I have a new obsession,  it’s cultured food and it is all thanks to the wonderful Dearbhla Reynolds, her business The Cultured Club and the course she runs, the ABCs of fermentation which is held each month in Belfast’s newest restaurant, OX.

I absolutely love to cook, especially from scratch while reducing our reliance on the supermarkets, I’m also becoming more and more interested in the impact of food on our health, especially in relation to children so when Rita from Boxa let me know about this fabulous local resource I was keen to sign up. The course is a very reasonable £45 and lasts from 1pm to 5pm, it also has an added incentive of 4 blissfully  toddler free hours so it really wasn’t a hard sell.

When I booked the course I had no idea what to expect. Derabhla has a great website which provides an overview of what cultured food is and why it’s so crucial for good health but I remained mainly baffled by what I would actually be doing or what things like kefir or kombucha were so it was with a completely open mind that I turned up to Ox on a snowy Sunday afternoon.

The venue is just lovely  with lots of natural light and a gorgeous interior, a perfect location. I was so impressed by OX we returned there the following weekend for lunch with small and smaller and we absolutely loved it (especially its wine list, high end wines by the glass is a genius idea, allowing you to enjoy wines that you wouldn’t ordinarily buy, especially when accompanied by 2 toddlers, but I digress).

The attendees were a mixed bunch in terms of both age and backgrounds, there appears to be a synergy between raw food and cultured and fermented food and a number of participants had previously attended a raw food course. Raw food is most definitely not for me, I have a deep and enduring love for my oven but it was intriguing to learn more about different food philosophies. It was a small group and Dearbhla was so welcoming that the feel of the course was easy going and relaxed, it was a truly lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

The afternoon started with an overview of cultured food and its benefits, cultured and fermented foods are nothing new, just think of products such as sour cream, yoghurt or sauerkraut. The information on Derabhla’s website is excellent so instead of repeating it I’ve summarised in a nutshell what I took away from the course.

Fermented foods are a staple traditional food with examples of each in many different cultures, generally born from necessity as people needed a method of food preservation. The fermenting process fills our food with healthy bacteria, these bacteria are what kept our ancestors healthy and allergy free and doing the same to our food improves our immunity and digestion as well as an extraordinary list of benefits including claims it may have anti carcinogenic properties.

This rather “lost” way of eating is enjoying a resurgence thanks to inspirational people like Dearbhla. The internet is packed with websites and blogs devoted to fermented and cultured food and as a whole they seem to be linked to people keen to return to a simpler way of life. Now I am as far removed from an earth mama as it’s possible to get (far too keen on internet shopping and wine for that) but when it comes to feeding my family it is a way of living and eating that greatly appeals.

During the afternoon Dearbhla covered 3 different types of fermented and cultured foods, dairy, fruits and vegetables and drinks (water kefir and kombucha). We also briefly touched on cultured condiments. There were lots of tasting and while I am all for healthy and nourishing food it must taste good and everything Dearbhla prepared really was delicious.

In the coming weeks I intend to cover each of these 3 types in more detail and include my experience of fermenting and culturing foods at home from the perspective of a complete amateur.

The one thing I learnt is that fermenting and culturing food is a very easy going science which depends on a lot of things such as the heat of your kitchen. I think I had poor Dearbhla’s head destroyed with questions regarding recipes and requests for exact instructions  and quantities (there is nothing I love more than a good structure, I was a Gina Ford devotee when my children were tiny, and this very flexible approach doesn’t sit easy with me) but Dearbhla you will be pleased to know that after just 2 weeks I am a much more relaxed fermenter and it’s very liberating.

I can safely say Dearbhla’s course has changed my life, I now make my own yoghurt (from raw milk, utterly amazing, unbelievably simple and fantastically rewarding) and I literally try to culture everything I can. One of Dearbhla’s tips for introducing your family to these foods was by stealth so culturing favourites such as hummus, mayonaise and guacamole has worked beautifully (although it’s not so much fussy kids as a fussy husband in my case and he declared the hummus the best ever).

I wholeheartedly recommend Dearbhla and her course, the follow up after the course has been absolutely amazing with lots of help, guidance and extreme patience . I am so excited to be beginning our cultured journey and sharing it with you, maybe I am more of an earth mama that I thought.

As small and smaller get a little older I am putting more effort into creating memories and traditions for them as well as having lots of fun celebrating just about anything, I’m trying to make Easter an exciting time that they will anticipate in future with decorations and rituals we can carry on in the coming years.

Decorations

This year for the first time ever I have decorated the house with an Easter Tree and wreath.

When choosing Easter decorations I wanted something with a bit of longevity that could be reused each year so after extensive googling I opted for a wicker tree in white  from John Lewis (a lot nicer than it actually sounds). To decorate it I chose some gorgeous speckled eggs with a raffia ribbon from Jane Means, Jane has abeautiful shop specialising in gift wrap and her Easter selection is so fabulous I cannot wait to check out her shop at Christmas as it promised to be wondrous.

My tree ended up looking like this, I was so pleased with how it turned out and the tree and eggs were hardy enough to withstand some toddler styling.

