Introducing Elodie Boo

She was 12 days late and 24 hrs coming, the new addition to our family refuses to be hurried.

We are all so happy that she is finally here and enjoying getting to know her. My mum stayed with us for a few weeks leading up to, and following the birth and she was amazing. She did wonders with the garden and was no end of help. It is always good to have your mum around at times like these.

My sister also made a flying visit with her little 6 month old daughter. It was so good to see them, I wish we all lived a little closer. While she was here we made baby bottom salve. I have been using this not only on Elodie's bum but also on her dry skin. It has been great and it is lovely to know that it is all natural with no harmful chemicals. I also re-used her Papa's hair wax tins. They were just the perfect size.

Baby Salve Recipe
to make 2 tins
Beeswax - 30g
coconut oil - 200g
Calendula oil - 1 cap full (I didn't measure it properly sorry)
Tea-tree essential oil - 3 drops
Lavender essential oil - 8 drops

Method
Melt the hard oils in a double boiler, then add the rest of the ingredients stirring well to ensure they are well combined. Pour into tins or jars and leave to set. Easy peasy!

Roald Dahl's Completely Revolting Recipies

Francisco received this great book for his birthday. He likes to read it over breakfast and decide which recipes he would most like to make. So far the Green Pea Soup has been a hit and so have the Mud Burgers. Today we made Butter Gum Balls.

They are sticky, tasty, and have no nutritional value. In hindsight, after our trip to the dentist we probably should have made something else, they are jaw breaking and could pull out the most secure of fillings.

They do taste really good though!

Tea & Biscuits

I made a batch of biscuits from this recipe that I found on pinterest and filled an old kilner jar full of them. They are so so delicious and perfect with a lovely cup of tea.

I find the American cup measurement system quite tricky so with a little on-line help I converted the recipe into grams. Here is the recipe in grams, for all of you who struggle a little like me.

Swiss Cinnamon Crisp Biscuits
Ingredients: 
For the biscuit dough 
225g Softened butter
88g Brown packed sugar
168g Granulated sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla essence
Zest of 1 lemon approx 1 tbsp
450g Plain white flour
1 tsp Kosher salt ( I used Cornish sea salt)
1 tbsp Cinnamon

For the top
1 Egg
2 tbsp milk
50g Sugar
1 tbsp Cinnamon

Beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg, vanilla and zest and beat to combine.  Add the flour, salt and cinnamon and mix until incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.  Roll the dough out on a well-floured surface to about 1/4" thick. Cut out shapes with biscuit cutters or cut in to squares. Place the biscuits on a baking tray.  Beat the egg and milk together with a fork or whisk. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Use a pastry brush to coat the biscuits in the egg mixture, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top.  Bake at 350 F for 10 to 12 minutes.

We have had 3 whole days of sunshine in a row which has been a very rare occurrence of late so we sat in the garden soaked up some warmth and enjoyed our tea and biscuits. Lovely.