Mummy & Moose
clapping, napping and yapping our way through the day

Our trip to Guernsey with Condor Ferries -No passports required

We were given ferry crossing and accomodation in return for writing this post. All opinions are honest and our own

Guernsey is somewhere that up until this year lived in my childhood memories. My maternal Grandad took me on holidays to the channel island every year until he sadly passed away when I was 8. This photo is one of the only ones I have from those Channel Island holidays.

Guernsey

It’s a photo of my Grandad and it was taken by me when I was about 5 years old. 1 photo and a million memories. We usually used to stay in the St Martin area of Guernsey at a hotel called Greenwoods which, I believe, is now a residential care home.

The hotel was white with green shutters.

It had a bar area with a cockatoo which occasionally spoke and a sitting room with board games. It was at Greenwoods that I learned to listen to my Grandads advice (there was an incident with a créme caramel).

Every holiday we would drive to the ferry port or the airport in his blue vauxhall cavalier called Vicky. The Everly Brothers would be playing loudly while we sang along. My Grandad would pack a box of sugarcubes which was a treat for me and any horses we would encounter. We would spend the week having cake and milkshakes in the cafes of St Peter Port and playing on the beautiful beaches. I would write postcards and always visit a nursery so I could send carnations home to my Mum.

I have a lot of wonderful memories of Guernsey

So, when I was asked if I would like to return to the island with my own family, I jumped at the chance. It was really easy to organise because you don’t even need a passport to travel to the Channel Islands from the Uk.

On our way

We were all really excited about sailing to Guernsey on the Condor Liberation. So excited in fact that it didn’t even cross my mind that we might not be great on boats. We were assigned what must have been the best seats onboard. Right at the front with stunning panoramic views.

 

Of course when it came to it we were all (except MrG) really quite seasick. It was such a rookie mistake not to have picked up sickness tablets – especially on such a rough crossing. Luckily because the crossing was so rough it appeared that most of the other passengers on the Liberation had the same sea sickness problem so we all chucked up together. Nothing much bonds a group of strangers as well as an experience such as this.

What an ice breaker..

Our seats were generous and as you can see we had lots of space to stretch our legs. We were seated in the Horizon Lounge section of the Liberation, right at the front of the vessel. The Horizon Lounge has a secure key code entry and lovely recliner seats. Each seat has a power supply and high speed wifi is available to purchase. The Horizon Lounge has superb views and it’s own bar. There was a great selection of food available on the Liberation but to be honest none of us could face it!

The crossing from Poole to Guernsey was around 3 and a half hours long and I had worried about how I would keep a 4 year old entertained for such a long time. I needn’t have stressed though, the children have a little area just for them with a television showing children’s movies. Moose made good use of this area as did many of the little ones onboard! As well as the children’s area we also explored the 2 outdoor decks and of course the duty free shop.

Back on dry land

Once we arrived at St Peter Port it was nice and easy to get off the liberation. We were all impressed with how quiet the Liberation was during the crossing and even more so with the staff. They looked after us all really well and made the whole journey an enjoyable (if not wobbly) experience.

We later learned that there was an issue with the stabilisers and one of the engines on the Liberation so I am sure that usually the crossing is a lot smoother.

During our stay we were being hosted at The Peninsula Hotel which had everything we could need for our 2 day stay including a fabulous dining room and bar and an outdoor swimming pool.

There is so much to do on Guernsey. We were pleased then that Visit Guernsey had provided us with a pass for some of the local attractions.

A weekend is not long but I knew I wanted us to visit the Little Chapel and to explore St Peter Port during our stay. We were lucky to be able to visit Fort Gray as well as a couple of the beautiful beaches over the course of our weekend too!

Would we do it again?

The answer here is an easy yes. Guernsey and the rest of the Channel Islands have tons to offer families. It was so lovely to be able to revisit places I had only seen as a child and experience them as a parent this time. It was nice to see my children getting so much enjoyment from simple pleasures. Over the 29 years since I last visited I was expecting a lot to have changed. Some has, of course. But much is just as it was when I was there with my Grandad. Except of course that now I have a LOT more photos.

