Monthly Archives: January 2012

by | January 30, 2012

Illuminate Bath, Coffee & Cake at the Holburne & Chinese New Year!

Hi everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend :)

Bath was buzzing with activity this weekend and we had a great time hanging out in our home city.  Here are a few of our weekend highlights…

On Friday we went to the Illuminate Bath festival… We enjoyed it so much, that we decided to go again on Saturday evening :)

This telephone box had a big clockwork key in its side which triggered lights and sound when turned.  The kids loved it :)

Another piece that captivated the children was an animation called ‘Heads, Bodies, Legs’ which was created in collaboration with pupils from a local junior school.  Here’s a clip that Lil’ L took on his camera:

 

One of my favourite pieces of artwork entitled ’Attracted to Light’ projected silhouette images and fluttering moths onto a building front.  I found it totally captivating. 

Even though the moths were simple projections onto the wall, they looked 3D. It was very clever!

On Friday night, the public were given free access to enter the Roman Baths to experience the light and sound installation called ‘Frequency’.  Lights were projected onto the spa water, where they danced and pulsed in time to the music. 

The lights were moving in the steam from the spa, making it look like the water was rippling.  I found it totally and utterly captivating.  I’m so glad that I got to see it :)

Here’s a short clip that Lil’ L took of the Frequency exhibit. It’s not great quality but it gives a flavour of what it was all about.

 

On Sunday afternoon, we went to the Garden Cafe at the Holburne Museum for coffee and cake :)

To reach the museum, we walked along a stretch of the Kennet & Avon Canal that I haven’t walked before.  I thought it was really beautiful.

I love the way that the residents have designed their back gardens.  They’re really interesting and individual.

The Holburne Museum’s Garden Cafe is situated in the modern extension at the back of the building.  It has a very cool, stylish interior and a large outdoor terrace that will be a perfect spot for afternoon tea when the weather warms up.  

As soon as I entered the cafe, I was immediately drawn to their gorgeous display of baked goodies.  I even spotted a jar of delicous-looking granola, so I might have to pop back for breakfast one day ;)

Whenever we go to cafes, I rarely get to eat any of the baked goodies as they tend to be made with dairy.  So, you can imagine my delight when I discovered that the cafe at the Holburne Museum sells a dairy and gluten-free orange and almond cake!  They even had soya milk, so I could have a soy cappuccino along with my piece of cake.  I was one happy girl :)

Thanks so much guys for considering those with allergies, and catering for us.  We really appreciate it! :)   Thanks also to the staff for making us feel so welcome.  It was great to meet the cafe manager Aurelie and the guys!

I’ll be back to visit the Holburne Museum again soon.  There are so many great events coming up.  One that caught my eye was ‘The Art of Shoes: Manolo Blahnik in conversation with Iain Web’ on 29 March 2012.  The event’s described as ”a rare opportunity to hear Manolo Blahnik’s story and views on life, shoes and Bath, the city he calls home”.  He’ll also be signing books before and after the event, in the Garden Cafe.  What a cool night out for the girls ;)

Sunday afternoon was rounded off with a visit to the Assembly Rooms to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  When we arrived, the Ball Room was alreadycrowded with people watching the dance recitals, acrobatics and kung fu displays.  The event’s finale involved the dancing lion making its way to the Museum of East Asian Art to the sound of clashing cymbals and firecrackers. 

Look, it stopped to pose for a picture for us!

 

Another great weekend in Bath!  So much fun!  These free events really bring people together in Bath.  Let’s hope we get some more soon!  

Have a great week everyone xx

 

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by | January 25, 2012

WIAW – Scrummy Porridge, Rice Salad & Roasted Veg Pesto Pasta

Hi everyone! I hope you’re having a wonderful week so far :)

I’ve just got back from a wonderful afternoon with my ‘Wednesday Workshop’ children. During term time, I teach two workshops every Wednesday afternoon on Buddhism at Lil’ L’s primary school. We meditate, read and discuss a Jataka Tale, and then do some arts & crafts or perform a play. Today, the subject of our meditation was ‘our precious human life’.

