"A hardened and shameless tea drinker"

Gluten free pastry

ias — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 09:16:36 GMT

Excellent recipe

http://vickery.tv/gluten-free/gluten-free-recipes/item/gluten-free-shortcrust-pastry

And a completely vegan version
http://glutenfreevegan.net/food/recipies/baking/shortcrust-pastry/

Veal Ragu

ias — Thu, 04 Aug 2016 15:13:37 GMT

Originally from: http://www.simplybeefandlamb.co.uk/recipes/veal-and-pancetta-ragu

Ingredients:
500g lean veal mince
30g dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 100ml/3½floz warm water
1tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
50g pancetta cubes or thick cut back bacon, diced
Small handful fresh thyme leaves
1tbsp tomato purée
¼tsp freshly grated nutmeg
100ml dry red wine
1 sachet bouquet garni
300ml good, hot beef stock
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
1-2tbsp crème fraîche or double cream

Fresh thyme leaves, to garnish

Method:

1.Drain the mushrooms, reserving the liquid, roughly chop and set aside.
2.Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and cook the mince, onion, celery and garlic under a low heat for 4-5 minutes, or until soft. Add the pancetta or bacon and thyme leaves. Cook for a further 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3.Add the tomato purée, nutmeg, wine and bouquet garni. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, the reserved liquid and stock. Season.
4.Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer on the hob for 1-1½ hours, stirring occasionally. Five minutes before the end of the cooking time, stir through the crème fraîche or double cream and remove the bouquet garni.

Courgette Chutney

ias — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 13:54:19 GMT

Finally found this recipe again! Also known as Irish Marrow Chutney and is adapted from Home Preserves by Jackie Burrow (St Michael Cookery Library 1979). Most recipes add the whiskey at the start but I think it is better added at the end, otherwise you boil off all the alcohol!

Makes about 7lb

1.5 kg marrow or courgette, diced
1.5kg cooking apples peeled cored and chopped
225g onions peeled and chopped
1 large garlic clove peeled and crushed
100g sultanas
100g raisins
100g dried apricots chopped
100g preserved ginger or 1 tbsp ground ginger
50g almonds chopped
4 tbsp spoons of mustard seeds
1 tbsp chillies, seeds removed and chopped or just use the same amount of chilli powder
1 tbsp spoon salt
1 tbsp spoon ground cinnamon

1 tbsp ground cloves
1 tbsp ground nutmeg
900ml malt vinegar
1.75 kg sugar
5 tbsp whiskey

cooking time: approx 2hrs

Place all ingredients except the whiskey in a large pan and bring to the boil, stirring all the time.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hrs, stirring occasionally.

The chutney is ready when you can make a channel with a wooden spoon across its surface and it leaves a channel imprinted for a few seconds without being filled by spare vinegar.

When ready, take off heat and stir in the whiskey.

While still hot, spoon into prepared jars. Seal with airtight, vinegar-proof covers.

Eurovision 2016 - the food & drink

ias — Fri, 06 May 2016 16:16:37 GMT

So we don't wind up with loads of salad and no bread, or vice versa, here's a list of Eurovision eligible countries and what we might bring/make to represent them.

Strike through means that they haven't made it to the Grand Final.

