Review: Paint and Play Dinosaurs from Interplay

The small boy has recently been learning more about dinosaurs. We’ve been reading stories about them and watching Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures on CBeebies together. We’ve been talking about what they’d sound like, how they’d walk, fly or swim and what their skin would look and feel like. With almost perfect timing we received the Paint and Play Dinosaurs set from Interplay to test.

paint and play dinosaurs

The Interplay Paint and Play Dinosaurs set contains three prehistoric dinosaurs to paint, two tiny terrified cavemen, a set of paints, a paintbrush and a dinosaur fact sheet to learn more about the dinosaurs you’re decorating.

paint and play dinosaurs

The set contains a T-Rex, Pterodactyl and a Stegosaurus. The dinosaurs are white and you can paint them however you want. I chose to paint the Stegosaurus and the small boy went for the T-Rex and the Pterodactyl. I chose to copy the markings on the fact sheet as best I could, he chose to paint them in his own inimitable style.

paint and play dinosaurs

We had tremendous fun painting our dinosaurs and talking about the different colours they might be. There was plenty of paint to use and it was all washable (which was good news for his clothes and my tablecloth). There was only one fine paintbrush, so I needed to raid my supplies, so that’s worth noting if you’re going to paint your dinosaurs as a group activity.

Painting them kept us occupied for a good half hour or so, plus there was lots to talk about and the fact sheet helped us find out more about the fearsome beasts we were cheerfully painting purple and orange. We had to leave them to dry before we could play with them properly, so we read some of his dinosaur books while we waited.

Paint and Play Dinosaurs

Ok, so our dino-depictions may not be 100% factually accurate, but they were 100% fun to do. It was a nice focussed activity which he enjoyed doing, but at the same time worked his pencil (paintbrush) grip, his hand-eye co-ordination and gave us the opportunity to have a discussion all about dinosaurs, where they came from and what happened to them.

The Paint and Play Dinosaurs set from Interplay is suitable for ages 4-7. The small boy is nearly five and I think this is spot on for him. There are quite a few different sets to choose from in the Interplay Craft Box line, so I’ll be choosing something else for him to paint for our next rainy afternoon together.

Note: We were sent the Interplay Paint and Play Dinosaurs set free of charge for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Review: Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle

It is no exaggeration to say when I opened the box containing my latest Yankee Candle – Sparkle On, Gorgeous I let out an audible gasp of adoration. Not only was this candle beautifully different to any other Yankee Candle I’ve seen but it smelt intoxicatingly different to my normal go-to fruity scented candles.

The Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle is part of a new range of tumbler candles designed to be given as a gift. The range is based on some of the most popular and classic Yankee Candle scents and features bold colours and a striking design. I personally loved the design of my Sparkle On, Gorgeous candles, not only is it my favourite colour, but the contemporary styling worked really well in my house.

Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle

This 10oz tumbler candle should burn for up to 40 hours, retailing at approximately £15, my slightly wonky maths makes that just under 38p per hour – pretty good value. The candle wax itself is almost black, it has two wicks and sits in a lovely decorated glass tumbler. Its contemporary styling and brushed metal lid would suit a wide range of rooms and it would make a very lovely and stylish gift.

The Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle features the classic “Midsummer’s Night” candle. It’s an intoxicating and musky blend of masculine scents including patchouli, sage and mahogany cologne. At first sniff it’s very like a delicious musky aftershave. It’s masculine, but it’s not just for men, I can imagine many women would burn this scent because it is so evocative.

Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle

The “throw” on this Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle is pretty good. It takes maybe half an hour for the scent to start to fill the room, but once it gets going it’s delicious; reminiscent of hot sultry summer nights, but still perfect for burning all year round, whatever the weather.

As the autumn nights begin to draw in, burning this lovely candle will remind me of warm summer evenings and the heady almost Mediterranean scents of patchouli, sage and the aftershave of the man I love. Delicious.

Note: We were sent the Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle free of charge for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Healing, happiness and the beauty of my recovery

I was sat in the autumn sunshine at the weekend. I was feeling happy. It’s a rare feeling for me, any happy I have usually has a small undercurrent of my ever present anxiety running through it. But the sun was shining, I had a pint in my hand, was in great company and I felt relaxed and happy. Carefree almost.

