Little laughs

How can a 6 month old be so comical?!

We have laughed so much at little man today.. Initially he was doing his usual forcing out farts and burps..really made him giggle today, he absolutely loved it!

Then he was perfecting his crawling backwards around the bedroom, picking up clothes and bras on the way..

The best though, was when he was head banging against his dad, for about two minutes we were all stuck laughing including Freddie who was amazed that we were all having the same reaction.

He is curled up snoring his little button nose off. So tempted to wake him for a munch. I resisted. 💙

No day!

Well I always get too excited about the snow..this morning was no exception. Looked out the window to see this.. 

Shameful!

No snow men here just soggy cat and dog paw prints. 

Smooth-ie operator

New year..new me.

The mantra everyone starts with when jan 1st comes rolling in, I wonder how many of us have given up the resolutions we had already!

I haven't given up mine.. Which was to get a smoothie maker haha (attainable!)

I currently use my blender and pour into a glass and chug it in one, when I was at work this would be before I left house, a bit of a feat at 6.15!

With doing weight watchers, a smoothie is an easy way to fill up, get in loads of fruit and have a quick breakfast all on very little or no points...great for me! Sometimes I beef it out with oats and have a "thickie" or for little or no sleep days..peanut butter and coffee (amazing)

There is a massive fad at the moment for smoothie makers that have an on the go bottle attachment, blend and go! This would be great for me to drink when I got to work or even have when I'm out with Freddie..

but which one?

Cheaper versions that have a lower wattage, less power to crush ice effectively(drives me crazy) or the high speed versions for a lot more money?

What do you guys have? Or am I better off sticking with my blender!

Tinsel and tantrums...

Today is the day I will put up the decs!

That was my waking thought this morning. Now, I'm sat in the loft looking through boxes of old crap and my hoarding pile and I just CBA. 

The dogs will eat the tree..the cats (x3) will be playing assasins with each other amongst the baubles (if there are any that's aren't broken up here) and then I remeber how much I love it in January when the living room looks bare and Christmas free...

That's the christmas spirit right there!!

Great british good festival

Yesterday we had a family trek to the lovely Ragley hall grounds for the Great British Food Festival. About an hours drive from us, neither of us had heard about the festival or the hall before!

We expected the festival to be inside the hall but it was all situated in the beautiful grounds and it was massive!

So many different suppliers..from cakes and sweet treats..

To pastries and garlic..

Lovely sausage rolls.. (Smile!!)

We got to sample to many lovley things, our favourite was a delicious pizza from Dough It Yourself who make up baking mixes for biscuits, cakes and pizzas bases so you can make you own artisan food in no time, at home.

So easy and quick to make your own tasty pizza base and add your own toppings!

There were some speciality meat stalls, selling mallards, wild boar, zebra and ostrich to name but a few..

We brought a wild boar pie and a lovley game pie from  Peter Gott at Sillfield Farm stall. Neither had an overpowering taste, I thought they may be too "gamey" but they had a pleasant meaty favour, packed with meat and lovely pie jelly.

Throughout the day there were some popular "Man vs..." Meat, heat and cake! We were at the back of the crowd for the extremely popular man vs heat with several courses of chillis, even sick buckets and paramedics on-site in case someone was poorly! As you can see it was definitely one for the spectators!

We sampled lots of food and ale throughout the day. I had smoked brisket bean and coleslaw on a brioche bun. The brisket was very tender, smoky beans added a lovely flavour and the sweet brioche complimented it very well. 

Hubby had a hot dog which had sausage from the estate on, this was also very scrummy and not too overpowering spices, just lovely pork.

We both sampled some of the lovely sweet treats from Narna's Chocolates myself having a gooey chocolate brownie and Rich had a peanut butter fudge cake.. Both were heavenly, rich and a real treat..we could have saved some for later however we ate them regardless!! We should have really brought more!

The stalls were near a fishing pool so we sat there to enjoy a lovely pint of ale from one of the pop-up bars. 

It was an excellent day out and we found out that there is also a christmas festival that we may visit too!

Post baby night out..

Last night was my SILs birthday party, and my first night out since having the Fredster.

I don't really go out much anyway but this time my going out nerves were teamed with baby worry nerves! So stressed I decided to clean the house to take my mind off it for a bit. The jitters were only solved by the hubby bringing me a bottle of IPA!

Piglet was alseep before I went out and had a boys night in with his daddy, whilst I attempted to walk in my Irregular Choice shoes (swapping for flats on the way down, and going shoeless in the resturant)

It wasn't a late one for me, I do not deal well with hangovers, usually horizontal and vomiting all day with a headache like a wardrobe has fell on it. Im always jealous of the people who have hangovers and need a greasy fry up to rectify it, honestly I can imagine how good the salty, greasy goodness is, soaking up all of the evidence if the night before.

I did discover a new fave cocktail though..amaretto sour, literally like citrus marzipan in a glass. Slipped down like a dream!

Anyway. I'm now wide awake, Freddie is wrestling around, awake in his Moses and everytime I look at him he is laughing at me! Little bugger.

Sourdough

Currently I'm having a (basic) baking phase.

I have cracked out cakes, cupcakes, shortbread and scones...now it's time for bread.

Crispy, moreish, comforting bread smothered with thick butter is what I'm craving. So, i'm

going to have a go a sourdough.

Sourdough is made with the use of"wild" yeast incorporated into the dough with a sourdough starter, a basic mix of equal parts of water and flour that you leave to ferment over about 5 days, whilst keeping it warm and feeding it(with more flour and water)Like a pet! The wild yeast is present in your kictchen and the original four you use for the starter, the fermentation and feeding brings it to life.

So, today is day one of my sourdough starter. Here he is, meet Ned. 

(Ned the bread)

He is currently warm and cosy on top of the fridge...ready for a feed Tomo!