I also bought an Easter wreath from Jane Means which is currently hanging on the wall but will be the centre piece for our Easter Sunday lunch with the addition of a candle and some greenery (thanks Jane for the lovely ideas on your website).

Easter Crafts

I am not craftily minded at all so I was delighted to come across Wonderplay and their brilliant Easter Box (now sold out), this really deserves a post all on its own as it is just brilliant, I cannot recommend it highly enough. So easy to use, lovely personalisation and engaging crafts which small and smaller have loved. Laura who runs it was so thoughtful and tailored our box to include some extras to avoid squabbles as she knew the box was destined for 2 toddlers. Wonderplay is a subscription service but one off boxes can be bought, I will definitely be subscribing.

Spoiling the children

While Easter is all about the chocolate I am sure small and smaller will get plenty of it from other people so we have decided to start a tradition of giving non chocolate gifts, which will of course be left under the Easter Tree by the Easter bunny. I am so excited about starting the day with a boiled egg in new egg cups and these fabulous Viking egg warmers.

Their main gift will be a pair of Maileg bunnies who rather cutely arrive in their underwear ready to be dressed, I’ve also chosen a couple of outfits for them. The bunnies came from Sisters Guild and the girls were so helpful as the world of Maileg bunnies can be a little baffling.

Finally, my mum has also bought into the no chocolate gift giving and has ordered them a surprise from the Secret Seed Society which I am unbelievably excited about (I probably shouldn’t be as I am particularly un-green fingered and most likely success will be limited but I’m ever the optimist). I will report back on this later.

Easter Treats

While we won’t be buying Easter Eggs for small and smaller we will be making some treats at home as well as enjoying the hotly anticipated hot cross buns on Easter morning (I really am a mean mummy limiting them to just one day). The hot cross buns are no ordinary ones but are made by Janet at Pure Bakery, Janet bakes from home using organic ingredients and traditional slow techniques a world away from suopermarket fare, I cannot wait to try these.

I’m also hoping to try my hand at these chocolate nut balls by Sarah Wilson who claims they are so healthy you could even eat them for breakfast, they seem a perfect (read easy) toddler activity while also being a rather lovely treat and the ball shape means I can pass them off as eggs.

What are your Easter traditions? I would love to hear, in the meantime have a very Happy Easter. Although the weather is meant to be beyond freezing it should be dry so I’m looking forward to family time, outings, beautiful food and lots of play.

During the week dinners have to be super easy, I used to spend nap times preparing dinner but recently realised this was madness and nap times were far better spent with the Real Housewives than chained to the stove. This means recipes need to be easy enough to cook with 2 helpers and lots of distractions. I’ve discovered that anything with “bake” in the title tends to fit into this category as it is generally code for bung it all in a dish and throw it in the oven, they are generally relatively easy going in terms of ingredients (which tend to be store cupboard staples) and timings.

So what easier thing to make with the hake we were sent by Fish is the Dish as part of their Healthy Happy Hearts campaign than a hake bake, a simple yet delicious week night dinner.

The recipe I used is by Domini Kemp from her book Domini at Home, Domini is a food writer for the Irish Times Weekend supplement as well as having a number of restaurants in Dublin. I have always been a big fan of her recipes as not only do they work they tend to be huge on flavour for  minimal input and this recipe is no exception, it can be done in stages when you have a moment and if you are particularly pushed for time it can all be prepared the night before but will work equally as well if done at the last minute, I told you bakes were easy going.

Hake Bake by Domini Kemp, from Domini at Home

Serves 4

4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp coarse ground black pepper
Pinch curry powder
2 tsp nigella seeds
Good few pinches of salt
1 tbsp dried mint
200ml yoghurt (I used Greek yoghurt)
4 hake fillets, skinned (I used skin on fillets as I really couldn’t be bothered skin my fillets and it was lovely)
Mint leaves, lemon wedges and olive oil to serve (I just splashed a bit of olive oil on at the end as that was all I had in)

Heat the olive oil in a pan and saute the cumin, pepper, curry powder, nigella seeds and salt for a few minutes until you start to get a roasted smell off the the spices. Cool them and add to the mint and yoghurt and mix well. Add the hake and marinate overnight or for only a few minutes, whatever suits. Bake at 200C for 10 – 12 minutes until the fish is cooked. Sprinkle with mint leaves and drizzle with more olive oil. Squeeze some lemon juice and enjoy when it has cooled.

I served it with cumin roast cauliflower, chargrilled asparagus and a green salad.

What are your favourite bake recipes? I definitely need to extend my repertoire if I want nap times with the Housewives to be a regular thing.

Smaller boy has turned 2 and to celebrate we threw a Peter Rabbit party (the fact time is racing by so quickly is quite frankly frightening, how can my baby be turning 2, he was only born yesterday after all). I of course turned to Pinterest for inspiration and this was the first time I saw the value of secret boards so I could pin away without giving away any party surprises.

