Green alternative to concrete
I have found a green alternative to concrete.
My shortcrust pastry.
I attempted an apple pie yesterday and although it looked fabulous when it came out of the oven, I struggled to cut it open. In fact I had to get a metal tool and bang it much to everyone’s delight around the table. My cooking always brings mirth to the house.
My husband and son also had bad stomach ache afterwards. They politely said they had overeaten. The real reason was of course that their stomach was having to digest concrete like slabs of pastry. I can’t really call it pastry. It had the texture of something used in the Spanish construction industry.
I can’t even bring myself to throw it out for the birds in case I kill them but it would make an excellent weapon of mass destruction.
Or a very reliable doorstop.
Nivea and Biotherm marked down by Denmark
Denmark’s consumer council has said that Nivea and Biotherm both have ingredients that are suspicious and could cause hormonal disturbances.
Nivea contains four potentially harmful chemicals that are on the European Union list. Of the list produced, Nivea topped all the others, with 28 products in total, including their suntan lotions and face creams. Biotherm had 8 products that had potentially harmful chemicals added.
Biotherm’s parent company L’Oreal responded to the findings, “The ingredients in our products are legal, and even though a product contains an ingredient that is on the EU priority list that you mention, of substances that potentially cause hormone imbalance, that is not the same as saying that the product does cause hormonal imbalance.”
If you are a woman and have suddenly discovered that you have grown a beard maybe try products with less chemicals from a family business based in Spain, www.lujos.co.uk. Lovely soaps, eye creams and facial creams with fresh ingredients and locally sourced.
Reach out…
For the chocolate bars at the supermarket today as we have three days of rain forecast.
There are some good points to being drowned on a daily basis.
1. You don’t have to clean your windows as there is no sunshine to show up the smears
2. You can eat more chocolate as you can get away with wearing baggy jumpers for longer. Bikini season may not happen unless it involves swimming through the tunnel at Puerto Banus to rescue car drivers who thought they were driving a Range Rover and not a Fiat Panda.
3. You can easily now figure out the build quality of your house. If it is standing excellent quality. If it has collapsed, not so good build quality.
4. Less tourists means more car parking spaces.
5 You have time to daydream about garden centres like you used to when you lived in the UK. All your plants have drowned and rotted away so you are going to need to buy a whole garden full when the sun does make an appearance.
6. You can have conversations about the weather to strangers, yourself and the dog ( or in my case the hamster)
7. Fashion no longer matters at the school playground. If you can manage an umbrella that hasn’t blown inside out and an anorak you are winning.
8. The children won’t moan next time you take them to the beach because they have all forgotten what it looks like.
9. You no longer need to shave your legs, arms, or back. Hairy bodies provide warmth and waterproofing. ( No, I don’t shave my back, but if I did would you love me less?)
10. We get to see rainbows. (Well I have only seen one this year, and it almost made me crash my car because I could only see it via the rear view mirror) Rainbows are pretty special and you only get to see them if it rains. ( Oh and if you do blah blah blah, which has something to do with science and prisms. My son tried to tell me but I fell asleep.)
Voila….see…..happy times…..we just love the rain.
Is moving to Marbella easy or hard?
I had this comment today and wondered if anyone wants to leave their thoughts as I know there are readers out there with children and they are best placed to give their thoughts.
Personally I have found the Spanish to be welcoming, I have never encountered a problem here because Marbella is so International. My children haven’t been to the local schools so I can’t give my thoughts on that. I know people that are happy and unhappy with their children’s education, just the same as in the UK. The weather is usually super, but we have had a blip this winter.
Making friends is as easy or difficult as you want to make it. By living in a community, such as an apartment or townhouse it makes it easier. Mums with young children at school often make their first friends with mums at the same school as their children. There are also lots of clubs and activities for children and adults such as dancing, sports etc that also allows friendships to develop. It takes time….Here is the comment from a lady that may well be soon joining us in Marbella. If you have something to say that may help her, just post a comment and I’ll put it on the site. Thank you….
I have been living in The South of France for 5 years returned to the UK because I couldn’t stand living their anymore. Even though I do kind off like living back in the UK having no language barrier and schooling for my children, I am missing the other side of living abroard, outdoor eating, life style and the feeling of not being a number, like it is in the UK. My husband has mention living in Marbella as he has done a bit of work over their.
