Friday 25 November 2011

My home, my family...

Welcome to Friday!

Can you believe how quickly this week has gone?

I’ve realised over time that I actually watch the year go past by observing the light on any given day. I know the light of an afternoon in late November. I know the light of a morning in June. I know the light of a late night on a Saturday in August and I know the light of a Sunday afternoon by the fire in January.

I've spent the morning pottering about the house. With Elena up at a ridiculous hour (again), I have been able to do some washing and a bit of cleaning with the help of almost a whole pot of tea!

As I was pottering I was inspired by some of the little treasures that lie in our house, so I thought I'd take a few pictures and share them with you.











 Time seems to be going so quickly at the  moment. Our son is 9 weeks old today - Incredible. But even as time is passing us by so quickly, we're so very thankful for our children. They’ve drawn us in to their world and we’re so happy to be there. A world where everything is new and there is only the here and now. A world where love is freely given and expected in return. A world where dirty nappies are no big deal, even when they leak, because all you have to do is clean up and then it’s right back to playtime. It’s a world where everything is taken at face value and everyone is trusted. It’s safe in bed and sleep comes easily (most of the time!). The days are fun filled and full of people who care about only their welfare.

It’s not life as we know it. But it’s life as they know it. And it’s a nice place to be.

I just hope and pray that Elena will always trust me even though at times (teenage times) she may not always like me. She must know that if she ever has a heart that needs fixing her father and I will be there if she calls. To hold her heart in our hands and take care of it while it heals.






And I also hope and pray that Ben will always trust me even though at times (teenage times) he may not always like me. He must know that if he ever has a heart that needs fixing his father and I will be there if he calls. To hold his heart in our hands and take care of it while it heals.



It is worth everything to me to be a mum. And I tell you the truth when I say that I am no longer afraid of anything that life has for me as long as those two human beings are safe and well.

And, through it all, I have fallen in love with the Daddy of the babies. All over again.

He’s pretty cool.

...I’ll tell you about that another time.

But right now, my babies are sleeping and I am relaxing by letting my thoughts flood my computer screen. I hope you don’t mind. Thank you for letting me do it.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love

Bex 

x

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Home Cooking... Mushroom Risotto


Good Morning!

I hope you are well today.

I was up reasonably early today at 5:45 woken by Miss Gould as she sang along to her lullaby toy. So feeling fresh from my 3.5 hours sleep *cough* I wondered what I could write today. Then I got it...

Mushroom Risotto!
   
Just let me make a cup of tea and then we can take on the world...





I have to admit that up until last week, I had never eaten Risotto, let alone cooked it, but I was surprised at how easy it was and even more surprised at how wonderful it tasted!

I then came to the conclusion that I could eat risotto every day of my life. I could eat it out of the pan with a spoon and never actually serve it up on to a plate.

So this Mushroom Risotto is a compilation of a few recipes with my own added bits. It takes about 25 mins to prep including the prep of soaking the porcini. Cooking time is about 35 mins and it should serve 4.

Ingredients

  1 onion, finely chopped

  50g of butter, plus extra to serve

  300 g superfino carnaroli rice

  3 tbsp plus 1 tsp white wine

  20 g dried porcini, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes

  1 litres hot chicken or vegetable stock, preferably home-made

  1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

  200 g wild mushrooms

  20 g finely grated parmesan

  4 tbsp chopped parsley

  black pepper

 
Heat the butter in a non-stick risotto pan/heavy based casserole dish on a gentle heat. Add the onion and cook slowly for 5-7 minutes. Don’t allow the butter to burn or smoke.

 Add the rice and stir in to the heated butter. Allow the butter to coat the rice and heat it a little until the rice is made almost translucent by the butter.

Stirring continuously, add the white wine and cook for a few minutes to allow the alcohol to evaporate.

Drain the dried mushrooms, squeeze out any excess moisture and add them to the rice


Gently pour in about a fifth of the stock to the pan, stirring constantly, allow the rice to begin to soften in the stock. After a few minutes when the stock is beginning to dry up in the pan add another fifth and continue stirring.

Keep an eye on the stock levels and if it starts to look like the pan is drying up add some more. Keeping it moving and not allowing it to come anywhere near close to burning dry.

With your eye on the pan and stirring when you can, chop the garlic up very finely. It’s important that it is as fine as you can manage as large pieces of garlic are not nice to chew on! Add the garlic to the pan, along with the ground black pepper, and continue to stir. Continuing to add the stock little by little until it is all gone.

If at this time when you taste the rice it is still a little bit crunchy but all of the stock has been used then feel free to add a tablespoon of water. I ended up adding four tablespoons of water as my rice took longer to cook than expected. I was pleased about this though as I realised it was because I had the pan on such a low, simmering heat. This gave the risotto a magnificent texture and was worth the extra time and stirring.

Add the rest of the mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes

When you have tasted the rice and feel that it is past the crunchy stage, a teeny bit ‘al dente’ and not yet soggy then you’ll know it’s ready to serve. At this point you can add the parmesan, parsley and the rest of the butter to the pan. Continue to stir the ingredients into the risotto until it has completely melted.

Serve immediately!


For my first attempt, I think Paul was pleasantly surprised by how well my risotto turned out. So, with the kids in bed, we sat down and enjoyed our dinner with an indulgent glass of wine (or two).
What are your plans for this evening? Thursday nights here are certainly more low key than they were a few years ago but it has to be said that they are certainly not any less fun. I love chewing the cud with family & friends. We all have such big plans and dreams. My kids will grow up listening to us adults get excited over what we plan to do. Excitement is so infectious and I believe that they too will get excited and allow themselves to have their own dreams. They’ll learn to converse and debate correctly at the dinner table and we’ll encourage that. Of course if they ever disagree with me it’ll be straight to the naughty step for them… :)
And when they come home after an adventure I’ll get the pot out and cook for them. That way I can stand and listen while my kids entertain me with stories that they think I couldn’t possibly have heard anything about or experienced because I’m just Mummy.
I look forward to those times, but for now, this is perfect.
I want to thank you for reading today and hope that if you are thinking of cooking something different this weekend you’ll give this a go.
Have a fantastic Thursday.
Bex
x

Looking forward to life...