Country	What	Who	last year
Armenia	?	?	stuffed veg (bulgar wheat)
Austria	cheese, ham	Isobel & Nick	cheese/ham?
Azerbaijan	Shuyudlu suzme	Isobel & Nick	Shuyudlu suzme
~~Albania~~	?	?	Byrek
Australia	Anzac biscuits	Tim & Mandy	Anzac biscuits & vegemite
~~Belarus~~	?	?	?
Belgium	?	?	Cheese? Chocolates? Biscuits? Moules et frites! BEER?
~~Bosnia and Herzegovina~~	?	?	?
Bulgaria	?	?	Wine? White cheese?
Crotia	?	?	?
Cyprus	Paprika spuds	Isobel	baked waxy potatoes (I'm doing this again!)
Czech Republic	?	?	?
~~Denmark~~	?	?	Bacon? Cheese?
~~Estonia~~	?	?	rosolje (beetroot and fish salad)
~~Finland~~	?	?	Liquorice
France	Madelines	Reena & Mike	-
~~FYRO Macedonia~~	?	?	?
Georgia	Aubergine with walnuts	Isobel	Last year I did aubergine with walnut and Georgian salad
~~Greece~~	-	Vicky
Germany	Black Forest Gateau	Isobel	-
Hungary	?	?	Hungarian Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream Dressing
~~Iceland~~	?	?	?
~~Ireland~~	?	?	Soda bread? Potato bread?
Israel	Hummus & flatbreads	Nick (from the shop!)	hummus
Italy	Meats & cheese	Tim & Mandy	ham/cheese?
Latvia	Smoked sprats	Nick	Kurzeme (Sauerkraut)
Lithuania	Sumuštiniai	Caroline	Sumuštiniai: open rye bread sandwiches
Malta	Pastizzi	Isobel & Nick	?
~~Moldova~~	Mamaliga w. sour cream	Isobel & Nick	?
~~Montenegro~~	?	?	special clotted cream & bakalava
Netherlands	Cheese; stroopwafel	Isobel & Nick	?
~~Norway~~	?	?	jarlsberg? Smoked salmon?
Poland	pork & plum pate, bread	Isobel	-
Russia	Salad Oliver	Isobel & Nick	[last year Mandy did Russian Salad]
~~Romania~~	?	?	did baked pumpkin
~~San Marino~~	Tre monti	Isobel	These are basically ice-cream wafers sandwiched together with nutella and dipped in chocolate
Serbia	Wedding Cabbage (svadbarski kupus)	Isobel	noodles with poppy seeds
~~Slovenia~~	?	?	?
Spain	Olives, churros	Isobel	-
~~Switzerland~~	?	?	?
Sweden	Ginger biscuits & blue cheese dip; cured salmon	Isobel & Nick	possibly cured salmon? Or ginger biscuits and blue cheese dip?
Ukraine	?	?	?
UK	Oatcakes	Reena & Mike

MMWI

ias — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 13:28:28 GMT

10st 8.2lbs

So two pounds on. Fuck knows why.

Didn't get to aerobic classes at the end of the week.

Think I am really going to have to start doing 5:2 properly with crispbread for breakfast and liquid only during the day, with heavy veg based dinner in evening.

Freezing food

ias — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 13:31:55 GMT

AVOCADO: Avocados can be frozen successfully and used in guacamole, dressings and spreads. Just remove the skin and stone, then mash with one tablespoon of lemon juice per avocado and freeze for up to two months.

EGGS: Raw eggs in their shells will expand and crack if frozen. Instead, beat lightly and add a pinch of salt or sugar per egg (depending on whether you’re using them for savoury or sweet dishes), which will help to stop the egg splitting once defrosted.
You can store them in muffin trays or in batches in freezer bags, which can be stored flat. Frozen in this way, eggs will keep well for a month. Egg yolks tend to go unappetisingly rubbery if frozen separately, but whites freeze well and can be used for meringues, etc.
HERBS: Finely chop soft herbs such as mint and parsley and place in ice-cube trays, top up with water or a little olive oil and freeze.
Woody herbs such as rosemary can be frozen whole in plastic food bags. Use from frozen.

WINE: Leftover red and white wine can be kept frozen — although it’s best for cooking rather than drinking, as freezing can cause potassium tartrate crystals to form in the wine. Sometimes called ‘wine diamonds’, these are harmless but don’t look great in a glass.
As with milk, never store wine in the freezer in a glass bottle, as it will probably shatter. Because of its alcohol content, wine will not freeze completely but remain a little soft, so make sure that the container is sealed properly.

Bean & goats cheese salad

ias — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 15:02:50 GMT

Based on a recipe from BBC website which we had last night. Rather yummy and worked well with pitta.

250g broad beans, skins removed
250g peas
2 x 410g tins butter beans, drained and rinsed
1 or 2 courgettes, thinly sliced
2 tbsp chopped thyme

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp sugar

1 log fresh goats cheese

Method

Cook the broad beans and peas in boiling, unsalted water for 2-3
minutes or until tender. Drain and refresh under running cold water.
Mix together in a bowl with the butter beans.

Stir-fry the courgettes in 2 tbsp of the olive oil for five minutes, tip into
the bean mixture and season well with salt and pepper. Add the
thyme leaves.

Whisk the remaining olive oil, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and
sugar together, and season with salt and pepper. Mix into the bean
salad along with the crumbled cheese. Pile into a serving bowl
and chill until required.

Strawberry and redcurrant jam

ias — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 14:26:23 GMT

So looking around, the proportions can be as high a 2 strawberries : 1 redcurrants.

Fruit to sugar ration should be 1:1 traditionally.

Redcurrants have a higher pectin than strawberries, but probably safest to add the juice of a lemon as well (for 1-1.5kg fruit, see below).

1.2kg fruit will make about 3lbs jam.

Method:
1. Place the sugar in a roasting tin and warm at 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4 for 10min. Place half the strawberries and all the redcurrants in a preserving pan over a low heat and cook until soft and the juice runs.

