The Polka Dot Tent

Polka dot frock

Pamela was right. You cannot be too over dressed for fish and chips. Especially not when you're hosting a party, and have spent the best part of a fortnight feeling rather ropey due to dodgy iron levels. The combination of iron tablets (and plenty of steak and broccoli) kicking in, this frock and a new lipstick to go with it were just the thing to get me ready for a lovely night with friends.

Best not to mention the ever so slightly wonky mirror. The husband has already made that mistake. I'll get round to correcting it one day. Let's just say my impatience got the better of me, and this was the result of my best efforts with a pencil, a set square and a drill. That mirror is a lot heavier than you'd imagine, and I am sure it's the factory fixtures on the mirror itself that are a bit out, and not my measuring...

The dress is a beauty to wear. The silk is suitably swishy and luxurious feeling. I don't know why I held off finishing the thing for so long, as I thoroughly loved wearing it. Still, I plan to adjust it ready for next summer, so I can enjoy wearing it when I am about a third of the size I am now if this photo is anything to go by.

Nearly 39 weeks - nothing subtle about this bump...

I don't think I look that enormous - until I turn sideways, that is! And then for the comedy bump, and the realisation that turning sideways to let someone pass you in a corridor just doesn't help.

Honey Chocolate Cake, Nigella's Feast

I am going to make a bold statement now, and say that this cake is the only recipe you need ever bother with when it comes to fulfilling your gooey chocolate cake needs. Nigella has cracked the art of gooey chocolate cake. You won't regret making this. My only regret was that there was only the tiniest slither left for me by the time I'd served everyone else some.

I think it's funny I am pictured here with my friend and running partner Louise, as we are about to tuck into our fish and chips. I've missed our Sunday morning runs together where we put the world to rights, and am looking forward to a return to that after baby is born.

And here is another friend I met through running when pushing our children round the park as babies in prams. Although since those days, Iciar has also become a true queen of crochet - and is regularly seen wearing beautiful cardigans she has made herself.

Her house warming present to me was a fabulous book on crochet squares. And no, it has not taken me long to get started on something, not least because I already had some wool and a hook that I had no fixed plans for beyond `something purple to go in the front room'.

I am trying to slow down and not spend the little amount of time left before birth rushing about the place. Making little squares (maybe for a cushion if I get enough of them done?) may be just the thing to keep me happy on the sofa and save my energy for what's ahead.

A  reminder of a very happy evening with lovely friends

Food Top Trumps #4: Hummingbird Bakery's Banana and Cinnamon Muffins

Banana and Cinnamon Muffins (with added chocolate)

What do you do with a bunch of browning slightly bruised bananas no one particularly wants to eat?

Make muffins. I have tried several banana muffin recipes. Today, for the first time, I tried making the ones in the Hummingbird Bakery book. And they are good. Especially when you take their advice of adding some chopped up chocolate to the mixture. Because doing that cannot fail to improve things, right?

The Scores:

1. Popular with my girls: 10/10. The biggest girl scored these `ten trillion'. Even with a Maths teacher as her Dad, she doesn't get that the score needs to be a number between zero and ten when marking something out of ten.

2. Easy and simple to remember: 10/10. Nothing hard about making these at all. And I am sure if I made them enough times, I'd be able to commit this recipe to memory. You could even have children helping to make them. If you wanted the process to take three times longer and result in extra mess in the kitchen, that is.

3. Made up of things usually in the cupboard that don't cost much: 10/10. As already mentioned, this was using up old bananas that were in danger of festering in the fruit bowl for a few more days before getting chucked. Nothing else used that I wouldn't normally have in. The recipe says to use buttermilk. I never buy this, as a friend recommended ages ago you can get the same effect by mixing half milk and half cheap natural yoghurt.

4. Vaguely healthy: 8/10. Okay, so I admit I added 100 grams of chocolate, and the recipe also contains butter and sugar, BUT it does use up almost 6 bananas. I made 18 decent sized muffins - if you ate three of them, that would count as one of your five a day. Good, I think, when you consider the other cake options out there.

5. Yummy to eat: 9/10. Very yummy, especially if you eat them whilst the chocolate is still warm and runny. Yum. I also really liked the crackly effect of sprinkling some sugar and cinnamon on the top of the muffins just before putting them into the oven. Very pleasing...

Bonus points for making something new - 5.

TOTAL POINTS: 52

Making this the Food Top Trump so far.

I'd love to hear from any readers who have a Food Top Trumps of their own. You know me, I am always happy to try something lovely to eat in the name of science.

The post about the cat spending a penny (or, rather, £89) and other things

Got a cup of tea ready? This is a rambling on for ages about not much in particular kind of post. Ready?

Possibly the most expensive wee ever?

Last Friday morning, the cat developed a strange new party trick. Peeing in the bathroom sink. Nice.

And, as there seemed to be traces of blood there, too, I got on the phone to the vet.

"Can you bring in a sample, please?"

