Wintery Knit Knit

I'm not a very fast knitter. It was probably my first craft, but it is not my craft of choice! I love hand knitted items and would love to improve. My mum's one of those casual, chatting, watching TV, super fast knitters, whipping up a little cardi in a couple of evenings.  I've tried doing it without looking, for about 10 seconds, but I may as well look for all the concentration and teeth gritting it takes!

Anyway, I decided to attempt a hooded cardigan for my little girl. I took great pleasure in searching Ravelry (where I could lose hours!) for a suitable pattern. Found a good one here. 

But I started knitting it about 9 months ago, for age 18-24 months.  She's now 26 months and it's not finished.  I got up to the hood and abandoned the plan.  I decided to convert the hood into a little bonnet.  And here's the result!...

 

For the last 8 rows I added 30 stitches on each end and changed to a rib stitch to shape it round the face and allow it to be tied under the chin.  I then folded it in half and stitched the back seam.  I'm also planning on putting a popper on the strap so it's secure.  Oh, and I made a pompom for the top.  It's a little small, naturally, and isn't quite shaped right.  But I'm pleased with it and it looks so cute!

There are proper patterns available - like this one - so sweet!  A much more realistic goal for a non-speedy knitter like me!

Moose Maple Butter

As a family, we're pretty into moose. And maple syrup. And butter. So imagine my delight when Farrah got in touch to ask if I'd like to try a new product called Moose Maple Butter! She promised me that it's the perfect accompaniment to my American Pancakes, and she wasn't wrong! 

I just slathered it on in a manner that would make Nigella proud. It's not hugely strong on the maple front, but my husband and I agreed that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing as it didn't taste as sugary and sickly as a big glug of syrup can sometimes. It was just right. And it looks like they've worked hard on achieving that exact balance.  It's also worth noting that there are no additives or other nasties in it - just natural maple syrup, organic butter and a pinch of sea salt. (Nutritional info can be found on the website). And I've got enough left to try it on some warm crusty bread next, as recommended by Farrah.  Can't wait!

Moose Maple Butter is being launched in the UK in November - you can find more details here. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for details of stockists.  

Cuckmere Haven

The last time I went to Cuckmere Haven was a painful mid-break up outing when I was desperate to prove we could 'still be friends'. That story does have a happy ending; he is now Mr Big Tree Little Moose, but certainly not as a result of that little trip!  Anyway, I've been wanting to erase that 'last time' memory for the last 8 years, so when my mum suggested going together last weekend I jumped at the chance. As a family we've always referred to it as 'Seven Sisters' but I think that's actually the name for the park above the cliffs. Cuckmere Haven (or Valley) is the estuary bit you walk through to get to the beach. I'm pretty sure Birling Gap fits in there somewhere too, but I'm not sure where!

We got there just before 11am and parking was easy, even for a sunny bank holiday. Glad we arrived at that time though, because when we returned to our car a few hours later the car park was mayhem! Cost of parking seems reasonable at £3.50 for the day. Although it's slightly frustrating that we didn't get it free with National Trust membership; although much of the country park is NT the car park is not. 

It was so lovely to be able to take the dog, Otter. She absolutely loved it! And fortunately there were no grazing sheep in the areas we were walking so she could run freely most of the time. It's worth knowing that there are no dog poo bins on the walk to the beach; the nearest one is by the car park. And dogs on leads on the beach May to September. 

Our little toddler's greatest pleasure is running. And here she could run! The paths are far enough away from the river that she wasn't going to trip and fall in. She would have run the entire mile route to the beach but at one point we put her in the pushchair for a forced break! We took the park trail down to the beach, as opposed to the beach trail, as it was so much quieter and gets you to pretty much the same place!

Once at the beach we settled down for a picnic but a ridiculously crazy amount of teeny tiny flies forced us to relocate backwards onto a grassy spot just before the beach. Which was equally as beautiful. 

