Attack of the ladybirds!
Monday, 17 August 2009
VISIT TO THE ECOS CENTRE IN PHOTOS
Last Sunday we went to the Ecos Centre in Ballymena. It is set in lovely grounds, has a duck pond but best of all its free. It is worth a visit though I am not entirely sure I would make a special trip there unless the weather was fantastic.
Attack of the ladybirds!
Attack of the ladybirds!
Sunday, 16 August 2009
PLUM JAM RECIPE
We are making plum jam today.
Well you know its about time I saw the fruits of my fruit! My plum tree has hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of plums on it. Some of the plums are ripe, some not, some past their best.
RECIPEyou need 2kg plums (fruit weight) or 4lbs (mix of ripe and almost ripe is good for pectin)
1 litre of cold water or 32 fl oz
125 ml of lemon juice or 1/2 cup
1.5 kg of caster sugar (warmed in oven speeds up process) or 3lb
Assuming you already know how to make jam and sterilise the jars!
You will need about 6 jars for this recipe if they are large ones or eight small. I always sterilise loads to be on the safe side.
Chop the plums up, and of course discard the stones. My fingers have turned yellow by the way so wear gloves if this worries you. The chopping up took ages so make sure you go for a pee first and do all your other stuff as you are going to be busy for a while.
Place the plums and the water in a nice big heavy pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 50 minutes or until the fruit is soft. This is not an opportunity to go to the local for a pint or anything, just make yourself a cup of coffee and wait ... you probably need it after chopping up the plums.
Add the lemon juice and sugar now, stir them over a low heat for five minutes.
Bring to the boil now for 20 minutes (check for next stage from 15 mins onwards) , keep stirring or better still ask someone else to stir for you as your hands will still be sore from the chopping up.
Remove the scum from the surface and test your jam, it is ready when it falls from a wooden spoon in sheets. Don't do the taste test at this stage otherwise you will burn your mouth!
Test for the setting by placing the jam on a cold plate in the freezer for 30 seconds, if its ready the jam will wrinkle if you push it with your finger. Lick your finger!
Remove any scum from jam and transfer into jars. Put lids tightly on the jars and invert for two minutes, this creates a nice sterile environment in the led and helps create a good seal. You can store this jam for up to 12 months so long as you keep it in your cupboard.
The jars ideally need to cool over night and initially the jam looks runny, don't worry about this it will be set by the time you have your toast made the following morning.
I am also making breadmaker jam - recipe to follow!
Well you know its about time I saw the fruits of my fruit! My plum tree has hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of plums on it. Some of the plums are ripe, some not, some past their best.
RECIPEyou need 2kg plums (fruit weight) or 4lbs (mix of ripe and almost ripe is good for pectin)
1 litre of cold water or 32 fl oz
125 ml of lemon juice or 1/2 cup
1.5 kg of caster sugar (warmed in oven speeds up process) or 3lb
Assuming you already know how to make jam and sterilise the jars!
You will need about 6 jars for this recipe if they are large ones or eight small. I always sterilise loads to be on the safe side.
Chop the plums up, and of course discard the stones. My fingers have turned yellow by the way so wear gloves if this worries you. The chopping up took ages so make sure you go for a pee first and do all your other stuff as you are going to be busy for a while.
Place the plums and the water in a nice big heavy pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 50 minutes or until the fruit is soft. This is not an opportunity to go to the local for a pint or anything, just make yourself a cup of coffee and wait ... you probably need it after chopping up the plums.
Add the lemon juice and sugar now, stir them over a low heat for five minutes.
Bring to the boil now for 20 minutes (check for next stage from 15 mins onwards) , keep stirring or better still ask someone else to stir for you as your hands will still be sore from the chopping up.
Remove the scum from the surface and test your jam, it is ready when it falls from a wooden spoon in sheets. Don't do the taste test at this stage otherwise you will burn your mouth!
Test for the setting by placing the jam on a cold plate in the freezer for 30 seconds, if its ready the jam will wrinkle if you push it with your finger. Lick your finger!
Remove any scum from jam and transfer into jars. Put lids tightly on the jars and invert for two minutes, this creates a nice sterile environment in the led and helps create a good seal. You can store this jam for up to 12 months so long as you keep it in your cupboard.
The jars ideally need to cool over night and initially the jam looks runny, don't worry about this it will be set by the time you have your toast made the following morning.
I am also making breadmaker jam - recipe to follow!