"Really?!", I say (my tone of voice probably indicating that what I am actually thinking is "Are you insane?").

After a ten minute consultation, including a couple of jabs, a brave inspection of the cat's teeth, the vet sent me on my way with some medicine for her and a urine testing kit so I could return with a sample as requested. Oh, that'll be £89, thanks.

If ever I needed confirmation that the cat has well and truly slid down the pecking order in our affections with each child that has entered the house, this recent experience has done just that. Not her fault, but the whole experience made me thoroughly grumpy at the time. Particularly shutting her in the bathroom to wait for her to perform in the litter tray onto her (very expensive) non-absorbent litter granules so I could then be gassed by the stench before diligently sucking up a sample using the dropper thing. As our feline friend normally does all her business outside of the house, I was until that point happily ignorant of quite how much cat wee stinks.

Thankfully, she seems not to notice the drugs I have been lacing her food with, and is back to her normal self. Fingers crossed she doesn't live up to predictions and have a recurring water works problem, or else I will be seriously grumpy.

In other news, my current courses are going along really nicely. Monday nights are all about making little gifts for children (this week it was simple gathered skirts in funky prints with camper vans all over them) and Wednesday nights are all about cushions and big bags in some pretty Cath Kidston fabrics.

Much as I love being able to spend a couple of evenings a week sharing my passion for sewing with others, there is a downside. It often introduces me to even more fabric temptation, as I coo over the goodies the ladies turn up with for making their projects.

For instance, just a week ago, I was unaware of this beautiful specimen (Mrs Bishop, you have a lot to answer for!). After several days of pondering, and dreaming (yes, I do sometimes dream about fabric - doesn't everyone?) of Roman blinds for my new bedroom made with it, I caved, and a parcel has just arrived. The money spent was less than that on the cat and will (I imagine) provide me with a lot more pleasure in years to come as I sit in bed and drink my morning cup of tea whilst enjoying the sunshine streaming through the windows (still dreaming).

As I have done no sewing of my own this week - beyond the proud act of sewing some swimming badges onto towels for my three little girls (yes, even the littlest one who screamed her way through the first half term of her lessons, needing to be peeled off me and dropped into the pool has earned a badge) - here are some pictures to chart what I have been up to.

Monday morning baking BEFORE SCHOOL.

Partly due to necessity of what to put in packed lunches after a busy weekend when you are due to be doing the supermarket shop later that morning...

...it turns out these last minute `Roly Poly Pizzas' as I have called them are "the most delicious thing ever".

If I ever bother to write this up as a Food Top Trumps contender, I think this could be a winner. Nothing fancy that I didn't already have in the cupboard, and made in between mouthfuls of my bowl of Weetabix, this has been a huge hit.

Perfectly runny boiled eggs for lunch, with sparkly Marmite soldiers. Need I say more?

Chocolate cake making with the littlest girl hovering, ready to enjoy the spatula licking pleasure alone as her sisters are at school.

My gamble over winging it without greaseproof paper failed miserably. Readers, please note, butter is not enough to prevent Devil's Food Cake sticking horribly to the bottom of the tins and refusing to come out in one piece.

Much butter icing was needed to cement the crumbs together.

Still, I am taking this as a positive. In times gone by, my inner perfectionist would not have allowed this cake to see the light of day - let alone be offered up to friends coming round for a cuppa. Now, I am content with the pretty sparkly butterflies on top and the hope that the cake will probably taste good anyway.

Not since baking with my Nan has a cake ever left the tin in so many pieces. Baking was not her forte, but she still had a go whenever she was looking after me, albeit with fairy cake kits where you just needed to add milk and an egg and some nice rice paper decorations at the end (always the best bit).

Which brings me on to my next nice thing about the week. Games!

Bedford locals - the bottom game was £1 from the brilliant Emmaus Village Carlton and has all the bits. Cheap toys and a scrumptious cafe that doesn't break the bank either. Get. Yourselves. Down. There. 

My Nan had a cupboard full of games like this, and was always willing to spend several hours playing them with me.

I would love my little girls to enjoy playing these games too - not least because of how much I enjoyed them, but, also, because I can see this as paying off for me in terms of the potential to provide them with something fun to do without too much involvement from me in the times when I am a bit preoccupied with a house move and a new baby on the way.

Connect 4 has gone down well with the girls. They seem to get it. Although quite a bit of coaxing has been needed to stop them each in turn throwing a strop when they lose.

"The next person who loses graciously and says `well done' to their opponent will get a house point," I said. Great. Two smooth rounds of Connect 4 followed, each ending with the middle girl angelically congratulating her big sister. Then came the third round, and the biggest girl pausing as she was about to win again, and turning to me. "But I really want a house point," she said.

Hmm. Good point. I am not exactly sending the right message here, I thought. Okay, if you can all play the next few rounds without me needing to intervene, you all get a house point. Bingo. Worked a treat. Not sure where the fine line between bribery and rewards for good behaviour is, but I am happy with that. Maybe in another universe somewhere there exist similar children who can play games nicely without such bribes or fights, but house points seem to be working for now.

