I love you anyway

She wakes me up at 6am on the weekend and robs me of a lie in, while on school days no amount of noise or light wakes her up before 7.30am

He insists on putting his own clothes on, and manages to get both his legs in one of the legs of a pair of trousers each and every time.

Her latest word for everything is 'boring'. Reading is boring, eating breakfast is boring, writing is boring, sleeping is boring.

He is obsessed with cheerios, chocolate and copying his big sister. And not any chocolate bar, it has to be the luxury, expensive chocolate like Lindt.

They both need to go to the toilet, usually for a no.2 right in the middle of having their dinner, or as soon as I start mine.

These are the things that drive me round the bend, but they are also the things that make each of them so unique and special, I can't help it but I love you anyway.

Memories of the un-Autumn half term

It was my birthday Tuesday 11th and to me, my birthday is insignificant. I no longer consider it an occasion to celebrate with parties, cakes and presents although I wouldn't be partial to a fancy, intimate dinner at a Michelin starred restaurant! The day passed as normally as any other day except for the constant pings on my iPhone throughout the day notifying me that a new message had been posted on my Facebook wall. That was the most eventful day on my Facebook wall and those pings were the most eventful occurance of my birthday that's how it should be. It's my childrens' birthdays that are important milestones to me now, not mine! In any case, I received a perfume from my mum (the new Carolina Herrera), a ceramic and wooden Afghan hand crafted trinket box from my brother, two lovely Phase Eight blouses from my sister, and a delivery of a bouquet of flowers and HOB hair salon treatments from my husband. He also brought home a Peppa Pig cake and birthday cards from the children.

Saturday was the first day of R's first half term and she was very certain about what she wanted to do in  her 9 days off. In the morning she made herself a plan to go to Parent's Paradise, a huge soft play centre with vast climbing frames and slides. We spent a good three hours there. Tomorrow she wants to go swimming.

On Sunday, we decided to make a trip into Central London and spend the day there, and seeing as the weather was superb, we took a London bus tour. This included a Thames boat cruise and we made a round trip totalling almost 6 hours. What I love about these touristy excursions are the Cockney Londoners who earn their living as commentators on the buses and boats, and I ended up learning a vast amount of totally useless trivial facts about London and its landmarks and history.

Monday was such a lovely day. A had a day off work and for once we didn't have errands to run or somewhere to go or a list of things to get through. It was actually such a good feeling to have no plans and no agenda or timetable to run to. We spent the morning lazily pottering around at home and A made us a lovely breakfast of eggs and fava beans in the Arabic way. We went for a walk up to the high street for some groceries. Then we took a drive to the best playground in the area, where we spent a couple of hours on all the playground games. The weather was unbelievably warm for the season, this late October weather is more like early May, and we were taking off layer after layer of warm clothes to enjoy the warmth of the sun. We then spent some time climbing a lovely oak tree with low branches making it easy for the children. We lay on the grass, played rough and tumble, had a snack and searched for acorns.
We had lunch at the local shopping mall and I finally got to buy the potato ricer and professional pepper  mill I've wanted for ages! Isn't it silly how the most mundane things get me excited! Another thing that made my day was our stop for lunch. In the display of the food counter was an amazing Polenta and Orange cake and I just had to have it. I ordered it immediately and my generous wedge of a slice arrived dusted with icing sugar and garnished with a fresh mint and an orange sliver. It was perfect and I have to learn how to make it.

Tuesday was another amazing day for weather. We went to the local playground, again without coats, and this time R and K spent a grand total of 5 minutes in the actual playground and then decided to take a hike through the fields and through the woods. We spent a good 45 minutes strolling along with R as the leader, guiding the way for K and I with a long thin fallen branch of a tree. We stopped to investigate their ''discoveries'' such as a plastic bottle, a plastic lid, some footprints, dog poo, fallen leaves, conkers, a log, acorns, a cricket ball and so on. We covered a long distance, and as we were walking further and further on, I kept reminding R that we would also have to walk back to the car. I was worried about K getting tired as I didn't have the buggy. When we got the the entrance of the wood, the ground got muddy and wet, and the flat field became a hill. This is where R started whispering and tiptoeing saying ''sshh we're going to find the Gruffalo'' This made K get frightened and from this point he would only walk if I held his hand. We decided to turn back and head to the car as a dark cloud was starting to make its way towards us. I wonder how long R would have carried on for if I hadn't made the decision at that point. The two park outings totally convince me that the best things in life are free. The fresh air, the colours of the grass and autumn leaves, the imagination of the children in full gear, and the memories made.

Wednesday was my dad's birthday and HE treated me and the children to lunch along with his next door neighbour of over 30 years! We went to my favourite local Italian restaurant and cafe, Fellini's. Here I ordered the lemon sole with saffon sauce and the children had their usual Margarita pizza with black olives and mushrooms. Dad ordered fried whitebait and R loved them, only she refused to eat the ''face'' and would decapitate the head off each one before eating the rest with the tartare dip. She followed her meal with vanilla and pistachio Italian ice cream.

