An unexpected visit...

The call came midweek, out of the blue.

An old friend, who had long since departed for brighter lights and bigger cities, was briefly back in the neighbourhood.  En route to her parents' place, she wondered if she could stop by quickly and say hello.  She was about twenty minutes' away.

My initial reaction of surprised delight was almost immediately replaced by panic.  I glanced around our - ahem - comfortable family home.  The detritus of our busy lives was evident for all to see: Rucksacks dropped haphazardly in the front hall, odd pieces of Lego littering the living areas and the smell of our recent evening meal lingering in the air.

Help.  This is the friend whose chic city home features glass and chrome, polished to perfection.  The kitchen boasts all the latest high-tech appliances and genuinely gleams with satisfaction. On the couple of occasions I have visited, I've felt as though I've been transported to a boutique hotel with only the two of us as residents.  Fleetingly, I wondered if I should ring her back with an excuse to cancel.

Thankfully, I have learned that there is quite a lot one can achieve in 20 minutes (Jillian Michaels eat your heart out).  I know my children's habits and my home's hotspots pretty well, so I focused on the essentials:  Replace hand towel in downstairs loo/wipe toothpaste marks from sink/lob hallway clutter into cupboard/throw kitchen windows open/light scented candles/whizz around with hoover/change self out of faded trackie bottoms + fleece.

By the time she arrived, I was flushed but smiling.  I managed to produce some unbroken biscuits to accompany our tea and we sat down to catch up on two years' worth of news.

Even when people's lives and physical appearances seem polished and perfect, that doesn't mean they don't face struggles and challenges like the rest of us.  It turns out that my friend was at a bit of a career crossroads.  She was eager for advice - but most of all she just needed someone to hear her out.

And so she talked. And I listened.  Through sheer strength of will, I managed not to be overly distracted by the inexplicable green smudge that had appeared at an eight-year-old's height on the living room wall, nor by the layer of dust that rested smugly on the arm of the sofa.  (Think that 20-minute run around was going to make the place a palace? Think again.)

Having unburdened herself - and proving once again that our friendship could be picked up effortlessly  - it was time for my friend to depart with a hug.  

I was so pleased she had come.  And it seems she was too.

Just half an hour later, I received this text:  "Thanks so much for the chat - it meant the world to me."

And to think I might have missed it for the sake of an untidy house....

At this time of year, we all tend to have increasing numbers of visitors to our homes.  It's worth remembering that real friends come to spend time with us.  Not to inspect the state of our skirting boards.

Does your home suffer from CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome)? Leave a comment and let me know.

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Recipe round-up for average cooks

Let's be straight from the start: This here blog ain't ever gonna be a food blog.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the consumption of food. Even more so if someone else has cooked it for me.  It's just the shopping, preparation, serving and clearing up afterwards that I don't like.

I blame my S2 home economics teacher.  "Clare tends to be rather slap dash in the kitchen," she opined on my end-of-year report. Perhaps I just gave up at that point.

In fairness, I think cooking can be fun when you have the time, the money for exotic ingredients and kitchen counters the size and cleanliness of Nigella's.  It's the daily grind of planning what you're going to eat, throwing it together, then watching your fellow diners pick at it grumpily for 40 minutes (child one) or wolf it down in 40 seconds (child two) that gets to me.

However, until I win the lottery and can afford to dine out every night, this is the reality of my situation.  And, like all good mummies, I do try.

So, for all of those average (or below average like me) cooks, here are some of my favourite "go to" dishes.  I'm a lover of recipes that are prefixed by the words quick/speedy/simple/easy, so most of these have a limited amount of  ingredients that should be effortless to source.  For any US readers who need to convert measures, there's a handy table here.

 

APPETISERS

For starters, a snack lunch or when you finally get round to entertaining...

This bruschetta recipe came to my attention via the wonderful Complete Guide To Imperfect Homemaking blog by Kelly Oribine.  Kelly now has a new blog here but she's kindly left all her previous words of wisdom in cyberspace for us to access.  What I really like about Kelly is that she seems to understand  those of us who aren't natural cooks. Her posts include lots of extra little tips to make the process of entertaining less stressful (yippee).  I also love the fact that this is a pretty healthy take on bruschetta with plenty of extra veggies hidden in there.

 

MAIN COURSES

(Apologies for the strong pasta theme folks. If I ever get around to writing another food-related post, I'll aim for a little more variety.)
 

