Silent Sunday – 09 February 2014
Author: Scottish Mum
Review: iRobot Roomba 780 (Robot Hoover)
We all like a clean house, well who doesn’t. The ability to have a room clean itself used to be something I could only dream about. We’ve had a robot hoover for a few months now and to be honest, I couldn’t imagine being without it anymore. Ok, it’s not perfect, but it does save me a heap of time with 6 people and 4 animals in a biggish house that I never have time to keep completely spotless in every room.
In the perfect world, I could have the floors swept without lifting a finger to do it, and this is the closest to sweeping the floors automatically that I can imagine. It does carpets too, so that’s a bonus for me.
If you’ve got beds that are off the floor and high furniture, a Roomba is perfect for you, but it’s no complete solution for not doing any cleaning at all in your life. You do have to prepare the room first and lift anything that might get tangled up. We ended up with a phone cable wound tightly round the brushes one day when I didn’t scan the lounge properly.
It does, however, mean that my bedroom gets a hoover daily as we have tiles on our floor and a high bed that it can perfectly sweep under. I know I’d not do that daily by myself.
I got the iRobot Roomba 780 on the 30 day trial where they say you can use it and put it back if you don’t like it. I kept it. I’m not sure I could have been convinced to part with that much money up front without using one first, but I love it.
It zig zags all over the room, so I’d advise not actually watching it. It’s like watching paint dry. It will do circle motions where it thinks the floor is dirtier and mine has a remote control for spot cleaning. Here’s mine in action:
Benefits
- Cleans while I do something else. I know it would be much faster for me to do it myself, but given that I can spend that time doing something else, it’s a positive.
- Leaving it to do the floors before I come home with the kids if we’ve been out all day. This is a bigger benefit than I can ever actually say.
- There are little boxes that allow you to keep the Roomba in one room until it is finished, or it would wander about all the rooms. I just close the doors as I’ve never got round to buying batteries for the lighthouses.
- It doesn’t fall downstairs. Honestly, it doesn’t. The first time it scooted about on the top landing, I sat on the stairs as I was totally unconvinced that it would be able to stay up there.
- Brushes and filters are all replaceable.
- The Roomba takes itself back to its charging base to charge up when it is running low.
Drawbacks
- Making sure there is nothing on the floor before you set it to go.
- The time it takes to do the job is a fair while. If you have someone coming for tea and half an hour spare, get out your trusty manual hoover.
- It’s expensive.
- It has a small bin that needs emptied regularly if your room is a mess. I’ve not found it a problem on hard floors, but on carpets where fibers get hoovered up too, the bin can get full very quickly.
- It doesn’t like black carpets. I have figured out how to do it by taping some white paper over the sensors that stop it falling downstairs, but as a rule, when it hits a black floor, it seems to think it is going to fall over so just refuses to work.
It It Worth The Money?
This is a hard one to judge. This time last year, I’d have said no. With asthma in the family and a daily sweep, I wouldn’t hesitate to say yes this year as it means the floor can literally be swept continuously without having to actually do it myself. The price seems to have rocketed since I got mine and I would have to seriously think about it now as it is over the £500 mark in most places I looked online. If I was buying one now, I suspect I’d look at a different brand or one of the older ones to reduce the price a bit.
There are some cheaper robot vacuums on Amazon that seem to have some good reviews so if I were ever looking to replace mine, I suspect I’d read all of those.
There are some issues with the Roomba, but on the whole, I wouldn’t want to be without it. There are some cheaper versions and I’m not sure how well they perform against the newer Roombas, but on hard floors, I’d hope they would also do well.
The timer is a great idea, though I have to admit that I’ve never used it. I just pop it on when I leave the house after preparing whichever floor I want done.
My lounge gets a going over almost daily as does the asthmatics bedroom and the playroom he spends most of his time in. We have pets, so this is a massive draw for me.