2. Add the remaining strawberries to the pan and bring to the boil. Add the lemon juice and warmed sugar to the pan, bring to the boil, then simmer until the sugar dissolves. Bubble for 25min or until set

Scum:
While cooling, scum can be removed by adding a little butter (about 20g) to break the surface tension or by skimming it off with a spoon.

Pouring:
Allow the jam to cool and thicken for about 10 minutes before pouring it into jars, to prevent the fruit from floating to the top.

Jars:
Wash in soapy water, rinse well and then place into a cool oven - 130C - for 15-20 minutes. As soon as you've poured the jam into the sterilised jars you should immediately cover the surface of it with wax paper discs.

Not set:
Empty out jars, bring to boil, add juice of a lemon, re-pot.

Waxed paper:
prevents the condensation of water on the jam's surface which would dissolve sugar, producing an area of low sugar concentration and allowing mould growth.

Lemon Juice & Pectin:
The juice of a whole lemon (30-40ml) will be needed for very low acid fruit (apricots, rhubarb and strawberries), whereas half a lemon will be enough for medium acid fruit, and you won't need any for the high acid fruits (apples, grapes).
There is a test for pectin as well: http://www.allotment-garden.org/food/test-pectin.php

Fresh tomato pasta sauce

ias — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 11:01:01 GMT

This was from Jamie Oliver and worked really well (except that Cory didn't like it but it was full of 'bits' as far as he was concerned).

Asparagus and ham pasta

ias — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 13:35:25 GMT

An on the fly recipe, based on what was in the fridge and needed to be eaten.

1 bunch asparagus
Prosciutto Cotto
Creme fraiche
Onion

Dice onion small.
Chop asparagus into 1cm pieces

Fry onion gently, once translucent add asparagus (not the tips). Gently cook for c. 10 minutes. Add chopped ham and mix thoroughly.

Meanwhile boil water and put pasta on to cook.

Add a couple of generous tablespoons of creme fraiche to ham and asparagus. Add a good grinding of pepper.

A couple of minutes before pasta is cooked add tips to the pasta. Then grate zest of 1/4 lemon into sauce.

Drain pasta, reserving some of the cooking water to loosen the sauce.

Toss all together and serve.

Eurovision Food

ias — Wed, 20 May 2015 16:02:03 GMT

Salads/Vegetables

Russia - Russian Salad (Mandy)
Romania - baked pumpkin (got)
Latvia - Kurzeme (Sauerkraut) (got)
Hungary - Hungarian Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream Dressing (got)
Georgia - aubergine and walnut sauce and Georgian salad (got)
Cyprus - baked waxy potatoes (got)
Estonia - rosolje (beetroot and fish salad) (got)
Armenia - stuffed veg (bulgar wheat)

Cold plates

Sweden - cured salmon (got), elk sausage (got) & cheese (got)
Norway - salmon from Lidl & jarlsberg (got)
Poland - pork and plum pate (got)
Israel - hummus (got)
Italy - ham (got) & gorgonzola (got)
Germany - salami (got) & smoked cheese (got)
Greece - marinated feta (got) & olives (got)
France - cheese (got)
Belgium - pate (got)
Azerbaijan - Shuyudlu suzme
Albania - Byrek (got)
Austria - ham (got)
Australia - vegemite (got)

Breads & pastas

UK - oatcakes (got)
Italy - Breadsticks (got)
Serbia - noodles with poppy seeds (got)
Poland - breads (got)
Sweden - crispbreads (got)
Lithuania - open rye bread sandwiches, called Sumuštiniai
Need flat breads and rye breads

Desserts

United Kingdom - Lemon Victoria sponge (got)
Spain - almond nougat (got)
Montenegro - special clotted cream (got) & bakalava (got)
Lithuania - Varškėčiai (quark pancakes)?
France - Madelines (Reena)
Belgium - biscuits or chocolate?
Austria - cake (Caroline)
Australia - Anzac biscuits (got)

So listed by country it is:

Albania - Byrek (cheese filled filo pastries)
Armenia - Eech (bulgar wheat salad)
Austria - ham or cake?
Australia - vegemite or Anzac biscuits
Azerbaijan - Shuyudlu suzme
Belgium - ham or cheese or biscuits or chocolate?
Cyprus - baked waxy potatoes
Estonia - rosolje (beetroot and fish salad)
France - Madeleines
Georgia - aubergine and walnut sauce and Georgian salad
Germany - salami and smoked cheese
Greece - marinated feta & olives
Hungary - Hungarian Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream Dressing
Israel - hummus
Italy - hams and gorgonzola
Latvia - Kurzeme (Sauerkraut)
Lithuania - Varškėčiai (quark pancakes) or open rye bread sandwiches, called Sumuštiniai
Montenegro - special clotted cream & bakalava
Norway - salmon from Lidl & jarlsberg
Poland - pork and plum pate, butter & breads
Romania - baked pumpkin
Russia - Russian Salad (known in Russia as Salad Olivier) but do with crayfish (as original) and possibly more dill as well as parsley. Several recipes, such as this from the Guardian, Cookipedia, and there's also one in the Good Housekeeping book.
Serbia - noodles with poppy seeds
Slovenia
Spain - almond nougat
Sweden - stuff from Ikea
United Kingdom - Lemon Victoria sponge