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It’s the first time that I’ve led an analytical meditation with this particular group of children and it went really well. Not only were the children totally chilled out all afternoon, but so was I! That’s just the sort of afternoon I needed :)

Just before we dash off to Lil’ L’s swimming lesson, I thought I’d make an early entry into Jenn’s WIAW party and share today’s eats.

Breakfast
Hot lemon (drank as I tried to wake up… mornings are soooo dark at the moment :( )
Yummy warm porridge made with Alpro Fortified Soya Milk, a sprinkling of cinnamon and mixed spice, topped with chopped pecans and walnuts, goji berries, ground flaxseed and a drizzle of agave syrup. This was the perfect breakfast for a dark, damp morning.

Lil’ L is loving Ready Brek at the moment. It seems to be one of the better children’s cereals. It’s made with wholegrain, no added sugar or salt, but fortified with B1, B2, Niacin, B6, Folic Acid, B12, Vitamin D, Calcium and Iron. He has it with the same toppings as me, minus the goji berries. I haven’t found a single dried fruit yet that he actually likes!

For a fruit and calcium boost, he also had a glass of Innocent fruit smoothie mixed with Kara fortified coconut milk.

Lunch
For lunch, I had some turmeric rice left over from last night’s dinner (brown rice cooked with turmeric to add flavour and colour), to which I added shredded romaine lettuce, pieces of sun dried tomato and roasted red pepper, black olives, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and a drizzle of oil from the sun dried tomato jar. It was delicious… and took less than a minute to make :)

Drinks & Snacks
Nettle tea, water, fruit smoothie, 1 black coffee, handful raw almonds, 1 orange, 1 cinnamon bagel

Dinner
When we get back from swimming, I’ll be cooking vegan pesto pasta with roasted vegetables. Into the roasting tin, I’ll throw some chopped carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, red onion and some pumpkin seeds. The veggies will be lightly roasted while the pasta is cooking. I’ll then mix in the vegan pesto, roasted veggies, a sprinkling of pine nuts and nutritional yeast, and a drizzle of walnut oil.

Since I haven’t made the dinner yet, here’s a pic from when I made it last month.

It’s a great dinner for those nights when you need something quick and don’t fancy toiling in the kitchen (plus there’s very little washing up :) )

Right, gotta dash! I look forward to checking out all the delicious eats over at Jenn’s tonight and gathering inspiration for next month.

Happy Wednesday everyone! :)

 

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by | January 23, 2012

Family Visit & Trip to the Holburne Museum

Hello everyone!  I hope you had a great weekend! :)

This weekend, my parents-in-law came to stay for our postponed Christmas get-together.  It was lovely to see them and we had a wonderful two days together.  We finally got round to giving them their very belated Christmas presents, and even played a board game, much to Lil’ L’s delight! ;)

Both on Saturday and Sunday we went for strolls around Bath.  The weather was incredibly mild for January (M is still in his t shirts!)  We also took a trip to the  Holburne Museum.  It was in the grounds of this museum that we saw the stunningly beautiful Field of Light back in December.

Between 2008 and 2011 the Museum was closed while it underwent an £11.2 million project of restoration and development.  At the back of the Museum, there is a contemporary extension and Garden Cafe.  It’s one of those modern extensions that I imagine you either love or hate.  Either way, it can’t be denied that it makes a bold statement!

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The museum houses Sir William Holburne’s collection of 4000 objects, pictures and books that were bequeathed by his sister to the people of Bath in 1882, as well as a further 2,500 objects that have been acquired since the Museum opened to the public in 1893.  If you’re ever in Bath, I highly recommend a visit to the museum.  There’s lots to see, as well as interactive displays, audio guides, and lots of pull-out drawers containing miniature collections and ‘guess the fake’ activities, which Lil’ L loved!  It’s also FREE admission! 

The Museum is found at the end of Great Pultney Street, which is one of the most stunning streets in Bath.

This weekend also involved two trips to the library as Lil’ L is passionately into reading at the moment, which is really lovely to see :)   He’s currently reading The Spiderwick Chronicles.  After practically finishing the first book in one day, he went back to the library on Sunday to borrow the remaining books in the series. 

