21/06/201206/01/2015 by jo

Hornby Tea and Toy Party

In case you’d forgotten, the Olympics are coming soon to London (our high street has banners ready for the torch procession coming soon). There’s a ton of merchandise out there – and within that there’s some old classics who’ve made some lovely products available.

Last Saturday H and I headed to Hamleys for a Hornby Tea and Toy party, where we got to look at a lot of the Olympic 2012 range of toys and have a play. H had a chance to have a play with a Scalextric (she’s not quite got the co-ordination, but loved putting the cars back on the track), and wanted to climb up and play with the Olympic trains in the centre of the track (trains and railways are going down extremely well at the moment).

I have to say, I wasn’t a fan of our 2012 logo when I first saw it, but seeing this merchandise I’m finding that actually it works quite well – its subtler than I’d have thought it could be, and with the union jack, or just classic London things (buses, cabs, tube trains as well as a mini which we bought) they’re really nice.

H meets Wenlock

The tea party also included a visit from Wenlock our Olympics Mascot. H was initially a bit shy, but came out of her shell after a few minutes and seemed to constantly want to give him a hug! Luckily in our fab goody bags we got a Wenlock (and Mandeville, the paralympics mascot) keyring, so that kept her happy later on…

The one thing I missed and wish we’d seen was the Olympic die-cast figurines – they look pretty cool and a nice memento of the games (though quite expensive!).

Hornby have made some fabulous mementoes, and I’d definitely recommend having a look at their site – and now H has a memento of the Olympics that she’ll be playing with for a long time.

14/06/201206/01/2015 by jo

Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom – a New Series is Coming!!

We love Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom – it fits perfectly into our morning routine – the episodes are on Nick Jr at 7.15am which is just enough time to get H’s shoes on and her bag packed for nursery while we do all our grown up stuff in the background. Each episode is approximately ten minutes long.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

Having said that, we found we were watching a lot of the same episodes – no major problem there, but we were looking forward to some new ones, and had heard a rumour something was imminent.

Well, the wait is no more – the new series starts on Nick Jr. on the 2nd July 2012 at 7.15am and repeated later that day at 5.30pm on Monday to Thursday.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

We were sent a preview DVD, and while we’ve only seen two of the episodes so far, it has to be said that ‘Daisy & Poppy Go to Nursery’ is possibly the most surreal and hilarious episode yet! You can expect more of the usual – jelly floods (which goes without saying – but not from who you’d expect), magic that doesn’t quite do as it’s meant to, and all your favourite characters returning for more fun.

There’ll be 52 episodes, with the first 13 being shown from this date.

Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom returns to Nick Jr. 2nd July 2012 at 7.15am and 5.30pm, Monday to Thursday. I’ve just spotted a Ben & Holly stage show too, coming to loads of venues around the UK….

14/06/201206/01/2015 by jo

We Love Books – The Somethingosaur

The Somethingosaur is a new book by Tony Mitton, which was released on the 6th June 2012.

It’s the story of an adorable little creature (The Somethingosaur) who hatches from his egg and finds he’s separated from his mummy, but actually he has no idea who his mummy is.

You know the story by now; it’s an old familiar tale; told in many ways – but what makes this great is the rhyming – it felt like the really good nice simple sentences structured not a million miles from a Julia Donaldson book – and was really enjoyable to read (and if you’ve a keen reader then it’s possible that by the second read they’ll already be finishing your sentences for you).

The pictures are lovely too – and make me want to make a Somethingosaur doll… it’d be too cute!

There’s a happy ending of course, it’s a lovely book which was a delight to read and look at. Tony Mitton (the author) and Russel Ayto (the illustrator) have done a marvellous job!

The Somethingosaur is a HarperCollins Children’s Book, available now with a rrp of £10.99, hardback only.

I received a copy to review, all opinions are mine.

11/06/201206/01/2015 by jo

We Love Books – I Love Kipper

Those wicked Book People dropped by Shaun’s work again, and as well as getting the pack of ten Julia Donaldson books (we’ll talk about those another time), we picked up our first Kipper books by Mick Inkpen – a name we weren’t familiar with, but the books look so lovely we had to try.