It does sometimes get lost and abandons itself in the middle of a room while looking for its docking station, but it mostly manages to dock itself nicely. The one thing I would like that it doesn’t seem to have is a stop function when the bin is full. I give the brushes a clean out every few uses, otherwise hair can get tangled up, but the brushes come out easily so it’s no big chore to have to do really.
There is still a need to take out the regular hoover, but I find myself doing that once a fortnight or so, or a bit more often for the stairs, rather than haul it out daily. The Roomba does bump furniture as it does its business, but it’s a soft bump and hasn’t done any damage to the vase I have on my lounge floor with light branches in it. Even so, if you have lots of things strewn over your floors and don’t want to have to pick them up, this is probably not for you.
Is it fair to call any kids animals?
This has been opened up by a Tweet. This is what KT Hopkins actually said on Twitter.
Mums hearts are broken by school bullies. Yet schools continue to support these animals and ignore those keen to learn. Let me at them.
The Telegraph had said:
Michael Gove: teachers should punish children with litter duty, lines and more.
I don’t know what planet either of them are on, but I did take some satisfaction out of the video doing the rounds on Twitter of Michael Gove falling on his jacksy.
I could whack myself with a long wooden stick, or sit with my mouth open in horror at how I think the things that come out of these two people’s mouths really need to be projectily vomited in the general direction of the nearest waste paper bin. What bothers me about the self imposed upper echelons of our society, who clearly think the rest of us are the dirt under their fingernails, isn’t what they say so much, as how it makes me FEEL.
- I FEEL angry that Katie Hopkins is so nasty about almost everyone apart from herself.
- I FEEL angry for all the struggling kids at school whose behaviour escalates as they are unsupported, but who will get more lines instead of help, or even worse, be humiliated by picking up their classmakes litter. How to trash a child’s self-esteem is more what I’d call the sanctions mooted.
- I FEEL sad for Katie Hopkins family. How awful to have a mother who thinks the rest of us are so crap at everything.
- I FEEL incredulous that Katie Hopkins can find it in herself to be so nasty about children.
I want to take Katie’s statement and break it down:
Mums hearts are broken by school bullies. Yet schools continue to support these animals and ignore those keen to learn. Let me at them.
- Mums hearts are broken by school bullies. How does that happen then? Who cares what mums hearts are? It’s the kids that count.
- Schools continue to support. Well, yes, that is their job. Each child is a living, breathing thing that deserves a chance.
- Animals – well, all I can say about that one from Katie, is “what you say is what you are.”
- Let me at them. Please, please do go and take some classes in inner city schools, try to teach the children who’ve heard you call them animals, and see how well you sort them out.
I have three children who all struggle at school.
Between them, Gove and Hopkins would technically call them animals that need to pick up litter as punishment and write copious lines while other kids learn.
I just call them kids who deserve the same future as any other kid. It’s not the kids fault that schools do not have the funding to support them properly.
Instead of targeting the kids, why don’t they do something novel and find the ways to help all kids meet their potential instead of blaming them.
Soup Maker: Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Recipe
Buying vegetables that are nearly end dates is a common feature of my shopping now. I get them home, immediately make them into some kind of soup and then I have some frozen goodness in the freezer for whenever it is needed.
I would never have actually done that pre soup maker days as the effort required was just too much, especially for a small batch of soup.
These vegetables were on their last day for being sold, so I snapped them up for pennies. I had made 3 batches of soup within an hour or so of coming home from the shop.
Ingredients
Method
- Prepare the vegetables and chop up into reasonably small pieces for speed of making the soup.
- Put the vegetables, stock cube and a pinch of salt into the soup maker or pot.
- Add water to the 1600 ml mark in a soup maker, or to the same level in a measuring jug with the vegetables in if you plan to use a pot for your cooking.
- Choose your soupmaker setting and set it to go. I use the smooth setting most frequently. If you are making this in a pot, take off a simmering heat when the vegetables are fully cooked and use a blender to puree your finished soup. Sprinkle parsley and lemon seasoning on the soup before serving.
