Summer in London

While Bethie has been away in DC, summer arrived in London.  Summer in London is brief and exceedingly pleasant, and Charlotte and I have been trying to take advantage of it while it lasts.

We've spent a lot of time at our local parks, which are beautiful and popular.  After a long session in the sandpit, Charlotte cools off with an ice lolly.

Our good friends, the Hallidays, have had us over for several barbecues while Bethie has been away, so Charlotte has had some good time with her best friend, Emily (note the necklaces!).

It's been warm enough that Charlotte has been able to use her summer pyjamas.  They have an elephant on them, and that is clearly their best feature.

Extra days at nursery while Mum is away = additional admirers of her painted toenails.

Fashionable child.

We celebrated a nice day off together yesterday by having dinner at the Sparrowhawk, our favourite Crystal Palace pub.  Charlie has become a great restaurant companion.  She had the pot of catsup and a bowl of peas, I had the burger (which is fantastic!) and the chicken and mash she didn't eat.  She said "cheers" whenever she saw someone raise a glass.  We shared sticky toffee pudding.  Seemed a bit wintry for late July, but chilly weather is always right around the corner here. 

Charlie asks for her Mum several times each day, including first thing each morning.  She gets so excited when I ask her if she wants to see Mum, and she hugs and kisses the iPad when Bethie is on FaceTime with us.  Thankfully, she's home tomorrow!  We can't wait!

Ice Cream in the Park

Charlie and I spent some time in Crystal Palace Park yesterday.  After a solid session at the playground, we went to the ice cream truck that sits just outside (shameful!).

I learnt from Bethie later that this was the first time Charlie had a cone of her own (though I certainly helped her with it).  I let her choose from the menu, and she chose a whippy with a flake.

Despatch from Bromley

An update on what Charlie's been up to while her mum is away.

Trying on a variety of jewellery... 

Loads of commuting to and from nursery.  Banana in the morning, raisins on the way home.  It's a ritual now.

Pleased after moderate success climbing into and out of a box that holds her toys....

Doing her best LeBron James impression...

Making a tasty meal for her Papi after a long day...

How to Perfectly Cook a Hard Boiled Egg

With Easter around the corner, I figured I might as well share my method for perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs.  They are seriously perfect every time, even when I overcook them!!  Seriously!  I made a batch yesterday and was surprised again at what a perfect technique this is.  The yolk is a bright, nearly florescent orange (though entirely cooked through) and there is never a hint of that greyish green that is so common when hard boiled eggs are over cooked.  I like to eat mine cut in half with a little bit of salt and Charlotte likes to eat hers by the forkful:

Given that most households make and throw away loads of hard boiled eggs every Easter, this is my attempt to get you to eat them instead!  Mmm!

The method I use is from Simplyrecipes.com:

• Cook time: 12 minutes

If you want hard boiled eggs that are easy to peel, make sure they are several days old. If this is Easter time, and everyone is buying their eggs at the last minute, buy your eggs 5 days in advance of boiling. (See the reference tousing old eggs in Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking). Hard boiling farm fresh eggs will invariably lead to eggs that are difficult to peel. If you have boiled a batch that are difficult to peel, try putting them in the refrigerator for a few days; they should be easier to peel then. If you need to hard cook fresh eggs, and want them easy to peel, steaming the eggs works well. Even fresh eggs steamed for 20 minutes will be easy to peel.

METHOD

1. Put the eggs in a single layer in a saucepan, covered by at least an inch or two of cold water. Starting with cold water and gently bringing the eggs to a boil will help keep them from cracking. Adding a tablespoon of vinegar to the water will help keep the egg whites from running out of any eggs that happen to crack while cooking, but some people find that the vinegar affects the taste. I don't have a problem with it and I usually add a little vinegar. Adding a half teaspoon of salt is thought to help both with the preventing of cracking and making the eggs easier to peel. Put the burner on high and bring the eggs to a boil. As soon as the water starts to boil, remove the pan from the heat for a few seconds.

2. Reduce the heat to low, return the pan to the burner. Let simmer for one minute. (Note I usually skip this step because I don't notice the eggs boiling until they've been boiling for at least a minute! Also, if you are using an electric stove with a coil element, you can just turn off the heat. There is enough residual heat in the coil to keep the eggs simmering for a minute.)

3. After a minute, remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let sit for 12 minutes. If you are doing a large batch of eggs, after 10 minutes you can check for doneness by sacrificing one egg, removing it with a slotted spoon, running it under cold water, and cutting it open. If it isn't done, cook the other eggs a minute or two longer. The eggs should be done perfectly at 10 minutes, but sometimes, depending on the shape of the pan, the size of the eggs, the number of eggs compared to the amount of water, and how cooked you like them, it can take a few minutes more. When you find the right time that works for you given your pan, the size of eggs you usually buy, the type of stove top you have, stick with it.

I also find that it is very hard to overcook eggs using this method. I can let the eggs sit, covered, for up to 15-20 minutes without the eggs getting overcooked.

4. Either remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and place them into a bowl of ice water (this is if you have a lot of eggs) OR strain out the water from the pan, fill the pan with cold water, strain again, fill again, until the eggs cool down a bit. Once cooled, strain the water from the eggs. Store the eggs in a covered container (eggs can release odors) in the refrigerator. They should be eaten within 5 days.

