Doodle bread
Posted on | November 30, 2010 | 1 Comment
The arrival of snow in Bandon yesterday happily coincided with the delivery of a Doodle bread kit and some extra shapers from Rose. Many thanks. The children and I were weary and cold after a morning outdoors so decided to make use of the kit and bake some bread without delay.
Each small kit contains:
- A bread baking silicone container.
- A doodle shaper, eg heart, star or circle.
- A small plastic squisher.
- One large bread mix, containing wheat flour, yeast, salt and sugar.
- One smaller bread mix, containing wheat flour, beetroot powder, yeast, salt and sugar.
What ensued was great fun. The instructions were really straightforward and easy to follow. The children, aged 7, 5 and 4, thoroughly enjoyed the whole procedure. The kneading of the dough was especially good craic. Síofra loved bashing and stretching her dough 
I think we probably should have added a little more water to the smaller pink dough mixture as its consistancy ended up much less pliable than the larger dough ball. Despite that, we continued on and let both doughs prove for 30 minutes or so. The plastic shaper was then carefully removed and the bread was baked in the oven for approximately 30 minutes.
Drum roollllll
We were delighted with the result. The bread looked fabulous and tasted delicious. It was eaten pretty sharply by all of us, when still warm, with plenty of butter and jam.
To be honest, I was very surprised to see how much the children enjoyed making the bread. To date, I would usually only bake buns or scones with them. But I will now definitely be using this kit again and again. Looking forward to trying the other shapes and trying out different flavours of bread.
I have a strong suspicion that we’ll love the Chocolate Vanilla Star loaf
Various kits and accessories are available to buy on the website. Maybe a thought for an unusual but fun Christmas pressie for children of all ages.
Wexworlds
Posted on | November 15, 2010 | No Comments
Wexworlds, Wexford town’s Sci-Fi and Fantasy Fiction festival is coming back. From Friday November 26th till Sunday November 28th, a host of events for both children and adults is taking place in many venues around the town.
Guests include Eoin Colfer, Herbie Brennan, Andrew Donkin, Kate Thompson and Oisin McGann. There is a wide and varied programme of events, discussions, demonstrations, talks and competition which includes:
- 21st century career - breaking into 2000AD and other comics
- Zombie workshop - a chance to learn and apply Zombie makeup and monstrous moves.
- Cosplay workshop – Learn some of the crafts of making costumes based on Anime and Manga creations.
- The Science of Artemis Fowl with Dr Emma J. King
- Poisons, pestilence and parasites with Dr Heidi Mounsey
- Lego Workshops
- Superheroes and Evil Masterminds in young adult fiction
- Myth and folklore in modern fiction
The downloadable pdf is available here which describes the full programme. More information also on the Wexworlds website. Am hoping to attend with some of my kids. It looks like it’ll be very interesting and entertaining.
If you go down to the woods today
Posted on | October 24, 2010 | No Comments
It looks like the Irish Natural Forestry Foundation (INFF) have lined up 2 fun family Hallowe’en activity days at INFF, Manch, which is located just outside Ballineen, Co. Cork.
Running on both Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st of October from 10am to 5pm.
photo credit: shawncampbell
Hallowe’en events are as follows:
- Pumpkin Olympics
- Pumpkin Carving Competition
- Witches String Trail
- Orienteering for Ghouls
- Show us your Brains!
- Family Adventure Trail
Come and test your strength, guile and skill (or just have a laugh!)
Pumpkin Golf, Pumpkin Skittles, Pumpkin Shy, Pumpkin Races, Guess the name of the Pumpkin
Bring your carved pumpkin and enter it in the competition to be judged on Sunday.
Suitable for all ages from toddlers up. Follow the trail of string and see what surprises unfold.
Dressed in your scariest Halloween costume, follow the orienteering trail, through the check points, and hope you make it back in one piece.
Solve the themed puzzles and riddles, such as word scramble and word search.
Departing from the courtyard at 11am, 1pm and 3pm, through the ancient woodland, you and your family must negotiate the obstacles, including Spider’s Web, Rope Walk, Slack Line plus much more. Adjustable difficulty, so suitable for all ages.
All activities are included in the €5 entrance fee, which is a donation to INFF, a registered charity. Family tickets are available for €15 for 1 day or €20 which includes admission for both days.
A balloon to remember
Posted on | October 23, 2010 | 2 Comments
I can’t even begin to fathom the pain and loss that the death of your child must entail. It is something that no parent ever wants to experience, but unfortunately many do. Anam Cara is a group of bereaved parents who support other bereaved parents after the loss of a child.
They have just launched the A Balloon to Remember awareness campaign. The campaign aims to highlight the unique support Anam Cara provides bereaved parents. The campaign also hopes to raise funds to further develop and extend services to families across the entire country.
