Apple Day

Hello!

So who celebrated Apple Day this Year then? Apple day is traditionally on October 21st. The first one being held in 1990 in Covent Garden, London.

We have done various things including National Trust events and Coast &Country side events which have included cider tasting, juice making, apple throwing games, apple story telling...etc but this year we decided to have our own apple weekend at home :o)

We have 2 apple trees in the garden but they are still too young to produce much fruit, (only 4 yrs old), but a friend had given me 3lb of cooking apples from her allotment so I thought i'd make some jams! You can see the results above. This is the first success I have had with jam (mine tend to solidify overnight) . Hurrah! I have even given one to a friend, so we shall see what the verdict is. 

We also had some old apples left in the fruit bowl so we did some apple painting and printing with them. The kids had great fun.

We combined our apple day/weekend with some conker and leaf hunting. We collected 123 conkers, that was good counting practice for the kids! We made leaf rubbings, conker animals, conker collages, conker rolling with paint and some other ideas from pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/pieceoflittleme/conkers/.

I love taking the kids outside for the weekends and helping them to have fun in nature. I think too many young kids seem to spend time indoors on computers or in front of the TV.

What did you do for apple day?

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River Cottage day

With the starting of the new River Cottage series last night (wasn't it great), I thought I'd write about the day I had at River Cottage HQ last summer (Aug 2013)!

As a wedding anniversary present my husband and I went. It was also a welcome day out without the kids for the 1st time in 4 years, yes, FOUR years!! I love River Cottage and what it stands for too, and I've watched all the series, so where better to do a cookery course?! Plus, being a mum, I'm always wanting to feed my munchkins the best food and embed in them a love of cooking. I thought this would inspire and equip me a little better.

So the day of the cookery course arrives and I think "are the kids going to be good", "did I pack enough lunch for them", "are we leaving home early enough", "will it be worth the money", "will it be fun too", "what should I wear"?????...

Well, yes yes yes. We had a fabulous day with like minded people :o). After our arrival by tractor, down the hill from the car park, and after our welcoming snack awaiting us of scrambled egg on toast with a hot cuppa, we cooked four dishes.

Our Chef for the day was Andy, and working with him was Chef Leon. They were excellent teachers, they didn't talk too fast , they were very encouraging and made the day informative and interesting, as well as fun. The first meal we made was a "snack" of pigeon on polenta. This was delicious, even if I did make it my self , and we even had fresh flowers on our tables to add to the experience! I've not eaten pigeon before. It gave my husband and I the confidence to try cooking it at home.

We then made a starter of home-made bread, minestrone soup with home-made pasta, fresh veggies picked from the River Cottage garden. We followed this up with mackerel and greens, and then finished with blackcurrant ripple ice cream, yum!

I've never made from scratch before. it was surprisingly easy and really good fun. we were allowed our own artistic license to design our pasta shapes. ..I think I still need a little practice as bows and twists were rather chunky!! still tasted great though!

The mackerel came as a whole fish we needed to fillet. I've never really realised what a beautiful looking fish it is until we saw 20 of them ready to be used, all glistening and shining. Andy showed us how to go about the filleting and advised us on freshness of fish, knives, sharpening and obviously kitchen safety. It was a very open atmosphere where you could ask questions.

The desert was fun to make. We all made our own custards , joined forces and created one big batch of ice cream using River Cottage blackcurrants. The ice cream was DIVINE! The best I have ever tasted, so smooth , creamy and fruity.

We had such a fun time, cooked loads, ate loads and made nice friends. We even got a chance to look around the River Cottage site, meet the chickens, and go inside the house/veg garden for ourselves :o).

I would definitely do another course there. In fact whilst we were there there was a meat curing course too, that smelt and looked amazing, so I might have a go at that at our next big anniversary!! I am cooking more with the kids and being more adventurous in my own cooking now, also going for fresh and made from scratch more often as it tastes SOOOO much nicer doesn't it?!

I suppose the only grumble I would have was that the wine with the meal, (you could order wine if you wanted to go with your meal), actually arrived after we had finished eating! Also, i would perhaps prefer to have the handouts at the start of the day so you know what bits to take notes on, and what bits are already written down for you. other than that it was a great day out.

If you fancy a River Cottage course then take a look at their site.

http://www.rivercottage.net/shop/

How about you? Have you been on any cookery courses? Did they inspire you? Would you recommend them?

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Me time

Happy Tuesday everybody!

So who has had some "me time" in this last week? Spent some time on their own with themselves, hobbies or in their favourite "me time" place...no jobs , no chores, no responsibilities....

So I'm not the only one then who has a mere shadow of a memory from when they had time to themselves last month, last summer or last year even...?

This weekend I sat down and wrote out a chart of our weekly activities, jobs & chores.

Now that munchkin no.1 is at school, we seem to have more to do than ever. There's the reading, phonics practice, writing practice, collages about this or that, after school clubs, swimming lessons, friends back for tea, mountains of school uniform washing... how did I ever think I would have more time once he was at school full time?

I don't know which is worse for loosing out on "me time": working mums who are always juggling jobs and home, or "stay at home" mums who are always at home surrounded by toys and an untidy house ,and feel they should be doing spectacular activities with their munckins and hosting super coffee mornings for others?

What I do know is that "me time" is important. You cannot be on call 24/7 without stress accumulating. If we are to give kids/work/partners the best of ourselves, we need time to rejuvenate, be at peace with ourselves, unwind and nurture our souls.

The Oxford dictionary describes "me time" as:

'time spent relaxing on one’s own as opposed to working or doing things for others, seen as an opportunity to reduce stress or restore energy'

so why do we feel so bad about taking time out? 

There's the perception that we are lazy, selfish, have our priorities wrong. Or maybe we don't take "me time" because we don't like ourselves very much? 

I am challenging us to schedule "me time" each week, even everyday, what? yes everyday. In order to look after ourselves and cherish ourselves. In my weekly planner I referred to earlier on, I have scheduled me time 5 days a week. It ranges from half hour slots during a nap time, or an hour in the evening when the kids have gone to bed. 

A couple of days after starting this i feel the benefit already. My jobs /housework time is more productive, and when the stresses and strains of the week come upon me i always have in the back of my mind the next "me time" is coming soon. The next step is to encourage hubby to do the same...perhaps take it in turns to play with the kids for an hour at the weekend before we go out for the day as a family.

What to do in "me time"?

Well, it takes a bit of practice, but there's a few things I like to do .

1. Knitting for myself

2. Scrapbooking

3.Reading

4. Theres a spot by the sea I like to drive to and sit and look at the waves. 

5. Having a costa hot chocolate in the supemarket cafe.

6. Meditation
7. Taking photographs

Cherish yourselves this week by planning time to do your jobs AND have "me time". It can be done!

What others say about "me time":

"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”
― Marilyn Monroe


Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
― Gautama Buddha



“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”

― Dalai Lama XIV



"It's often said that a mum is the engine room of the family. But even if she's running on Duracell batteries, she can't survive at optimum levels if she doesn't have a bit of time to herself"

-Daily Telegraph Nov 2008

what do you like to do for "me time"? 
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