Meal plan #94

Another week has flown by and I really need to get back into meal planning. So, here we are! We have been eating really poorly just lately and it has to stop. Now that wedding season is over I have to be more budget conscious. A lot of my money is spent on food so meal planning seems like the obvious first step in an overhaul of our spending habits. 

The children have their last day of school today so next week they will be home for half term. It will be so useful to have a plan for that!

I don’t know about yours but my children always seem to be constantly raiding the cupboards during the holidays and with this one being colder (and therefore more indoorsy) I have a feeling it will hit the wallet hard!

I am planning on having a baking day on Monday so we have lots of vaguely healthy and fast snacks for them to reach for during the week. The plan is to make a rocky road style tray bake as well as some cupcakes I think. Moose enjoys it when we bake together so I thought it would be a good way to fill a day really. Plus we save a bit of money because there won’t be lots of trips to the shops! 

This week in food

Friday: I am off to see my StepMum so dinner will be a surprise. Yay! 

Saturday: M&S posh dogs in brioche buns with thin cut homemade chips and either beans or coleslaw or both

Sunday: Roast pork with yorkshire pudding, mashed potato and green veg

Monday: I am going out so it will be something quick like pesto pasta 

Tuesday: Barbecue chicken lasagne with green salad

Wednesday: Sea bass with roasted veg and green beans

Thursday: Bang Bang chicken with vegetable chow mein and prawn crackers

 

 

Katykicker

What I have learned about grief 10 years on.

The first thing I should probably note is that, in a way, my grief was expected. The person who died was my Grandparent – and you are meant to lose those.

But not mine. Not so soon.

My Nan was known within our family as Granny Grumbles. Which was quite ironic given that she didn’t, not really. She was the sort of woman who got on and did what she could with what she had. She would tell me that you shouldn’t leave todays jobs for tomorrow. “Keep on top of it, we’ll get you right” she would say (as she launched into last nights washing up which I had lazily bypassed the night before while I would put the kettle on). It made her happy to help, it made me happy not to have to do it myself. It seemed like a good plan at the time.

Granny Grumbles was not a very tall woman but she was pretty fierce.

She had a wicked sense of humour, she loved dolphins and coconut mushrooms and Cliff Richard. A great chef she was not but she made interesting meals which for absolutely no reason whatsoever were sometimes colour coded. She would wrap up small boxes of smarties to hang on her Christmas tree for us to find. Granny Grumbles had inexplicably heavy duvets on her guest beds and a temper which could be shorter than she was. She gave Boa Constrictor level hugs and loved to love.

Her door was always open (not the front door, that wasn’t for family) and when I was younger we lived close by so I visited a lot. As a child we would go to her house for sunday dinner. When I grew older I would stop by on my way from work or to friends and she would make me a jacket potato with cheese or bubble and squeak if I was very lucky and then she would fill me in on all the gossip – unless neighbours was on in which case I knew better than to interrupt.

When I had my first child she visited us on the ward. I remember her holding my newborn in her arms and telling me how perfect he was. She cried when I told her that I was naming him after her youngest son who had unfortunately passed away at a young age.

The now Great Granny Grumbles was so close to my son, Col. He would go for weekends at their caravan and even went with them to Australia for the summer one year to visit my Aunt. I cannot think of many people I would entrust the care of my children to like that. She was on the list though.

My Nan really was my biggest cheerleader.

When I first started making cake toppers she bought me books to help me and insisted that I give her business cards to hand out to the other residents of the sheltered housing where they now lived. She would phone me for updates and gossip and when I said that I was worried about how I would juggle everything in the school holidays she suggested that she could help. By this time we had moved a few counties away but she was determined to be there for me, still.