The cake
We are so extraordinarily lucky to have the talent that is Cakes by James in Belfast, James and Dawn thank you so much for leaving London and coming back to Belfast, I for one will be eternally grateful. James is a baker and cake designer extraordinaire who deserves a whole post on his own, the most wonderful thing about James is you email a rather random idea and he produces a cake beyond your wildest dreams, in this case Mr McGregor’s Garden.

We also had a lovely mini celebration in the morning with almost 92 year old Granny, James produced a gorgeous mini  carrot cake so Granny didn’t miss out on the party theme, it was beautifully decorated and perfectly sized for a morning tea as well as tasting out of this world.

The decorations and tableware
There is a plethora of Peter Rabbit themed party accessories available but I decided to take inspiration from Peter Rabbit’s trademark blue cardigan and go with a blue theme for decorations and tableware. I was thrilled to come across a new retailer, Pretty Little Party Shop who helpfully organise their website by colour (amongst other things) making it super easy to mix and match. Its range is just gorgeous, I had the super cute milk bottles and straws added to my shopping trolley and then removed numerous times, finally coming to my senses and realising it was a 2 year old’s birthday party but they are duly pinned for the future.

I choose a mixture of stripes and polka dots in various shades of blue.

My best find by far was the blue stripe baking cups, these looked fabulous, were really durable and so handy for serving food (namely crudites and strawberries) in mess free.

I stuck a few bunches of carrots in vases and adorned with radishes, as well as adding a few Peter Rabbit stuffed toys and books from the playroom. I had intended to do little jam jars of wild flowers but time ran away. Instead of balloons I went with a mixture of paper decorations pom poms, accordion lanterns and honeycomb balls (from another favourite for party supplies, Little Baby Company), so much easier than balloons and much less faff and, in my opinion, much prettier.

I particularly loved the pom poms and have recycled them so they now hang in our family room, while small and smaller demanded the honeycomb balls found a home in their room.

Food
I can never thank Sarah at Little Spree enough for her top toddler party tip of finger sandwich platters from Marks and Spencer, I ordered the no mayo (no toddler mess)  finger sandwich platter as well as a more grown up version for the adults. I also popped in a couple of packs of crudites and hummus (as per the Peter Rabbit theme), the crudites worked wonderfully in the baking cups. It was all delivered to my local Marks and Spencer on the morning of the party and it made for the most stress free birthday party ever. The surprise hit was strawberries and cream (again using the brilliant baking cups) which went down a storm, the only other sweet option were some top hats lovingly prepared by small and smaller the day before. It was the first birthday party I haven’t massively over catered for and it was such a lovely change to not have a heap of leftovers.

Birthday attire
What else but the fabulous Peter Rabbit range by Gap, I snapped these up before I had even thought of a Peter Rabbit party but was thrilled I did as it was sold out when I went looking for a Peter Rabbit cardigan for smaller. The range only goes up to 24 months but again on the advice of Sarah from Little Spree I was able to squeeze my 3 year old into one and did they look very cute in their matching outfits. The bunny ears were by Meri Meri and also from Little Baby Company but are sold out, you can still purchase from John Lewis, these were also handy for popping in the party bags along with some bunny/carrot themed chocolates which are  readily available close to Easter.

So all that was left was to blow out his candles, ably assisted by his sister, and enjoy his cake.

It really was the most wonderful day, celebrating our beautiful little boy with our friends and family and when I crave the sunnier climes we left behind to return home it’s times like this that remind me we made the right decision.

We love  fish and seafood and we eat lots of it, so I’m delighted to be working with Fish is the Dish and to be a part of its new campaign Happy Healthy Hearts, which challenges  families in the UK to make a commitment to eating fish at least twice a week, the campaign even includes handy meal plans and recipes to make it as simple as possible.

Research shows that eating fish just twice a week can help raise levels of omega-3  which is associated with brain development, joint function, healthy skin and eyes as well as better mental health. It is even believed to significantly reduce the chances of developing conditions such as cancer and heart disease.  So when I was asked by Fish is the Dish if I would take up the challenge of eating fish just twice a week I didn’t need to think twice and the icing on the cake was a fabulous box of fish to make sticking to the challenge even easier.

The box of fish included a bag of mussels and as mussels can’t be frozen (unless cooked) I decided to use these first. In May last year I attended a wonderful seafood class organised by Fish is the Dish, it was at that class I learnt mussels are not only super easy and quick to prepare but loved by toddlers and love them mine do.

Mussels are nutritional power houses rich in Omega-3, Vitamin B12, Selenium and Iodine, they are a good source of Iron, Folic Acid, Zinc & Vitamin B2. They are also high in protein and low in fat.  What’s not to love?

Did you know that mussels contain over nine times more B12 than beef, and nearly five times more than salmon. Vitamin B is important for the normally functioning of your brain and nervous system and plays a key role in the formation of red blood cells.

My children are obsessed by mussels and if they are on the menu when we eat out they will be ordered, I also cook them regularly at home. Part of me thinks it is the novelty of the shell that makes them so popular with small people and given a toddler’s love of sorting what better entertainment than moving shells from one bowl to the next. As a mummy it guarantees me peace in a restaurant as they rather brilliantly take ages to eat, I also hide the bread which normally accompanies them until the end so the entertainment continues with plenty of dipping.

