THROWN TOGETHER QUICHE
Pastry is one of the easiest things you can make. I’m talking short-crust here. I once made puff pastry and what an absolute arse that was. Unless you happen to have a ridiculous amount of time on your hands then some …
CAKE BAKING – Don’t sweat the small stuff, just jooj
So, it’s a special occasion, you’ve made a huge effort baking a cake, so-and-so is just about to arrive, but your cake doesn’t say ‘celebrate’ it says ‘half-arsed’. You, my friend, need the art of ‘jooj’. Among other things, the Urban dictionary defines ‘jooj’ as ‘to make something appear more ‘put together quickly’. The Guardian …
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The UNSCHOOLERS – our story
When one of my children asked me one day; ‘Mum, why are we doing this?’ I couldn’t come up with a clear answer, nor could my husband. We had seen with our own eyes how the kids learnt so brilliantly when moving around and choosing what they wanted to learn for themselves. We realised that …
Builders’ chocolate muffins
We have some builders in and they are being very helpful and considerate. There’s no god -awful mess and they’ve even been washing up their mugs. Perhaps best of all there is not a single ‘builder’s bum’ in sight anywhere. I am most thankful (and relieved) and decide they deserve some muffins with lots of …
Autumn reward
As I scraped my sorry arse out of bed this morning, reluctantly because it was pitch black outside, I can’t say I felt exactly enthused about the time of year. I felt more like cursing. Then as the daylight broke (finally) and the outside became illuminated in a misty, almost magical morning light, I started …
Get all flash – with a spot of sushi making
I love sushi and I love making it at home. Although I’d definitely say ‘goodness me no’ to a spot of Japanese blowfish carving; the truth of the matter is you don’t need to be a sushi master to make (or indeed James Bond to eat) some of this delightful fare. Sushi rolls are particularly …
How to turn your weeds into the plants you need
It’s a classic saying among gardeners with a bit of a wilder edge that ‘weeds are just plants in the wrong place’; and I try and accommodate any plucky intruders as much as I can. Overlooking their pushy ways if I think they bring something to the garden, and some of them do, especially the …
Pop star downshifter with balls
There’s nothing new about musicians and pop stars moving out to a large pile in the countryside once they’ve made it. It’s actually incredibly common; Paul McCartney. Robert Plant, Alex James … they’ve all done it. Former 5ive rapper, Abz Love and his girlfriend Vicky Fallon however have done something altogether different. In the BBC 2 series Abz …
The delights of lazier gardening
I wrote a wee while back in my Guardian blog about kicking back and letting plants grow on more than you might do otherwise. Well, these past weeks I’ve been having fun discovering some whopper vegetables as I forage through the more overgrown areas of my plot. These hidden giants have been secretly putting on …
Bread making – the easy way
What better place to start than with a food staple that seems to get an awful lot of peoples’ knickers, speedos (or whatever undergarments you favour whilst cooking), in a bit of a twist. There are whole books on the subject and most recipes come with such complicated instructions you’d be forgiven for thinking that …