Food
Fish and chips - steaming hot, oily, salty chips!
Sunday roast - the gravy oooooooooh
Cream teas - no explanation needed
Culture
Children's books - Julia Donaldson, Harry Potter, Roald Dahl
The Royal Family - Royal weddings, Jubilees, the pageantry and pomp
The Science Museum
Geography
The countryside - the quietness away from the hustle and bustle of the city
Seaside towns - the ice cream, sticks of rock, arcades and rock pooling
Designers
Matthew Willamson
Jenny Packham
Cath Kidston - who doesnt'?
Sports People
David Beckham
Amir Khan
Rebecca Adlington
Actors/actresses
Dame Judy Dench
Thandie Newton
Emily Blunt
Colin Firth - Mr Darcy!!
Clive Owen
Chefs
James Martin
Nigel Slater
Rick Stein
Rachel Allen
Delia Smith
Music
The Beatles
Adele
Dido
Ed Sheeran
My un-favourite British Things
Marmite - it's a love it or hate it thing, and I'm a 'hate it'
The weather -
The press - who do they think they are?
Tulisa
Jamie Oliver
Sunday, 24 June 2012
A mixed bag....
I recently decided to start running, but after just a week, the weather went back to heavy rainfall for days on end. This annoyed me, especially after a week of warm, dry weather which is what inspired me to go running in the first place. So I decided to join the gym so that I could keep going with my fitness plan, and ironically, it hasn't rained all week so far!
I can already feel the difference it has been making and I want to keep my motivation level high enough right through to the end of the summer (although it has been rather more like Autumn lately)
I much prefer swimming to gym because it works out the body all over and there is no sweat!
I can't wait till I see the results I want!
I had heard about a Toddler World activity at a leisure centre so I took K to check it out. The facility was huge and there was an endless amount of fun things to do. There was a bouncy castle, ride on trikes, hoops, basketball and soft play. It was the best way to spend a rainy morning.
I haven't been baking for some time and I felt the urge to make something I haven't tried before. I have my signature madeirorange cake perfected and I wanted to try something new for a change. I also had a lot of carrots and walnuts to use up so what better way to do so than incorporate them into a cake. I was so pleased with the result that I will be making this on a regular basis. It uses hardly any sugar, and I may even leave it out altogether next time.
Today, I took the children to my old school reunion. I got the invitation many weeks ago and had forgotten all about it until I was going through some paperwork and it reappeared. I have been looking forward to this, although my sister and my friends from school were not around to go with me. I live only two streets away from the school but I haven't entered the grounds since I left in 1997. I was at Northwood College from 1987-90 and then again for 6th form in 1995-97. In between, I went to secondary school in Abu Dhabi where we lived for 5 years from 1990-95.
It felt very evocative to be back there. It was also strange giving my daughter and son a tour of the school, showing them my old class rooms, library, playground, assembly hall, dining room and sports fields. There were displays of photographs, yearbooks and uniforms. There was a lovely BBQ lunch, cream tea and a live band playing which my children enjoyed. A surreal Saturday afternoon for me!
In the late afternoon, I decided to bake bread with the children. They love making bread and cakes and get such pleasure from seeing the results of their efforts. We measured out the ingredients together, made the dough and kneaded it by hand, but knowing that the children's patience is very short, I should have used the mixer. They loved rolling it into long thin shapes and twisting them. I gave them a bath while waiting for the dough to rise and after baking, they resembled breadsticks which they ate warm with hummous and olives for their dinner.
I can already feel the difference it has been making and I want to keep my motivation level high enough right through to the end of the summer (although it has been rather more like Autumn lately)
I much prefer swimming to gym because it works out the body all over and there is no sweat!
I can't wait till I see the results I want!
I had heard about a Toddler World activity at a leisure centre so I took K to check it out. The facility was huge and there was an endless amount of fun things to do. There was a bouncy castle, ride on trikes, hoops, basketball and soft play. It was the best way to spend a rainy morning.
