Dressmaking & Alterations

When we moved here last year, I had trouble finding somewhere that could take up a pair of jeans in not only a reasonable amount of time (i.e. not 2 weeks!) and for a reasonable price.  The local dry-cleaners seemed to outsource and material shops I tried wanted to charge an extortionate price so when the time came to have 3 pairs of DS' trousers taken up for school, I was resigned to doing them myself...very badly.

 

So I was very relieved to spot a card in a local supermarket advertising Caroline Harvey-Taylor offering alternations & dressmaking.  I called up and Caroline came to my house within a few days, measured up the trousers whilst DS was wearing them and took them away only to return them just a few days later all done!  In the interests of saving money, I had requested that we take them up loosely so that I could let them down again when he has a growth spurt but after 3 weeks of school discovered that boys and anything you need to be vaguely gentle with do not go well...  I called Caroline again to ask that she cut & machine the trousers now that I had learnt my lesson, and she again had them back to me within 2 days (and over a weekend no less so that DS could wear them for school on Monday!)  

I can highly recommend Caroline's services and will be using them again in the future for any alternations I need.  She can also copy any design you have so if your favourite dress is looking a bit tired, she can make you a brand spanking new one in any material you like!

Caroline is based in Headley and you can contact her on 07746-151961 or via charveytaylor@gmail.com

Lasagne

Lasagne recipes always daunt me a bit...maybe it's the different elements that you need to get going and then bring them all together at the end!  Whatever it is, I've never been very successful and the few lasagnes I have attempted have not been great.  Saturday's version was great though...not too dry, which is usually my problem, and very tasty!  I think I've finally cracked it ;)

Ingredients
No-precook lasagne sheets
30g grated Parmesan
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled & diced
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
500g minced beef
250ml beef stock
Tin tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp fresh parsley
40g butter
40g plain flour
450ml milk
Pinch of ground all-spice
60g grated Gruyere cheese

Method
Heat a little olive oil in a pan and add the onion, carrot and celery and cook for 3-4 mins.  Add the garlic and minced beef, and cook until browned.  Leave to cool for a minute then put the mixture through a food processor for just a minute to get a smoother consistency.

Return the mixture to the pan, add the stock and bring to the boil.  Simmer for 3-4 mins, and stir in the tin tomatoes, puree, thyme, bay leaves and chopped parsley.  Bring up to the boil again and simmer for 20 mins.

Meanwhile...melt the butter in a separate pan and stir in the flour.  Cook for 1 min, stirring all the time, then whisk in the milk.  Bring to the boil, add the all-spice and simmer for 2 mins.  Remove from the heat and stir in the Gruyere until melted.

When ready, remove the bay leaves from the meat sauce and spoon a couple of spoonfuls of it into the base of your dish.  Add a few spoonfuls of the white sauce on top, then cover with lasagne sheets.  Repeat until your dish is nearly full - meat sauce, white sauce then lasagne sheets.  Keep enough white sauce to cover the final lasagne sheet on top then sprinkle with the grated Parmesan.  

Cook at 180 for 25-30 mins.  Remove from the oven and (this part is really important), let it rest for 5-10 mins before cutting - it will hold in place much better then if you cut it straight from the oven!

Serve with salad and garlic bread ;)

Babywearing

When I discovered it was International Babywearing Week (8-14 October), I started reminiscing about when my little ones were small enough to be carried around all the time.  

Both DS and DD spent the vast majority of their first year being "worn" (and a great deal of their second year too!) and I had to try out a few carriers to find one I was really comfortable with.  My definite favourites were the CuddlyWrap for when they were tiny, and the Ergo for when they were a little heavier and / or when they began to need to ride on the back!  I did try a Mothercare carrier (in the style of a BabyBjorn) and also a sling style carrier but didn't really get on with either of those.

As a first time mum, babywearing took a bit of getting used to and many of my friends thought I was crazy for never putting DS down!  But I loved the ease of it and the fact that he would happily and calmly let me get on with most things while he sat in his pouch and watched or slept.  Second time around, I wore DD within a day of her birth (dropping her brother at nursery when she was just 30 hours old!) and over the next few months, it was great that I had my hands free to continue to play with / help DS while DD slept happily in the wrap.

I found so many great photos of our family's babywearing journey that I'm breaking my self-imposed rule (of not posting photos showing our faces on the Blog) to share them with you!

From left to right, top to bottom: 
1) Me with DS at 4 weeks in the CuddlyWrap; 
2) DH wearing DS in the Ergo at 13 months; 
3) Me wearing DD at 12 months & holding hands with DS (3 years)
4) DS in Mothercare carrier at 5 weeks; 
5) DH wearing DS to sleep at 9 weeks old; 
6) DD at 6 days old in the CuddlyWrap at DS' 2nd birthday party; 
7) DD on my back at 9 months, DS in the buggy!
8) DS at 22 months on DH's back & me 7.5 months pregnant with DD! 
9) DD at 13 months...fast asleep in the Ergo while I packed up our house to  move!; 
10) Hiking in Cornwall with DS in the Ergo at 9 months; 
11) DH & DS at 9 months, walking in a bluebell wood; 
12) At home with DD at 11 months;
13) Bird's eye view of DD in the CuddlyWrap at 10 months.

Rhyming Words

DS was very into rhyming words over the summer and he loved this little game.  I dug it out again this week as DD can now match some of the words up too.  It's a great game to travel with or keep them busy at a restaurant table ;)

I drew up a list of rhyming words (see below) and then just Googled photos of each object, choosing the easiest / most recognisable object. 

Apologies for the rubbish photo quality!

Cut each picture out and mix them up in a box then get them to match as many rhyming words as they can.

These are the words I used:

Cake; Rake; Snake
Frog; Dog
Moon; Spoon
Bread; Shed; Bed
Bear; Chair
Knight; Light; Kite
Star; Car
Nose; Hose
Rock; Sock; Clock
Mouse; House
Ball; Wall

Cheap, easy and fun!

Easy Beef Casserole

After quite a few quick & easy meals lately, I felt the kids needed a "good food" boost so I made this last week.  They both chomped it down so it will be going on the current list!  I have adapted it slightly from an Annabel Karmel recipe.

Ingredients
1 onion
2 sticks of celery
1 large carrot
1 tbsp fresh thyme
Large piece of braising / casserole steak
1 clove garlic
1 parsnip
1 medium sweet potato
2 medium potatoes
500ml beef stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
4/5 ready to eat prunes, chopped


Method
Peel / dice the onion, celery & carrot and fry in a little olive oil for 5 mins.  Add the thyme, beef and garlic and cook for a further 2-3 mins.  Add the parsnip, sweet potato, potato, prunes, stock and puree.  Bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for around 1 hour.  That's it!

As you can see from the photo, I served it to the kids as it was but served mine with rice.  I ended up leaving most of it, as it really didn't need an accompaniment - it was a complete meal in itself.