Mama's Haven

I have always had this desire to learn about new cultures, places and countries and this includes learning about their food as well. Emma has inherited my love of discovery so when we were offered the chance to review the new Kitchen Trotter cooking kits and learn more about Indonesia, I knew it would be something we would both enjoy.

The cooking kits by Kitchen Trotter are unique in their concept: they offer a culinary world tour in a box. With authentic products, carefully selected and sourced, the box delivers an explosion of fresh and novel tastes, each month different and enticing!

Although the boxes are primarily designed for the foodie and the connoisseur, I found out that they are perfect as an introduction to new tastes for small children too. Tonight, Emma and I decided to cook a noodle dish from the booklet that accompanies the box and it has been a very pleasant experience for both of us. Not only the bonding and the spending time together but also the chance to sniff, taste and chat about various ingredients that make Indonesian cuisine unique.

The booklet I mentioned above contains five recipes, a starter, three main courses and a desert in which you can use the amazing products in the box but there is plenty more left once you have used up the recipes so you can do your own research and find more about the respective cuisine and try even more new recipes.

We loved the Indonesian cuisine as presented by the Kitchen Trotter box as it is flavoursome and mild. We weren’t very sure about the fish paste that goes into everything but we were happy to give it a try and adjust the quantities to our palate. The dishes we produced so far are well balanced, with plenty of veggies and meat we all like and we look forward to try the rest of the recipes, especially the sweet one!

Would we subscribe to the Kitchen Trotter?

Yes, the unique culinary experiences they offer are definitely worth it, especially when your child is eager to learn about new places and cultures. There is no better introduction to a place than through its food, in my opinion!

The only niggle I have with the box is its price. Although I totally understand the fact that the sourcing and import of the products cannot come cheap, I still think £29.99 per month would be out of our budget at the moment. For us as a family with only one income at the moment, I would say the occasional box, every three to four months would be more suitable.

Disclosure: we have received a Kitchen Trotter box for the purpose of this review. All opinions expressed are entirely our own.

One of the reasons I LOVE blogging is that I get to work with so many wonderful brands and unique companies!

Take Kaya Jewellery, for example, the latest of the brilliant companies I have had the privilege to work with recently. Not only do they design stunning jewellery for any occasion (I will give you a round-up in a wee second) but they have also a strong penchant for charity work and support actively the Eduki Foundation and through them, the education of 10 beautiful children in Gambia!

Where do I start now, the Kaya jewellery is so beautiful and diverse, I am afraid I won’t be able to do it proper justice in a blog post!

First of all, and down to the nitty gritty, I love the fact that delivery is free and fast (our order arrived within 24 hours) and that orders come presented in beautiful and again, in a choice of two options of beautiful, FREE gift wrapping!

Their jewellery ranges from occasions (like the fast approaching Valentine’s Day) to children’s (new baby, girl and boy) to mum jewellery.

My absolute favourites have to be the Mum and Me and the 3 generation range, I cannot think of anything more touching that seeing granny, mother and daughter wearing the same, matching bracelets or necklaces, as a visible recognition of the strong bond of love that unites them!

Their Mother’s Day range include a huge variety of personalised pendants and charms (all beautiful and hard to decide upon!), engraved necklaces and delicate bracelets:

If you think this was all good news, wait till I tell you about the price range!

The baby jewellery starts at £14.95, the Mum and Me range varies between £41.90 and £47.90 and the 3 generations sets don’t go over £49.99. Actually, nothing goes on the site over £65 and for silver jewellery, I think it is quite the bargain!

So why don’t you start nice and early this year and head over to have a peep at their gorgeous Mother’s Day range and even possibly purchase for the most special woman in your life a beautiful, delicate and personalised memento?

Disclosure: Emma and I got a Mum and Me bracelet set, which we cannot wait to show off feature while in Greece next week. The opinions expressed in this post are entirely our own, we genuinely love the products and we will point Alex this way for Mother (and Daugher)’s Day gift ideas!

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 it out here two days ago but with temperatures close to zero, we had to return it to the peg and wait for warmer days. Not too long though, I am sure Emma will make excellent use of it when in Patra, even on sunny days, as the material is soft and the coat feel light and is a lovely fit on her frame.

For little boys who could do with a new spring coat or a wardrobe freshening up, this is what caught my eye on the website:

I really love the fir of the jacket and the matching wellies, couldn’t get any better, both in terms of fashion style and practicality, could it?

For those cooler days, Joules has brought out, for both girls and boys, warm, cosy sweatshirt, guaranteed to keep the chills out but allow freedom of movement and loads of fun!

The theme of the summer collection is definitely the applique, how incredibly cute are these:

I wish you all oodles of fun this half term, whether you spend it home or away!

We will be keeping our readers posted with pictures from Greece on our Instagram page, do have a peek from time to time next week!

Thank you again, Joules, for gifting Emma with her lovely t-shirt, top and coat, we love them and will wear them ever so proudly!