Day Zero Project Update July 2015

A few months back it became clear to me that I probably wasn't going to finish my Day Zero Project List, and now with less than a month to go I know it's not going to happen. I started the list on the 21st November 2012, which seems such a long time ago now. The first thing that I did was to write a letter to myself to be opened when the challenge was completed. I have the letter in my bedside drawer and I've not opened it yet, but I remember writing that when the date came round it wouldn't be long before Mia started school. At the time that event seemed impossibly far in the future, but of course it crept up slowly and now those final weeks are rushing by.

I was heavily influenced by Pinterest when I made the list, and it led to some fantastic first baking attempts - I made a rainbow cake, attempted my first gingerbread house which became a tradition that I intend to continue every year, baked a chocolate brownie cheesecake from my brother's recipe which I'd been meaning to try for ages, and had a reasonably successful first go at cake pops.

I was also encouraged to get out and about with the children, spending a great day out with Harry, taking both children camping, and taking the two of them up to London.

One of my favourite challenges was to ask twenty friends to suggest a book and read them all, I discovered some fantastic new books and authors. Like many of the things on my list, it's something that I wouldn't have done otherwise and was really enjoyable.

I don't regret at all that I didn't manage to complete the list, instead I'm really proud of the things that I did do! I completed 66 of the 101 things. It's perhaps not as many as I had hoped, but I'm still pleased with how I got on. You can see my full list, with links to the challenges that I blogged about, on my Day Zero Project page.

Read 20 books recommended by others - Day Zero Project update

A bit of an update on my Day Zero Project list. I'm afraid that I've been slacking a bit lately. It was an ambitious list, and although when I started it back in November 2012 it seemed as though I had all the time in the world, I've suddenly realised that I only have until August this year to complete everything! I'm not sure how likely that is going to be, so I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't tick everything off, but instead reflect on how much I've enjoyed taking part in it!

The challenge to Read 20 Books Recommended by Others was one of the first that I started, knowing that it was a long term one. I asked for book recommendations across various social media channels, and ended up with a long list. I started reading ones that were easy to get hold of, and tracked down other ones that I liked the look of. I'll be honest that I did pick and choose the books, but I still read plenty that I wouldn't have otherwise. I've included in the list books that I was sent to review, in particular as part of the BritMums book club, as I felt that this falls into the scope of the challenge and I only have so much time in the day available to read.

I found some fantastic new books, and there was only one that I didn't get on with and couldn't finish. I also didn't get through the entire list of suggestions, so I have more waiting when I'm looking for inspiration to read!

So here are the books that I read:

1 - Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde (Anna).

2 - Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Joanne).

3 - The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed out of the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson (Lucy)

4 - The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde (Cat)

5 - How to be a Woman - Caitlin Moran (Joanne)

6 - Room - Emma Donoghue (Sarah)

7 - The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern (Merry)

8 - The Help - Kathryn Stockett (Sarah)

9 - Me Before You - Jojo Moyes (Kate)

10 - A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry (Cherry)

11 - The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd (Sarah)

12 - The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks (Aly)

13 - The Buddha in the Attic - Julie Otsuka (BritMums)

14 - The Passage - Justin Cronin (Alistair). This was the one that I couldn't finish unfortunately, although I gave it a very good go. It had an interesting plot but I just found it too long.

15 - My Animals and Other Family - Clare Balding (BritMums)

16 - Quiet - Susan Cain (BritMums)

17 - Above All Things - Tanis Rideout (BritMums)

18 - The Judas Scar - Amanda Jennings (BritMums)

19 - Peaches for Monsieur le Cure - Joanne Harris (Mum)

20 - Travelling to Infinity - Jane Hawking (review copy from publisher)

Do you set yourself reading challenges? I'm finding that I have more time for reading now that the children are older and so I'm wondering if I should come up with something new to challenge myself with.

Snowball cake pops

I'm not sure when cake pops started to become popular, although like many crafty trends I first discovered them on Pinterest. They are basically little balls of cake and icing stuck onto sticks and then decorated in all sorts of creative ways, usually dipped into melted chocolate and adorned with various edible embellishments. You can find some fabulous examples over on Bakerella.

I added "Make cake pops" to my Day Zero Project list along with lots of other new baking ideas that I wanted to try, and when we held our Antarctic themed day the other week I had the perfect opportunity to try out some snowball cake pops. They weren't the most successful baked items I have ever made, but it was a good start!

I kept it very simple for my first attempt. I found a great video which explained how to make cake pops very well, so I will share it with you below in case you want to have a go.

I used my usual Victoria Sandwich recipe, passed down from my Mum hence the imperial measurements - 6oz margarine, 6oz sugar, 3 eggs and 6oz self-raising flour - and made the two sandwich cakes. Then I put them into my Kenwood mixer and bashed them up until they were in crumbs. Then I made up the same amount of butter icing that I would usually make to fill and cover the sponge cake - 75g butter and 175g icing sugar - and mixed it all up together.

I used the resulting mixture to make lots of balls. This is where I went slightly wrong, and I made the cake balls far too big. My sticks (available from Hobbycraft or most large supermarkets) were very long and so I felt as though the balls needed to be large to balance them, but because they were so heavy they slipped off. I put all the cake balls into the fridge to cool for a little while before dipping them in chocolate.

I melted the white chocolate in a mug so that it would be nice and deep for dipping. Then I dipped the cake pops in the chocolate and put them in the fridge to set. Another mistake of mine was that I hadn't set up a proper area for them once dipped. Lots of instructions suggest a piece of polystyrene covered in cling film, and having this ready would have been a very good idea.

I found the whole process a bit fiddly, and so I only actually made a few proper cake pops, the rest were just left as cake balls on a plate with the melted chocolate spooned over! Then I sprinkled some desiccated coconut over them to make them look snowy.

Here are my finished efforts:

Not bad, but could do better. It's not something that I'm going to rush to make again - to be completely honest I prefer the taste of a cake made the normal way - but I'm glad that I tried!

Eat something different for breakfast every day for a week

I've never been very adventurous when it comes to breakfast. For most of my life it's been toast and Marmite. I had a brief dalliance with Special K a few years ago, but since then it's pretty much been the toast that I've stuck with. So as part of my Day Zero Project, I challenged myself to eat something different for breakfast every day.

It might sound simple, but it wasn't as easy as it sounds. I had to plan in advance to make sure that I had everything I needed, and I had to plan according to what I was doing that day. Every other morning I go to the gym first thing, so it needed to be something that I could make and eat with unoccupied small children around. On the other mornings I eat at the same time as the children, meaning I am constantly up and down from my seat to tend to their various needs and demands.

Here's what I came up with:

Monday - A bread roll with cheese and juice
Tuesday - Overnight oats, using a recipe from My Darlings and Me
Wednesday - Granola cereal with Greek yoghurt
Thursday - Scrambled egg on toast
Friday - Pain au chocolat
Saturday - A cheese omelette
Sunday - Pancakes with syrup

Some of these rather indulgent breakfasts might not have done my waistline much good, but it was really fun to try out some new things. In particular, I was really proud of my omelette and my scrambled eggs, as to my shame I had never made either before. They turned out perfectly and are definitely something I'll be making again!

Next I'm going to try eating something different for lunch every day for a week. Goodbye, cheese sandwich!