Perfect Basmati Rice

I consider myself to be a pretty good cook. I can bake, do a mean roast and if I say so myself my shortcrust pastry is fabulous. However, until about a year ago I had never been able to cook basmati rice. Occasionally I’d get it right, but I had no idea how, most of time it was a sticky, mushy mess, like a savory rice pudding.

So, as with most things that stump me I took to Twitter, someone always knows what to do and sure enough I had many suggestions from friends that I know are a marvel in the kitchen. Having tried them all I can reveal that Victoria’s is the simplest and the most reliable and as she will never blog it, I feel it is my public duty to do so.

• Measure you rice by volume into a saucepan. I use a cup measure.
• Add double the amount of cold water.
• Bring to the boil. This is when you need to be a bit careful, as once it is boiling to need to turn it down.
• Cover saucepan with a lid and turn the hob to it’s lowest setting
• Set a timer for 10mins
• After 10mins, turn heat off, remove lid and fluff with a fork.
• Replace lid and set timer for a further 10mins
• Eat

That’s it, no rinsing, no soaking. Perfect results every time.

You’re welcome.

Stepping over it

Life is busy, birthdays, school admission stuff, extra nursery sessions, on top of the normal rounds of trips to the park, biscuit making and ironing. It’s all getting done. I am getting it done and I am fine.

Kind of. The annoying thing about sadness is that it doesn’t just go away because you will it to do so. It hangs around, mostly hiding, poking out in the quiet moments or if you have few quiet moments it makes some for you, by waking you up before it’s even light.

I’d like to that that very British thing of just putting it all in a mental box and burying it. Just step over it. I know the drill, have felt it all before, so can’t I just skip all this? Except it doesn’t work like that. You can’t just step over the bits of life that you don’t like, you have to go through them to reach the lightness ahead. How very annoying and inconvenient.

Comparing yourself to others worse off than you doesn’t magic it away either. Regardless of the fact that you know what you are going through is really nothing and that others are in real, raw, justified pain, you still feel what you feel. I look at what I have and I know I am lucky, in fact I don’t just know it, I feel it too. Lucky and grateful, but emotions are not completely in our control, they can’t simply be swept away by logic. Much better to let them in and wait until they wash away on their own, slowly eroded by time.

I often think that these emotions have faded and then something happens to make me realise that I have just been stepping over them and they have not gone at all. This week it struck that  the latest round of pregnancy announcements have hurt just a little more because, they have similar due dates to the one I would have had if things had been different. The magical twelve weeks would have been and gone. The realisation takes my breathe away for a moment and a sigh leaves my body, an almost physical accepting and releasing of an emotion.

There is nothing to be done. I have everything I need to be better, it simply takes time and I am impatient. I must wait it out. Wait it out and write it out, because that is all that I know.

Four

There are many things about parenthood that you expect to be one thing and they turn out to be quite another. Bedtime is one of them. You are led to believe it is a time for giggly baths, sniffing the top of little cherubs clean heads and snuggly stories and it does, indeed, have all these elements, but mainly, it’s an hour of cajoling, negotiating and probably some shouting.

Birthdays are another. I hadn’t given any thought to how I might feel about my children’s birthdays and so it came as quite a shock when I found them bittersweet. Of course it is so lovely to see them healthy and happy on their special day, but it means another year has gone in a blur. they are so changed from the last one, not in a bad way, but just changed.

However, this year feels different somehow, even if four does seem like a big number. Although if you look back at the archives, I probably said the same about three, two and even one, four does seem particularly BIG. School starts at four. This year’s presents have included a pedal bike and proper watch and even though it is all so grown up, it doesn’t seem to be stinging quite so much.

I wonder if Mini Mck’s excitement accounts for my change of attitude. Helping him plan his party and making sure all his ideas are included has been a real joy, although I did have to override him when it came to balloon colours. Purple? At a fire party? I don’t think so!