Red pepper and mackerel pasta

ias — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 19:58:25 GMT

Made this up tonight due to buying some heavily reduced chilli crusted smoked mackerel yesterday in Waitrose. Threw it together with stuff we already had in and it was rather yummy.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 large red papper, finely chopped
smoked mackerel, either chilli or pepper
1/2 tub creme fraiche (or other soured cream)
juice and zest 1/2 lemon
pepper

Boil the pasta. While it’s cooking, heat half the oil in a saucepan, then gently fry the onion and pepper until just coloured. Add flaked mackerel and heat through. Add creme fraiche and thoroughly mix.

Drain the pasta, reserving a few tbsp water, then toss the pasta and water through the sauce, adding the lemon zest, lemon juice and pepper.

Served green beans on the side.

More food!

ias — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 11:58:00 GMT

Other recent hits on the food front include:

Polenta and game stew: we had four pheasant breasts in the freezer which we wanted to use, and this was the answer. Adapted and scaled down brillantly. I initally thought there would be leftovers but Alex and Cory went at it with gusto (as did the adults) so there was none.

Parmesan biscuits: I made these as a savoury snack for Halloween at the Nursery (along with small oranges decorated with cucumber to make pumpkin lanterns). Going to make this at Christmas (but not bat shaped!).

Eurovision 2014

ias — Sun, 11 May 2014 14:57:52 GMT

So the Eurovision Song Contest was last night and we had a party. It was rather short notice as we only decided to host a party a couple of weeks ago), and we decided at even shorter nice (during the first semi-final) that we would try and have a foodstuff or a dish from every country in the final.

And we managed it, except for Romania who we forgot about. It was rather difficult to find dishes that weren't generic Scandanavian, Austro-Hungarian or Ottoman Empire and we ended up with a few dishes which weren't so far removed from other things we're very familiar with. So for the record, this is what we had on the table:

Armenia - PAKLAVA (baklava)
Austria - smoked cheese
Azerbaijan - Shuyudlu suzme (strained full fat yoghurt w dill and garlic) *
Belarus - pickled cucumber and honey
Denmark - Danish Blue
Finland - Finn Crisp (crispbreads)
France - various cheeses, baguette, wine
Germany - Black Forest gateaux *, peppered salami, garlic sausage, smoked cheese
Greece - olives
Hungary - paprika salami
Iceland - prawns
Italy - Taleggio, fizzy wine
Malta - fig and prickly pear liqueurs
Montenegro - quince paste
Netherlands - Gouda with cumin
Norway - goats cheese, marinated salmon
Poland - Polish ham, Polish style rye bread, bisson vodka
Russia - blinis, sour cream and caviar, vodka San Marino - torta tre Monti *
Slovenia - Bled cream cake *
Spain - fig and almond cake
Sweden - crispbreads, gravlax
Switzerland - Emmental
UK - table water biscuits, Stilton, strawberries, various homemade, cake bites
Ukraine - mini chicken kievs (two of which were annexed to Russia)

Those marked * I make, the rest we bought. It turned out to be a very good spread and something I think we should repeat in future years.

As to the contest, Austria was a popular winner round our's, although personally I would have liked to see Iceland do better and I was astounded that France's jolly little ditty on the angst of the consumer society and the unbearable lightness of being, focused through the desire to have a decent 'tache, didn't do better.

Frank Langella, King Lear at CFT

ias — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 17:15:49 GMT

Yesterday the Spouse and I took the day off work, abandoned the kids to school and nursery and went to Chichester to see Frank Langella as King Lear in the Minevra Theatre. This was, I'm rather ashamed to say, the first time I'd ever seen Lear in any sort of performance, nor had I read it thus many aspects of the story were new to me. I knew the basic premise of the play, it was a traegy so I expected some deaths at the end, but many of the twists and turns on the way I had no idea about.

