fish 'n' chips and relaxation

My friend Charlotte is a trained sports masseuse, which is VERY handy :)
She came round today for to give me a back and calf massage, i get shin splints when i play hockey and calf massages are heaven on earth (if not a bit painful) for them!

We had a lovely catch up and seeing as she's off to America on a sports scholarship we decided to go get fish and chips before she went to the US.

They're from a place called John's Plaice, and they are so good. The perfect thing for a warm sunny doing nothing kinda day.

and just chillin' with Boot today, watching the olympics and listening to some old summer tunes, 1st on the playlist; Joss Stone, Super Duper Love

Happy Summer days :)

Brownies and Rissotto

So yesterday i had a fun day baking :)
We had had chicken the night before so i had made some chicken stock and with the remainder of the chicken i made a rissotto. It was kind of i left over rissotto, but the basic recipe is;

Chicken Rissotto

Serves 6

250g Arborio rice (normal rice will do)

900ml Chicken stock

90ml (2 wine glasses) white wine

2 Onions

2 Peppers

2 Coves of garlic

6 rashers of bacon

2/3 Chicken breasts

1 tblsp Balsamic vinegar

1 tblsp Honey

Parmesan

• Chop up the onions, peppers, bacon and chicken and place in a frying pan with a good glug of olive oil.
• Crush in the 2 garlic cloves and stir making sure the chicken is cooked thoroughly.
• Add the wine and boil up, next add the rice and gradually add the chicken stock. Simmer for about 30 minutes until the rice is cooked and has soaked up all the stock.
• Just before serving add the balsamic vinegar and honey and stir through. 
• Grate parmesan over the top.

For dessert we had slutty brownies! 

Which are A.mazing!

The recipe comes from a fellow blogger; The Londoner; http://www.thelondoner.me/

Slutty Brownies

1 Packet of betty crockers cookie mixture

1 Packet of betty crockers brownie mixture

1 packets of Oreos

Sunflower oil

1 egg

• Pre-heat your oven to 350'F, 180'C, gas mark 4
• Follow the instructions on the cookie mixture but add an extra tablespoon of the oil and water, and push the mixture into a square tin and place the oreos ontop of the mixture.

Then place the brownie mixture on top and place in the oven for 30 minutes

• Leave to cool and cut into squares. 
• Enjoy!!

These brownies are fantastic and so easy and you should all try them :)

Banana Fudge Cake

This week i made this amazing cake. It was a fudgey, caramelly, yummy creation :) It also has some bananas in it, so in my eyes it's a'healthy' cake ;)

The recipe is;

For the sponge

175g unsalted butter

150g caster sugar

25g light brown muscovado sugar

3 eggs

175g self-raising flour

teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk

For the filling and topping

200g light brown muscovado sugar

100g sifted icing sugar

150g unsalted butter

75g double cream

2 ripe bananas

2 x 20cm sandwich tins, greased and base lined with baking powder

• Preheat the oven to 180'C/350'F/gas 4.
• For the sponge beat the sugar and butter together until the mixture is light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time and gradually add the sifted flour until it has all been mixed in. combine the milk, vanilla extract and baking powder and fold in.
• Divide the mixture between the 2 sandwich tins and spread evenly. Place in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes, until the cake is starting to come away from the edges of the tin. To test, insert a skewer into the sponge and if it comes out clean it is cooked perfectly :)
• To make the icing; put the sugar,butter and double cream in a saucepan over a low heat. Stir until the butter is melted and turn up the heat to simmer for 3 minutes or so. Remove from the heat and stir vigorously for 30 seconds (this will give it a nice glossy look). Also, if you like salted caramels, you can add 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt flakes to give it a bit of extra flavour.
• Leave the fudge icing to cool until it is spreadable (it may need to go in the fridge for a bit)
• When the sponges are cool, spread half the icing ontop of one of the sponges. Thinly slice a banana ontop of the icing and place the 2nd sponge ontop. Spread the remainder of the icing ontop of the cake and decorate with any remaining banana.

• Cut in and enjoy!!

Try and eat it within about 4-5 days, otherwise the bananas will make the cake go a bit soggy. But i'm sure you'll have no difficulty finishing it.

St Swithin's Day

So, as many of you may know (or not know), yesterday was St Swithin's Day. It is said that the weather on St Swithin's Day will determine the weather for 40 days...there is an old rhyme;

'St.Swithin's day if thou dost rain
for forty days it will remain
St.Swithin's day if thou be fair
for forty days 'twill rain nae mair.'