For most people in Ireland, the loss of a child is impossible to understand. But showing support for bereaved parents is simple. The public will be able to buy A Balloon to Remember pin from various outlets including McCabe’s Pharmacies, Smyth’s Toy Stores, Eddie Rockets Diners, Grafton Barbers, Garvey Group and other local retail outlets. Alternatively pins and balloons can be purchased online on the Anamcara website.
The Balloon to Remember campaign culminates with a balloon release in memory of all children (young and old) who have died. This takes place on 2nd November in Lloyd Park in Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Friends and family of those who have died can make a dedication for them in the Anam Cara Book of Remembrance on the Anamcara website.
DIY Paper Sundial
Posted on | October 22, 2010 | No Comments
Via @sabrinadent. This looks like a fun project for kids and adults alike and its free.
How to make your own cutout paper vertical sundial.
This page is about Sundials. Sundials are instruments that tell you the time with the shadow of the sun. To design a sundial you need to know exactly where you are going to put it, i.e. you need to know the longitude, the latitude and the orientation of the wall with respect to North.
I have designed this page and integrated Google Maps. It helps you to easily find all the parameters needed and finally produces a printable page with a cut-out paper sundial, that can be cut and folded to give you a vertical sundial.
This page allows you to make your own Cut Out Paper Vertical Sundial customized to your place on earth and the declination of the wall you are going to put it on.
All the instructions appear to be straightforward and easy to follow. Alas, we stumbled at the first hurdle as Google maps couldn’t see our house. Will try it again next week when we’re at a relative’s house and fingers crossed it’ll work.
Would love to hear if anyone else has tried it and been successful.
Ribena on the go
Posted on | October 19, 2010 | No Comments
Last week, much to the joy of my children, I received a few cartons of Ribena’s new Juiced Up! to try.
I love blackcurrants and my kids are big fans of fruit juice. They really enjoyed both flavours of this juice. They thought it tasted great and was thirst quenching and refreshing. I was happy to note the lack of additives, no added sugar, preservatives etc. Each carton contains pure fruit juice and apparently 1 carton counts as 1 of your 5 a day. All good news.
I can see these cartons being really handy to have in the bag when we head on days out to the beach, zoo, parks etc.
Unfortunately as they appear to retail at 99c each according to the Tesco website, they are too costly for me to use for the children’s everyday lunch drink: 99c x 5 children x 5 days = €24.75/week. The packaging and marketing remind me of Innocent smoothies and I presume Ribena Juiced Up! will compete rather well with these. But like the smoothies, I will probably hold off purchasing until I notice them in the supermarket at discounted prices or on offer.
Galway bay half marathon
Posted on | October 11, 2010 | No Comments
After the hills of Dingle, we decided our next run would be somewhere flat. A google search later, we settled on Galway bay’s “fast, flat, fun and very scenic” half marathon on October 2nd.
I was looking forward to this run as I thought I’d find it much easier than Dingle. However, despite completing it in a faster time, I didn’t really enjoy it as much. I did like the fact that most of the route was along the salthill promenade and so close to the sea. I didn’t like the full belt of the wind as we ran out the causeway. I didn’t enjoy doing two laps of the same course to notch up the requisite half marathon mileage. Also I discovered that I much prefer starting a run early in the morning rather than waiting till 1pm.
I prefered the atmosphere of Dingle. I loved the music at the startline there, it got everyone in top form. There seemed to be more people along the route in Kerry too.
That said, the Galway bay half marathon was, to my eyes, well organised. The race packs contained a decent running top amongst other goodies. I relished the sambo in the finish pack and it was really nice to have a coffee in the tent after finishing as the day turned inclement. The free massages in the finishing marquee were also a nice touch.
Will probably think about doing this road race again next year but will keep my fingers crossed for less wind and I’ll know what to expect this time. Now I need to start some decent training as hoping to take part in the Clonakilty half marathon on December 11th. It looks to have quite a few hills on the route so will be ever so slightly more challenging.
Tags: galway > galway bay half marathon > review > road race > running
Time to Terminate Tetanus
Posted on | September 30, 2010 | 1 Comment
Pampers and UNICEF have just launched this year’s “1 Pack = 1 Life-Saving Vaccine” campaign. Its ultimate goal is the worldwide elimination of maternal and newborn tetanus.
During this October, November and December, for every pack of Pampers nappies with the “1 Pack = 1 Life-Saving Vaccine” logo, Pampers will fund UNICEF with 1 tetanus vaccine.This campaign has been running since 2006 and the really good news is that the end goal is achieveable, it is in sight.