I sipped my drink as I listened to my companions chatting away, it was warm and I was wearing a t-shirt. I’m not so self conscious of my scars these days, they’re part of me and my history and whilst I regret one or two of them, I don’t hate them so much.

The sun lit up the silvery lines of my scars and made them shimmer slightly in the bright light. For a moment I ran my hand across them, trying to hide them or rub them out so the others wouldn’t see, but I can’t erase them, so I paused and made a conscious choice to admire their beauty rather than be ashamed of them. I looked at the shimmering silver on my arms, like rivulets of precious metal running over my flesh and I was reminded of Kintsugi.

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with gold, silver or platinum. It literally means “golden joinery”. It’s a beautiful thing and rather plain and ordinary bowls and dishes become breathtaking and rather astonishing works of art when they are repaired in this way. I am Kintsugi. I am an ordinary thing made beautiful by my scars; the rivulets my of scars in shades of silver and platinum show the world my recovery. They tell everyone how I am healed and that I am stronger because of these shimmering silver lines, not in spite of them.

I am Kintsugi. I am beautiful.

healing

Review: Tree Fu Tom and the Carrots Of Doom DVD

The Tree Fu Tom and the Carrots Of Doom DVD was released on 5th October and it contains over two hours of Treeopolis fun and adventures! Join Tree Fu Tom, Ariela, Zigzoo, Twigs and friends to perform some Big World Magic and help Tom to save the day in his usual way – with the help of his loyal friends and some Big World Magic!

The Tree Fu Tom and the Carrots Of Doom DVD contains six action packed episodes, each featuring our hero – Tree Fu Tom. Aimed at pre-schoolers aged 2-6, there’s lots of fun and adventure with an emphasis on friendship and a little lesson in each episode (patience is a virtue etc). We’ve been avid fans of Tree Fu Tom since it began on CBeebies in 2012.

The six action packed episodes on the Tree Fu Tom and the Carrots Of Doom DVD are –
– Carrots of Doom
– Picture This
– Dragon Fruit Fiasco
– Ranger Tom: A Badge Too Far
– King Stink
– The Sprite Before Christmas

We’ve always enjoyed watching and joining in with Tree Fu Tom and helping him to create the magic at home. The series was originally developed with the help of the Dyspraxia Foundation with the intention of promoting movement and co-ordination in pre-school children, plus it’s fun to join in with, and it gets us all off the sofa!

Being a huge Tree Fu Tom fan, the small boy loved watching this DVD, true to form he got up and copied Tom and his magical movements to create the magic at home. We think Tree Fu Tom and the Carrots of Doom is a must for any Tree Fu fan!

The Tree Fu Tom and the Carrots Of Doom DVD is available from a wide range of retailers including Amazon from Monday 5th October 2015.

My Sunday Photo 11.10.15

Enjoy Britain’s Best Breakfast for The Carers Trust

The Carers Trust have launched Britain’s Best Breakfast – an annual national fundraising campaign to raise money to help support unpaid carers and give them a break from their caring role. As part of the campaign they are asking people to invite their friends and family to join them for a fundraising breakfast and raise money for Carers Trust. Everyone who signs up to get a hosting information pack before 18 October goes in the draw to win an iPad.

Today, 1 in 10 of us is a carer. That’s nearly 7 million people. So even if you aren’t a carer yourself, it’s likely you know someone who needs the support of the Carers Trust. The Carers Trust is a charity close to my heart, having been a carer myself, I know just how hard it can be physically and emotionally. Young carers in particular need additional support.

£12 could offer support through a counselling session for a carer,
giving them the chance to voice their concerns and gain reassurance.

£15 could give a young carer a few carefree hours by giving them the opportunity to take part in a range of activities from arts and crafts to sport.

£50 could go towards providing a carer with a much needed respite break. This is so important as so often carers go for months or even years without a break

£75 can save valuable time for an exhausted carer by going towards a washing machine or dishwasher – a vital piece of equipment for a carer

£120 can help a very desperate carer in need of urgent help – by contributing to a carers emergency service where swift, practical support is given in a crisis

Britain’s Biggest Breakfast sounds like a really lovely sociable thing to do anyway, and if you’re sitting down and having a little breakfast party anyway, why not raise a bit of money for the Carers Trust at the same time?