My Parting Gift

This poem was written to me by one of my colleagues Ken, who is wonderful with words and write poems regularly to express his views on work matters. It's a great way of getting his points across in a pleasant way and whenever someone is leaving the team he write them an ode. It meant a great deal  to me when it was given to me on my last day of work back in June along with a bouquet of flowers, shopping vouchers and was taken out for lunch and dinner by my team. Oh man, I really miss work!

DH Pineapple Upsidedown Cake

I was inspired to make this cake after it featured in an episode of Desperate Housewives.

It turned out perfectly and tasted divine! So seventies!!

Here is the recipe

Ingredients for the topping:

50g softened butter
50g light soft brown sugar
7 pineapple rings in syrup, drained and reserve the syrup
Glace cherries (optional, I don't like these so I left them out, they are only for aesthetic presentation purposes)

Ingredients for the cake:

100g softened butter
100g golden caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
For the topping, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy
Spread over the base and a quarter of the way up of a 20cm round cake tin.
Arrange the pineapple rings on top, then place the glace cherries in the centres of the rings

For the cake, place the cake ingredients in a bowl along with 2 tablespoons of the pineapple syrup and using an electric whisk, beat to a soft consistency. Spoon into the tin on top of the pineapple and smooth it out so it is level. Bake for 35 minutes and remove from the over and leave it to stand for 5 minutes in its tin. Finally, turn it out onto the serving plate.

Things about my children that make my heart melt

There are few things in life that give me as much pleasure as my childrens' quirky mannerisms and rituals. They are little bahaviours that would not be significant to anyone else but me, it can be something they do, or try to do, something they say and they make me feel so honoured to be their parent and these moments are so special to witness.
I want to capture as many of these moments that make me smile to myself before I forget them forever.

Here are some that I remember from the past week, but there are so many of these precious moments taking place everyday, it would take hours to mention them all. Besides, some are just much harder to put into words.

K trying to say a new word or sentence and sounding like a passionate Italian!
For example when he wants a yoghurt or piece of cheese from the fridge that he can't reach he screams:
''mammyyyyy! me! deeeesssa wann!'' (meaning: mummy I want this one)

R trying to impress me by showing me how she can get dressed all by herself and putting on EVERYTHING back to front and I don't have the heart to tell her because I don't want to disappoint her.

My little babies when they have fallen asleep on a long car journey, they look absolutely angelic.

K trying to put his own nappy on. It sounds like nothing but so adorable to witness

When K enters the house, he sits himself down on the bottom step, take of his shoes and socks, and places each sock neatly inside a shoe and places them in his shoe cubby.
When R enters the house, she takes of her shoes and socks without using her hands and leaves them all over the hallway.

R singing in the shower. She has given up taking baths and loves to stand under the shower, singing loudly

R copying what I do to her when disciplining her and applying the discipline to K. If he has done something she disapproves of she takes him by the hand and scolds him while taking him to a corner of the room and instructs him to sit for 2 minutes of thinking time. K will remorsefully oblige. After the 2 minutes are over she will allow him to come out of the thinking corner.