Notes
All the ingredients for the 1.6 Litre output of soup need to total up to approximately 800g. I simply add a few carrots, potatoes and the onion and then top up with the largest main ingredient to the 800 grammes.
Review: Kenwood KMX54 kMix Stand Mixer with Peach Pavlova Recipe
Being asked to review a Kenwood KMX Stand Mixer is right up my street. I do a lot of cooking, and baking is really never far from my mind. A good baking session means that feeding my kids home-made goodies is better than the sweets and crisps that they would tend to eat otherwise.
I’ve been using an old Kenwood Food Processor for a few years and managed to somehow crack the bowl over Christmas. I suspect it took a tumble onto our tiled floors, but after so much use, I really couldn’t complain. I had found the bowl size too small for us and very rarely used it for anything other than the mixing functions. I will keep my old mixer to use the grinder and the blender, but the kMix Stand Mixer is a welcome addition to my kitchen appliances.
I waited for it with the patience of a not very patient puppy dog, and it was unpacked and on my counter within minutes of its arrival.
It’s fairly heavy, so it will stay on my counter top from here on in. I was quite surprised by the size of the bowl as it is so much bigger than my old processor. I was pleasantly surprised to also see a splashguard that fits like a glove, as well as a handy spatula for scraping out the very last remnants from the bowl.
I was looking forward to the kneading, mixing, whisking and blending, and I was not disappointed.
Putting on the attachments is a breeze. I didn’t expect the easy of the glide in, twist and secure. There’s no messing around with this top-notch machine. When I turned it on, it gradually hummed into life, really getting into gear in a refined and controlled way. It reminded me of a quality car with a gentle purr as it begins to crank up the speed.
The classy guard ensures there is no horrible flour spinning around the kitchen if the machine is just a little too keen to get going, and it stays clean as a whistle on the outside.
Stylish.
I chose the retro black version as it matches in perfectly with my black worktops and my microwave, which you can’t see as it is just out of shot. With the round lines, it looks great and I have been really pleased with it for the short time I’ve had it.
Here’s what I really like about it so far.
- Cakes, meringues and marshmallows are a breeze. I never thought I would say that about meringue…
- Slow start of speed means the ingredients stay where they should be. That is always a good point.
- The motor stops if you open the machine by mistake. It’s a great safety feature.
- I didn’t realise at first, but the machine has a fold function to help with adding ingredients at the end of the meringue whipping stage 🙂
- The attachments are sturdy. Very sturdy. They can be slightly altered with the included spanner to get the height perfect for your machine.
- There are four attachments with the machine, as well as a splashguard and spatula. There is a beater, a whisk, a dough hook and a flexible beater to get to the edges of the bowl for soft ingredients. The flexible beater even has its own instruction book.
- It will rub fat into flour and save you the time of doing it by hand.
- The bowl is really easy to clean.
- I can put all the attachments into the dishwasher without worrying.
Peach Pavlova Recipe
If you’ve ever wanted to make a really fast and reasonably stable pavlova, this is the recipe for you. The vinegar and cornflour added helps to stabilise the egg and make the foam just that little bit stronger. I don’t find that it affects the taste of the meringue at all.
I thought I had messed up this recipe by adding the vinegar, cornflour and vanilla essence just into the mixing bowl at the end. The recipe called for folding it in. Thankfully, it all worked out and the meringue was lovely.
I took a recipe that came with my Kenwood kMix for pavlova with exotic fruits, and adapted it to make my pavlova.
Ingredients
Method
- Put the oven on to approximately 130 C or Gas 1 - 2. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Separate the egg yolk from the egg whites and put them into a mixer bowl. Whisk them for a few minutes until they form stiff peaks.
- Add the sugar slowly, about 50g at a time and whisk again for a few minutes each time, until the sugar is all added.
- Add the vinegar, cornflour and vanilla essence and continue to mix for up to 8 minutes, until the mix is smooth and glossy.
- Spoon your mix onto the baking paper and put in the oven for at least an hour, and up to an hour and a half. Leave the meringue to cool down.
