Blickling Hall Balls

Our second visit to Blickling Hall in just over a week – we needed to get out of the house so that Jon could work on his final masters assignment. Abbie chose to come here and ‘hunt the monsters’ (a sticker trail in the Hall), but unfortunately the Hall was closed, so we visited the cafe and cavorted around the grounds instead. Abbie enjoyed a Parvanni’s chocolate chocolate chip ice cream. I wished she would stop beginning every ice cream by biting the bottom off the cone! I had a cream tea (very generous amount of clotted cream) and spent the rest of the afternoon feeling guilty about eating it!

Blickling gardens are breathtakingly beautiful and I got to have a look at the gorgeous borders while Abbie scampered around the ‘flower mazes’ and tried to get splashed by the fountain. I am sure that one day I will be taking a very soggy little girl home in the car.. having taken one too many steps towards the fountain!

Enjoying the flowers

When walking in the grounds we found a croquet set and having seen people playing in Eaton Park a few days earlier, Abbie insisted that we had a go. I’m not saying that we played completely to the rules… but a fun time was had by both of us!

Croquet

Lake District finds day #1 – Keswick, ice cream and Booths

Hooray, we made it….. 300+ miles later and we are here in Keswick! Arrived just in time for a delicious picnic lunch with Nana and Raroo; salami from the market, local sheep’s cheese and a fabulous local blue (will find out names and add to comments), crusty bread and salad.
We then left Dad to have a rest as Abbie was insisting that we find a lake…. ‘why is it called the Lake District…. there are lots of mountains, but I can’t see any lakes!’ So a visit to nearby Derwentwater was a must… pink-footed geese were a bonus.
We then returned into Keswick to pick up our keys and found a superb ice cream shop on the way, serving ‘English Lakes’ ice cream. Some great flavours to try… Thunder and Lightning- vanilla with toffee sauce and honeycomb pieces, Tiger Tiger – chocolate, vanilla and mandarin ice creams swirled together. Abbie chose ‘Death by chocolate’…. no surprise there! Wished I hadn’t still been full from lunch or I would have also enjoyed a cone…. maybe today?!
After letting ourselves in to our accommodation, we popped to Booth’s…. an amazing supermarket serving all kinds of foodie delights. Just kept to the basics today (sunflower bread, milk, thick yoghurt with rhubarb/raspberry puree) but will definitely return many times this week! It reminds me of Waitrose…. but with more local produce – basically it’s awesome! Also looking forward to exploring Keswick further….. we may go to the incredibly friendly rugby club for lunch today, before heading over to Mirehouse… a little-known about gem apparently!

Lasagne to die for and a tarted up dessert!

My mother-in-law came for lunch on Sunday – all the way from Bucks so I had to make a meal worth driving for! This lasagne (from Jamie Oliver’s ‘Jamie’s Dinners’) is the best that we have ever had and we make it over and over again. It is brilliant when you are entertaining because you can get all the bits ready individually and then layer and bake at the last moment – straight to table when you’re done, no messing!

The addition of the butternut squash (I always want to say squatternut bosh after Ross in ‘Friends’!) makes it really moreish and works incredibly well to lighten it up for a summer lunch. The other great feature is the ‘no cook’ white sauce – less work, more yum!

Find the recipe @: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/simple-baked-lasagne

First make your components... roast butternut squash and slow cooked meat ragu

.. the start layering; pasta, squash, meat, cheese sauce... etc.

 

and... voila! ready to go into the oven

and then to table for the hungry Kemptons!

I had some margarita ice cream leftover from when the girls came over on Wednesday and I knew that my mother-in-law is always on the lookout for easy desserts (they are her nemesis!) so I thought I would show her this one! I tarted it up with a quick rhubarb granita, made with a few weedy thin sticks of rhubarb I pulled from the garden this week – a little wine and vanilla sugar and cook for 8 mins to make a syrupy mush, the cool and freeze – stir with a fork and freeze again. It only made a tsp each, but that was all we needed!  See an earlier post for the ice cream recipe!

How to tart up already delicious margarita ice cream - rhubard (from the garden) granita and fresh raspberries!

Book club….. ‘One Day’ and Mexican food to celebrate Cinqo de Mayo!

Loved loved loved this book!

Our monthly book group convened at mine on Wednesday night to discuss ‘One Day’ by David Nicholls – a book given to me by Jon for Christmas which I had been dying to read and then had the chance to, and not only that but also share the experience with good friends! I loved this book….. the idea is that it follows two people, Emma and Dexter through 25 years of their lives but you only see one day a year – the 15th July! Great concept and a real page turner – Vic read it in 3 days (and she has been known to purchase the audiobook in the past!).
 

Digging in to quesadillas...

Anyway, I thought I would continue the Mexican theme that seems to be infiltrating all my cooking at the moment, especially as Cinqo de Mayo was the next day – that and I couldn’t think of any Star Wars themed nibbles to deliver for May the 4th be with you!

I made quesadillas from Nigella Express, adapting them to omit the parma ham and including olives as the veggie option. This was followed by Margarita Ice Cream (again from Nigella Express). Jon was doubtful when I said I would be making this, but it really was the fastest ever ice cream and I didn’t even need my ice cream maker!! Just a bit of forward planning as I made it in 5 minutes (actual time!) on Tuesday night! The ice cream was a massive hit and I am now inspired to try other cocktails, turned into frozen desserts – Long Island Ice Tea Granita may be next!

Anyway, here is the link for the recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/margaritaicecream_87463

and the most amazing margarita ice cream!!