Small boy turned 2 on Friday so as he was having his party the next day we took him on the train (toddler nirvana) into Belfast to have dinner at one of our favourite restaurants, James Street South Bar and Grill (affectionately known by small and smaller as the mussel cafe, they call restaurants after what they like to eat there).

Small and smaller feasted on mussels, I had thought of ordering something else for them as I knew we were having mussels for lunch the next day but decided against it as mussels guarantee I can enjoy a glass of wine in peace.

The following day was a busy day as we not only had smaller’s main birthday party but a morning tea planned for my Great Granny and smaller’s Great Aunt and Uncle to celebrate with us. So while mussels might seem like an unusual choice they are so quick to cook, perfect for a quick lunch on a frantic day.

I prepared the mussels at breakfast time by popping them in a bowl of ice cold water and then working through them one by one to clean and remove the beard, I’ve found that most mussels you buy are relatively clean and don’t need much in the way of scrubbing and a short, sharp pull easily removes the beard. Discard any mussels with broken shells, if the shell is open and does not close after a sharp tap these should be discarded too. As I wasn’t planning on cooking the mussels for a couple of hours I popped the cleaned mussels in a colander, covered with a damp tea towel and put them back in the fridge.

There are so many recipes that can be used for cooking mussels at the most basic all you need is steam so any type of liquid in a pan with a lid will do. I quite often fry some garlic in butter and pop the mussels in with some cream.

Most recipes for mussels are very forgiving so don’t worry if you are missing an ingredient or two and timings ultimately depend on the amount of liquid and weight of mussels so it really is trial and error.

On Saturday I chose a Bill Granger recipe for mussels with leeks and thyme, it appealed as leeks seemed easier than faffing with shallots or onions. Bill does tend to be my go to chef if I am looking for a new recipe, I love his style of food and it always transports me back to sunnier climes. and this recipe is from his book Bill’s Holiday.

Mussels with leeks and thyme by Bill Granger

25g unsalted butter
2 leeks, white part only, halved and thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 flat-leaf parsley stalks
30g thyme leaves, chopped
150m dry white wine
1.5kg mussels in shell, cleaned
60ml double cream
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat the butter in a pan large enough to hold the mussels, over a medium heat. Add the leeks and celery and fry for 4 to 5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and cook while stirring for 1 minute. Then add the parsley stalks, thyme and wine and bring to the boil.

Add the mussels to the pan, cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, or until the shells are all open. Discard any that haven’t opened.

Remove the parsley stalks and add the cream and pepper to taste, bringing just to the boil. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Note on cooking with wine for toddlers: Mussels don’t take a very long time to cook so I can’t say definitively the wine will  completely evaporate, I still used the wine in this recipe but decreased the amount and upped the cream instead. I was reasonably comfortable doing this as I didn’t serve the sauce to small and smaller and in this instance we didn’t have any bread for dipping but the wine could easily be omitted.

I’m really looking forward to preparing and posting more fish dishes over the next 6 weeks.

PS after my earlier success with photographs we seemed to have reverted to normal service and the images are once again different sizes and of rather dubious quality, one day I will master this.

I did receive a box of fish from Fish is the Dish, all views and opinions are my own.

John Lewis is one of my favourite online retailers (I say online as the hopes of John Lewis ever opening in Northern Ireland were dashed last month after a 9 year battle with the planners). When we recently furnished our house from scratch I used a lot of fabulous local independent retailers who made and upcycled really special pieces for us but there really isn’t anyone better to go to for the more basic pieces such as the spare bed, outdoor furniture set or kitchen bin. Prices are reasonable, customer service is excellent (when I did experience a slight hiccup I was blown away by what John Lewis did to fix it) and the only couriers I have come across who actually phone to tell you when they will deliver. So when I was asked to select a Spring wish list for my kitchen I was delighted to accept.

1. Georg Jensen Alfredo Kitchen Roll Holder (£65)

With two toddlers we use a lot of kitchen roll in our house but I have yet to come across a kitchen roll holder I like, until now. I’m not 100% sure this purchase would ever get past Mr Belfast Mummy but it really is a work of art and given the number of times I reach for the kitchen roll each day I think it would have a really reasonable cost per use.

2. Magimix ice cream maker 2200 Gelato Chef (£279.95)

We love ice cream and especially love to make it ourselves so we know exactly what is going into it. I have a very basic ice cream maker but  I struggle with it  as the rather large bowl must be pre frozen and I seem to either overload it or the custard freezes to the side before it churns. This machine with its inbuilt  freezer would make ice cream making a million times less fraught and while an investment piece would definitely justify its existence in our ice cream obsessed house.

3. Dressing shaker by Stelton (£19.99)

As we move into Spring thoughts turn to salads and while technically a jam jar would do the same job this does look rather lovely and is a handy gadget to have around. Dressing salads has been the key to convincing small and smaller to eat them and even in the colder months salads are a regular on our table.

