September ten-on-ten

Ten-on-ten is always a bit of a thrill. And a chore, too, but mostly a thrill. Thanks to a bit of sunshine for the idea and the ongoing link-thing. Please head on over to see other's day in pictures. Here's mine...

Caramel salted popcorn

I am a fan of popcorn, who isn't? I love the stuff, in fact one of the things I look forward to whenever I get to the United States is their popcorn, The cheese flavoured ones I could eat by the bag-full.

One pre-made treat I do sometimes buy is the slightly sweet salted organic popcorn, my children love it.  And husband.

Usually for a school snack I just microwave some popcorn, lightly salt it or leave it plain. Then I came up with this recipe and the little feet come pitter pattering out of bed at night to grab before it can even make it to the lunch box. 

Caramel salted popcorn

1 cup popcorn
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cups raw sugar
30 g butter
Sea salt

The popcorn

In a large pot heat the vegetable oil.
Add the popcorn, I like to have a good layer of popcorn in the base of the pot. 
Make sure the kernels of corn are all coated in the oil.
With the lid on, allow them to pop, I remove them from the heat when they slow right down. 
Leave the heat on though. 

The caramel

Now you need to remove the popcorn from the pot, put it into a large bowl.
Put the pot back on the stove, add the sugar and let it just come to melt without burning.
Add the butter and stir.

Add the popcorn back to the pot and toss it around in the caramel to coat it.
Add as much or as little sea salt as you like.

These are just beautifully lightly coated in caramel and are crisp, not sticky.
They will keep in an airtight container for several days.

This is how Circe drinks tea

In sickness and in health, really ?

In sickness and in health, are we really supposed to, I mean that's really hard sometimes.

If you've ever had to look after someone you might hear where I'm coming from, otherwise you might think I'm a selfish bitch.
I feel like all I ever do is look after people, wipe noses, clean bottoms, change wet beds and bodies, figure out whether that foot ache, head ache, pass out, croupiness, snoringess, hard of hearingness need to see a doctor.
I cannot cope well when it's the husband that is moaning ( and not in a good way) when he is sobbing when he is down when he is limping or vomitting or crouching or even sleeping. Haven't millions of years of evolution meant that I need a strong and healthy mate to help me cope?

I am feeling ever so selfish here for feeling this way. I know of women who have cared for their sick or dying husbands till the end, they never complained at all, they got on with whatever they had to do and were always there for their soulmate.
My partner is off work and has been for a long while now, I know he is struggling, he has had it rough. He is stumbling from one injury to the next with brief periods of feeling good and strong. A knee injury several years ago has impacted his life greatly, it has all of our lives actually.

A recent injury to his back, caused by none other than me, and again ( not in a good way) has thrown him off course again. Before you go thinking of the ways I could have injured his back, I'll just tell you. We have a mouse, a mouse that has twice now been rescued from the mouth of our wanna be cat ( the neighbour's cat wants to adopt us) so this time Eliza had said mouse in hand when said cat came into the house. Hubbie and I ran to stop a third mouse in cat's mouth saga. This hubbie of mine has a weird dress sense, on this particular day he was wearing a floor length yellow blanket around his waist, why?  anyway I stepped on the back of the blanket kind of stopping the blanket under my foot whilst his momentum grind ed to a halt. Needless to say we required an ambulance, and a three day stay in the hospital, all over that.

Of course I have to let him recover, I have to give him time, I have to remind him to take the painkillers and he won't let me put on his socks for him ( that was a rule we made, 17 years ago) I wanted to put on his socks in fact I am better like that, I can do all the bring you tea and food and water and stuff. I just can't cope when he requires no feeding or watering, when he is dopey when he sleeps for 15 hours or when he is just shut away.

Now he's only half better but writing resumes and doing endless hours of research, in his garage/ study,I barely see him. He comes in to the house at night and is crabby and tired and down, I don't even leave him lists anymore of what to do around here like I used to. I haven't even been able to cuddle him at night I'm so tired,  he gets to bed after me, I am beginning to feel a little lonely.

I am needing a little more in health, I am sick of the in sickness part.

Meringues from whites and Gnocchi from yolks

I like it when the night before's leftovers become something else the next day.

Today i used up last nights leftover mash potato from our finnish meatballs from this book and mash dinner,which if I had photos you'd see that they were just like the Ikea ones, only better! I used the mash, which i made tonnes of in my potato gnocchi, which were just yummy, and as always the kids get so excited to eat gnocchi.

Without even planning it as such the gnocchi required 4 egg yolks which I happened to have from this afternoons meringues with berries. I loved that it just happened that way, no waste makes me a very happy girl.

 Potato gnocchi.

1 kg mash potato
Big handful parmasen cheese
1/4 tsp nutmeg grated
4 egg yolks
300g flour
Salt
Just mix all your ingredients together, knead on a floured board adding more flour if necessary till the dough is soft but not too sticky.
Divide the dough up into about 8 or 10 portions, roll these into long sausages.
Cut the rolled out dough about 1/2 thumb size bits.
Lightly flour the gnocchi and then press a finger into them as you roll them one by one.
Drop into salted boiling water, they are ready when they all float up to the surface.

Enjoy them with whatever sauce you like, I love a homemade simple Napoli sauce and lots of fresh parmasen on top.

What do you do with your leftover whites or yolks?

august ten-on-ten

With the usual love to a bit of sunshine, here's roughly ten hours of my day, in photo form.

Stephanie Alexander came to our school today!

Today was the launch of The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation program at my children's school.

There was such a vibe and buzz in the kitchen. The children were so excited and wanted to help out however they could. Many yummy dishes were made and served by them. What an event for them, and so exciting for our school community.

The program is just wonderful, our school has worked so hard to qualify for it.  You could see at the opening that it has been made possible because of the dedication and support of the teachers, parents and community.

It's just so great to see something like this take shape, to be a part of it every time I come along to volunteer does my heart good.