This week my Word of the Week is: Exciting! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

This week has flown over and it has been a good one. A very exciting week compared to the last few months.

On Saturday I got a text through saying "You are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine but stopped myself from booking it for me because I had a thought that Becky still gets text messages on my number from the NHS because she hasn't got around to changing her phone number at the doctors since she turned 18. I rang up on 119 to ask them and the woman I spoke to was lovely and said it's stupid how there is no name on the text message. She checked through my details and I wasn't eligible so that meant Becky was. I am guessing it is because of her heart problem, the same heart problem she had when the pandemic started and the doctors said she is not at any risk compared to a totally fit and healthy person. I am so glad she's getting the vaccine next week but it does annoy me how they change the rules about who is vulnerable.

So next week Becky goes back to college for the first time this year, gets her vaccine which she is very excited about and then a few days later has her yearly heart check. It's the most excitement Becky's had in months. hehehe

On Monday there was a group Zoom call from Ellie's school giving a presentation about GCSE options. We knew most of the information but it was helpful that it was all explained properly. Ellie is very excited about starting her GCSE lessons and put in her choices on the website the school has given us. Engineering, Business and Geography are her first choices and she has Art and Hospitality and Catering in reserve.

There was also a lot of excitement this week with the new Season of Fortnite starting. Every few months the online game Fortnite has a big update and changes a lot of things. We were up early on Tuesday so Ellie could get ready for school and then watch the big reveal at 8am. We didn't log into the game we just watched others play it on YouTube. I think if we did log in I would have had trouble getting Ellie off the game to go to school. lol. It's the first time since I have started playing Fortnite I have seen a big change. Just when I got the hang of playing they pull the rug out from under me and I have to learn to play again. The map has changed, animals have been added and now you have to craft things like weapons.

Home Covid testing has started here. Ellie had been having lateral flow tests at school since she went back but they have decided now is the time for the parents to take over. I was not excited about this, to be honest I was pretty nervous about doing the first test at home but it turns out they are pretty simple to do and thankfully it was negative. So from now on every Wednesday and Sunday Ellie will be getting tested.

How has your week been?

The ultimate fish pie, perfect for Good Friday - Recipe!

Can you believe later this week is officially the start of spring? This year is flying over and it is only a few weeks until Easter when I hope we will be eating a lot of tasty meals and treats.

Just over a year ago we tried out Idahoan Perfect Mash and were very impressed with it and since then I have been sent a few recipes to have a look at and this was one of my favourites.

Perfect for Good Friday this recipe provides a tempting shortcut to a family favourite dish. Fish Pie. Made with salmon, haddock and cod for a decadent fish filled pie topped with Idahoan Cheddar Cheese Mash.

Ingredients: 

300g cod loin

200g skinned and boned salmon fillet

175g smoked haddock fillet

1 onion, cut into quarters

1 bay leaf

80g plain flour

80g unsalted butter

800ml semi-skimmed milk

Large handful of chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

3 medium eggs

180g raw prawns

125g frozen garden peas

2 x 109g Idahoan Cheddar Cheese Perfect Mash

50g mature cheddar cheese, grated

 

Instructions:

Place the fish into a large saucepan with the onion and bay leaf. Pour over the milk, which should just cover the fish. Place over a medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then remove from the heat and gently lift the fish out of the milk and into a bowl. Flake when slightly cooled. Reserve the milk, discarding the bay leaf and onion. Make the milk up to 800ml by using some extra milk if necessary.

 

Melt the butter in the same pan and stir in the flour. Cook for 1 minute over a medium heat, then remove from the heat and gradually add the milk, whisking until all is combined into a smooth sauce. Place back over the heat and bring to a simmer while stirring, then cook for 2 minutes until thickened and smooth. Stir in the parsley and season.

 

Preheat the oven to 190°C, 170°C fan, Gas Mark 5. Bring a small pan of water to the boil and cook the eggs for 7 minutes, drain and run under cold water. Peel off the shells then cut into quarters.

