June for us has been chaotic which is why my poor blog has been neglected and my YouTube channel hasn't been doing much better. Time just hasn't been on our side.

This month has involved two work trips away, various school commitments for Tom (including prom, trips and a Saturday meeting!), exam marking, sleepless nights with a grumpy teething boy, sickness, a trip back to Belfast to see the family, a smashed phone screen, a trip to Otley Carnival, lots of barbecues and enjoying time in the garden during the lovely hot spell.

June was so manic that I totally forgot to take our Me and Mine photos until Friday but at that point I knew there was no chance of Tom agreeing to some photos after work (we ended up going for out for dinner at our local instead). In the end we hurriedly snapped these couple on Sunday in between friends leaving and before my parents Skyped us - see, told you it was a busy one!

These photos aren't anything special, we are both looking a bit dishevelled and Ethan did not want his photo taking but I love them nonetheless. It's a reminder that life is busy and chaotic and I know I say this time and time again but one day when things are a lot slower I'll look back fondly at these pictures and remember that life with a toddler is crazy and never simple.

This month...

Tom is loving:

Finally finishing all of his exam marking

Endless Barbecues in the sunshine

A cold beer in said sunshine

Clare is loving:

Having time to read a book during a long train journey

Creating new videos for my YouTube channel (that I have yet to upload)

Family time in the sunshine

Ethan is loving:

Crumpets for breakfast

Moving in to the toddler room at nursery

Playing with the electric whisk (not plugged in!)

Right must dash. Lunch hour is over and I've a mountain to get through this afternoon!

Make sure to check out Lucy's blog over at Dear Beautiful where you can see all of the other wonderful families taking part in the Me and Mine posts.

Did you all have a good week? I did plan to type this up last night but then I watched the One Love Manchester concert instead. I still can't believe the events of the past fortnight - two terror attacks in the space of two weeks is the stuff of nightmares but unfortunately it's a reality.

I just can't get my head around the whole thing and I know statistically we have a higher chance of being in a car accident but it doesn't stop me feeling nervous about the future. I want to travel, to see the world but what if something happens again? It doesn't bear thinking about.

When the news hit on Saturday night I immediately thought of my brother. He's at university in London and lives about 10 minutes away from where the attack happened. Thankfully he's fine but unfortunately there was once again a list of fatalities. 

It's horrible, it's wrong and it's so unfair but all we can do is show them that they can't win. Life will carry on, they will not break us. Those that lost their lives will not die in vain. Even though I want to hide away from all of this heartbreak we need to keep living and moving forward.

So meal plan! This week we will be having:

Monday - Cottage Pie
Tuesday - Lamb and Spinach Curry
Wednesday - Spaghetti Bolognese
Thursday - Freezer Dive as we will be going to vote after work
Friday - King Prawn Linguine

I haven't yet planned the weekend, maybe another Barbecue if it's nice.

Hope you all have a great week whatever you are up to.

May for us has been a lovely month involving more DIY getting the garden more Ethan friendly. Tom built a new shed over the Easter holidays but he's spent the past few weeks digging up weeds and disposing of rubbish left by the previous owners. Honestly, we can't believe the state they left the garden in but that's a rant for another day.

This month has also been an expensive one on the house front as our boiler packed in. It was almost 30 years old so we knew it was on borrowed time but we were hoping that it would last another couple of years when we could afford to put a new kitchen in and move the position of it. £1700 later and we finally have hot water. The only blessing is that it happened in summer, I wouldn't have fancied 2 weeks with no hot water or heating in the middle of winter!

Bye bye any chance of a summer holiday though, maybe next year eh?

In other happier news Ethan is now fully walking. He takes the odd tumble landing flat on his bottom but for the most part he barely crawls and has even started running. I remember thinking he was quick at crawling but oh my, he's even faster now that he can walk. It's so exciting to see him reach his milestones but bittersweet too; he's not my little baby any more - he's turning in to a fully fledged toddler.

This month....

Tom is loving: 

Having a garden to sit in

His new barbecue

All the coursework has been submitted for his exam classes

Clare is loving:

Baking - I managed 3 separate bakes this month woop!