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Foodwise, I actually planned ahead (for a change) and made lots of yummy eats including roasted vegetable lasagne and red lentil & cashew nut roast.  (Recipes and photos coming soon) ;)

For Saturday lunch, I prepared one of our favourite soups - Lightly Spiced Parsnip and Coconut.  It was very yummy indeed and perfect for this season.  The bread maker was set to work on Saturday morning so we had freshly made bread to accompany the soup :)

 And I’ve finally got round to writing down the recipe!  Here it is:

Lightly Spiced Parsnip & Coconut Soup

Serves 5-6    Preparation: 10 minutes    Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 large parsnips (approx. 450g / 16oz), peeled and chopped
2 medium potatoes (approx. 350g / 12oz), peeled and chopped
1/2 – 1 tbsp garam masala (depending how spicy you like it)
50g / 2oz creamed coconut (I use a sachet of Patak’s creamed coconut)
1.2 litres / 41fl oz / 5 cups vegetable stock
coconut cream and smoked paprika for garnish

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onions and garlic for 3 minutes. Add the garam masala and cook for a further 2 minutes.
  2. Add the parsnips and potatoes to the pan. Pour in the stock and creamed coconut and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and gently simmer with the lid on for 15-20 minutes, until the parsnips are tender.
  3. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the soup to cool a little before blending until smooth.
  4. Garnish with a swirl of coconut cream and sprinkling of smoked paprika. Serve in warm bowls with slices of crusty wholegrain bread.

Have a wonderful week everyone! xx

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by | January 18, 2012

WIAW Party – I’ll bring the Nut Koftas!

Happy Wednesday everyone!  I hope you’re having a great week so far! :)

In foodie blogging world, Wednesday can only mean one thing… WIAW PARTEEEE TIME! with our lovely host Jenn @ Peas & Crayons.  For those of you new to this shindig, WIAW is a virtual party where, once a week, Jenn’s foodie friends share a day’s worth of eats, along with photos and recipes.  It’s a great way to gather inspiration for new eats and meet new foodie friends.  You must check it out!

For this week’s party, I’m going to share what we ate on Sunday. 

Breakfast
Lil’ L asked if he could have a ‘special breakfast’ (code for ’pancakes’).  His little face lit up when I told him that I’d make some blueberry pancakes as a special treat.  He normally runs a mile when I offer him a blueberry, but stick them in a pancake or muffin, and he’ll happily eat them and declare them to be ‘delicious’! Funny that!

I prepare these pancakes super quick by throwing all the ingredients into a blender.  It’s not the ‘correct’ way to make pancakes, but it works a treat for me ;)   The recipe can be found here.

Lunch
After a cold morning working in the garden, we needed something for lunch to warm us up.  I decided to make some potato and onion rostis…

and roast some almonds and sunflower seeds, which we ate nice and warm, straight from the oven.

The nuts and seeds were roasted in a little soy sauce and they were absolutely delicious!  I used around 1 cup of raw almonds and 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds. I coated them in Kikkoman reduced salt soy sauce (about 1 1/2 tbsp), then placed them on a tray lightly sprayed with olive oil and roasted them for 8-10 minutes at 190C (mixing half way through). 

Lil’ L loves roasted almonds and seeds, and he often eats them as after-school snacks. As they’re packed with goodness (lots of vitamin E, B vitamins, minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, good fats, fibre and protein) they are a way better after-school snack than shop-bought biscuits or crisps.  He’s also asked whether he could take a pot of roasted sunflower seeds to school for play time snacks too which sounds good to me (I don’t think there’s a seed ban, but I better check… you never know these days!)

After lunch, we headed into Bath and popped into our most recent favourite coffee haunt – Costa Coffee.  Their soy cappuccino is really, really good and, unlike other coffee chains, you don’t have to pay extra for soya milk.  This little touch could actually swing my coffee chain allegiance.  Gosh I’m so easily swayed ;)

 

Dinner
For dinner tonight, I chose to make an old family favourite that we haven’t eaten in ages … nut kofta kebabs.  Lil’ L absolutely loves these koftas, and when they’re stuck on a kebab stick their appeal goes through the roof! ;)  

They’re super easy and quick to make, and are packed with lots of goodness.  For main dinners, we serve them with vegetable couscous, raita and pitta strips.  They’re also great stuffed in pita breads for lunch.  The recipe can be found here.

