It is my daughter's 8th Birthday today.

On 26th April 2002 I was called into hospital to be induced, 13 days over my due date with no signs of imminent labour. After trying EVERYTHING that had been suggested to kick start labour (including acupuncture which resulted in me fainting on the poor midwife but not one little twinge) I was ready, even eager to be induced.

I was given a pessary at midday and told to wander around the grounds of the hospital. My husband and I walked aimlessly up and down the corridors, into the garden, passing a lot of people who smiled and nodded. Incredible how friendly folk are to a pregnant woman in a hospital - perhaps they are just terrified and hoping to get away fast.

By 8pm things were starting to get more interesting, I was having pains that I had to breathe through. We were moved onto the labour ward and monitored to make sure the baby was fine. The midwife suggested a bath but I spent only 10 minutes in there before feeling dizzy.

In the early hours of the morning the midwife examined me. Expecting to be told that I was already 7 or 8cm dilated, I could have whalloped her when she said 3 cm. By this point I was on a drip. The doctor advised upping the dose and must have noticed me drawing breath to scream as she offered me an epidural in the same breath. By this point I was getting tired and disheartened by the lack of progress so agreed.

It took another hour to find someone in the hospital to do bloods and a free anaesthetist, but once it was in I was amazed at the difference. I was able to regroup and gather strength. I pootled along until around 11.30am when things started hotting up. I was fully dilated, and was told I could start to push.

Our daughter was born just after midday, a shock of jet black hair, a tiny wee person, a wail. My baby. OMG. We had made a baby!

It hit me then that our lives had changed forever. My husband and I were left alone with our daughter for a while and I gave him a present, a new wedding ring as he had lost his. With our newborn daughter between us I whispered the wedding vows as I slipped his ring on his fingers.

"Before God, and in the presence of our daughter, C F, I declare my love for you, promise to love you and cherish you, in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live."

And now I have to go and take my 8yo to school. 

Genes are funny things

Looking at these two dogs, would you even consider that they are related, let alone sister and brother from the same litter? They are indeed siblings, Daphne and her biiig brother Obelix. Nomen est omen and all that. Daphne is a lightweight at just under 3kgs, Obelix weighs over 11kgs. 

Mum was a Maltese Terrier, Dad a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Daphne's face is more like a Cavalier but her stature is definitely Maltese. 

They two of them love rough and tumble play, and race to greet each other when I meet Obelix and his mum after the school run.

Today the siblings were joined by a pug who played happily with them after they had all had a good sniff of each other.

A bridge to remember

How to make (and eat) Hot Cross Buns

Last week I saw that Dan Lepard (no Def Lepard jokes please, he has heard them all) was due to go on Mumsnet.com to do another webchat with bake-a-long after the success of the previous one. Great, thought I. Then I remembered that I am supposed to be on a diet. 

Never mind. The long periods of time between kneading the dough, leaving to rise, then forming the buns and again leaving to rise gave me ample time to fit a run in around my baking. Perfect way to spend a day.



Following Dan's recipe pretty much exactly, I prepared the dough using raisins and mixed spice. I forgot the mixed peel, I am afraid. Leaving it to rise next to the radiator, I set off for a run. It is beautiful here today, wind still, the lake a mirror of the Jura mountains with their icing sugar peaks.

On returning home, found that the dough had indeed risen as promised. Forming the buns, I  tried to follow the instructions of shaping them into a smooth tight ball. I must admit that I weighed them to get the right size. Not like me, I am normally a bit more slapdash. 

Ok, the buns are formed and covered with a tea towel. Time for a quick shower and then a cup of Earl Grey. Bebejones inspired me.

Buns not risen as much as expected, perhaps because I used half wholemeal flour / half plain flour. Have piped the crosses on to them, slightly wonky but done.

And into the oven with them.

Before glazing them. Not as squishy as shop bought ones. The house smells amazing, I do wish someone would come to the door and be amazed.

The finished buns, with glaze.