Ok, my thinking is... it's Thanksgiving in the US this weekend, so I feel that this means it is time...

.... To talk about Christmas!!!

Although we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK the majority of us know about it and know it happens "near" Christmas, so I'm taking it as the go ahead to start being all Christmassy!!!

I have to be honest though, I put a few sets of fairy lights up on Saturday whilst dancing around the house to Michael Buble's Christmas album - well,  why not! Fairy lights always create such a wonderful, romantic ambience don't you think? I'd have them up all year round if I could!



We had my very good friend Lauren & her Fiance Chris over on Sunday for Sunday roast. It was wonderful, I don't see her as much as I'd like but we try to see each other when we can. So, with a table full of food, fairy lights twinkling, good converstaion and Christmas music in the background, it was the perfect start to a beautiful festive season.



When are you putting up your decorations? I think I might be able to convince Paul that December 1st is a reasonable date to start putting up the rest of the decorations. Tonight, however, Paul is putting up a Christmas Tree in the garden complete with (more) fairy lights, for the kids to enjoy from the dining room window. I'm sure Paul and I will enjoy them too.

I hope it snows this year. I look forward to the look on my daughters face, as last year she was too young to notice it. This year, I'm excited to play in it with her, to watch as she feels the cold and to embrace her when she comes running up in her wellies, Peppa Pig ones no less.

I'm looking forward to so many things over the next month or so. I'm looking forward to starting my Christmas crafts, to the many family gatherings, the special visits to and from friends, homemade cakes, the soft glow of a dying candle at the end of the evening, the smile on the faces of my children, especially Elena as she sees that Santa has been, and most importantly I'm looking forward to the happiness that surrounds everyone at Christmas. The compassion and peace that people carry at Christmas is incredibly touching. I think we should all strive to take a bit of whatever creates that, and enjoy it all year round.





So as I get my sewing box and all my other bits and bobs ready, I hope that in whatever way you choose to start your festive season over the next few weeks, makes you incredibly happy, you deserve it.

I'd just quickly like to wish my very dear friend Hannay the very best of luck in her new job today! You'll be great!!! xox

I'm off now to make another cup of tea and because Mummy wants another cuddle.

The precious Present. Full of moments that are here and then gone. Never to return.

So if anybody needs me I’ll be in the ‘Now” because I don’t want to miss a thing.

I love you and thank you so much for reading

Bex

x

Please feel free to leave a comment as I would love to hear from you!

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Welcome back..!

My goodness, I can not believe it has been 5 months, (literally to the day) since I last wrote & I have to be honest, I have really missed it!

So here I am, complete with a cup of tea, ready to share, briefly, my last few months.

I hope you are well and that you've had a delectable 5 months. I also hope that whatever ventures you've taken on or life changes you've had to endure, have put you in a place of happiness or at least a place of peace.

In my last post, I mentioned it being the first day of Summer! Well, what a summer, I can't really say I remember too much sun. As the nights are drawing in, it somehow feels like it's always been this cold and wet. But, on the plus side, (and Paul will curse me for saying this) it's almost Christmas!!!

Have you done your shopping yet? I can't quite believe just how excited I am this year, although I'll get into Christmas and all its' festive loveliness later this week.

So, the last few months... I don't know quite where to begin. Well, the main event of the Summer/Autumn was giving birth to our lovely little boy. Born on the 23rd September, Benjamin George popped into the world a little after midnight. The labour, a whole 2 hours speedier than Elle, was pleasantly manageable - but I won't get into the gory details. Needless to say, Ben has been with us 8 weeks already and I honestly can not remember life without him.






Elena has taken wonderfully well to her little brother and is forever giving him kisses, prodding his feet and poking him in the eye. It really makes me feel so warm inside when, on waking, the first thing she says is "Ba-by". She is not quite settled or content until she has seen him and given him a kiss. Whenever Ben sneezes or coughs, she is the first to go running to him with a "OH" to check that he's ok. Few things in life are this precious. There's been many moments over the last 8 weeks, which have made me gasp. I am completely in awe of my little family and the amount of love that surrounds us. Our little Elena is growing up so quick and if the love she gives to Ben is anything to go by, she is going to have her heart in exactly the right place.





The Summer was a bit of a blur really, the pregnancy seemed to take over most of my life & with the task of growing ever bigger and a toddler to look after, most days were like climbing Everest. But here we are 2 months on and every second was worth it. Ben has just started to smile, words just can't describe the feeling as a parent, that these little moments give you.

Our, now not so new, house has been a blessing. We're so very lucky to have been able to move somewhere bigger for our ever growing family. Within weeks, the house was part of the family, and underneath it's tall ceilings and half painted walls, we're more a family now than we've ever been.

Life here is good.



With the start of a new life, my husband and his new job, a growing toddler, and Christmas on the horizon, I ask myself if there's anything else I could want in life, and the answer is no. I am the richest woman alive and I couldn't ask for anything else. My happiness is here and now, with my family in our home. With fantastic friends and a loving family there's nothing else to want for, I am complete.

I wish you a very happy Tuesday and as we all embark on this wonderful adventure together, I want to thank you for stopping by.

Love

Bex

x