Feeling at Home

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There is one place that always feels like 'home' to me. And it could be any number of different places... Anywhere by the sea. It's the sound of the ocean, the smell, the view, the calmness I feel as I step onto the sand and if I'm honest it's the only reason I miss Aberdeen.

 So, on Sunday we had breakfast, dippy egg on soldiers. My besest breakfast ever!

 Then we hit Cullen Beach. Yep, the home of Cullen Skink :) which I also love.

Iona was in her little element. She is just like her Mama, straight at the sea trying to get those feet wet.

Ian insisted on taking his lightweight football, but soon asked to put it back in the car when it blew away.

And I can never resist a bit of climbing on rocks and hunting rockpools for the ever elusive crabs. We found a few shells but no live crabs.

And it would appear that someone else enjoys rock climbing too. He was adament he would climb to the top to see really really really far.

But having failed to impersonate Spiderman he opted instead to watch some Anglers at the sea edge. Although this also left him slightly disappointed that none of them caught any fish. Which led to question 'What will they eat for them supper now?' Ian is taking a big interest in how food becomes food. Which we are hoping will lead to him trying some new foods... Not that fish and apple are too bad as favourite foods of a 4 year old.

A lazy Saturday

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After a busy bank holiday last weekend, a busy filled of stuff week and a (rather wet!) BBQ last night at my Mums I am glad to have a lazy Saturday at home with the kids. The sun is popping out from behind the big clouds now and then too. I have hot coffee, homebaked Lemon and Ginger squares from Campervan Coast (I have no square baking tin so had to make a round one) and this lovely new book... The Surf Cafe Cookbook which so far seems my kind of cookbook.
Hope everyone else has a fun Saturday, wether it's lazy, busy or just crazy...

Spring is finally here

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 Spring is finally here

We spent this afternoon in the garden with a crazy golf set

 

Iona was giving it a good go, I love the uncoordinated play she still has

 

This girl can be hard work but these big gappy smiles more than make up for it.

Ian decided he was a blackbird and sat under the bush for nearly an hour....

 

 

Which gave me chance to read this book again without Ian stealing it.

 

I didn't get long before Iona spotted the 'ampavans' and joined me for a read. My kids do love Campervans and books. Oh I wish a Campervan was in my financial reach but until then reading about them in the sunshine will do just fine....

Mint Tattie Salad

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The weather is finally agreeing that it is SPRING! Woohoo! This for me means salads. And I love potato salad. Not that horrible, drowning in thick mayo stuff from the supermarket. Proper homemade Tattie Salad

This Mint Tattie Salad is my favourite at the moment. And it's quite healthy too :)

If you want to make it you will need : 8 white potatoes or a bag of new potatoes (cubed, cooked and cooled), 1 tbsp mint sauce, handful of fresh mint leaves, 4 tbsp thick natural yoghurt, half a white onion finely diced and a good pinch of salt & pepper.

Simply add everything to bowl and mix until the cooled (not fridge cooled and still warm, but not boiling) potatoes are evenly covered in minty yoghurty goodness.

Make sure you season the Tattie Salad well to convince the yoghurt it's being savoury today not sweet.

This is great with lamb kebabs straight of the barbeque... hmmmm.... barbeque.

Glad to be home...

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This bank holiday me and the kids took a trip to Hull. Whilst it  was fun it was also tinged with sadness. My Nana has less than 6 months left to live and she had yet to meet Ian and Iona. 

But as it was Ians Birthday on the Saturday we did sneak in a little trip to The DeepDeep. The kids loved it, but as is so often the case in places with exhibitions there was  no flash photography. So, I got a lot less photos than I'd have liked.

Ian is nearly 4!

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On saturday, Ian will be 4... yikes! How did that happen?

we won't be celebrating it on Saturday though,

Me and the kids will be away this weekend.

We will be celebrating next week instead...

Have a lovely weekend 

The one where I fry plums...

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 I don't normally crave pudding but when I do it is normally something fruit based (except Sticky Toffee Pudding that is)

I picked up these perfectly good plums in Asda for 10p for the box as they were 'out of date' that evening. Actually some of them are still not even ripe!!

I was not at all in the mood to bake a clafoutis which is my favourite way to use plums. So, I made this simple but delicious pudding instead.

It's easy...

Take as many plums as you think you can eat and cut them in half and remove the stones. 

Melt some butter in a pan, (med-high)

Sprinkle plum halves in a little sugar (white or brown) on the cut side.

Then places the sprinkled plums cut side down in the butter, turn the pan down to a low-med heat and cook for about 5 minutes until the sugar starts to caramalise the plums. Turn them over about a minute just to warm up the back of the plums.

Then simply pour in bowl and serve with cream or evaporated milk (or ice cream but I never have ice cream in my freezer)

This also works with peaches or apricots. You could also sprinkle some cinnamon on with the sugar too.

This really is easy to do, and perfect for these not quite summer but not cold enough for a massive fruit crumble days.

  

Look how lonely this last delicious plum looks!