Watching his sharp intake of breath and instant grin every time his birthday is mentioned makes it all so much easier. He wants to be four and I suspect that four will suit him quite well. He has always been an independent minded boy and recently his body is catching up with what his brain wants it to do. He has the dexterity to get himself dressed, pour himself a drink or colour in the lines. His imagination is exploding and his thirst for learning keeps him amused and stimulated. This all seems to make him comfortable in his own skin.

There have still been times today that have caught my breath, mainly when I think about him staying all day at nursery for the first time on Monday, or the fact that we are finding out about schools this week, but mainly I have enjoyed watching him be a birthday boy. Perhaps, as time passes, I am finally learning that whatever age he is there is always good stuff to come and that makes it easier to leave the stuff that is gone, in the past.

I can’t promise to be as philosophical in six week’s time when my baby turns TWO *sob*  

Quiet

Over-sharing on the Internet is a funny thing. Sometimes it is great, we can read something and feel less alone, more understood, or we can read something and feel pulled into someone’s pain, when we don’t feel up to it. We spill our innermost thoughts and feelings onto the screen, but does it really help and is it fair to our readers, who may have just popped along for coziness and tales of small children?

But then again, a personal blog is not a magazine, it is a reflection of a person’s life, it goes hand in hand with whatever is going on and encompasses all the ups and downs of a life. For me, I find it hard to sound authentic or muster enthusiasm for writing here, if I am holding back. If I feel as if I am hiding something.

Things have been a little quiet around here lately for that very reason. I have been trying to keep quiet that just over a couple of weeks ago I found out I was pregnant and of course we all know you are not supposed to share this news in the early weeks. If I am honest, I am not really sure why. Any loss in the early weeks is still a loss that hurts and a life that was hoped for. I know very well that even if others don’t know, I do and the pain of a pregnancy loss is just as keen whether you have shared the news or not. So, who are we trying to protect? Ourselves or the people we would have told who wouldn’t know what to say and would shuffle their feet awkwardly.

This is all my rather clumsy way of getting around to my own over-share, as I had confirmed today that yet again, my pregnancy will be going no further. For the fourth time I have experienced that sinking feeling when you know it is over and once again you must pack up the hope and plans and start again. As a friend said, I only knew for two weeks, but without even knowing it, I had imagined a whole lifetime.

So, lovely readers, I share this with you in my space, my corner, not to ruin your day or make you feel bad, but simply because it is happening, it is now and it is me. It will change me in small ways, stay with me and become part of the fabric of my life. This blog records the fabric of my life and so it is right that it should be here, because that is how life is.

There will be tales of pretty crochet and crazy children to come. Of course there will, because that is also me, but for today, for this week, I am sad. My heart is a little broken and so is my body. They will both heal and repair, but perhaps with a tiny, imperceptible crack. You won’t be able to see it, my boys won’t be able to see it and most of the time I won’t even see it, but like a tiny freckle that fades in and out with the sun, sometimes it will be there.

A bit of a moan and a lovely ta-daa

For one month either myself or my children have had a cold. Mine started three weeks ago and is still going strong. In fact it feels like one, or mostly all three of us, have had a cold since September. That’s not true, of course, but I am sure I could count the weeks on my fingers that we have been germ free. I am tired of it. Tired of coughing and wiping other people’s noses. Tired of sneezing and administering Calpol. Tired of blowing my nose and hearing my children coughing in the night, praying they won’t wake up. Added to this the snow has returned and the bitter wind. After a week of warmer weather and some sunny days, I am back to coats and scarves and hats and mittens. To be honest I am tired of that too.

It occurred to me today that as much as these things are dragging me down, I can’t change either of them. I can make sure we are all getting enough sleep and take some vitamins, make sure we are drinking plenty and eating well, but that isn’t necessarily going to change anything and I certainly can’t change the weather. I am yet to decide if this makes it all feel worse or better. In some ways it feels more frustrating, but in others it makes me shrug my shoulders and think that we should just look at some pretty stuff instead and I have just the thing.

