All posts filed under: Reviews

Half-term fun with Joules!

I am very excited writing this blog post. For several reasons, which I will hurry to jot down for you, so you can cheer along! First of all, we are going on holidays to Greece on Sunday! If you have read my previous post, you would know that travelling created tonnes of enthusiasm in our family, so we are all sorts of giggly these days! Secondly, and I still cannot believe Emma’s luck to have been chosen to try out some of the new spring-summer collection as we will be featuring Joules in Greece, ladies and gents! Well, this mummy will only be featuring her slippers and matching pyjama bottoms she got at Christmas in the outlet in Kildare Village 🙂 but Emma gets a makeover for spring with beautiful items from the new collection! Greece is still sort of cold at the moment, with similar temperatures like here and the weather forecasts did show rain for when we arrive, so Emma will be able to wear proudly her new rain coat. We did try …

New kids on the…food aisle

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 …

Belfast Children’s Festival Launch Event

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, …

Supporting The Young Emergent Writer

Emma is now 6 and in her second year of primary school education. She can read simple books and writes about everything that entertains her imagination, using phonetic sounding. Although Emma is confident in both her reading and writing, her school and lovely teacher encourage learning reinforcement at home and this is something I really believe in. Having worked for years as a substitute teacher in numerous schools in Northern Ireland and as a special needs classroom assistant for a short spell last year, I know the amazing difference educational support at home can make. I have always encouraged Emma to appreciate books and the house is coming down at the moment with information books which are appropriate for her age. Her mind is like a sponge and she can retain impressive detail and information about everything, so we are nurturing her thirst of knowledge by always reading with her or listening to her read to us. Her favourite series is the Wonderwise Collection, which we got from The Book People for £14.99 last year. …

Trespass family

If you read my blog regularly, you know that last year, Trespass invited us to work with them as ambassadors and I got to enjoy their great walking boots. This time, they asked me to pick a winter jacket and since I had several long ones, I went for Release Women’s Padded Casual Jacket, a shorter one, perfect for school runs and crisp winter days. I took my time choosing it as although I wanted a lighter jacket, I still needed it to be able to keep the heat in on blustery days but not overheat me when going into shops in  a rush to grab a pint of milk or bread for the morning. Using coldheat insulation, the Release prevents your body heat from escaping and locks it between the surface and interior where it can be used to stream you warmth without the need of warmer external temperatures, so it was exactly what I was looking for. As soon as it arrived, I loved the soft shelling and the weightless feel and couldn’t …