Wallace & Gromit

Going to W5 the science museum is certainly not new for us, and as usual there's always plenty of photographs. The children love it there but this time there was something special they wanted to see.

Anyway the 'ordinary' photos first.

Seb practising his boating skills.

Sol making music with lights.

What would you like to eat?

Siblings!

Seb playing the harp, this is no ordinary harp as it has no strings, yet it still makes music.

Animal dominos .... hhhmmm who is next to play?

'I like driving in my car.'

'I am sailing.'

Anyway ...this is the whole reason why we went this time. the children just love Wallace & Gromit. W5 is the venue of a Wallace & Gromit exhibition just now and is had actual sets and models from the film Wallace & Gromit And The Curse Of The Were-rabbit. How ccool are they? I loved the detail in every single piece.

Nuff Said

I suppose this ought to be a chat post, as I usually just post photographs on my blog.

The last two weeks have the usual blend of 'skooling' and every day life. Seb had his Boys Brigade parents night, he bagged himself a badge and made us proud as usual. Seb has tried so very hard at his BB, he is the smallest there.

Last week Mag went off kayaking in the Mourne Mountains with his Boys Brigade friends, they had a great weekend. I believe that they made water rockets with plastic bottles and a wooden launcher as well as hitting the amusements in Newcastle. He came home tired and happy.

Sol was at the zoo on yesterday with her Rainbows troop, she enjoyed seeing all the animals again. I had considered taking all of the children for the day and then perhaps taking summer to the gate when the rainbows were meeting but when I learned there would be 1400 there I decided to give it a miss. I let other hald take Sol up, and of course the other children wanted to go with him too. I spent four happy hours on my own, doing laundry, washing floors, and other jobs. As for other half and the kids they went and got fish and chips (without me).

Also yesterday Mag played chess at the UK Chess Challenge Mega Finals held in Belfast. He won first place for his age group so that makes him the the title of best player of his age group in Northern Ireland. He has to travel to England now to compete against the regional winners their ... then who knows what is next for him. Please wish him luck if you see him, he really needs the support. We have already booked his flight tickets, him and other half will go and make a weekend of it. We got return flights for the two of them to Liverpool for £83 from RyanAir ... not bad EH? So while the 'men' are off playing chess I get to spend a quiet weekend at home with my three babies.

This week has been a week of revision and that's how it will continue for the next month. Mag's final module for his Maths GCSE is split over two days in June. the first part on the 7th, and then on the 11th, I have no doubts in his ability to pass the exam with grades as good as he got for his other modules.

Oh and we decorated Toni's bedroom last week, what a marathon lightening fast job that was! We got it painted in the weekend and a carpet laid, all done in time for her new robes to fitted. I was feeling very pleased with how much we had achieved then came down to a bump remembering how long it is taking us to decorate the dining room.

And the final bit of news, and anyone who knows us is going to laugh their socks off. while my friends and neighbours are into caravaning and camping ..... drum role ..... other half bought a boat. NUFF SAID!

Strange Dream

I dreamt that Michael C Hall lived near me, he's the serial killer Dexter Morgan from the show Dexter. He came to our house one day for a cup of tea. The place was a mess and other half was decorating a living room at the front of the house. I was in the back living room with Michael C Hall asking the tea. The tea was actually little capsules, I'm thinking like a herbal type tea. Michael did not want milk in his. I had a cup and a mug but struggled to find another mug for other half. I was scrabbling in boxes of packed up stuff no joy. I stood and watched the tea capsules dissolve, Michael drank from the cup and he balanced it on top of my mug.

After a while I showed Michael around the house, he was amazed at the work other half was doing with the decorating, actually he wasn't doing so good. Anyway I left him there while I in went to find Mag so he could meet him too.

Michael and Mag were soon deep in conversation, he told Mag they were working on another series but this time about food. The title of the program was something like 'chicken to go'. After he left Mag quietly recounted to me what the series was and its title.

Then my dream then took me outside Michael's manager's office. He was in there and raging about what Mag had told me, how he knew I don't know, I guessed we were bugged. He snarled at Michael that he shouldn't have shared the name of the new show, and now it has to be changed.

Moths & Mammals

The Ulster Wildlife Trust held an event at the Balloo Wetlands on Saturday, the topics covered were moths & mammals. I usually try to go to these local talks with the children as they are small enough you can enjoy them and always very informative. The children had a great day, learned lots, and each came away with a bag of goodies.

A Star A Star

This is going to be a big brag post!

We home educate as you probably all know! Well my eldest son sat the first two modules of three, for his maths GCSE. The way it worked out he ended up doing two modules in one day back at the start of March this year. Anyhow the results are in, and he did very well. For Module 1 out of a possible score of 108, Mag achieved 101 and that is an A*, on Module 3 out of 162 he got 160 and that too is an A*. All that's left to do is Module 5 at the beginning of June and with a bit of luck he will do well in that one too.