4. Eastern Glass Tumblers (£5)

I just love these tumblers, they are available in a choice of colours and an absolute bargain. Perfect as water glasses for a mismatched table setting but equally brilliant as tea light holders, tiny vases and would be absolutely beautiful used outside. I think these will definitely be moving off my wish list and into my basket.

5. Polti Vaporella 700 Steam Generator Iron (£169.95)

I am mortified to admit we don’t own an iron, our last iron broke last September and I never got around to replacing it, preferring to outsource any ironing requirements. This has unfortunately led to me “ironing” shirt collars with a hair straightener. Not being into ironing in the slightest I had a look around for the most visually appealing, for some reason I’m drawn to the cork handle.

6. Donna Karen Teapot (£95)

While on the subject of embarrassing basics we don’t own, we could also do with a teapot and this Donna Karen (who knew her talents extended to tea) one would fit the bill perfectly, this is after all a wish list.

This post was commissioned and paid for by John Lewis but I chose my wish list items myself and I’m now off to persuade Mr Belfast Mummy they are absolute essentials.

When we made a sea change last year the thing I was most concerned about leaving behind was the brilliant local restaurants, our much loved Il Pirata would no longer be a short stroll on a Sunday afternoon so you can imagine my delight when I found the joy that is  the Boathouse was just a few minutes away from our house.

We first discovered the Boathouse in December with a truly memorable meal so when my best friend, smaller boy’s Godmummy, came to stay this is where I took her. She has a very swanky job and is always jetting off to rather glamorous locations (new York for the weekend anyone, quick hop to Val d’Isere for a bit of skiing?) and even lovelier restaurants so I needed to impress and was secretly rather proud that in this corner of Northern Ireland we had such a world class restaurant on our doorstep.

Last Friday Mr Belfast Mummy and I sneaked off to enjoy the tasting menu, a sweetener from him before he headed off for a week long jolly conference, he calls it work but his twitter feed showed him behind the bar at a vodka bar mixing cocktails, this does not equal work in my book. While we were eating lunch and perhaps egged on by the champagne, very reasonably priced wine and delicious dessert wine, we decided it would be the perfect place to enjoy a relaxed Sunday lunch with small and smaller. We quizzed our waiter and the  chef as to whether it was child friendly and they assured us it was, their only concern was what would small and smaller eat as there was no specific children’s menu but we were fairly confident they would be happy to eat anything.

Not being ones to wait around we booked it for the following Sunday and invited my mum along for added crowd control as this was definitely one of the more daring adventures we have taken small and smaller on, and, like most plans formulated with the assistance of wine, one with the potential to go disastrously wrong.

We arrived to a warm welcome from the lovely brothers Jasper (front of house) and Joery (the uber taleneted chef) who displayed lots of patience when smaller decided a pre lunch tour of the kitchen was in order.

We were shown to our table, we had booked for 2:30pm which we hoped would be a reasonably  quiet time. When we arrived in the dining room there was one other table of four, enjoying a child free tasting menu. I am sure their hearts sank when we arrived but all credit to them, and probably thanks to the wine, there wasn’t so much as a raised eyebrow.

The boathouse don’t offer high chairs but the novelty of sitting in big girl and boy seats didn’t deter small and smaller and while smaller was firmly sandwiched on the banquette between Mr Belfast Mummy and Granny, small enjoyed being a big girl like mummy.

There is no children’s menu at the Boathouse, there is a set menu at a very reasonable £25 for 3 courses or a 5 course tasting menu at an even more reasonable £35 for 5 courses (highly recommended if you aren’t dining with small people). We all chose from the set lunch menu and small and smaller shared one set menu between them.

We started off with some gorgeous bread, and a nod to the Boathouse for providing the bread without an additional charge, I think bread should really be a given and there are rather too many restaurants who are making bread an optional extra. Anyone with a toddler will know they come with an inbuilt love of bread so were delighted with its arrival, I sadly didn’t eat mine as I wisely kept it as an emergency stash in case of pre starter restlessness but I have enjoyed it before and can confirm its deliciousness.

When we eat out we normally order small and smaller dishes from the main menu to share and it normally comes as one dish with side plates for me to share the food out between them so we are amazed and entranced when they were presented with two prefect mini versions of our dishes. To start they enjoyed glazed carrots, Crozier Blue cheese crème, hemp seed & carrot crisp, pickled carrot, carrot macaroon, toasted hazelnuts, cocoa nibs, white chocolate, it was devoured. It was so enjoyed smaller boy refused to relinquish his plate to the waitress in case he missed even the smallest bit.

There is so much to be said for presentation making food enticing and this really captured our toddlers’ attention, it also demonstrates the pride and care the Boathouse takes in its food and the respect it gives even its smaller and most indiscriminate diners.

For main course small and smaller enjoyed pan fried Glenarm organic salmon steak, potato sauce, saffron potato, crispy capers, cardamom infused sauce hollandaise, parsley, parsley oil, frozen grapes, citrus gel.