Feeling the warmth of the sun on my face

The new series of Britain's Got Talent

Ethan is loving:

Walking, walking, walking

Giving cuddles and saying "ahhhh..."

Exploring the garden

This month's photos were snapped on a sunny Sunday in the garden. We both look knackered (thanks to a little boy who thinks sleep is for wimps) and my roots really need touching up but they are honest and true and a real reflection of us. Some months we both look so rough in these photos but they are the ones I cherish the most. I know in years to come I'll look back on these with fond memories, the sleepless nights will be a distant memory and I'll be longing for the baby days again.

Make sure to check out Lucy's blog over at Dear Beautiful where you can see all of the other wonderful families taking part in the Me and Mine posts.

The sunshine really is good for the soul and following on from this week's horrific events, it's nice to see clear blue skies and smiles on faces as everyone makes the most of this warm spell.

I had planned on sharing this recipe with you earlier in the week but with everything that went on I didn't feel like it was appropriate to bang on about chocolate cake.

I still can't believe what has happened but it is so heartwarming to see how the public are pulling together to help the victims and their families. One victim was from Otley and it's been amazing to see the outpouring of love and support on our local Facebook group with people wanting to help in whatever way they can.

I made this chocolate cake for a very special Clandestine Cake Club event that I went to at John Lewis in Leeds last week (I shall publish a separate post on that event soon). The theme was Never Knowingly Underbaked and if I'm honest I was totally stumped on what to make. I knew I wanted to make something chocolatey and a different type of cake from my usual recipe but I was clueless on what to actually bake.

When I'm lacking in inspiration I often have a flick through Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I've loads of cookery books but for some reason it's always the one that I like to go back to as I know the recipes work. I've yet to make something by Bezza that hasn't turned out well.

Thankfully the Baking Bible has a whole chapter dedicated to chocolate cake (a woman after my own heart) and the recipe for Death By Chocolate Cake looked perfect. There was no need to take some butter out of the fridge to soften and I was able to get it whipped up, in to the oven and baked during Ethan's morning nap. I opted for a ganache instead of the chocolate frosting that Mary suggests purely because I adore ganache and when time is off the essence it's so quick and easy to pull together.

To decorate I dipped some strawberries in melted chocolate and scattered crushed white chocolate minstrels around the edge (they aren't actually white chocolate minstrels, just Aldi's version). You can really tell I was winging it with this cake!


A Super Indulgent Chocolate Cake
275g plain flour
3 tbsp cocoa
1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
215g caster sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup
3 large eggs, beaten
225ml sunflower oil
225ml milk

Ganache
300ml double cream
300g dark chocolate

To Decorate
Handful of Strawberries
50g melted white and dark chocolate
Handful of crushed white chocolate minstrels

Preheat the oven to 160C (fan)
Grease and line two 20cm cake tins
Stir the dry ingredients together
Make a well in the middle and whisk in the wet ingredients
Once combined pour into the tins and place in the oven
Bake for 30-35 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean
Tip on a wire rack to cool

To make the Ganache heat the milk until warm but not boiling
Stir in the chocolate until melted and smooth
Place in the fridge to firm up for a couple of hours

Dip the strawberries in the melted dark chocolate, drizzle over the white chocolate and set aside to cool
Spread any remaining melted chocolate over some greaseproof paper and pop in the fridge to chill
Once firm break into "shards"
Crush the minstrels with the back of a knife

To Decorate
Once the cakes are cool, level off the tops and sandwich together with some ganache
Coat the rest of the cake in the remaining ganache
Using a ribbed scraper, pull around the edge of the cake to give a ribbed effect
Scatter over the strawberries and crush chocolate
Gently push the shards in to the cake

Enjoy!

I grew up in Belfast during the Troubles and I saw first hand what terrorism can do. Yes, I understand that people are fighting for what they believe in but to do it in such a callous way that targets the innocent, well that is inexcusable. 

How dare they decide that they will plant a bomb that will ruin lives and break the heart of the nation. 

