An apple a day

keeps the doctor away - or so the saying goes! Maybe I should have bought my husband one of these when we were in Bath - (thank you for all your good wishes, he is bruised and battered but recovering)

Don't they look delicious? Wish I'd gone in and bought one now. They made me think of a story from when I was growing up. My parents had taken me and my sister to Blackpool to see the Blackpool Illuminations. My sister is 8 years older than me and I think I was about 3 0r 4 so she would have been around 11. It was cold up there and while we were waiting for it to get dark and for the lights to be switched on we went to a fun fair. May have been on a pier or something but wherever it was my sister saw a stall selling toffee apples and wanted one. She had been moaning a bit about it being cold and generally having a pre-teen attitude (I of course was being an angelic little pre-school child - although she may tell a different story!)

She kept on about the toffee apples, all the way round and after a while it was agreed that if she was good and better behaved, and stopped going on about the toffee apples, she could have one on the way out. Finally she was allowed to go back to the stall and get her toffee apple. She handed over her money, she chose her apple from the pile. We started walking along the promenade. At which point she noticed that her apple was flat on the bottom. Not perfectly rounded like an apple should be, but where it had been dipped in caramel and turned on it's end to harden, it had obviously gone flat. She went mad. Threw the apple on the floor and made quite a scene about it not being a proper toffee apple as apples aren't flat.

The reason I remember it so well is because as a punishment, my parents took me for tea in a little tea house and she had to wait outside until she finished sulking. In my mind I can remember looking out that window and seeing her kicking her heels around and moping about in the cold while I was inside in the warm having a lovely scone and orange squash. I'm not sure, but I may have given her a few smug smiles through the window.

Funny the little things that bring back memories isn't it?

Will he be a patient patient?

It's been a funny old day. Started at 7.30am with a trek to hospital with my husband for him to be admitted to have an operation on his shoulder. He hadn't really asked many questions when he went to get the results of his MRI scan, I think he'd been in shock at the words 'key hole surgery' when he was expecting 'pain killing injections'. He'd been even more surprised to hear the appointment date was within 2 weeks. He'd told the people at work that he'd probably be back in the office within 2 days. He gave me 'that' look (you know the one!) when I suggested it might be more like a week.
However, now he is home with stitches and slings and bruising and looks so sleepy and sore, I don't have the heart to say the immortal words - 'I told you so.'

Clean and tidy

We have friends coming over for dinner tonight. This means that I am now officially exhausted due to a) preparing all the food and b) spring cleaning the entire ground floor of the house so that all is neat and tidy for when they arrive. Why do I feel the need to do this? They are good friends and drop in unexpectedly from time to time so know how the house normally looks! But something in me needs to have it all looking freshly springcleaned which has one bonus in that I won't need to do any housework for the next week ;-)
I am taking a bit of a risk tonight and although the main course is a tried and tested recipe, I'm doing a couple of desserts and I've not tried either of them before. Could this be a mistake? The first one is a Nigel Slater recipe for almond, apricot and raspberry cake which I am going to serve dusted with icing sugar with a spoonful of whipped cream by the side. It looks good, but you know how they say 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating'! The other dessert I'm trying is a new Nigella Lawson one for a Lemon Meringue fool. I love lemon. I love meringue. So even if no one else wants this ... all the more for me!!! Basically you mix some lemoncello in with lemon curd, whip some cream and fold most of the lemon mixture through so you get a marbled effect. Break up some meringues, mix it all together and then drizzle a little lemon curd/lemoncello mix over the top. Served in cocktail glasses. Sounds easy peasy but you can't make it more than 3 hours in advance. Bearing in mind it is now 6.30 and I'm still sitting here blogging wearing my jeans and no make up, I'm thinking maybe I ought to be getting a move on.
Bon Appetit - hope you are having a good Saturday night whatever you are doing!

That's what Inset days are for ...

