Let's pretend...

In my quest to become the perfect housewife (bar the tidiness which is just so not going to happen!) I decided that my family needed, and deserved more desserts. So yesterday I made some really yummy banana sandwiches, they are the sweet version of the croque-monsieur, but instead of ham and cheese you use caramelised bananas and put them in bread soaked in a mixture of eggs. milk, sugar and cinnamon and cook them in a pan with a fair amount of butter. Might sound dubious, but frankly it hits the spot! You can even turn it into a somewhat posh dessert by swaping the bread for brioche and serving it with vanilla ice-cream and toffee sauce.
It turned out to be a real success, so I told Francois that tonight I would make a blueberry and peaches cobbler I had a first try at last week, to which he answered that it was a good idea because he had not been convinced last week (everybody had seconds but him, I had put it down on the large amount of alcohol in his system)... So, as I am only pretending to be a perfect housewife I decided he would not get any dessert today as he does not appreciate them anyway, I'll just get him a beer out of the fridge, a lot less work, and that I would serve this dessert to a much more deserving and decerning crowd, aka the girls :

And the verdict was? Well out of 5 persons, 3 small, 2 big, 3 had seconds! The other two had better things to do apparently! Oh, and I would highly recommend the use of bibs for this one! And here it is :

I chose a picture with a bit of mess around the dish, just to remind everyone I am just pretending!

And now I am off to try to tick something off my list, I have been trying all day but the god of to-do lists is not on my side today...

The list, still the same... I did tick things off but then had to add a bunch... Still working on clearing the 3rd bedroom, will get there though...

My not so little dirty secret

I was perusing over my to-do list this morning and realised I pretty much ticked all the easy and fast items and am now left with all my dreaded ones... Among them my tax return both here and in France, sewing some blinds, I am having a total mental block on that one but still insist I'll make them and won't buy any and clearing and decorating the third bedroom for the baby... The decorating isn't really what bums me out, the clearing is. Well this room does look like this at the moment :




Yes, this is our guest room / studio ... For months now guests had to sleep downstairs in the sofa bed of the living room, and not much sewing has been done for lack of space... Let's say it : it is a proper junk room... I thought we would manage to clear it and decorate it before I go in 2 weeks time for a month, but I really do not think it is going to happen... Which means I'll have to do it when 8 months pregnant. Not sure that child is ever going to have a bedroom! On a brighter note I think I chose the fabric for the blind (another one...) and the wallpaper, still debating on the colors though, waiting for swatches to arrive and make final decision.

I am not the tidiest person in the world, nor the most organised, which is too bad because my wildest fantasy is to have a boutique smeeling house tidy at all times, fresh flowers in every room, cake in the oven, homemade jam in the pantry and inhabited by kids wearing hand sewn clothes... Now, as for the boutique smeeling house that would be simple enough : lots of candles lit at all times, but they are neither very health friendly, nor eco-friendly. The tidiness I just don't have it in me... fresh flowers ends up dead flowers sitting around the house... Not much of a baker... I guess Jeanne has a few handmade pieces of clothing (more of that later). Before the age of blogs you could kid yourself in thinking that nobody really did all this... But then you discover that actually some people do... and have 3 kids... and work... and write craft books... But then they probably have to give up on something really valuable like playing blitz on Facebook, or spending hours trying to pick wallpaper on the internet to finally realise that really you need to see them in the flesh to decide on anything, or watch enlighting TV shows such as the Hotel Inspector...

The to-do-list? 56 to go but not going anywhere fast...