To celebrate my 40th birthday, you may recall that we spent a few days at the Fisherman’s cottages in Whitstable. Andrew’s friend Emma had suggested that we visit The Sportsman pub in nearby Seasalter for a celebratory dinner, so I emailed them to make a reservation the week before we were due to visit. I […]
Dinner
Corned beef pie – a Welsh classic (new recipe)
Corned beef pie – a welsh classic If you are of a certain age, you probably ate lots of corned beef when you were growing up. Tinned or sliced, this mystery meat is salty and fatty, with a non-meat texture. For a food snob like me, I should avoid it like the plague, but I […]
Alphabet Adventures – K is for Korean
When Jo, Charlotte and I started Alphabet Adventures there were no marriages or kids in our little triumvirate. Life has changed considerably in the last couple of years, and we’re taking bets that hopefully we’ll reach ‘Z’ by the time Henry, Charlotte’s eldest, starts university! So we’re up to K now, and decided on a […]
Week 31 – birthday celebrations at 9 months pregnant
Andrew celebrated his 41st birthday in the week, and it was a very different one from previous years what with me being less than a week from my pregnancy due date (18 July). Almost all of our NCT pals have had their little ones and that’s really brought it home for us that we don’t […]
Week 30 – stocking up the freezer for baby
Because I am a greedy pig, one of the things I was most looking forward to about maternity leave was stocking the freezer with meals in preparation for when our baby arrives. The thought of having a freezer stocked with healthy meals which simply need to be defrosted and heated fills me with happiness, so […]
Week 29 – an evening with Antonio Carluccio and Cirio
When I went out on Thursday night to celebrate the 160th birthday of the Cirio tomatoes brand with Antonio Carluccio, I didn’t expect to end the evening with him giving my bump a crafty pat. Some pregnant women have that kind of thing happen to them all the time (not necessarily courtesy of Carluccio) but I’ve only […]
Week 28 – escaping Brexit pain in Paris
Living in a democracy is a wonderful thing, but when a result is not what you’d hoped, it can be hard to see that … especially when you have listened to months of political rhetoric that you find hard to stomach. We woke up on Friday morning to a result we had been dreading, but […]
Weeks 23-27 – birthday celebrations and nurturing my bump
These last few weeks have flown by as Andrew and I prepare for the imminent arrival of our baby boy, and it seems like there’s hardly any time to fit blogging around cooking, cleaning, sorting out the garden, sorting out the nursery, working, and finding the energy to grow this baby inside of me, as […]
Week 22 – getting ready for baby
A few weeks ago I got a bit of a shock when I realised I had just 11 weeks left until D-Day (providing the baby turns up on time), and I shared a panicky status update on Facebook saying that so far my preparations had so far stretched as far as buying one t-shirt for the […]
Week 21 – feasting in Paris and London, plus The Fat Bear review
I never anticipated how tiring growing another human could be, and recently my diary hasn’t reflected this added burden. Wednesday evenings are NCT evenings nowadays, which gives us 2.5 hours of baby ‘training’: how to hold a baby (using a doll), the realities of labour (scary), and of course the opportunity to meet seven other […]