Foodies Festival Fun

Yes, I did ignore my hubsand's ridiculous comment about the cost of tickets to the Foodies Festival, went ahead and ordered them and yesterday we wrapped up in our waterproofs and braved the wintery weather (in May!) to go to Tatton Park and enjoy a full day of food!

We bought all sorts of yummy things produced by independent food producers like pies from Pie Minister and Andrew Jones Pork Pies, who I was delighted to learn now supplies my local butcher.

I encountered some wonderful new flavours and bought a bottle of Rhubarb and Rose Cordial from Mr Fitzpatrick's Cordials, and gorgeous chocolate with foraged ingredients from Sciolti Botanical Chocolates.  I even bought some Battenburg Fudge from Tom's Fudge which looked just like a slice of Battenberg and I was going to photograph for the blog, but it didn't last long enough!

Best of all I found Ginger's Comfort Emporium:

which I had seen in the Good Food Magazine and was hoping would be there.  Despite the 10 degree temperature and the drizzle I had to have one and I have to say her Plum Crumble Ice Cream was to die for!  I will be scouring Chorlton for her this summer!

We went to a children's cookery class where daughter made butter, tomato soup and carbon dioxide and we went to Emilly Ladybird's demo of how to make Gin and Tonic Cupcakes taken from her up and coming Steampunk Tea Party cookbook. Steampunk cookery; very entertaining!

We also went to a Coeur de Xocolat chocolate tasting session which gave me the funniest moment of the day.  After looking at, touching and smelling the chocolate, we were instructed to listen to the chocolate.  We all dutifully held the chocolate to our ears and the instructor asked,

"What is it saying?"

I swear, to a man, every woman in the place said ............

"Eat me!"

We had a great day out and we've come home with lots of lovely things to eat.  

And it didn't cost £300!

Perfect!

Double Standards?

On Saturday, you may recall, hubby and daughter went to Wembley to see City lose the FA Cup.  It cost £115 per ticket plus petrol to Wembley and back, say....... £300.  (I'm trying not to think about it)

Well, this Saturday is the Foodies Festival at Tatton Park.

"Shall I get us tickets?" I asked hubby, "Children under 12 go free"

"How much are adults?"  he asked.

"£12 each", I replied.

"That's a bit steep" he said.

?!

A Day to Myself

It's not often it happens, but yesterday it did.  Hubby and daughter, along with a few friends, set of for Wembley for the FA Cup Final:

(We won't mention the score)

So what did I do while they were away?

Well, I pottered about the house for bit tidying and doing washing.  Then I nipped to the Post Office to post a package.  Then, I went in search of a fabric shop I had heard about:

I found Leon's Fabrics in Chorlton, which was a fabulous place, packed with loads of different fabrics and very helpful staff.  I just enjoyed looking through all their stock and I found some fabric that might be good for daughter's Victorian costume.

I came home to have a peaceful lunch, on my own.

Made a batch of fudge.  

As you do.

Then, it was time to head off into Manchester for a rehearsal for a concert.

Between rehearsal and concert I had a meal out with members of the choir. 

Good food, good conversation.

Then, after the concert, I came home to...................

(and this is the best bit)

.............. a neat and tidy house exactly as I had left it!!

Sew far, sew good!

Calm has descended on the Working Mum household. I've got through the last four, very busy weeks and now I can relax a little.  Daughter's birthday is done and two of my classes have now gone on study leave, giving me a little more breathing space. 

I have a concert next Saturday, but with hubby taking daughter to "Wemberleee" for the FA Cup Final, I'll have the day to myself to wander around Manchester and have a pleasant meal with the choir between rehearsal and concert.

And this weekend, this Bank Holiday, extra long weekend, I had nothing planned!

A whole three days of not having to do anything (except daughter's homework and piano practice of course, oh, and the washing, ironing and cleaning, but that's just normal stuff) so, inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee I decided that I would revamp a couple of plain cardigans.

Here's my plain purple one:

And here's daughter's plain pink one:

A quick trip to Dunelm Mill yielded some braid, sequins, buttons and thread:

Now, the really hard bit:  

Find a place to hide in the house where no one will mither you, take a cup of tea, a Miss Marple DVD and a few chocolates to keep you going.  Then, a couple of hours later.............

