Posts by jo

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16/03/201426/03/2018 by jo

Super Chicken! – The Best Chicken Recipes

Super Chicken is the latest book we received as a Parragon Book buddy. This would be another review where Shaun (chicken lover) steps up and tells us his thoughts but he claims he can’t review things very well, so instead I’ll do it and he can dictate.

Super Chicken! isn’t a superhero, it is in fact a collection of dishes which have one thing in common – they include chicken. Having been vegetarian for over 30 years, this isn’t my kind of cookbook. However, that isn’t to say dishes can’t be adapted.

Shaun and H had a good scan through the book to find a dish for our evening meal tonight, and opted for Chicken Satay Skewers. I had the same dish but with Spicy Quorn pieces to replace the meat.

With a prep time of 15 minutes and a cook time of 10 minutes (plus soaking the skewers time), this was an ideal dish for our Sunday evening – we don’t really do traditional Sunday dinners in this house.

Shaun found the instructions easy to follow, and the final results looked like the pictures. I found the satay sauce to be pretty good too – easily one of the best ones I’ve tried (aren’t home made ones always the best anyway?). It’s something we will definitely make again.

If you’re in a vegetarian and meat eating house, this book has some good ideas. I checked and all the sauces seemed suitable for vegetarians, and are prepared separately anyway.

Super Quorn Satay

Back when I first met Shaun and we went back to Australia, his mum brought out some writing he’d done from around the age of ten. He declared a big dislike for girls (ha), but big big love for chicken, so I know Super Chicken is a book he’ll be using a lot more as unlike the former, his opinion hasn’t changed.

Shaun did say he’d like to do a few more recipes from the book before I posted a review, so I’d say that was another good sign, chicken-lovers.

Super Chicken! contains several recipes broken into sections – Starters, Snacks and Sides, Lovely Lunches, Chicken Dinners and Food for Friends, with several choices in each section.

Super Chicken! is available now from all good bookstores, rrp £6.00 The Parragon page for it is here.

(contains an affiliate link)

We were sent the book for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own.

10/03/2014 by jo

New Miffy Books? Almost… but yet they are!

Simon and Schuster are the new publishers of Miffy books. We’re long-term fans – they’re books I read when I was little and now H loves them too.

Miffy was first brought to life by Dick Bruna way back in 1955 by the Dutch artist Dick Bruna. We have a mighty fine collection and one of the things I’ve found the most charming is the not-quite-right translations of the books. Words that would never rhyme being used in the stories. I’m sure I didn’t care when I was young, I just read and got on with it.

So I have a sense of loyalty – and was a little wary when it was announced the books would be getting a bit of a revamp for modern times. I’m not a fan of change unless it’s for a good reason.

Fortunately, there is a good reason. The Miffy illustrations stay the same, and most of the rhymes stay the same or similar, but have a better structure. For example – there is a picture of a pear and some peapods, the original book mentions a cauliflower (probably to make the words flow better) yet it isn’t pictured. The new version of the book is much simpler and sticks to what you can see. See the two pictures for more examples.

I quite like them too. I bought ‘Miffy’ and ‘Miffy at the Zoo’ today and have compared both versions we own. But yet it says the translations date back to the 1990’s – so what did we have before this? What did I read in the seventies? Would it be unreasonable to buy a third version of the books purely for my own curiosity?

If, like me, you weren’t sure what was going to be done with the books, rest assured, it’s fine. It’s a job done well and very faithfully. Would I buy all the books again? I’m unsure – as we own them all already it could prove quite costly. Fortunately they’re being made available in small batches (Miffy at the Gallery is the third in the series – which was published via the Tate Bookstore not that long ago) so won’t break the bank. I’m hoping that the last book, Njintje is Stout (Miffy is Naughty) will get a translation, as I’m fairly sure that’s the only book that hasn’t been.

October is a bit of a cop-out with Miffy’s Dream getting republished! The only one without words – maybe new translator Tony Mitton needed a break 🙂 We like and have read a few of Tony Mitton’s books – though only own ‘The Somethingosaur’ which we reviewed a while back.

I can see there are also activity books available too, though didn’t buy those. It looks like Miffy is going to be well stocked in bookstores again which is quite frankly, a fabulous thing. You can find all the books over here – Miffy – the New Books (contains an affiliate link).

09/03/201426/03/2018 by jo

Wisley!

The sun finally arrived this weekend, so plans were hastily made to pay a visit to Wisley with friends. I knew it was close to us, but had no idea by quite how much.

