We're off on another Home Exchange for half-term: the first of several that will make up our major holidays this year. This time, we're driving across the Kingdom of Great Britain to get to Ireland. It's a long way to go for weather than, in all likelihood, will be wetter than it is here. But there is so much to see, and experience, that we are all looking forward to it. Home Exchanges are becoming our way of life, and whilst I adore going to … [Read more...]
{Review} Four Season’s Canary Wharf
We got to spend the night at the Four Season's Canary Wharf, in conjunction with Luxury and Little Ones, a site which- to quote one David Cameron- does exactly what it says on the tin: it offers you a selection of incredibly luxurious hotels which genuinely cater for families. I don't mean that they can dig out a high-chair if you really need one, I mean that they go out of their way to make sure that you little ones have the greatest stay of … [Read more...]
{Weekend food} Bacon Breakfast Cups
My father told me that his first experience of actually cooking- growing up in the textile industry in the North of England- was when he helped his father cook a family breakfast on Sunday mornings. My Gran did all the cooking six days a week so Grandad liked to treat her to a big breakfast on his day off. Just learning to cook eggs and bacon gave my father a love of cooking that has stayed with him all his life. I'm fairly sure that one of … [Read more...]
What my children have been saying
********** "Oh Dad, you just don't get it, do you?" LBG, with patronising tone, to her father. ********** Dimples, on watching carrots cooking: "What's it going to be?" "Carrots, darling." "Oh. Not chocolate?" ********** "Oh no, not the cooked pears. I'm not available to enjoy them." LBG ********** At bedtime: "Mamma, I'm really not sure I shall be able to eat breakfast in the morning. My tummy isn't feeling well." LBG ********** … [Read more...]
How to make Baklava
I found myself in the kitchen recently- despite my New Year's determination to bake a little less- because I have a Greek Friend. I'm sure I'm not unique in having a Greek Friend. There's no doubt that, if I checked, I will find I have more than one. But I am having the Greek Friend over for coffee next week, along with other parents, and I wanted to make Baklava for her. Baklava is something I grew up with: a delicious morsel of sweet … [Read more...]
20 great Valentine’s Card ideas and {how to} print Valentine’s cards with styrofoam
After the success of our Christmas card printing, LBG suggested that we used the same technique to make Valentine's Cards. She will draw a heart on pretty much anything, so this is a great outlet for her talents. One of my greatest triumphs as a parent has been to teach her how to draw hearts. In the first weeks of term she came home in deep despair because her friends could draw hearts and she couldn't. So we took some time to look at how the … [Read more...]
Viakal-a-fragilisticexpealidocious
When someone offers to clean your bathroom, you never turn them down. Thus it was that three lovely ladies turned up one cold morning just before term ended and got to work, providing me with tea, biscuits and a pair of sunglasses. I needed the sunglasses. Viakal does such an exceptional job of getting rid of the London limescale that our taps were gleaming, our sinks sparkling and even the sun came out to really make the bathroom glow like a … [Read more...]
