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Win: a three month wine subscription from Le Petit Ballon

Gillian — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 22:01:41 +0000

If the idea of having wine sent to you in the post each month sounds like a dream, you need to check out wine subscription service Le Petit Ballon. Subscription services seem to be having a moment, don’t they? Alex has a monthly beer subscription, and we’ve tried food delivery boxes like HelloFresh. The best ones offer convenience alongside the joy of discovering something new and different. Step in Le Petit Ballon, where each month you’re sent two specially selected bottles of wine, right to your doorstep. They arrive along with a newsletter and tasting notes which give you tips ranging from the type of meal to serve it with to the best temperature to serve it at (if, like me, you’re still not that much of an expert despite many years of happily trying, this is all useful stuff for pretending you are). There are two different type of Le Petit Ballon subscriptions – the Grape Expectations box, and then the Age of Raison selection, which are the more premium bottles. For our Le Petit Ballon review we were sent the Grape Expectation box which contained a South African red and a French Sauvignon Blanc (my fave!) both of which were brands I’d not tried before. Each of the wines is hand picked by Le Petit Ballon’s master sommelier, which means it’s a good way of trying new things if you tend to stick to your personal favourites or *ahem* whatever’s on offer at the supermarket. If you like the wine, you can also buy individual bottles from the website at a discounted price. The Grape Expectation box we sampled for our Le Petit Ballon review costs £24 a month, so around £12 a bottle, and while it’s more expensive than your average supermarket offer, it’s not as ridiculously expensive as some wine clubs are. You do pay delivery charges on top though (around £5 per box, which bumps the price up, it would be better if this was covered in the price). I really liked the idea though. Unlike my heady student days when we used to buy a bottle of generic £2.50 white or red wine (to drink *before* we even went out…) my wine consumption now is – mostly – about quality than quantity, and the idea of having a glass of something nice and an occasion wine that you can plan a meal around becomes more and more appealing. Following our Le Petit Ballon review, we’re giving away a three month subscription to Le Petit Ballon, comment below and let me know your favourite colour of wine: a Rafflecopter giveaway The winner will be picked from all valid entries received before the competition closing date of 11.59pm on Sunday 6th July. To enter you must be 18 or over and based in the UK. More on the La Petit Ballon website here. If you liked our Le Petit Ballon review, read more posts…things no-one ever tells you about being a grown-up and the five best London museums

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Colourful cashmere knits for those cold summer days

Gillian — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 04:00:46 +0000

Oh the joys of British Summer Time. Today is looking tentatively glorious, yesterday was miserable with a side helping of grey and the day before that it rained so hard at such an odd angle that our roof leaked. I’ve not yet seen the weather forecast for tomorrow but it’s probably going to snow, right? Having recently taken the big plunge into the unknown and put my black opaques firmly in the loft, I’m now into the scary realms of the summer wardrobe. Where the potential to be unexpectedly freezing is pretty high. So the idea of knitwear for the summer months was more than enough to warm up my usually cold self. Have you heard of Woolovers? It’s somewhere I was only vaguely aware of but contains a brilliant amount of knitted goodness and lots of cashmere (perfect for warmer months as it’s cool and warm). They challenged me to try out some knitwear for summer. Like most other people on the planet anything vaguely jumpery I wear in winter is always grey or black. So for summer? I went way outside my colourful comfort zone and picked a turquoise cashmere jumper and coral cardigan, two colours I would never normally wear (the bright coral especially would be a no-no in my ginger-haired book). As I wear a lot of midi skirts in summer I wanted something that would work well on top for when the clouds roll in. I really love this jumper – it’s super-soft and a perfect size (it’s a medium as I wanted to be oversized and it’s perfect). And the colour! And as a not-so-secret cardigan fan I thought it would, as always, be a useful summer staple to wear over everything from stripes to patterns (I kind of wish I’d sized down as it’s a small but slightly too baggy; extra small is available). I also went for the khaki linen skirt in the top pictures which is a perfect neutral foil if you want to wear a more colourful top. It’s brilliant because it has pockets, obviously, but I really like this as a cooler summer alternative to denim and I’ve worn it quite a few times already. Also, did I mention the pockets? As I said, it’s a site I wasn’t really familiar with, but I was really impressed with the wide variety of colourful and quality cashmere and knits – and like my skirt, there’s some hidden gems in there too. If you’re looking for colourful summer coverups and cheaper cashmere, take a look. Thanks to Woolovers for sending me the clothes in this post – you can find them here. Lots more colourful things over on my Instagram feed (do you follow me?) and all the signs you’re a mum in the summer