I sat at work yesterday and struggled to focus. Manchester is an hour away from Leeds - we have been there for concerts, for days out and to fly to far flung destinations. It's a running joke amongst Yorkshire people that those in Lancashire are from the wrong side of the Pennines but in reality it couldn't be further from the truth. Two cosmopolitan cities standing side by side with a glorious mountain range running in between. It's the north of England, slightly colder than the rest of the country but a place that you will be welcomed warmly with a hot brew.

As I scrolled through social media there were heartbroken pleas from families searching for their loved ones. One picture in particular caught my eye and it was that of Saffie Russos A few hours later it was announced that she was one of the victims. I was sat at my desk in work and it took all of my strength not to break down there and then.

She's 8 years old! She's a child who probably begged her parents for concert tickets. A little girl who was excited for a big trip in to the city to see her favourite singer but due to the act of a complete psychopath, her life was taken away from her on that fateful night.

There have been so many terror attacks over the past couple of years - London, Nice, Paris, Berlin and they are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. So many innocent lives lost or left with lasting mental and physical scars due to these extremists and their twisted views on reality.

I spent most of yesterday longing for it to be 4:30pm so I could finish work, pick Ethan up from nursery and cuddle him close. I want to protect him from the evil in this world but I can't. Instead all I can do is teach him love not war just like my parents did for my brothers and I growing up. We were distinctly aware that there were people who automatically disliked someone because of their faith but my parents always taught us to like people for who they are not what they are.

Last night Ethan woke at 9:30 unsettled and crying. I scooped him up, cuddled him close and lay in bed with him for an hour drinking in his features and thinking about all of those families in Manchester who will never get to see their loved ones again.  

How can the world be so cruel? I know people always say that good will win over evil and it was heartwarming to see the people of Manchester rally together but it shouldn't have to be like this. No one should have to experience a terror attack whether they be a victim, a distraught mother looking for her child or the emergency services frantically trying to save as many lives as possible.

We can't let them win, we have to stop future attacks and if that means troops on streets then so be it. I would much rather see armed police and soldiers on patrol that have to see more heartbreak splashed across our media.

I saw this quote yesterday and it moved me. They may try to bring us down, but we will always help each other get back up again.

To those who lost a loved one in the Manchester attack or have been left seriously injured, I am truly sorry. May you find the strength to get through this.

I remember phoning mum and asking her how to cook mushrooms then another time cooking sirloin steak in a casserole which resulted in the steak disintegrating in to nothing - note to self, use a tougher cut of beef in future.

A lot of it was trial and error but as Tom often reminded me, we only learn from our mistakes, not from what we get right - he had his teacher hat on with that comment!

One kitchen error I did learn from very quickly was the importance of using a timer and keeping an eye on what you are cooking. 

For my 13th birthday my parents agreed that I could have a sleepover with some friends. I was so excited as at that age sleepovers were the highlight of a weekend. We had a great time staying up and obsessing over our love of boybands (Westlife for the win!). The following morning the good host that I am offered to make everyone breakfast. I popped some bread in the toaster and in the excitement of having my friends over I went to join them in the lounge closing the kitchen door behind me. It must have only been 10 minutes that had passed when one of my friends asked where the toast was. I realised I had totally forgotten about it and went straight to the kitchen. I opened the door to be greeted to a room full of smoke. Thankfully there was no fire and after opening the windows and doors the room soon cleared but it did make me realise how easily things can go wrong.

The popping bit on the toaster didn't work so the bread carried on toasting and thus started smoking. We were so lucky that I went in to the kitchen when I did otherwise the outcome may have been quite different. It was an event though that has stuck with me and made me more careful in when cooking especially now that I have my own house and have a young child that I will need to teach kitchen safety to in the future.

It's so easy to forget about something cooking if you are distracted by and it's even worse if the electrical item you are using is at fault. Back then I didn't know that the toaster would play up but I now try to be quite observant around the home and tell Tom as soon as something isn't right.

