A Modern Mother

Three easy steps to composting!

The lovely Karen at The Rubbish Diet has asked me to talk about compost.

I can just see your eyes glazing over now.

Wait! Don't hit delete.

Composting is easy. If I can do it then the barrier to entry is obviously not very high ;-)

How many mums does it take to organise a charity dinner?

In my experience, charity dinners are usually the result of the hard work of at least five mums. The committee is formed eight months before the event, and it meets at least twice a month. Hours are spent agonising over chicken dijon or beef medallions and if it should be black tie or let's be crazy, how about a Bollywood theme? Activity increases to a crescendo in the last three weeks leading up to THE EVENT. Are the raffle tickets back? Can you go to HobbyCraft to pick up silver coated twigs? And some white silk lillis?  More meetings. Lots of phone calls. Texts. Add it all up and it must be at least 200+ woman hours. 160 coffees. 240 chocolate digestives. Not to mention the lost sleep.

Is being a good writer enough?

I first thought about this in relation to blogging thanks to Jen at Alpha Mummy.  She had just been to Blogher and Megan from Velveteen Mind had posed the question. Anyway, it's been bouncing around in my mind for a little while now and has been itching to come out...

Is being a good writer enough anymore?

If you don't care about readers, comments, and community -- the kind of stuff that rattles around in my mind-- stop reading this post RIGHT NOW. It will just annoy you. Then you will annoy me by writing some sort of "anti post" that is not "meant to be interpreted as an attack" (BTW - if you have to say that it obviously is). Just humour me and go somewhere else. Thanks.

Will you sit by me?

I did my time yesterday. Lunch duty. I was in the hall with about 150 kids and trays and trays of fish and chips.

After pouring 100 glasses of water (half-full, so the little ones don't spill) I looked out upon the sea of children. The floor was slightly damp from the rain and the greasy smell of chips permeated the air. Groups of friends were talking. The buzz loud, but comforting. I saw my youngest (nearly 5!) with rosy cheeks, laughing with her "boy" friend. She was surrounded by a table of other 4 and 5 year-olds. She looked happy.

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

FYI -- we were given this DVD to review.

I've put my (nearly) eight-year-old to work. Here's her first review: the DVD Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

It was great! It was about a boy called "Flint." He changed water to food with a machine he invented. It wasn't a very good idea because there was a spaghetti and meatball tornado. Then giant food rolled to all the people all over the world while Flint was trying to turn the machine down.

At the start it rained hamburgers. The next day it rained orange juice, bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast. Then it rained ice cream for Calum's birthday (the police man's son).

On haggis and Burns Night

I love my Scottish husband. I would do anything for him. Give up my career, spend my days wiping dirty bottoms, make endless meals from morning 'till night.

But I absolutely, resolutely refuse to eat haggis.

Never will a forkful of that oatmeal/lamb innards mixture pass my lips. I don't care if it is a national dish. Or if my marriage depends on it. The thought of it makes my tummy turn.

I know this is not fair. I know that many people relish haggis, enjoy it even. Especially on the 25th of January, Burns Night, the birth date of the beloved Scottish poet Robbie Burns.

Fourteen great book club suggestions from Twitter Mums

It's book club tonight! We just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and this evening we get to sip on a glass of chardonnay, munch on nibbles and rattle on. Hopefully about the book! (FYI: loved GLAPPPS, a bit predictable at times, but a very comforting read. I felt really happy after and wanted to move to Guernsey and join their society!)

Part of the fun of book club is coming up with suggestions for the next read. Being the social media whizz that I am (ahem), I put out a note on twitter (sorry, I can't bring myself to use the term "tweet") and within a FEW MINUTES I got some really good suggestions. Have a look, it's a varied list with some fab reads.

1.  A Million Little Pieces is a semi-fictional memoir by James Frey. It is story of a young alcoholic and drug user and how he deals with it in a 12-step programme. (thanks Double Trouble).

More healthy meals the kids love...

Hubby gave me Jamie's America for Christmas, and I have spent a few evenings browsing his recipes on my quest to find more meals the whole family will enjoy...

To my delight I stumbled upon Southern Red Bean and Pork. This is real comfort food.  It's lovely and chunky and full of hidden veggies. You could even make it in a slow cooker. You'll need to buy the book for the official recipe, but here's my take on it:

British Mummy Bloggers post for Haiti

Horrified by these photos? Want to do something?

British Mummy Bloggers (thanks Englishmum, Liz and Eva and many others) are uniting to help spread awareness of those in need in Haiti and how people can help.

If you are a blogger, please join our campaign and post as soon as you can. Then get the word out on Facebook and Twitter, using #haiti #bloggersforhaiti.

No donation is too small. Every little bit helps.

There are several place to donate, including Bloggers for Haiti Just Giving Page, Save The Children, DEC Haiti Earthquake appeal and UNICEF.

If you post, please link below.

Photo credit: elycefeliz

I should have been a food blogger

I got it all wrong; instead of whinging blogging about kids all day, I should be a FOOD BLOGGER. Then I could try out cool new accessories and cook and eat -- all in the name of my readers! If I had known about blogging 20 years ago when I was foot loose and fancy free and not forced to produce meals of fish fingers and baked beans, I KNOW I would have been a food blogger. At least I would have aspired to be one.

 

Meet my new friends ... Bronwyn of Feast with Bron, Anne from Anne's Kitchen, the lovely Carla who Can Be Bribed With Food, Jennifer of Chocolate Ecstasy, Robin who blogs at Source Cook Eat, and Mimi  from MeeMalee's Kitchen.  We spent the day at Miele's Experience Centre in Abingdonmaking some very delicious coffee in high end machines and trying out some of Miele's cool appliances. We melted chocolate in the steam ovens and then dipped in crispy amaretti biscuits. We made an asparagus and sunblush tomato quiche and creamy mushroom penne. Did I mention there were no kids anywhere in site?