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A Mother’s Day flower masterclass with M&S

Gillian — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 04:55:31 +0000

I love flowers – who doesn’t?! – but I’m pretty clueless about them beyond sticking them in a vase and hoping for the best. I’m quietly envious of people who have magical floral ways and can do things to make them look fabulous. So I was intrigued to go along to an M&S Mother’s Day flower masterclass last week (especially as none other than M&S ambassador Joanna Lumley was going too). The masterclass was with Simon Richards, head flower expert at M&S (who gets to fly all over the world looking at flowers; what a job). We got to try our hand at arranging a couple of different bouquets, with help. Here’s some really simple tips on flower arranging from Simon’s class: Don’t just group them all together or stick them in a vase (As if I’d do that…*side eye*) Arrange them in a bunch one stem at a time, by placing the next stem on the first one at a slight angle and then twist the bunch round to place the next stem. Which creates a lovely organised effect Having three different variants of colour in a same-stem bouquet works well – we made bunches of tulips with white and two different pinks Don’t forget foliage! For our second bouquet – in the photo above – we used three different flowers and lots of greenery which mixes things up and adds interest Once you’ve made a bouquet, you can either tie them together with twine or loop the end of an elastic band up one stem and then wrapping it round the bunch a couple of times before then loop the other end up another stem to secure Spring flowers like tulips and daffodils don’t need a lot of water in the vase, just about an inch should be fine Like most other people, I have a lot of love for M&S – the food hall is my happy place and I could talk for hours on everything from the salt crystal butter to biscuits and all the different varieties of bread in between (and forget cold toast, Percy Pigs were my post-labour snack of choice). We spend a lot of time in the Bromley M&S store at the moment both girls are currently obsessed with ‘the piggy cafe’ and it’s good leverage if we need to go shopping. I didn’t know though that M&S has championed Fairtrade for over 12 years and sell over 130 fair trade products including tea, coffee, wine and amazing Fairtrade sea salted butterscotch chocolate. It also offers some Fairtrade bouquets and the majority of flowers it sells are home grown – M&S tulips are all grown in Lincolnshire (they expect to sell over 26 million British tulips this spring) and daffodils are grown by the sea in Cornwall (they are best-selling spring flower; M&S expect to sell over 100 million of them this year). And did you know Mother’s Day is the busiest time of the year for M&S florists? People spend 25% more on Mother’s Day than Valentine’s Day. M&S expect to sell over 13 million flowers and will work around the clock to meet demand. Flower facts; pink is the most popular colour Mother’s Day colour and the most popular stem is the pink rose. At the event, we also got to hang out with none other than Joanna Lumley, M&S Plan A ambassador and wealth of knowledge on flowers and Chelsea Flower show who is also incredible (#fangirl). I had friends and my mum texting me all night saying ‘what is she like?’ (Answer – lovely!) Don’t forget your mum on Mother’s Day (or your partner if you have small children! Hint hint). And don’t forget M&S if you want homegrown flowers and a beautiful choice of Fairtrade floral options. I am now filled with lots of knowledge to make my flowers look fab. And I got to the be *that* woman on the tube with flowers on the way home, which never grows old. More info on the M&S flower range and Mother’s Day bouquets is here. More posts…alternative ways to protest when you’re a parent and brilliant things to do in London with toddlers

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Serving up the Dinner Time Challenge with HelloFresh

