I hardly find anytime to bake cakes these days so I was so happy when my friend asked me to make a beach themed cake for her mother. She found a picture of a lovely cake online and she asked me to make something similar.
The only time I made a beach theme cake was for my husband’s 40th birthday but this one was a bit different. This time I had to challenge myself and make something I’ve never done before: an edible palm and a beach chair.
I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal… wrong! For the palm the leaves would just not stay put and no matter what I was using to make them, they kept breaking… until I found the simple solution to support them from underneath with cocktails sticks and it worked! The palm was made out of modelling chocolate and the leaves were sugar paste.
For the sand I used light brown sugar and to make the seashells I used fondant and a plastic mould. I started making them about a week in advance because they needed to be firm and dry by the time I had to put them on a cake.
Making the chair took me an incredible amount of hours! Honestly it was so difficult to cut all the little pieces and combining them together. I had to make sure they were perfectly glued (sugar glued!) one to another to make the chair stay put.
This was my first time making edible flower and although they were very simple I thought they looked good.
Here the cake, ready to be collected. My friend loved it and her mum too!
family, petsComments Off on How to know if you are ready to expand your family
Ehm not, I’m not talking about babies. This time I’m talking about understanding when you are ready to welcome a PET in your house!
Recently, a friend of us who is moving to America, asked us if we would consider looking after their dog because they would not be able to take him overseas with them. All of the sudden my dream to own a dog could become a reality!! I ALWAYS had dogs and cats when I was little and the idea to give our two kitties a furry friend really excited me!
I was already preparing all the best arguments to convince my husband that adopting this gorgeous border collie would have been a great idea when my friend told me that her sister offered to take him with her. At first I was a bit disappointed because I’m sure that dog would have brought happiness and more craziness to our house but soon I realised that it probably was for the better. I knew deep down that we would have struggled a bit to keep up with him mainly because we are just soooo lazy and bringing a new pet in the house, especially a dog, it’d have been such a huge commitment.
We current have two cats which we love dearly. I still remember the day we bought them. We were supposed to get only one but then they were so cute, fluffy, friendly and the two were just following each other so we could not separate them. It was so easy to say YES, we are going to take them both! We didn’t really consider what having two cats involved (especially for us, as we had just bought the tinest super central flat with no balcony and no garden).
We knew that welcoming those cats in our life was a long term promise (cats can live up to 20 years!) so based on my experience, I wrote a list of things to consider before getting one and a list of reasons why you should have a cat in your home.
Things to consider before getting a cat
Unlike soft toys which you can stroke and cuddle as much as you like, real cats shed looots of hair.. everywhere… so although it’s lovely to have them in your bedroom, be ready to find cat hair everywhere. Romeo sleeps every night in between us so we just put an additional blanket on our duvet that we can easily shake in the morning. In addition to hair, cats love to scratch their claws.. basically everywhere… if they find a surface which could help their claws to stay razor sharp then they will be on it! We bought a big scratch pole that we have had for ages and they really love it. BUT to make sure they don’t get bored and start scratching your new carpet, you’d need to consider getting a new scratch pole every now and then. Not a big one but something different to attract their curiosity. And consequently you will find little bits of claws here and there.
Cats obviously pee and poo. When you get a new kitten, it is usually toilet trained so you would only need to provide him with a litter which MUST be always clean. The reason behind that is that cats are very clean animals and they don’t like to use a “dirty loo”. We found that the crystal cat litter was the best solution for us. No odours, high absorbance and easy to clean. It is obviously one of the most expensive ones so you would need to consider that too. Remember that if you are thinking of getting two cats then you’d need to get two litters as cats don’t like other cats’ smells (unless you have a garden, then one cat litter works fine).
You need to consider various costs. Luckily health wise, our cats have been pretty healthy, but as a general rule not only cats need regular vet checks but in some cases they need treatments which can include spaying, deworming. IF for any reason they get sick then you need to take them to be treated professionally, and all these treatments are costly. To top that up you need to consider the cost for pet food, toys (you won’t resist and will buy many cat toys!), litter and flea treatment if need it.