While salmon is always a sure fire hit frozen grapes and crispy capers made it irresistible and small and smaller couldn’t resist getting stuck into some of our goose breast as well, having tasted it I think goose may be a serious contender for Christmas 2013.

Joery and Jasper are the most charming hosts who make you feel incredibly special, Joery regularly heads down from the kitchen to serve food or to discuss dishes. He was absolutely brilliant with the children and his timely  post main course promise of raspberry sorbet and lemon tart kept small and smaller in their seats and suitably motivated by the prospect of pudding (lemon tartlet, poppy seeds, cocoa nibs, sweet yoghurt, thyme gel, confit of blood orange, champagne & raspberry sorbet).

There were also some beautiful petit fours which were served with coffee but were too quickly devoured by small and smaller for any photographs. Granny was so moved by the white chocolate macaroon that she requested a box to take away but was very politely told this would have been possible any other week but they were a chef down as his wife had had a baby the day before, no better reason to leave macaroonless.

All in all it was the most relaxing Sunday lunch. so relaxed in fact that Mr Belfast Mummy had to make a swift exit from the restaurant to dash home for his taxi to the airport, narrowly making his flight.

All in all it was a fabulous experience, we were made to feel so welcome, perhaps it is Jasper and Joery’s Dutch upbringing but we really felt, on Sunday’s at least when things are a little more relaxed at the Boathouse, that children were appreciated and valued in the same way they are when we eat at restaurants on holiday. The effort they went to was quite overwhelming. You never know, you may be surprised by what your fussiest eater may be prepared to try when it is prepared and present with such care and attention to detail.

Thank you Jasper and Joery.

PS by some miracle, all my photos are the same size. I may make it as a proper blogger yet.

It is no secret we love food in this house but I am incredibly fussy about what I feed my family and after the recent horse meat scandal it seems my fussiness is somewhat justified. I try to buy as little from the supermarkets as possible, sadly it really is unavoidable but in my mission to become less reliant on the supermarket I have found some local gems that not only have fabulous produce but make food shopping fun and Rita Wild’s Boxa is one such gem.

Boxa is a community buying scheme and it  began when its founder, Rita Wild, wanted to buy organic beef for a party and was stunned by how expensive it was (despite this not being reflected in the price paid to the farmer by the supermarkets), she set out to find a local farmer to buy beef directly. Rita came across David and Anne Laughlin’s Culmore Organic Farm , David had already given up on the conventional market as the price he was paid was “insulting” and was selling beef directly from the farm to rave reviews but without the time or money to devote to marketing the idea it remained small scale.

Rita saw the opportunity to bypass the traditional food chain and deal with local farmers on a larger scale. Price was critical and the least costly way was to simply divide a cow between a number of people, everyone pays the same and receives  the same. It started with half a cow divided between 10 people and within a week Rita had 20 orders.

Demand meant Rita soon added grass fed lamb, free range pork and turkey from Michael and Cathy Black’s organic farm in Ballycastle, then came Rathlin Island Seafoods and  finally wild venison, turkeys for Christmas and the much anticipated arrival of chickens. Boxa now has 135 members and is growing rapidly.

Before finding Rita and her wonderful scheme I bought all our meat from the butcher, we are fortunate in Northern Ireland to still have an abundance of local butchers, and while the quality was fabulous and I still do use our local butchers on a regular basis I did want the majority of our meat to be organic and that was impossible to find at the butchers.

When I first called Rita to ask about joining the Boxa scheme she was so enthusiastic and endlessly patient with all my questions, she really is a one woman whirlwind who single handedly manages the ordering and delivery process, hand delivering every single box of meat with a smile and a chat.

We are regular purchasers of the beef, lamb and fish boxes and the the first time this month we experienced the joy of prime cuts in the form of half a sirloin, we had a Boxa turkey and ham for Christmas and have tried out the most amazing wild venison from Donegal.

Being organic is not just enough for, the meat also needs to be utterly delicious and I can happily say it is the best meat we have eaten at home.

I have chosen not to go down the pork box route as despite being organic the sausages are only 85% meat which still allows for a lot of filler and despite Rita’s best efforts the bacon isn’t nitrate free , although I understand a nitrate free trial is underway. For those interested a fabulous nitrate free bacon is made by O’Dohertys of Enniskillen, having said that I do need to research the nitrate issue a bit more as some say it really isn’t an issue at all so Boxa bacon may be on the menu soon. We have also tried the pork roasts (crackling to die for) and pork chops and they were wonderful so maybe I just need to put my sausage obsession to one side.

This is how the meat arrives, not the most attractive picture admittedly. It is in large boxes and is generally well labelled so its identifiable in the freezer.  I love things to be organised so I do appreciate a good label and the lamb boxes (in the picture) is consistently well labelled, the beef can be hit and miss and the fish isn’t labelled at all but  it is more easily identifiable so I can forgive that. If I really can’t identify a piece of meat Rita is more than happy to help and she has been super lovely when she receives random texts asking what in the world chump is or what specific cut of meat the pot roast is (brisket by the way and divine).

