Things I discovered: February 2014

Ooh look at me - managing to join in with two linky's in one evening having just posted my Word of the Week, here I am joining in with Everyone Else is Normal's Things I discovered linky again. I am finding that I'm looking forward to this each month and I love trying to think of the new things under each of the headings Eat, Play, Read, Places, People, and Blogs. Although the headings are not compulsory, I like the idea of trying to fit things under each category.

Eat
I actually discovered this back in early January when we went for our Waitrose cookery day but I keep forgetting to mention it. When we made our chocolate brownies there, we used a fry-light spray to grease the tin with. It was so easy to use that we've been greasing cake tins with it ever since. It was also used for the tortilla chips we made there.

But I have also been using for all sorts of things since then. Because it lightly sprays the sunflower oil, you use far less oil. It is only 1 calorie per squirt. So rather than drizzle lots of oil over bread to make croutons, I used the spray and it worked brilliantly.

Just a couple of squirts in a non-stick frying pan is also fabulous for fried eggs.

Although the concept is not new (I remember my mum buying one of these in the early 90's) I used to think they were a bit of a dieting gimmick. But now I can see just how much healthier recipes can become using Fry-Light.

Play
Instead of a toy discovery, I'm going to mention just how much me and Miss T have enjoyed cooking with each other lately. From our Valentine's cookies, and then our Toad in the hole, cooking together has been a time of fun as an alternative to playing with toys.

Read
I actually read a book in a single day which is a first for me. It was Kiss Me First which I reviewed for Mumsnet. I found it totally unputdownable and really very relevant to the online lives that many of us lead these days.

Places
I have to mention our amazing meal at Bocca Di Lupo. We wrote a bit about it here, and D did more of a write up about the food on his blog. We really hope to go back there soon as the food was fantastic, the service so speedy and we just have to eat those Granpa's balls again!

People
My sister! It turns out she can make amazing fudge which I never knew. Both my sisters came to visit this week together with my dad. As we don't get to see any of them very often it was great. I think the last time we saw her was last summer with her musical nails!

Blogs


Not a new blog for me but one that I've been reading pretty much since I started blogging, but a new linky on there that hasn't been widely discovered yet. Raisie Bay's Kids in the Kitchen linky has really encouraged me and Miss T to cook together each week. I would love to see lots more people joining in as I love seeing what everyone else has been cooking.

It was also very exciting to meet Mary from Over 40 and a Mum to One and Monkey at our Postman Pat day out as well as Anna from In The Playroom with her three gorgeous little boys.

I'm going to add one extra heading this month as I'm not sure quite where else it would fit:

Products
We were in need of a new oilcloth for the dining table to protect it from all that the three kids and me can throw at it and after shopping around to find a good priced oilcloth we bought a spotty black and white one from Only Oilcloths.

I have been so pleased how well it fits in with the black and white colour scheme of the rest of the kitchen and how good it looks as the backdrop to so many of the photos that we take that end up on the blog as can be seen here, and here and here and of course in the fried egg photo near the top of this post.