May I present The Patchwork Hexagon Blanket…..

 

I have had the pale green wool for years and I mean years. From a time where I had the money to buy gorgeous yarn on a whim. I bought it to make a lace knitted shawl, which I then found I hated making and didn’t like the colour for that. Years later I realised it was the perfect colour for my lounge and so started a cable knit cushion cover. I didn’t get far with that either and so it too was ripped out and once again the wool went back into the stash. Until, the hex patchwork popped into my head.

As I had quite a lot of the pale green I tried to use more of that than anything else and as I wanted to keep costs down I decided a lap size would be fine. It measures roughly 110cm square and is made up of 90 hexagons, for those of you who like those little details. It’s never going to be thrown on a bed and is for snuggling in front of a film, so it’s the perfect size.

I used the Hexagon pattern from Lucy at Attic 24, but whilst she has a variety of colours in each hex, I decided to go for a patchwork look and I have to say what a huge delight it was to work each one in the same colour. So much quicker not to be doing lots of colour changes and far less ends to sew in. I joined each hex as I went, which was also new to me and quite a revelation. It was quite wonderful to see it grow as I hooked and know that I didn’t have to join it all at the end. I finished off with a round of half trebles and then a shell stitch edging in pale green and by the end I was left with maybe half a ball of my previously stashed, totally gorgeous, but discontinued pale green. *phew*

It was a joy to make and is a joy to snuggle under and frankly a much nicer blogging subject that colds and winter weather.

New Hookiness

Mother’s Day is only two weeks away, which is a bit scary, I think. It seems rather early this year, but then everything does. Mckdaddy goes back to school next week and then it’s only five weeks until Easter, then we race towards Mini Mck’s birthday and school confirmation and Nano’s birthday not long after. I guess that is how Spring should be really, everything coming out of hibernation and speeding up, but I always find it makes my head spin a little.

First on the list though is Mother’s Day and I have been working hard at creating some pretty treats for your Mums and maybe, if you send the link to your partners, they can be for you as well. In fact, I also think these would make great Easter Gifts for little girls that would perhaps prefer something other than chocolate. A friend of mine suggested certain rules for Mother’s Day gifts, which I whole heartily agree with. One gift per child and nothing from a supermarket. Gifts made by the children are acceptable, but only if accompanied by a ‘proper’ gift. May I suggest these as a great place to start.

Order early, it’s only me and my little hands creating these pieces, so make sure you don’t miss out. and incidentally who says kids are the only one who get badges on cards? How about a Mother’s Day card with a beautiful brooch for her to keep forever.

 

Happy shopping!

Project 365 – 5th Feb – 16th Feb

When I come to write these posts and I collect together the most recent Project 365 photos, it always strikes me how everyday these images are. I actually love this about them, the way they capture such small things that make up our days, but at the same time give me a brilliant sense of time. Of course, for me they say much more than just a random moment, they all have a story behind them.

For instance at 20 months Nano is only just showing an interest in TV and whilst we were at home, on our own, he bought me a blanket and pointed for me to follow him into the lounge so he could watch his big brother’s current favourite programme. A first.

Mini’s new fondness for cutting and sticking means that there he something he can do while I crochet. We spend many an hour sitting opposite each other, with Nano sleeping upstairs and the radio on in the background. Keeping each other company, whilst doing our own thing, or as Mini Mck says “both doing busy jobs”

In amongst the everyday is the odd moment that is unusual and special. Friends chatting over tea, no-one would know that we only see each other a few times a year, it looks so everyday, but is actually very special. Or perhaps, pancakes for tea, something that perhaps should happen more than once a year. If only I always had enough eggs in.

Oh, and the Liberty exercise books in the middle, I totally needed them. They are for Teal and Mustard business, which by the way, has some lovely new items which are perfect for Mother’s Day. It’s only three weeks away, you know.