Mud Cakes and Wine

The garden seems to be going crazy at the moment and needs some serious attention. I have discovered that my soil despite being heavy clay and at the moment resembling the Sahara dessert it can grow some seriously healthy weeds. The mint seems to have come back to life and as strong as ever, it's now all over this border. We have an wonderful selection of primroses and they are popping up all over the place, the variety of colour amazes me and I will be honest I have not planted one of them. But these delicate tucked away plants in the most odd places in the garden always makes me smile. Our wonderful traditional rose the rambling rector I must admit I always want to call it the rampent rector maybe that's due to it being a beast and goes mental but I can not find the words to say how much I love it. This is a picture of last year. Our pretty clematis has come into flower, it's over our back door and urgently needs some work ...

We have another interesting week for cooking, as again Mr MC&W is working rather a long way from home leaving early and getting home late. The meals are mainly just myself and the boys. Saturday is OB birthday and Sunday Mr MC&W is flying out to the USA for a week. Monday - Special Fried Rice I am going to try the boys on this one just keep it simple. Tuesday - gnocchi with tomato sauce for the boys. I will have it with broccoli, mushrooms and a cream sauce from the wonderful Madhouse cookbook by Jo Pratt Wednesday - I will be having roasted veggies with couscous and humus. The boys will have waffles, poached eggs and peas Thursday - Massive salad for me with avocado, crispy bacon and a honey and mustard dressing. The boys will have Carbonara Friday - Fish, chips and peas for us all Saturday - OB birthday so it's family round and his favourite meal of pizza, chips, lots of cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and dips Sunday - Just me and the boys something s...

We have had a hard couple of weeks since the sad passing of Mr MC&W father, our eating as you can imagine has been all over the place. But the meal plan is back and I have to juggle Mr MC&W working lots of strange hours. Monday - It's just myself and the boys so we are having Jacket Potatoes with cheese and beans easy for me to pop in the oven when putting the boys to bed and simple to grab when I get downstairs. Tuesday - Is the burial so there is no way we will want to cook so I must be honest with you I have gone for freezer everything. Steak Pies with Mash and Peas no real cooking. The boys we have got a ready made little dish meal Wednesday - As it's little old me and the boys again, the boys will have a tomato risotto and I will have a mushroom risotto these are oven baked again allowing food I can just grab when I come downstairs. Thursday - Tuna Pasta Bake for myself I will be using the slow cooker to keep the food warm so I do not have to cook once the ...

You may have noticed we have been a little quiet in the MC&W household, tragically and very unexpectedly Mr MC&W father died in his sleep on Easter Sunday night. I can not put into words the whirlwind we have been living in for the last few days. We as adults are coming to terms with the huge sense of loss, but how do you tell a 4 year old with autism, delayed speech and understanding and his three year old brother who both loved grandpa dearly that he would no longer be coming to see them. Being the modern parents we are we turned to Google, this I must admit scared the wits out of us. We read advice stating be careful of talking about him being good so going to heaven as they may think I have been good I will die. Do not say he was ill as they may worry if they get ill they may also die. We ended up convinced we were somehow going to scare our children for life on giving them the news. At this point common sense coupled with a glass or two of red wine prevailed, w...