Today, I took the children to my old school reunion. I got the invitation many weeks ago and had forgotten all about it until I was going through some paperwork and it reappeared. I have been looking forward to this, although my sister and my friends from school were not around to go with me. I live only two streets away from the school but I haven't entered the grounds since I left in 1997. I was at Northwood College from 1987-90 and then again for 6th form in 1995-97. In between, I went to secondary school in Abu Dhabi where we lived for 5 years from 1990-95.It felt very evocative to be back there. It was also strange giving my daughter and son a tour of the school, showing them my old class rooms, library, playground, assembly hall, dining room and sports fields. There were displays of photographs, yearbooks and uniforms. There was a lovely BBQ lunch, cream tea and a live band playing which my children enjoyed. A surreal Saturday afternoon for me!
In the late afternoon, I decided to bake bread with the children. They love making bread and cakes and get such pleasure from seeing the results of their efforts. We measured out the ingredients together, made the dough and kneaded it by hand, but knowing that the children's patience is very short, I should have used the mixer. They loved rolling it into long thin shapes and twisting them. I gave them a bath while waiting for the dough to rise and after baking, they resembled breadsticks which they ate warm with hummous and olives for their dinner.Sunday, 17 June 2012
Den building day
This weekend I have the children all to myself, and it has started becoming quite unusual for this to happen because there are always friends to see, birthday parties and playdates to go to and so on. So when a friend of mine had to change her plans, it felt quite nice that it was going to me just me and my children.
We had a plan arranged for the morning, to go to an Outdoor Explorers session, organised by the local children's centre and today's activity was den building. Although it was very, very windy, the organisers took us into a well sheltered spot in the woods and the group got started. I have to say it was so much fun! The children were so excited about the whole thing, and I must admit I really enjoyed it too! All the materials were provided such as tarpaulin, camouflage nets, blankets, fabrics, pegs, string, cable ties, torches, and of course the branches from the wood itself.
Here's what our finished den looked like
We didn't want to take it apart and the children even wanted to sleep in it. We got home just before it started to rain and they were inspired to make a den at home and here it is
They spent hours hours playing and sitting in their den, reading books and playing ''house''. I took them a 'picnic' lunch and snacks to eat in it. They loved this so much that they even asked if they could sleep in it at night, and seeing as it was bringing them so much joy, I let them!
While they spent the afternoon in the den, I had time to myself to read magazines, drink tea, paint my nails and eat from the first delivery of my new Graze box!!
We had a plan arranged for the morning, to go to an Outdoor Explorers session, organised by the local children's centre and today's activity was den building. Although it was very, very windy, the organisers took us into a well sheltered spot in the woods and the group got started. I have to say it was so much fun! The children were so excited about the whole thing, and I must admit I really enjoyed it too! All the materials were provided such as tarpaulin, camouflage nets, blankets, fabrics, pegs, string, cable ties, torches, and of course the branches from the wood itself.
Here's what our finished den looked like
We didn't want to take it apart and the children even wanted to sleep in it. We got home just before it started to rain and they were inspired to make a den at home and here it is
They spent hours hours playing and sitting in their den, reading books and playing ''house''. I took them a 'picnic' lunch and snacks to eat in it. They loved this so much that they even asked if they could sleep in it at night, and seeing as it was bringing them so much joy, I let them!
While they spent the afternoon in the den, I had time to myself to read magazines, drink tea, paint my nails and eat from the first delivery of my new Graze box!!
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Half term at Haven
I decided to take the family on our very first UK holiday. I knew the weather was going to be unpredictable, but I was not going to let that stop me. It's half term, it's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, we have our new car, so a bit of rain is not going to dampen my spirits!
Sandworld
Portland Bill
Weymouth Beach and Harbour
www.lulworth.com
It was the right time to start, with the children being almost 5 and 3, it is our first road trip, our first holiday with no with no buggy, with both children being toilet trained, sleep trained and with any luck, R will have some memories of it.
To make R's wish come true, I booked a caravan holiday on the South West Coast of England, in Weymouth, Dorset.
There is so much to see and do in Dorset that the 4 nights were simply not enough.
Despite the weather being cold, wet and windy we managed to fit in a whole load of activities including swimming, kite flying, mini golf, biking, sand building, arcades, beach exploring, seaside attractions, arts and crafts, live music, singing and dancing.
There were so many local attractions to visit and so many historical sights to see including the Jurassic coast, 1000 year old castles and stately homes.
We spent our nights in our caravan, played lots of family board games and making good conversation.
