Mummies Can’t Get Sick

June 17, 2011 By in Family Tags: , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

white mug, glasses and box of tissues on a bedside table, implying sickness

This was originally published as a guest post on the excellent parenting blog Are We Nearly There Yet Mummy? Thank you to Laura for giving me the opportunity to borrow her readers for the day! 

The DorkyBoys are sick. It is truly a pathetic sight.

DorkySon has created a little triangle of activity to make sure everyone can see how sick he is. First he stands in a corner of the room, swaying slightly and sucking his thumb. Then he walks slowly round my desk, trailing his hippo lovey along the floor behind him and occasionally fixing me with a somewhat baleful look. Finally he comes over, puts his head in my lap and sighs. I rub his hair, give him a sip of juice, and send him on his way to start the whole routine again.

DorkyDad isn’t a whole lot better. “Can I have a lemon tea?’ he croaks at me from the sofa. “Can I have a painkiller?” he whimpers. “Do you think I’ll be well enough to play golf tomorrow?” he asks, sticking his bottom lip out slightly. “Why don’t you Google ‘head cold and golf’ for me…?” Continue reading →

Perfect Sandwiches

June 16, 2011 By in Family, Nostalgia Tags: , , , , , , , , , 7 Comments

Image of a sandwich on a white background

So, can we pause for a moment to acknowledge the awesomeness of sandwiches?

Hugh Fearnley-Whatshisface had an article in the Guardian last Saturday all about them, and while I agree with his assertion that we need to cut down on the number of soggy supermarket sandwiches we eat, I think it’s unrealistic to imagine that we all have time to make the thirteen-ingredient pan bagnats that he includes a recipe for. Continue reading →

Food and Memory

June 16, 2011 By in Nostalgia Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

A basket full of assorted mushrooms

My friends Adam and Alasdair have started a food blog called 101 Ways To Cook Mushrooms, and I recently did a guest post for them about food and memory, which I’m now re-posting here. If you haven’t visited their site before, I would encourage you to do so – it is regularly updated with recipes for delicious and affordable dishes. When they’re not busy in the kitchen, they’re busy blogging on lefty, green political things at Bright Green, which is also well worth a look.

It’s a sign of how fond I am of Adam and Alasdair that I’ve added a blog called 101 Ways To Cook Mushrooms to my bookmarks bar, because even the mention of mushrooms makes me feel a bit ill. I usually find myself nodding along in agreement anytime I read anything by either of my culinary comrades, but featuring fungus and blue cheese as your first recipe? Sorry Adam, I just can’t bring myself to try it.

That said, I am very excited to see how the blog develops. Many of the most treasured moments in my life have involved eating, often while surrounded by friends and loved ones. Continue reading →

Live In The Now: June

June 10, 2011 By in Family Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 13 Comments

Pink blossoms on a blue background with the slogan 'live in the now'

Wow. I’m amazed that it has been a whole month since I put up my first Live In The Now post. For those that missed my May ramblings, the premise is that you try and take a monthly snapshot of your life, and capture some of the details that you don’t take the time to record in photograph albums or baby books. It’s something that the excellent Scribbling Mum started, and if you haven’t checked her blog out I’d urge you to do so.

Anyway, it has been one of those weeks. DorkyDad is travelling, and within five minutes of him getting in a taxi to the airport I’d managed to drop a two-litre carton of milk on the kitchen floor. DorkySon was supposed to be getting a haircut – something that has previously been no problem – but on this occasion he had a meltdown and refused to let anyone near him. In the queue at the bank, DorkySon stuck his fingers so far down his own throat that he threw up all over himself. And today we walked past a toy shop without going in and buying a new truck and so I was rewarded with twenty minutes of screaming around the supermarket, before DorkySon slammed his legs against the checkout counter with such strength that he flipped his pushchair right over and ended up staring at the ceiling. The shock of that, finally, made him shush.

Phew. I feel like the gin and tonic I am sitting sipping has been well earned. Continue reading →

Cut, stick, glue! My scrapbooking son.

June 9, 2011 By in Family Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

We are currently working its way through one large Pritt Stick a week. It seems that scrapbooking is the activity of the moment.

DorkySon follows me around the house, chanting “Cut, stick, glue! Cut, stick, glue! Cut, stick, glue!” until I finally give in and sit down with him at the table, a tower of magazines in front of us.

I suspect it may be in his genes, as I spent ridiculous amounts of time and money doing the same thing as a teenager. But while I filled my scrapbooks up with pictures of boybands, carefully cut out from Smash Hits, DorkySon’s tastes are a little more highbrow.

So far he has shredded the entire collection of Lonely Planet magazines that were my birthday present last year. We have to hide the Saturday and Sunday supplements until we’ve read them; otherwise they end up in pieces across the living room floor. Last week I even found myself buying a copy of Top Gear magazine, because I knew it’d have enough pictures of cars to keep DorkySon happy for a whole afternoon. The only publications he won’t cut up are his own Peppa Pig and Bob the Builder magazines… funny that. Continue reading →