 

Scatter the fish into a 1.5-2 litre ovenproof dish and top with the prawns, egg and peas. Pour the sauce over everything in the dish, gently shaking to make sure the sauce runs to the bottom around all the fish.

 

Prepare the Idahoan Cheddar Cheese Perfect Mash to packet instructions. Spoon the mash on top of everything in the dish. Sprinkle with the grated cheddar cheese.

 

Put the dish on a baking sheet and cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until bubbling and golden at the edges.

Is this something you or your family would like?

This recipe is from Idahoan Perfect Mash. You can find more recipes and information over on their website.

(Ad - Gifted) One of our new favourite snacks: LOVE CORN!

My family are always on the look out for new snacks to try and the healthier they are, the better. So when we were given the chance to try out LOVE CORN how could we resist? With over 10 million bags sold the crunchy corn kernels are packed with flavour and made with love!

LOVE CORN is a crunchy savoury snack made from roasted corn kernels, sunflower oil, some spices depending on the flavour and nothing else! So simple but so good! They are also plant based, vegan, gluten free, verified Kosher and free from genetically modified ingredients! What more could you ask for?

LOVE CORN comes in 4 different flavours: Sea Salt, Salt & Vinegar, Smoked BBQ, Habanero Chilli and are available in a variety of bag sizes: 20g snack pack, 45g portion size and 115g for sharing.

I thought the best time to ask the kids to try these would be late afternoon when my youngest Ellie had came in from school. She is always on the hunt for something to eat at that time of day, needing a boost from school and something to fill her until tea time. These sounded like they would do the job!

Ellie loves anything bbq flavoured so went straight for the smoked bbq one's. She opened the packed tried one and I had to tell her to slow down so I could get a few photos. lol She really was enjoying them that much. I did convince her to give me a couple to try and they were so good and packed full of flavour.

These are great for kids, in lunch boxes, after sports or an in between snack and are great for adults too as a topper on salads, soup or cheese boards and they pair perfectly with beer & wine which Stu and I did put to the test on Saturday night. Stu is a chilli lover so he claimed the Habanero Chilli one's and I had the Sea Salt ones which I thought were delicious! Stu loved his too but I wasn't keen on the Chilli ones and he wasn't keen on the sea salt ones. It's all down to personal taste. Not everyone is going to like every flavour. Becky was happy to be left with the salt and vinegar ones and she said they took a bit of getting used to as they are so strong, they are but they are very moreish.

I hadn't heard of these until a few weeks ago when I read about them on other blogs but now I seem to be seeing them while I am doing my grocery shopping which of course is a good thing since my family have asked me to buy more. I will, I think they are a great alternative to a packet of crisps and much better for us too! They are a snack we can all enjoy.

If you want to try these you can claim a free LOVE CORN sample pack of their fab four flavours, you just have to pay £1.99 shipping. Also if you would like 20% off you can use the code "CRUNCH20" on their website.

I was sent a selection of LOVE CORN snacks free of charge in exchange for this blog post.

Making choices about GCSE subjects.

Ellie is in year 9 at school and that time has come to make choices about her GCSE options. It doesn't seem possible that my youngest is old enough to deciding her future like this but it's happening and we have spent hours speculating about what GCSE subjects are on offer and what she might choose.

We have no experience of choosing GCSE subjects at Ellie's school. Becky did her GCSE's when we lived in Northumberland at a different school so we were very interested to see how things worked here.

While the kids were home learning emails were sent out saying they will be choosing their GCSE subjects when they returned to school and they haven't hung about in sharing the website where the choices are made and handed in.

Ellie will still be studying the core subjects: Maths, English Language, English Literature, Science, PE and PSHE. She then had to choose 3 subjects and 2 reserves from the one's listed below.

We went through each subject reading the booklet that the school gave us and talked about what was involved and whether she would like to study it. To be honest she wasn't inspired or excited about the majority of the subjects and neither was I. A lot didn't seem right for Ellie.

