Another museum and other stuff.

Today it has mostly been raining. From the sounds of things, this kind of weather is not welcome for many Mummies stuck indoors with children on half term. It was of no consequence to us, though, as we had already planned to visit the Maidstone Museum and take part in their workshop.
Museums have come a long way since I was a child. I remember the Natural History museum in London being pretty exciting because there were dinosaur skeletons like the brontesaurus, if I remember correctly which I think has now been proved to be a bit of a mistake. Other museums that I visited as a child were, well a bit boring and you certainly were not encouraged to touch! Nowadays they are brilliant places to take children. Usually free and much more interactive. I would recommend taking children to the Maidstone Museum. It is not too big and the exhibits are very varied including, dinosaurs, egyptians, natural history of the British Isles, military and Victorian childhood. Today the workshop was making toys from the 1940's. I'm annoyed with myself for leaving my phone in the car (I use it to take the pics). So we'll have to make do with this picture of the end product. It is a game of battleships made from recycled materials. The children did actually make some battleships from clay that you are supposed to lay across your grid, but they, er, got recycled into something else in the car on the way home! (Thought it was quiet!)

When we got home, the children watched this film 'The Water Horse'. I have ordered 'Carrie's War' from Amazon but think that it is unlikely to arrive this week. We already had this film in our DVD collection. It is set in Scotland (fabulous scenery!) during the war about a young boy whose father has left to fight. He finds a mysterious egg that hatches into a sea creature and becomes his friend. A lovely tale. We enjoyed this.

Meanwhile, as I was making some lamb pittas for dinner, I photographed the kitchen larder that I got for my birthday. I've put it where I originally had my wobble stripe curtain. I've painted the cupboard a soft green and stapled that wobble stripe fabric behind the glass.

I did the same thing with my other cupboard, so they sort of match.

And, well, I might as well show this pretty dish I found in TK Max the other day. In it I have put:

Some diced lamb,

sliced onion,

sliced yellow pepper,

sliced courgette

and sprinkled/drizzled over it some olive oil, salt, pepper, pinch of cumin and garlic and cooked for about 40 mins in the oven.

I used this to fill some wholemeal pitta breads and served with a cucumber dip (natural greek yogurt, lemon juice and finely chopped cucumber) and some houmous (ready-made from Tesco.)