Marbling Pretty Postcards

I used to love using the paper marbling technique as a child. I put it on my list of 101 things for myself as much as wanting to introduce Cameron to it.

My original plan was to make writing paper but we ended up using some plain white postcards because we tend to write more postcards than long letters and we already had some in the house.

Cameron has some sensory issues around using paints so this activity was really great in that he didn't have to get his hands in it much, and the results are quick. Also, he could wash his hands in between postcards to minimize any texture he didn't like.

Marbling inks are quite widely available. None of our local art or toy shops had them, but they don't tend to have much of what we want locally lately so we bought these ones, discounted because they were pre-used, on eBay. They look quite expensive on first glance, but you only need a little for the activity, so they would be a good group-share purchase if you're lucky enough to have friends who are interested in trying it out too.

We had a lot of fun with this and the sun even shone through the kitchen window for a while, making the colours and patterns even more beautiful.

I quite fancy the idea of marbling some eggs at Easter but am not entirely sure how we would dry them - that needs some more thought.

One more thing to mention about marbling - wear old clothes/aprons etc. The inks are oil based and will stain - I, unfortunately, found this out the hard way and my lovely Beatrix Potter apron looks rather odd with multi-coloured finger marks all over it! On the plus side, you can use them for marbling on fabric if the fancy takes you.

More info on Paper Marbling here.

Homemade Bubble Tea

An online friend who lives in London was raving about bubble tea a few months ago and us being out in the sticks, we hadn't even heard of it!

I researched a little bit and found a wiki page that seems to say the craze began in Taiwan in 1980 - I'm 30 years behind with the bubble tea craze apparently!

Last week we stumbled across a Chinese supermarket on a day out in York and just by chance, I found packets of pearl tapioca which is what puts the bubbles in bubble tea! I snapped some up and brought it home and started looking for recipes - me being me, I ended up concocting my own version.

I used tinned strawberries with half of the syrup, whizzed in the blender with some milk and a cooled, strong shot of green tea (we used decaf).

I followed the packet instructions for cooking the pearl tapioca and then let it cool before shaking it all together. The syrup from the strawberries made it sweet enough for us but you could add sugar or honey too.

The reviews were mixed. It wasn't my cup of (bubble) tea at all, the texture really didn't work for me, but Cameron loved it!

We bought some rainbow (hello E numbers) pearl tapioca too which I might try making a pudding with instead of more bubble tea. It has a long shelf life though and I'm not in a rush to cook any more of it.

Blog Scone Crazy

I received a couple of emails this week after I posted about our little tea-parties, asking for scone recipes so I thought I'd share a few today.

From left to right: crescent moon shapes - wholemeal cheese scones topped with sesame seeds; round shapes - marmalade scones; heart shapes - sultana scones; flower (sort of!) shapes - apricot scones.

As I said in the tea party post, scones are a great store-cupboard baked item because there's no need for yeast or eggs or anything complicated. They're also really cheap to make and the method is so simple that they are a perfect baking project for a beginner to tackle by themselves or for very young children to join in with mixing, rolling and cutting.

All the recipes are based on the plain scone recipe and adapted for variety.

Basic Scones

200g plain flour

50g butter

25g sugar

1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

Milk

Mix the baking powder into the flour and rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and add enough milk (a little at a time) to form a dough. Roll out and cut as desired, placing them on a floured baking tray. Bake in a hot oven for 10-15 minutes.

For fruit scones (including apricot and sultana): add 25-75g dried fruit to the mixture before adding the milk.

For marmalade scones: substitute the sugar with 2 tablespoons marmalade.

For Wholemeal cheese scones: substitute half of the flour with wholemeal flour, omit the sugar and add grated cheese (about 50g) to the mixture before adding milk. You may like to add salt too.

Other variations:

You can make the scones shiny by brushing with egg and milk before baking. A halfway point is to brush with milk - they don't go shiny but they aren't too floury either.

You can add seeds to the mixture and/or sprinkle them on top. Sesame and poppy seeds are particularly good. The seeds will stick better if you have brushed the scones first.

Soup-gate

Have you reached soup-gate yet? You know soup-gate, the point sometime between Christmas and Spring where you absolutely cannot face another bowl of soup! Often following porridge-gate at breakfast if you're anything like us!

We have done quite well at keeping things varied on the soup front this year which has really paid off and we're still at the point where we look forward to a hot, tasty bowl of soup for lunch.

