Shepreth wildlife park

This afternoon G had a party at Shepreth so we decided to all go and the others could look at the animals too! I do like Shepreth - it is small enough for P to walk round (but it is also buggy friendly) and it has a nice play area. The enclosures are a little on the small side but the plus side is it easy to see all the animals. The staff are always friendly and always seem willing to answer questions - plus there is a really good range of animals too! We saw the tigers searching for food which was amazing and I love the bat house with free flying bats.

chalk bodies - not the dead kind though

P had been drawn round at nursery (and she keeps saying "Look at my gingerbread man"!) and when I asked her what she wanted to do today she asked me to draw round her. So we went outside and using chalk I draw round her and she chalked herself in.

I also note we seem to have a lack of chalk - we get through a lot of it as it easily breaks or gets left out in the rain.

P also found a dandelion so we blew it to find out the time

foot painting

P did foot painting today which she loved! I put some paint in a tray and she loved sliding around it as well as walking on the paper!  She only fell over once but wanted to keep going. She also decided to do some hand painting. It would have been better to do outside but as the weather wasn't great we did inside and we did some paint on the carpet - whoops!

Chocolate cherry muffins

G made these for her snack this week (I love muffins because they keep so much better than cakes and I was hoping that the chocolate may appeal to Miss I but she rejected them as they had dried cherries in them - oh well!)

• 250g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 140g dried sour cherries
• 100g bar white chocolate , cut into chunks
• 100g bar dark chocolate , cut into chunks
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 150ml pot natural yoghurt
• 100g butter 

1. Heat oven to (fan) 180C and put paper cases into a muffin tin
2. Sift the flour, and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Then stir in the cherries, chocolate and sugar. 
3. Melt the butter (we did it in the microwave)
4. Add the beaten eggs, yoghurt and then the butter and stir to combine. Apparently it doesn't matter if the mixture looks a bit lumpy, it's more important not to over mix or the muffins will turn out tough.
5. Fill the paper cases and bake for 20-25 mins until risen and golden brown. Transfer to a rack to cool.

custard creams

Today G made these simple biscuits for her snack. 

• 250g butter  softened
• 100g icing sugar
• 225g plain flour
• 75g custard powder
  
  

1. Preheat the oven to 145C/290F/Gas 2 and line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Add the butter and icing sugar to a bowl and beat until smooth, light and fluffy. 
3. Stir in the flour and custard powder. Beat until all the ingredients are fully incorporated.  
4. (the original recipe suggests using a piping bag to pipe the batter into individual swirls onto the prepared baking tray). We used a spoon to make rectangles on the baking tray
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until firm to touch. 
6. Whilst the biscuits cooled we make the icing.

• 60g butter softened
• 125g icing sugar
  
  

1. Add the butter to a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add the icing sugar a little at a time, mixing as you go.
2. When the biscuits have cooled,  put some butter cream onto the underside of half the biscuits. Place the other half of the biscuits on top.

The only downside was by the end of the week the buttercream had made the biscuit lose it's crunch - although the girls didn't seem to mind!

Badminton 2013

Today we took the girls to Badminton International Horse trials near Bristol which was about a 3 hour drive from Cambridge plus then an hour crawling through Badminton Village to get to the car park. We had pre-bought tickets and a carpark pass - although children under 12 are free.

The weather was glorious and as we went on cross-country day we wondered all around the course admiring the riders as they made the enormous jumps look easy. We took a picnic (although there are numerous food places there as well)


and found a space by the side of a gallop stretch to  eat it. the jumps were busier but if you waited people quickly moved on so you could get close (and the girls could see) - with the exception of the famous water jump - although we watched several horses from the other side which was fine!

It was such fun and the girls loved it (not so sure about the husband). I loved seeing all the jumps I had for long watched on tele! There is also lots of shopping to do although we didn't!

Mary Berry's honeycomb crunchies

First we made the honeycomb: 

 

• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 75g caster sugar
• 2 tbsp golden syrup

First measure the  bicarbonate of soda ready for when you need it, plus a wire whisk and an oiled baking tray. Put the sugar and golden syrup into a saucepan and set it on a very low heat. Warm gently for 10 minutes until all the sugar has melted, stirring occasionally with the wooden spoon.


When it has melted, turn up the head and allow it boil. Leave to bubble  without stirring until it turns golden-brown.


Turn off the heat under the pan.  Add the bicarbonate of soda and quickly whisk it in for a couple of seconds only (Done by an adult as care must be taken in case the mixture froths off and burns  as it’s extremely hot- it is recommended a glove is warn.

Pour it into the middle of the oiled baking tray. Don’t spread it out or touch it or the tray. Leave it to cool and harden

 

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  Now as well as the honeycomb, to make the crunchies you need:
  
  

  • 250g mixture dark and milk chocolate
  • 100g unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp golden syrup
  • 150g crushed digestive biscuits
  
  Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in the microwave.
   
  Stir in the crushed digestive biscuits and honeycomb (we put them in a plastic bag and bashed them with a rolling pin.)
  
  
  Pour in to a silver foiled lined baking sheet and leave to cool in the fridge! Cut into slices
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