As it was, the risk was worth it – Kipper has all kinds of adventures – you get ten books for £10 – so that’s £1 a book too which is extremely reasonable. Mick Inkpen has also written and illustrated the Wibbly Pig books which I’ve seen, but we don’t own – and both sets of books now have tv shows.

The books you get in the I Love Kipper bag are : One Year With Kipper, Hide Me, Kipper!, Kipper’s Toybox, Kipper and Roly, Kipper’s Christmas Eve, Kipper’s Monster, Kipper’s Birthday, Kipper’s Snowy Day, Kipper’s Beach Ball and Kipper. They come in a sturdy plastic carry bag too, which is handy for keeping them all together.

The books? Each is a beautifully illustrated story about things Kipper has done – H will choose two or three to read after lunch and is engrossed – the books are targeted at the age range 2-5, so perfect for her.

The tv series? It looks like it’s not currently on CiTV, so we’ll have to look out for a DVD or some YouTube footage – I suspect it’ll also go down very well…

10/06/201208/10/2019 by jo

Mum’s the Word with Tilda

Tilda Pure Basmatic World Food Programme Tilda Rice is encouraging mums to help mums around the world with it’s partnership with the UN World Food Programme.They’ve recently launched the Mums Helping Mums campaign which will benefit WFP’s Mother and Child nutrition programmes over the next three years.From April to July the Mums Helping Mums logo will feature on Tilda’s Pure Basmati 1kg packs, and every pack sold Tilda will provide one nutritious meal to a new or expectant mum.The Tilda Pure Basmati Mums Helping Mums pack is available in all major supermarkets priced from £4.49.About Tilda

Tilda Pure Basmati is the UK’s number one Basmati brand by volume and value. With over 40 years of experience in buying, importing and selling the highest quality Pure Basmati Rice, it’s a name that you can trust.

Tilda has a wide range of products ranging from Pure Basmati Dry Rice through to Tilda Steamed Basmati, available in a wide variety of flavours.

Basmati remains at the heart of Tilda and the company is committed to preserving the authenticity of the grain. It refuses to blend with inferior grains, carefully removes broken grains, DNA tests every batch, consistently ages the rice for at least 9 months and works hand-in-hand with the farming community to ensure the quality of the final product.

Tilda remains a family business, employing over 200 people in the UK, and is proud of its reputation for uncompromising quality and commitment to sustaining the legendary status of Basmati.

About World Food Programme

WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. Each year, on average, WFP feeds more than 90 million people in more than 70 countries.

WFP provides RSS feeds to help journalists keep up with the latest press releases, videos and photos as they are published on WFP.org. For more details see: http://www.wfp.org/rss

About the Mother & Child Nutrition Campaign

Scientists now know that malnutrition in the first two years of life (the first 1,000 days from conception) can affect mental and physical development into adulthood. Undernourished children are more likely to get sick, have trouble concentrating in school, and may earn less as adults.Mothers who were undernourished as girls are 40 percent more likely to give birth to children who do not survive to age five. And malnourished mothers are more likely to die in childbirth. This is called inter-generational undernutrition – a cycle that’s hard to break.WFP provides good, nutritious food and specialized nutrition products to pregnant women and young children, to ensure that whole families reach their physical and mental potential. And pass on a good start in life – to the next generation.

10/06/2012 by jo

We Saw The Wiggles

Wiggles Hammersmith Apollo by Silver Ash Photography

The Wiggles at Hammersmith Apollo by Rosanna Ashworth-Jones at Silver Ash Photography

I’ve blogged about it elsewhere, but thought I’d do a brief summary here of things I wish I’d known.

• a door open time of 3pm does not mean the auditorium opens at that time. Try to get there half an hour beforehand and you wont be packed into a small area!

• driving is better than going on the train if your naptimes wont work. A cranky toddler at a Wiggles gig does not work. A refreshed toddler ready to jump around for an hour or so does.

• Watch those DVDs yourself, as don’t think you’re getting off scotch-free parent. At least learn the dances, it helps. Your child will have less of a disappointed look towards you when you know how to ‘Do The Monkey’ (and so on)

• Take food for yourself too. You’ll forget and take snacks for your little one then end up stealing their Pom Bears (if you don’t already). Take water too.

