New CV

I'm about to update my CV, to add to the list which so far includes physiotherapist , small business owner, accounts manager.
However I kn0w my biggest, and best job is this one : mother.
A simple and understated title for a job which should include- among many other things- in it's description - psychologist, healer (plaster plus kiss), caterer, wet nurse (to my own), 24 hr oncall carer, gardener, personal shopper, party planner, reader, source of all knowledge on eating habits of random animals and lizards, human resource manager, bum wiper, snot wiper, dribble wiper, cleaner, entertainer, laundress, sock and bean counter, interior decorater, personal stylist (not my finest moments), holiday coordinator, hostage release negotiater, peacekeeper, train track construction expert....
and today as i drove through the same set of road works for the 4th time, I decided I can officially add - taxi driver. Only 10 years until they can start driving themselves, at which point I can add in driving instructor.
(Renumeration for this job comes in the most delightful currencies - a clasp of a babys hand around my neck, a cheeky grin of a 3 year old sage who knows he's pushing the boundaries, the fierce fleeting cuddle from nearly-school boy who you have left on his own for 20 minutes in his new school classroom.)

Times they are a changing...

Big Brother has his last week of Play Centre this week. He has been to two school visits and is getting ready to move into the big time jazz scene of School.
(It is actually three visits counting the Saints Day Feast Lunch - a birthday party - which consisted of pizza, icecream and cake. I had to make a point of telling him that lunches aren't like that every day at school, as he was looking pretty impressed with the idea...)
I know he is nearly ready to move on from Play Centre, as he has taken over the role of Big Kahuna. His is a 'my way or the highway' leadership style for his wee groupies. He makes up the games, assigns characters, and always gets the goriest role. It doesn't help that his brother has been particularly obliging lately.
He will miss it though, and we will miss him too. I'm not sure how Little Brother is going to react to loosing his all-day-play-mate, best friend and greatest adversary/wrestle partner for 6 hours a day. He has no comprehension it is still two full years until he gets to go the school also.
I expect he will turn his loving lavish attention on his younger sister (read : squash and maul her even more). And we will be doing some serious baking, which is Little Brothers favourite thing to do when hanging at home with Mum.
So,we have a uniform and a start-school date - 4th August for Big Brother. He's so keen to learn it will be like dipping the sponge into the bathtub. Five years have gone fast in a really slow day by day way. I find it hard to believe there was a time when I didn't even know that little complex fascinating lovely delicious creature that is our son.

P>S> Just a warning, these blogs might get a bit sentimental and teary at times as I deal with my baby going to school...

Chicken Old Ladies on a Bus

Thanks to John, my american cousin who sent me this recipe.. we havent met but he's my international audience as he reads my blog (isnt the internet wonderful!) He met my Dad in 1957. I had to pop it up here as it sounds perfect kiddie fare, and John, I'll put it in our Hopkirk Flatting Family Cookbook that my niece Alex and I are working on for our up and coming flatters!

Some day you might want to try this recipe...the story goes this woman was riding a bus and heard these two old ladies in front of her talking about a way to make chicken, thus the name of the dish is:

CHICKEN OLD LADIES ON A BUS

1/3 Cup Orange Marmalade
1/3 Cup Hot Barbecue Sauce
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 pounds chicken parts
Salt & pepper, to taste


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine marmalade and barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice, mixing well. Place chicken, skin-side up in a 9/13 pan lined with aluminum foil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and bake 1 hour, basting occasionally. Increase heat to 400 degrees and bake 15 minutes longer.

This can then be served on a bed of rice, or however you may want to do it, along with some veggies.
Do your ovens use fahrenheit temperatures? If not, you will have to adjust.

CLOG - those 11 meals I always cook

If you haven't been following me on Twitter, here is an update of my CLOG - (Cooking Log - my challenge of setting down my 11 meals most commonly hashed together under baby/child screaming fire). It would appear i have only cooked 6 meals in 3 weeks, but its not true ! I'll get back onto this project, I promise. I am also getting around to posting the recipes on the blog. Stand by your frypan.
Get ready to wok your boat.
Dinner will be saute-d.
(OK, enough with the family pun gene)...

11 family meals 6/11: Lemon Chicken and Rice. Twinned with carbonara-Uses egg yolks for pasta and whites the next night in this delish dish.

11 family meals 5/11 - Pasta carbonara. Egg/bacon/noodle heaven for boys, memories of a life before kids for me of a dinner in Tuscany

11 Family meals 4/11 - Dans Creamy Mushroom Chicken...Thing. Almost worth the howling southerly battering the windows to sit down to this....

11 Family Meals 3/11 - Red Wine Beef Casserole - anyone need an excuse to open a bottle?

11 family meals 2/11 : Pasta Whatever, Pumpkin Soup and Beer Bread.

11 Family Meals 1/11 : Claire's Chicken and Puy Lentil One Pot Wonderfulness.