For dessert, we had some banana icecream, made with some frozen over-ripe bananas…

and one of my home-made raw chocolate hearts, left over from Christmas.

All in all, it was another day of delicious eats :)

Right, time to head over to Jenn’s and get inspired.  See you there?  Happy WIAW everyone!

 

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by | January 16, 2012

Project Garden Tidy Up & Slug Resistant Flower Review

Hi everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  :)

For us, the focus of this weekend has been ‘ project garden tidy up’.  I’d been waiting for everything to die back before I tackled the big garden tidy up, but due to the crazy warm weather we’ve had during the past few months, everything’s just kept on growing.  I’m sure the plants are as confused as the ducks ;)

While some winter plants have just started to bloom, such as the beautiful snow drops…

two sets of purple flowers have kept on growing out of the cracks in the walls and blooming non stop since LAST SPRING! 

  Can anyone help me with the names of these flowers?  I’ve no idea what they’re called!

Saturday was one of those freezing cold, but gloriously sunny days with a cloudless blue sky.  It was truly beautiful… and totally invigorating! :)

Whilst busy chopping back the shrubs, I reflected on how the garden has evolved over the past 12 years since we moved here.  For the first few years, I was constantly battling with the huge amount of slugs and snails that appeared every night in the garden.  Each new plant that was introduced to the garden would last a matter of days before it was totally munched.  Nightly patrols of the garden ensued, with slugs and snails collected up and re-homed.

In the end, I worked out that it would be far better to simply grow plants that that slugs and snails aren’t partial to rather than enduring the nightly hassle of ‘slug patrol’.  It’s been a case of ‘trial and error’ over the years, but I’m happy to say that the garden is now filled with flowers and shrubs that can be left to their own devices, while there’s plenty of vegetation in the undergrowth to keep our slimy friends happy :)  

Here are some examples of plants that seem to be slug and snail proof (in our garden anyhow): 

1. Roses. I adore roses, especially the heavy scented ones.  Have you ever experienced the scent of roses carried on a gentle warm breeze.  It’s heaven!

2. Fuschias. We’ve got 4 hardy fuschias in the garden, which have lived there longer than we have!  Apart from a severe prune in the winter, we just leave them to their own devices and they bloom in abundance, year after year.

3. Equinops.  Incredibly, the slugs and snails manage to eat the super spiky leaves of this plant, but leave the flowers alone.  The bees absolutely love them!

4. Sweet William.  My mum gave me one plant originally but each year it self seeds, I’ve now got about eight!

 

5. Lavender.  I adore the smell of lavender and the bees love it too!  I can’t wait to try some baking some lavender cupcakes and cookies this summer!

6. Hardy Geraniums.  I’ve got baby pink, magenta and purple hardy geraniums in the garden.  They are so resilient and the slimy ones seem to stay right away from them.

 7. Astrantia.  A delicate white flower on tall stems that the bees adore!
 

 8. Monbretia. This plant is so resilient.  I try to dig it out every year but it keeps coming back.  On the plus side, it has beautiful orange flowers that the damselflies love sitting on throughout the summer! 

9. Sedum.  These buds turn a deep pinky-red when they bloom.  The bees adore them!

10. Salvia.  I believe salvia comes in all different colours and sizes.  Our’s has a very delicate head of purple flowers on a tall green stem.

 Other plants that are slug resistant in our garden that I’ve yet to photograph include Snapdragons, Penstemon, Heuchera, Cyclamen, Bluebells and Aquilegia.

 I’m happy to report that I now have a garden where all the plants and critters can live happily together… including me ;)

Next job is to review the 2011 veggie growing experiment and plan what we’re going to attempt to grow this year.  Me thinks this review won’t be so positive as the flower review.  Hmmm… we’ll see…

Have a great week everybody!  Hope the sun’s shining wherever you are :)   xx

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