Voila, new cardis!

Bear Birthday

This weekend was daughter's 9th birthday and after wearing ourselves out last year doing an Olympic Party, (and that was with 3 PE teachers helping!) we decided to take the easy option and throw money at her birthday this year.  We invited 8 girls to a Build a Bear Workshop Party followed by lunch at Pizza Hut.  It was easy, stress free and daughter said it was "awesome"!

Daughter chose Paddington Bear:

 while her friends chose a variety of other bears.

They stuffed them, hugged them and dressed them.  

We then trooped along to Pizza Hut where they built their pizzas, ate them and then had unlimited ice-cream factory:

Then it was time for the cake...........

I didn't know what to do this year, so my  hairdresser suggested a pizza cake.  

Great idea!

I didn't have much time last week, so in true, Working Mum style, I had to be organised.  Last Saturday I made the sponge and put it in the freezer, I made the buttercream and put it in the fridge and grated some white chocolate.  Then, on Thursday, after I'd dropped daughter at Brownies, I popped into my local pizza place and begged a box off them, came home, made the decorations and assembled the cake:

 I think she liked it.

 

Happy 9th Birthday, Izzy!

Cakes and Brakes

So here are the cakes I made for a cupcake demo for year 11 pupils:

Today I thought I would get ahead and prepare everything in advance for daughter's birthday cake before I go to sing at the Bridgewater Hall this afternoon.  Her birthday is on Friday and with Choir rehearsal on Tuesday, another Parents' Evening this Wednesday (I'm sure that's the 37th Parents' Evening I've done this year) and piano lesson and Brownies on Thursday, I just won't have much time during the week.

I baked the cake, which I can freeze, I made the buttercream which is now in the fridge and I decided to check the colours of regal ice I had for the decorations.  I needed two more colours and thought I'd nip to the cake shop and buy them rather than waste time making them.

I hopped into my car, turned it on, took the handbrake off and.............. my car wouldn't move.

Checked again, yes, handbrake is off.  

Car won't move.  

Brakes locked.

Aaaaaargh!!

Have now booked my car into garage on Tuesday.  Fingers crossed it will manage to get around tomorrow (I'm doing a chocolate course) and Monday (need it to take daughter and friend to choir rehearsals after school).

What else can conspire to make my life even busier than it already is?

You know all those plates I spin? I dropped one.

Life doesn't get any easier, does it?

Take this weekend.  I had agreed to do a cupcake demo at school on Monday knowing that I had all day Sunday to prepare while hubby took daughter to swimming and riding in the morning and a party in the afternoon.

Then, Manchester City decided to play a match at Wembley and there seems to be some unwritten rule that if your team plays at Wembley you have to go.  So, no hubby on Sunday.

This meant that I had to prepare for demo (about 5 hours work) whilst doing housework, supervising daughter's homework and piano practice and about 4 hours marking all on Saturday so that I could do daughter duty on Sunday. 

Just about doable.

I had arranged my Tesco delivery (with ingredients for cakes) for Saturday morning, but, when I got home from work on Friday I found signs all down my road from the council telling us to park in the next road because they were closing ours for the next two days for resurfing work. 

14 hours notice!!

Really?

Too late to cancel Tesco.

Luckily, Tesco managed to deliver early on Saturday before the road was closed, I got all my cake prep done, four lots of washing and ironing, supervised daughter's homework, music theory and piano practice and did 2 hours marking before we went out for dinner with friends.

Then, on Sunday I did swimming lesson, riding lesson, home for quick shower and lunch, then braved the Trafford Centre for the party.  I had to park virtually in Salford Quays, we hiked all the way to the Laser Quest and waited for the other girls from daughter's class.

No one turned up.

"Funny", I thought, "We're not that early".

I asked at reception.

The party had been on Saturday.

Oops!

Moral of the story:

Mummy can't do everything.

 

Great British Sewing Bee

I didn't even realised this programme was happening until the day it was on.  Great British Bake Off with fabric and haberdashery!  Fab!