- When the meringue is cool, whisk your cream and spread it over the top of the meringue, before topping with the fruit of your choice.
Argos have large ranges of Kenwood products available here.
Silent Sunday – 26 January 2014
Chicken and Mushroom Stir Fry
We eat a lot of stir fries in this house.
They’re easy and quick to make and fill the kids bellies up well with little effort.
Buy your own veggies, or buy some pre-cut and washed vegetables to just throw in the pot.
For this stir fry, I’d bought a bowl of stir fry veges from the Co-op and just added what there was in the fridge to make it up. I had some chicken, some more beansprouts and a couple of onions.
To serve, I simply throw it all in a big dish, plonk it on the table and everyone just helps themselves.
Ingredients
Method
- Pan Fry the chicken with the onions in a thick bottomed pan or wok until fully cooked. I use butter, but just a little at a time to cook the chicken.
- Add the pre-prepared vegetables with 2 - 3 tbsp of vegetable oil and stir for up to 5 minutes until all the vegetables are fully cooked.
- Add the Hoi Sin Sauce and cook for a further few minutes until the food is hot throughout.
Burns Night is the 25th January – What is it?
Ye’ve a heard o Rabbie Burns, the bard o Auld Lang Syne fame haven’t ye?
I thought we all did. His best known song gets pulled out every Burns Night and New Years Eve as we all link arms and sing the popular year-end anthem.
We’ve visited the birthplace of Robert Burns but sadly we forgot our camera and have nothing to show for it. We’re not allowed to take photographs inside anyway, so all you are missing are some outside ones.
Every year, on the 25th January, we celebrate his birthday, all around the world. People get dressed up in tartan kilts, often birl to the tunes of ceilidh music and sit through an ode to the haggis before it’s served. It’s celebrated in massive style in some places, and in others, it’s simply a boozy knees up or a quiet meal for the family. The traditional way to celebrate is the eating of haggis, neeps and tatties, washed down with Scotch Whisky and works of the Bard being read out to the attendees.
Having watched an ode to the haggis at my sons special school, I found the after effects to be a traumatic event as he spent a week trying to get his hands on the big kitchen knives, similar to those the storyteller swathed above her head and across the front of her body. It was a bad choice of celebration and rather strange to see a woman brandishing knives in front of kids we try to keep away from sharp implements.
My kids tend to celebrate in school, so we do little more than have haggis, neeps and tatties of some kind for tea. It’s customary to recite some of the words of the bard, so a wee bit of poetry with that dram of whisky (or irn bru for kids and non drinkers) to wash down that easily eaten food.
Burns night is all about cameraderie, friendship, fun, and laughter. Burns suppers are very popular, and up here, they seem to be everywhere. There is little chance of avoiding hearing about, taking part, or even just smiling at the songs, poetry and reverence that Robert Burns name coaxes from people. Burns night is meant to be all about “taking part.” It’s Scotland, and we don’t expect guests to sit back and wait to be entertained. Everyone is responsible for making it a good, nay great experience for everyone else. Even if it means you borrow a poetry book from your host, get involved. You’ll be glad you did.
Robert Burns is often spoken about as Scotland’s favourite son and the format changes little. After the general welcome and address, the Selkirk Grace is usually said. From there, the ode to the haggis with the cutting and serving and then people can start to eat. For the Selkirk Grace, the story goes that on a visit to St. Mary’s Isle, he was asked to say grace at dinner. The quick lines he came up with are now known as the Selkirk Grace and are as follows:
Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thanket.
Source (Wikipedia)
After the meal come the literary readings, and at the end of it all – everyone usually sings “Auld Lang Syne.”
If you’ve never been to a Burns Supper and you get an invite, make sure you go. You will enjoy it if you get involved. Everyone should go to at least one.
Silent Sunday – 19 January 2014
How To Cook A Haggis
Being Scottish through and through, I’m often asked how to cook a haggis. If you can stomach this popular dish, then you may find you really do like it. Haggis is usually a little spicy with a mealy texture.