Breakfast, UFO and Laksa

During Ramadan, my family and I went to some buffets for Iftar and for Eid we went to more buffets.
The food on offer was a feast to say the least and it was impossible to resist the temptation to try everything in sight, even if only one mouthful of everything. I am talking about 20-30 starters and 10 main courses. Of course, this included dessert, and with the sweet tooth that I have, I was more than happy to reduce the main course to a mere morsel in order to be able to eat more desserts.
The buffets we went to included the Emirates Palace, the Shuja Yacht, the Park Rotana, Fanar at the Royal Meridien, the Hilton AD, Intercontinental Festival City and the Grand Millennium Dubai. It was way too difficult to hold back from the amazing food and desserts so I just didn't.
So now I have to face the consequences of the excesses. I decided to start a new eating plan and I've even given it a name; the UFO plan. Use Fresh Organic produce only. This means no more ready meals and no processed food. I am going to use only fresh fruits and vegetables to prepare food from scratch. While I'm at it, I'm going to use organic produce whenever possible.
My husband decided that he wanted to join in this and I am thrilled to have a food partner who's going to eat the same as me so I have to prepare only 2 meals instead of 3. One meal for the children and another for us two. He got really into the healthy eating and has been displaying some bizarre behaviour. He decided to switch from sugar to sweetener. He decided to start eating breakfast! This is a big deal because I have been trying to convince him that breakfast is the most important meal of the day for a decade. For him, breakfast is a cup of coffee with three sugars and a cigarette. He downloaded an app on his iPhone that gives healthy eating tips and since reading that breakfast is important he has been asking for a boiled egg, wholemeal bread and no butter. It's like a different person but I like! I am holding my tongue back from saying ''I told you so!'' but it's all good.
I've been back almost a week and I've finally got everything in order. All 6 suitcases have finally been unpacked and everything put away in its place. The fridge is full of colourful fruit and vegetables and R's uniform has been tried on and name labelled ready for her first day. I love pottering around the house and rearranging things to make it work better. The day before yesterday, I had a toy clear out to get rid of the toys R and K have outgrown and to make room for all the new toys that they got for their birthdays. Yesterday, I rearranged the contents of all 5 of my kitchen cupboards and pantry to dispose of expired food and to make prime space for my new Moulinex 3 in 1 food mixer, juicer and spice grinder.
I have a notebook that I use to jot down recipes that I see on television. I much prefer TV cooks to chefs because cooks make relatively simple things that can be replicated at home whilst chefs tend to be very extravagant with their methods, employ the most sophisticated applicances and use a vast number of pots, pans, cooking hobs and ovens. They are still fantastic to watch though. My favourite TV cooks are Rachel Allen, Nigel Slater, Delia Smith, Simon Hopkinson, Nigella Lawson, Lorraine Pascal, Rick Stein and Keith Floyd.
Yesterday, I jotted down a recipe for Thai Laksa and I couldn't wait to try it because it would involve me using my new kitchen gadget. I dashed to the supermarket at the earliest opportunity to buy the special ingredients it needs; nam pla, rice noodles, bean sprouts, limes and one of my favourite ingredients, coconut. In Abu Dhabi, I saw so many different forms of coconut as an ingredient such as coconut paste, coconut oil, grated coconut, coconut water and so on. This recipe uses coconut milk and I was excited to find tins of half fat coconut milk which I had never seen before. According to my new appliance instruction manual, the spice grinder is to be used for grinding and blending spices, and it can also be used as a coffee grinder. However, I have decided to use it as a chopper. I've used it for onions, garlic and even for chopping herbs and it's fantastic. With onions, they become pureed which is perfect because R hates onions and if she sees one sliver of onion in her plate, she will reject the whole dish and refuse to eat. With pureed onions she cannot detect it.

The ingredients for the Laksa are:

Fresh Ginger, about a handful when chopped
Garlic, about 6 cloves
Coriander, handful
Chilli (either paste or fresh deseeded red chilli)
Juice of 1 lime
Nam pla (aka Thai fish sauce)
500ml Vegetable or light chicken stock
500ml Coconut milk
Bean sprouts
Sugar snap peas (aka snowpeas)
Rice noodles

Method:

Chop the ginger, garlic, corainder, chilli and put into a food processor. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime and add a tablespoon of the fish sauce. Blend in the processor until it becomes a smooth mixture.

Heat a wok or saucepan and add a little sesame oil. Cook the mixture for a couple of minutes. Add the vegetable stock and the coconut milk. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to a low simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add the sugar snap peas and the beansprouts and simmer for a further 10 minutes until they are cooked but still have the crunch.

Soak the rice noodles in boiling water according to packet instructions, drain and rinse in cold water.

Ladle the soup over the noodles and garnish with fresh corainder. HEAVEN-LY!!!

Parental Guidance

The responsibility of being a parent is so huge it's indescribable. I am completely responsible for the lives of my two children. Their health, their physical and emotional well-being, their safety, their education, their attitude, their perception of themselves, their perception of the world....it goes on and it goes on for their whole lives.

The top 5 things I have learnt so far in my role as a mother:

1. Everything your children say and do is a reflection of you
This has made me want to be a better person. Sometimes I stop and ask myself, exactly who is raising who? My children have made me stop swearing, because I don't want them to repeat it. They made me eat my meals at the table instead of on the sofa in front of the TV. They have made me want to eat healthily so I can set a good example. They have made me want to pray so they can learn about their religion, background and language.

2. Kids will be kids
They will NOT always do what you want them to do and so you should not expect them to.
In a nutshell: You can take a horse to water......you know the rest.

3. They have given me a new sense of wonder at the world
The way the clouds move, an ant on the ground, the shells or pebbles on the beach are subjects of intense fascination. Their attention to detail is amazing. The shape, colour and texture of the moon is discussed at length on a regular basis.

4. Parenting is lifelong learning on the job
As soon as you think you've tackled a problem you've been trying to solve, they've moved on from it and have gone into another phase, giving you another issue to deal with and another problem to solve. Babies cry, then sit then crawl, then walk, then talk, then run, become toddlers, become influenced by their peers, become tweenies, then teenagers, each phase with its own plethora of challenges. Seeing as it takes 18 years to become an adult, this is one long learning curve.

5. Always remember why you had them
The answer is invariably to enjoy them...so do that and don't sweat the small stuff. If you are getting stressed about something your child is doing (or not doing), ask yourself if your behaviour tells your child that you love them. If not, then change it. Treat your child with respect. Ignore the unwanted behaviour, praise the good.

I'm still learning.......