Author: Oana

Travels: Our Life Journey

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Travelling has been part of our life story from day one. As we matured and grew as a family, travelling grew beyond being simply a means to a destination and became an immense source of excitement and enjoyment. Grab a hot drink and draw closer and I will tell you the story, as it has unfolded. We had our first conversation (in English and Greek), with Alex from an overpriced internet cafe in Villars, Switzerland, our matchmaker (this is a story for another blog post, lol!) from Athens, Greece and myself from Iasi, Romania. I should have seen it as an omen, a good omen, a sign that the relationship that was budding will be one of journeys, of crossroads, of amalgamation and of discovery. Before we got engaged later that year, we had managed to travel thousands of miles between the two of us and met in three different countries in as many months. Our wedding took place in Romania, bringing together two families that could only communicate with each other in sign language …

New kids on the…food aisle

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Since today marks the Chinese New Year and we are entering the Year of the Monkey, I will start with the Firecracker Tilda Rice we got to review over the weekend. Alex loves putting together oriental recipes so this was right up his street. The convenience of flavoursome packaged rice made dinner last night nearly childplay. Alex loves improvising so after frying 450 grams of chicken in sesame oil in a wok, he decided to throw in a package of Tesco stir fry vegetable medley (you know, the broccoli, red pepper, baby sweetcorn, spring onion and green beans one), followed when the veggies were al dente by a pack of chow mein sauce. To make things a bit more authentic, he added some fresh pineapple and ginger as the sauce was seeping  over the ingredients. The last to go in was the Tilda rice, as it only needs heated throughout. He decided to serve his dish in a thin egg omelet, in which he enveloped the rice dish, with lashings of authentic soy sauce. It …

From A Mother To Another – A Campaign by JoJo Maman Bébé

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Once in a while, I get to do the awesomest of things on the blog. Yesterday, JoJo Maman Bebe approached me and asked me if I would be interested in becoming a blogger ambassador for their amazing campaign, From A Mother To Another and help spread the word about helping children in need. I nearly wept at the privilege of being able to lend my blogging voice and raise awareness of two worthwhile causes. Syrian children, for whom the campaign is trying to raise clothing, have been weighing on my heart heavily for the past year. Emma and I spread the word about #ShareTheMeal app at Christmas and shared our pennies in December with Syrian refugee children. Local children who live in poverty are also a genuine cause of concern for me and we always donate Emma’s small clothing to local charities who try to make their lives a bit better. JoJo Maman Bebe are currently encouraging mums out there to spare a thought and an outgrown outfit and spread some love to other mothers …

Nourishing and healthy soup

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Last week, I had dear friends over for lunch. Generally, I love making my own food when I have people over so the day before the visit I rushed into Tesco’s before school pick up and lifted off the shelf a pack of what I thought were split lentils and thought no more of it. After dinner that evening, I decided to make a start on my soup and placed about 300 grams of my pulses with half a pack of cut up veggies and a cube of chicken Knorr in a pot to boil. It usually takes less than half an hour for lentils to boil but when I checked, my pulses were nowhere ready. That is because…they were split chickpeas! You will not blame me as according to the picture below, lentils and split chickpeas can look quite similar. They do even more suspiciously so when you are in a hurry and plan a nice soup for friends the following day, haha!   Anyway, once the realisation settled in, I had to decide …

Belfast Children’s Festival Launch Event

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Last week, I had the honour to attend the launch of the 18th annual Belfast Children’s Festival, organised by Young at Art. Young at Art is one of Northern Ireland’s leading children’s arts not-for-profit companies and home of Young at Art Events and the Belfast Children’s Festival.  From its base in Belfast’s city centre, Young at Art coordinates not only an international festival and a touring events agency, but also a wide variety of projects that encourage children and young people under 18 to enjoy the arts. The launch was a cheerful and bright affair, organised in the central station in Belfast, which was attended by local school children and various local representatives, the Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast,  Alderman Guy Spence being one of them. ‘Young at Art produces this festival each year because it believes the arts are an intrinsic part of how our children and our society understand, grow, imagine and innovate.  Experiencing something creative is about going on a journey as far as you can dream.  Whether it’s reading a story, …