So basically if it rains on 15/7 it's supposed to rain for 40 days afterwards (wouldn't be much different to our summer so far).
BUT yesterday was fair, which bodes well; So yesterday as it was so nice we first went for a (cold) swim in the river and then got the croquet set out!

We played a total of 3 games in the sun and i came 2nd, 4th and 1st, so a bit of a mixed score from me.

But it was lots of fun, even Boot joined in!

The new puppy!!

This time last week, the Robson family gained a new member-Boot, the cocker spaniel puppy.

He is now 7 weeks old and is a very confident little thing.

Rosie with Boot on his 1st day at home

He climbs in every cupboard opened, bites chair legs, toes, yoghurt pots and shoe laces. He can jump and turn 360 and will only eat his puppy food with milk.                                                                             He climbs inside the dishwasher!                                            The meerkat advert on TV makes him go crazy!

He is still sleeping inside at the moment in his little cage in the boot room and frequently wakes me up in the night with his little puppy yapping and howlings. He sounds a bit like a monkey when he does this and instantly makes you want to let him out.

His daily routine;

Wake up

Have food (with milk)

does his business in the garden

garden playtime

play with socks

play with'Bob'-toy parrot

sleep time

wake up

wonder round the garden

try to play with the 'big dogs'

food

does his business in the garden

play in the garden

sleep

eating various things-feet to chair legs

try to eat the 'Big' dogs food

sleep

eat

does his business in the garden

run around like a mad dog

try and get up on the sofa

food

does his business in the garden

playtime

special time in the sittingroom

bed time

Rosie and i think he reminds us of Stich (from Lilo & Stitch). He's a little wriggly bitey monster!

This is your life

This is your life.
Do what you love and do it often. If you don't like something, change it.
If you don't like your job, quit.
If you don't have enough time, stop watching TV.
If you are looking for the love of your life, stop. They will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.
Stop over analysing.
All emotions are beautiful.
When you eat, appreciate every last bite.
Life is simple. Open your mind, arms and heart to new things and people. We are united in our differences.
Ask the next person you see what their passion is and share your dream with them.
Travel often, getting lost will help you find yourself.
Some opportunities only come once, seize them.
Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them.
So go out and start creating.
Life is short, live your dream and wear your passion.

Life was much easier when apple and blackberry were just fruits

Missing someone isn't about how long it has been since you've seen them or the amount of time since you've talked. 

It's about that very moment when you're doing something and wishing they were right there with you.

'poetic' ramblings

I am a bit of a romantic at heart (if you know me then you'll know i don't really come across as one!)
 But i love poems and quotations, whether they have a deep meaning to them or just sound nice and about a year ago i started keeping a little book full of them;

It's my little red book

So there will undoubtedly be a few poems and quotations in this little blog of mine...

Sun on the Strawberry fields

Yesterday the sun was shining so my sister (Rosie), my brother (Toby) and i went strawberry picking in our village; Dalston.

We collected about 11lbs of strawberries in total and leaving behind a very happy farmer we headed home wondering what to do with all of them.

Rosie's thoughts turned to ice cream, whilst mine turned to jam.

Jam is very easy to make, contrary to popular belief, it is simple fruit and sugar (which is why it tastes so nice)

Strawberry Jam

4lbs strawberries

3lbs jam sugar

1 lemon

butter

5-6 jam jars

• Sterilise jam jars (wash in the dishwasher)
• Put a small plate in the freezer
• 1st hull the strawberries; this is when you take the tops off and the hard middle bit. toss them all in a big pan and heat gently stirring occasionally.
• Then cut the lemon in half and add the juice, keep stirring until the fruit is soft, but try to keep the strawberries as whole as possible. 
• When the fruit is soft add the sugar and stir till is is dissolved.
• Turn up the heat and boil for about 15 minutes. To test to see if it is done, take the plate out of the freezer and place a small amount of the bubbly jam on  the plate. When it has cooled, gently push it with your finger and if the surface crinkles it is done. If it doesn't work the 1st time, boil the mixture for a further 5 minutes and keep repeating the test until it is done.
• Place a knob of butter in the pan of hot jam. Pour it into the jars and place wax seals on top of the hot jam ( you can buy these from any large supermarket ).
• Let it cool and enjoy :)

 The soft strawberries before adding the sugar

A pan of sugary fruity goodness

The finished product.