Gillian — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 04:30:52 +0000

We look at the dinner time challenge from HelloFresh We’ve bee taking part in the sinner time challenge from HelloFresh…How often do you eat dinner together as a family? Or a proper, sit-down put-some-effort-in meal with your partner, or yourself, when you have small children? As I write this I’m having flashbacks to the early baby days when you grab whatever food you can and eat it as fast as you can, while either waiting for the baby to wake up or eating while holding the baby, one-handed, while dropping crumbs all over said baby. Ah, memories. Nearly five years into parenthood things have improved. But while we do try to eat together as a family whenever possible, this isn’t possible most of the time. Weekends are fine but on weeknights we have a post-school children’s meal followed by an adults-only dinner once the children are in bed. We like eating together so this is mainly due to timings – one of the lessons I’ve learned about primary school is how hungry it makes children, so they would eat my hand if I didn’t feed them immediately, and it’s too late to wait till Alex gets home at around 7pm. But on *those* nights of the long long bedtimes, it can be way after 9pm by the time we come to even think about eating our meal for two, by which time neither of us have the energy to cook a proper meal so it means something quick and uncomplicated is on the menu while we stare at the TV. A familiar scene, maybe? According to new research from recipe box delivery service HelloFresh, four in ten adults now eat their evening meal separately and over half of British parents do not eat with their children. 73% of adults say they no longer sit together around the table at meal times with 69% watching TV or looking at a tablet while eating. In a bid to encourage people to re-commit to the family dinner – and reap the positive emotional and physical benefits that it can bring – Hello Fresh recently launched the Dinner Time Challenge, an initiative to get families eating together for 30 days to reap the positive emotional and physical benefits this can bring. Last year we tried out HelloFresh (read our HelloFresh review but spoiler, we really liked it) and are currently being sent another trial of the family box to help us take the challenge and see if we can eat together as a family more often. We’re trying out the family boxes, which are delivered once a week and contain four larger meals suitable for four people (or for two in an evening with leftovers the next day). There’s also a Classic and Vegetarian box option. Nearly two weeks in to the Dinner Time challenge, how are we getting on? Firstly, it’s having a positive impact on our weekday dinners. The great thing about HelloFresh is that while you still have to do the cooking, it removes the hassle of shopping and deciding what you’re going to cook (which is great if you’re not the most enthusiastic of chefs in the first place). Knowing we have all the ingredients at hand and ready for a proper, lovely, meal makes it easy to make the effort to actually make it, even when we’re post-bedtime exhausted. Usually we have a 50 / 50 cooking / tidying up split, but as lots of the recipes require a bit of prep, taking the Dinner Time challenge means we’ve also spent a lot more time together hanging out in the kitchen, helping each other cook and *shocker* talking about our day.. As well as actually sitting down to eat together and *shocker* talking. Eating together at weekends – or having the leftovers the next day – means we’ve all tried out new things, especially the children (things like bulgar wheat were a surprise hit). Like lots of families we’re fairly stuck in our ways but this has inspired us to try the recipes and certain ingredients again. A word on the packaging, which was one of my issues with our initial HelloFresh review – there seems to be less plastic and more paper (all the ingredients arrive in separate paper bags) and you can even download a packaging label to send the boxes and felt insulation back. Obviously, this convenience comes at a price – the family boxes are around £60 a box, or about £4 per person per meal – but it’s tasty food that’s convenient and great for family life. We were sent HelloFresh food boxes for the duration of our Dinner Time challenge. More posts…the secret reason we loved baby-led weaning and unexpectedly brilliant breastfeeding benefits You can also follow me on Instagram

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Mermaid Barbies And Barbie Dreamtopia Review

