Review – The Boy in The Dress, Slug in a Jug & Husarenkrapfen

And we have just celebrated the 2. Advent. Today we decorated a “mini Christmas” tree. We ate some Mincepies and we listened to more Christmas Music. Advent is a great time to get together as a family, to read stories and play games. We have a book for older kids reviewed by Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock is back – she last reviewed for Mr Gum here, a fabulous little game by Orchard Toys (which we use to create stories) and another festive Christmas biscuit – The Husarenkrapfen!

Husaren Krapfen

Another little “Austrian” classic, the Husren Krapfen, this in essence is a ” Butter cookie” with jam. When I think of a plate of Christmas cookies, I always think “you need at least one if not two sorts of jam”. What I like about this cookie is that children can help – as you form little balls and the squish a dimple in it for the jam. Here we go:

Ingredients:

• 250g plain flour
• 180g butter (salted, or if unsalted, add a pinch of salt)
• 50g of ground almonds
• 2 egg yolks
• 100g icing sugar
• Apricot or strawberry jam for filling

Crumble flour and butter (+salt), add almonds, add yolks and sugar and knead until you have a smooth dough. Cool in fridge for 20-30min.

Form little balls*, place on baking tray. With finger make an indent. Fill with a little jam.

Bale at 180C until the edges brown.

Enjoy.

*Red Ted enjoyed making the balls or sausages.. I did find however that once he had the “dough in his hands”, he wouldn’t hand it back and at least half had to be tasted! But hey, what is childhood for?!

Book Review – The Boy in The Dress

Curl up with a  good read this Christmas…

The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams

I like this book and so does my mum. It is very funny. There are sad bits because Dennis misses his mum who has left home and he doesn’t see her. The best character is Raj the shopkeeper, he is very good at selling you things you don’t want. Dennis has a best friend called Darvesh and he is a good friend, his mum is funny. The end is a surprise, it is happy. I think boys and girls would like this book. There are also nice pictures by Quentin Blake. We have this book on CD as well as in paper, so I can listen to it and read along.

By Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock (aged 10 and 11months at time of review and 11years at time of posting!!)

The book sounds great! I want to read it!

Game Review – Slug in a Jug

And play some family games…

Slug in A Jug – Orchard Toys

Another clever little toy from Orchard Toys. We received this game for review just in time for Pip Squeak’s Birthday. Perfect, so that Red Ted could get a little gift too! This game is from 4yrs+ and is still a little “above” Red Ted. The aim of the game is to find matching rhyming words words (slug & jug etc) and to then make a sentence with them. Red Ted (just under 3yrs) can obviously not read yet and he doesn’t quite get it. However, he keeps coming back to the box, getting all the cards out and discussing the pictures or asking “What’s this”? A great way to reinforce vocabulary and introduce the concept of “rhyme”. The cards are well made and sturdy and Red Ted loves all the pictures. He (!) decided that “playing flashcards” with them is great and I guess this will be a great way for him to know all the pictures once it comes to basic reading skills. It is also fabulous for me – as I can practice both German and English vocabulary with him. We are also using the cards to mkae up stories with. Fabulous. Definitely a game for us to grow into in the meantime.