Traditionally, a haggis was made up of the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep or lamb, with oats, suet, herbs and spices added to it. Originally, haggis would have been cooked in the sheep or lamb stomach, but these days, the casings are usually artificial and quite like the skin of a sausage. There are also vegetarian options for those who cannot stomach the meaty variety.
Most of us will buy our haggis pre-cooked and we are essentially just reheating, but you can also make your own.
1 Heating up a Pre-Cooked Haggis
There is no real right or wrong way to reheat an already cooked haggis, which is what you will usually get from a shop.
Slow Cooking
I slow cooked haggis last year with a baked potato to go with ours, and they can also be boiled or roasted. The beauty of a haggis is that it’s already cooked before it gets to you, so you really do just need to heat it up thoroughly.
On The Hob
In a pan on the hob, all you need to do is wrap the haggis in tin foil and put it in a big pan with plenty cold water. The water needs heated to simmering point and left for approximately 100 minutes per kilo. You really don’t want your haggis to be in water that is boiling and severely bubbling away, or the skin is very likely to burst on you.
Baking
In the oven, simply wrap the haggis in tin foil with a little water. Put it in an oven dish with a heat of around 180 – 190 C for around an hour. Most haggis will come with instructions on the pack for how to get the best out of your wee rubgy shaped ball of haggis.
To Serve
Just drain the water off, open the haggis skin and fluff up the haggis with a fork while you serve it up.
2 Cooking a Haggis From Scratch
Choose your meat, chop it into small pieces or mince it, add spices like cayenne pepper, allspice, nutmeg and ginger. You add the spices that you like. If you make your own, you can also add extra ingredients like onions for more flavour.
- Sheeps stomach.
- Heart liver and lungs of a lamb or sheep. Some people use pig products.
- 2 finely chopped onions.
- 10 ounces of oatmeal.
- Tablespoon of salt.
- Water
- Your chosen spices. Approximately a teaspoon of each.
What To Do
- Pre clean a sheep stomach, turn it inside out and soak it overnight in cold salted water.
- Boil the heart, liver and lungs until fully cooked. Keep the water the meat has been cooked in.
- Mince or very finely chop and mash the www.direct.gov.uk/passportsmeat.
- Mix the meat with the oatmeal, onions and spices.
- Spoon the mixture into the stomach pouch and seal it up. I’ve heard of people using needle and thread to do this, but any way of sealing it will be fine. Pierce the pouch a few times to let steam escape. I’ve heard of people using muslin squares instead of a stomach pouch or artificial casing, but I’ve not seen the results of that and have no idea how well it would work.
- Put the haggis in the stomach pouch into a big pan with cold water and add the water the meat was cooked in. Bring it to a low boil and simmer for 2 – 3 hours to allow the spices to flavour the meat.
The Sausage Softie Is Sooo Under Rated – Online Shopping At It’s Best
Getting meat through the post seems second nature to me nowadays. Look backwards a few years and I’d never have done it as I liked to see what comes home in my shopping basket.
As much as I like Tesco and Asda home shopping, I’m never comfortable with the fresh produce that can arrive as it is usually not the ones I’d have picked for myself. All us picky shoppers will know exactly what I mean. I tend to scour the backs of the shelves for the longest dated items etc.
I’ve been getting my meat from Andrew Gordon for a fair while now, and recently, he decided to help those of us who either don’t like to go shopping, or just haven’t the time to do it for ourselves. He has a new website that delivers across the whole of the UK and I’m now used to a delivery of meat arriving on my doorstep.
I really like the chicken and mince packs as he often has deals on offer that keep the prices down and allow for bulk buying and freezing for another day.
The biggest draw for me is that I know when the box is packed, that I am always going to get the best produce and never have to worry about whether it’s short dated or poor quality. I know it’s the best and I know that he can trace the meat back to the source which helps me to persuade my youngest child that he isn’t eating horse (some news items just never go away).