HAPPY PANCAKE DAY!

In the US they celebrate Mardi Gras and in they UK they celebrate Pancake Day.  Though entirely different celebrations (boobs and beads vs running while flipping pancakes) the idea is the same:  live it up before Lent.  

Though we refrained from holding a pancake race, we did make and eat pancakes.  Now, UK pancakes are not to be confused with US pancakes.  What are referred to as pancakes in the UK are called crêpes in the US.  These are not the thick fluffy morning treat that you grew up smothering in Mrs. Butterworth's.  No, these are thin and eggy and can be sweet or savoury depending on the filling.  Speaking of fillings, here is what went in our savoury crêpes (minus the lemon):

asparagus, sautéed mushrooms, ham and cheese (the lemons were for dessert)

Though we had our eyes out for a proper crêpe pan, we weren't able to secure one before the big day.  We also don't have a non-stick frying pan so we had to do things the old fashioned way.  Jason did some reading up on different techniques and was able to make us beautiful and delicious crepes (despite being in his pyjamas . . . )

Aren't they pretty?

He filled our dinner crêpes with ham, cheese, sautéed mushrooms and asparagus.  (The raisins in the background were Charlie's addition.)

Jason and I were too excited to eat our dessert crêpes (lemon and powdered sugar followed by Nutella and banana) and forgot to take pictures of them, but we did manage to get some pictures of Charlie eating her lemon and sugar crêpe:

How to Eat a Crêpe 

by Charlotte Hungerford

step one:  look adorable

step two:  pick up crêpe piece with fingers

step three:  put crêpe and fingers in mouth

 

step four:  wash it all down with a swig of water

THE END

More Adventures in Eating

Charlie's first foray into solid foods was on of the most adorable moments of her life.   I still pull up that video every now and then just to laugh at how adorable the whole thing was!  Things have only gotten more fun since then.  

Just the other day, she had her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich!  A true rite of passage for any American born child:

She has also been practicing with utensils an awful lot.  In fact, she barely lets us feed her at all these days.  Thank goodness for these bib/smocks or I would be doing laundry all the time!  (Okay, I still do laundry all the time, but I would be doing it even more if it weren't for those!)

She's also a big fan of peas (sorry, ma):

You can see in the background of the last picture that our house is full of boxes.  Just about everything but the kitchen and a few other odds and ends (or "bits and bobs" as they say here) are left.  Moving day is Monday (when Charlotte is in school), but I hope to have a few more updates before then.  

Scenes from December, Part 3 (Haiku Edition)

Charlie's relationship...

...with broccoli has improved...

no longer vile weed.

Tea with a fussy baby

Saturday, Charlotte and I spent most of the day running two errands, neither of which we were very happy about.  The first was to get Charlotte's tuberculosis vaccine, which required a bus ride to Streatham (pronounced /STRAT-um/, natch).  Unfortunately, Charlotte couldn't get the jab yesterday and has to go back another time.  The second was to return to the Apple Store to get another replacement phone.  It turns out the Apple Store isn't much fun if you're not going to buy anything.

When we finally returned home, Charlotte and I both took a nap.  After, it was time for a late tea.  Charlotte was not in a very good mood when she woke up, despite sleeping for two hours:

A banana was met with something between apathy and mild disgust.  

 

A rice cake improved her mood dramatically:

 

And by the time we attempted banana for the second time, she was happy enough to consider sharing her teatime snack:

 

Baby Led Weaning

 

I had never heard of baby led weaning until we moved to the UK.  Apparently it is a big thing here (well, at least bigger than it is in the states).  The idea is that you give your child actual food instead of mushed up "baby" food.  It wouldn't have occurred  to me to try this had we not had issues getting Charlotte to eat her solids.  She went from being super excited about eating to crying when we offered her food.  Then one day I just tried her with half a banana and she loved it! 

There are people who swear by baby led weaning and people who think it is irresponsible.  I don't think we'll quit feeding her "baby" food, but we'll probably try more whole foods with her and see how she does.

Here are some pictures I pulled from www.babyledweaning.com:

broccoli

salad (not sure how smart this one is)

spaghetti

PORK CHOP!

Pimms Cups

Last night Jason whipped up a pitcher of Pimms for us to share with our newly arrived house guests.  I had never had Pimms cup before arriving in London three-and-a-half months ago but now I'm hooked.  It is a cross between sangria and a mint julep and is absolutely lovely!  (They look beautiful too!)

The recipe is simple:  one part Pimms to three parts "lemonade" (which is more like Sprite than American style lemonade).  It is not a proper Pimms cup though, unless you add sliced cucumber and fresh mint sprigs.  Jason decided to add the traditional strawberries, and oranges as well. 

It is the perfect way to enjoy a lovely summer day in London!

When Charlotte is old enough it might be fun to concoct a kid's version with Coke instead of Pimms.  We could still use all the traditional garnishes; I bet she'd love it!

Look what Jason made me:

We consumed the entire tart/pie/yummy goodness within 24 hours. It was that good.