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What Oana forgot

Published by Oana

Otilia, from Romanian Mum inspired by MrsB, from Mind over Matter wrote a lovely post the other day that got me thinking.

The whole idea came from the book MrsB is reading at the moment, “What Alice Forgot” and the amnesia that the heroine goes through following a fall, causing her to forget the last 10 years of her life. That caused a blog roll, in the true sense, and here I am, considering myself my life and the many changes I have been through in the last 10 years!

If I was Alice and woke up tomorrow morning thinking it was the 20th of November 2003, I would be:

Totally bewildered that I no longer live in Romania, in the same apartment I used to live with my parents and younger brother.
Surprised I am no longer a university student, as I was back in 2003.
Pleasantly surprised to find a handsome, loving man calling himself my husband 🙂
Mesmerised and over the moon with this beautiful and clever girl who calls me mummy and my growing bump. I had always wanted two children and here, my dreams are coming true!
Probably have to re-learn to drive. I only learned to drive after I moved to Northern Ireland, in 2007!
Re-acquainting myself with all our Irish friends and our church. I would be pleased to find out I’m attending a lively church, with caring members, as I’d imagined I would be back in the day.
Surprised to find out some of my old friends are no longer my friends, not as close as we used to be, anyway…
Overwhelmed to find out we have moved house 7 times in the last 7 years, one house for every year I was married!!
Disappointed that I haven’t managed to secure a steady job as I had imagined myself I would by this age but amazed with the versatility and adaptability I had proved over the years as a substitute teacher, blogger, wife and mummy.
Have forgotten all the important life lessons I have learned in the last 10 years:
Not remember, for example, that life passes you by whether you choose to live it or not, so don’t sweat the small stuff!
Have found out that God can make up for the “years that the locusts ate” and give me the love of a man I still believe I don’t deserve and a beautiful family I am grateful for and try not to take for granted.
That, on the other hand, addictions like the one my dad suffers from, can drain a family totally of resources, energy and emotions and NEVER have a happy end. This would be actually the only static thing in my life if I was to wake up amnesic, the situation my dad has been in for all these years…
Surprised I have learned to use make up and own now a good few pairs of high heels. I used to be such a tomboy back in 2001.
Shocked that I am a few kilos heavier than I used to be. But then, I would put it down to the pregnancy, I suppose 🙂
So pleased I live in a nice big house, as I hoped I would, with plenty of room for guests and children to play.
Utterly surprised that I have suffered from postnatal depression and that I now suffer from hypothyroidism that makes me tired and moody, especially when around children. I always imagined myself to be a natural mummy and would be shocked to find out it hadn’t been the case!
Pleased that I still like to watch old movies, like “The Sound of Music.”
Relieved to know I still LOVE books and reading and find it the most relaxing activity I can think of.
Not surprised to find out I tried skiing but was rubbish at it.
Pleased to find out I am good at cooking and feeding my family nutritious, tasty and healthy meals.
Over the moon that my mum is still alive, I would pick up the phone to call her at once, as I still do daily!

Well, that’s my list. I don’t have a picture that goes back as far as 2003, I left them all in my parents’ apartment but I have dug up a picture from 2006, when I first met hubby. Can you see the difference :-)?

Chicken skewers and beetroot salad

Published by Oana

So we were in Dublin at the weekend. Greek hubby wanted to sample some home delicacies at one of the Greek restaurants we frequent when in Dublin but because he is such a ~~fusspots~~ food connoisseur, with high standards when it comes to food (and most other things in life, as a matter of fact), he ended up disappointed with the food and I ended up with a couple of food orders for this week: Greek chicken skewers and lamb chops.

So this evening I decided to honour his first request and made him some yummy chicken skewers. I love making them as they are one of the easiest dinners I can put together (less than half an hour), practically cooks itself and as a bonus, gets me points with hubby :-)!

Basic ingredients:

600g chicken breast

one courgette

two small onions, cut into eights

cherry tomatoes, cut into halves

a couple of peppers

Chop everything roughly and add them creatively on the skewers. Marinate with a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and oregano.

Put the skewers in the oven at 200 degrees for about 30 minutes. If you are using the grill, reduce cooking time and check every so often, as they tend to burn easily.

I would normally serve the skewers with a Greek salad but tonight I decided for a change and went with a beetroot and feta salad.

All you need is fresh salad leaves, a few pickled beetroots, about 100g of good quality feta and a dash of olive oil along with a sprinkle of pepper and salt.

Bon appetit to a great looking, nutritious and easy dinner prepared in no time!

