Cornish ice cream - the taste of the perfect summer holiday ?

I have so many fabulous memories of carefree childhood summer days spent on our holidays in Cornwall. Every year, we'd head to a holiday park in Perranporth, spend days on the beaches and tramping across the dunes, travelling around to all the tourist sites (Land's End, the tin mines, Newquay Zoo, Hale Bird Park, St Michael's Mount ...) and hunting for mysterious standing stones. People always ask what the soundtrack to your life is. Well, apart from remembering my Dad getting up on the dance floor to Dexys Midnight Runners singing Come On Eileen and getting excited about all sitting on the floor in rows, rocking back and forth and tapping the floor on each side to The Boat Song (which was actually Elton John's Passengers), I can't remember what we were listening to. I CAN remember what we were eating though. Genuine Cornish pasties, straight from the oven in the little local bakeries, and LOADS of scrumptious creamy Cornish ice cream.

Even now, digging into a tub of Kelly's of Cornwall ice cream brings back the taste of those fabulous Cornish holidays, so I was rather excited to hear that they've come up with an ice cream excursion break for 2014 for couples and families with pre-school children. As well as a four-night, midweek break at the five-star luxurious self-catering Retallack Resort and Spa, you get to indulge in special ice cream tasting at the Kelly’s of Cornwall ice cream factory in Bodmin, a private tour of one of the Cornish farms that supplies Kelly’s with its rich and creamy milk and clotted cream, an ice cream excursion map with top tips from those in the know of the best places to enjoy ice cream in the county, a freezer full of ice cream on arrival (wow, why can't all hotels do this ?!) and dinner in The Green Room for couples and parents, experiencing the tasting menu. Prices start from £619 for a family of four (two adults, two children) or a couple staying in a Rock lodge but you'll have to wait until the end of the summer (1st – 30th September) to take advantage. If that's out of your price league, you might like to have a look at the ice cream excursions map and just go for a scoop of Cornish ice cream instead !

You might also like to try to win a 4 night break in one of Retallack’s 2 bed hot tub lodges, including a meal for 4 in the MasterChef restaurant, The Green Room, by entering Kelly's wild summer photography competition. It's a great way to keep the kids occupied over the summer.

Disclosure : This is not a sponsored post in any shape or form. I'm just a little bit more in love with Kelly's of Cornwall after winning a fab Merlin family pass from them for my ice cream hamburgers and wanted to share the love !

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We Certainly Wood like some more s'mores !

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Kids in the Kitchen Foodie Fun

Globecooking recipe : Horchata de Chufa (Tigernut Milk) (Spain)

One of the most intriguing ingredients in a recent Spanish-themed Kitchen Trotter box was these Chufa or Tigernuts. 

They're not actually nuts at all, they come from the roots of the plant.

 These can be made into a drink, called Horchata de Chufa, with water and sugar.

The first thing to do is soak them in water for a couple of days, to remove any impurities.

Once they've been drained and rinsed, they're ready to be used.

You should use a food processor to blitz them but, as I haven't got one, I had to improvise with a stick blender in a bowl and a tea towel to stop all the bits flying everywhere !

This is how they end up. Next, you add water and strain, then repeat twice more until you've worked one litre of water through the ground tigernuts to remove the milk.

It should be sweetened with sugar then chilled for a couple of hours.

This is where I had an #epicfail. I assumed that "for a couple of hours" meant for AT LEAST a couple of hours so I left it in the fridge until the next day. I don't know if it curdled or solidified or turned into a mutant lifeform but this is the gloopy, separated mess I came back to. However much I stirred it, I couldn't get it to go back to the same milky consistency it originally had and it even looked like it had stringy, mucus-like bits in it - not appetising at all !

I strained some into a glass and asked if anyone was brave enough to try it. I was suprised when, in the end, everyone had a taste. It reminds me of almond milk and I noticed on wikipedia that it can be used in place of milk for the lactose intolerant.

Tastewise, it's not horrible but I didn't like the gloopy texture and I wasn't completely reassured that it hadn't gone off so most of it ended up down the sink. Take my advice - if you have a go, don't leave it in the fridge for too long !

Linking up with the Spain round-up on Bloggers Around The World

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Globe-cooking recipe : Crème Catalane (Spain)

Globe-cooking recipe : Gazpacho Ajo Blanco (Spain)

Globe-cooking recipe : Green Pepper & Caballitas Tapas

Globe-cooking recipe : Cuttlefish-ink Paella (Spain)

Children's book review : The Apple Tart of Hope - Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives someone else lemons, make them an apple tart. Well, that's what Oscar Dunleavy does anyway. As the blurb on the back of the book explains, "It's not an ordinary apple tart. It's magic. It's the apple tart of hope. After you've taken a bite, the whole world will look almost completely different. Things will start to change and by the time you've had a whole slice, you'll realise that everything is going to be OK."