Wisley is just a little further down the A3 from Painshill Park, close to the A3/M25 junction. To get the most out of Wisley, a RHS membership is essential. I’ve spotted a 20% cashback deal via Quidco, or if you collect Tesco Clubcard points then you only need £17 which are pretty good deals. Otherwise it’s around £45 a year for one person, you are able to take a guest for free and children under 5 go free. A RHS membership also gets you into a few other gardens around the country, though the guest rule doesn’t apply.

After spending the best part of a day at Wisley I’m pretty sure it would take a minimum of four trips to get to know it better.

There is a lot of parking, a good thing as it was pretty busy. There are good garden shops too, something Shaun made the most of, getting a Burgon & Ball Verti-Plant which will make our back yard look lovely and is an ideal solution for us – we have no garden here, just pots and plants.

It was a glorious day – we started out with layers and ended up with just t-shirts it was so warm. For some reason I had visions of Wisley being like a large garden centre – I was wrong – it’s a huge garden with many areas and plenty to do for everyone.

There’s water, flowers, sculptures, walks, mud, hills, more hills, plenty of food areas, a great outdoor play area and so much more. Areas to sit and take it all in, and areas to wander around watching the world go by. We spent a while on top of the Fruit Mound – a hill with two spiral pathways to get up to the top (check it on Google Maps, it’s pretty cool), where there are seats and fresh air aplenty.

Wisley

Then there’s the butterflies – so many of them in the hot and humid Glasshouse – we queued for around five minutes to get in though had to keep escaping outside to breathe! The butterflies were amazing, many different kinds (with a handy leaflet to help you identify them – good when you don’t retain information easily like me) – though the exhibition ‘Butterflies in the Glasshouse’ finished today.

If you like National Trust gardens then Wisley will appeal. It gave H and her friend a freedom she hasn’t had for a few weeks, where they could play together in the dens, run around the grounds, spot fish, admire the butterflies and so much more. The daffodils and snowdrops were out, and Wisley was such a lovely bright colourful wonderfully floral smelling kind of place. That and there was also a giant apple to study – part of a sculpture exhibition in the grounds running until the end of March 2014.

H was pretty tired after all the walking around, but enjoyed it. We ate in the Glasshouse Cafe and found the food to be reasonable, a decent vegetarian choice and good strong coffee. They do kids meals in a box with plenty of healthy choice on offer as well.

Linking in to Country Kids, Wisley’s site is over here. Huge thanks to Lianna for allowing me to be her guest!

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

07/03/201426/03/2018 by jo

Scratch, Scratch, Headlice is Back. Lyclear Saves the Day

It’s one of the letters you don’t want to receive at school and one of the topics which provokes a reaction with almost everyone you talk to – usually they start scratching their head (like I am now) – the dreaded Head Lice letter. As luck would have it, Lyclear sent us a bottle just as we got our first letter this year! We’re no strangers to this wonderful world, but I’m always willing to try anything which helps!

Lyclear is available as a shampoo, spray and a new sensitive variety from most shops; I’ve seen it in a variety of places. It’s a simple spray on-comb out spray which claims to have a 100% success rate. H was showing all the signs she had them other than anything in her hair. I do know she reacts to some shampoos, but we couldn’t take the risk as other children had it, so gave Lyclear a go.

Step 1 – you check the hair for Lice using a headlice comb. Our shampoo came with a comb which is handy, though I do swear by the Nitty Gritty comb. It looks like all varieties come with a comb, it’s clearly marked on the front of the box.

Step 2 – Apply the shampoo onto dry hair. Make sure you cover the back of the neck and behind the ears. Leave for 10 minutes.

Step 3 – Wash it out – add water and work up a foam. Rinse thoroughly.

Step 4 – comb through the wet hair to collect all lice and eggs using your fine comb.

Don’t forget to clean the comb! This needs repeating after seven days to break up the life cycle of the lice, but two treatments should be enough.

So how does it work? So many other mums say they do the conditioner and combing routine because they don’t want to use pesticides on their child’s head, so what does Lyclear offer? From their official site : All Lyclear treatments provide a double physical action attacking both head lice and their eggs. Lyclear Spray and Lyclear Shampoo suffocate and dehydrate head lice and their eggs, whereas Lyclear Sensitive attaches onto the respiratory orifices of head lice and eggs to suffocate them and penetrates into the heart of the eggs to stop their development.

If you’re not scratching too much then there’s more information about head lice over here. While I’m not 100% sure whether H had it, we got the letter and treated her as she seemed to keep getting it at nursery, and her head is clear.

I like that Lyclear includes everything you’d need, so you’re not buying a separate comb (though I do swear by my Nitty Gritty one) so if you had to rush to the chemist to get stocked up once receiving the dreaded letter, Lyclear would be a good place to start!

