cookie within a cookie made by a cookie

lottie saw these on youtube and decided they needed to be made

so she made a standard milk choc chip cookie dough and divided it into 24 balls

she then took 12 double oreo cookies and squished a ball of dough onto each side

the dough was moulded around the oreo until it couldn't be seen anymore

baked for 25mins at 180c

the finished product...sickly but moreish and heck knows how many calories/fat

beach belles

seaford beach 5pm...dog not wanting to swim

dog making quick getaway

grandma admiring grandchildren

grandma trying to stand upright

home-made butter

pour double cream into a sterilised jar, screw lid on tight and shake, shake, shake 'till your arm feels like it's going to drop off

suddenly, the cream will become solid...the curds have separated from the whey

pour away the whey and wash the curds

you then need to pat the curds between wooden spoons to make sure you get all the whey off

and you are left with butter!

add a little salt and chill to firm up a wee bit

tastes divine

pells pool!

my dad frequented pells pool in the 50s when he were a lad,

i went there whenever we visited my granny and grandad in the 70s,

now my kids are continuing the tradition

brrr

got me a nice spot in the shade

posing

braving the cold water

posing (again)

bootiful boo

i love this cat sooo much

panda cookies

lottie found the tutorial for these on youtube 

(thanks to yoyomax)

piping the noses

aren't they cute?

another trip to take

Thanksgiving Square in Dallas, Texas

inside....ahhhh

the big smoke

ellie on the way

Designed by Broadway Malyan Architects, St George Wharf is innovative and challenging with its fantastic attention to architecture and design of gull wing roofs and stylish terraces.

I thought they were supposed to look like old by-planes!

St George Wharf forms an integral part of the regeneration of the Vauxhall area which includes Transport for London’s interchange around Vauxhall existing train and tube stations, incorporating a brand new bus station with a solar powered energy source which supply energy for 60% of the bus station’s lighting.

I thought it was supposed to be a runway for the by-planes!

lottie's new ga ga leggings from victoria

(modelled in the old FREE underground toilets at the start of kings road)

ellie's new corsage from claire's at victoria

(same model location because mummy refuses to pay 30p for a wee)

frozen yoghurt at snog...lottie's was mango with passionfruit

ellie's was green tea with watermelon

ellie on the way back

(there's a snoring, dribbling theme here)

preserves

our next door neighbour kindly gave us 3lbs of plums from the countryside at rodmell

so water, sugar, lemon juice and plums boiled together have made lottie's

and ellie's 2012 plum jam

bread & butter pudding

we got cheap gold top milk so what to make?

croissants instead of buttered bread and gold top instead of cream

luxury bread pudding

mmmmmm

krispykreme

after a very stressy rainy day in london, there was a beacon of light at victoria station

not only could you buy a tin full of doughnuts

but you got free hats!

we had lemon meringue (mummy's fave), chocolate honeycomb sundae (ellie's fave), apple cinnamon, cruller (lottie's fave), cookie n creme, millionaire's shortcake

we shall wear the hats when lottie next makes donuts!

a poem

that someone wrote for my brother 

kids eh? 

ha ha

fourth of july!

1776 usa...they were fed up with the uk telling them what to do and pay more taxes...so they made a document listing what values they stood for and declared independence from the uk on 4th july

we learnt that the stars and stripes has 50 stars that represent the 50 states and 13 stripes that represent the original 13 colonies

the colours are symbolic...blue for justice, red for valour and white for purity

we learnt the pledge of allegiance

the celebration tree was decorated with stars, cookie cutters, dollar bills, nyc taxis, bald eagles, flags, blueberry tin lids and the statue of liberty

we made straw garlands

and draped the flag over the sofa

and made fireworks from toilet roll tubes

we learnt that the statue of liberty was a gift from the french and she wears a crown of 7 spikes that represent light of liberty on the 7 seas and 7 continents, she has a broken chain of unjust at her feet, a glowing torch and a tablet with the date of the declaration of independence on

the bald eagle is another symbol of the usa representing freedom, long life, great strength and majestic looks. it appears on many seals including the president's and on coins.

we sung the star spangled banner (badly), ate fried chicken/burgers/mac and cheese/fries followed by banana splits with cookie dough ice cream/cherries/white and milk chocolate sauce

we also made lists of how many famous people (fictional and real) we thought were american....incorrect answers: nicole kidman (australian), celine dion (canadian), austin powers (british), rhianna (barbadian), nicki minaj (trinidad) etc etc

what did you do?

a quiet day

ellie had a trip to the dentist for her first filling

but because of her extreme anxiety, she had sedation

this is the result when we got home

(i was expecting hilarious dramatics but 'no'...and the peace and tranquility is bliss)

happy baby

look what came in the post today?

this is in response to lottie's letter and gift sent to lush (see previous post)

the key line here for lottie is "we would very much like to show our appreciation by sending you a few goodies"

child will be beside herself until package arrives

4th july preparations

straw garlands

(look at the concentration!)

hama bead stars

fimo

lottie loves watching youtube tutorials on how to make various fimo miniatures

today's choice 'takeout chinese'

mummy made the box but lottie did the rest and the chopsticks are a cocktail stick snapped in half