things to do during the holidays.

Made bread with the kids. They had fun with their own bit of dough.

wake up it's a beautiful day.

Yesterday it snowed and made the entire country miserable. Today it was sunny and bright in our corner of the island. I took the kids out for they needed to get out and wiggle a little. Also Senor Onion needed new wellies AND school shoes. He had the audacity to go and grow out of both items. At the same time. Geez kid. We parked, walked across the canal and went to one shop where the choice of boots was less than exciting. We walked up the street and went to another shop and the choice was quite a bit exciting. We found him red moshi monster boots. They are raging red, and Moshi monsters are crazy popular with the biscuit-eating set. They even had his size. It took a bit of effort to find his size of school shoes. He wanted to get the same pair as his current small ones. They lacked his size but with a bit of effort we found something equally appropriate. I also tried on some shoes. I may come back when I lack the entourage. I saw these ridiculous flowered patterned heels. I mean what would be the point of them, other than wearing them a few times and saying, "Aren't these awesome?" You know, like at someone's wedding or something. (that seems to be the only occasion I wear heels to these days.)

We went to Boots and I ended up with another red lipstick. A really gorgeous matte red lipstick from Rimmel. That Kate Moss line. (Kiss of Life is the name of the color) Then we went next door to the bookshop/stationers and found some art supplies for a friend's birthday party next week. (and we also bought some plasticine to play with) Finally there was a stop at the bakers, and then a wander over to the library to borrow ALL the TinTin books. (with time to run around in the grass near the library and Castle.) And of course the required stop at the grocery store. I should know better than to head into the grocery store on the first Friday of the month. Always like the end of the world in there. With really pushy old folk. Senor Onion said we should investigate some fish. He's decided that he is over salmon -because he is an affluent little monster. What next? Lying on the grass and asking for a latte? So we had a look at things and he pointed to the mussels and said, "Let's try that." I asked him if he knew what it was. "Nope. Are they clams?" I explained what they were and he said, "Let's eat that for dinner." So we bought a kilo of mussels for dinner.

I decided to do moules-frites. I also baked a couple loafs of bread at the last minute to go with things. (along with some steamed veg, because Miss Biscuit wasn't going to touch those mussels.) Senor Onion thought they were pretty good and unusual. I think the giant bowl to hold shells made him think of when we eat artichokes. (he LOVES steamed artichokes and aioli.) He didn't eat all of his mussels but he made a good faith effort in trying things. We'll have to look through the Rick Stein seafood cookbook to see what else we can try.

I think tomorrow might be a good day for an outing. Maybe Padstow. Miss Biscuit thinks of Padstow and she is reminded of the pink macarons from Rick Stein's Patisserie. To her, they are the most magical things on Earth. Tiny pink cookies that taste of pink. PINK.