Month: January 2013

Florrie was 20 months on January 18th… All I have to say is wow where did that time go to? She had a check up yesterday at her pediatricians office, she weighed just over 21 lbs with her diaper on and is right on track developmentally for her age… Yay Florrie! She really is developing into such a cute little person, her vocabulary is improving by the day with words like and/hand, no/snow and tees/trees, she understands everything you say to her and will complete all tasks she is asked to do happily! She is very bossy just like her older sister, but in her defense she does have a house of doting siblings running around after her, so she constantly has attention from all angles as she is the apple of everyone’s eye in our house!

Food is a big issue, she is not the best eater, but her doctor did not seem concerned… She will eat anything off of mine or Paul’s plate, the spicier the better but she will just not eat out of her own bowl, her doctor thought this was very cute, but my thoughts are not so cute when you are trying to eat your dinner! I am still breastfeeding her, which she absolutely loves, now I realize this may be an issue for some people but I personally am a firm believer she will wean when she is ready, I did this with both Blu and Mabel and they both stopped at different times, Blu was 15 months and Mabel was nearer 3, both were very discrete and only nursed for comfort… No 7 year olds lifting up my top in public, believe me this would horrify me too, just discrete time cuddling with Mommy!

On a quick side note, the weather was positively spring like in Florham Park yesterday for about an hour, we saw the sun and the temperature was 54 f… It made me very happy, but then later we were issued with flash flood warnings as the rain pelted down into the night, one good thing though it cleared all the snow and now we have grass again… I guess it’s true what they say about New Jersey, if you don’t like the weather, just stick around its sure to change pretty soon!

Florrie was 20 months on January 18th… All I have to say is wow where did that time go to? She had a check up yesterday at her pediatricians office, she weighed just over 21 lbs with her diaper on and is right on track developmentally for her age… Yay Florrie! She really is developing into such a cute little person, her vocabulary is improving by the day with words like and/hand, no/snow and tees/trees, she understands everything you say to her and will complete all tasks she is asked to do happily! She is very bossy just like her older sister, but in her defense she does have a house of doting siblings running around after her, so she constantly has attention from all angles as she is the apple of everyone’s eye in our house!

Food is a big issue, she is not the best eater, but her doctor did not seem concerned… She will eat anything off of mine or Paul’s plate, the spicier the better but she will just not eat out of her own bowl, her doctor thought this was very cute, but my thoughts are not so cute when you are trying to eat your dinner! I am still breastfeeding her, which she absolutely loves, now I realize this may be an issue for some people but I personally am a firm believer she will wean when she is ready, I did this with both Blu and Mabel and they both stopped at different times, Blu was 15 months and Mabel was nearer 3, both were very discrete and only nursed for comfort… No 7 year olds lifting up my top in public, believe me this would horrify me too, just discrete time cuddling with Mommy!

On a quick side note, the weather was positively spring like in Florham Park yesterday for about an hour, we saw the sun and the temperature was 54 f… It made me very happy, but then later we were issued with flash flood warnings as the rain pelted down into the night, one good thing though it cleared all the snow and now we have grass again… I guess it’s true what they say about New Jersey, if you don’t like the weather, just stick around its sure to change pretty soon!

Who would have known I could of made five of my children so very happy with one average size piece of steak for dinner last night… Well that’s what happened and I will tell you about it… I finally managed to perfect medium rare steak last night, I’m so happy, it wasn’t completely uncooked in the middle it was perfect, all I needed to do was use my meat thermometer, hidden away in my cupboards, next my Mum made the perfect pizza dough and a pizza was created to each persons specifications, then when it was cooked it was topped with African smoked, lightly charred medium rare steak slices, sorry for the long description but I’m just so happy to get my steak perfectly cooked, my thermometer will be used all the time now. Once the pizza’s were cooking I searched around for something warming to accompany them with, the weather is sooooo bitterly cold soup is always a good winter warmer, I had two potatoes, and a bag of frozen leeks… Lightbulb time… A firm English favorite in our house, good old leek and potato soup was quickly thrown together in my rice steamer… Voila the perfect dinner for my children, I have never had so many compliments on food before from them… I completely forgot I was in my own house!

We are busily trying to reorganize and decorate upstairs in our house… We started with Mabel’s room, after weeks and weeks, dollars and dollars spent on paint samples she finally came to a decision on the color, Paul has done a fabulous job painting her room, he is such a perfectionist, we will soon be on the finishing touches, the fun part, we have the curtains ready but she wants white wooden slatted blinds and new cream furniture, a long chest of drawers and a dressing table from Ikea! Next room for a makeover is Blu’s drab green room, my Dad has been priming the walls and Paul has started on the perfect grey paint. My Mum is in the process of making gray roman blinds to go with the gray check curtains I already have, all this is going to go with a new dark wood full size bed and tv cabinet and a vintage look British flag bedding set from restoration hardware! If anyone knows anyone who would like to buy a high twin bed with a desk underneath and a red Ikea sofa, let me know as we are selling both from Blu’s room! Finally it’s onto Florrie’s room, I think it will be a very pale pink, again my Mum is going to repurpose Mabel’s old pink gingham curtains into roman blinds and then I will add white ruffled drapes to go with them!

