Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Italian Strawberry Tiramisu #Easyteam

Ingredients


165g/ 50z caster sugar
1 orange zest and juice
3tbsp orange-flavoured liquer  such as Grand Marnier)
30 Sponge fingers
6 free-range eggs separated
325ml/ 11 1/2 fl oz double cream
500g/ 1lb 2oz mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp vanilla extract
250 g/90z strawberries
3 tbsp icing sugar

Instructions

In a pan, gently heat 120g/40z of the sugar with the orange zest. Add the liquor and orange juice and continue to cook until the sugar has dissolved. Use tongs to quickly dip the orange fingers in the syrup ( take care not to burn yourself ) then lay them on the bottom of a square serving dish.

Place a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Add the egg yolks and the remaining caster sugar to the bowl and whisk to combine. when the the sugar has melted. remove the bowl from the heat and whisk the egg yolks until pale, doubled in volume and creamy. Pour into a cool bowl and set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.in a large bowl, beat the cream until thick. Fold the mascarpone into the cream, the fold in the egg yolks until combined. Fold in the egg whites and vanilla extract.

Spread a layer of mixture over the soaked sponge fingers then add a layer of strawberries. Continue layering the sponge fingers, creamy fixtures and strawberries, top if you wish with a layer of strawberries. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge to chill for two hours.

Discard the cling film and dust the top of the summer pudding with icing sugar. Serve immediately.


Wednesday, 17 July 2013

At the end of the lane

I love rambling around where I live and going the little lanes that surround me there is nothing better that leafy green lanes. I always want to explore even though I know what's down the lane , though this can change as life is full of surprises.


Do you love exploring where you live ?

I do as I hope you can tell my blog posts and I hope you enjoy the photos.

Monday, 15 July 2013

Mogs and clogs shoe style

Mogs and clogs shoe style but not actually clogs as I don't actually A) Live in Holland B) Live Up north in olden times though B is sort of true as I do actually up North well Midlands. Though I am a southner who was born in Scotland. Are you following so far ? good!



Jack Black hides in the silliest of places waiting for a errant foot wafting by (in this hot weather wafting  in more ways than one) I don't tend to mention Jack as much he's very much Hong Kong Fuey and Rollie is the the mild mannered brains behind the outfit.



You wiil find Jack here in the bath,  you'll find him in quiet contemplation at the table of life.




He's quite apt at cat bombing a photo shot....


And gets in the way when you are sorting out your bills. I think Jacks daft what do you think ??
After all Rollie is the evil master minded genius.



Summer Holiday Sensory Play Fun : Water Beads and Lights

I came across a fantastic idea for my observation at school which was water beads and lights involved in sensory play .

Focus

The focus for my observation was a targeted group of children so the help they needed was with the pincer grip which in turn helps them with pencil grip. Clear instructions were given that the water beads were not to be put in their mouths or thrown about as water beads tend to skip every where.

First of I got the children to warm their fingers up by getting them to touch each of their fingers to their thumbs, this action was repeated several times.



The activity 

The activity consisted of two colours of water beads, plastic Easter eggs , submerge able lights,plastic sea creatures and sea creature beads. I set a water tray with the beads, and places the submersible lights and small sea creatures beads with the plastic Easter eggs.This activity is ideal with the lights turned out as it becomes very magical.



But we were outdoors and as it was dull and overcast the turning off lights really didn't matter. I explained to the children that I wanted to pick the sea creature up using the pincer grip( I demonstrated )
Also I showed the children that they could open the plastic eggs by twisting them open (this is excellent for their fine motor skills ) Also to encourage the correct use of pressure of pencil grip on a pencil I demonstrated that you could pick up a water bead carefully and hold it between your finger and thumb.

The children had great fun playing in the water beads along with the submersible lights which were hidden in the plastic Easter Eggs along with some small sea creature beads.

Summary

Weak fingers can be strengthened by the child/children using theraputty, also tweezers and bead, threading. I linked this to their early learning goals physical, social and language communication. With pencil grip they have to have the right amount of pressure to little and the pencil mark will be faint, spider like and wobbly. If its too tight the pencil grip with result in the pencil going through the paper and makes the child tired.