There is always a 'problem' arranging for home educated kids to sit their GCSE exams, well its not really a problem but you have to contact a school and ask them if they will take a child as an external candidate. Not all schools will accommodate external candidates, not that its any trouble, but simply because they don't. So you may need to contact a few schools to get one that will let you sit an exam. Anyhow the school where Mag sat his exams have now come back to us and said he can do all of his exams there, which is a huge result for us. Prior to him getting his two A*s I was under the impression they wouldn't be able to accommodate him for everything so as you can imagine I am really pleased at how this has worked out for him. Mag is hoping to sit his next three GCSE exams starting with the first modules for those in November this year.

Okay another brag ...

Mag goes to a Company Section of the Boys Brigade in a near by town. He missed a lot of last years Boys Brigade due to illness so this was his first full year with that Company. Mag has been in the boys brigade for nine years working up through the various levels. Monday was the parents evening and the last night of this years BB. He received a few badges for various completed projects through out the year and also the award for BEST BOY! Once again, twice in less than a week I have to admit I was really really proud of him.

Ice Cream Recipes for the Ice Cream Maker

We love ice cream, well who doesn't. There's something different about home made ice cream, its creamier, smoother, once tried you always have second helpings. Ice cream is best enjoyed once it has been out of the freezer for ten minutes, many people drag it out of the cold abyss and dig in. If you are one of those people you can never appreciate the smoothness of the frozen delight.

Here's a couple of recipes we enjoy.

Bourneville Chocolate Ice Cream
150g of caster sugar
250ml of milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon of cocoa
3 egg yolks beaten
50g of Cadbury's Bourneville Chocolate (any chocolate would do, variety is the spice of life)
500ml of double cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence or flavouring
I use an ice cream maker but I guess you can make it without by whipping your mix prior to freezing then whipping it every half hour through out the freezing process.

Combine the sugar, milk, salt and cocoa powder in a pan over a medium heat. Bring to a simmer, be very careful you don't boil this mix.

Place the eggs into a bowl or large jug, slowly, carefully trickle a little of the hot simmering liquid into the eggs and mix. (this bit is crucial otherwise you get scrambled eggs) Return the mix to the pan, if for some reason you get a couple bits of 'cooked' egg then fish it out, it wont affect the end result.

Simmer the mix until it thickens. Stir in the chocolate till it is melted and allow your mix to cool

Once cool, stir in the cream and vanilla and put into your ice cream maker for about 40 minutes. Now once this comes out of my ice cream maker its still quite soft and runny, I don't know if this is a flaw of my maker or this is how they all are so you need to put your 'ice cream' into the freezer for a few hours.

When you are ready to serve don't forget to bring your ice cream out of the freezer and allow it to sit for about ten minutes before you dish up.


Toffee Ice Cream
This recipe is so easy and versatile. I use different chocolate bars for different variations. One day this will be Toffee Crisp Ice Cream, and another day it will be Crunchie Ice cream, you get the idea. The brown sugar in this recipes, once cooked, will give a very convincing toffee flavour (lick the spoon).

you need
1 Table spoon of butter
200g of dark brown sugar
2 eggs beaten
175ml milk
175ml double cream
125ml double cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Ice Cream maker or follow method in above recipe.

Heat the brown sugar, milk, 175ml of cream in a pan. Bring to a simmer. Once again put your eggs in a separate bowl and trickle in some of the warm mix, run it down the side of the bowl so it cools a little. Again watch out for cooked eggs! Return the eggs and mix to the pan and simmer this mix until it thickens.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cool, stir in remaining cream and vanilla. Break up one or two bars of your choice and add to this cooled mix.

Run this mix in the ice cream maker for about 40 minutes then pour into a freezer dish. Freeze for several hours before needed.

For serving take this ice cream out of the freezer ten minutes before you are going to eat it.

Meet Your Maker

There are 'makers' for everything!

Well there are and they are all living inside my kitchen except one. Thanks to my friend I am going to end up with yet another maker, a yoghurt maker. I wasn't going to but I will probably succumb...

I cant see my kitchen worktops, and my cupboards are full.

The makers are taking over slowly, one by one.

I have a bread maker, which doubles (or trebles or maybe quadruples) up as a jam maker, pizza base maker and jam maker.
Then there is the ice cream maker which I am using a lot at the moment. I have a smoothie maker which was leaking but now with a bit on imagination is fixed. I broke it because I put it in the dishwasher without taking the blades out so the seal ring and it seals no more. I got some plumbers tape, you know that white stuff that goes a bit stringy, and its all better now back to making smoothies.
I got a rice maker, it doubles up to make something else I forgot what ... maybe its porridge.
Oh I don't have a chip maker or chip pan, cant stand those wretched things, nasty, stinky, have you ever put one in a dishwasher?
I did have a pie maker, it make gorgeous neat deep pies in 8 minutes, sealed them and they were the most delicious pies I had ever eaten. Trouble about the pie make was that it was a b****r to clean so I got rid of it. the burger maker quickly followed suit. Ooh what I would do with a pie maker or burger maker with removable plates.

Anyhow, please tell me about your makers, I am always on the look out for new ideas.

Oh and while you are at it, shall I get that yoghurt maker?