... catching up on your May Flaum class! I printed off some photos of our weekend away, these ones are of the Pultney Bridge in Bath. There are only a couple of other bridges like this in the world (apparently!) one of which is the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. The unique thing is that the bridge is lined with shops so when you are walking across it, it feels like you are walking down a normal street, you can't see the river at all. It was a really pretty area of the town and a good place to stop for an ice cream!
Whenever we have an inset day at work, I always have to smile as I remember when my son started school he misheard the teacher and thought it was an Insect Day that they were going to have. This is the same boy who kept telling me about aliens in his work book. The teacher had told them to start each sentence close to the Martians (margins)!

Open Evenings

Tonight is open evening at the school where I work. This means that in the last week, every photocopier in the school has had a queue of people waiting to use it and the laminating machine is on melt down. Teachers' tempers are on a short fuse and everywhere looks unnaturally neat and tidy. The display cabinets are polished and everything inside them is new and perfectly presented. Invitations have been sent out to the parents of all Year 6 girls at the local primaries so they get preferential access to the head's speeches. A lot of Year 5 parents try to sneak in to have a look round a year in advance!
It is a stressful time for all. And my heart goes out to those parents looking round and trying to make a decision. We are expecting around 500 families tonight, and normally over 300 parents actually make appointments after the open evening in order to get the application forms to apply to the school. To put that into perspective, we only have 160 places on offer.
It seems only yesterday that I was an anxious parent and we were so lucky that both our children went to our first choice of schools. So if there is anyone out there nervously completing their forms and chewing their finger nails until decisions are made public in March - good luck, hope you get the school of your choice.
As for me, well my work is done, INSET day tomorrow so a nice long weekend ahead!

Using that stash week 3

Today has been busy, busy, busy. So much for days "off" work!
Started by baking the yoghurt cake that Mel had on her Melshrecipes blog at 7.30am. Well, I was awake and it seemed like a good idea to use my time wisely! Have to say it is delicious. I used raspberry and cranberry yoghurt and the flavour is so subtle. Check it out and try it, you won't be disappointed!
Then I dropped my daughter at work and popped into Waitrose for a bit of shopping.
Came home, decided to follow a recipe for pork belly with plum sauce that was in one of the Sunday supplements. Rubbed all manner of spices into the pork and put it back in the fridge.
I had made a batch of sloe gin the other day and whilst doing that, came across a recipe for blackberry brandy. So, finding myself with the necessary ingredients, decided to give that a whirl too. It's going to be a boozy Christmas!
Went back into town where my daughter wanted me to be her model for a new hair colour. I had no say in which colour it was and I have to say that I haven't been this red for many a year. No, there will be no photos!
Came home, lunch, packed up a wedding present to send to my penfriend in America's daughter, went to the post office to send it off and then finally got to go through a load of papers to do another May Flaum inspired page. I bought the paper with the birds on back in the Spring and I love it so much I haven't dared cut into it. Feeling reckless and determined to follow the brief of using up stuff we have been holding onto, I used it for the frame of the picture that was taken on our recent trip to Bath.
It'll be good to go back to work tomorrow for a rest!

What not to do in the staff room

What did I learn today?

• If you are seen knitting during lunch hour in the staff room, the Textiles teacher might ask you to go in and teach Year 9 girls.

Sorry Mrs House, it's really never going to happen! Me? Teach 13 year olds how to knit? I don't think so. Apparently, no one in D&T can knit right handed and so the girls have to learn from video clips! I'm getting on with my great niece's blanket but the weather has taken a turn for the worse and when they get back from Portugal, I think it's going to be needed so I am knitting at every opportunity.

Me? Teach? Still makes me chuckle when I try and imagine it. However, she is very persuasive. Last time she wanted me to do something I used to find anonymous little gifts of chocolate in my pigeon hole and in tray on my desk and l eventually caved in. Must be strong. But she knows my weaknesses. And she also teaches cookery. If cupcakes start appearing on my desk - I'm in big trouble. Must be strong. Must not give in.