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Many of us grown ups look forward to having a rest. But children don’t rest, they get bored.
If you had asked me ten years ago what my plans were for the four day weekend, they would probably be to have one day cleaning up my home, the next visiting my relatives, then to have a day or two of chocolate eggs for breakfast, followed by a pub lunch and some afternoon drinking.
Not now. I find myself instead mixing up flour and water to stick strips of coloured paper to yogurt pots with to make mini-nests, into which I can put cute mini chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs.
Simnel Cake
Old habits die hard, so I don’t just put these together for the children! We do all have to grow up sometimes though, and my nod to that is also to make a Simnel Cake, a traditional Easter cake with marzipan (my favourite!) for which there is a good easy to follow recipe in the ‘Around Britain Dairy Cookbook‘ if you should have it.
Easter Biscuits
However, no doubt when my children get wind of my planned afternoon of baking the cake shall be replaced with the much easier and child-friendly Easter Biscuits from the ‘Year Round Dairy Cookbook‘. Is that a problem? I shouldn’t think so… even the Grandparents like to indulge in a hand-made biscuit!
Have a Happy Easter
Karen
Dairy Diary Team
P.s. The wonderful weather continues, so this is the perfect time for gardening. Fancy winning a copy of Seasonal Garden Ideas?
To enter simply complete the form on our website www.dairydiary.co.uk/competitions.html and don’t forget to “Like’ the page for an extra chance to win!
Herbs a' Plenty, a project from Seasonal Garden Ideas
Not sure about that – beautiful would be good, edible is more likely. I’m thinking of herbs this year – and they’ll make the garden (mine is very small) smell great, too.
I love basil and usually have a pot on the go from the supermarket – some keep growing and last for ages, others, well, don’t! Basil’s great with tomatoes however you have them – soup, sauces, added to stews or vegetable bakes, grilled or raw.
A cheese sandwich with some lovely fresh bread and maybe one of the goat’s cheeses you can get these days, plus sliced tomatoes and some torn basil is hard to beat. Flat-leafed parsley is another favourite, and chives, and a woody bush or two that’ll keep going for a few years – thyme maybe. And some mint – but that’s definitely going in a pot or it’ll take over. Could have some fresh mint tea to go with the sarny. Always assuming successful planting, of course.
I’m opting for plants rather than seeds to give myself a fighting chance, and then we just need a lovely sunny day and lunch outside is sorted – well, we can all dream!
Happy gardening.
Marion
The Dairy Diary Team
Fancy winning a copy of Seasonal Garden Ideas?
To enter simply complete the form on our website www.dairydiary.co.uk/competitions.html and don’t forget to “Like’ the page for an extra chance to win!
So, to us, not only are the months flying past as we make our way into April, but also the years.
If you are busy looking ahead to plan your wedding for 2012 you might like to know that the beautiful Syon Park, near Richmond in South West London, is opening up it’s diary dates for weddings and events. I admit I have never been, but it looks gorgeous! Perhaps a good place to take a picnic and walk through the lovely gardens if we have a much sought after spring weekend?
Instead of taking along some boring, dry sandwiches you could try making the Savoury Biscuits from the 2011 Dairy Diary, page 67. My husband had the good fortune to recipe test these, and they are incredibly moreish! Lovely with some cheese roulade or pate.
However, as I live in Sheffield and am married to a silversmith, I suspect I shall be spending at least part of my weekend touring the Cutler’s Hall in our City Centre as part of Galvanize Sheffield, a festival of contemporary metal design. If I am lucky I may get whisked off for a pub lunch afterwards… maybe I should make a batch of biscuits too for a light supper when we get back?
Have a great week
Karen
Dairy Diary Team
A meat thermometer takes the guesswork out of cooking, whether you are cooking poultry and pork safely or cooking beef rare. You can leave the thermometer in the meat while it cooks, so you can easily see when the meat has reached the correct temperature. If you don’t regularly use a meat thermometer, you should get into the habit of using one. A meat thermometer can be used for all foods, not just meat.
Win a meat thermometer
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Mothering Sunday is the old-fashioned name for the day. Apparently, folk used to attend the largest church in their area on this day, their ‘mother’ church, and were said to have gone ‘mothering’.
Domestic servants and apprentices were given the day off (maybe the only one in the year) to go and visit their mothers. So although it may be a bit commercialised now, it was always a big deal!
Mother’s Day is always the fourth Sunday in Lent – over halfway through, so not long to go if you’ve given up something difficult to resist.
At one time a simnel cake was baked and kept for Easter. What restraint! Simnel cakes are covered in marzipan – try this delicious Simnel Cake recipe.
I’m planning to have a go at the Coffee Battenberg on page 111 of this year’s Dairy Diary, and there’s no chance that it’ll last till Easter.
I hope you all have a lovely day.
Marion
Dairy Diary Team.
Competition | Win a meat thermometer
A meat thermometer takes the guesswork out of cooking, whether you are cooking poultry and pork safely or cooking beef rare. Enter the competition today.
When the clocks ‘spring’ forward one hour on Sunday 27 March (1.00 am to 2.00 am) we have to adjust to darker mornings again – but how lovely it is to re-claim the evenings.
If only I could encourage my husband to finish off our patio, so that I could sit outside admiring the spring bulbs that defy my bad gardening and come up year after year.
While it is still too wet for me to sit outside, I will widen my baking skills. Having flicked through the Dairy Diary I have spotted a recipe for Oaty Fudge Treats on page 91. It sounds healthy and there’s no cooking involved, so it will probably be ideal to try out with my little one’s help, to distract them from the lighter evenings and the muddy garden that is becoming ever-more alluring as Spring blooms.
Karen
Dairy Diary Team
Oaty Fudge Treats is taken from Dairy Diary 2011.
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