• Don’t forget to make a bone for Wags and a flower for Dorothy. If you’re really lucky you may even meet a Wiggle in the process.

• They really don’t have time for photos, but you can stand in line and take a photo of them collecting things which is much nicer.

• You don’t need earplugs if you have to wear them for gigs like I do. Toddler-volumed gigs are the way forward. Bring it on.

• You can take posh cameras into the show. Having said that, the two or three song rule like at regular gigs goes right out of the window. No flash though please!

• If you want to meet a Wiggle, then we found the aisle seats were the best ones, or seats where there’s a gangway. Failing that, they do eventually come out of the building. You can convince your kids that in a few more years they’ll be doing it on their own for the latest teen heartthrob pop star (or band or whatever).

• The merch stands are there to lure you in. If you’re lucky they’ll be cash-only but if you’re unlucky then they’ll take cards. It’s all lovely and bright and colourful and quite expensive too (for some things). There’s also some great bargains at a fantastic price – we love the Eco bags – at £2 that’s a really good price too. Can’t wait to do the weekly shop…

I think that’ll do. Did you see The Wiggles? Do you have any top tips? Let us know!

04/06/201206/01/2015 by jo

Discovery Fajita Kit

We’re fans of Mexican food in this house – it’s easy and doesn’t take too much time to prepare which suits our busy lives right now. We were sent a Discovery Fajita Kit to try out, and having used the Discovery brand a lot, we were more than happy to!

Bearing in mind it was me cooking and I’m vegetarian I switched the meat suggestion for Quorn, and didn’t use the amount suggested (it felt like a lot for three of us) – I padded it out a bit with some edamame, sweetcorn and kidney beans.

You get one sachet of seasoning in the kit, one large salsa sachet and eight wraps. It’s suggested you use two peppers and an onion, but we left out the onion thanks to having a cranky nap-free toddler who was getting angry about everything.

It was simple enough – cook everything, add the seasoning, heat up your wraps (they’re microwaveable as a lot in 45 seconds, or otherwise warm in a grill or in a dry frying pan), add the filling to the warm wrap and serve.

The great thing about it is choosing your filling – with only getting the seasoning it’ll suit everyone. I’d have probably put a bit less in there (as I used less Quorn than their suggested meat amount), though I enjoyed it – H found it a bit too spicy at times for that reason. Also, I’d recommend having some guacamole or soured cream to go with it – I wasn’t prepared at all (see, Nick from The Apprentice’s business idea would have saved my memory here – he’s still doing it – excellent!)

Anyway, to sum up, it probably took around twenty minutes to get ready – another perfect post-work food when you’ve got limited time. What impressed me the most was the tortilla wraps were really lovely and soft, and came rolled – so they pack into the cupboard (and space is limited in our house) not taking up much space at all. Everything is recyclable too.

There’s four kits in total – three Fajita Kits (Original – medium heat, Crispy Crumb – mild heat and Mexican BBQ – mild heat), and one Enchilada Kit – all have a rrp of £3.19 and are available in all good supermarkets.

Excuse the photos, they were taken on my iPod!

01/06/201206/01/2015 by jo

Cooking with Tilda Kids

We were given a great opportunity to try out some Tilda Kids basmati rice pouches – and fortunately they arrived at a perfect time. We did Baby Led Weaning with H, so always eat together for our meals, so it’s rare one of us eats alone with the others later – however, I’ve started a new Pilates class, and had a social evening, so within a week we had a chance to try a couple of them out.

Tilda Kids Rice Pouches

Tilda have introduced a new character – Tilli the Elephant – who is helping promote the rice and veggies pouches – which come in Cheese & Tomato, Sunshine Vegetable, Sweet Vegetable & Wholegrain and Mild & Sweet Curry flavours.

Each pouch is 125g, and takes 40 seconds in the microwave which was great as I was rushing to get ready as well as get H’s food ready – it was convenient and healthy – it counts as one of your five a day. The sachets can be stored in the cupboard and don’t need to be kept chilled – and there are no preservatives involved – Tilda use a steaming process to part cook the rice, with the packs then hermetically sealed, so none are needed!