We were sent a bottle to try out – all opinions are our own.

06/03/201423/06/2015 by jo

World Book Day

World Book Day was today. H got her voucher from school and we’ve decided on The Worst Witch as her choice, an activity book.

They didn’t dress up at her school – I’m not sure why. Instead it has been announced they’re doing a week of book related things when at the start of next term.

The relief thinking we’d got away with it turned to “uuuuhhhhh nooooo” when I realised we have to find an appopriate costume for the day. At least we have a month and a half to think about it!

So far my suggestions have been…
A Pigeon (Mo Willems)
Little Miss Naughty (we have the costume)
Topsy (she’ll need a Tim)
My Naughty Little Sister
Milly Molly Mandy
Meg (she can use Jessie Cat as her Mog)

they haven’t had the most enthusiastic response.

Before then we have to get Easter out of the way – there’s a school bonnet parade before the end of term and fortunately Poundland have kits in stock. We just need to make it now…

What did you dress your child in today, or is your school going later too?

Here’s some previous costumes we’ve done!

02/03/201403/03/2014 by jo

Internet Safety and Staying Safe Online

Last weekend we were invited to The Disney Store in Stratford to attend a short talk about internet safety in conjunction with Disney Club Penguin. Now, some might say H is a bit young to be learning about this at four and a half, but I think she’s the perfect age and as parents it doesn’t do us any harm to be reminded of things we may forget.

Disney Club Penguin is a social network for kids and has impressed me since we’ve registered – with good security levels I feel protects H well, keeping it age-appropriate. I won’t let her go there on her own, but I feel like she’s safe. Nobody can contact her, and nobody can leave bad messages to her as they have strict guidelines for no bad language or being mean to others.

H signed a pledge last week to be ‘treat people how you want to be treated’ – which is a lot easier when you’re just starting out. CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) who run a great website Think U Know had lots of handy information on the day. They have a simple checklist to help protect your children and decrease the risks they take:

– Ask your child to show you the sites they use
– Ask your child to set their profile settings to private
– Ask your child about their online friends
– Set appropriate parental controls on your child’s computer, mobile and games console.
– If your child is worried about something online, make sure they agree to tell you
– Know where to get help if you’re concerned about your child (the CEOP Safety Centre provides access to a range of services).

According to Disney Club Penguin research, one in three parents admit to feeling baffled by over-complicated user manuals.

To provide ongoing support for parents, Disney Club Penguin is offering a special e-hotline giving parents throughout the chance to e-mail any queries about online safety to saferinternethelp@clubpenguin.com

Disney’s Club Penguin’s online safety campaign, It Starts With You, aims to empower kids to take the lead in spreading positive behaviour online and give their parents the tools to better support them. The campaign, which launched last September in the UK, encourages kids and parents to make the online world a better place.

8 OUT OF 10 UK PARENTS BELIEVE INTERNET SAFETY SHOULD BE A FUNDAMENTAL EDUCATIONAL PILLAR

New research from Disney’s Club Penguin reveals parents believe that inteRnet safety should be the fourth R

1 in 4 kids aged between six and 12 confess to sharing personal information online with strangers

Around 30% of parents cite a compulsory log in for all internet users if they could make one change to the internet.

The report, conducted by the virtual world as part as its ongoing safety initiative, It Starts with You, polled 1,000 parents with children aged six to 12 year olds and their kids, about internet safety, what they think is acceptable behaviour online, and the changes that they would most like to make to the internet, in keeping with Safer Internet Day’s 2014’s theme of “let’s create a better internet together”.

Not speaking to strangers is the number one life lesson children are taught in the real world, however, when it comes to the digital world, one in four (25%) young people aged six to 12 years old confessed that they think it is acceptable to share personal information online, including their full name and address, passwords and images, with people they don’t know. Yet despite mums and dads calling for internet safety to become a matter of course in the classroom, worryingly, almost one in six (15%) also admitted they think the sharing of such personal information with strangers is appropriate.

The report unveiled that more than a third (36%) of mums and dads admit to not regularly monitoring their children’s use of the web, and found that families aren’t aware of the rules of the road when it comes to online safety. Those parents who did admit to overseeing their kids’ online use, cite making sure that they are not speaking to strangers online (43%), or not spending too much time online (24%) as the top two reasons.

