crush of the week

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I've had a holiday from blogging whilst we had two actual holidays, with some lovely family-wide flu and birthday mayhem in between. But now I'm determined to get back on track - though we have been in the UK two days and already both the squids are up to their eyeballs in snot and I'm spending most of my time fixing hot lemon, cinnamon & manuka honey drinks for them (Indy is most perplexed by these concoctions...)​

​photos from The Selby

​photos from The Selby

​Meanwhile, in my fantasies, I shall be purchasing these dreamy sheets from D. Porthault seen in the snaps of Rita Konig's magical little home on The Selby. I'm trying to hunt them down in the UK - God forbid I have to end up making a trip to Harrods. Also I have discovered they cost an extremely large amount of money and were inspired by the Duke & Duchess of Windsor. Visit the D. Porthault site at your peril - pretty much everything on there is gorgeous and you'll probably end up contemplating selling one of your own children to own a crisp new set of their sheets. Or even just a washcloth.

raspberry ripple birthday dreams

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My gorgeous husband had his latest birthday on Monday, and we were under strict "no presents" instructions, so Pablo & I conjured up a home made gift of his favourite raspberry ripple ice cream and a hand-crafted card. Then I decided that if we were making ice cream we may as well make an ice cream cake (a first for me!) Our freezer is now full to bursting with raspberry ripple but Konch had a lovely birthday and we all made ourselves feel a bit sick eating too much cake. ​

an apple a day

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Pablo's much loved childminder, Lucinda, moved away a year ago and we were very excited when she asked if she could pop down for a visit. Obviously we had to make a cake, but with a miserably poorly baby a trip to the shops was not going to happen. I scoured the cupboards and we had just the right amount of this and that to make this delicious apple cake. It was extremely easy and Pablo helped me lots. Indy did the opposite by tugging on my leg and looking pathetic throughout, but we got there in the end... ​

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Caramelised Cinnamon Apple Cake

100g butter + 1 tbsp
175g brown muscovado sugar + 1 tbsp
2-3 dessert apples
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
100ml milk
TOPPING:
25g flour
85g demerara sugar + 1 tbsp
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
50g butter
3 tbsp toasted sliced almonds

​recipe adapted from BBC Good Food 

​Heat oven to 160C. Mix the topping first - flour, demerara sugar, cinnamon butter with your fingertips to make sticky breadcrumbs. Pablo did half of this, but once he began threatening to eat hunks of sugary butter from his fingertips I chucked it all in a food processor. Stir in 2 tbsp of the almonds and set aside. 

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Cut the apples into 1.5cm-ish squares. Melt the 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp sugar in a non stick frying pan and then add the apples and cook for about 5 minutes until everything is brown and gooey and yummy smelling. ​

Make the cake by creaming the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. ​Add the eggs one at a time and mix well, then add the vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients and alternate adding them and the milk until all is well combined. Grease a springform 8in/20cm tin and line with a circle of parchment on the bottom. Spoon in your cake mix and then sprinkle with the topping. Mix your remaining 1 tbsp demerara and almonds together and sprinkle these on top. Bake for 45ish minutes. Cool ten minutes in the tin before removing, then cool on a wire rack until it's time to indulge. ​

the ones i love

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Valentine's day is always a fun one. If you're single you can indulge in either extreme margarita drinking or embarrassingly girly film & cookie binge, ​if you're partnered up you have a whole extra day a year to get presents and be all about love. Boyfriends and husbands rarely really indulge much in this little celebration of romance for the sake of it, but once kids come along there are whole new people to shower with love, and chances are they are into any excuse for a party. Pablo was so taken with the idea of a whole day devoted to love that he really did spend all grinning and telling Indy and me that he loved us, and announcing "Happy Calens Day!" to everyone else, because he couldn't quite grasp the word 'Valentine'. He also insisted on making a valentine for his best friend Edie "because I really REALLY love her!" 

​We kicked off with heart-shaped pink pancakes, then I dropped Pablo at Montessori and spent the next few hours running about like a lovecrazed fool on Valentine's errands. Pablo gave Edie her card and balloon after school and she said "Pablo, why did you give me this balloon?" to which he replied "because I love you..." HEART MELT. Then they scampered down the street shouting "I LOVE YOU PABLO!" "I LOVE YOU EDIE!" at maniac volume until we had to separate them by extreme force at the park gates, and they both had a bit of a sulk. 

​After school cupcake and after dinner strawberry and marshmallow mousse for some extra sweetness. We saw the dentist the next day, and she said his teeth were fine... phew. 

Eventually I got my lovely husband home and we managed a whole uninterrupted steak dinner and a bottle of wedding champagne. He brought me a dozen dark red roses. I am really very lucky. And in love. ​

​He's a keeper...

​He's a keeper...

snowathon

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I never did get my hands on that dreamy Mini Rodini snowsuit, but H&M came up trumps when the snow hit London last weekend. A bit of a timing clash with the day we had to take the car to the MOT, which meant we got snowed in down in Surrey and spent a surprise relaxing night with my favourite aunt and uncle. After a train back to London the snow kept coming and Pablo got his first try on a sledge, made some very small snowmen and came out with:
"Mum, when dogs wee on snow it goes yellow."
"Yes, yucky!"
"But when dogs fart on snow it goes green..."
Also a great excuse for rosy cheeks, waffles and hot chocolate... not that an excuse is really required in this house...