The only television we watched was the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
The only thing we missed was being able to eat fresh fruits and vegetables because it just wasn’t on offer at the places we went to eat. By the end of the 4th day, R was actually craving it, asking for peas, peas and more peas.
www.lulworth.com
Rambling in the Rain
While I was looking through iTunes for running tracks, I came across albums that have been compiled specifically for running or workout purposes! I love the idea of this because I was just about to compile my own album to run to.
For once, the weather was warm and sunny and so after school I took the children to Ruilsip Lido with a bag of stale bread to feed the ducks. The children love doing this only today there were far more swans and geese than there were ducks. The swans started running towards us as soon as they saw me rustling a plastic carrier bag and the size of some of these swans dwarfed poor little K who was terrified. R found the whole greedy swan thing quite funny and was determined to stay until she had finished feeding the swans all the bread.
It really is annoying just how much the weather affects my mood. I do wish that it didn't make any difference to me, just like the children, but it really does make me feel down when it's miserable out there. I think I should do something about this because I don't want to pass on my mood and moaning to my children! We had an amusing conversation about the rain the other day. R asked me who make it rain and why. I gave her the answer that all life needs water to live and grow, such as trees, plants, animals and people. She thought about this for a moment and then said, ''But mummy, we get water from the tap, we don't need rain. So why does it have to rain?' I then gave her the explanation of how the water from our taps gets there. And more questions followed. They went on and on and on. I really enjoyed being asked these kinds of questions as they reveal quite a lot about her thought processes. I love answering them too and seeing the look on her face as she takes on board the information I give her. One of her questions was "What if it rains so much that the rivers flood and the people and houses and trees sink?" I had to think about that one, the challenge is that the answer I give needs to be age appropriate, easy for her to understand and the foundation upon which she will build on.
This conversation reminded me of the incredible amount of power we have over our children, in that we can make them believe anything we want, and it also made me feel sad that there are many parents who exploit and abuse this power for financial gain. This is the case in many third world countries (child labour), but even in the world's most developed countries beauty pageant competitions exist for under 5's. If you haven't seen Toddlers and Tiaras, don't watch it unless you want to witness an ethically and morally wrong activity. I would even challenge the fact that it is a competition.
The capacity and potential to learn that children have is astounding. Each and every day, there is something new that my children say or do that makes me swell with joy. Even more astounding is the capacity of my love for them, it just keeps expanding and growing, and in the words of one of their favourite characters, to infinity and beyond!
For once, the weather was warm and sunny and so after school I took the children to Ruilsip Lido with a bag of stale bread to feed the ducks. The children love doing this only today there were far more swans and geese than there were ducks. The swans started running towards us as soon as they saw me rustling a plastic carrier bag and the size of some of these swans dwarfed poor little K who was terrified. R found the whole greedy swan thing quite funny and was determined to stay until she had finished feeding the swans all the bread.
It really is annoying just how much the weather affects my mood. I do wish that it didn't make any difference to me, just like the children, but it really does make me feel down when it's miserable out there. I think I should do something about this because I don't want to pass on my mood and moaning to my children! We had an amusing conversation about the rain the other day. R asked me who make it rain and why. I gave her the answer that all life needs water to live and grow, such as trees, plants, animals and people. She thought about this for a moment and then said, ''But mummy, we get water from the tap, we don't need rain. So why does it have to rain?' I then gave her the explanation of how the water from our taps gets there. And more questions followed. They went on and on and on. I really enjoyed being asked these kinds of questions as they reveal quite a lot about her thought processes. I love answering them too and seeing the look on her face as she takes on board the information I give her. One of her questions was "What if it rains so much that the rivers flood and the people and houses and trees sink?" I had to think about that one, the challenge is that the answer I give needs to be age appropriate, easy for her to understand and the foundation upon which she will build on.
This conversation reminded me of the incredible amount of power we have over our children, in that we can make them believe anything we want, and it also made me feel sad that there are many parents who exploit and abuse this power for financial gain. This is the case in many third world countries (child labour), but even in the world's most developed countries beauty pageant competitions exist for under 5's. If you haven't seen Toddlers and Tiaras, don't watch it unless you want to witness an ethically and morally wrong activity. I would even challenge the fact that it is a competition.
The capacity and potential to learn that children have is astounding. Each and every day, there is something new that my children say or do that makes me swell with joy. Even more astounding is the capacity of my love for them, it just keeps expanding and growing, and in the words of one of their favourite characters, to infinity and beyond!
