Ridiculous brownies

Me and the boys are currently having a mini holiday with my marvellous mum and dad whilst Handsome husband is off in America visiting Wagyu farms (more on this later) So, taking the advantage of being nearer to London than normal, we scheduled a much needed visit to our dear friends.  Its so great to meet up with old friends, especially when various bumps are due to turn into babies any time soon.

  

We sat around and chatted and the kids romped around and played.  Darling boy and Little brother were delighted to rush in and out, playing in the garden and with the girls, or rather 'ladies' as Darling boy put it.

Naturally, one does not arrive empty handed when visiting.  A hand-tied bunch of hot pink roses, gerberas, and some other handsome looking blooms were bought from the local florist and I had made a batch of double chocolate brownies.  I was feeling in the mood to pimp my brownies, and so added some glace cherries, and then a mix of almonds and cranberries were thrown in too, as well as a smashed up bar of dark chocolate too.  They went down well, and the cherries added a juicy fruitiness which would easily pass as one of your five a day.


Incidentally, my favourite line of the day went as follows

Darling boy:  'Where are the ladies?'
The Mini greek: 'I'm not a lady, I'm a princess'

...Too true, the mini greek is a properly beautiful creature, with eyelashes that just won't stop. And at this point was wearing an irresistible Disney princess dress that calls out to all little girls to be worn straight away, over whatever they are already wearing and flounced around in, in a way that all grown ups only wish they could too.

Not cake, but jewellery.

It was half term last week and as Handsome husband had some time off, I popped up for a mini-break in the Big Smoke.  It was fabulous.  Handsome husband said I should have some time off just to myself (as he is a super husband) so off to London I went for some serious girly time.  I saw my wonderful old friends and their new babies, had beauty treatments and shopped and shopped and shopped.

I am devoted to both Mac makeup and Shu Uemura  Their colours, pigment strengths and quality are second to none...and neither of which you can buy in Devon.  I miss being near to their shops and so to lounge in the luxury of the Mac pro shop just off Carnaby street and the Shu counter at the marvellous Liberty was pure heaven.

As well as treating myself to a serious refresh of my makeup bag,  I also popped along to the Alex Monroe counter in Liberty.  This darling ring caught my eye and I fell in love.  It's so silly and quintessentially english, its the mad hatters tea party in jewellery form. Perfect.

Snowy weather? chocolate needed

Our Dear friends came to stay, just before the snow really hit and it was- as ever- great to see them.  Darling boy had a great time playing with Cute as a button and the Tiny cowgirl.  Almost all of the photos I took prove that it is almost impossible to get a photo of 2 or more children without at least one of them being blurred from wiggling.

We finally ventured out into the cold to make an inspection of the chickens, turkeys and cows, but must admit didnt last long, as the draw of the aga and a warm kitchen proved too much for our freezing toes.  The promise of a slab of Rocky Road to Mars certainly played a role in bringing us back inside.

As we walked back along the lane, we spotted two tiny fairy trampolines (dewdrops on cobwebs to us mere mortals)  This was enough to lift our spirits as we scampered back to hot chocolate, cups of tea and snack time.

Fairy correspondence

We had our Dear friends to stay for the last time before we moved and had a wonderful time.  They are such good friends and their girls are such sweethearts, Cute as a Button and the Tiny Cowgirl have grown up so much since we last saw them, they are quite the sophisti-cats these days.  Tiny Cowgirl is totally fearless and has an amazing sense of balance for a 2 year old- fancy balancing on a rugby ball!

Cute as a button wanted to write to the fairies at the bottom of our garden to tell them bye-bye as we were moving, and so she drew her picture and left it out for the fairies.  And what would you know, in the morning the fairies had sent a reply. Softie? moi?

The big entrance

Friday night and our friends were arriving. Some by train and some by car. We were really happy to having our Dear Friends to stay, and on this occasion, they were also to be joined by the Greek, another old friend from university days, and her totally beautiful mini-me, a little girl of 9 months who is a complete munchkin and totally gorgeous.

After a long day at work, and much too excited to be measuring, etc, I was very glad to have done all the prep for dinner the night before. After the babies were bathed, fed and put to bed and our home absorbed the many accessories that accompany children, I assembled the moussaka, made in honour of the Greek's first trip to Devon. In the aga it went and chatting as I went, I iced the cupcakes that I had made the night before (how very blue peter!) with the cream cheese butter icing that is just as delicious eaten from your finger, as it is the cupcake. I dusted each beauty with cocoa and placed them on the cake dish ready for pudding.

After an hour, the moussaka was ready and we ate it in greedy scoops with salad and red wine. There was much to catch up on and we chatted and ate, and ate and chatted. For the third time ever, Dear Friend’s husband even cleared his plate, a phenomenon hardly ever seen (the other time was the last occasion of their visit to us and we had the Iranian Feast) He isn’t the biggest of people- he had the nickname of ‘Boyfriend in my Pocket’ before they were married- he even had seconds. Even Handsome husband agreed the moussaka was delicious, and he claims to not like lamb.

We munched the cupcakes, some in two stages, as although they are only cupcake size, they are rich and gooey and chocolatey and cheesecakey and very moreish. Peppermint tea and coffee joined the table and we talked on till it was time to take our weary bones to bed, ready for more fun the next day.