Seaside Shenanigans

I'm Draft So this weekend I attend the wonderful Whitstable Oyster Festival with the train gang.

Actually not all of the gang as you know from previous post there are the four of us but one of the gang due to other things could attend which was really a shame as I know a weekend away drinking and mayhem would do her the world of good.

But Hey Ho cant have everything :)

So me and my partner in Crime traveled down on the Train from central London Late afternoon of course we had supplies on the way.

Don't worry this was strictly a girl trip for the first 2 days the little man was safe at home with his dad and was kept well away from anything that could result in years worth of therapy lol

As we were staying at our other friends folks lovely house we had hoped the weather would be nice and we could spend the evening sitting out in their fab Garden no such luck it was tipping it down. The heavens opened so after an hour and a half of nice warm dryness of the train we were out at the station. Then I had the bright idea as it's not far to her house to Walk.  I blame the booze as it was hideous. We got to the house like drowned rats didn't help that Hannah then took forever to open the door.

so we dripped our way in my suitcase was so wet it had seeped into my clothes luckily I had wine in my bag so discovered this as it gave me a great opportunity to hang them out for then next day.

Our hostess made up for her lack of door opening by having a lovely spread laid on.. mmm Bread and Cheese with some nice bottles of wine what could be better for drying out.

It wasn't a too late night, I'd been up since 5am with the little one he does like to wake up with the dawn..

but it was so much fun sitting around chatting and catching up on everything and hearing everyone's news. Definitely if you've got a small child you need just the odd night like this to re-charge and replenish (oh and get a tiny bit tipsy lol).

We finally made it to bed at a reasonable time.

Work up the next day not feeling totally my best I grant you but after an amazing service of Orange Juice and Toast followed by  a nice shower I felt human enough to get dressed.

So glad I hung everything out as poor Sue clothes were still damp (even the undergarments lol :) )

But once we were all up and dressed we ventured out to see what the day had to offer. Thankfully the weather had done a complete u turn and was actually shaping up to be a really pleasant day.

We headed up the wonderful quaint High Street looking for adventure. First stop was this great little sweet come Nic-Nac Shop Sundae Sundae where I needed to pick up a diet coke to get some caffeine into me to even me out.

So cool not only did they serve it in a glass bottle they did an amazing twisty thing with the straw which added to the coolness of it all. I was uber impressed over such a simple thing. It true what they say the little touches do count.

so with a drink clasped in my hands we headed on visiting a lot of the boutique niche shops that makes Whitstable High Street such a rare gem.

We ended up in the Community Center and where like last time they were having a Art fair. All of it was lovely. I really like the TotalPap who made scene out of papier-rmache.

It also included scenes that move.

As well They do prints on card and had someone on hand demonstrating the process. It nice to see local artist at their work.

Pondering over Soup

Not a particularly busy week in the Dyslexic cooking household.

Apart from the usual running around that comes with having a 21 month old son. 

The major event is we had the local priest round to sort out our son's baptism. 

It went well but not till after a particularly bad Dyslexic episode. The interview started with the priest asking loads of question about my son himself and us but as I got so flustered. I first couldn't spell our address and secondly got my son's date of birth mixed up. In the end I had to get my husband to step in as I was getting more and more stressed so more and more crap at everything.

I managed to pull myself together and we got it all sorted.

although that did get me to pondering. I find it hard in stressful situations to remain calm, cool and collected and then fluff things. Not sure how many more of you out there get this happen to you. It got me to thinking what people who don't really understand Dyslexia and Dyspraxia think of us.

Especially as I messed up my son's date of birth I would hate to have someone have the perception of me as not caring or a bad mother "She can't even remember his date of birth". I also sometimes mess up the spelling of his full name as he got 2 middle names. Now going forward knowing this, it  will stress me out more.  So when I filling in forms for School and other stuff I am now more liable to mess things up.

It's hard going through life with these disorders as there so much people don't understand about them and I have a sneaking suspicion that some people perceive it as just being lazy or not paying attention. Coupled that with the dyspraxia and it many manifestation, people just think I'm a bit manic and clumsy. I hoping being different and having these condition will make me a funner parent. Although currently its turned me into a anxious mummy mess.

Oh well at least there is cooking to cheer me up.

Did something really simple this week just made a 4 ingredient soup.

Butternut Squash with Sweet & New Potato Soup

Take 400g (0.8 lb) of Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato's 

With around 6 new potatoes peeled and chopped. 