Monday, 28 May 2012
Sunny Days
What a difference the sun makes! This week we have had the hottest day of the year so far at 28 degrees. We've been up to so much now that the weather has opened up so many activities to us. I've had a list in my head of the things I want to do in the summer so at the first hint of a warm week I put my plans into action. Who knows how long it will last so I am going to do as much as I can in as little time as possible to make the most of it.
I started by mowing the lawn, which I have not done since I was a child! I used to cut the grass in my parent's back garden during secondary school. The grass in my garden was almost up to my knees. I had a gardener, but he hasn't been turning up and I have lost his number so I thought why wait for him when I can do this myself! So I had to go through a lot of junk in my shed to find the lawnmower right at the back in the remotest, hardest to reach corner. Off I went about mowing and found myself really enjoying it! I have lost the skill of mowing in straight lines as I seemed to be manoeuvering it like a vacuum cleaner and ended up with a patch in the middle of the garden looking much like a crop triangle! I had stop in the middle of mowing to give K his lunch as he had just woken from his nap and then rush off to school to pick up R and rush her and her 2 friends to their swimming lesson. Rush over, I completed my mowing and felt quite satisfied at making my gardener redundant.
A lot of garden toys and games were next to come out of the shed after a winter hibernation.
Next, I looked for all my gardening tools. Shovels, spades, fork, gloves, plants pots and watering cans.
I have always wanted to grow my own vegetables and this is the time to do it. I went to buy compost and some seeds to plant. R's choice was beans and sunflowers. So we started with these and planted them first. We also have some window pots growing parsley and cress. The next thing to do is set up a raised bed and plant some root veg and herbs. I couldn't go to the Chelsea Flower show this year, and I would have really loved to go as the weather is perfect for it, so I will have to wait till next year.
At least I can admire my own garden....here it is
Another thing I love doing which really makes me sound like a 50's housewife is hang the washing to dry outside. I love drying the laundry outside, and when I don't have laundry to wash, I will go and find something to wash! As it happens, I do have a lot of washing at the moment, including bedsheets and linen so I ended up hanging so much washing out that by the time I had finished putting them on, some were already dry, that's how warn it is! I also swept the driveway as it was looking very untidy.
R and K decided to play camping in a sleeping bag. The pair of them wanted to be zipped up into a thick, heavily insulated and hooded sleeping bag in the middle of the garden! Then they wanted to bring pillows and blankets too in the middle of the afternoon sun and they looked like they were supposed to be in Iceland. After this game, they played a teddy bear picnic game which is one of their favourite games...using a sledge! I gave the children their dinner outside as well. They played with their ride on toys, the slide, trampoline and bubble blowing. They watered the plants and dug pebbles up with their spades.
I got the fan out as well and then decided to move my dining table around to make it easier to come in and out from the house to the garden.
The next job was to clean the barbeque so we can use it again. Found the charcoal and tongs. Now I need food to grill so a trip to the butcher is required.
Finally, I found a very old plant pot which looked very ugly. I decided to transform it by painting it and voila, it looks amazing now. I want to do more of this!
I started by mowing the lawn, which I have not done since I was a child! I used to cut the grass in my parent's back garden during secondary school. The grass in my garden was almost up to my knees. I had a gardener, but he hasn't been turning up and I have lost his number so I thought why wait for him when I can do this myself! So I had to go through a lot of junk in my shed to find the lawnmower right at the back in the remotest, hardest to reach corner. Off I went about mowing and found myself really enjoying it! I have lost the skill of mowing in straight lines as I seemed to be manoeuvering it like a vacuum cleaner and ended up with a patch in the middle of the garden looking much like a crop triangle! I had stop in the middle of mowing to give K his lunch as he had just woken from his nap and then rush off to school to pick up R and rush her and her 2 friends to their swimming lesson. Rush over, I completed my mowing and felt quite satisfied at making my gardener redundant.
A lot of garden toys and games were next to come out of the shed after a winter hibernation.
Next, I looked for all my gardening tools. Shovels, spades, fork, gloves, plants pots and watering cans.