Apparently sewing is making a comeback.  We are snapping up sewing machines by the dozen and a sewing revolution is taking place across Britain.

I used to make my own clothes when I was in sixth form and at university.  Mainly because it was cheaper to make them than buy them, but, when cheap far eastern imports started arriving, it was cheaper to buy them than make them, so I stopped.

I've done cross-stitch for fun and I'm currently making daughter a patchwork quilt.  I occasionally borrow my mum's sewing machine for little projects such as making curtains for daughter's playhouse:

(Remember this?)

and I recently used it to make some bunting, but I haven't made clothes for twenty years.

Now, next year there is yet another of one of daughter's 

"Please send your daughter in a ******* costume" days

and this time it's Victorians.  I thought a quick apron and a mop cap would be pretty easy to do.  I studied them at Quarry Bank Mill to see how to make them and was pretty happy, but then daughter threw this in:

"If you go as a servant the teachers pick on you, if you go as a lady they don't, so I want to be a Victorian lady"

I can see her point, so I've been trying to think how I can concoct a Victorian lady's costume.  I've spent hours watching Long Susan in Ripper Street:

competely missing the story, to study her clothes, but I was struggling.  Then, after watching the Great British Sewing Bee I remembered that I was perfectly capable of following a pattern so a quick trip to Amazon yielded this:

I reckon the one on the bottom right without the ribbon across the bodice, made in a dark fabric and adorned with lace would produce a Victorian lady's dress.

The only trouble is, can I remember how to sew?

Help me, Patrick and May:

Don't tell anyone but .....

............. yesterday daughter went to friend's house for a sleepover, so .......

.... hubby and I left the house .....

.... after dinner ....

... TOGETHER!

Yes, we went out together!

At the same time!

With each other!

 

Why I Bank On-line

Blog fodder is like buses.  

Nothing for weeks and then lots comes at once.

This time a rant about incompetent banking.

Lately I have been sorting out our savings accounts. Given the abysmal rates of interest on our accounts I have been opening new accounts on-line and transferring money into them.  Unfortunately, you can't close accounts on-line, so I popped into my local branch of the Halifax.  After queueing for 15 mins I got to the information desk and asked about closing accounts.

"We haven't any appointments to see you now, but you can close accounts at the cash desks", the girl said.

So I queued for another 15 mins to get to a cashier.

I gave the woman a piece of paper on which I had written "close" and the sort codes and account numbers of three accounts I wanted to close.

"Where do you want your balances going?" she asked.

"You can put it in here", I said, passing her a Halifax cash card.

After 5 mins of messing about, trying to get the printer to work and studying my piece of paper she announced:

"I've closed the wrong account.  I've closed this one"

 and she held up the cash card of the one account I didn't want closing!

"Well, open it again" I said.

"Oh, I can't do that, once it's closed it's closed"

I was not a happy bunny.

She then passed me the paperwork to sign to close the account.

I looked at it and said, "If I don't sign this, is the account not closed?"

"No, it's already closed"

What kind of system is that?!

One in which she can close my account before handing me the paperwork to check.

By now I'd been 40 mins in the Halifax and had only paid for an hour in the car park.  

I came home, fuming.

The following day I tried to open a new account in place of the closed one, but on-line I couldn't open a joint one, nor could you request a cash card.  I opened an account in my name and phoned them to request cards for myself and my husband.

"I can do that for you, but not until the account has been open 24 hours, you'll have to ring back tomorrow"

So the next day I rang to request cash cards for both of us.

" We can't issue a card for your husband because it isn't a joint account"

Not what I'd been told the day before.

"Can you change the account to a joint one?"

"No, you have to do that in branch"

Not on your nelly!

"I could put you through to your local branch and you can ask them to send you a form for you and your husband to sign?" she suggested.

"Ok", I conceded.

So she put me through to my local branch:

"Hello?  Hello?  Hello?" the girl at the branch said and promptly hung up on me.

I give up!

This is why I bank on-line:

BECAUSE I CAN DO IT MORE EFFICIENTLY THAN THE PEOPLE WHO ARE PAID TO DO IT!!