Silent Sunday-17/11/2013

Published by Oana

Cheese Scones

Published by Oana

Tonight’s recipe is inspired by the cheddar scone recipe in The Colman’s Mustard Cookbook but as usual, I decided to change a few things here and there, just to make things a bit more interesting 🙂

Ingredients:

225g self-raising flour

1 heaped teaspoon English mustard (the Colman recipe said mustard powder but I had none in the house)

Pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder (my scones came out a bit flat so I would add a full teaspoon next time)

40g butter

60g grated cheese (I used sage Derby, the Colman’s recipe asked for Cheddar)

2 medium eggs

Milk for the glaze

150 ml cream (I used clotted cream for texture)

Instructions:

Mix the flour, mustard, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Using your hand, rub the butter into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the cheese, one egg and the cream, to form a light dough (mine wasn’t coming together so I added a drop of warm water).

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough and cut out as many scones as you can, reforming the dough and rolling out again until you’re finished. Place the scones onto a greased baking sheet. Beat the other egg with a bit of milk and brush your scones. Add in the oven for 15 minutes at 200C. Let them cool on a rack. Optionally, you can cut them in half and fill them with your choice of filling (pate, smoked salmon, cream cheese). We eat them as they are, as they are filling and delicious in themselves!

Christmas Gift Ideas

Published by Oana

With 43 days left until Christmas (how can this be, it seems like it was only yesterday Emma was splashing in the sea in Halkidiki??), all retailers, small businesses and private sellers have gone into a tizzy.

And so have all the caring family members, especially the ones who have a lot of people and tastes to please and a budget to stick to. I must confess, with a baby on the way, I started extra early this year as I know that come December I will be too heavy and tired to go shopping or spend hours online trying to find bargains. Santa has already bought Emma (and even wrapped it all up) a lovely Barbie with complimentary car and a Tiana doll. ~~She~~ He has also thought of suggesting to ~~daddy~~ his helper to add to the stash a couple of girlie outfits from Vertbaudet, since they have an online Christmas pre-sale on already and voila, little girl sorted for this Christmas!

I have also decided to put together a list of ideas for Christmas presents for your loved ones, since I know how limited our time is and how helpful lists can be. I will be adding up to the list hopefully every week, depending on energy levels and finds worth writing about!

This week I proudly present you with three products we have tried as a family and approved of unanimously.

The first, coming from the an appropriately-named company, Sent With a Loving Kiss, would make a lovely Christmas present for any chocolate lover. The tins would impress even hard to please mothers-in-laws as it gives the buyer the unique opportunity to personalise the chocolate box with a heartfelt message. I loved ours and I will keep it as a biscuit tin because of the personal message imprinted on it. The chocolates were yummy and came in a variety of black, white and milk, with lovely Christmassy designs on them. The boxes sell with a slight discount at the moment, starting at £18.99. As a satisfied customer, I would assure you, they would make a very impressive and highly palatable Christmas gift!

The second gift idea I chose for this week is the newly improved PAIRSinPEARS letter game. Why did we like it as a family?

– We found it easily transportable: the game comes in a very cute, pear-shaped zip bag that can easily fit even in hand luggage (if you plan to travel this Christmas or if your family prefers camping trips in the summer) and can be carried around even by very small hands.

– It is a game that grows with your family: you can use it with children as young as 4, for pattern grouping and learn your ABC games but it makes a fun game even for grown-ups who can use it to play competitive word grids. Who says Christmas is for slouching on the sofa, stuffed as a turkey?!?

– Mummy was pleased as, unlike other family games, this one is easy to store away as it doesn’t take a lot of room.

The game retails on eBay and at Staples between £15.50 and £19.19. We would recommend it as a sturdy and entertaining family game, guaranteed to offer hours of fun at Christmas( and not only!)

The last product I decided to include in this post is the funky looking and gorgeously girlie shower cap from Save The Blow. I am one of those girls who loves styling her hair and having it just right as I associate clean, styled hair with self-confidence and self-respect. BUT as a busy mum I am also always looking for ways to save time and energy bills so when I saw this particular shower cap, I knew I wanted it as an ally and asset :-). The fact that it comes in lovely, girlie, soft fabric pink and that it guarantees no frizzy, wet hair was a definite bonus! But the selling element for me would always be the fact that the company works in association with Khandel Light and that the sales finance a very noble campaign of improving living conditions in Khandel, one of the most impoverished regions in the world and support a cause I hold very dear, access to education for girls! So girls, saving your blow dryers while helping girls in India get an education, what could be more fitting and uplifting than that for a Christmas present?