Thursday 20 March 2014

Food glorious food

Marcus has had his first taste of food, mashed banana.

It was very entertaining to watch, after a slightly confused start he soon got the hang of it.









Having given my little boy everything that he needed to grow and survive for the past 15 months it feels funny to move to the next stage. But in the past few weeks our long snuggles on the sofa with Marcus feeding for thirty or forty minutes at a time have been getting shorter and shorter. There is so much to explore, look at, put in his mouth that feeding has become very efficient, things to do mummy! I spoke to the health visitor who said this is perfectly normal, just a sign to think about weaning. So we did!

Tomorrow, steamed carrot sticks. 






Saturday 8 March 2014

Hello March

March has, as usual, arrived all of a sudden.

I have been....

* Enjoying the spring flowers.

 


Narcissi growing in the garden and daffodils cut from the fields. They are springing up all over the island, their cheerful heads nodding in the wind.

* Admiring my some of my lovely birthday presents, including this lamp and these soap dispensers my clever sister made. The Kilner jar obsession continues!

 

* Feeling motivated. I've finally had my induction at the sazzy gym in our new Island Hall. This made me smile.


There is a water dispenser but of course to reduce waste people have labelled their plastic cups, very St. Martin's.

* Digging the veg patch over, weeding flower beds and planning this year's crop.


* Watching and willing this little man. He's grabbing, taking and sucking his feet. Moving from side to side....

 


.... And finally after I took this photo he rolled over! Very happy Marcus and very proud mummy.


* Loving the sunshine, loving the beautiful place where we live and loving my family.



x x x

Wednesday 5 March 2014

Attempting marmalade

I like making jam. I find it relaxing preparing the fruit, weighing the sugar and waiting for, and sometimes missing, the right setting point. I also find it rewarding measuring it out into the jars, adding pretty labels and twine.

I was flicking through last month's Delicious magazine and there was a four page spread on how to make Seville orange marmalade.



I decided to give it a go. Turns out making marmalade is quite a lot of work....




So I started in the evening, by 8.30pm I had enlisted Barney's help so we would stand a chance of having dinner!

The next day the boiling process began. There was lots of running back and forward to the freezer with a cold plate, watching the thermometer rise very sloowwlyy...



And then I had fun sorting out the jars and making tags. Of course most importantly we had to taste test the marmalade on hot buttered toast.



Turns out neither Barney or I really eat marmalade but I think it was pretty good. We need more taste testers.

So there we go, I've made marmalade and I'm still cleaning up the sticky patches in the kitchen. But it was worth it, I now have a stack of homemade gifts ready for any occasion as well as enjoying a jar myself!