The Minevera was set in about a 270 round formation. The set was minimal (the main prop being the throne borrowing the the RNT) but very textural (cobbles, wood, stone, tiles). As we were row D, it was rather up front and personal. The cast were, as you would expect, rather good. Harry Melling played a youthful fool, bringing a hint of the autistic spectrum into his charcterisation. In particular I thought Lauren O'Niell as Regan, Max Bennet as Edmund and Steven Pacey as Kent were superb, although that's not to say the rest of the cast weren't also strong performers. Langella himself brought me to tears in his final scenes. Although ocassionally in his earlier hurumphings were reminscent of his Nixon, his thinderous temper filled the small theatre and his later descent into senility was truly pathethic.

The only bum note in the whole production was Isabella Laughland as Cordelia. playing a corpse was not a stretch for her, but apprently playing Cordelia as anything other than a pious plank was. Cordelia should have bite and the courage of her convictions, instead her monologues were flat, colourless and, at times, barely audible. It may have been a very off-day for her (given she's won outstanding newcomer awards) but only showed anything like promise when acting directly with Langella, as if he could pull a performance out of her.

All in all 'though, a production I would happily sit through again. It's off to Broklyn once it is finished at Chichester.

Which to celebrate?

ias — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 15:14:08 GMT

Poor old Aunitie is having a packed week, celebrating/commemorating the centenary of Benjamin Britten's birth and the fifith anniversaries of C.S.Lewis's death, JFK's assassination (all 22nd November) and the first airing of Doctor Who (23rd November). I wouldn't have liked to have chaired those scheduling meetings...

More Cory doings

ias — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 20:48:39 GMT

Today he got grabbing your hand and walking off to get you to follow him (or, if he couldn't reach my hand, dragging my shirt tails). He also realised that if I couldn't see what he was gesticulating towards, he had to grab my hand and pull me to where he was so I could see what he could see.

He's also got a few more words that I didn't notice before. Gat for cat (nextdoor's have been visiting and C. was remarkable gentle at stroking them tonight)

The last days of a Jubalympic summer

ias — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 11:00:26 GMT

There's a definite autumnal feel in the air today and I really should get around to recording this summer, Cory's first, before I forget so expect to see a flurry of back-dated posts over the next couple of days as I finally get around to writing the half-formed posts I have in my head.

However today, the day I woke up to hear that Murray had won his first grand Slam, I am feeling rather tired and a bit too wired after my morning coffee in the staff room. It is my second week back at work and I'm not as organised this week as I was last. We really need to have one day at the weekend to get organised for the week: catch up on laundry, cook a big meal from which we can do quick leftover dishes during the week, make packed lunches for as far ahead as we can etc etc. We didn't this weekend as Saturday we were at the Paralympics and Sunday we caught up on sleep and then went to the heritage Open Day at Townhill Park, so we are running to catch-up at the moment. I also managed to spring out of bed last week at 6.30 whereas so far this week getting up by 7.30 has been a struggle due to late nights and a cold-ridden baby.

So, Murray has finally won a Grand Slam after getting gold at the Olympics. It had been a transformative summer for Murray's relationship with the British, and in particular English, public. It seemed to me that many English people just didn't get this particular taciturn Scot in much the way they didn't get another taciturn Scot, Gordon Brown. As the offspring of a long line of taciturn, male Scots I was more than aware that there was passion in Murray but it took his gracious, humourous and emotional speech on Centre Court after he lost Wimbledon to get many people, not to mention the media, to realise that just because you don't wear your heart on your sleeve, doesn't mean you don't have a heart. His tearful thanks to the British people was heart-wrenching. Likewise is rather awed reaction to having finally won a Grand Slam this morning, and a wry apology for not appearing as happy on the outside as he was on the inside, should further endear him to the great British public.

So, Sports Personality of the Year. As if we didn't need to make the choice any harder. Gold medalist and the first British male Grand Slam winner for 76 years: in any other year Murray would be a shoe-in.

Marriage for all couples who want it

ias — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 19:53:43 GMT

Just filled in the Home Office's consultation on marriage equality.

It only took a few minutes and you can bet that the Christian Right have mobilised their forces to fill it in, so please, please, if you are a UK citizen and believe that everyone should be able to get married, fill in the consultation.

The consultation ends on 14th June so to avoid a Theresa May/European Court of Human Rights date cock up, do it this evening!

Tonight's food: chicken, fennel, pepper ragout

ias — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:14:16 GMT

Had a fennel bulb that needed to be used and had some cooked chicken which also needed to be eaten. So found this chicken, fennel and pepper ragout and it is yummy.

