So we had a good day
July 13, 2006 at 10:23 AM
by Ashleigh
So we had a great day! Barbara and her three kiddos came all the way from Gouda to see us.
An hour in the traffic with three kids? Barbara is much braver than I am.
We chatted, the kids played fabulously, we went to the paddling pool, sat on a blanket, befriended a lost soul, drank Diet Coke, watched our kids get sand in their butt-cracks. What more could a person want?
An embarrassment of postal riches maybe?
Back in January and February ten of my packages went missing or were returned to sender saying we didn't live here resulting in me calling the sorting office repeatedly. Now the postman is now so solicitious that he calls me downstairs on the buzzer for every parcel I get, even if they can fit in the postbox slot.
When he called me yesterday and said he had 'two parcels' for me I figured they were just normal sized packages. But no, one was the party favours for Joe's birthday party at school next week and the other was my Amazon.co.uk order that I bought as a 'last splurge' with Brad's bonus money.
I love the Quentin Blake book. We're planning to get a family musuem pass so that in the summer we can visit museums and just drop in and out and look at a couple of things without thinking 'oh my god, I just spent 20 euros to get in and now they're BORED!' Both kids love art and looking at pictures, so this is good practice. Blake has chosen pictures, and then given very brief ideas of what to look for in the picture, under the premise that every artwork tells a story. My kids were quite fascinated.
I've read through Dan Lepard's Handmade Loaf and I love the idea of making my own leaven.. My mom runs a small B&B in Harare, Zimbabwe and they have a hard time getting bread or even yeast there. She makes her own bread but has to import her yeast. I thought if I could make this work, perhaps I could pass the idea onto her. It looks very promising. Dan has some beautiful bread in this book and the pictures are unbelievably good. I plan to make his Chelsea Buns tomorrow.
The Kid's Cooking books from DK are a bit of a mixed bag.
The first one, by Katherine Ibbs really held Sebastian's attention and he said he wants to make some of the things in the book, like the chicken wraps. The directions look good and the pictures are very clear, just as you would expect from DK. The text doesn't appeal to me as an adult, but it seems to appeal to a 6 year old.
The Step by Step book from Angela Wilkes is peculiar. The layout is quite interesting, but the book doesn't hold one's attention. The only thing I can compare it to is a book I have by Good Housekeeping called 'The Complete Cook's Book'. It's really a reference book more than a cookery book. If I want to know something about a certain foodstuff or a certain technique that's the book I turn to, but for actual recipes it falls a bit short. This Step by Step book is a bit like that. Perhaps I have been spoilt by food blogs, but the photographs in this book seem terribly staged to me. The food doesn't look particularly appetising although the techniques are well illustrated.
When Seb comes home I'll ask him which one is his favourite.
I've finished my recipe collection for the recipe swap. Now I'm making the aprons to go with my gift and hopefully they'll be done today. I see some stencilling with freezer paper in my future.
Lastly, my friend Arri alerted me to the light box from Strobist and then he went and made one himself. I've been searching for a solution to my lighting problems for a while and this looks perfect!
Comments
Hey again Ash! Just wanted to say once more how much fun we had with you & the boys. Rowen in particular has been demanding to go to the park/pool again, and when Nicky lists off his friends, I've noticed that Joe now appears in the list. :) Getting together is a must-do for after the summer holidays. Take care!
Wow! There is nothing better than books in the mail (with the possible exception of stitching or stamping supplies)! I love cookbooks as well. Hm... maybe it's time to head on over to Amazon :)
July 14, 2006 7:48 PM