Gillian — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 04:00:40 +0000

We’ve Been Playing With Mermaid Barbies and Barbie Dreamtopia We were recently offered a Barbie Dreamtopia review (it’s the new, brightly coloured Barbie range). Here’s what we thought. But first, can you be a feminist mum and let your children play with Barbies? It’s a decades-old debate but one I’ve been thinking of recently. Like most girls of a certain era, I grew up playing with Barbies (I had this one – anyone else?). I loved her; she was always the more glamorous older sister of my motley crew of really odd inherited-from-my-older-cousin Sindy dolls. But as a mum of girls I’ve always been slightly more, shall we say, suspicious… It’s partly because of the criticisms about unrealistic Barbie body shape and self-esteem at such an impressionable age (it’s obviously difficult to tell the conscious or unconscious effect this had on me, although I don’t ever remember thinking Barbie had a realistic body shape in the first place – my mum had one of those – and Barbie was just Barbie). It’s partly because we’ve always tried to keep things fairly gender-neutral around here and not automatically push them towards anything too girly – which isn’t always always easy, as we found out with our pretty pants shopping trip – but Barbie has always seemed like the most girly toy you can get. And also, the focus is our house has always been on things like superheros and Star Wars. Then a love of Frozen started and suddenly there were more princesses in the mix. A recent trip to my parent’s house unearthed my old Barbie, which both girls were fascinated with. And I was impressed to recently read about Mattel’s commitment to new, more realistic Barbie body shapes. So when we were asked about a Barbie Dreamtopia review, I decided to give the girls the choice to see if it was something they were interested in. So in some unsurprising news, here’s what we thought of the new Barbie Dreamtopia range: The Barbie Dreamtopia range is a colourful world imagined by Barbie’s sister. We were sent the Barbie Rainbow Cave Light Show doll (pink hair, on the right), plus Dreamtopia carriage which comes with horse and another doll (pink streak, on the left). They are colourful and cartoony – very Katy Perry-esque – with painted tops, skirts and shoes, which were taken off within seconds, of course (why do children always make dolls as naked as possible?) The Rainbow Light Barbie also has a pretty magical trick up her sleeve: And while I’m not sure the carriage is something I’d have ever chosen for them, both of mine loved playing with it: The brilliant thing I remember about Barbie was that she was always a blank slate for whatever imaginative play you were doing. She was never just the character she came as – she was a mother, teacher, astronaut or millions of other things. And also always the boy character on days when Action Man was out of business, right? I did worry that with the painted tops – and Dream Cove Barbie’s plastic ‘skirt’ that hides her light mechanism – they’d be more ‘stuck’ as their characters, but this hasn’t really stopped the imaginative play scenarios. There’s also a new Dreamtopia app (we were sent a Kindle Fire to play it on – which is brilliant as you can set really strict time limits). In the app you can either be a hairdresser or a fashion stylist; it is very pink and frilly, but fun. There are a lot of in-app purchases on offer though, although you can happily play with what’s on offer for free. I really like the idea of the tech adding the extra dimension to play, too. This has come in really handy on a couple of recent train journeys. The Barbie Dreamtopia range has been a big hit in our house (if you already have a Barbie fan in your life then they might make for good Christmas present ideas as they are so different to the usual range). And essentially Barbie is just a doll, one which they have loved playing with. I think that as with pink being OK as long as it’s not the only colour offered, Barbie has fitted in to the whole range of different toys they can choose from. We were sent the Dreamtopia Rainbow Cove Light Show Princess Barbie (around £19.99) and the Dreamtopia Princess Horse & Carriage which comes with one doll (around £44.99) along with the Kindle Fire to play the new app. More posts…if baby milestone cards were made for mums and things I love about being the mum of two

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Half term hibernation and Halloween den days

Gillian — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 04:05:55 +0000

It’s half term! Which means we’re officially half-way through the very first term of primary school (and despite these fears we’ve not been late once, do I get a gold star?). So what do we have planned for the week off? Here’s all our plans: Doing nothing Doing as little as possible Less than that, whenever possible And we are pretty happy about it. OK, so I’m sure we’ll probably do something – some of these, obviously – and hopefully meet up with some of our favourite people. But apart from that, we’re hibernating at home after a busy and exhausting term and luxuriating in not having to do school runs or wear uniform or do much with any structure at all. This weekend we took the opportunity to bed in and hunker down and kick-start our week of nothingness with a Halloween-inspired tent affair. Complete with cobwebs and fairy lights. Based on a classic pillow fort crossed with a Bedouin tent (?) we created a strong sofa structure with cushions and blankets: And then added some finishing Halloween touches: So far it’s been hours of fun: We’ve watched TV (this and this, of course) and even had dinner in there; #MySofaDen has been a big hit. It makes a change as usually I spend 99% of my day putting the sofa cushions back on there (seriously! Sound familiar?) Anyone have any good plans for this week? More posts: how to build a children’s play tent,IKEA spice rack bookshelves and things Kirstie and Phil don’t tell you about building work

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HelloFresh Reviews: Read Our HelloFresh Family Recipe Box Review