It's just a shame that nobody was around to bake one for Oscar when his life started to go to pot. Now he's missing, presumed dead, after his bike was found at the end of the pier and his shoes were found in the sea. His heartbroken dad and friends are desperately trying to come to terms with his suicide but his wheelchair bound little brother Stevie won't give up hope.

When I read Sarah Moore Fitzgerald's debut novel Back To Blackbrick, I was surprised to see how powerful and touching a children's novel could be. With The Apple Tart of Hope, she works her magic again, masterfully evoking how hard it can be to be a teen, dealing with first love, bullying and how desperately important it is to fit in at school. It's sure to strike a chord with young readers in the same predicament but, even as a grown-up with my teen years far behind me, I could still really empathise with the characters.

It's full of great life lessons, from helping others and valuing your friendships to not taking things at face value and, above all, never giving up hope, even when the odds are against you. It's a poignant read, with moments of great sadness but ultimately a heart-warming feel-good ending. 

 It's only 193 pages long so I raced through it in two days, but the characters will stay with you long after you've turned the final page. Buy it for your kids but make sure you read it too !

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £10.99

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Orion Childrens (5 Jun 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1444006924
• ISBN-13: 978-1444006926
• Product Dimensions: 20 x 13.6 x 2.4 cm

Disclosure : I received a review copy of the book.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Children's book review : Back to Blackbrick - Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

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Dreams can come true - Vodafone #First campaign

Vodafone are asking people to come up with ideas of firsts that they would like to experience and they’ll be making 10 of those dreams come true. I can hear your brains whirring from here - what can you come up with?  #first trip abroad? #first time sleeping in a 5-star hotel? #first time bungee-jumping? #first bike ride for your kids? #first time meeting your long-lost auntie who lives in Australia?

To inspire you, here's a recent #First that Vodafone did to make some young boys' dreams come true. The Anokye Stars are a local Ghanaian under -15's football team made up of boys who spend all of their spare time practising their skills on a dusty patch of mud. Having heard that they’d always wanted to play in the UK, the Vodafone team flew them over and organised for them to play in a North London tournament  before being given a tour of the Emirates Stadium - something that they’d always dreamed of.

Vodafone went to the local village that the boys were from and installed a mobile internet connection along with an inflatable screen so that they could stream the game live and all of the community could rally together to support the boys. Not only was it a first for them, it was made all that much more special when the boys won!

These weren't the only #firsts though - it was also their #first trip abroad and their commentary on the bus ride around London is hilarious !

You've got just under a fortnight to get your pitches in so don't delay - head over to http://www.firsts.com/content/vodafone-firsts/gb/pitch-your-first.html

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

One World Futbol review

What's Cooking at The Madhouse? 27/6/14 - Food Parcel Challenge #everycanhelps

Will you help World Vision UK to Grow Hope this July?

Globecooking recipe : Pão de Queijo (Cheese Bread) (Brazil)

When taking part in the World Cup Foodie Challenge, I looked up a recipe for Brazilian Cheese Bread. As long as you can get your hands on some tapioca/cassava flour, it's dead easy to make.

Pão de Queijo

ingredients :

 1 & 1/2 cups of tapioca or cassava flour

 1 egg

 1/3 cup olive oil

 2/3 cup milk

 1tsp salt

 1/2 cup grated cheese

smoked ham (optional)

Funnily enough, when my Brazilian-themed Kitchen Trotter box arrived, it had a box of Brazilian Cheese Bread mix in it so I cheated and used that. Looking at the ingredients list on the box, it's pretty much the same recipe as the one above though.

Empty the pack (or the dry ingredients) into a bowl. It's quite a rough texture, more like a lumpy cornflour than regular flour.

Add the wet ingredients from the list (or 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of water if using the mix).

Mix it all up into a smooth dough.

Following the recipe suggestion from Kitchen Trotter, I decided to add 200g chopped smoked ham, which worked really well. Bacon, chorizo or Parma ham would all work too.

Roll the mix into golfball-sized balls and place on a greased baking tray. Bake in the oven at 180° for 25 minutes.

These make lovely chewy, gooey nibbles that are delicious served hot or cold.

The whole lot disappeared in record time and I've been told I definitely have to make these again !

Other blogposts you may be intereted in :

Globe-cooking recipe : Apple strudel (Germany)

Globe-cooking recipe : Chocolate Brigadeiros (Brazil)

#readcookeat challenge : Spanakopita (inspired by When The Cypress Whispers)

Madhouse Diaries : My Beach Babes !

As the temperatures soared last week, the Madhouse kids begged me to take them to the beach so that they could go for a swim. It's funny, we live in a seaside town and we often go to the beach for walks or ice creams or to play in the sand but I think this is probably the first time they've ever wanted to go there to swim ! So we jumped on a bus and off we went - you can see from their faces how excited they were !