The walk back felt quite long! Little J did more running. By this time the route was busy with visitors so I'm glad we came at an earlier time. 

It's such a happy family place for me, full of great memories of cycling, climbing trees, exploring old war bunkers, collecting stones, sea swimming, searching for fossils in the cliffs and more. I'm glad I've been able to take my mind back to those memories, and start making new ones of our own. 

Bluebell Railway

I thought I published this weeks ago but I've just found it in my draft box! Oops! But I imagine that this would be a perfect crisp winter day activity so I'll post it now - just make sure you check the timetable in case it changes during the winter. 

My mother-in-law recently took us all out to the Bluebell Railway as a birthday treat for little J.  Can you believe she's 2!!??  Crazy.  Anyway, it was wonderful.  (Although I'm glad it was her treat as it is quite expensive unless you go off-peak!)  We arrived a few minutes later than planned and missed our train.  The next one wasn't for over an hour.  Argh!  Make sure you check the train times before setting off!  But our dread of trying to keep 2 toddlers entertained for an hour fairly quickly turned around as we realised what was going on at the station.  There's a souvenir shop that has Brio train sets ready to be played with.  There's a cafe for coffee and snacks.  And then there are the trains!  Plenty to see up and down the platform and quite a few chugging through.  We were even allowed to get on an engine with the driver and see them stoke the fire.  You can purchase station-only tickets at a fraction of the price and I would definitely consider that in the future.

Little J and her cousin loved it all.  If I'm honest we probably didn't need to go as far on the train as we did as once it was moving the girls sort of lost interest - you're on the train so you can't see it!  I think they're a bit young for that bit.  But there are a few stops on the line so you don't have to sit on the train for hours.  We stopped off for a picnic and then got back on the train as it headed back.

We all commented on how lovely the staff at the station seemed.  They must all be passionate about their trains!  And the stations and trains are beautiful.  It was absolutely delightful and we've got such special memories and photos of the day.

American Pancakes

My brother Christophe lives in Alberta, Canada and whenever we go and visit they have that lovely weekend ritual of big family breakfasts with pancakes, bacon, maple syrup, blueberries, bananas, strawberries, whipped cream, fresh juice and hot delicious coffee.  We love it so much we try and do it as often as we can, and since we now have our own little family it's a lovely occasion for us, and an extra opportunity to invite people round.

I've got a recipe written in my binder and I'm not sure where I got it, but it's pretty similar to the BBC Food version, and as that's the first one that comes up on Google search I imagine that's where it's from.  But I tend to do it from memory and they turn out well, so that's what I'm going to do here.

This serves 2 adults and one very cheeky little monkey; about 9 pancakes.  We normally double up if we've got guests.

- 50g butter - cooled & melted (I normally melt this first whilst sorting the rest out so it has time to cool and doesn't cook the egg)

- 1 egg

- 130g plain flour

- 2 tablespoons of sugar (I like to use golden caster sugar)

- 135ml milk

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- pinch of salt

- extra butter for greasing pan

1.  Whilst the butter is cooling, whisk the egg and the milk together.  I melt the butter in the pan that I'm going to use to make the pancakes so that for the first batch I don't need to re-grease as it'll have some butter residue on it.

2.  In a separate bowl mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.  I think technically you should sieve the flour but I never bother and it's always fine!  But I suppose I should say sieve the flour, in case your flour is particularly clumpy.

3.  Pour the butter into the milk/egg and mix together.

4.  Pour the milk/egg/butter mixture into the flour etc, gently stirring constantly until mixed together.  It's the right consistency if you take a spoonful of the mixture and from about 6 inches up drizzle it back into the bowl.  If it sits on top of the rest of the batter and very slowly eases back into the mix then it should be fine.  If it's too runny add some more flour.  If it's too thick add some more milk.

5.  I like to let the batter sit for a few minutes before using it.  I think there's a technical reason for this but I'm not sure what it is.  Something to do with air bubbles?!

