Zip, zip hooray for Maclaren

The Hungry Mouth’s chariot of choice since birth has been the Maclaren XLR. It has many handy features, as one would expect from Maclaren, whose selling point is lightness and foldability. It has 3 reclining positions, from flat (needed for newborns) to sitting upright (around 6 months onward), and 5-point harness on a comfy base, with head support for newborns. It’s got pockets for storing spare socks and the rain/wind cover, a pouch below the chassis for a bit of shopping etc. The handles are adjustable in length and sturdy enough to hang lots of extra bags onto. Good steering too.

On the downside, it is slightly wider than some Tube gates (necessitating use of the buggy gate), and it would be nice to have a velcro-able cover for the peekaboo window in the hood, and maybe another hood attachment that would block light at the front, during naps.

But the most annoying thing about it was the way the sun shone into the pram when we faced the sun. I saw some other mums cunningly hanging muslins to shield their tots’ faces, and this does help - in fact, the Hungry Mouth greets the sight of a muslin flapping in the breeze with happy chuckles. But just the other day, after the whole summer’s gone by, and The Hungry Mouth is over 6 months old…a fellow Maclaren Mum pointed out a hidden device:

The sunshade! Aaargh, how could I never have tried to unzip the zip on the hood to see what would happen? Because I thought it would remove the hood, that’s why, and I could not envisage a moment when that would be desirable. Well, it doesn’t unzip the hood, it unfolds a whole extra bit of hood, that pulls down to shade the tiny, blinking face below!!

Zip, zip, hooray!

Muslin Mummy's easy cheesy scones

These scones are pretty flexible, as you'll see. I adapted them from a recipe I spotted in the Guardian, I think.

30 minutes, tops, from thinking of scones and tea, to biting into one.

300g self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder (can be 3 if you like)

1 tsp mustard powder (can use mustard)

1 tsp salt (can use less)

1 tsp sugar

some freshly ground black pepper (needn't be fresh)

110g chilled, cubed butter (ideally unsalted, needn't be chilled, but it helps)

handful of chives or parsley, ideally fresh (or nothing)

100g grated cheddar (or any kind of cheese, soft, edam, parmesan, probably not blue)

210 ml buttermilk (or just milk, or creme fraiche, or a mixture)

Rub butter into dry ingredients (minus cheese and herbs) with fingers till the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, then stir in cheese and herbs. then stir in buttermilk with a knife.

Plop the sticky dough onto a floury patch and pat it till it's about 2 cm thick (or thinner if you like), then cut into rounds. Repeat.

Brush the tops with milk if you like, and bake on non-stick or greased baking tray for about 12 minutes at 220 degrees C until golden.