As I'm now into "due date territory" this week's menu planning revolved around things that were pretty easy to make, specifically so that they could be done either whilst heavily pregnant or with a newborn in the house. I picked up my copy of Nigel Slater's Real Cooking to look up a particular pasta recipe that we've done a few times now and whilst I had it out I managed to find a few others that looked simple enough - one being baked couscous with chicken and spices. What appealed about this recipe is that while there is a little bit of preparation ... read more
The Imperfectionists – Tom Rachman
One guilty pleasure that I had in my days before children was wandering into a bookshop, browsing the tables of new releases that they all have just inside the door and then coming home with a selection of books that I didn't need, but that had inspired me to read them based purely on the back covers and any review comments that the bookshop themselves had displayed. With a toddler in tow that just doesn't happen any more - picking up what you need in a supermarket is hard enough, let alone being able to browse and daydream about the stories and characters that these books may ... read more
Jack’s Mega Machines: The Rocket Racing Car – Alison Ritchie & Mike Byrne
We love books in this household, absolutely adore them, and our bookcases are heaving as a result. As good as they all are they therefore have to be pretty special to stand out from all the rest around them especially when you're reading them through for the first time. That's where Jack's Mega Machines: The Rocket Racing Car has a fantastic unique selling point that instantly makes it stand out from all the other books on Little Miss C's bookcase - inside the back cover is this cardboard vehicle - exactly the same as the racing car in the story. When we put this together for LMC ... read more
Knitted gifts for the new baby
I've written before about the talent and generosity of the knitting group that I go to every week, but even the excited looks they exchanged when I told them I was pregnant didn't prepare me for the knitted baby shower that they threw for me at our meeting last week. My photos aren't exactly amazing, but I'm still lacking a model to wear most of the items I've been given - one thing's for sure, I'm going to have a very well dressed baby who is going to be kept lovely and warm! Mary has made this lovely ball for Baby C to play with - complete with ... read more
Dear Zoo – 30th Anniversary
If you read any parenting blogs, or follow any bloggers on twitter, then you can't have missed all the recent celebrations for the 30th anniversary of Rod Campbell's excellent book Dear Zoo. Publishers Macmillan have hosted tea parties with author Rod Campbell, complete with interactive storytelling sessions and I was pretty gutted not to be able to attend - I figured that a trip into London when only two weeks off giving birth, and with a toddler in tow, might not be sensible! Dear Zoo is a fantastic book for sharing with a young child and the simple storyline behind it means that it really ... read more
Child poverty here in the UK?
I struggle a bit to put my finger on quite why, but since I became a parent I've realised just how fortunate my daughter is. I've spent many sleepless nights worrying about children here in the UK that don't have three meals a day, who don't have a safe warm house to live in and toys to play with. I want to provide my daughter with everything she wants and needs - that's a mother's instinct - and I know that the few times I can't give her something (admittedly normally something trivial) it does break my heart. I was fascinated and pleased therefore (if pleased is the right word to use here) ... read more
A nature butterfly
On Sunday afternoon we headed down to the annual family day at our local nature reserve here in St Albans. Mr C and I have been involved there for years helping to run things, but it's only now that Little Miss C is getting a bit older that we are getting involved more as members than volunteers. Whilst the bug hunt and pond dipping were of interest to her today, but she's not yet ready to properly try her hand at either. We also unfortunately missed the start of the storytelling session which was much more for her age range, but we were in time for the craft ... read more
Visiting the animals
I'm always on the look out for new places to take Little Miss C - especially ones that don't cost much. I worry that there's a lot of pressure on parents to pay to take their children to loads of expensive attractions but that need not be the case. On Friday morning we went along to one of our favourite free attractions - the local garden centre's pet department! We're lucky enough to have a short drive away a garden centre that sells chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, budgies and reptiles, as well as a selection of fish. It obviously costs nothing to visit the ... read more
Review: Canvas Print from photo-canvas.com
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only parent who takes heaps and heaps of photographs of my daughter, but then manages to do nothing with them other than post a few on Facebook and leave the rest sitting on my hard drive. I have romantic visions of going through all my photographs during the long winter evenings, printing selected ones out and creating some beautiful albums with them, but then I never quite manage to find the time to do so. Original picture taken in Norfolk - un-cropped Back when Little Miss C was only nine months old we ventured to Norfolk with her and she had her first real ... read more
Leftovers Lunch
In my eyes a good experimental recipe is one that gets eaten so quickly that you don't have chance to photograph it for a blog post first. That's exactly what happened to the lovely lunch that Mr C made us all earlier today. One thing that I am awful at is keeping food leftovers and then doing nothing at all with them. There is far too much food waste in this house and if I'm honest I'm to blame for most of it. There are some dinners (mainly pasta dishes) where I plan carefully and ensure that we have enough left over for LMC and I to have it for lunch the next day too. Where ... read more