[From BBC Good Food]

1 large fennel bulb
1 tbsp olive oil
2 boneless skinless chicken, cut into chunks
1 garlic clove, chopped
200g new potatoes, cut into chunks
400g can chopped tomatoes
150ml chicken or vegetable stock
3 roasted red peppers in brine, from a jar or deli counter, chopped

Trim the green tops off the fennel and reserve. Halve, then quarter the fennel, cut out the core, then cut lengthways into slices.

Heat the oil in a pan, add the chicken, then fry quickly until lightly coloured. Add the fennel and garlic, then stir briefly until the fennel is glistening.

Tip in the potatoes, tomatoes, stock and a little seasoning, and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 20 mins until the potatoes are tender.

Stir in the peppers and heat through. Roughly chop the reserved fennel fronds, then sprinkle over the ragout. Serve with crusty bread for mopping up the juices.

Labour & delivery of Garklet 2

ias — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:05:06 GMT

Tuesday 13th Dec

Spent the morning printing out Gark News for the Christmas cards, handing in an assignment and failing to get Nick to pick up his mobile or office phones when I called (a tad worrying as I was already 2 days overdue). Meet Nick for lunch and then went off to do the very last minute Xmas shopping in West Quay (horrid assistant in M&S who objected to a heavily pregnant woman using a trolley to carry her bags and 4 items in the 'baskets only' checkout. Got back in time to pick up Alex and then Nick after his 4-5 lecture before we went off to buy the Christmas tree. Had to ask Nick to drive back I was was crabby, tired and achey. The period-like cramps that had been developing over the afternoon finally had a purpose as I lost a bit of plug before going to bed at 11-ish.

Wednesday 14th Dec

00.30: woke, went to loo, lost more plug.

01.00: gave up trying to get back to sleep and went downstairs, Started timing contractions, they were coming every 5-6 minutes.

04.00: woke Nick to help me get the TENS machine on properly (for this relief much thanks - good choice on Ruth's part - it was far simpler to operate than the one I hired from Boots last time)

13.30: contractions still coming every 5-6 minutes so went for a walk when they upped to every 3 minutes but no more intense.

15.30: as I had been regularly contracting every 5-6 minutes for 14 hours, phoned Labour Ward for advice. The doctor suggested I come in for a trace to make sure baby was okay.

16.00: arrive at Labour Ward, get sorted with v. nice midwife called Lorna.

18.00: Good long trace shows G2 is fine but unfortunately the internal shows I'm only 1cm dilated after 17 hours of regular contractions so still definitely in latent labour. however I am getting to be quite exhausted as I hadn't slept for 36 hours. Lorna looks at my history and thinks it might be better to have me in overnight.

20.00: transfered to Burley Ward to stay in overnight with pain relief. In quite a bit of pain by now - mainly due to exhaustion rather than intensity of pain - the sort of tiredness where even blinking hurts. Am crying through some contractions.

23.00: I finally get pethadine which kicks in within minutes and Nick goes home to get sleep.

Thursday 15th December

03.30: wake up as pethadine wears off, so buzz for more pain reilef. Given temazepam (first time ever) and paracetamol. Get back to sleep with the TENS machine on.

08.00: manage breakfast and feel vaguely human. Contractions have died off to about 1 in 10 minutes which is a bugger.

09.00: Mr Coleman's ward rounds and he sends me home to come back in "3 hours or 3 days" depending on what happens.

10.30: leave hospital with Nick, go to Waitrose where being on my feet again picks up the contraction rate back to an average of every 5 minutes (or 2 in 10). Continue to labour at home with the TENS and then in the bath with the shower.

13.00: can't face lunch, although Nick does eat. Sitting is uncomfortable and it is getting tiring standing and rocking all the time.

14.00: lie on side on sofa, dozing for the minutes between the contractions.

14.15: waters go with a big pop. Nick immediately get mopping up stuff and phones labour ward to let them know we are on our way in. They ask him to check the waters and they are very obviously stained with meconium.

14.30: leave the house for the 20 minute journey (in school traffic) to the hospital. Not the most comfortable car ride ever.

15.15: hooked up to the monitors and baby is looking good.

16.30: an internal shows I am 6-7cm dilated! Hurrah!

19.00: labouring going okay, move onto gas and air which does little but provides a distraction. Try different positions - over the back of the bed would have been my preference but the bed is designed for someone several inches taller so it isn't as usual as I'd hoped. My back is beginning to be very, very sore and I find I'm tensing all the time and unable to relax into the contractions as I had been doing. Some positions are making it very difficult to keep a track of the baby's heartbeat and sometimes there look to be decelerations but we couldn't be sure if it was just picking up my heartbeat instead.

