I have the tiniest kitchen, it is actually smaller than our bathroom, yet I spend an increasing amount of time in it. Aside from preparing seemingly endless meals for the four of us, my week isn’t complete without some baking. As space is so precious it’s really important that the products I use are both practical and stylish. The one product I must have is decent scales. I’ve gone through a few in the pursuit of perfection but my Brabantia digital kitchen scales do a great job. Most importantly they are compact – essential in my tiny London kitchen. They…
-
-
Little Sis is too young to be stealing from my make up bag so where’s my make up? We had a family photo last week and, wanting to look my best, was looking for makeup. I have drawers of bottles and potions and presumed there was something at the bottom of it all. A lipstick, a mascara wand, eyeshadow trio. Something. But guess what? Nada. Just cotton buds, hair grips and a button. And some fluff. Pre-children I had an Aveda card. I could afford to shop there and bought lots of small, pretty expensive things. They made me look…
-
I spotted a new product on the supermarket shelves last week, Tesco Easy Home Bake Gingerbread dough. I quickly hid it in the trolley before my husband could start muttering that we didn’t need to try another product! We tried this out when we fancied a bit of home baking and made some biscuits. It’s simple to use – roll the dough, cut your required shapes, place on a greased baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes. The easiest biscuits ever! The dough is advertised as sweet and crunchy, which I was a bit sceptical about, but they were sweet…
-
It’s not often that I liken my youngest to a panda but it seems that she’s had something in common with the newest inhabitants at Edinburgh Zoo. The dreaded colic. Just like Yang Guang and Tian Tian, Little Sis has been horribly unsettled; crying and not sleeping or feeding properly until the small hours. This was so out of character that we had to seek help from our Health Visitor. It’s difficult to imagine when she’s sleeping so peacefully next to me during the day but we’d come to dread the evenings. We agreed it was probably colic which is…
-
Mary Rebecca hosted a really cool Valentine’s Day Swap 2012 which I signed up for as I love all things red and heart shaped. My partner Jennifer has a really cool tumblr blog at Vintage Enydot. She sent me an amazing box of goodies including yummy limited edition love hearts and some fab cupcake cases, which I can’t wait to use. We’re off to visit family this week and I’m looking forward to stocking up at my favourite cake shop so I can whip up something special. I loved putting together a parcel for her. Aside from some chocolate and…
-
Before children Valentine’s Day was spent in bed or on a romantic break in a European city. Now the day starts early and ends early with no hope of a romantic meal for two. This year we decided on cards only, no gifts. We decorated with an origami heart garland. The children gave daddy a homemade Valentine card which I blogged about earlier. I also made a card from an old book. I cut out a heart shape and sewed it onto a plain card with red thread. Finally we iced some gingerbread hearts which we had bought from Morrisons…
-
Today wasn’t just Mother’s Day but also Big Brother’s 2nd birthday. We had piles of presents (far too many!), a birthday outing to the RAF Museum at Hendon, our handmade birthday card was read out on cBeebies and we made and ate a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake. Happy Birthday to my darling son! I can’t believe you’re 2 years old today. It feels like you’ve always been in our life, like I’ve always been your mum. You make my heart feel like it will burst from my chest. You make me cry with tears of frustration and happiness.…
-
Last year it was all about the felt, this year it’s all about the edible gingerbread house! I had an Ikea Pepparkaka Hus which I had bought to make over Christmas and never got round to building so it seemed like a good time to make it and decorate it for Valentine’s Day. The kit contains ready baked and stamped house pieces – front and back, two sides, two roof pieces, four small pieces to make a chimney and printed instructions. It doesn’t contain any icing or sweets to decorate but the instructions helpfully contain a recipe for icing. The…
-
A couple of weeks ago I came across a great challenge – the PinAddicts Pinterest Challenge. The idea is to choose something from your Pinterest boards to create and link up each month. As I am addicted to Pinterest I just knew I had to join in, the only choice was what to make? I searched my boards and decided upon something for Valentines Day. I couldn’t resist baking some gingerbread men and decorating them as a Valentine treat for my husband. Love is not lost in our household (despite a 2 and 23 month old trying their very best!).…