Bring the to the boil then simmer alll together for 20 minutes

after you drained them blended all the Veg together.

Then added about 400ml (13 Floz) of stock gradually to the blended vegetables whilst stiring

What you ended up with is a super simple, super delicious and super healthy soup.

Which was eaten in a flash :) 

Look out for next week's blog as this weekend I am super excited to be going to the Whitstable Oyster Festival for the whole weekend - Friday and Saturday Night just me and the girlies (The same ones from the Amsterdam and the last Whitstable trip see previous post for shenanigans) before the Hubby and the little one join us Sunday for lunch.

I expect it to be a jam pack blog post which will slightly more fun filled :) 

Giggles and Guzzles at the Kent County Fair

So this weekend we had a fab time at the Kent County Fair.

for those of you guys who don't know what this is, it's really a show and a celebration of all things Kent.

And considering Kent is the Garden of England there's a lot of Farmers, Fresh Produce and Outdoor type things.

We tried to get down there early but due to the traffic! Thank You Operation Stack - where they close the motorway because the crossing to France is scuppered. It to do with Strike action and some poor illegal immigrants getting them self killed trying to make it over to the UK all very sad and all very stressful. And definitely one I think the politician need to sort out!!

Any who we got there and in an unlikely English even the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

We proceeded straight to the "Food Tent" which was one of the areas selling food in the show.

Full of all kinds of tasty noms.

My first stop was to Ballymaloe Country Relish and their offers of a free taste sample. I got a bit of brown bread, cheese and the relish on top. It was nom-arama I am not the biggest fan of relish but this was Tasty with a capital T so I got myself a pot. I thinking open sandwiches with a mature cheddar and a bit of the relish on top a perfect summer snack.

we then popped by Grasmere Farm  to stop make a stop for our breakfast.

I had a bacon buttie (Sandwich) as you can see from my 1st July post, I do love my Bacon. Think I might have to start rating all the bacon butties I try and give them a score out of ten. This would defiantly have a high score for the bacon although the roll was a bit plain. My husband opted for a pork burger which he said was fab. We both had lovely fried onions to top them off. We where two satisfied customers.

Also we weren't ignoring the little one he had breakfast at home so he was nice and full enjoying his sippy cup of water while we ate. Offered him some of it but he seem content just to have a drink. (But he is a bit of a fusspot when it comes to food and as we can see doesn't get that off his mummy) To be fair to him he has improved and will have a few more things to eat we are getting there slowly but surely. Toddlers eh lol :)

We then past a lovely tractor display on our way to see Titan the Robot a mechanical man who provides laugh and fun for the children.

When we came last year the little man was only 10 months and he didn't like him at all this year he seemed more curious and definitely wanted to see what was going on. Also helped Paul had him lifted up high so he was at eye level which helps . (good tip if you taking the little ones to theme parks to meet characters as it makes them less afraid of them if they are not being towered over)

We then made it to the highlight of the day for my little one the John Deer exhibition. my son loves, no scrap that, is obsessed by wheel so when he saw the huge ones on the JD Tractors he was in Heaven.

Think he would have spent all day there and made one of the wheels his home if we let him.

But we moved on to have a look round some more of the stalls and took in some of the Animal exhibitions and shows that were going on.

By this time we met up with the folk and we went in search of a coffee for them. I don't like coffee and I being slightly strange for an English person can't stand Tea either, shock horror I know.

as we where looking for a lovely place to sit and rest our feet we came across a 4 piece band playing some 1920/1930 music, all very "Downton Abby" and they drew quiet a big crowd.

After a drink and a chat we split off again to look at things around the fair. The little one had fallen asleep so we headed for the Produced in Kent Area. I got a little distracted by the Pub on Wheels a great idea where a van that pulls out into a bar can come to your events.

I stopped for a Vodka and coke before heading on.

We found the produced in Kent area just at the start of the Spitfire fly over.

We had to stop and watch that. currently we live on what used to be an old WW2 airfield and was home to many spitfires.

They are such amazing machines and they noise they make is astonishing beautiful.

As it was the 75 year to the day since the battle of Britain which help to stop use being invaded it brought home that just a relatively small number of brave men climbed into these machines and lots of them didn't make it back to give us the freedoms we enjoy today. I got a bit teary at this point :)


when it had finally flew off into the big blue. I headed back to the food there was so much on offer. I got a bit giddy trying all the favours and sight and was  bit of a bad blogger got so caught up chatting and tasting my camera phone was an after though. I would say it because I'm new to this but 43 post in (bad me).  I did get a few shot of some of the stalls.

