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Sunday, March 3, 2013

New Life

I have not touched this blog for a very long time. I've missed it, I must say. We have a new baby, a girl. I am happy and all my energy and time I dedicate to my children. But I miss writing, I miss having the time to do something just for myself :)

Well, in the last 3 months I've gone through a lot, emotionally speaking. We were told we were going to have another boy, and I was really really happy about that. But I must confess, when I saw my little girl emerge from behind the curtain in the surgery room, I was overwhelmed, I felt over the moon. We now have a wonderful 5 year old boy and a little girl of 3 months. They are everything to me and I am focusing on their well being from the moment I wake up until I go to bed in the evening. As any other parent in the world does :)

I have not stopped cooking for a minute, I have been trying many new things and I want to share these new recipes on the blog as soon as possible.

My son liked the sausage rolls some dear friends brought here one day, so I made him something similar the very next day. That means I've learned to make a sort of puff pastry, it's a version that only takes 5 minutes to prepare and needs to sit in the fridge for 2 hours. It was my first try at puff pastry, while everyone tried to scare me away from it! The results were amazing and today I will make a lighter version of it, substituting the butter with a vegetable spread.

I have finally managed to get my hands on a cast iron pot, it was on good offer at a supermarket and I just could not miss the opportunity to have it for less than half the normal price. I bought it mainly for one reason: baking bread!!! It is a magical pot, because it turns my electric oven into a real oven where the bread cooks slowly and does not dry too much. I've baked bread loafs since I got the pot and I've added to it seeds and nuts of all kinds, olives, turmeric powder... My creativity is exploring all the possibilities and I really want to share the recipe for this wonderful bread as soon as I can.

My mother, 2000 kilometers away, saw the picture and immediately inquired about the pot :) This week I'll buy another one for her and take it with me when we will go visit them in less than 20 days. I am amazed that I will be teaching her how to make that bread loaf.

I've also been making marmalade, or better, jam. Every time I had some fruit too ripe to eat raw I turned it into a jar of sweet goodness. It's easier than I thought and I froze the extra jars to make sure they do not go bad. There is no artificial preservatives in my jam, such as pectin: only sugar, fruit and a secret ingredient that gives it a completely unexpected twist.

Let's say my main efforts have gone towards the baking, lately, as I bought a bread machine that is worth her weight in gold: she will make the dough and I turn it into pizza, bread, focaccia, panini rolls and the like.


This post is just an update to myself, mainly, to look back a few months and see all the important things accomplished so far and the new challenges ahead. I just want to remind myself to take 5 minutes for me every now and then and write. It's my medicine for the soul and it makes me feel good.

The little one is already 3 months old, I cannot believe it. My son will be 6 years old in no time and I look back these years and I say to myself: wow! you've come a long way!

The changes that happened in my life thought me a lot and I am grateful I have been able to adapt to all the good and bad things life threw in my direction. I can't wait to start cooking for this new baby too! And that is something I would never have imagined myself doing only 7 or 8 years ago.

She is so much part of this family already, she will happily sit in her baby chair and just look at us moving about all day. When we eat, she will be in her chair, "talking" to us. We are now a complete family, we will not have any more children for many reasons and I am loving each and every second of this slow, strange life I am living at present, where my whole world starts and ends in my house, with plenty of things to do, nappies to change, bottles to boil, meals to imagine and prepare, homework to do.


I am grateful for all I have, I believe we all build our lives with our actions and decisions, even with the wrong ones.

This is a promise to myself to get back to writing, one way or the other. This is a pin pointed on my imaginary board reminding me to make room in the daily routines for me, me and me.







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