20.30: next scheduled internal shows that after 4 hours I had barely increased to 7cm and there was a huge cervical lip on one side, baby was positioned off to one side and couldn't get its head down properly. I could have wept at this point. The back labour was so painful at this point I asked for an epidural. The Registrar came in to see me and offered one about 22.30 as the anesthetist was just about to go into theatre. She also talked about getting me on a mild synotocin drip to speed things up, which I agreed to in principle as long as I got an epidural beforehand, as I'd had a drip with Alex which hadn't worked and had just been painful.

22.30: comes and goes without an epidural as previous case (stitching for a tear) is proving v. difficult to anesthetise. Registrar sees me again and says I'm looking too comfortable - by now I'm labouring on my back on the bed as everything else is too painful, so once she leaves I try labouring standing to get baby into a better position. Standing improves the rate of contractions, up to 3 and sometimes 4 in 10 (i.e. as much every 2 minutes) however it makes is far more difficult to keep track of the baby's heartbeat. I consent to an internal monitor on the baby's head, which also shows that I haven't progressed at all since the last internal. At this point things really start going tits up. My temperature is rising, baby is having some massive decelerations. You know something isn't right when the midwife (Debbie) decides to tape your wedding ring.

23.35: Registrar comes in and talks to midwife who is very clear on what she thinks ought to be done. The doctor agrees that the synotocin drip is definitely off the menu and she calls it as a level 2 emergency section at 23.45, stating I'll be in theatre in 30 minutes as soon as the current patient is out. Get back on bed to reduce contractions and stress on baby. Debbie begins to prep me for theatre.

Friday 16th December

c. 00.00: taken out to Theatre B with only one bump into a doorway on the way (I yelped, more in surprise than pain as I was shunted half a foot down the bed) but it provided comic relief. Find it very difficult to move onto the operating table as I am shaking with exhaustion and pain and am finding it impossible to regulate my temperature - when my leg slips off the stool as I sit on the table I have to ask the midwife to put it back as I can no longer control my limbs. Lovely atmosphere in the theatre - very friendly bunch of people. I really did like Bentley, my anesthetist, and his rollercoaster operating table which rolled me around until I was completely numbed. He was also good at chatting to me throughout.

00.36: Baby is being pulled out and they lower the screen so we can see our boy who soon after shows he has a good set of lungs on him. Later see his APGAR scores ate 1/5 are 9/9 which is better than Alex's were.
As they were stitching me up, the Registrar was discussing why she called it as a level 2 with the SHO who was assisting. Apparently we could wait half an hour rather than need a crash section (level 1, usually under a general) however we couldn't wait 3 hours (unlike the situation with Alex) without serious risk to the baby. The SHO characterises it as a level2+.

01.00: Nick taken out of theatre. They lower the curtain and I get weirdest feeling as I see my legs being moved around and bent out to the side while my brain is telling me my legs are straight down. Most odd.

02.05: Nick leaves the hospital after I've been brought back to the room and had some skin to skin and a feed with the baby and just before baby was weighed (he came in at 3.11kg. I'm allowed to keep the baby in my arms while in recovery which hadn't happened last time. Also brought tea and toast with marmalade.

04.00: After numerous regular checks of baby and I, baby is put back in cot and midwife turns the lights out so we can have a quick nap. Baby sleeps, I fail to!

06.00: back up on Burley ward. Quite a bit of feeling in my legs, just have to wait for them to take my catheter and cannula out (the latter is making looking after baby a bit awkward as I keep banging it).

09.30: Lorna the midwife from Wednesday afternoon popped up to Burley to see us which was lovely.

Got the cannula out mid-morning on Friday and the catheter about 1 o'clock so I could finally get up and about. Alex visited with Nick after school on the Friday afternoon so he got to meet his brother before he was 16 hours old. I stayed in on Friday night, baby slept more than I did but he did show off his lungs and his peeing range during a nappy change at around 3am (I felt awful as the two other babies on the sideward had just got off).

Saturday 17th December

Got the go ahead from the doctor on rounds on Saturday morning to go home so once all the final checks and paperwork were done, we left hospital at 12.30pm on Saturday 17th December.

Decided on the Saturday evening that Cory or Corey suited the little lad and phoned family to tell them the little one's name was Cornelius Patrick.

So all in all had regular contractions for 48 hours, no idea when labour officially became 'established' as opposed to latent.

Sweeny Todd

ias — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 20:40:50 GMT

On Saturday, thanks to the offices of Claire & Rich who entertained the garklet at home, Nick and myself went to Chichester to see their revival of Sweeny Todd. It was the last show in my summer of theatre to celebrate my fortieth and was, in short, a fantastic production.

