Author Archives: Richard

Samuel likes chocolate

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Samuel wanted more buttons

Samuel wanted more buttons

Well there’s a surprise! Jessica and I made a lovely chocolate cake for Samuel’s birthday but when we offered him some he didn’t seem to like it. We started to wonder… have we got a baby that doesn’t like chocolate?

Yesterday we had round 2, offering Sam some chocolate buttons. The buttons had been in the fridge so when I put the first one in his mouth he let it fall out into my hand. Again wondering if Sam mightn’t become a chocoholic (like his parents) I tried once more. This time the button melted a little and Samuel took some time to consider the new taste sensation – shortly after he decided he did like chocolate after all and was treated to a few more buttons.

Group photo fail

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Click for fullsize

Click for full-size

Last weekend Cara and Nick were kind enough to invite us over for a make-your-own-pizza session at their flat. I made a very nice mushroom, chicken and chorizo pizza and suitably nourished we set off to visit a local farmers market.

The farmers market was to be held in a local park and a large sign outside advertised that it ran from 10am until 8pm. Strangely none of us questioned why a market would run for 10 hours on a Sunday but we soon found that it only ran until 3. Having missed the market thanks to someone’s creative graffiti we looked for something else to do.

Sam had a go in the play-park before draining a bottle of aptamil and going to sleep. The ‘adults’ had an ice cream and went to play on what appeared to be some kind of assault course.

There are quite a few pictures from the day which we’ll get round to putting in the photo library soon. However, I wanted to share this one where we attempted to take a group photo on some parallel bars. The plan was simple – I would set the 10 second timer, run and vault onto the bars – taking my place in the photo. I completely failed, bouncing off the bar and landing on my rear. After this Jessica suggested that she could initiate the photo as she didn’t have to do any gymnastics to get in shot – how sensible 🙂

Bluebell railway

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Steam train

Steam train

Last weekend we decided to take a trip to see the Bluebell railway near East Grinstead. We packed up a picnic lunch and made the slightly awkward (bus-train-bus) trip to Kingscote station where we boarded a steam train to Sheffield Park station. I’ve heard people discussing the railway before but wasn’t prepared for the scale of the project – there are three stations and at least three different trains running. You can see pictures from the visit in our picture gallery.

After arriving at Sheffield park station we found a picnic area where we had sandwiches (Sam had a jar of food) and fended off a bunch of determined ducks before setting off for the nearby National Trust park. I was a bit disappointed with the park as the waterfalls and cascades had all dried up for the summer 🙁 However, there were a lot of interesting trees and Jessica was excited to spot a Tea-van.

Crystal Palace trip

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Model dinosaurs

Yesterday we took a trip to Crystal Palace to see a craft market and visit the park. The market was a little disappointing (with about 4 craft stalls) but thankfully we picked a day when there were some “Sell it Mama!” stalls selling second hand baby clothes and toys. We picked up some clothes for Sam and headed off to the park to look at the model dinosaurs.

You can see pictures from the park here.

Jessica’s birthday

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Jess and the cake

Last weekend Jessica had another of her 27th birthdays and celebrated with a BBQ at our house. A host of family and friends turned out and we all had a really good time. I made a chocolate hedgehog cake that I remember from my childhood and I am considering publishing the recipe here so others can try it.

I’ve been desperately trying to finish the new photo gallery in time for Jessica’s birthday and I’m pleased to announce that it is now finished and freshly loaded with pictures from the party. You can access it using the link on the right or from here.

Happy Birthday Jessica x.

Father’s Day

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A masterpiece

A masterpiece

I got back after Sam’s bedtime on Sunday so we celebrated Father’s Day today instead. Samuel had been busy, buying me some of my favourites chocolates along with a mug and something to soothe my aching feet. I was particularly impressed with the card that he’d literally had a hand in. As you can see on the left, Samuel did his first bit of painting especially for me – his Mum added the lettering.

This afternoon I took Sam for his first trip to the swimming pool. Initially he was a bit overwhelmed and sat fairly stationary in the water looking around at the massive unfamiliar bath into which he’d been placed. It didn’t take him long before he was splashing and kicking water just like he does at home. He did really well and spent 20 minutes in the pool before being towelled off and given a bottle. I look forward to taking him swimming again as he seems to really enjoy it.

British Grand Prix

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Please don't go Dad

Please don't go Dad

Yesterday I made my annual trip to Silverstone to help marshal the spectators at the British Grand Prix. It was a strange event this year as it was supposed to be the last time we’d be at Silverstone, but doubts about Donnington mean many people expect to be back at Silverstone in 2010. Bad timing also meant that I missed my first Father’s Day so me and Jessica decided I could celebrate being a Dad on the 22nd.

We’re usually given a free programme and sometimes a baseball cap but this year the organisers also gave us a polo shirt – maybe they’re getting rid of all the stock before they lose the GP!

Our accomodation

Our accommodation

We had a capacity crowd of 120,000 on the Sunday with a large number of them sporting Jensen Button caps. Unfortunately for them Button was unable to improve on his grid spot, finishing in sixth. Vettel seemed to be in a completely different race and had no trouble leading for the majority of the race before winning. Hamilton was fun to watch but wasn’t able to get anywhere near the points – on the warm down lap he decided to do a donut right in front of where we were marshalling… which was nice.

Thankfully it looks like we’ll be required next year for the marshalling regardless of where the GP takes place. I’ve managed to get to eight consecutive ones now and it is something of a tradition. There is even talk of two Grand Prixs in Britain next year with the possibility of us hosting the European one.

As usual I wasn’t allowed to take any photos of the on track action so if you want to see more try the official site here.

Muffins & Pizza

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img_1006Our first batch of muffins were not as successful as we’d have liked so tonight we have tried a different recipe. The result is much better and Jessica couldn’t even wait for me to photograph them before snatching one. They’re chocolate crumble muffins so they are a bit messy to eat but they are very tasty.

But I want to use this post to finally share the pizza recipe that me and Jessica have been using in our bread maker. We’ve searched all over for a good one and this is the best we’ve found so far. Please share any improvements in the comments below and see if we can make it even better.

Makes a 12″ pizza:

3/4 cup Water (175ml)
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
2 cups Bread flour (260g)
2 tsp Fast rise yeast
1 tbsp Seasoning (optional)

Whack the ingredients in the bread maker on the dough cycle and then use cornmeal to flour the surface when you roll out the dough. Cook for 20 – 30 mins at 220 deg. Celsius (200 Fan). So far we’ve only used garlic powder as the seasoning and can confirm that the dough would make good breadsticks as well.