28th June - Mr Tumble is a genius.

I am being very serious as well, about Mr Tumble. I'm not even being slightly sarcastic.

For those not in the know, Mr Tumble is a hilarious character is Justin Fletcher's invention, on CBeebies. He uses the medium of sign larnguage to communicate with his audience.

And, yep, I have reached that age in my life where, on the rare occasions when I get a chance to put my feet up, I end up watching children's tv, as anything else on the tv results in D getting very irritated indeed.

I was watching Mr Tumble today and I was struck with the notion that he was a genius. I watched him as he produced increasingly more convincing interpretations of a lion, elephant and monkey (oh, the monkey! It was his opus, it really was! He gamboled and leapt round the area as though his very life depended on it!)
I was quite literally bowled over with respect for the man, who showed no hint of smug self-awareness, not even a whiff of embarrassment over his actions- no, he was just purely in the moment and performing the role for all he was worth. Nay, I would say he was LIVING the role. Stanislavski would have wet himself with delight over this guy. He was method acting for all he was worth.

And I thought, if only I could be so wonderfully, completely MYSELF. Totally into what you were doing, totally unconcerned with the perceptions of others around you - almost returning to some sort of child-like innocence. See - isn't it marvellous! Children's tv has literally got me philosophically musing!

D likes the programme too. I'm not sure if he has the same reasons for liking it as me though. I think he likes the bright colours instead.

Suburban mama has been a baking today. Yes indeedy. Here are some recipes for those who like to guzzle food and like to cook up yummy stuff for their longsuffering offspring.

Cheesypea mash up

You need:

Flour (about one loaded teasspoon)
Knob of butter
Some grated mild cheese (about 2 tbspn)
milk (perhaps 100ml? Just add as you go along!)

a potato (sweet or normal)
some peas!

Melt the knob of butter over a low heat, then add the flour, whisking to make sure it doesn't all clump together in a right old mess.
Fairly swiftly, start adding the milk (not all at once - slowly slowly is the art form here!)
Keep whisking, to keep those lumps at bay, and gently add more milk until you have a nice creamy consistency.
Dump in your cheese, keep whisking until its all melted, then put to one side.

While all this has been going on, you would have already lobbed the spud in the microwave for 5-10 mins (depending on size and type!) until its all smushy.
Lob it in the oven to finish it off and soften it up a bit.

Meanwhile, cook a few peas on the hob, or in a small steamer if you have one.

Fish the potato out of the oven, scoop it out, slop it in with the cheese sauce and add the peas. Add milk according to the consistency that your little one likes (mine likes it proper milky, surprise surprise!) And its up to you how much you want to mash it!

Easy peasy lasagne

(you can make this one for babies too, just leave out the wine, salt and parmesan!)

You need:

Mince (veggie mince if you walk the path of righteousness like myself...)
One onion
2 garlic cloves, or garlic puree if you are feeling mega lazy.
red wine (not too much you alkies!!)
tomato puree
can of chopped tomatoes.
100 ml milk

lasagne sheets

Cheese sauce (see recipe above - its the same! But you'll need quite a bit more, perhaps 25g flour, 25g butter, 300ml milk and a good old whack of cheese?)

Grate your onion and garlic (yep, grate, not chop - it makes it super smooth and gets the flavour out!)
In a big old saucepan, heat some olive oil - about 2 tbspn. I love to add a bit of walnut oil too for a lush nutty flavour, but this isn't necessary!
Add the grated onion and garlic and fry gently until they are nice and golden.
Add seasoning if you fancy.
Pop in about a tbsn of tomato puree, keep stirring over gentle heat.
Add wine and fry it off (ie until its all absorbed)
Then add your mince and fry it gently until its all cooked.
Finally chuck in the chopped tomatoes and leave to simmer until its all nicely cooked. I like to leave it simmering for a good old time to give the flavours a chance to work their magic though.
Add the milk about halfway through.

Put to one side!

Then, make your cheese sauce. Put to one side.

Then, get a big oven dish and put half your mince mixture in the bottom, making sure its all evenly spread out.
Put some lasagne sheets on the top of it.
Spoon out about half your cheese sauce, making sure it all goes over the edges, as this will seep into the meat / veggie meat below...yum!
Then, add the rest of your mince, again, spreading out.
Pop in another layer of lasagne sheets.
Pour over rest of cheese sauce.
Sprinkle parmesan on the top, according to taste

What I then like to do is whack it in the fridge for a while to really let those flavours get tasty, before popping in the oven for half an hour at around 200c. Et voila! This recipe was basically nicked from Gordon Ramsey, I can't take credit for it - but it works very nicely. And it's, more importantly, easy to make.

You can't say I don't give you anything...