Since 2006, the “1 pack = 1 life-saving vaccine” campaign has helped to protect 100 million women and their babies, with the help of parents across the globe. So far the campaign has reached 21 countries across two continents, with 14 of these countries now reaching completion of their maternal and newborn tetanus programmes.
As I’ve said previously, this is a no brainer for me. If you have nappy wearing kids, buy pampers for these 3 months. Stock up for future months!
If you have no need to buy nappies, you can still help this campaign. This year, the Pampers Big Kiss campaign is also running. Grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, friends and more can click on the badge below. For each click, from a unique computer or phone, Pampers will donate a vaccine to UNICEF. No cost, no strings, easy peasy.
So g’wan. Buy some Pampers nappies. Email, tweet, facebook http://sn.im/pampers2 to friends and family and get them to click on it. Wouldn’t it be amazing in these depressing times to think that we could contribute to the annihilation of such a devastating disease for mothers and newborns?
Thanks a mil. This campaign was such a success last year, it would be brilliant to top it this year.
If you get a chance, check out Rosie’s blog. She documents her trip to Cameroon with UNICEF and relates much more eloquently than I could, the reality of living with the threat of tetanus and the work that UNICEF is doing.
Many thanks also to my fellow pampers team 2 bloggers. Check them out!
Hayley at SingleMummy.net, Hazel at ladyscribbles.wordpress.com, Eavan and Yvonne at irishmoms.com, Yuri at urbanvox.net.
If you’re a blogger and would like to help out, please add the badge to your blog using the following:
<a href=”http://sn.im/pampers2″><img src=”http://bit.ly/cxLfrU” width=”150″ height=”150″ alt=”Pampers UNICEF Team 2″ /></a>
Scrumptious scones
Posted on | September 29, 2010 | No Comments
I don’t often post recipes on this blog but I’m making an exception for this one. This week has seen 3 of children rebel as they are sick of sandwiches in their school lunchbox every day. Coincidentally last week my sister in law mentioned she had just eaten some delicious scones so I decided to give the recipe a go.
Et voila
Result. The kids loved them. Preparation was very easy. It was perfect for getting all the kids involved, each had their own job to do which made the whole process very fast. We didn’t have any mustard powder in the house so it was omitted in our version of the scones but would definitely add it to the next batch to see what flavour it adds.
Overall a vertible success. Happy kids and a happy mammy
Cheddar and Sweetcorn Scones
Ingredients
- 250gr drained sweetcorn kernels
- 350gr self raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp English mustard powder
- ¼ tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 50gr cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 175gr cheddar cheese, grated
- 175 ml semi skimmed milk
- ½ lemon, juiced.
Method
Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Mix flour, baking powder, mustard, paprika, salt and thyme in a large bowl. Rub in butter until the mix looks like fine crumbs. Add the cheese and corn. Mix the milk and lemon juice, then stir into the bowl to make a dough.
Tip the dough onto a floured surface, knead a few times to smooth. Divide into 10-12 balls. Shape into a scone shape with your hands and place on a floured baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 mins or until the scones are risen, golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool on a rack.
Free honours maths leaving cert grinds
Posted on | September 20, 2010 | No Comments
With the school year underway, Engineers Ireland has announced it is to offer maths grinds to higher-level Leaving Certificate Maths students from Saturday 25th of September until the Easter holidays.
These grinds shall be free of charge and shall take place each Saturday from 11am till 2pm in the Engineer Ireland offices in Ballsbridge, Dublin.
Tim Joyce, Chartered Engineer, who will be giving the grinds explained: “The grinds will focus on the real-life applicability of maths concepts with the pre-records giving students flexibility as time pressures build up ahead of the exams in June. Engineers have a good practical approach to things and have gained experience in using mathematics in their work. This should allow us remove, at least some of, the barriers that many students have by helping them understand the real value and applicability of the methods they are now learning. This may also allow them make the step from learning theory and methods to becoming adept at applying it to solve the problems presented in the exam. As a consequence, working through questions from past Leaving Certificates must form a big part of our effort. The focus will be to provide value-added sessions for students.”
The grinds shall be recorded and available for online viewing from the website for those unable to attend. I think this is a good idea. Any measure that can elevate students’ mathematical comprehension and problem solving abilities rather than dumbing down the syllabus is a step in the right direction in my opinion. The fact that the grinds are free is also, I’m sure, welcomed by the students’ parents.
Further information and register online here.
I look forward to hearing how they go. Is this an idea that should be taken up by other professional bodies?
UPDATE: Due to the popularity of the free maths grind session, it has been booked out. Therefore another session from 2pm to 4pm is now offered. Register here.
Tags: engineering > grinds > leaving certificate > maths > students free maths grinds
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