Went to see ‘The Muppets’ yesterday… One word …. Awesome!

Am I Muppety Mum or Mummyish Muppet??!

In all their gorgeousness!

Admittedly if you have not seen the new Muppet film this will mean nothing to you… and all I can say is that if you haven’t been… what are you waiting for – most uplifting and truly family orientated film I have seen in years. We both went with Abs and all came out loving it. Too many times recently have I accompanied my daughter to a film which she has loved and I have put up with! I refer particularly to ‘Hop!’…. where I felt that I had wasted precious moments of my life! This film is different – there are truly belly laughs and now I will never think of ‘Smells like Teen Spirit’ in the same way again! SEE IT! Below is our little tribute…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJC6tTFWJ00&feature=youtu.be

We then went on to try ‘Baby Buddha’ in Norwich which loads of friends had raved about. It is a Dim Sum joint which also serves fantastic Chinese food. We always like Abbie to try new things and this was a mixed success – trying of everything occurred, but she was only keen on a few bits – most got rejected. Still… you’ve gotta try!

Dim Sum at Baby Buddha

We feasted on char-sui pork buns (really great for beginners), pork, peanuts and turnip dumplings (tasty and crunchy), veg spring rolls (thought they’d be a winner, but were rejected) and the things which Abbie loved; choi sum in garlic and the gelatinous rice rolls with shitake and chicken – these were a winner with us all, although incredibly filling.

Baby Buddha is a terrific restaurant and it is so great to have a good dim sum restaurant in Norwich – the place becomes more cosmopolitan by the day! Jon and I will definitely be back. When taking Abbie out though, we may stick to sushi and bento boxes… sure fire winners!

My first success with marmalade – thank you snow and Waitrose.com!

I have had a disasterous time with marmalade in the past – never sets properly, over sweet, end up using it for pancake syrup and for crepes suzette.
So I had to post about this year’s actual success!! I have now 10 jars of really great whisky marmalade sitting on my table! Hooray! Admittedly I was helped by the snow as we were housebound this afternoon (you have to put in the hours to make it) but the real help was a recipe I found from Waitrose.

So I must share the link with you….

http://www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/s/seville_orange_marmalade.html

Here are a few photos from the afternoon… various stages in the process! I’ll upload a toast photo when I open it in a few weeks (once our shop bought has all been eaten) x

The finished product! I'm really chuffed...

My juicer definietly earned its keep today and made me think it was worth the purchase - just look at all those oranges!!

Top tip - tie the muslin bag to the handle, before you drop it in the pan!

Mine needed 25 mins boiling, not 15 like the recipe said

The wrinkle test - frozen plate - my marmalade changed dramatically between here (20mins) and the finished product (25mins)