Blog On 2013 was in July. At this point 2 weeks beforehand I was getting ready to attend my first ever blogging conference, excited and nervous.  I'd bought a new frock, packed goodie bags with Laura and then the proverbial hit the fan for us in a huge and forever way - my partner got Meningitis.

My partner out of immediate danger and home from hospital I went to Blog On. I left my 2 little boys with their 5 teenage siblings, with one teenager responsible for her Dad, including regularly waking him to drink water and checking his temperature every hour as his body couldn't regulate it yet. I had money for a quick taxi home just in case, and various other back up plans. At that point he was only awake for a couple of hours a day so in fact he slept the entire day and wasn't really aware that I'd gone anywhere.

I didn't realise until afterwards just what a mess I was. I was absolutely shattered and drained and really desperately needed that time off. I wrote another post about how great Blog On had been, I carried on doing my best to keep everything together and then another month later I broke my leg. The latter half of 2013 vanished into a blur and while it seemed to last an eternity at the time, I have very little memory of most of it - reading that post is like vaguely remembering a dream I once had.

My apologies to anyone who I met and don't remember this time...and please say hello and don't hold it against me. And anyone who I met who doesn't remember me - it's a win!

Blog On 2014 will be different. I will be there in body AND mind. I will remember the faces and names of people I meet. I won't be nipping out to ring home every hour and I won't be so tired that I try to get off the tram after one stop because I'm convinced I'm on a bus.

In case you wanted to know a bit more about me, Laura has put together a few questions, so here are my answers....

Name - Jenny
Twitter - @thebrickcastle
facebook - The Brick Castle
Location - North Manchester
Kids - 7 of them. They're everywhere, making my living room look a mess.
Favourite Food - Proper mushy peas, in fact, black peas.
Tea or coffee - Coffee, I have a dislike of tea.
Cat or Dog - Dog, I have a dislike of cats
I'm Left handed
Dietary requirements - Veggie since I was 13.
Special talents - I can sing the whole of 'Up The Junction' by Squeeze however drunk I am.
Describe Yourself In Seven Words - My hair is completely unmanageable - and blonde.
What Is The Best And Worst Thing About Blogging - The record of events is brilliant, the feeling when you've promised someone a post and don't have any time and it's already 2am not so brilliant.
What is the most embarrassing thing you've ever done - This is a family blog!
What will you be wearing at Blog ON - I'll be wearing a dress with a brick effect, so that if I stand in front of a window you'll think I'm floating outside.
What’s your favourite blog post you have written this year so far - This one - The post where someone I didn't know brought an entire street made of LEGO to my house to show us. It was such a stunning and bizarre thing to do, and we've made a great friend because of it - and playing with a 5 foot long street full of LEGO was awesome.
If you choke a smurf what colour does it turn - grey.
While you are here would you like some cake? What kind? - Benny

We are keen on our Turtles LEGO, we've reviewed a few before, and it gets played with a lot. Whatever vehicle the boys have made there's usually a TMNT LEGO minifigure in the passenger seat.


Today I'm reviewing the T-Rawket Sky Strike, which is recommended for age 6+ and has 286 pieces. I was probably a bit harsh when I reviewed the Karai Bike Escape (set 79118), but I feel this set offers much better value for money.


The set contains the T-Rawket, the Kraang Ship and 4 excellent minifigures - Donatello, Michelangelo, Mutated Dr. O’Neil and The Kraang with their weapons and accessories. 





The Kraang Ship is really a fairly complicated structure, and my son did have some frustration connecting the four silver pieces to form the circular shape. As this was the only bit he couldn't do, I feel the age range is right. It should be a challenge, and it should be interesting, my son has learnt a new building technique with this set. 


There's loads going on with this set. The the Kraang Ship has an opening hatch, drops 'barrels of goo' from a trapdoor at the bottom and has 2 flick fire missiles.


The T-Rawket has an ejector seat, so that you can attach the backpack glider to your turtle and shoot them off to battle. There are also 2 flick fire missiles and a pizza shooting oven at the back.


My boys generally play with a new set for about an hour before they start dismantling it to modifiy it so that it's got a space for Batman, 6 extra wheels and a cannon. This set is still intact and complete and they've played with it a lot. The play value is excellent and it really does give children a whole scene to recreate the stories from the DVD/show and to use their own imagination.

It's Easter Sunday (that's Zombie Jesus day if you're atheist) and my partner got called in to work because something broke. Poopy.

It's noon and no-one has had any chocolate.

Two of the teenagers are still in bed and two are still on their way back from a trip to France.

Thankfully my little boys haven't really got the hang of Easter yet, we're off to an Egg Hunt in 2 hours and I'll be back in time to cook my partner's lamb if he isn't back from work yet, so it'll all be fiiiiiiine.

I asked my boys what Easter was about. The result surprised me......a lot.

We've been sent Cupcakes And Cocktails for review and it's one of the very best recipe books I've ever reviewed. The cupcakes are amazing - impressive and very easy to make, with amazing flavours. Here's how to make Raspberry Daiquiri Cupcakes...


Cupcakes & Cocktails is a new release by Parragon Books in The Bonnie Marcus Collection. Full to the brim with more than 65 recipes on 130 pages and all featuring cupcakes or cocktails ~ usually both.


When choosing a recipe from this book I really was in heaven. I could have picked 20 recipes I'd happily make, however I've been good and chosen one. They don't all feature alcohol, but the recipe I've chosen to bake today does.