But is Spain similar to France are the Spanish welcoming, friendly as the french were not at all and this made me feel very sad livng amongst the attitude they have towards the English. Are the school good at catering for young children who don’t speak Spanish, and having to speak another language gives me a headache thinking about it.
I need to be around friend and I love the idea of having friend and children over to play with my children after school and at weekends. Can you make friends over in Spain easily !!!! and what is the education like !!!!!
I do want to move and the next move have to be good for me and my family. The good and bad about Marbella is what I need to hear.
one, two, three…
We’ve all looked out of our windows this morning, so one, two, three, let’s all scream together.
I won’t make you miserable by telling you the ten day weather forecast I have just seen on MSN either….
I don’t say “hola, buenos dias” anymore.
I just quack.
Mothers Day Sunday March 14th
Don’t forget in the UK it is Mothers Day on Sunday March 14th. If you are looking for really special cards I founds some large, very pretty handmade ones with a nice verse inside for 3.50 euros in the card shop located near the Pasta Cafe in Nueva Andalucia, just past the commercial centre Centro Plaza. It has a good selection of all types of cards but the Mothers Day cards I thought were very good value as they were so pretty with padded embroidered cushions and ribbons on the front.
Another great solution for sending cards to the UK is the website http://www.yoodoo.com/ Here you choose your card and often you can have a personalised message written on the front and even a photo if you want one. You can then write the message inside the card and this company will print it out for you. So you can again make it personal even though you haven’t handwritten it yourself. It is then posted for you, you choose the day. Absolutely brilliant and you can choose small, medium or large cards. Prices if I recall start at around £1.99 for the card.
Huge choice of cards and they will even send you a reminder out to send that important person a card if you wish….
Marbella in March
Pinch and a punch on the 1st day of the month.
We have spent a few hours today walking on the paseo in Marbella,drinking coffee and eating ice-cream.
Children on rollerblades, families out walking, warm sunshine and the calm blue Mediterranean sea right on our doorstep.
I love Marbella! 
Lemon drizzle cake recipe
A tried and tested multiple times recipe ( my hefty thighs prove it ) and it is absolutely lemony snickety divine. A great way to use up your lemons if you lucky enough to have a lemon tree growing in your garden.
Ingredients
225 g butter ( don’t use margarine)
225g sugar
225g self raising flour
4 eggs
2 lemon rinds finely grated.
FOR THE DRIZZLE
Juice of 2 medium lemons
85g sugar
METHOD
Mix the softened butter ( I put mine in the microwave and try to catch it before it turns into a yellow puddle and curdles the eggs…) with the sugar.
Add the flour ( you can use plain flour, I do, but I add 2 raised teaspoons of baking powder) whisked up eggs and lemon rind.
Pour mixture into two small loaf tins that have been lined. If you are making one larger cake then obviously the cooking time will take longer. Cook on 180 degrees for around 25 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean.
Whilst still hot and in the loaf tins mix together the lemon juice and sugar for the drizzle. Pour with a spoon onto the cakes, it will sizzle. Prick the cakes a few times to allow the drizzle to flow into the cake, pay special attention to the edges of the cake.
Leave to cool in the tin. The drizzle will form a crusty, sugary, lemony glaze which will look fab and taste even better!
UK mum thrown off a bus for breastfeeding her daughter
Yes, that has really happened. A bus driver told her to get off after a passenger complained and in the pouring rain she had to get out with her hungry 6 week old baby girl.
Anyone that has had a baby knows that you can’t always time feeds around being at home. My youngest needed a feed every 2 hours. I had two other children and couldn’t just lock myself away for a year. Yes you can be discreet, but not always. At the end of the day if you are going to breastfeed you do have to get your breast out and that is what they are for.
Fortunately the bus company have apologised but it does make me angry that there are still people that think it is disgusting and obscene to feed your baby as nature intended.
What type of web animal are you?
The BBC is hosting a huge survey into finding out how the last 20 years of having the web has changed us and to find out more about the type of people that use the web and how our brains are affected by it.
They have created a 20 minute survey which will reveal more about you and how you use the web. Their theory is that younger people are more into social networking and multi tasking and older people well, they aren’t…and whereas young people use social networking sites to find and source information, older people rely on single source academic webpages.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution/
I’m a web leopard…..what are you?