Boxa suggests each box should fit in one drawer of a standard domestic freezer, I think this is a little optimistic and if ordering I would allow for it to take up a little more.

Here is our freezer, filled (literally to the brim) with a beef, lamb and fish box as well as half a sirloin (I really do need to learn how to resize my photos). In terms of price it compares very favourably to the price of organic meat purchased elsewhere, I haven’t compared the price myself and Mr Belfast Mummy keeps muttering that I should do some analysis to see what the weekly cost is but that just isn’t going to happen. As a very rough guide it cost £250 to fill our freezer, I would expect this to last around 2 months, probably longer.

So does Boxa have any downsides? Not many that I can see, you are buying a share of an animal so there isn’t any opportunity to choose which cuts of meat you would like but I see this is an advantage as it means I cook with cuts I may not necessarily buy otherwise.

There is flexibility in the fish box to swap things in and out and make additions such as prawns or lobster. The only thing in any of the boxes I was a little dubious about was the “veg roll” , a Northern Irish speciality I had so far managed to avoid but Rita even changed my mind on this with the genius idea of turning them into meatballs. Oh and if you are ordering the fish box with young children in mind the Glenarm salmon is in steaks rather than fillets and are very, very boney, not being a fan of bones I have swapped them and am hoping Rita can organise some fillets for our next box.

Rita is planning open days at the farms especially for the Boxa children and I am really excited about showing small and smaller where the food they eat comes from.

Look Mummy, it’s our favourite..veg roll..

So, Boxa provides the most beautiful, organic meat and fish that is much cheaper than the supermarkets and our money goes directly into the hands of small, local farmers, fishermen and processors rather than into supermarket tills. It’s not surprising I’m a little evangelical  about Boxa.

If you are interested in joining Boxa you can contact Rita here.

I love photographs, and my obsession has grown since small and smaller came along, recording these memories is incredibly important to me, I have photographs all over our house, make annual photo books for the children and once a year we have a professional photographer take photos as my own skills are decidedly dodgy (although I am making efforts to improve this after my fantastic Capturing Childhood course).

One format I had never really explored was printing photographs on canvas and when I received an email from Mark at HelloCanvas asking if I would like to receive a 20 x28 inch canvas I jumped at the opportunity.

As a rule I’m generally not that interested in doing reviews unless it’s something I am genuinely interested in as the obligation to write about something does not appeal to my lazy side and it becomes all too much like work but this was one review I could happily write.

It was also excellent timing as the perfect photo had just popped into my inbox, In July small and smaller and I travelled to London for a photo shoot with Mother and Baby magazine, I had my hair and make up done by Claire Portman (the loveliest and most talented make up artist you could ever meet) and Ian Hooton took the photographs. Most exciting of all we got to keep the photographs and I was so excited to receive them.

Small and smaller were a little perturbed by all the attention and the vast majority of the photos have them with their hands in their mouth and looking quite frankly terrified. There are some lovely individual shots but I wanted one which included both of them. I deliberated for a while over which photograph to choose, one in which they were looking at the camera but with hands stuck in the mouth or one in which their hands were not in the mouth but neither were looking at the camera. Mr BelfastMummy made the final call and this was the photo we selected.

And this is how it looks in canvas  format hung on the wall in small and smaller’s room, as it’s hung out of the way not that many people have seen it but those who have (our nanny, cleaner, a repair man and my mum) have all commented on it, my mum loves it so much she is ordering one for herself).

The quality is superb as is the customer service, my canvas was dispatched the same day I provided the photograph and was fully trackable online. It arrived well packaging and in perfect condition. All I had to do was email my photograph and Mark did the rest but I have had a quick scoot around the website and it looks super easy to upload your photograph to (and I can be a bit of a dufus when it comes to all things technological, as my inability to resize the images in this post show).

So thank you Mark and all at HelloCanvas for such a lovely treat.

There is nothing I love more than a good parenting manual, I devoured and implemented Gina Ford’s Contented Little Baby in a sleep deprived haze when small girl was a week old, I turned to Gill Rapley when it came to weaning small and smaller and knelt at the alter of Saint Gina (as she is known in this house) when I needed the idiot’s guide  to potty training.

I currently have Calm, Happy Parenting and Superpowers for Parents on the go, I have to admit I am progressing slowly with these as they aren’t the most scintillating of reads and if I do have a bit of free time the Real Housewives tend to win over grappling with child psychology.

When I came across Karen Le Billon’s book “French Kids Eat Everything” I couldn’t resist popping it onto my kindle. I’ve always have a great fondness for France and the French after a rather civilised year in Bordeaux while I was at university and I thought it might add a little je ne sais quoi to mealtimes.

The book follows Karen and her two young children as they move from Canada to her husband’s tiny hometown, as part of her new lifestyle Karen completely changes how her and her daughters viewed food, transforming her children from fussy eaters to veritable foodies.

By observing the French and their attitudes towards food, Karen developed 10 simple rules, while I was reading the book I was nodding sagely and, if I’m honest, rather smugly as the rules tended to be the ones we adopt chez Belfast Mummy but as you will see below they are rather common sense and you will probably follow a lot of them as part of your daily routine.