And I picked up some Amazing  Ashmore Chilli cheese which I did snap while waiting for them to cut my slice.

With the baby still asleep we quickly darted into the antique market section, as him running about in there would have been akin to a bull in a china shop lol. so we had a quick look round and came across a great light stall Beauty From Decay

It was fabulous what he could do with old machine part and Army paraphernalia. We had a chat and found out he makes it all himself in his workshop. I loved them and will be saving up my pennies for one as when we move I getting a workshop shed and ones of these could take pride of place. I love talking to artist especially ones as passionate as he was you can see the love, sweat and tears that go into making it.

We dragged ourselves away as we were meeting the folk again for a late Lunch. Hubby as he was Hungry needed something STAT so we got a cookie for him.

He also tried a Cricket from the bug selection stall, he said they tasted okay. Each to their own.

I decided against bugs and found a lovely local Wine seller Hush Heath Estate  Balfour

We had a fantastic lunch thanks to Gypsy Joe's Pizza  which consisted of a Rustic and a Game Feast Pizzas. Which were cooked on site by a proper Pizza oven on a back of a van. Apologies the pic of the stall is a bit rubbish the red arrows were flying over when we ordered and then the Pizza arrived and I got bogged down in eating.

I preferred the Game Feast over the Rustic but as my dad a bit of a pizza bore only really like cheese and tomato we had to have one of those.

Although if it was just me eating on my own I like the look of their  "Spicy Bad Boy" offering. Hopefully I will catch them at another event in the local area.

So as I was saying when we where waiting on our food we saw a wonderful display by the Red Arrows.

And not to take away anything from the Red Arrow as it was one of the main reason we went on the Friday as we knew they would be performing and they performed so well. I think I had a more emotional connection to the Spitfire, I suppose it was just thinking about what those brave guys did in just such a small plane.

Cant believe how good they are its like a mad Roller coaster in the Sky. Especially went the blue and the red trails were looping I could have been standing next to Dragon Challenge in Universal Studios.

It brilliant that these planes are 40 years old and they can still perform such dazzling feats of aerial acrobatics. Don't think I could fly with them though might make me feel a bit queasy lol.

As a post flyby treat I got myself some Churros form the Don Churros, Churros & Chocolate Stand.

Deep fried and very tasty, although I think the ones I had Stateside last October had the slight edge over these one. But very good so if you ever see the stand and you enjoy a Churro I would give it a go.

As we took our last bites after 2+ hours of being asleep the little one woke up so we took him  (after a quick snack for him) to see the horse which he wasn't too impressed about think he might be like his mum. I like Horses as an animal and wish them no harm but not too keen on getting on one. Especially as when I was little I got on one and it bolted nightmare and totally scared for life.

So as he wasn't impressed with the real thing we took him too to the fair ground an let him go on the carved merry go round horse which he did enjoy. It was an beautiful only carousel with a pipe organ belting out old tunes as the horse spun faster and faster.

The restored ones are works of art which are great to interact with.

We let the little one have a couple of goes on the other rides including some scaled down swings which he enjoyed and some cars and because they had a steering wheel think that might have been his favourite.

As it was gone 4pm having got there at 10am and both feeling very weary and slightly sun-burnt. We religiously topped up he little ones sun cream and kept him covered if we only thought of that for ourselves doh.

So verdict a great show, just wish we had more time there, it was over 3 days but we only got to go to one. Next year will definitely be going for two days. One day with the little one for lots of fun and second day a proper adult look around which will include a lot of food and maybe a cheeky drink or two..

A Quick Pasta Recipe

Before all the fun of the fair well The Kent County Show tomorrow.  I'm so excited!! 

Thought I'd post a quick and easy pasta recipe 

I roasted some courgettes and mushrooms 

20 minutes in a 200 degree oven. I used spray oil to keep it nice and healthy.

I think boiled some corn on the cob 

I cooked them for around 8-10 mins then used the water too cook some pasta in.

I added red onions and prawns to a pan 

Along with the roasted vegetables, I chopped of the kernels of the corn added those.

Stirred in the cooked pasta and added some Philadelphia lightest cream cheese.

All in all it took less than half an hour and it is very low in fat. If you're on Slimming World like me I used my Healthy A and it was Syn Free :) 

Which is great as I think I might be slightly naughty at the show tomorrow as there be too many good Produced in Kent suppliers I won't be able to resist.