6.  If you have one, turn the extractor fan on.  Hot buttery pans can be a bit smokey and doing it now avoids that stable-door-bolting-horse type scenario.

7.  Get your frying pan (hopefully one for pancakes or one with low sides).  Make sure it's greased with butter for each round of pancakes.  Place on a medium heat - allow the pan to warm up.  My pan allows me to cook 3 pancakes at once.

8.  Using a large serving spoon to drop the batter into the pan will give you a good sized pancake.  Just dump it in one spot; avoid the temptation to drizzle it around.  If it's a good consistency it should spread itself slightly - aim for about 10cm in diameter.  Cook for a couple of minutes - when one or two little bubble holes appear through the batter it usually means it's time to flip them.  You can also tell how much they've cooked through by looking at the side of the pancake.  Turn over with a spatula.

9.  Cook on the other side for a minute or so.

10.  Remove from the pan.  Repeat until all the batter is used up.  You should be able to make 9 or 10 pancakes.

Serve with anything you fancy!  Maple syrup and bacon is my fave.  Be sure to invest in some proper maple syrup and don't be fooled by the cheaper maple flavoured syrup.  You can also plop a handful of blueberries into the mixture before frying your pancakes for a burst of fruity deliciousness; they are lovely on their own or with syrup and fruit.  All very yum!

Queen's Park, Brighton

Before moving to Lewes 2 years ago, I spent the previous 5 years living in houses in the Queen's Park/Hanover area of Brighton.  I've spent many sunny, and not-so-sunny, days in Queen's Park - meeting friends, walking the dog, barbecuing, drinking cider, sledging in the snow.  But it's only since going there with my toddler that I've fully appreciated all it has to offer.  Here's a quick run through:

Table tennis tables.  Obviously for quite a specific target audience.  My husband definitely sits in that bracket and was very excited to discover these.

A very extensive kids' playground with something suitable for pretty much every age.  I'm talking zip wires, sand pits, at least 4 different size slides, big wooden climbing frames, little boat shaped climbing frames, all sorts of swings, trains to sit in and climb on, water and sand games - and spread out over a huge area, which means the little ones don't get trampled on by the big ones.  Much.  Here's Jola running as fast as her little legs would carry her when she clocked the fun to be had:

There's also a little cafe and plenty of picnic tables, but I couldn't tell anything much about the food as we didn't have any.  And likewise with the toilet block, but at least there is one.

There is a large duck pond too.  Just be careful with little ones as it's unfenced.  And not really that many ducks.  A couple of geese and then mainly seagulls.  But my little one doesn't yet know the difference between a duck and a seagull so she's happy!

This is now the third time we've made the journey into Brighton for the specific purpose of going to Queen's Park.  It's ace!  On one previous occasion East Sussex Fire Service were there with one of their engines for the children to explore.  We've also been there for little J to leg it about and then have a nap in the pushchair as we walk into town and hit the shops, without feeling guilty about it not being fun for her.  The Hanover area is largely free parking too (although not the immediate roads around the park), so useful if you're going to be a while and don't mind a short walk and the hill.

A quick word of warning: whilst we were seated on a bench happily munching on sausage rolls a seagull swooped down and grabbed the sausage roll out of my husband's hand!  Beware!

The beach at Seaford

Since Jola was about 12 weeks old I've been a bit of a stickler for the bedtime routine. Last week I was talking to a friend on the phone after I'd put Jola to bed and she said that she was just getting her babies ready and then going to the beach for an icecream. I couldn't believe it - she was going out at 7:45! I was inspired! So a couple of days later after teatime, which always happens at 5:30, instead of getting ready for bathtime, which always happens at 6:15, we got in the car and drove down to the seaside. We only live up the road but I've never been to Seaford beach. We went to the Bishopstone end which has pedestrian walkways, ice cream, a little cafe and fish and chips. It was wonderful and I highly recommend breaking out of that routine!

Granted we probably did pay for it with a terrible night sleep but it was definitely worth it.