Author: Oana

Spanish Rice Recipe

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Tonight, I decided to make paella. I hadn’t made it in ages and I am partial to chorizo and sticky rice so it had to be done. Emma smelled the chorizo being cooked and asked: “Mum, are you cooking bacon?” She wouldn’t admit it but she is getting a taste for good bacon. She is an Irish born and bred girl, after all, it was just a matter of time until it happened :-). I said: “No, Emma, it is not. I am cooking Spanish sausage.” She then went, out of the blue, “Oh, Spanish sausage! OLE!” When did this child of mine become such a polyglot?!? Moving on… This is my recipe, in case the picture made you hungry for it: Step 1   Add 400 gr. of turkey steak, bite size, to a frying pan with two tablespoons of virgin olive oil. Step 2 When your turkey is nearly cooked, add chorizo cubes. I bought mine from Tesco, comes in a very handy little 200 gr. box. Let it cook together with the …

Living Arrows-8/52

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I did debate a lot whether I should or not link up to Living Arrows again. Last time I did, I had two Living Arrows. Sadly, one has left us for Heaven, way too soon. But then I decided to go for it. In my heart, I still do have two living arrows. One lives only in my heart for now. And in my memories. I think of my Georgie every day. Many times a day. Most of the time, I remember the bad times. The hospital days. The trauma. But today, when I thought of him, I had this memory. Of him grinning. Being happy. Not understanding the magnitude of his diagnosis. Not knowing that chemo would make him sick. Just basking in our love. Just soaking in the attention and the pouring of our hearts. I remembered your smiles today, sweet boy. And for a moment, I smiled too. My other living arrow, I still have with me and it is such a joy to see her grow. In wisdom, knowledge and years. …

Next time…

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Next time we do the baby thing, if we will be blessed with another precious little one, I will do things differently. With Georgie, I got a second hand pram and Moses basket, thinking I was saving money. I did, that is true, but I have always felt I didn’t give him the best. And boy, did he deserve it, my little brave boy! So, next time, if there will be a next time, I will get everything brand new. Brand new to symbolise a fresh start. And hopefully a different story. With both Georgie and Emma, we couldn’t do the Moses basket. They just wouldn’t settle in. Emma had bad infant reflux. And Georgie, poor baby boy, he had sore bones. So next time, I want to get a BEDNEST, to have my baby so close to me, within easy reach. For those early days when everything is fuzzy. For those late night feeds. For those much needed and wanted cuddles. Next time, I will buy a brand new pram. No second hands. A …

A day out in county Down

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We love travelling as a family. And we love good food. I have meant to do this sort of post forever. But it is only now that I found the time and the energy to do my first travel and food review. Exciting! We live in county Antrim but a couple of years back we lived for a year in Bangor, county Down. It is a beautiful part of the world and we lived in a stunning location but we didn’t find the people very friendly nor genuine nor kind. So in the end, we moved back where we felt we belonged. But now and again, we return for a visit. And a compulsory bite to eat. This is the seafront in Bangor, in all its sunny splendour. Always chilly and windy, due to the open sea and the currents but always beautiful to look at! We decided to go for lunch at The Salty Dog. Emma and I (and Georgie, as a seven month bump) had stayed there in November 2013, when we moved …

Princess Emma’s T-shirt Review

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This week, the lovely people at buytshirtsonline sent Emma a Disney princess kit to review. Emma is 5 and still very much into her princesses and fairy tale endings so as soon as the parcel arrived, she started pestering me relentlessly to assist her in making her own personalised t-shirt. We were out yesterday but this morning we decided it was time to give our creativity a go! The instructions were clear and easy to follow: we cut out the princess shape, leaving a 5 mm edge around the picture. We used the kitchen table as a hard surface to work on and a folded pillowcase to place our t-shirt on. Alex got the iron out and got the t-shirt all wrinkle free. The next step was simply applying our cut out princess, face down, of course, on the t-shirt and passing the hot iron over it for about two minutes. Emma was very pleased with the result but wanted to add her own touch to it, once it cooled off. We were a bit …