Gillian — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 22:09:58 +0000

Looking For HelloFresh Reviews? Is HelloFresh Worth The Money? Here’s What We Thought We Reviewed Food Boxes for Families, So Here’s What We Thought: We’ve been trying out the new HelloFresh family food boxes for the past few weeks, so here’s our HelloFresh review, hat we thought of the HelloFresh food box. We also answer the big question – is HelloFresh food healthy and is HelloFresh worth the money? What Are HelloFresh Recipe Boxes? Have you heard of HelloFresh? It’s a food box delivery service where each week you’re sent a box of ingredients to make recipes of your choosing. There are a couple of different companies that offer meals in this way, including Gousto, and HelloFresh have an emphasis on quality of ingredients and easy recipes, plus value for money and family-friendly food.. What Is The HelloFresh Family Box? The family box consists of four meals each week, each serving 4-5 people. I was initially pretty hesitant to pick this box over the ‘classic’ version as I was worried the food would be aimed at perception of child-friendly eating – e.g. chicken nuggets, bland things – and not nicer food for grown-ups. I also have two selectively picky eaters, so had no idea if any of the recipes would be any good for our slightly mixed meal times. Here’s Our Honest Hello Fresh Review: Good Points About The HelloFresh Family Box: All the recipes are fairly easy and best of all, can be cooked in about 30-45 minutes. When you’re exhausted at the end of the day, this isn’t quite such a daunting prospect vs the speed and ease of pasta or cooking something completely from scratch. What was great was that the HelloFresh family box didn’t make lazy assumptions about children’s palates and it was all food that adults would enjoy too, from curries to meatballs and stir fry with steak. There were some meals my children would never eat, but at the same time there were some that we wouldn’t want to share either – ha! – and we do tend to cook later in the evening, so it was easy to cook these then have leftovers the next day. If you have older, less fussy children then this wouldn’t be an issue, and there was generally some carby or veg aspect of the meal everyone would like e.g. mash, steamed veg, noodles and so on As well as introducing us to new recipes we’ll definitely make again, there was also food we’d not tried (where have you been all my life, orzo?) It takes away decision making, when you’re already exhausted at the end of a busy day. Negatives About HelloFresh: There seemed to be a lot of bagged salad and leafy veg greens and some of this went to waste as we couldn’t eat it all quickly enough As it’s all fresh food so you do need to make sure you eat it within a couple of days And there’s also the obvious cost implication (see below). Is HelloFresh Food Good For You? Is HelloFresh Food Healthy? The dishes we picked were very healthy, with a lot of veg in the box They were also tasty enough that they felt fairly indulgent (which I think is pretty important when you’re paying) You can also choose from several dishes, including lower calorie, healthier recipes – so if your big question is around how Healthy HelloFresh is, you can control this How Much Does HelloFresh Cost? Obviously there is a higher cost implication with Hello Fresh versus doing your own supermarket shop. Family boxes with four meals for four people are £64 per box, which works out at £4 per head (you can also get a family box with two meals for four people for £39.95). It also depends on the type of box you pick, and boxes for one or two people with only a couple of meals are a lot cheaper than the full family box with a week’s worth of meals. Is HelloFresh Worth The Money? With a food delivery service like HelloFresh you’re paying for the convenience of having everything you need delivered, in near-precise amounts. It saves the hassle of doing the shop and picking the recipe. If you have small children, or end a day feeling exhausted, then yes HelloFresh is worth the money. Would We Buy HelloFresh Again For Our Fussy Family? After our two week HelloFresh review, would we buy it again? Yes, definitely. We’ve tried a similar food box before – you can read my Marley Spoon review – and we weren’t entirely sold, but we much preferred the quality of the HelloFresh. Everyone liked the food and all the recipes worked really well, we’ve used them again since. And we cooked all the food at night so the light was too bad for photos, but they all looked exactly like they do on the photo (OK, not entirely – but they still tasted good). Have you tried Hello Fresh? What did you think? If you liked my HelloFresh review then more reviews from me: the Tefal Cuisine Companion review, a SnuzPod review, everything I’d forgotton about baby-led weaning and the secret reason we love BLW – and follow me over on Instagram