Saturday, 8 August 2009
WHAT A BALLS UP
WAAAAAA 7:10 this morning my alarm clock went off! Oh no sorry, it wasn't my alarm clock it was Ellis and he was extremely upset.
I got up to investigate, Seb was telling me he had a ball in his ear. A little silver ball from a stupid plastic party bag maze game, how on earth? I asked him if he put the ball there and he swore to me he didn't and it had just rolled in. I couldn't see how that could happen, but duly had a look in his ear in the light. I was unable to see anything, so I reassured him and went back to bed for another hour.
I quizzed him more when I got up, he was adamant that he didn't deliberately put the silver ball in his ear. He demonstrated how he put his head over to one side on his pillow so the ball would roll out. He explained that he was trying to do the maze without looking at it, he wanted to get the ball into the centre, the back came off the game and the ball just rolled into his ear.
At lunch time conversation came back round to this metal ball. I remembered the doctors torch Mag had got from when he was in hospital in January ..... hmm. Well I shone it in his ear and for a very brief moment I 'thought' I saw something and then it was gone. I tried again to see the ball but no luck.
This bugged me, I searched Seb's bed and his room for this little ball, worryingly I couldn't find it anywhere. In the end I made the decision to take him to our minor injuries unit (its sort of like an A&E but for less urgent cases). Still sceptical I got the nurse to have a look in Seb's ear .... well lo and behold there it was! The nurse even let me have a good look in too which was so cool.
A tiny steel balbearing was nestled under seb's grommet (vent) and it wasn't going anywhere. They tried lubricant in there, plus used a rather noisy suction machine too. All of these efforts just made Seb's ear more sore and distressed him further. Further examination revealed that the balbearing had not even budged a millimetre.
So they are arranging for him to see the ENT consultant in the next couple days, I have to ring on Monday morning to find out when. Seb actually has an appointment at the end of August scheduled to get his grommets checked, but they say he cant wait that long as his ear would get infected. So its looking he might need an anaesthetic to get this ball out, I would suspect his grommet will come out too but who knows! I will update on Monday when we get word on what is to happen.
Oh this is not the first time Seb has had a foreign body - here's another time PEGGED.
Another time involved sweetcorn in his nostril which he sniffed up, I had to use a booger sucker to retrieve it.
I got up to investigate, Seb was telling me he had a ball in his ear. A little silver ball from a stupid plastic party bag maze game, how on earth? I asked him if he put the ball there and he swore to me he didn't and it had just rolled in. I couldn't see how that could happen, but duly had a look in his ear in the light. I was unable to see anything, so I reassured him and went back to bed for another hour.
I quizzed him more when I got up, he was adamant that he didn't deliberately put the silver ball in his ear. He demonstrated how he put his head over to one side on his pillow so the ball would roll out. He explained that he was trying to do the maze without looking at it, he wanted to get the ball into the centre, the back came off the game and the ball just rolled into his ear.
At lunch time conversation came back round to this metal ball. I remembered the doctors torch Mag had got from when he was in hospital in January ..... hmm. Well I shone it in his ear and for a very brief moment I 'thought' I saw something and then it was gone. I tried again to see the ball but no luck.
This bugged me, I searched Seb's bed and his room for this little ball, worryingly I couldn't find it anywhere. In the end I made the decision to take him to our minor injuries unit (its sort of like an A&E but for less urgent cases). Still sceptical I got the nurse to have a look in Seb's ear .... well lo and behold there it was! The nurse even let me have a good look in too which was so cool.
A tiny steel balbearing was nestled under seb's grommet (vent) and it wasn't going anywhere. They tried lubricant in there, plus used a rather noisy suction machine too. All of these efforts just made Seb's ear more sore and distressed him further. Further examination revealed that the balbearing had not even budged a millimetre.
So they are arranging for him to see the ENT consultant in the next couple days, I have to ring on Monday morning to find out when. Seb actually has an appointment at the end of August scheduled to get his grommets checked, but they say he cant wait that long as his ear would get infected. So its looking he might need an anaesthetic to get this ball out, I would suspect his grommet will come out too but who knows! I will update on Monday when we get word on what is to happen.
Oh this is not the first time Seb has had a foreign body - here's another time PEGGED.
Another time involved sweetcorn in his nostril which he sniffed up, I had to use a booger sucker to retrieve it.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
BIRTHDAY GIRL
Just a few photos of our day. We had our four children, the two children I am looking after plus another. The boy's weren't having their photos taken (rolling eyes) but never mind here's the girls.
My two extras!
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Monday, 3 August 2009
Sunday, 2 August 2009
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