You can find out more about The Carers Trust and Britain’s Best Breakfast on their website.

Charity Challenge – How quickly can I peel an egg?

Britain's Best Breakfast

We were challenged to see how quickly we could peel the shell off an egg. I thought I’d be pretty good at this because I shell quite a lot of eggs each week. I was wrong. You can see the video of how we got on below, but as a benchmark the fastest time to shell one unpricked boiled egg is 2.66 seconds and was achieved by Silvio Sabba (Italy) in Strumica, Macedonia, on 21 August 2012. As you can see from the video it took us slightly longer than 2.66 seconds. Oh dear.

We did not egg-cel at egg shelling. Our gifts clearly lie in other areas – but we gave it a good go and had a cracking time trying. I don’t think we’d ever get our time to under three seconds anyway.

Why not set up your own little challenge at your breakfast party. Here are a few suggestions for your own charity challenge (it’s not as easy as you’d think) –

• Most toast slices buttered in one minute
• Fastest time to peel a hard-boiled egg
• Most eggs cracked with one hand in one minute

However well you get on, the great thing it you can always eat the results. Don’t forget to tweet them to let them know how you got on with your challenge, and what yummy things you’re having for your breakfast event.

Cooking with Kids: Homemade Butter

At the end of September I was lucky enough to spend a day at River Cottage with a gorgeous group of food bloggers and Foodies100. It was a marvellous day and you can read about it all here. But for me one of the highlights was making homemade butter from scratch. It was something I did at school about 25 years ago, but this was quicker and much more fun. So it was one of the first things I wanted to try with the boy when I got home.

It was very easy, fun to do and with an educational element we can all get behind. By chance I’d spied some yellow stickered cream in my local supermarket and at 25p for a big carton, it had “make me into butter” written all over it.

making butter

The recipe is from the River Cottage team, it’s not mine so I won’t even try and claim it as my own. On the day we all picked a variety of herbs, chopped them up and incorporated them into the butter, or you could just salt it like we did at home (it’s hard to get green bits in butter past the rigorous quality control standards of a small child). It’s the kind of recipe you can adapt however you want. Tarragon butter? Garlic butter? Thyme butter? You choose!

Homemade Butter

Make your own creamy homemade butter. It’s so easy and a lovely fun thing to do with the kids.

Ingredients
200ml double cream
Pinch salt, optional

Instructions
Using an electric whisk, whip the cream until it looks like very stiff scrambled eggs. Keep mixing using a spatula until the mixture separates into butter and buttermilk. Set aside the buttermilk.

Using your cold hands, squeeze the excess buttermilk from the butter. Rinse the butter in iced water, squeeze any further moisture out and pat dry.

Put your homemade butter on a piece of baking parchment and flatten into a rectangle and sprinkle with salt, adding any herbs if you are making a herb butter.

Roll up like a swiss roll and put it in the fridge to chill. It is ready to use however you wish.

Notes

You can save the buttermilk and use it in another recipe, maybe in scones or soda bread.

It’s pretty quick to make if you use an electric whisk, you could beat it by hand if you wanted, but it might take forever. The small boy loved helping to whisk the cream, insisted on trying it when it looked (but did not taste) like scrambled eggs and he enjoyed helping to pat it flat, like play-dough but all slippy.

making butter

It’s a lovely thing to do with kids, I think it’s good to teach them where food comes from and how it is made. Cookery, maths and science go hand in hand. It’s edible education and I think we can all agree that’s a very good thing indeed!

An unforgettable day at River Cottage

I remember watching the first ever series of River Cottage and being really inspired by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Over the years we’ve followed him on TV, watched the move from the original River Cottage to its new base near Axminster and continued to be inspired by the River Cottage way of life. Hardly a week goes by without me making a HFW recipe, and when we went to River Cottage for a meal in 2008 it was beyond a shadow of a doubt THE best foodie experience of my life. It could never be topped. Or could it?