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Things we’re liking lately…

Gillian — Sun, 07 Aug 2016 22:47:22 +0000

Here’s a little round-up of a couple of things we’ve been doing and trying recently: Meeting Marvel superheros…A few weeks ago we headed into central London to meet none other than Spiderman, the Black Widow and E’s favourite superhero of them all, Captain America (she dressed up as him for her Avengers-themed birthday party, and on many occasions since). Needless to say, there was a lot of excitement about this event. The superheros – or the actors who play them – were in the UK to publicise the stadium action show Marvel Universe Live, which is coming to various UK venues including the O2 in London in September. It’s a live stadium action show where all the Marvel superheros battle against various baddies, and there’s lots of stunts and fireworks and dramatic stuff happening. I think the children were expecting to meet the actual superheros at the event, not just the actors (sadly they didn’t wear costumes, just t-shirts!) but it was fun. ‘Spiderman’ also demonstrated some of his acrobatic skills in a gymnastic session and there was super-colouring and game playing. Marvel Universe Live looks great if you’re into superheros, more info on it here. As well as Avengers action figures (which are very settled into life at our house, today they were both dressed up in tinsel and went to a ball with a Barbie) and props (a talking Captain America sword and mask, I’m not sure who was more excited about this in our family) we were also given a voucher to spend in the Disney Store so had a hectic half an hour chasing both of the girls round as they decided what to get (a stuffed Anna doll and Frozen Lego, incidentally). Duplo for two…And speaking of, there’s a lot of Lego love in our house at the moment. We were sent a couple of Duplo sets, the My First Truck set and the Fire Station. The truck’s designed to encourage matching and fine motor skills with the pairs of food bricks, but really, who cares? It’s Duplo so brilliant anyway (apart from when you step on it, obviously). Both of these sets were really easy to put together – the truck needed no real assembly at all. What I loved about both these sets is the little details like the characters including the cat and the female fire person (?) in the fire station. The sets are suitable from 1.5 up and indeed both girls have really enjoyed playing with them. Although they are now in a million pieces around my house. Summer sliders from Kurt Geiger Mini Miss KG…Did you know Kurt Geiger has launched Mini Miss KG, a new shoe range for children? Any grown-up who loves shoes will know how lucky little people are. E was sent a shoe in the post to invite us to a launch event event, and we went along to the Ham Yard Hotel to collect the other one. The junior shoe range is colourful and really fun – as was the party – and while there’s lots of different designs what I liked is the focus on more practical styles like trainers and espadrilles (not boring though! The leopard / glitter trainers and the ‘wild child’ espadrilles were my favourites). The ones E’s been wearing most this summer are the fluro pink ‘boom’ pool sliders that were given post-party-pedicure. Can they make these in my size, please?! How is my daughter having a pedicure at four?! Ambre Solaire suncream for children…Suncream that sand doesn’t stick to, what kind of sorcery is this? We were sent two new Ambre Solaire suncreams for children designed to solve two common children / sun issues. There’s a new spray which is anti-sand and one you can apply on wet skin. Suncream plays a big part in summer when you’re a mum, not least because you’re always chasing after small children to cover them in it. We gave both of the new creams a try when we were down in Bournemouth recently. Both of them have high SPF (50+) and absorb really quickly and easily and don’t leave a white film on your child (or you, if you’re so that pale that this works for you too). The sand one in particular is really good (handy on the beach). I’m not so keen on using aerosols unnecessarily, so perhaps they could change it to a pump spray as an alternative format? They both smell so nice though. Although I very nearly lost them both while taking the photo: We were sent all these products to try out, all thoughts are our own etc etc. More posts…our SnuzPod review, car seat safety tips with Maxi Cosi and babies and building work, the things Kirsty and Phill don’t tell you…

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Tempur Mattress Review and a night away at Hawkwood House, Oxford