I have always wanted to grow my own vegetables and this is the time to do it. I went to buy compost and some seeds to plant. R's choice was beans and sunflowers. So we started with these and planted them first. We also have some window pots growing parsley and cress. The next thing to do is set up a raised bed and plant some root veg and herbs. I couldn't go to the Chelsea Flower show this year, and I would have really loved to go as the weather is perfect for it, so I will have to wait till next year.
At least I can admire my own garden....here it is
Another thing I love doing which really makes me sound like a 50's housewife is hang the washing to dry outside. I love drying the laundry outside, and when I don't have laundry to wash, I will go and find something to wash! As it happens, I do have a lot of washing at the moment, including bedsheets and linen so I ended up hanging so much washing out that by the time I had finished putting them on, some were already dry, that's how warn it is! I also swept the driveway as it was looking very untidy.R and K decided to play camping in a sleeping bag. The pair of them wanted to be zipped up into a thick, heavily insulated and hooded sleeping bag in the middle of the garden! Then they wanted to bring pillows and blankets too in the middle of the afternoon sun and they looked like they were supposed to be in Iceland. After this game, they played a teddy bear picnic game which is one of their favourite games...using a sledge! I gave the children their dinner outside as well. They played with their ride on toys, the slide, trampoline and bubble blowing. They watered the plants and dug pebbles up with their spades.
I got the fan out as well and then decided to move my dining table around to make it easier to come in and out from the house to the garden.
The next job was to clean the barbeque so we can use it again. Found the charcoal and tongs. Now I need food to grill so a trip to the butcher is required.
Finally, I found a very old plant pot which looked very ugly. I decided to transform it by painting it and voila, it looks amazing now. I want to do more of this!
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Furniture painting
I went on a furniture painting workshop with a friend of mine and it was to find out what I could do with some of my old furniture that is too good to get rid of but old and worn enough to hide away.
I was thrilled to learn that the type of paint being demonstrated is known as 'girl's paint' meaning that the furniture to be painted requires no preparation, no priming and no stripping! All you do is open the can of paint, dip in your brush and start painting! The paint is thick and quick drying and you can paint anything with it, wooden furniture, plastic, metal, walls, floors, even the outside of your house!
The next stage is waxing, then sanding to create a distressed look. At the workshop we painted, sanded and distressed a small 3-legged stool to bring home.
I could not wait to get started on my own furniture and took home a pot of paint and a pot of wax. I have a nest of three side tables and started on the smaller two the next day. In my excitement to get started I forgot to take a picture of the 'before' but here is the 'after'. This colour is called French Linen.
To give you an idea, this is the colour it was before....
I've started to look at furniture differently, and think about painting everything in my sight! This is a great thing because before I would have found something to be redundant because it no longer looks good or doesn't match other things, but now I can change how something looks by painting it in the colour I want.
I've painted a small bedside cabinet with two drawers which was falling apart and I was considering throwing away until I restored it and transformed it.
Before....
And here's a plant pot
Before.....
And after....
Now I want to get some other colours to try!
Here's the link
http://www.anniesloan.com/acatalog/copy_of_How_to_use_the_paint.html
I was thrilled to learn that the type of paint being demonstrated is known as 'girl's paint' meaning that the furniture to be painted requires no preparation, no priming and no stripping! All you do is open the can of paint, dip in your brush and start painting! The paint is thick and quick drying and you can paint anything with it, wooden furniture, plastic, metal, walls, floors, even the outside of your house!
The next stage is waxing, then sanding to create a distressed look. At the workshop we painted, sanded and distressed a small 3-legged stool to bring home.
I could not wait to get started on my own furniture and took home a pot of paint and a pot of wax. I have a nest of three side tables and started on the smaller two the next day. In my excitement to get started I forgot to take a picture of the 'before' but here is the 'after'. This colour is called French Linen.
To give you an idea, this is the colour it was before....
I've started to look at furniture differently, and think about painting everything in my sight! This is a great thing because before I would have found something to be redundant because it no longer looks good or doesn't match other things, but now I can change how something looks by painting it in the colour I want.
I've painted a small bedside cabinet with two drawers which was falling apart and I was considering throwing away until I restored it and transformed it.
Before....
And here's a plant pot
Before.....
And after....
Now I want to get some other colours to try!
Here's the link
http://www.anniesloan.com/acatalog/copy_of_How_to_use_the_paint.html
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