Raspberry Diaquiri Cupcakes (page 22)

Ingredients

Sponge
185g self-raising flour
1/4tsp salt
115g unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
125ml milk
2tbsp rum
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime

Filling
350g fresh raspberries, pureed/mashed*
55g caster sugar
2tbsp rum
1tbsp cornflour

Icing
115g unsalted butter, softened
250-375g icing sugar
1tsp raspberry extract*
2tbsp double cream
pinch of salt
pink sugar crystals to decorate*

*My ingredients were slightly different. I replaced sugar crystals with edible glitter, I found no raspberry extract so had to do without, and 350g of raspberries today would have cost me £5, so I used 150g and half the sugar and cornflour in the filling - and I still only used about 1/2.

Method

Sponge

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and line a 12 hole cupcake tin with paper cases. I could not find my large cupcake cases, so I used regular cake cases.


Sift together the flour and salt into a bowl. Put the butter and sugar into a separate bowl and whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking after each addition.
Add half the flour mixture, the milk, rum and lime zest and juice, and whisk until well mixed. Add the remaining flour mixture and whisk.


Spoon the mixture into the cake cases and bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool for a minute or two, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


Filling

Put the rum and cornflour into a jug and whisk together


Put the raspberry puree and sugar into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring frequently. Pour in the rum and cornflour mixture and keep stirring for a couple of minutes until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then chill.

Icing

Beat the butter until really pale and creamy (with an electric mixer if you have one). Add 250g icing sugar, raspberry extract, double cream and salt and 2 tablespoons of the raspberry filling. Whisk until well combined and add more icing sugar if necessary to get a good piping consistency. Spoon into a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle.

Putting it all together


Use an apple corer to remove the centre of each cupcake - but not all the way through to the bottom if possible.


Spoon the raspberry filling into each hole. Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes, then sprinkle with sugar crystals to serve. I was a bit over-cautious, I could definitely have dug the apple-corer in deeper.


The cakes are incredible, absolutely delicious. The lime and raspberry go together very well, they have a fantastic fruitiness that cuts into the sweetness, and a hint of alcohol that's barely intrusive.  Gorgeous for a warm Summer's evening in the garden, I can imagine I'm on a beach somewhere exotic....

I bumped into the ladies from Crushed at the Little Fun Fest, and they were so smiley and their gazebo so full of laughter (despite being a bit worse for wear after heavy winds first thing) that it was an absolute pleasure.


Crushed is a small independent company started by two Mums who wanted a nice mess free snack for children that provided around 2 of your recommended 7-A-DAY portions of fruit and vegetables. This is a full 100g pouch which is suitable for age 1+ and ideal for pre-school, infant and junior school children.


Crushed children's fruit snack is in a squeezable packaging that needs no spoon or bowl.  It has a long shelf life and doesn't need to be stored in the fridge - although they taste even better chilled. Made entirely from fruit they aren't watered down or full of unnecessary ingredients, so they're suitable for veggies and are nut free.


Available for now in two flavours -  Apple & Strawberry and  Apple & Banana - they aren't tart or bitter at all like some snacks. I don't know if that is because of the inclusion of  Chokeberry (Aronia) in the Strawberry version, but my boys clearly love it.


It's a real treat to have fruit like this for my boys and they begged for them every day until they were all gone. I'm certainly going to be adding them to my shopping list whenever I can get them. As these are a new UK launch they're currently available in Waitrose and will be coming to Ocado very soon. Brilliant for camping, holidays, day trips and lunchboxes, and a real treat, they're a winner here.

It's been so gorgeous here today and the first day of the year that we've been able to play outside. No-one at work or school, even the teenagers doing their GCSE's taking time off from revising and enjoying some sunshine.

This bush has a face, you see it?

I said when we reviewed MetalBeard's Sea Cow that I'd review some smaller LEGO sets and here I have two of the £11.99 sets recommended for builders aged 6-12. The Melting Room and the Getaway Glider.


The Melting Room (set #70801) is a 122 piece set. It contains the melting room equipment and 3 great minifigures - Emmet (with Piece of Resistance), Wyldstyle (with hood) and Robo SWAT.


The way the set goes together is interesting as it has various hinges and will stretch and bend for easy play.


It's actually quite a complicated build and my 5 year old found it interesting and challenging. Once together it makes total sense, but it uses some nice techniques to make the different parts that go together. It stretches a younger builder, but shouldn't overly frustrate them.


Once completed you have a nice play scene from the movie which moves about for play and has an almost infinitely adjustable laser and a great tilting stand for Emmet to be chained into.


My boys have played with this set a lot and got a great deal of fun from it. The 3 characters included are really generous and ideal to spark the imagination in any child. It's quite hard to get the chains onto Emmet's hands and it's not entirely a sturdy build, but great for a 6 year old to play with. Excellent value.



The Getaway Glider (set #70800) is a 104 piece set containing the glider and 3 minifigures - Emmet (with Piece of Resistance), Deputron and Sheriff Not-a-robot with his horse.


This is a very pretty set. It doesn't 'do' an awful lot - as a playset it's limited, but it's really beautifully put together. The minifigures are great.


This set too has some interesting techniques. The wings are beautifully made with lots of detail, and designed to move during play, so don't fall off constantly. 
 

This set is not as much fun as the Melting Room, but it's an attractive model and nicely done. It doesn't really offer a lot of play value alone, but it gives you the Emmett with the Piece Of Resistance, and the Sheriff and Deputy to add to your other LEGO Movie minifigures, and that does add a lot to play value as they're important characters.


All in all  I think the Getaway Glider set was a little disappointing, but I'd still buy it - and indeed did - as I think it is worth it for the figures.