In late September nearly 50 lovely food bloggers made the journey to River Cottage, convening in the car park at 9am, ready for the very bumpy tractor ride down the hill. Since my last visit to River Cottage the original barn/dining room had burnt down and been rebuilt, and a shiny new cookery school building had been added. It was bigger, slicker, but still as beautiful.

river cottage

We were greeted by the team, ushered into a yurt and briefed about our day. We were split into three groups and we could each have a turn having a farm and garden tour, make some bread and butter and have a go at some food styling and photography with the ever lovely Lucy (aka Capture by Lucy). But first, breakfast canapes and coffee, all with a Devonshire view to die for.

river cottage

Jim, the affable assistant gardener took us first round the kitchen garden, and then around to the farm area where the chickens, pigs and polytunnels are kept. The kitchen garden is at the back of the cottage and is beautifully maintained. Jim explained the principles of crop rotation and showed us all the crops and flowers growing there.

river cottage

The garden was coming to the end of the summer season, and every space is filled with lovely produce and flowers.

river cottage

After our outdoor tour, we gathered in the cookery school kitchen with Head Chef Gill Mellor, who talked us through making butter from scratch as well as baking a fruity, herby soda bread – all done and dusted in an hour and a half. I was particularly taken with the butter, which we filled with herbs gathered from the kitchen garden. It was messy and fun and I was determined to have another go once I got home.

With our bread cooling, we headed to the dining room for a much needed sit down and a bite to eat. When I last visited in 2008 I’d eaten the best meal I could ever imagine, so I had fairly high expectations.

I’m a vegetarian so I was presented with a wonderfully rich, delicious garden ragu, full of amazing herbs and vegetables from the kitchen garden, nestled on top was a wholemeal ravioli with a cheese and spinach rarebit filling and it was incredible (I’m drooling at the memory). On the side were some corn on the cob pieces which had been tossed in garlic and herbs and griddled to perfection.

river cottage

I didn’t think things could get any better than the plate of food I’d just polished off, but I was wrong. The fennel flower meringue, coffee infused ice cream with salted caramel, honey drizzled roasted foraged damsons with molasses crumble was a triumph and a pudding experience I will never forget and I suspect one which will never be surpassed.

Lunch was also a great opportunity to chat and get to know a few other people. It was also I suspect the most photographed meal in the history of River Cottage!

river cottage

Post lunch we convened for a food photography session with Lucy. I’ve been to one of Lucy’s workshops before and everyone always leaves feeling incredibly inspired and with a few more tips, skills and props in their armoury. This was no exception. Though my photographs during her session we nothing to write home about, I have since taken on board a lot of her suggestions and I’m making some improvements – step one – buy a proper DLSR!

It was by far the highlight of my blogging career so far. Getting the chance to spend a day in such a wonderful place with wonderful people. I learned a huge amount about food and blogging and food blogging. I was a very, very special day. Thank you to Foodies100 and to the team at River Cottage for organising it. Next time I won’t leave it so long before I visit again.

If you’d like to read more about Blog Camp River Cottage, you can find out more on the Foodies100 website.

Our Mexican Feast – food from Old El Paso

As a family one of our favourite quick and easy evening meals is fajitas. Usually our fajita evenings consist of an Old El Paso fajita kit, some potato wedges, and as much salad, avocado and guacamole we can lay our hands on. I’m a veggie so we usually load the fajitas up with really well cooked vegetables and some sliced up soya burgers for a bit of protein. It’s a popular, sociable meal which we will all happily eat, it feels like a bit of a treat, but with all those veggies it’s a pretty healthy one.

I was sent a box of things to try from Old El Paso, and with Mexican food being a casual, social affair, we invited some friends around to join us for a fiesta feast!

Old El Paso

I’d never seen the “Stand ‘N’ Stuff” soft taco kit before, it contains boat shaped soft tortila shells which you fill up with whatever you want. It also contains a packet of salsa style sauce and a sachet of flavour powder. All you do is brown some mince (I used Quorn), add a drop of water and stir through the flavour powder, it is ridiculously quick and really tasty. It had a really lovely smoky BBQ flavour which would I imagine work even better with minced beef. I really, really liked these and would definitely have these again instead of our usual fajitas.