And, keen as I am to find ways to get them picking their stuff up off the floor (as, quite frankly I have had enough of attempting to reach down to do it with a big baby tummy in the way), I am giving out house points like they are, well, very cheap little sticky dots that come in packs of 1000 to be stuck onto their charts.

Small children don't get economics. They don't understand that it is no different for everyone to get three points for completing the tidying up or to just get one. But this week I have realised they whirr into action really quickly when they think they are getting three. So I offer them three. It has made a nice change from being grumpy Mummy threatening them with The Bag of Doom for all toys still on the floor at the end of the day.

We finally finished the pigs!

It took a lot of self control to not step in and assist with the painting process. Especially when the ears on the littlest girl's pig just kept getting bigger and bigger.

But aren't they lovely? I think the sight of these bright pink pigs on our windowsill is a lovely one. (Still not rushing to repeat the experience of paper mache with three small children, though.)

Sun flower update: Day 8 and we have the first signs of life!

And, thank goodness, there are (just) signs of life on all three of the pots planted by the girls on the same day. And everyone who knows anything about small children will know how important that is.

Bye for now!

Food Top Trumps #3: Mary Berry's Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie was one of my favourite puddings when I was little.

My Mum's LMP is delicious.

Spot some fabric and handles for my next bag make? They match the pie!

The thing is, I bought a pie dish (finally) earlier on in the week, and was well, just a bit too impatient to wait for her to come home from holiday (so I could get her recipe) to use it.

So, if you could all keep quiet about the fact I have used another woman's recipe instead, I'd be grateful. Okay?

That said, I think that if you have to choose another woman other than your own mum to take you through making a classic pudding, there are worse people you could choose than national treasure Mary Berry. Here's the link!

The pleasure of making this dish was almost a great as that of eating it. Those lemons smelled nostril tingling fantastic as they were being squished.

I was slightly worried the mixture looked a bit like yellowish wall paper paste for a while...

...but it all came good in the end.

Now, I'll admit now, the bottom on my finished pie is a bit soggy. Maybe I should have pricked the base a bit more with a fork, or maybe this is just always going to happen given the filling...? More pies need to be made, I feel.

Look at how clean my oven is! Not my doing - all thanks to my brother in law for paying someone to come and clean it as a surprise for me. Maybe I'll thank him with a pie...? (I wonder if he is reading this!)

 Anyhow, isn't it funny how children show a sudden interest in cooking the moment there are beaters and bowls to be licked?

The middle girl was off school poorly the day I made the pie. The two of them must have spent about an hour standing washing up (which I then needed to re wash). Simple pleasures.

Here are some pastry people, made using the leftovers.

And the moment I had been waiting for!

This pie has been such a temptation, sitting in the fridge. Not least because none of my children seem to like it very much (can you believe that?!), and so it is just there, calling to me.

Not the prettiest presentation - and maybe the curd was a bit sloppy.

But the taste. Oh my goodness.

I still cannot get over the fact my children don't like this childhood favourite of mine!

Fridge mice have been at work on the edges of the pastry. I blame the man of the house.

The scores!

1. Popular with my girls - a disappointing 1. Seeing my excitement at serving up something so special, the eldest daughter did her best to be polite. But they just didn't like it. In fact, the middle girl didn't taste it on the day it was made (due to being poorly) but still stuck the knife in by declaring "well, I know I won't like it because the white bits and the yellow bits are both yucky!".

2. Easy and simple recipe to remember - not really. This took quite a lot of effort to make, purely down to the stages involved. That said, I loved making it, and it will no doubt embed into my head. It gets a 5.

3.  Made up of things usually in the cupboard and doesn't cost too much - this gets a 9. No special ingredients, beyond more lemons that you would normally have in the house. And nothing expensive, either.

4. Vaguely healthy. Hmm - 3? There are a lot of lemons in this. When I shared my excitement at making LMP with my sister in law, she even pointed out that I could probably have two slices, and claim one of them was giving the baby one of its five a day. I'm sure lemons are packed full of vitamins, and this recipe used six big fat juicy ones. But the sugar and butter? I have probably just given myself diabetes...

5. Yummy to eat. This has to get a 10 - even taking into account the rejection from my children. What do they know? My husband has gushed about the pastry (well done, Mary) and, well. I love this dish so much I have replaced proper meals with it. (Should I admit to that?)

Bonus points for making something new - 5.

TOTAL POINTS: 33

Still a bit gutted that this has not been a hit with my children - even though I have loved making it and eating it - as this means I cannot really pretend I am making it as a selfless act next time round, and so it limits its use to occasions when other people are going to be there to help eat it, or otherwise I will end up greedily consuming it on my own and we all know that LMP does not really constitute a balanced diet once you go beyond a slice (or two) a day.

Maybe their taste buds will grow to appreciate it as they grow older?