They’re not designed to be eaten on their own – you’d prepare your food as normal but there’s the convenience side – I tend to prepare a load of vegetables and some Quorn to use over two nights (as we have about 40 minutes from getting home to eating).

Open the sachet

There’s also some purée in the sachet hidden away if your little one is a bit fussy, as well as small pieces of vegetables in each pouch.

As each sachet is basmati rice, (and having had gestational diabetes I know this is the best kind of rice to have as far as carbohydrate intake goes), they’re much less starchy than other kinds of rice which is a huge plus point.

Now – the result. H wasn’t sure about them to start with (she does like rice) and initially picked out and ate the vegetables she liked – but this was more due to it being a new flavour for her – and she’d soon tucked in. I’d say there’s more in a pouch than you’d use for one portion, so I helped her finish it! Would I buy these? Definitely if I have another week like this one – the convenience of having the food ready quickly is something which I need.

You can buy the Tilda Rice Sachets from Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Ocado and Asda, each pack has a rrp of £1.15

We were sent the rice pouches to review, all opinions are that of H and I!

We were sent a couple of recipes to try out – we’ve not had a chance yet, but with the long weekend looming I’m sure we’ll get a chance…

BEANS MEANS BOATS
(Makes 14 boats)

Ingredients
1 pouch Tilda Kids Cheese & Tomato Rice
1 tbsp. sunflower or vegetable oil
1 pack (160g) chopped flavoured chicken, for example barbeque
1 small tin BBQ baked beans (200g)
1 pack Taco Trays
Salt & Pepper
Grated cheese or cheese strings

Method
Heat the oil in a large frying pan.
Roughly chop the chicken pieces and add to the oil.
Heat through for 2-3 minutes
Add 1 pouch of Tilda Kids Cheese & Tomato Rice and stir in.
Add the beans and heat thoroughly for 3-4 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Follow instructions to heat Taco trays.
Fill each tray with the beany mix and top with your favourite cheese or shredded cheese strings.

FUNNY FACE FRITTATAS

Makes 24 Frittatas
Ingredients
1 pouch Tilda Kids Sunshine Vegetable Rice
1 small onion, finely chopped, about 50g
50g, cooked broccoli, cut into small pieces
4 tbsps canned Sweetcorn, drained
100g grated cheddar cheese
4 eggs, beaten
A few snipped chives
Salt & pepper

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 200°c, 180°c fan or Gas Mark 6
Empty contents of 1 pouch Tilda Kids Sunshine Vegetable Rice into a large jug and stir in the onion, cooked broccoli, Sweetcorn, cheese and chives.
In a separate bowl beat the eggs together.
Add the eggs to the rice mix.
Season well.
Grease a non-stick 12 hole mini muffin tin
Use half the mix divide between the 12 holes
Cook in the oven for 15 minutes.
Cook another batch.

29/05/201205/06/2016 by jo

We Love Books – The Ultimate Baby and Toddler Q&A Book – Netmums

I remember back when we were preparing for H to come into this world, and one of the first things we did was nipped to Mothercare and checked all the baby books. I had no idea what to buy, and opted for a hardback book which I thought would be useful. I guess it probably was, but it was pictures and words and actually, once H was born it was never opened.

A more useful book was the ‘What To Expect When You’re Expecting’ book and the follow-up ‘What To Expect – The First Year’ – but there was a lot in there, and it covered everything – to the point it was overwhelming.

Add to that a Miriam Stoppard book my sister gave me which had me in tears when I’d read a page as everything felt so terrifying, and really it was the internet which gave me the support I needed and information I wanted.

Which is where this book comes in. This is exactly the sort of book a new mum should have – it doesn’t go into a lot of detail, but you don’t need that – there’s plenty of places that cater for that. I found that other people’s experiences and advice (even if I pretended I didn’t need to hear it, I just needed to be ready on MY terms) were what helped me the most when I was trying to ‘get it right’. So you have fifty questions with answers from the experts, and additional comments from Netmums contributors – or should I say, parents who know, and have been through it.

The Ultimate Baby & Toddler Q&A - taking notes

“ah, so that’s what mummy’s trying to do when I have a bit of a screaming tantrum. Bwahahaha”

It’s again very much the kind of book you can dip in and out of like ‘Toddlers – An Instruction Manual‘ by Joanne Mallon – and there’s different perspectives on each question – there’s never a 100% correct way to do something, and it’s reassuring to know others understand or have done things in a way you wouldn’t have thought about – which to me is what communities like Netmums are about.

