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Annarita’s Spaghetti Bolognese
I have a friend, an Italian friend. In fact, she’s as authentically Italian as you can get. She came from a town in Italy on the heel of the boot. Have a look on a map for the location of a place called ‘Brindisi’, that’s where she was born. In fact, it looks so beautiful there that at some point in my life, I’d like to go there. So I felt it to be very important, a couple of years back, to ask her a most intelligent question about Italy’s architecture and culture, recipe for spaghetti bolognese. “It’s all to do with slow cooking,” she said, “And celery, you must…
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Dandelion Clock in Watercolour
I love Dandelion Clocks, well that’s the official name. I’ve always called them Dandelion wishes, because I always make a wish when I blew the seeds into the air as a child. Anyway, I painted one today x Walking wherever my wandering leads, I pull a dandelion from the weeds, I close my eyes, thinking of my needs, As I blow away those tiny, little seeds… ~Kaycee
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Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients: 250g plain flour 100g sugar 3 teaspoons baking powder pinch of salt 175ml milk 75ml vegetable oil 1 egg Half a teaspoon of vanilla extract 125g chocolate chips ( I only had 100g, as someone in my house had been sneaking into the cupboard in the middle of the night and pinching handfuls of the things when everyone was asleep. That’s why mine look a bit inadequately chocolate chipped!) Method: Preheat the oven to 180 C / Gas 5. Put paper cases onto a tray. I used silicone ones. Sift into a bowl the flour, sugar, baking powder, chocolate chips and salt. In another bowl, mix together the egg,…
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My Favourite May Shazams
I’ve been listening to the radio quite a bit this month. Classic Fm mostly, Radio 3 and a few pieces of music thrown into the mix from films I’ve been watching that made me go ‘oohhhh’, how wonderful, I’ll investigate, because I’ve had the time, as we all have. Here’s some of my favourite music this month x I was watching ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ the other evening (mainly because I’m a 100% Potterhead, watched all the films about 6 times each and read all the books; and for some reason I missed this) This gorgeous piece of music was playing during the credits. I love it.…
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Free Online Courses (CPD etc)
During Lockdown, I have been advised by my employers to study and complete some online courses for CPD purposes, whilst I’ve been at home. Apart from giving me added knowledge for the benefits of teaching children; some of the courses are excellent for personal study and interest. FutureLearn: A really good free online study resource. Unfortunately, you don’t get a certificate at the completion; you have to pay for one, but you will receive an email to confirm that you have studied. There’s quite a few subjects to choose from: Business and management, Healthcare, History, Arts, Education, Law, Languages and many more. It’s really worth taking a look. You follow…
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Great Expectations-Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens masterpiece, Great Expectations is definitely one of my favourite books. It follows Pip from his childhood and onto his later life. The story is engaging and full of interesting characters; the aggrieved Miss Havisham, the loving and kind Joe, the haughty and distant Estella and the convict Magwitch. There are many plot twists and human emotions: despair, hope, love and hate. We can all relate to Pips character as a child with his family relationships, desires and failures. The character that really stood out to me was, Joe, his sister’s husband. Pip was often ridiculed and made fun of. Children, especially at that time were better ‘seen and…
