@AndSmelly
Making stuff: crafts, food, whatever
By large boy (the gonk, not the blog post), entirely his own design made up as he went along. Yesterday's advent activity was "crafts", which drew a disappointed sigh. I'd bought a couple of kits to make a wreath and pompom gonks because I am not crafty myself. But the boys were thoroughly unimpressed. So… Continue reading Making stuff 22: needle felt gonk
When I was a little girl, and indeed a teenager, my parents would buy sweet chestnuts on a stall at their town market. They'd roast them and then we'd burn our finger tips deshelling them. I've had, very occasionally, roast chestnuts from a street seller. But they've always been coated in sugar and way too… Continue reading Sweet chestnuts
I think we've established by now that my only claim to any goddess-like levels of domesticity is my habit of making gin, jam, and chutney. Last year (2021) focus was on the gins, with a bit of hedgerow jelly for completeness. In 2020, I made a ridiculous 6 gins but just one jelly. The year… Continue reading Making stuff 21: gin and jam 2022
Ahem, there are some empty gin bottles in the house. Well, that's not quite true. There are lots of half-full and some almost-full gin bottles in the house, much of it homemade. But there are also quite a few empty bottles, mostly from my Craft Gin Club subscription that delivers a treat package every three… Continue reading Christmas Prep: Light bottles
As well as all the other culinary efforts producing stuff in jars this year (gin and jam, and mincemeat), I've also been in the chutney production business. This isn't unusual. In 2019 it was courgette chutney after a glut. I've done normal chutneys before as well in previous (pre-blogging years). I hadn't really planned on… Continue reading Making stuff 20: Chutneys
I might do a bit of a series of how I'm preparing for Christmas - I might not, this might be the only thing I can think of to write about. We're hosting Christmas in 2021 - my parents are free to travel at last (after my Gran died in April, previous years they always… Continue reading Christmas Prep: Mincemeat
Ah the joys of holiday club (summer camp)! Since we got back from our summer 2021 trip to see family, the boys have been in a holiday club at a different school two or three days a week. After last summer when they spent weeks and weeks in the house, being quite while mum and… Continue reading Crafty Kids – August 2021
Last year's cocktails post seems long enough ago to start a new separate one with this year's recipes. I love a cocktail, but I rarely follow recipes though and enjoy making things up a bit as I go with little or no planning. So here are a few of my recent inventions... Rosalie I tried… Continue reading Making Stuff 17: Cocktails 2021
I haven't done a making stuff post for a while, but two are probably going to come along at once. The first week of February was Children's Mental Health week in the UK and so school gave us two Zoom free days. Mostly, that meant the boys watched a lot of TV and played on… Continue reading Making Stuff 16: Chocolate Banana Cake
I'm trying really hard to get into the spirit of Christmas. It just feels too early still. My brother's birthday is early December, so I grew up with Christmas not being thought of until after he'd had a celebration. Now large boy's birthday is around the same time and we do the same thing. The… Continue reading Christmas Treat Recipes
Smelly Socks and Garden Peas 
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