Happy birthday daddy!
Cuisine, Daily photo, family Comments Off on Happy birthday daddy!
Beatrice edible magic wands
Cuisine Comments Off on Beatrice edible magic wands
One of many nights when I could not find any decent program on tv, I decided to check what BBC iplayer had to offer and surprisingly enough there was a new episode of a cooking program. I found this easy recipe that looks good as a starter and it’s perfect for a quick snack.
First of all the ingredients. Most of these are products that you probably (at least I do) have always in your fridge:
1 x 375g puff pastry (I always keep one or two packet in my freezer)
plain flour for dusting
1 tbsp English mustard
100g of grated cheese
14 slices good-quality streaky bacon (the last time I actually used some smoked ham from the black forest YUMMY)
1 free-range lightly beaten Once you have got all your ingredients on the table (I like to prepare everything in front of me so I don’t forget anything that later I have to grab with floury hands), here is what you have to do:
Beatrice loves them and although every time I think I baked too many of them (being Italian I tend to prepare food for 6 when I have only 2 guests!) none is left in the plate!
Then if you want you can change the “filling” with whatever ingredient you prefer. Rather than mustard you can brush the pastry with some pesto and just sprinkle some parmesan on top, or you can add some grilled vegetables like thinly sliced courgette!
Promise they will be a success on your table!
First of all the ingredients. Most of these are products that you probably (at least I do) have always in your fridge:
1 x 375g puff pastry (I always keep one or two packet in my freezer)plain flour for dusting
1 tbsp English mustard
100g of grated cheese
14 slices good-quality streaky bacon (the last time I actually used some smoked ham from the black forest YUMMY)
1 free-range lightly beaten Once you have got all your ingredients on the table (I like to prepare everything in front of me so I don’t forget anything that later I have to grab with floury hands), here is what you have to do:
- Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- I use already rolled pastry but if you by the square one just roll it out on a lightly floured work surface to a large rectangle, it should be around 0.5cm thick
- spread some mustard over the pastry, sprinkle with some cheese ( I personally use grated parmesan but cheddar cheese will do). Place the pieces of bacon onto the pastry and remember to leave a small gap between each piece so you can cut the pastry in between the slices.
- Gently twist each piece of pastry 4-5 times so it looks like a curly straw, then place them on the baking tray.
- Repeat the process until you use all the bacon. Put the twists in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
- Remove the twists from the fridge and brush them with the beaten egg.
- Reduce the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and bake the “magic wands” for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is well risen and golden-brown. Then remove them from the oven and leave it to cool.
Beatrice loves them and although every time I think I baked too many of them (being Italian I tend to prepare food for 6 when I have only 2 guests!) none is left in the plate!
Then if you want you can change the “filling” with whatever ingredient you prefer. Rather than mustard you can brush the pastry with some pesto and just sprinkle some parmesan on top, or you can add some grilled vegetables like thinly sliced courgette!
Promise they will be a success on your table!
10 things Beatrice doesn’t like
family Comments Off on 10 things Beatrice doesn’t like
1 – getting her hair dried with hair dryer and/or towel
2 – having dirty hands (yeah!)
3 – holding your hand while coming down the stairs
4 – eating apples
5 – having her nappy changed unless I make crazy faces
6 – coming down from her rocking horse
7 – when I tell her to stop jumping on Bisou and holding her tight…very tight
8 – when I get the iphone away from her hands without shouting “Beatrice! There is a lion behind you!”
9 – keeping her seatbelt fastened unless I give her TWO biscuits at the time
10 – when I ask her to spit things that she regularly puts in her mouth like her Barbie’s ring or Romeo’s treat
A mommy blogger… yes!
baby products, family Comments Off on A mommy blogger… yes!
Yesterday at work I received the parcel I had waited for 3 days (I know it’s not long time but I actually couldn’t wait!). As soon as I saw the postman and my colleague said “oh it’s for Elisa”, I knew what it was… I literally started to jump up and down (I really was!) while my boss was looking at me and probably thinking “she’s bonkers”.
I explain to you why.
The other day I was browsing online and I came across to picture of a baby toy which I thought I HAD to buy! Beatrice just looves playing with mommy or daddy’s iphone and most of the time she presses the wrong buttons or she discovers some functions I didn’t even know I had on my phone so she ends up messing the whole setting up. Anyway, when I saw that someone finally invented an iphone case for babies, I was like Beatrice when you try to get the iphone back from her
” MINE! MINE! “
The “Apptivity case” it’s a round case where you safely place your iphone and then you let your baby play with it: the phone is protected and you dont need to worry that she will delete some of your pictures or makes overseas phone calls and this because the home button is locked. Amazing, just what I needed!
I went straight online to find a store where I could buy it from and the only option I had was to buy the toy for around 17 pounds (quite reasonable price) but then they were asking me to pay 16 pounds for delivery? (yeah I know it’s strange, in fact thinking about it now, I’m not even sure I was looking at the right website). I decided then to write a nice email to Mattel customer service explaining that I was a mommy who just started her own blog and wanted to have more information about the toy and where about I could have purchased it.
A lovely woman called Leanne (I could tell she was lovely by the way she expressed herself in the email – not the usual “I have to be nice email” but properly “I’m happy to help you”) replied to me saying that they were more than happy to send me the baby iphone case and she explained that her company is always keen to speak to mommy bloggers about reviewing their products on their blogs.
Regarding this … I already knew that if you open a mommy blog you get stuff sent to you to be reviewed BUT what I would have never expected is that Mattel would ask ME to write a review on THEIR product and to publish it on MY blog which is not even a month old!!! It literally made my day. I had a true moment of happiness thinking that somehow a big company cared about my opinion. And because of this I OFFICIALLY declared myself a mommy blogger!
Wow, that’s an achievement!