenly become the old bag? Time is moving too fast . I want to slow it down and maybe returning my dining room into a space to eat not work or waste time checking out my facebook friends when I should be spending time with real people will assist my turn back time mission.
I have loved every year of my teaching career and remember all the first days of little ones I have been privileged to oversee. They are of course now growing and grown up , some with families of their own , or at University. My maiden name was Davison and the biggest compliment a child ever paid me was mispronouncing it as Miss Daisysun. I want to be her again, cycling to work, going out for drinks, meeting my sweetheart at the York Tandoori.
I thought by the time I was 40 I would have friends over for dinner and be a grown up. But I am yet young in deed I feel just as apprehensive before the first day back as the little five year olds who come to my classroom in search of untold fun and the nearest I get to a dinner party is my nightly party of five who should all become food critics. Enough!
I am going to reclaim my dining room back today and then have lots of friends round to play and there`s a big lad called Matty whom I `m going to ask for a sleepover!!
Grownup jelly part 2
Raspberry jelly
raspberries
fresh orange juice
slosh of Vodka
1/4 pt sparkly rose wine
Make up the jelly with boiling water and then add wine and orange juice and vodka to top up to 1pt of liquid. Pour into wine glasses with a few fresh raspberries in the bottom. Leave to set in the fridge.
Serve with your best mates and some squirty cream, so trashy , so fabulous!!!
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