The loveable and charming Michael Ball was unrecognisable as the demon barber. He was an everyman you wouldn't have looked twice at. Imelda Staunton provided comic relief and a complete lack of moral centre as Mrs Lovett. This is the second time I've seen Staunton in a musical (the first was the National's brilliant Guys & Dolls back in 1996) and although she can't match Ball for depth, she can belt out a good tune. They played together really well and had admirable support, in particular I was impressed by James McConville as Toby.

The costumes were 1920s in feel rather than mid-Victorian which helped highlight the social justice themes in the book. Of course it also made a nonsense of Todd's transportation sentence and the justice system but given the whole thing is a long-standing urban myth I think it hardly makes a difference. Being Chichester, the set was in the round (to about 270deg) and the whole theatre was used as part of the production. The orchestra were hidden up in a gallery at the back of stage, behind the iron work and spiral staircases reminiscent of turn of the century factory design.

I would heartily recommend this to anyone, Sondheim fans or no. I have a feeling this will get a West End transfer but nothing can beat seeing it in a theatre like the Festival at Chichester.

Aunty Pat

ias — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:07:38 GMT

Nick's Aunt Pat died on the August Bank Holiday. Today the Guardian printed her obit in their 'Other lives' section.

Pat Mattingly obituary by Naomi Mattingly, The Guardian, Wednesday 5 October 2011

Pat Mattingly, 1927-2011

ias — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:46:56 GMT

Today we took Alex to his first funeral, that of his great aunt, Pat Mattingly (he had attended his great-granfather's memorial caelidh but as he'd left his body to medical science, there was no funeral service).

Pat died suddenly on the August Bank Holiday, surrounded by her family there for their annual August BH get-together. She wasn't ill, in fact she was remarkably healthy for 84 years old.

Pat was wonderful at keeping in touch with her extended family and we were, unfortunately not as good at keeping back in touch. Somehow nearly five years had passed since we'd last visited and we were planning to visit at the start of October to see her and Alec, her husband, but we never got around to telling her (we were planning to phone when we returned from holiday). We left it too late.

I didn't know Pat as well I wished. She was someone I whole-heartedly admired from afar both for her ability to run and keep in touch with her large family (she never forgot Alex's or Nick's birthdays) and also for her heart-felt political convictions. Like many of her generation, she stopped work when she became a mother and devoted herself to her five children, all of whom went on to university (the first in their family to do so). It is telling that she inculcated such a love of books and reading in her kids that three out of the four work in education. She was a life-long socialist, most of the time a member of the Labour party (she left over the Iraq War before being persuaded back again) and a great supporter of the co-op movement. A founder member of the Enfield Peace Campaign, she went on the first Aldermasteron marches, taking her eldest in his pushchair. Pat was a letter writer: she wrote to her MPs regularly, making it clear when she thought they should consider seeing things from a differet point of view but never falling out with them as people (indeed her local MP attended today and spoke eloquently of her political life): she's the sort of letter writer who would get hand-written replies from cabinet ministers. She was active in her local community beyond politics as well, a sometime school governor for her old school and looking out for elderly neighbours up to the day she died.

She was in short a wonderful woman.

Theatre: The Syndicate

ias — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:06:11 GMT

While London was burning, we were on Chichester in the midst of the grey-haired middle classes watching The Syndicate by Eduardo De Filippo in a new translation by Mike Poulton at the Minerva Theatre. I am very ashamed to say I knew little about Filippo until I read the programme notes but know I understand him to be a cross between 'Sahkespeare, Alan Bennett and the Queen Mother' in the eyes of many Italians.

The production used a thrust stage with seating around 270deg. As we were third row back, we were less then six foot away from the actors at times. The action was set in Naples in September 1960 in both the country villa and town house of a mafia boss over the course of a single day. Events lurched between comedy and tradegy, between manipulation and ruthfulness and righteousness and violence.

I was absolutely riveted from before the first blood spurt and despite feeling very ill at one point (I broke into a sweat and felt crampy for some reason), I was determined not to leave the auditorium. Luckily I felt better very quickly and the interval came along to rescue me! The acting was superb, obv. Ian McKellen and Michael Pennington were excellent but the supporting cast was good too (but then when you ahve the likes of Cherie Lungi and Jane Bertish in it, no surprise there either). The only criticism with casting would be that of Rita - unfortunately Annie Hemmingway looked rather too strapping and vigorous to be on the point of starvation that the script called for although she gives a great performance as the simultaneously subservient girlfriend, or 'woman' and lioness fighting for her man and her child.

The Chichester run is sold out but it is on tour to Malvern, Cambridge, Bath and MK for a short-run and I would urge you to see it if you can.