A change in tone....

I think it's only right that I temporarily abandon the random subjects covered thus far in this blog and instead focus on the news story of the moment- riots.

Like most of Britain I am mainly watching in disbelief- veering between barely contained fury and desperate sadness. It absolutely makes my blood boil that there are so many people who have so little respect for their community, their neighbourhoods and their peers that they can do so much wanton damage, destroying livelihoods and decimating anything and anyone in their way. It makes me very, very sad that there are so many people who think they have a right to steal (or loot) in this disgusting way, and it makes me even sadder that these young people do not seem to have anyone who to stop them going out into the riot areas.

Am I the only person who is disturbingly reminded of those violent console games by these images of theft and fire on the TV news? I can't help but think that these excessively dark games have normalised this abhorrent kind of behaviour for many young people. I don't in any way think that this excuses the behaviour, but I think society needs to take a long hard look at what has influenced so many of our younger generations.

These are dark and scary times- I've never seen anything like this in this country in my lifetime. I sincerely hope that this is a short-lived nightmarish chapter, and that constructive lessons can be learnt, but I fear in the short term we have more to come, and I greatly fear that may mean unrest closer to home.

Chilli jam......

Well this morning I picked up a huge bag of red chillies for £1 from a fruit and veg stall, so prepare yourselves for at least a week's worth of ways to use them up. First on my list was Chilli Jam, which is actually what I bought them for. I decided to go with Good Food's recipe, as their recipes are usually pretty reliable so at the moment I have this bubbling away on the stove http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8257/sweet-chilli-jam.

It is looking and smelling great, and I cannot wait to try it. Fortunately we also have a smll mountain of cheese in our fridge from a buy one, get two free offer last week, so I think cheese and chilli jam sandwiches will be on the lunch menu for a while.

Summertime and the living is easy....

Isn't it amazing what a mood enhancer the lovely weather can be? I have just got back from a really lovely few days on the mostly sunny Isle of Wight. Lots of time was spent strolling along the seafront, catching up with very dear friends and generally chilling out. As I sat on Cowes green eating my almond Magnum it struck me how lovely the south of England is in the summer- with the Extreme cats sailing by making it all feel slightly glamorous (until the mad scramble for a tissue as Henry's mini-milk melted all down him).

I was also lucky enough to be treated to a delicious dinner of pumpkin and goat's cheese tarts with home grown salad at my in-laws last night. The tart in question was courtesy of Mr Tesco, but it is something that I will definitely be making in the future- simple and delicious, my kind of food. I might also try a variation of it with courgettes since I am still working my way through our glut. I love this time of year with all the delicious home-grown gems it offers, although I am much more the cooker than the grower when it comes to veggies.

The Good Life

We've gone a bit Good Life today at Chez Wyld. Just a bit mind you. We took Henry blackberry picking this afternoon, and while he's not yet much help he seemed to have a good time. I plan to try this super easy microwave jam recipe from my lovely friend Weezl's blog http://weezl.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/easy-peasy-microwave-jam/. If it's a success I foresee many afternoons spent blackberry picking in our future.

I very highly recommend Weezl's blog to anyone looking to eat healthily but more frugally. We love many of her recipes, including the breakfast pancakes and the houmous. In fact I have made a big batch of roasted onion houmous today, which will be lunches for this week sorted.

Flirting with the darkside...

I have a confession to make...I have recently been flirting with the darker side and frequenting Costa! "Why?" I hear you shout, well certainly not for the coffee, or my beloved decaf skinny mocha, but I have taken a real shine to their iced tea. Starbucks don't do such a thing, so I am forced to don a disguise and slink into a secluded Costa to get my fix. My favourite is the original- it is sweet and cucumbery and not unlike a non-alcoholic Pimms. Perfect on a sunny day like today, hence why DH and I found ourselves sipping drinks in Costa while our son napped this afternoon.....just don't tell the boss.

So clearly my life is not busy enough at the moment, so I decided to mix things up a bit by starting a blog. I expect it will be a little bit random, since my life is mostly a little bit random.

I've been enjoying the glorious sunshine today- clearing the garden after what feels like weeks of rain- and sorting through Henry's toys to try and clear out some of the more babyish ones. An almost impossible task as he will play with just about anything, but at the least things are a little bit more organised now.

I also made a start on my *whispers* Christmas spreadsheet. I am trying to be super organised this year, so have started my Christmas shopping already, and am trying to gather ideas but it's hard to turn your thoughts to Christmas when it's 32 degrees outside!