Simple pleasures

The boys are wearing me down. I'm exhausted and fed up.

So, in the hope I can smile at my children again...

... we bake,

The simplest biscuits - recipe below

we stare at the sky's amazing colour,

I really did just point and shoot at the sky

we picnic,

Kian chewing on a slice of apple for the first time

and we smell the flowers.

A neighbour's front garden

Thank heavens for beautiful spring days.

Vanessa

P.S. Magic happens when you cook flour, butter, sugar and egg together, don't you think? And a bit of magic is what I need at the moment. By the time I'd boiled the kettle for a second cup of tea for Luca and I, they were literally out of the oven. Quick and a good recipe for little cooks.

Here goes: whizz 200g self-raising flour, 100g butter and 80g caster sugar in a food processor till they become crumbs. Add 1 egg and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and the mixture should bind together nicely. Roll into long sausage shape (about 6cm thick) and slice into rough 1cm rounds. Make indentation with your thumb (or your little helper's thumb) and fill hole with your choice of jam (keep jam out of helper's reach or they'll be spooning more into their mouth than onto biscuits). Bake in 170C oven for 10 mins. Cool on a wire rack so they harden (we scoffed quite a few, though, before they got to that stage).