Gillian — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 05:10:14 +0000

Last week we had the job of a Tempur Mattress review and a night away in Oxford, staying at the Hawkwood House Hotel which is just outside the city in super-pretty Iffley Village. We are currently in the ‘demolition’ stage of all our building work at home (with both stuff and dust absolutely everywhere) so any excuse to get away is good. A Tempur Mattress Review and a night in Oxford Have you been to Oxford? ‘Have I been to Oxford before? I vaguely remember it’ I texted my mum; she replied with ‘Yes, we went with our friends and you had new pyjamas, a fire alarm went off.’ Nope, me either. So like Cambridge it’s somewhere I was keen to go back to years later. Our room at Hawkwood House was lovely; huge and airy, with really tastefully modern decor (fancy wallpaper and iPad doc) as well as a massive squashy sofa. The room was easily big enough to fit our bed as well as a cot, sofa bed and pram and not feel squashed, which is great for families. And while it’s not the most child-friendly hotel – there’s no swimming pool or any facilities – it would make a really good wedding venue. The village is also lovely, full of gorgeous old stone cottages and Grand Design type project houses. Testing out the Tempur Mattress – the Tempur Cloud But we were there on a mission to test the mattress; or, more specifically, for a Tempur Cloud mattress review. It’s the amazing king size memory foam mattress. It comes complete with memory foam pillows And it’s a standard mattress in these hotels. When you have small children and don’t get much sleep – still! – or get a lot of broken sleep, it’s vital that the sleep you do get is as good quality as possible. We upsized our bed a few months after Florence was born to fit us all in, and we got a new mattress too. It improved the quality of my sleep so much. If you never tried a memory foam mattress, then you totally should. They are amazing and manage to be both comfortably squishy and supportive at the same time. The one on our hotel bed was huge and it’s the type of simple thing that makes such a difference. Inevitably, we were up and down several times that night with the mini members of the family, but the bed was so comfortable that we all ended up sleeping in it. And it was great for watching cartoons the next morning and sneaking in a sleepy mum-nap (well, trying, I can dream, can’t I?) The next day we headed into Oxford proper by walking along the canal and river, and looked at all the Sunday morning rowers as they went past (Eliza was intrigued by the houseboats!). After a quick nose around and a cake pit stop we headed home. But Oxford, you were pretty lovely – we’ll be back soon. Thanks to Tempur for working with us on our Tempur Mattress review and inviting us to stay at Hawkwood House. Follow me on Pintest at Gill_Crawshaw

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How to make easy breakfast muffins recipe (with children)

Gillian — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 12:29:48 +0000

How To Make Easy Breakfast Muffins – A Recipe We’ve been cooking with children and making mini breakfast muffins on camera…all the ingredients for fun or a recipe for disaster?! Here’s our easy breakfast muffins recipe. Both came to mind when Schwartz asked us to make a ‘how to’ video of the two of us cooking. E loves cooking, but as I’ve previously touched upon it’s never been my strong point and combining both of us in the kitchen can be a bit of a, well, pressure point. But this sounded fun. Although she often helps make lunch and dinner, the things we cook from scratch tend to be sweet (mainly banana cake because we ordered too many bananas and didn’t eat them, again). So we wanted to make something that was both stress-free and savoury, for a change. I got the idea from a quick Pinterest search, but this is a made-up recipe and the joy is that it’s so easy to adjust it to your tastes. The muffins can be vegetarian (minus the ham, obviously!) You can put whatever veg in you fancy, and they are gluten free. As well as being really easy to make they’re a great breakfast alternative, can be eaten cold and are perfect for BLW as they come in little hand-size portions. We used Schwartz Basil and Season-All spice mix, but lots of similar Schwartz products would work well – smoked paprika, garlic salt (yum!) chives and so on. So here’s how to make them and you can see the video here: Ingredients (for six mini muffins) 4 x eggs Splash of milk Cheese, grated, lots of Whatever you fancy for a filling – we used chopped tomatoes and ham Seasoning: Schwartz Basil and Season-All spice Method Break eggs and whisk together. Add milk and basil Mist the muffin tray with oil. Line with fillings – cheese, ham and tomato Pour in egg mixture Season (you can also sprinkle Parmesan on top) Cook in a 200° oven for around 15-20 mins till they’re done. They should puff up pleasingly nicely. Eat! Tips for cooking with kids: prepare everything first! Have the right amount ready in small bowls. Give very specific roles. Don’t get too stressed. PS this is how we made the video! More posts…making a felt ball garland, going outside the lines and our IKEA hack bookshelves. This post was written in collaboration with Schwartz.

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