Shortly after we moved in to our new house I was in the kitchen one day and heard a clicking noise. I mentioned it to Tom and he shut the power off and did some investigating. He discovered the previous owners (who were useless at DIY but that's a story for another day) had incorrectly fitted a plug socket and water had got in to it over the years causing it to crumble inside. It really was an accident waiting to happen. Thankfully we got it sorted but it just goes to show that something can go wrong very easily.

The UK Charity, Electrical Safety First have shared this video and their top fire safety tips showing the importance of fire safety in the home. Make sure you test your smoke alarms and if you are in doubt about the reliability of your appliances then get them checked out.

***This is a collaborative post, all words are my own***

Thankfully it's all done now and the marks have been submitted so I'm hoping the pressure will ease a little bit for him and we can start to enjoy some family time again during the weekend.

So... meal plan! This week is National Vegetarian Week so two of my dear friends have challenged me, the carnivore, to create a meal plan that is veggie friendly. Now, I really struggled with this as meat is very central to our diet and the only meat-free meals we tend to eat are our breakfasts during the week. I'm not a great lover of veg, I'll eat it as it's good for me but given the choice I would much prefer some fillet steak over a bowl of leafy greens.

I know that as a family we do eat far too much meat but it's difficult to cut back on it when it tastes so good! I also found it hard to come up with vegetarian meals that would be filling unless I upped the carbs or fat content. As much as I'm not looking forward to our dinners this week I am intrigued to see how we fare and if we actually miss it.

This week we will be eating:

Monday - I have cake club so it's a freezer dive for Tom

Tuesday - Paneer Curry

Wednesday - Curried Rice with Poached Eggs

Thursday - Baked Ravioli

Friday - Vegetable Tarts with sweet potato fries and veg

I haven't planned our weekend yet - will we stick with vegetarian meals or will we cave and faceplant the nearest steak? Whichever way, it will be interesting to see if our attitudes to vegetarianism change after this week.

Have a good one!

Ps. You can check out our grocery haul for the week ahead here:

I hope you all had a lovely bank holiday. Ours was fairly quiet due to Tom being snowed under with marking (it's that time of year) and poor Ethan has come down with a rotten cold. 

I am planning on doing a separate weekend post later this week but for now here is what we will be having this week. 

Monday - Oven baked risotto

Tuesday - Lamb ragu (I'm using up frozen lamb in the freezer)

Wednesday - It's Tom's birthday and as I've a meeting down in Sheffield and won't be back til after 7pm we are having the posh Asda Two Can Dine meal

Thursday - Lamb Casserole

Friday - Tuna Pasta Bake

I've also filmed a grocery haul for my YouTube channel. Please do let me know what you think of it and if you would like to see more of this sort of thing in the future.

Have a great week!

I'll be honest though, I'm totally muddled with the days and I only realised it was the end of the month when I logged in to Bloglovin' earlier and saw all of the other Me and Mine project posts - oops!

Thankfully though I was organised with this month's photos and made sure to get a few family photos taken when we were back in Belfast at the start of the month and my friend also snapped a lovely photo of us at the farm when we caught up with them over the Easter holidays.

April has been a special month for us as it's the month that Ethan took his first steps and we bought his first pair of shoes. He's still wobbly on it but every day he gets better and better. This weekend has seen him barely crawling and trying to walk and climb everywhere! Honestly I though it was bad when he started rolling but each new stage means I need to grow another set of eyes as he gets himself in to all sorts of scrapes.

Anyway, I digress... our monthly photos! I'm hastily typing this post at 9:45pm on Sunday evening as if I don't do it now it will be midweek before I get round to it. I've tried typing posts when Ethan is around but as soon as he see's the laptop he's straight over bashing it so it's better leaving it until he's in bed.

April, you've been a great month. We have had first steps and first shoes, a trip to Belfast, a trip to the farm, lazy weekends at home, a jaunt to IKEA, a quiet Easter, cheeky Costa dates, out for two currys, plenty of playdates and I've even managed a shopping trip alone! May will see Tom's birthday, a special cake club event, half term and hopefully lots of adventures whether they be quiet days at home or off out exploring.