What really stood out to me when I read the book is it’s all rather lovely when small and smaller are tiny and at home and have no external food influences, but all this is likely change when they start preschool. In France, food is king, a typical preschool lunch includes a vegetable starter, a main course with side dishes, a cheese plate and dessert (often fresh fruit with a weekly pudding), the menu is cunningly planned so vegetables are served first when the children are hungry and more likely to eat them. Food education is an important part of the curriculum and is taught as an essential alongside reading and writing. So will British children ever eat everything when food is given such a low priority at school?

Karen has a rather nice graphic which summarises her French Food Rules and I’ve picked a few which we try to follow.

Avoid emotional eating

A totally common sense rule but super hard to follow, I attribute my potty training success with smaller girl entirely to chocolate buttons (the tiddly pots from Hotel Chocolat as the buttons are very, very small) and fully intend to do the same with smaller boy when we start his journey to big boy pants. Small and smaller are highly motivated by food so I do need to pay particular attention to this rule, I was recently impressed by small girl’s concentration when paying a game of snakes and ladders with her much older cousins, it was only later I realised Dad had strategically placed her by the crisps and was offering a constant supply.

Kids eat what adults eat

We’ve always has this rule, it was why baby led weaning appealed so much, the only thing we paid any attention to was no honey before one, apart from that we eat entirely the same thing. To be honest I could not even imagine the type of superhuman effort it would require to feed small and smaller differently to us. The same applies in restaurants, we generally ignore the children’s menu and choose something from the generally much more exciting main menu.

Eat family meals together

We make a huge effort to do this, even though it means we eat our dinner at 5:30pm every night as it’s the only way to fit in with a 7pm bedtime, if it’s the weekend we may be able to stretch it to the practically continental hour of 6pm. I console myself that it’s really quite good for weight management as I’m sure if we ate dinner later I would have already snacked on whatever the children were eating.

It’s also a fun time of day to spend with small and smaller as they are generally in great form (quite possibly due to the fact they are absolutely ravenous due to our no snacking rule). We also eat out with them regularly, one of our most favourite meals being the long lunch. Eating together however has done very little to improve table manners, hands are still very much the instrument of choice unless it’s runny food (maybe baby led weaning and the emphasis on finger food was a little too effective), think this will be much area to focus on for improvement.

Eat your veggies

Small and smaller love vegetables, although smaller boy is probably the bigger fan whereas nothing can get between small girl and a piece of protein, there are often complicated negotiations at the end of each meal when they survey what the other has left and organise swaps. I offer vegetables in all forms from soup to gratins to raw. Roast vegetables are a particular hit, especially cauliflower and broccoli. Everything can be a chip from celeriac to turnip to green beans. Mr Belfast Mummy eats very few vegetables and I am really keen that small and smaller do not follow in his footsteps, at the moment they see his lack of vegetable eating as quite advantageous as it’s all the more for them but I’m not expecting their unshakeable faith in my “vegetables make us happy” mantra to last forever. We also have a few other vegetable related rules, for example, if the children want more of something they need to have made a good stab at the vegetables. I have also been following a fabulous blog

You don’t have to like it but you do have to taste it

I am super strict about this rule, if you ask small girl what mummy’s rule is she will tell you it’s “try everything” and it really does work. If something is refused I don’t give up and will re-offer it at different meals in different forms to great success. Now I come to think of it perhaps I should implement this rule with Mr Belfast Mummy. Of course there are some things they will just never like, smaller boy loves olives, small girl hates them.

No snacking

I firmly believe if you didn’t follow any of the other rules, no snacking is the absolute key to success. Small and smaller don’t snack, they never have done at home but I don’t strictly stick to it if we are out somewhere where snacks are available, which is really only if we are visiting someone. I don’t believe in turning food into a huge issue and keep the 80:20 rule at the back of my mind, after all you only live once and that life really is too short to pass over a scone.

When they were babies I didn’t offer snacks as baby led weaning is time consuming enough without adding an additional 2 meals into the frame. I should probably caveat that by saying small and smaller were very good sleepers with lengthy daytime naps, if they hadn’t been I may well have introduced a snack for something to pass the time with an insomniac baby.

No snacking means small and smaller are genuinely hungry at mealtimes and will happily eat until they are full, this in turn means they don’t actually need snacks later in the day. I am particularly pleased with this rule as it means no extra work for me preparing snacks or having to remember to cart them around with me. It does also mean that we tend to have larger meals which may include a starter and always finishes with either greek yoghurt or cheese or an occasional pudding.

I must also recommend a fabulous blog I follow called French Foodie Baby, Helene is a French mummy living in America and her blog records a of what she feeds her toddler on a weekly basis, it is fantastic for meal planning and recipe inspiration, most of her recipes are super simple but have lovely names which make my menu plans look a lot more sophisticated than they really are. Her post The Anatomy of the French four course meal is a must read.

Now, all we need is Karen to write a book called “French Husbands Eat Everything”…