We went right down to the far end of the beach, away from the crowds. It was still quite busy on the dry sand but closer to the sea on the wet sand, we had plenty of space to play.

As soon as we arrived, they stripped off, I smothered them in sun cream and they were off !

Right on cue, Dunkirk's answer to Baywatch showed up and stopped right in front of Pierre and Juliette ! Bonus - I could retreat to the dry sand and read my book while they kept an eye on the kids !!

Pierre was a bit apprehensive of the waves at first.

But he soon started getting a bit braver and going in up to his knees then eventually sitting down in the water.

Big smiles - he'll definitely be going in the sea in Turkey in a few weeks !

Juliette must have been a little mermaid in a past life - she shot straight into the surf and splashed about, up to her shoulders in water, without a second's hesitation !

It's made me realise we should do this more often - sometimes you don't realise how lucky you are to have things like this right on your doorstep.

After playing in the sea for ages, it was time to build a sandcastle and bury Juliette's feet in the sand !

Then we headed to the ice cream van for the biggest ice creams ever !

Is it me or does this ice cream look rude ?!

Pierre, look out, that shark is trying to get your ice cream !

To finish off, we headed up into the dunes opposite the beach ...

... for a quick bit of geocaching on the way back to the bus stop. We didn't find the cache but I did manage to lose my sunglasses - oops ! Luckily I had a spare pair at home !

It was nice to finish off in the shade after the blistering heat of the beach !

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Madhouse diaries : Doggie (hair) doos !

Madhouse diaries : When the adventures come to us !

Madhouse Diaries : Too hot to stay at the beach !

We Certainly Wood like some more s'mores !

The summer is here and that means barbecue season has well and truly kicked off. Certainly Wood sent us through one of their Fire Starter Kits to try out. (Every time I type that, I want to launch into a mad impersonation of The Prodigy !) 

The box contains some Kiln Dried Logs, along with Matches and Kiln Dried Kindling, to help get your campfires and barbecues off to a natural start. The logs have a real rustic charm - so much so that my mum pinched a few with bark on to put on the rockery as a design feature ! They're a very eco-friendly option.  Certainly Wood  makes sure that the firewood they source is sustainable, British wood. They fell only the weakest trees in their forests, meaning the other trees can grow stronger, and they are constantly replanting trees that then absorb carbon dioxide. All of their electricity is produced using solar panels and biomass, so all of their processing equipment is powered using renewable energy and they burn all their wood waste to create heat to dry the logs. 

My favourite part of the kit, though, was these Flamers Natural Firelighters, which are made with untreated, wax dipped, fine wood shavings. They are natural, odourless, easy to light and have a long burn time. I much prefer them to the usual solid or liquid firelighters that Madhouse Daddy uses because they always reek of chemicals and I'm worried about that tainting the meat. It's also dangerous when he uses the liquid one - watch your eyebrows when the flames shoot up high ! - so the Natural Flamers offer a gentler, safer and more natural option.

Certainly Wood have come up with a great video on how to light a fire easily using the Flamers and Kindling provided in the package.

Getting the fire started was only half of our challenge though. Certainly Wood also sent us through everything we'd need to create the All American campfire classic, S'Mores. We've seen these mentioned in numerous American films and TV shows but had never tried making them. 

So what is a S'More exactly? As defined by Wikipedia: "A s'more (sometimes spelled smore) is a traditional night time campfire treat popular in the United States and Canada, consisting of a roasted marshmallow and a layer of chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker. National S'mores Day is celebrated yearly on August 10 in the United States." The name comes from the fact that they are so yummy (as we were about to discover) that the kids (and grown ups !) will constantly be asking for "some more" until the whole pack of biscuits has magically disappeared !

They are great fun to make and, although they do require adult supervision, you can keep it all relatively safe by using long twigs to put the marshmallows in the flames.

They're a delicious explosion of tastes and textures - crunchy wheaty biscuit, smooth creamy chocolate and gooey, sticky, molten marshmallow.

We kept going until we ran out of biscuits and chocolate and the kids have made us promise to buy in more stocks so that we can have them as dessert after our next barbecue !

for more information : http://www.certainlywood.co.uk/ /  https://twitter.com/kilndriedlogs /  https://www.facebook.com/certainlywood

RRP : 50 Flamers Natural Firelighters - £4.91 (usually £5.99), Kiln Dried Kindling - £3.40 (usually £4.15), large 1.6m3 bulk bag of Kiln Dried Logs - £197.62 (usually £241)

(Certainly Wood is running a "Massive Summer Sale" until 31st August. The Flamers as well as some other products are currently discounted by 18%.)

Disclosure : We received a Fire Starter kit, along with supplies to make S'Mores.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Madhouse recipe : Fruity summer rolls

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Madhouse recipe : Malt Loaf Truffles