Almost a third (27%) of parents stated that they don’t think that there is enough being done to help educate children about online safety, with half calling for more to be done by schools, internet providers and third parties to teach kids e-safety. Furthermore, whilst some parents (9%) believe the safety features on their children’s device will keep them safe, more than one in three (36%) confess to feeling baffled by over-complicated user manuals when it comes to setting them up. One in five (20%) admit to only bothering putting them in place on devices that belong to their children.

This call for education, coupled with parent’s lack of knowledge when it comes to internet-enabled devices, has led to the world’s largest virtual world Disney’s Club Penguin taking steps to tackle these issues head on. To help parents and kids, learn the rules of the online road, Disney’s Club Penguin will be holding free online safety sessions for parents and children across the UK on 15th February, in addition to hosting a special session with Sophie Ellis-Bextor on Safer Internet Day. Fully trained ambassadors from Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre (CEOP) will be on hand in store providing help and advice for young people on how to navigate safely in the digital world. The Geek Squad will be available to teach mums and dads how to set up those all-important parental controls, so children can surf the web worry free.

Lucy Woodward, Interactive Live Services Director at Club Penguin comments: “‘As a mum, I know how hard it can be to feel 100% confident having conversations with your children about online safety, especially when it feels like your kids are more comfortable with the internet and technology than you are! That’s why we seek to give parents the tools to support, and educate them, as well as empowering kids to take the lead in making the internet a better place. We want parents and kids to make their pledge to making the web a safer place this Safer Internet Day – it really does start with you!”

Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Disney’s Club Penguin ambassador comments: “My children are all different ages but have all grown up with the web, so it’s important that I know how to make sure that they are safe online, like I do in the real world. It’s great that Club Penguin is helping parents and kids learn the rules of the online road. The internet is an amazing place for learning and discovery, but the potential threats to kids are real, so we need to make sure that parents and children know how to navigate the internet safely.”

Disney’s Club Penguin’s study also revealed that:

· Close to 30% of children (26.8%) would put “internet police” in power if given the tools to create the internet, with parents citing “appropriate content” for kids (32%), “filters and safety technology” (24.9%) and” internet police” on their top internet wish-list (18.2%)

· Children’s most preferred single change to the internet would be safe sites that are checked (27%). Meanwhile parents’ more popular change was online log-ins for users (27%)

It Starts with You, sees Disney’s Club Penguin partner with Childnet and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and aims to empower kids to take the lead in spreading positive behaviour online, and give their parents the tools to better support them. Disney’s Club Penguin has seen 200 million penguins created since launch and spans 190 countries from the UK to Chile across computer and iPad, with more multiplatform launches set to be announced. Parents and young people can visit www.clubpenguin.com/safety to discover how to make the online world a better place. It Starts with You!

01/03/2014 by jo

Canvas Design Giveaway!

Canvas Design were looking for bloggers to review their canvas prints, and I’m never one to turn down the chance to try a canvas!

Canvas Design are based in Darwen, Lancashire and after having emailed a photo to them, two days later Interlink Express had delivered it. The photo was taken back in October on my phone – a silhouette I love of Shaun and H standing in the wind at Chesil Beach near Weymouth.

I was impressed with the quality – the canvas also includes everything you need to hang it on the wall. I received the 22×26 size which looks lovely on our wall – see?

That’s not all though – Canvas Design are offering a print as a giveaway at Mum Friendly! The giveaway is open to UK Residents only and you can choose from any size canvas from 6×6 to 40×40 inches, with any picture you’d like. Here’s what you get:

Your canvas prints will arrive at your home or workplace ready to hang.
A free hanging kit is supplied to ensure perfect positioning.
Your photo printed on pure 100% cotton canvas.
38mm deep pine frames sourced from renewable European forests.
Canvas frames include corner wedges for tension.
Photos with Red Eye removed free of charge.
Free Shipping with 48 Hours Delivery.

So here’s your chance – good luck! I’ve been impressed with how quickly we received ours and the courier gives you an hourly slot so you know when to expect it.

As an additional entry I have a special discount code that can be used on their site – click the option on Rafflecopter below to access it! Canvas Design can be found here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

24/02/201424/02/2014 by jo

Need Your Heating On At Different Times? Hive Active Heating Can Help.

Half term seems to be one of those times bloggers all tell stories of fabulous trips they’ve had to various places, showing photos of picturesque beauty. Not us. We’ve had to work. H has been in holiday club which makes things easier, mainly as I’ve finished at the same time every day.

In addition to that H has had several trips out for the day and I’ve been instructed (by H) to come a bit later so she can play for longer. I can safely say Holiday Club has been a success.

One thing which can’t be guaranteed is the weather, nor how cold your house is when you get home – especially when you have unpredictable hours (and weather) like we’ve had all week. It’s all well and good setting your timer to come on at the same time every day so it’s warm when you get in, but getting home at different times or even just remembering to change the timer in the morning isn’t always going to happen.

