Tag: food

Family Picnic Food

Lydia | February 3, 2013

We love to have picnics regularly throughout the year. There’s something magical about eating outdoors enjoying good food with family and friends, differing vistas and fresh air.

We eat picnics in the garden, at the beach, in the forest, in the park and on our balcony in the city of London. When it’s too cold to be sitting outside to eat we have been known to get a rug out and have a picnic on the floor of our apartment, with the company of our cats Louis and Mia who will nibble at any leftover cheese.

My favourite foods for simple baby and toddler family friendly picnics are:

Boiled eggs
Cheese sandwiches
Tomatoes
Avocado
Crackers
Potato salad
Mixed bean salad
Pasta salad
Bananas
Fruit Salad with strawberries, nectarines, blueberries, peaches, oranges

Don’t forget a large picnic rug, some picnicware and baby sun cream.

Our most recent family picnic was in the Kaitoke Regional Park. I’m linking this post up to the What I Wore Wednesday link for this week.

Sunglasses – Ted Baker
Striped T-Shirt – Dickins and Jones from House of Fraser
Green Vest – Dansk
3/4 Trousers – Board Angels

Here’s my last What I Wore Wednesday post.

Grilled Fish with Lemon

Lydia | January 23, 2013

One of the great pleasures of summer is cooking and eating outside. Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage each have their own take on summer recipes and eating al fresco.

My favourite way to enjoy summer fare is to eat fresh, organic and home grown food when possible. Nothing tastes better than fruit or veg plucked straight from the garden. Today we enjoyed grilled fish cooked in the garden with organic home grown sugar snap peas and runner beans, freshly picked lemons, organic brown rice and avocado.

It’s so simple to put these ingredients together to create a healthy, quick and nutritious meal for the family to enjoy at lunch or dinner time.

Do you grow your own potatoes? These would taste delicious with the fish as an alternative to brown rice. And if you’re cutting back on the carbs a green salad would be a perfect accompaniment for the grilled fish with lemon.

What’s your favourite summer recipe?

Parenting in the 1970s

Lydia | January 17, 2013

I’ve been catching up with old friends lately. We’ve reminisced about our own childhoods and growing up as babies and toddlers in the late 1970s.

It seems we’re from an entirely different age when compared to families of today. And it’s not just the fashion of the 1970s that stands us apart.

Parenting styles have changed dramatically over the last few decades.

Back in the day we were allowed to play in the garden and run freely around the streets.

My friends and I would go down the lane to a nearby river for a dip on hot summer days. When swimming wasn’t an option we’d run amok across farmer’s fields where grazing bulls would stir at our laughter and foolishness.

Children today are brought up with their parent’s keeping a much closer eye on their whereabouts. This is aided by technology keeping communication between parents and children more accessible.

But by limiting the amount of freedom our children have are we detrimentally stunting their ability to grow and learn for themselves?

As for all of the baby paraphernalia we can’t live without, there’s a distinct gap between then and now.

Who’d ever heard of a car seat for a baby or child, let alone a seatbelt? These days you’ll be arrested if your baby or child isn’t strapped safely in a car.

Baby monitors? If baby cried the parents would hear and could go and check on them.

Did anyone use sun cream to protect baby’s delicate skin? Today we’re advised by leading health bodies to not expose babies under the age of 6 months to the sun.

Stair gates? Baby learnt how to climb up and down stairs.

Had parents in the 1970s even heard of the things today’s parents simply take for granted?