I like that homemade soup ticks so many boxes for me - healthy, easy to make, freezable, limitless varieties, good way to use up leftovers, warms us up on a cold day and is very budget friendly!

And, of course, there are so many ways to dress up soup if, for whatever reason, it looks a bit glum on it's own - grated parmesan, crumbly bacon leftovers, croutons, dumplings etc.

I discovered some rainbow peppercorns at the supermarket after Christmas and they've pretty much been rocking my world, or at least my taste buds anyway! (I never used pepper at all until I became pregnant with Cameron and developed a craving for pepper on just about everything! Since then I've been a huge pepper fan. Bit of useless trivia for you!)

Without a doubt, my favourite soup this Winter as been butternut squash soup, cooked with a touch of cinnamon (and topped with lashings of pepper, of course!).

What's your favourite soup? If we all put our favourites from this season in the comments section we could all keep soup-gate at bay until Spring arrives!

Winter Blues and Origami Flowers

I've mentioned here on the blog before about suffering with the seasonal blues. It can be a real struggle between Christmas and the arrival of Spring for me to get motivated and enthusiastic. If it were up to me, I think I'd just hibernate at home until the end of March!

I have little things that I prepare before this time, to buffer me against the worst of the Winter blues - I make a list of things I'd like to achieve, we develop little rituals like the tea parties, we force Spring bulbs etc.

On walking past the florists shops since the new year, I've been noticing great big bunches of tulips. They're so tempting aren't they? A lovely cheap bunch of tulips calling out your name and telling you how much they'll brighten up your gloomily lit house.
I can't help feeling it's wrong though. We pay a lot of attention to eating seasonally and sourcing locally grown foods so why doesn't it apply to flowers too? I wonder how far those tulips have travelled when they're so out of season.

I couldn't bring myself to buy them in the end but we found another way to brighten our house.


I heard about this cool origami site, via an unschooling email list that I subscribe to and we've been loving trying out lots of different bits of origami.

While we were at it, we made ourselves some kite paper Spring tulips to stick on the window. They're so cheerful, and best of all, they'll last right up until (and beyond) our real tulips sprout!

We really love this and we have plans for a possible whole garden scene after the frost inspired stars retire.

Cosy Winter Tea-parties

Cameron and I love taking time for a little tea party to brighten up the days, particularly in Winter when it's not great weather to be out and about.

We like to bake something simple together, often standing chatting by the oven for extra warmth while it bakes!

We set a pretty table and sometimes use a mini tea set for novelty. Sometimes teddies are invited to join us at the table too.

Cameron likes to drink chamomile tea, hot milk with cinnamon and honey or occasionally we make hot chocolate. Rooibos tea is my own favourite.

Last week we went "all out" and made cream teas! They were indulgently delicious and ended up making a mouthwatering blog banner don't you think?!

We bake all kinds of things (as you are witness to here) but scones are such a great store-cupboard recipe because they don't require yeast or eggs, they're so simple to make and they are extremely versatile.

Scones at a tea party are a lovely way to eat home made preserves from the Summer too. Fruity home made jam always ends up steering the table conversation towards warm weather - memories of Summers gone by and our hopes for Summers to come.

I invite you to make a bit of fuss out of afternoon tea one day this week - I can almost guarantee that you wont regret it :o)

The Home Baked Challenge Theme: February!

The February Home Baked Challenge theme is (quite unoriginally): Love

So... love hearts, love birds, perhaps the food you and someone you love shared on a first date or special occasion etc.

I thought this might make it easier for people to remember as you may be making something special for your sweethearts anyway this month for Valentines, however I've left the theme quite broad because I know not everyone celebrates Valentines day.

Your submissions need to be uploaded to the flickr group or sent to me at homebakedonline at gmail dot com. Remember to include a photo, a description and a link to your own blog (if you have one).

Full details of the challenge are in the original Home Baked Challenge post here.

The guest judge for February is the wonderful English Mum whose blog I have been enjoying since I discovered it via British Mummy Bloggers. She also set up the JustGiving page for Bloggers for Haiti which has raised an incredible amount so far.

The deadline for submissions is Sunday 21st February 2010 at midnight and the winner will be announced on the following Thursday.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask, either in the comments section or via email.

Don't forget to grab yourself a Home Baked Challenge blog button from my sidebar if you haven't already.

I can't wait to see all your entries - good luck!

Edited to add - If you're making cupcakes for the Home Baked Challenge (or any other reason!) pop on over to The Great Cupcake Challenge on English Mum's blog.