Dan's recipe for easy hot cross buns

The plain flour gives the crumb a very tender texture. You can also use strong white or bread flour, but you will need a dash more water to keep the dough soft. Use a little flour, or lightly oil your hands and a spot to knead on if you like, but with this buttery dough I don't use either and find it usually doesn't stick much.

Ingredients

• 175ml warm water
• 1 sachet dry instant yeast
• 550g plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 75g sugar, any sort
• 4 tsp mixed spice
• 75ml milk
• 75g butter, cut into smallish pieces
• 150g raisins or 100g currants
• 150g chopped glacé ginger, or mixed peel
• Finely grated zest of an orange or lemon
• 1 large egg
• Sunflower oil or extra flour for kneading

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/390°F/gas 6.
2. Measure the water into a jug, stir in the yeast and leave it while you get everything else ready.
3. Bring the milk to the boil then remove from the heat and add the butter, stir until it melts, then add the dried fruit, ginger or peel, and beat in the egg.
Tip to keep the buns warm
Pour boiling water into the empty mixing bowl to about a quarter or third full. Sit the tray on the bowl and then cover the tray with a cloth. Top up the bowl with a little extra water after 30 minutes.
4. Put the flour, salt, sugar, and spice in a large mixing bowl and give it a quick toss around to roughly combine it. Crumble any lumps of sugar finely with your fingers, but don't worry about any hard ones that won't break up.
5. Stir the fruit and yeast mixtures together then pour this in with the flour.
6. Stir everything together, or use your hands, and leave for 10 minutes. The dough should be a little sticky and soft.
7. Lift the dough out of the bowl and onto the work-top then give it a good quick knead for 10-15 seconds. No, I don't mean minutes. By giving the dough a quick knead now and leaving it for 45 minutes it will be in perfect shape when we divide and shape the buns.
8. Next, divide the dough into about a dozen equal pieces, just under 100g each. Shape each piece into a smooth tight ball - that's the tricky bit - and place them evenly spaced on a tray lined with non-stick paper. Cover with a tea-towel and leave somewhere warm for about 90 minutes until risen by about half.
9. Mix extra flour with water to a paste and pipe crosses on each. Bake the buns for 25 minutes. Finally, mix a tablespoon each caster sugar and boiling water and brush over the buns while they're still hot.

Gardening in Geneva

 Our house is typical for the area. Generally the tenants live in the house somewhere between three and five years. This means that even if the garden was well laid out originally, after about 25 years and perhaps 7 or 8 different families, it was looking a bit tired. 

This house has been rented by MrT's company since it was built and is in very good condition but the garden was just not looking good. There were some old, woody lavender bushes - one of which finally expired this winter, some mini-irises which look good for about 10 minutes before the flowers die and the spiky leaves are left, and some unidentified bushes. The only really decent plants are the two little trees (please do not ask me to identify them) and a sedum. 

Recently I attended a workshop on Gardening in Geneva and asked the Landscape Gardener who was running the course what she recommended. We are away a bit in the summer so the plants would have to be able to go without water for a few days at a time as I don't want to have to ask the neighbours to come over every day. She suggested a Mediterranean Herb Garden, using flowering herbs and lavender to bring in some colour. At home I made a plan and a list (of course) and we headed off to the garden centre to buy these plants:


 

Sage
Lavender
Rosmary
Thyme
Bay tree
Origano
Camomile
Boretsch
Satureja (Bohnenkraut, no idea what that is in English)
Parsley
Dill
Allium (otherwise known as garlic)
Basil



Next came the work of digging out the old plants, placing the new ones according to The Plan and The List. The kids helped with the mucky bit, PetitMonsieur was surprisingly effective at digging the deep roots out. Mademoiselle was Assistant Herb Gardner, responsible for Thyme, Parsley and Rosemary.

Hopefully once the seeds that were planted grow and the herbs spread a bit more the bed will look a bit less naked. And more like I want it to - this kind of thing Herb Garden

MrT and PetitMonsieur getting their hands dirty

MmeLindt finishing off the job

The finished bed

Will look better once the plants grow a bit. I hope.