It is extremely cold here, the temperatures are way down in the minuses, so most of the winter I have forgotten to wear my gloves and just worn thick cardigans instead of a coat, but yesterday the chill in the air actually hurt your skin, so I did not forget to put on my gloves and my coat came out of retirement… It looks like we are in for a few more days of this freezing weather and maybe another snow storm on Friday, so I’m off to buy groceries today, stock up my cupboards so that I can stay in, keep warm and at least I know we will be able to eat too… there are so many winter illnesses going around too, I’m thinking of hibernating until this winter is over! Stay warm and keep healthy!

Is it ever to early to have a glass of wine? It must be 5 o’clock somewhere in the world right? Sunday afternoon lazing around at home, dinner is cooked for later, lemon curd frosted vanilla cupcakes are prepared and baking, Florrie is napping on the sofa next to me and Blu and Mabel are quietly doing their own thing… Wine time, Happy Hour begins!

Dinner tonight is a green chili stew with warm flour tortillas…
My pork has been diced and lightly salted then browned before setting aside, I then sautéed one large onion, diced with 4 cloves of garlic for approximately 10 minutes, I then added the pork back to the pan and one jar of roasted mixed peppers from trader joes, toss lightly then add 2 cubed potatoes, 1 tablespoon of dried chili flakes and 4 cups of trader joes vegetable stock… Now comes my greens, shredded Brussels, just because I needed to use them up… Cook for approx 40 minutes on low simmer with a lid on… Now is the part I have never tried before, I am adding 1 can of drained hominy, I googled this and it is a dried then soaked maize, interesting, then I will re-warm it through along with the tortillas, I have some jalapeño and lime tortillas from trader joes to serve with mine!

Next on the menu for tonight is lemon curd frosted vanilla cupcakes… The cupcakes rose well, I just need to make my frosting with lemon curd that’s been hanging around a short while and needs using up. Mabel has sampled a warm cupcake and says they are delicious, so here’s the recipe…vanilla cupcakes, I made 21 cupcakes and baked them for 25 minutes, now for the frosting recipe… lemon curd frosting

Now for that glass of wine and lots of yummy food on this exceptionally mild Sunday in January!

This California flatbread was delicious, we made the pizza dough in the bread machine pizza dough recipe then instead of drizzling lemon juice over before serving I added the balsamic glaze from Trader Joes… So good, worth a try, and added a nice prelude to thoughts of Spring, coming soon!

My favorite things so far in 2013 are having my Mum here and sharing her birthday along with her, taking a photo every day so that I can look back over 2013, although some days I have forgotten (all photos can be seen on Instagram, my username is florrieflower) but I’m trying hard to keep to my resolution, my new lockable straining lid pasta pan from Costco and Trader Joes Coconut oil body butter, this is sooooo nice and so reasonably priced, after a hot shower it is wonderful to rub in over your body, the smell is divine and it leaves your skin silky smooth, something I desperately need in this freezing cold weather!

Things I am not liking so much in January is the cold snowy weather, I am so ready for spring to arrive, not being able to light a warm fire whilst we eat in the evening, due to our fireplace being under renovation, having deer standing on my doorstep when we are trying to get out our house and not having a working washing machine still… Trips to the laundromat are just not fun anymore and it is costing me lots of money, I have had friends offer me to use their machines… Thank you, but I’m not always in Madison at the moment, as you can imagine washing for 10 people can take up to 3 machines at a time in the laundromat, in fact yesterday we had 4 machines running, 2 extra large ones with dark and light colors, a red wash and then a white wash in the extra small machines, thankfully it was not busy unlike Sunday when you had to fight to get a washing machine, now that was a nightmare!

Well it’s a snow day here in a very white NJ, so after a 5.15am phone call and then a much needed lay in, I am off to put some cinnamon roll dough in my bread machine, (cinnamon roll recipe), then I am going to bake some vanilla sugar cookies… (vanilla sugar cookies)It just feels like I should be baking today and so that is what I am going to do!
Have a very warm winters Day!

Friday night Frenzy… Sausage and potato soup, homemade ciabatta bread, wine, no alarm in the morning… Friday nights are to be enjoyed to the fullest! Taylor Swift, Katie Perry, Paul and Mabel singing together… Joy! My Mum sleeping on the sofa and my Dad right next to her… Priceless!