The book is put together by Hollie Smith a freelance journalist who has already written six books for Netmums.

As for us, I wish we’d had it sooner! The toddler section is a lot smaller than the baby one – so I’m going to be doing the neighbourly thing and passing the book onto my next door neighbour who will definitely get a lot out of it with her seven month old. I’d highly recommend the book, regardless!

I was provided with a copy of the book for review. (which has since been passed on to next door!)

27/05/201205/06/2016 by jo

The Leather Satchel Co – Bags We Love

I have discovered the wonderful hand crafted skills of The Leather Satchel Co – read on for more!

The Leather Satchel Co Purple

The Leather Satchel Co are a family-run business who make hand crafted leather satchels.

My old record bag I use for work slowly started to fall apart. I reckoned I had about a month left until one of the straps broke, so knew it was time to move to a new bag. I have a few bags, my Mia Tui ones don’t quite work for work (I sometimes have an evil commute with no seat on the train and rammed in a carriage with loads of others), so I wanted something which could carry my essentials – those being my MacBook Pro, Kindle, iPod Touch, purse and random toiletries. So I did as I have been doing lately, and asked for advice from other parent bloggers.

This sent me in the direction of The Leather Satchel Co – who provided some fabulous bags for Cybher (I didn’t go.. but I’ve bought a ticket for next year), and after spending approximately two minutes looking at the purple one, I had to try to get Jo who I sit next to at work to convince me not to buy it. (I had a load of Amazon vouchers)

Then came the next issue – would it hold everything I need it to? After having had a huge record bag I was pretty good at carrying around loads of junk I didn’t need (three packs of tissues, gloves, toddler leg warmers, a CD, badges I’ve been carrying in there since Christmas, etc. I even found a tampon in the side pocket which I think is meant to hold your mobile phone),

so actually downsizing and being careful would be a good thing – and I’m now using my Mia Tui clutch bag for my toiletries – so when I switch bags between work and parenting it’s even easier – brilliant! In the end after getting more advice and emailing the Leather Satchel Co people, I went for the 14″ version at £81.

Inside the satchel I placed the order on the 21st May, and it arrived on the 25th – in a beautifully wrapped up package. I tore it open, and realised that actually, the size I ordered is only just the right size, and actually I need to do some serious downsizing (in retrospect I probably should have gone for the 15″). Weighing things up, this isn’t actually a massive problem as I do have back trouble, so I wont overload my bag in any way – as the photos show! There’s exactly the right amount of space for everything – but nothing else! It’s an extremely snug fit.

I’m not complaining though – and the colour – it’s a gorgeous purple. It arrived on the same day I was wearing a purple striped t-shirt which matched which amused me and probably nobody else at all.

Tomorrow the bag makes its official commute debut, so we’ll see how we get on… (I’m secretly hoping everyone who gets on gasps at the satchel’s gorgeousness while I grab the last available seat, but we’ll see)

The things I like about the Leather Satchel Co :

It was so well packaged – standard delivery, and it arrived the next day too.

There’s a beautiful choice of colours, and this purple is good. Very good.

It’s handmade.

They’re a british family run business – read a feature over here with more information about them.

This will be a good bag for my back. A very good bag for my back, and that in turn is a very good thing.

Jo at work is full of lots of very sensible advice. One of her flatmates likes to think that for anything you buy you should get £30 worth of use per year out of it. So going on this you’d expect just over two and a half years of wear – it comes with a five year guarantee – which gave me a lot of confidence in purchasing from them.

You can order from Amazon – as well as several other places – which is good if you’re like me and save up your gift vouchers for something really nice.

Check them out anyway, they’re very friendly and helpful and there are tons of options for your satchel too. (I didn’t get my initials embossed, I couldn’t decide what to get, and just ‘Jo’ felt a bit weird).

** I have a Leather Satchel Co affiliate code now – if you place an order using this code you’ll get £5 off your satchel – pretty bloody good, don’t you think? Use 0NDZPI2N6FZUO at the checkout process! **

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