This is where Hive, an offspring of British Gas comes in – a new system which links in to your heating system and can be controlled via your Smartphone or browser. So on Monday when I got to pickup nice and early around 3.15 I could have programmed the Hive Active Heating to come on by the time we got home. On Thursday when it was a 5.15pm pickup I could do the same – saving that couple of hours of heating, but not having to be home to do it.

Hive Active Heating sounds too good to be true – it does loads! It lets you monitor, alter and control your heating and hot water. You can adjust your schedules and temperatures away from home and have alerts sent to your mobile if temperatures reach a certain level.

I tend to do most of my personal stuff on the train to and from work, so knowing I could control Hive this way is something which works for me. Alas, our heating system at home is old and nasty (we even have an immersion switch for our hot water) so getting one installed wouldn’t be possible. A girl can still dream though! (or think about moving house)

Hive costs £199 from British Gas. The app is compatible with iOS and Android devices – and you can even control it via text. You don’t need to change your energy supplier either.

We received payment for this post, all opinions are our own.

23/02/201423/02/2014 by jo

Banoffee Pie

To celebrate H turning four and a half we made Banoffee Pie. Ever since it featured on The Great British Bake-Off, Shaun and H have been wanting to make it, but we’ve wanted a nice simple recipe so H could help too.

Banoffee Pie isn’t difficult to make. Here are the ingredients :

One pack of digestive biscuits (250g crushed)
100g butter
Can of Carnation Caramel
300ml Whipping Cream
Three bananas
Chocolate for topping (grated)

Crush the biscuits – these are going to be the base of the pie. Melt the 100g butter and add to the crushed biscuit base to make a solid base. Grease a 20cm tin with butter, and press the mixture into the tin to form the pie base.

Leave to set in the fridge for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes bring the base out of the fridge and add the Carnation Caramel. Chop the banana into slices and place on top of the Caramel.

Whip the cream lightly until it forms soft peaks. Add bananas (if you think it’s a good idea – we did). Spoon this onto the top of your pie.

Banoffee Pie cream

Place in the fridge to chill for a bit longer.

Banoffee Pie Cream Top

Grate the chocolate and once your pie is ready to eat, sprinkle on top. This last step can be tricky as for some reason our grater had a weird static reaction with the chocolate so it went flying everywhere!

After that, eat.

This was nice and simple to make, the only cooking involved was melting the butter, so a perfect one for H to do the majority of!

This recipe is based on this one from the Carnation Website and takes approximately 15 minutes (without taking the 30 minutes chilling in between) to make.

22/02/2014 by jo

Heat Holders Thermal Tights

It’s cold. So cold. I’m cold all the time. At home it takes a while for me to warm up. At work I’m always freezing. I live in Uniqlo Heattech tops and jeans to try and stay warm before I give up and switch to thermals. Ah, thermals. Those unattractive undergarments you hide underneath your regular clothes to attempt to stay warm. Those attractive shades of beige, right?

Wrong! Read on to find more about the Heat Holders Thermal Tights I’ve been sent to review.

Heat Holders Thermal Tights are my kind of tights – thick black ones which don’t fall down (always a problem when you’re tall like me). I was offered a pair to review, and having bought a couple of skirts for myself in the sales I knew a good time to try them out would be on a trip to the park.

This wasn’t just any trip though. This was as the cold, icy winds were making their way towards London. Oh they were bitter. This would be the kind of weather I’d probably try and put my waterproof trousers on over my jeans for extra warmth. The park we visited is in the middle of Banstead, but still gets a lot of wind thanks to the open space.

The verdict? Freaking marvellous! I had such warm legs!! This was a whole new experience for me – tights I’ve worn in the past are generally 80 denier and vaguely warm until it gets chilly. This time I was toasty warm all over – and it was Shaun and H who both wanted to leave the park first due to being cold. I’m really impressed, they’re lovely and thick (140 denier), come in four sizes (small, medium, large, extra large) and have a tog of 0.52. We’re not talking duvet warm, but we’re talking warm.

The Heat Holders thermal tights wash well and so far I’ve had no issues with snagging. In fact, my only issue is that I need more pairs – at £8 they’re not cheap, but having tried them I’m going to get myself another pair, if only to be able to wear more skirts again!

Heat Holders Thermal Tights can be bought from the Sock Shop for £8 a pair.

We were sent a pair for the purpose of review – all opinions are my very toasty own.

Mum Friendly

the things we do, the things we like

Author / jo