I’ve never tried parkin before but knowing it was some kind of ginger cake was happy when offered some of Lottie Shaw’s Seriously Good Yorkshire Parkin to try. It’s described as “a ginger cake predominantly baked using oatmeal and a perfect blend of syrup and black treacle”. It contains no artificial life enhancing ingredients but the syrup preserves the cake for up to 12 weeks! The packaging was lovely, the parkin was baked in its own tray and smelt divine. My only criticism was that the portion could have been larger – I didn’t realise parkin was so delicious and…
-
-
I’m not ashamed to admit I don’t like being pregnant. Although it’s completely natural it makes me feel out of balance, I dislike my body shape and spend 9 months on edge – either counting the kicks or wishing the baby would stop turning cartwheels. Being pregnant makes me feel horribly human and responsible and I find it strange knowing I have no control over it. Looking back, I ignored a few of the early pregnancy symptons. I found it easy to get pregnant but it took me a couple of weeks to mentally come to terms with it. It…
-
Pampers celebrates the potential in every baby and by sharing your ‘newborn’ advice you could win a £50 voucher to a spa or restaurant of your choice. Interested? Read on! Tips for new mums (#newmumtips) Knowing my Second Baby is due next week (eek!) Pampers asked me if I would like to help celebrate by sharing with other Mums the best piece of ‘newborn’ advice we were given. After much discussion with my husband we thought the best piece of advice was to do with nappy changes! At our NCT antenatal class we were told if we had a boy…
-
Christmas crafting is in full swing at the moment. I’ve been meaning to make a felt half eaten gingerbread man from Elsie Marley’s pattern for ages and finally got round to it this week. I love the vintage ric rac and used snowflake brads for his buttons. I think it turned out rather well and will look great on our Christmas tree. This is my monthly make for November
-
For my 4th birthday my grandparents made me a beautiful dollshouse, partly from a piano they no longer wanted. It was decorated with swatches of wallpaper and carpet from their own home and reminded me of them long after both of them had died. It had a real mis-match of furniture which I had collected over time and I treasured the dollshouse until I just couldn’t keep it due to lack of room in my twenties. Ever since then I’ve been on the lookout for a replacement dollshouse. I would love to get my hands on a vintage Triang model…
-
We were asked if we would like to try an outdoor version of Connect 4 – Giant Connect 4. We love our garden and spend a lot of time outdoors so thought this would be a great addition to our collection of toys and games. Giant Connect 4! The game is the official HASBRO Giant Connect 4 so is instantly recognisable from my childhood with it’s red and yellow counters. First introduced in 1974 it is a firm favourite with families and the outdoor version is a great edition. It’s made from very hard wearing plastic for a long gaming…
-
We were recently offered some spicy ginger crunchy cookies from the award-winning bakers Kent & Fraser to try.We’re huge fans of anything with ginger in and I have to admit these cookies didn’t last long. Each pack contains deliciously crunchy biscuits made with decent chunks of stem ginger. The taste is lovely and spicy but the cookies were a bit too crunchy for me – perfect for dunking in a steaming cup of tea. Ingredients include light muscovado sugar, crystalised stem ginger and ground ginger but no eggs, dairy, soya, wheat or gluten (so suitable for a gluten free diet).…
-
37 weeks, third trimester = almost over. I’ve come to realise that although my body is designed for pregnancy my mental state is not. As my husband frequently lets me know, I’ve been grumpy for the whole 9 months! I found the first trimester hard due to nausea and tiredness. My second trimester passed in an equally tired blur as the bloom I expected never happened. My third trimester seems to have been spent with my feet up watching Edward play. We have been getting out every day but it’s been hard work in this colder weather – if I…
-
We were recently offered the opportunity to be in Mother & Baby magazine who were running a feature on the importance of music and looking for an 18 month old. Edward has been featured in the magazine before (about c sections) but this one called for a photo shoot and telephone interview which I thought sounded like a lot of fun. A couple of weeks ago we headed over to a beautiful house over looking the Thames in West London. Several shoots were happening for the magazine so we were given a new set of clothes for Edward and waited…