A child-pleasing comfort dinner when you have a bit of time to spare...

My own mum's mac and cheese is super-easy and economical to make. Funnily enough, she doesn't have her own website to link up to so I've battered out the recipe right here:  Melt 25g butter and a rounded tablespoon of cornflour over a low heat for one minute.  Add just under half a pint of milk, salt and pepper and a spoon of mustard (I like to use Dijon). Bring to the boil for one minute.  Add 75g grated cheddar (take it off the boil for this part), stir and add to cooked macaroni.  Top with some more grated cheddar and sliced tomatoes. Dash around the house multi-tasking while it bakes in the oven for around half an hour at 200°C. I should probably also be responsible and suggest that you serve up this stodgy dish with some steamed veg.

 

A child-pleasing dinner that is just about palatable to adults when you have zero time to spare...

This second recipe is like a posh pasta and sauce but you'll feel ever so smug that you refrained from popping that jar of Dolmio open.  It takes minutes and is just perfect for those nights when everyone is "starving" and you're exhausted from a full day at work followed by the kids' swimming run. Vanity hint: This one always looks a little better if made with spaghetti and sprinkled with parmesan.

 

DESSERTS

These two represent my little lad's favourite hot and cold puddings: 

Delia's cheat's Eton mess involves Greek yoghurt, chopped strawberries and meringues crumbled into a bowl.  If you can be bothered, she suggests making a sort of compote by blitzing half the fruit with some icing sugar in a mini blender, then swirling it through the mixture to create a marbled effect.  We sometimes cheat the cheat's recipe (that's how low I'm willing to stoop) by drizzling over some Easi-Yo fruit squirt instead.

One of my favourite recipes in our well-thumbed edition of Can't Cook Won't Cook Leaves Home (yip, people still gift me student cookbooks) is this shortcut sticky toffee pudding. In a nutshell, you need to butter an oven-proof dish, crumble in some Madeira cake and make a sauce by melting 50g of butter with 100g of brown sugar and 150ml of double cream.  Pour sauce over crumbled cake and whack in the oven at 190°C for 10 minutes.  Serve with whichever calorie-laden accompaniment you prefer: cream, ice cream or custard.

Purists might complain that it doesn't taste like the real thing but it is incredibly sweet, incredibly fattening and tastes rather nice.  What's not to like?

 

CAKES

For an easy cake when you have a bit of time, I recommend this fail-safe lemon drizzle. And when you crave cake but have no time, try this easy chocolate microwave cake instead (I make mine using a square silicon baking tray).  I realise that Mary Berry wannabes will be cringing at the prospect of cake-making and microwaves. To this I respond as follows: It takes eight minutes - EIGHT MINUTES PEOPLE - to bake.  It's therefore a winner in my book.

 

Do you love or loathe cooking? What's your 'go-to' family-friendly recipe? Leave a comment and let me know.

 

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Shared on Works-For-Me-Wednesday (WFMW).

Celebrations, catch ups and cash flows

I've had a few blog free days as it's been busier than, well, average over the past week. The main event was hubby's 40th birthday, the celebrations for which have been spread out over more than one day (surprise surprise).  In among all the fun and frolics, I was determined to make his birthday cake myself but knew that I needed something fool proof, yet impressive, to fit my average cake making skills.  The resultant choice was Nigella's chocolate Guinness cake, which a neighbour had let me (and hubby) sample several weeks ago.  It seemed like quite a manly selection (!) and hubby, who does not like "overly chocolatey" cake (what's not to like?) had made positive noises about his sample slice. The result, pictured below, was a resounding success and I was quietly chuffed with my wee self (and it's not often that happens to me in the kitchen department).



Chocolate Guinness Cake: Manly and more-ish

Tonight some of hubby's friends are coming to our place for pizza and beer, while on Friday it's my turn to have the girls over.  As so frequently happens, we're doing more socialising within a fortnight than we've done for the past four months - everything seems to come together, particularly since both of our birthdays fall within the same month (right after the family double whammy of Halloween and Guy Fawkes' night).  While we both absolutely love entertaining, there's no denying that it comes at a cost and in the run-up to YOU KNOW WHAT, we do need to be careful with our pennies.  For this reason, I was delighted to come across this 31 Days of Simple Hospitality series on one of my favourite blogs, The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking.

For those who love spending time with friends and family but are held back by cost concerns or other hosting insecurities this blog is definitely worth a read.

Time to start planning that next get together?

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