These are the subjects that Ellie has chosen:

Choice #1 - Engineering is something Ellie has always been interested in and it seems like a more hands on subject than others. She loves building and creating things so it really stood out to her.

Choice #2 - Geography is one lesson she finds really interesting at the moment and really does enjoy it. They key things she will learn about are: Our Natural World, People and Society & Geographical Exploration but I think the field trips to the coast swung it for her.

Choice #3 - Business was something we hadn't even thought about but Ellie read about it and it really interested her. The course includes learning about businesses, running them, keeping accounts, promotion, marketing and even Ellie could see that these are great skills to have especially since one day she wants to run her own business and be the boss. I am not even joking.

Reserve #1 - Art - Ellie loves art but it's not something she really wants to do as a GCSE, she likes to draw and paint for fun but doesn't want to spend a lot of her lesson time doing art. She only chose it as a reserve because she likes it better than other subjects.

Reserve #2 - Hospitality and Catering - Isn't something Ellie is keen on but it was either this or a subject she hates.

What Ellie hasn't chosen:

Drama - Ellie hates drama! She hates being the centre of attention so I knew she was not going to choose this.

French - Ellie is counting down the days until she doesn't have to do French. She doesn't understand it and after doing home learning with I remember why I didn't like French at school either.

PE - Ellie is not a sporty person. She enjoys the 2 PE lessons that she has each week but that is because she is with her friends and it is fun. GCSE PE is a lot more serious and there is more learning to do. I agreed with Ellie that it is not for her.

History was considered but it was a choice between this and Geography and Geography won. Ellie is interested in history but there was some of the topics that she had never learned about like like Elizabethan England.

Performing Arts was another no for the same reasons as Drama.

Photography was something Ellie had in reserve at one point but was told that she couldn't have both Art & Photography as choices, even in reserve. I suppose that's fair enough because photography will be studied in art.

Health & Social Care was something Ellie didn't even consider. She has seen Becky do health and social care and knows what it involves and has no interest in it at all.

There was no mention of RE which surprised me but I suppose Ellie's school isn't a religious one like her primary and old secondary school was but the biggest shock came when there was no mention of any I.T based subjects. Considering nearly everyone uses a computer and lots of jobs do I thought there would be some I.T lessons but no.

Thinking back to when Becky chose her GCSE's Ellie seems to be getting a rough deal. Becky had the choice of all the subjects Ellie does as well as Computer Science. Music, Spanish, Design, Travel & Tourism, Construction, Film Studies, Statistics, Media and Hair & Beauty. The only one Becky didn't have the option to do was Engineering. I suppose it's because Becky was at a much bigger school and there were more teachers. At Ellie's school the PE teacher is also the health and social care teacher and a head of the year.

So there we have it. My girl has chosen her GCSE subjects and fingers crossed that she gets her first choices. It can't be any worse than Becky's. She only got to do one of her 4 original choices. lol but it worked out OK in the end, she did well in the subjects but it's just a shame they were a waste as they were nothing to do with what she wants to do with the rest of her life.

The school gave some great advice to the kids when it came to choosing their options which I thought I would share.

Here are the questions you should ask yourself:

Are You Good At The Subject?

This is a pretty obvious question and one which you can answer. Remember, though, that you should ask your subject teacher if you are good at the subject because he/she knows your ability level in relation to the whole year group. 

Do You Enjoy The Subject?

Each of us is different and we each have our own favourite subjects. An interest in a subject, however, should not be confused with ability in a subject. You must ensure that your enjoyment is because you are genuinely interested in the work.

Do I Need The Subject?

This may be difficult to answer if, like many Year 9 pupils, you do not have a career in mind. You must, therefore, think carefully about your broad base of subjects. For those who do have a career in mind, find out the subjects which are needed to follow the career and check back that you have the ability to get the necessary examination grade in the subject.

Two final points: Do not choose or discount a subject because you like or dislike the teacher. Similarly, do not be influenced by the subjects your friends are choosing. You are an individual and your aims and ambitions are different from anyone else.

Has your teen chosen their GCSE options yet? What are they choosing?