Batch cooking meets

I'm a fairly new blogger and just finding my way around. Since before the "age of Pinterest" I sat in awe of all the bloggers I ever came across. How did they DO this stuff they wrote about AND still find the time to write about it? I "met" people in various places on the internet, some passed through my life with good advice and wonderful ideas. And some became personal friends whom I have been blessed to hold dear even years after those meetings.

So I'm starting to understand now that the best of most of those blogs started as a way to keep in touch with a small(ish) group of like minded people and they became what they became. I realised that in at least some of those blogs, the photo's that seemed to come from the pages of some glossy home magazine were often staged. Most photo's were taken "for when they were needed" and often were never intended for a blog.

Enter my pink polkadot kitchen table cloth.

 And that seems to me, the perfect picture to bring you to the title of this post. Its a really grainy picture taken with my phone before I realised how to use that tablecloth to its full potential and you probably get an idea of the chaos from which I am slowly unraveling myself. But this was an old habit that started a new (although borrowed) idea. 

We have a Makro card, so I buy all of our meat in large batches, then bring them home and repackage them into portions that we use on a daily basis. What you see on my table here is about 6 weeks worth of meals...if I make them "meat heavy". I'm now firmly in the habit of freezing any leftovers for Friday "take out" night, but I'd love to batch cook (once a month cooking).I've done a few, but they are HARD work.

I've done a lot of reading on the subject, looking for recipes that would suit our family. On my "travels" around Pinterest, I found Jill and Cathy from The Curriculum Corner and their post about "meal sharing" titled Tastefully yours with Tiffany. It really excited me, I've done our annual cookie swap party for a few years now, this really wasnt much different!It has so much potential. Why do those of us who batch cook do it? To get ahead so that grub can simply be pulled out of the freezer and done. Most of us who have young kids face this every day.We spend all day running them around to playgroups and keeping them busy and occupied, and then 17:30 hits and we head into the kitchen to find a toddler attached to each ankle demanding boob, or haribos or (insert your toddlers favourite "me please" here.) And suddenly supper becomes fish fingers and chips (haven't we had that twice already this week?)

This is an ideal solution! You have a bunch of girls decide what they want to see in their freezers, send someone shopping on behalf of everyone. Then you drop the kids to school (those who go) and head over to my house with your slow cooker/steamer/breadmaker (and leftover toddlers). We plug in all the kitchen appliances and get to work, all the while we've created a "mini playgroup" and the kids get on with each other, and if they have a need then there are enough hands to be cooking and fixing kids (and having a good old catchup ourselves.)

Now as I said earlier I've met a lot of my friends on the internet, which means that we dont all live on the same block.This kind of thing is only really going to work with a lot of planning to agree on the things we cook together. There's no point in doing it, if we aren't all going to enjoy the fruits of our labour.
At first I suggested that we all do some of our own research into what recipes appeal and then get together one day to "thrash out the details". But the longer I think about it, the easier I think that makes it to procrastinate. So I thought some more and it came to me...the idea came from Pinterest so why not keep it there?

See, I told you I'm starting to learn how to use my tablecloth:) That's a carrot and coriander burger by the way.

And that is how we've ended up here. I've created a Pinterest board called Batch cooking meets, and invited the ladies involved to pin their "research" there, where comments can be made to help the planning process.

So if you've found us in your roaming, pop over and have a look. Maybe you'll be inspired.
If you have had an invitation from me to contribute, then get over there and start Pinning so that we can get on to the real fun!

The Seventh Doctor

When the doctor turned 6 last year, he wanted a dalek cake. I was terrified of the carving job it presented and decided to go with the "easier" tardis. I ended up printing edible images and sticking them to a rectangular tower. It was well received, but I was disappointed.

This year he was still asking for a dalek. But he was also asking for a tablet (so that he could watch Doctor Who whenever he wanted). We couldnt stretch to both a party and a tablet, so he had to make a decision.

Now I don't think I've said before, but the Doctor has found himself a companion. She's been around for a good while now and we've teased him about having a little girlfriend but he's always corrected us and reminded us that they share "playdates", which are not the same as dates....which are romantic and yucky.

We naturally pointed it out as a given that he could invite the companion for birthday dinner and our traditional chocolate fountain, and that I would make a cake for him to take to school...a "proper cake" of his choice (yes, even the doctor is a cake snob). I felt given the situation, I owed it to him to at least attempt the Dalek-and so I set about researching what I needed to know and do. After a very successful playdate at our house with The Companion, her kid brother (around the same age as The Princess) and their mum (mums need playdates too you know), I stepped out and asked if we could change our original birthday celebration from the Thursday (his *actual* birthday) to the Friday and extend it to a sleepover. It turned out that worked well for them too as they could have used a babysitter for her for Saturday so we arranged to keep her as late as we could without infringing on a second days bedtime routine for either family.

It crept up on me so quickly, but at least I knew what I was doing. One PIN that stuck with me was this one titled:  20 ways to fill your childs love tank on their birthday from The House of Hendrix. I dipped into her bag of tricks and took out just a few of the many that looked like such fun. I didn't find the time to decorate as I wanted, but I decided not to beat myself up about it. I sufficed with upside down balloons and supermarket foil banners (Gasp!)

I popped into Lakeland on the Tuesday for some more sugarpaste. I thought we had all his gifts (his tablet, a pack of pontefract cakes, a tardis money box and a "where's the doctor" book), but The Master noticed something on a bottom shelf near where I was looking for a Tomato knife to carve the cake with.

I didn't see what it was at first but he was so excited about finding this thing from which "the doctor has to drink his tea Mummy". He had found a Dalek mug, complete with 3D accents. He was so proud of his find that he insisted on carrying it himself, all the way around the shop, all the home and all the way upstairs to where he planned to hide it. And now every time he sees the doctor with it he reminds him that he bought it for him for his birthday.

I got up slightly earlier in the morning on the day to giftwrap his lunch

When I asked after school if he liked it, he said yes, but had expected to find some "new food" inside it. On further investigation it came out that he has discovered he likes the little packets of mini chocolate chip cookies I get for him in the Asda cafe's new kiddi meal boxes.

The first gift he opened was the mug, so that we could have our morning tea whilst he opened his other gifts.

And reveal his cake

 

I had lots of fun adding "birthday graffiti"  to the car before picking him up from school

And I had some lovely responses. I left it up until Saturday since Lordbob took them bowling and he couldnt work out why they were so determined to use the car when he wanted to do the 5 minute walk. 

We had a lovely week end with the kids and the weather cooperated for the most part....

They loved the chocolate fountain, as always. And were a real bunch of kids come bed time. We didnt insist that they go up to bed until about 10pm, and then we listened to them sneaking around for about an hour before The Companion came down and asked for a drink. After another hour they came down together to ask "weren't they supposed to have a midnight feast at a sleepover, so Lordbob sent them back upstairs with a packet of crisps and some haribo's each.

So thank you to The Companion for joining us, we loved having you and hope to share many more special occasions with you. And Happy Birthday Doctor, we are truly blessed to have you in our lives. We love you lots.