We would drive to meet her halfway and she would take the children for the holidays so that I could work. She meanwhile would take the children to their caravan in Norfolk and would have the best time. It’s only on reflection now that I can appreciate how much that helped me at the time.

We moved home

In 2008 we moved back to Peterborough and Granny Grumbles was so pleased. By that time Bess was 2 and Col was nearly 8. They loved to spend time with their Great Gran and Grandpop and I loved that their relationship was a close one. A couple of times a week Granny Grumbles would visit and we could chat over coffee. A few months after I moved back, she went off the coffee. She said it gave her indigestion. So I bought some fruit teas and didn’t think anything of it. The heartburn came and went over the following few months but the trouble was that Granny Grumbles never grumbled. She also refused to go and see a Doctor over something as trivial as heartburn. I wish she had.

It was a few months later, after an unfortunate food poisoning incident at my sisters wedding, that I got a phone call. Initially it my Nan on the line but she couldn’t quite get the words out so she passed the phone to my Grandpop.

It was Bowel cancer.

I don’t remember clearly the events that followed. It was all a bit of a blur. It was fast though. The cancer seemed to eat her up and I hated it. I hated that I had to tell my children that their Great Grandma was so unwell. Hated that I saw her shrink before our eyes. I didn’t hear her grumble.

My last conversation (I think? I like to think? I am sure) with her was short but she told me how proud she was of the woman I had become and she told me how much she loved her family, how sorry she was that she wouldn’t be able to stick around but that she knew we would be ok. Yet again trying to be there for us all.

My uncle phoned me to tell me she had passed away peacefully, in her own home (as she had wanted) on the 8th October 2009. She was 68 when she died.

That was a decade ago

At the time I really didn’t understand how life could go on as normal with such a massive hole in it. I was full of rage at the Cancer for taking Granny Grumbles from us and a massive sense of injustice. She was healthy! She was meant to be the one who lived! It wasn’t fair!

That’s not really how it works though, is it. Life (and death) isn’t fair. Things like Cancer can and do appear seemingly out of the blue and they knock us for six when they do.

They say that grief goes away in time. I don’t think that’s true.

I believe that, as some people say, there are stages of grief. They don’t flow in a certain order though and some are harder to move past than others. There is no right or wrong. Perhaps it will take you a year or perhaps you will take decades to even crack the surface. Either way though you should deal with your grief in your own way. Be honest and as open as you can be with those around you. You may feel better if you can support each other. Make sure you take care of yourself, however you choose to work through it.

I think that rather than grief disappearing or getting smaller, you just sort of accept it as part of who you are now. You get used to it so you become more able to deal with the waves of it.

Life grows bigger around the grief with the passing of time so perhaps the grief seems smaller in that sense. New spouses and children are welcomed into the family and life moves forward regardless.

Acceptance means that now I can feel the dull ache of missing her and laugh about memories I have all at the same time or marvel at how much she would have adored those Great Grandchildren that she never had the chance to meet

A new normal is found and, just like Granny Grumbles would have, we get on with it and make the best of what we have.

 

 

 

 

Back To School And Cream of Tomato Soup Recipe With Piccolo Tomatoes | Ad

This a paid collaboration. All opinions remain honest and my own. 

Moose isn’t keen on vegetables. My two eldest lulled me into a false sense of security by eating pretty much anything I put in front of them. I thought I had it all worked out as I watched my darling little ones gobble down salads or curries or the odd stir fry.

Then Moose came along to humble me.

He has shown me that just because you think you know what you are doing as a parent. Just because something worked for one child (or two) it definitely does not necessarily mean it will work for all.

So. With Moose I have had to be crafty with veg. I have had to plan out how to hide vegetables in meals. How to pack as many nutrients into a meal as is possible – and also how to just accept that he will eat vegetables when he is ready and in his own way.

When I was approached recently by Gautier Semences, the providers of piccolo tomato seeds to British nurseries and asked to write about Piccolo tomatoes I took it as a challenge.