Sausages are usually good value and are a good size. I split two sausages in half per child. My kids like them and really get stuck in. As it’s my kids, there is loads of ketchup – so much so, it’s oozed out the side of eldests sausage butty in the picture!!!! There’s no sides, tatties, chips or anything else needed and simply a bun and some veg for a full meal. That’s my kind of cooking.
We had a fresh delivery today and I really do need to post a fair few more recipes very soon.
Featured Guest Post: Clothes for the Great Outdoors: My new season wish list
Featured Guest Post by Katie Belle
Before I became a mum, I pretty much used to go into hibernation once temperatures started falling, rushing from home to work and back home again, where I’d put the fire on and remain put, unless of course I managed to find a restaurant or bar with a cosy fire.
But, once my little ones arrived, staying indoors for any length of time became a big no no – they need fresh air and space to run, otherwise we all go a little crazy and they can’t get to sleep in the evening.
So, that famous quote by adventurer Ranulph Fiennes that there is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing, has certainly been taken to heart in our household. I always make sure the kids have everything they need to enjoy themselves whatever the weather, whether that’s snow boots or wellies, rain coats or mittens. It’s usually me who is wearing something not warm enough for the season. So, as we enter a new year, I’ve decided to invest in a few pieces to take me from winter through to spring.
For rainy days
I used to think wellies for just for little ones. But I’ve become slightly addicted to my glossy green Hunters. They sit by the door, so they’re the first thing I pull on, I have to admit whether it’s raining or not. They are, a bit like me, starting to look their age. So I’m going to treat myself, and my feet, to a new pair. The tartan detailing on this pair from Barbour is patriotic and on-trend all at the same time.
Cross body bag
Now that my two are getting older, there’s no need to carry all the paraphernalia needed for babies. But mums still need some essentials, money when the ice-cream van inevitably arrives outside the park entrance, sticking plasters for grazed knees and water for sunny days. I’m determined not to carry around a huge tote anymore so I’ll be buying a cross body bag that will keep my hands free for pushing my children on the swings while keeping everything safe and to hand. This one from Voodoo is in a cute shape, with skull-print lining and it will add a pop of colour to any outfit.
The must-have knit
A chunky-knit cardigan is probably one of the most hard working items in your wardrobe. You can wear it under your winter coat when the mercury levels plummet, with a gilet when it starts to warm up and as a cover up over your floral dress or shorts when summer arrives. I love this plum cable knit by Soft Grey for La Redoute, which ticks the double-breasted trend for spring and summer, while keeping me cosy for winter.
A new coat
I’m still snuggled up in my woolly winter coat at the moment. But give it a couple of months and spring might start to spring and a lighter-weight cover-up will be needed, so I don’t get too hot keeping up with my two, but which protects me from showers. Trench coats never go out of style so I know I’ll get seasons upon seasons out of this one from Nasty Gal. Its slouchy shape and khaki colour give it a bit of an edge so it’s perfect dressed down for a didn’t-try-too-hard weekend look.
Boyfriend jeans
My wardrobe has been full of skinnies – in all different hues – over the past few seasons. But silhouettes are becoming much more relaxed for spring and summer. So, I’m going to be investing in a pair of boyfriend jeans that I can wear with trainers for daytime or turned up a little and worn with heels and a blazer for a casual night out with the girls. This pair by Spice Girl-turned-designer Victoria Beckham are a bit pricey, but they’re the perfect shape. I like the fact they’re mid, rather than low-rise, to keep any residual baby tummy firmly in its place.
They’re all pieces that are stylish but casual enough to wear out and about with my little ones, so we make the most of the great outdoors together, whatever the weather.
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Some great items. I’m not sure I’ll ever wear a pair of Victoria Beckham jeans, but I do like the cross body bag from Voodoo.
As an 88 year old American, after reading the article(s) and all of the comments, I say "nothing is now…
Been stretching for this song nobody I know knows it I sing it every year my gran use to sing…
Can I put cooked garlic mushrooms in the fridge for a couple of days