The pack also included a packet of chilli flavour mix. We are big chilli fans and I’ve been eating chilli since my fairly exotic Nan started giving it to us for our tea in the early 1980s. I love chilli and know a good one from a bad one, this was lovely. I followed the instructions on the packet to the letter, but again used Quorn instead of minced beef. I would use this flavour packet again, maybe next time I’d add more chopped tomatoes for a slightly wetter chilli and cook it for longer to allow the flavours to develop further.

Old El Paso

We also tried a jar of salsa – a store cupboard staple for us, and this was a lovely accompaniment to our tacos, likewise the guacamole, it’s nice to have an ambient one for the times when you just can’t make your own. Hubs who likes a bit of heat enjoyed most of the jar of jalapeños. I wasn’t brave enough to try them and I don’t think the small boy is ready for chillies just yet.

Old El Paso

It was a fine feast, we all ate and ate well. The shape of the soft tacos was a bit of a game changer for me, it worked really well for the small boy too, there was less food down his top than usual which is always a good sign. Old El Paso seem to have really expanded their range recently, with more taco and flavour options, I’ll be keeping an eye out for new things to try from them.

As a family we can’t really go wrong with Mexican food, it’s so easy to eat and secretly healthy and a great way to get veg into the boys without any fuss. All that was missing were the margaritas!

Note: We were sent a selection of Old El Paso products to try for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Degustabox September 2015

We’ve been receiving our monthly Degustabox for 5 months now, and I really look forward to seeing what goodies I’m sent each month. We’ve discovered some pretty good stuff through getting the Degustabox, and this month was no exception. There were some familiar favourites and some new things we’ll be looking out for.

If you don’t know what a Degustabox is, it’s a box of food and drink goodies you get sent every month. It costs £12.99 but the contents are usually worth more than that, plus you get to try new things that you might not have tried otherwise.

Degustabox September 2015 — My September 2015 Degustabox, well packed, the bottles all individually bubble wrapped and the whole box protected from bumps etc.

In the September 2015 Degustabox there was…
– Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, 2 packets, 85p each
– Mallow & Marsh mini box of raspberry marshmallows, £2
– Maynards Red and Black Wine Gums, £1.50
– Bassets Jelly Babies Berry Mix, £1.50
– The Olive Shop Extra Virgin olive Oil, £5 (Db Discovery)
– The Good Cider of San Sebastian, 2 bottles, £1.50 each
– Kent’s Kitchen Spicy Szechuan Posh Noodles, £1.86 (Db Discovery)
– Up & Go (nutritious breakfast drink) 2 cartons, £1.39 each
– COMPLETE Energy Bites £4.49
– Sweet Sally Tea, £2.40

I thought this month was quite an interesting box, with a hefty nod towards sweet treats (Reese’s are the very best thing in the world. Fact.) and some useful kitchen staples (how did they know I was down to my last drizzle of olive oil?).

Between us we shared out the sweet treats, the small boy loved the Mallow & Marsh raspberry marshmallows and hubs went a bit bonkers for his favourite childhood sweets, Jelly Babies which have been given a modern update with the berry flavours.

A surprise hit were the Up & Go breakfast drinks which the small boy had and we will have to buy these again. I like to have a drink to give him when I pick him up from school, slurping a drink also encourages him to walk nicely, so it’s not altogether an altruistic move on my part.

This month the DB Discoveries were The Olive Shop Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Kent’s Kitchen Spicy Szechuan Posh Noodles. These were two of my favourite things in the box, I love a good extra virgin olive oil and I slosh it on almost everything, and the posh pot noodles were a lovely lunchtime treat I’ll be looking out for in the future.

Degustabox September 2015

Hubs enjoyed the cider, we are not big cider drinkers, but he said it was both fruity and refreshing, I had a sip and thought it’d be nice over ice. He also liked the COMPLETE Energy Bites, he loves mocha flavoured things and they’ve helped to pep him up in the mornings ready for work.

I can’t wait to see what’s in next months box!

Grab your discount! If you’d like to try Degustabox for yourself, you can get £6 off your first box with this discount code BLDEG15. You can find out more about Degustabox on their website.

Note: I was sent this Degustabox free of charge for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.