How could I best use them in a way that Moose would eat them.

Piccolo tomatoes are a small vine tomato, they have a sweet taste which means that they appeal to younger palates – and older ones with a sweet tooth like I do! They are originally from Latin America and were introduced to Europe during the 16th century. The French called it the “apple of love”.

Piccolos are low in calories but high in nutrients such as vitamin C and Lycopene which is an antioxidant said to help prevent heart disease and certain cancers!

My delivery of Piccolo tomatoes was sent from Glinwell Nurseries which are not too far from us. Although I am far from green fingered I do still prefer to buy British fruit and veg where I can to keep my carbon footprint low and to be able to watch Panorama specials with a clear conscience because I know I am doing what I can.

Piccolo tomatoes are so versatile.

My delivery arrived while the children were at school. I couldn’t wait to get started though! The first meal I had with the tomatoes was a simple cheesy pasta dish which I added a few roasted piccolo tomatoes to. A really easy way to add nutrients to a lunch and what goes together better than cheese and tomato? In my opinion, pretty much all veg taste better when roasted.

After school I showed Moose the tomatoes. He wasn’t quite brave enough to try one raw but he was excited to help me make soup!

We had so much fun getting all of the ingredients together and making a lovely cream of tomato soup which was packed full of vitamins. Moose scoffed the lot! I can’t think of anything more enticing after a day back at school than to sit down to cream of tomato soup and fresh bread. Knowing that this was my own take on a classic and didn’t have any nasty additives in it was even better!

I prefer to remove the skins from tomatoes before making soups or sauces with them. There is a really easy trick to this (thanks Mum). You have to score an X into each tomato, pop them into a pan of boiling water for 1 minute and then transfer to an ice bath or very cold water. The skin comes away really easily.

Cream of tomato soup

Ingredients

  • 800g Piccolo tomatoes
  • tbsp butter or some spray oil
  • 1 red onion (I used ready chopped frozen onion)
  • Carrot (I used a tin of sliced carrots I found in the back of the cupboard. Drain them though)
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • Basil leaves to taste (I used 3)
  • 400ml Chicken stock

You could also add roasted peppers but I didn’t this time.

Method

  • Fry off the chopped onion in the oil/butter for a few minutes until softened- add the carrot if not using the tinned variety.
  • Add the squashed clove of garlic (don’t bother chopping it, it will be whizzed up later anyway)
  • Add the tomatoes and basil leaves and simmer on a low heat. I left mine for around 20 minutes. You can cook down a bit more but I know that nutrients are lost with a longer cooking time.
  • Pour in the chicken stock
  • Simmer for a few more minutes
  • Use a stick blender to get rid of all of the lumps (aka evidence)
  • Season and add a dollop of cream or creme fraiche if you forgot the cream and your rubbish corner shop only stock creme fraiche <fume>
  • Present your finished soup to your darling child and rub your hands with glee while they eat up all of their veg without complaint.
  • Help yourself to some yourself because you made it with spray oil so it is very Slimming World friendly. Hurrah!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living Arrows week 36 2019

“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth”

Each week I like to (try and) link up to a series called Living arrows which is about celebrating childhood. You can find out more here

The first photo this week was taken on a trip we made to our local farm. Moose had a real issue with his nerves (or so I thought) and always seemed to hesitate when trying new things – especially physical things. Since he started wearing glasses to correct a lazy eye he seems to have become a bit braver. Maybe it wasn’t his nerves after all!

The second photo is of Bess and Moose on their first day back to school. Summer flew by and now I have a little boy in year 1 (which seems so much bigger than having a little one in reception somehow?) and Bess is starting year 9. Year 9 means the beginning of GCSE’s for Bess. GCSE’s! Already! The school has decided to stretch what was a 2 year course in my day (aka eons ago) to a 3 year course. I think it will be a good thing for the students but time will tell on that one..

 

 

Living Arrows