Although cats are pretty independent animals they still need your attention, they need to feel loved otherwise they can easily get depressed. I’m not joking, it happened to our cats shortly after I got pregnant. The vet said that because of the change in hormones (mine not theirs- lol), they knew something was going on and felt like we were more focused on something else. We did pay a high price for that.. they randomly started peeing either on the sofa, (once on the duvet!!), in a corner of a room, in one of my shoes! We were desperate as we really didn’t know how to solve this. Eventually we bought some Feliway which is a plugin device that releases hormes to keep the cats calm and luckily it worked. Again it was costly and I am honest with you my husband hinted that one of the options was to give them away but we sticked to our guns and just got on with it until we found a solution.
Reasons why you need a cat in your life
We personally found that having cats is very rewarding in terms of affection and companionship. I work from home and there is no better place to do my job than in a room with a background sound of two gorgeous cats snoring.. it’s relaxing, comforting, somehow it brings me peace and it does help to unwind my mind.
Your children will learn from a young age to respect animals and to be responsible for their upringing as much as adults are. Did you know that kids who grow up with furred animals have a decreased risk for allergies and asthma? The reason is that having a pet actually improves childrens’ immune system because of the higher exposure to allergens.
Cats are cute and funny! You can entertain them for hours with just a piece of string and they can play fetch! Their agility and energy will amuse you and then when both of you will be tired there will be nothing better than laying on a sofa petting your purring cat next to you. Did you know that petting a cat increases oxytocin levels in the body? This hormone is released by touch and it is known for increasing feelings of happiness.
Believe it or not cats can reduce the risk of heart attack because owning a cat is proven to reduce stress.
Cats keep you warm during those cold winter evenings when there is nothing better to do than watch a great movie while relaxing on a sofa. Your feet will definitely stay warm.
You don’t need to walk your cat! (Hurray!) He’s perfectly happy to find his way out discovering new places by himself.
Cats are relatively small and usually take up less space than most dogs.
Cats make the best listeners! Honestly if you either need to practice your speech or have a rant, they will just stand right there in front of you looking at your crazy faces and most of the time when you are done, they will come to you for cuddles…awww
If you decide to get a cat but you are not sure you know enough about kittens, then you can check these lectures which will explain everything you need to know about our little furry friends
Despite what you hear, cats are incredibly caring creatures and more than a pet, they will soon become family members. And as such you will spontaniously want to give them all the love and attention possible so that they will feel looked after and they will give you plenty of affection and love back.
A cat is going to be your companion for life and trust me it will be totally worth it!
I wanted to write “driving safety tips for mummies and daddies” but I know daddies think they know better when it comes to driving so let’s just pretend we believe them.
Anyway, let’s talk safety! I’ve realized that I completely changed my driving style since I had my children. I’ve always loved driving and I feel I’ve always been a very confident driver but since the day we took our newborn daughter home, something in my head just told me that I had to change my Italian driving style for good. The sense of protection towards the little person who just came into our lives changed everything included the way we drive. I am now more cautious, I definitely slow down and I’ve become less hostile towards “Sunday drivers” because I always think that perhaps they carry little passengers ( I still have to work on the shouting/swearing bit, but obviously I use a different vocabulary when my kids are with me!).
So what are the five top tips you should follow while on the road? Based on my experience these are the ones I follow:
car seat: not all car seats will fit all types of cars so choosing the best one based on the weight and height of your child is really important. Please have a look at this Gov page to read more about car seat legislation and check this very useful chart about child car seats. Remember most accidents happen in short journeys close to home so it’s really important to have your children strapped all the time even for very short journeys and make sure that the child seat is securely fitted, please check this every single time you leave for a journey (it once happened to us that we discovered that the car seat was not securely fastened!). Least but not last ensure that the child lock is always on as children will always try “for fun” to open the door while on the move.
keep all the toys tied down or if you can just don’t bring any. Children don’t know the importance of you being totally focused while driving so it’s up to you to get all organised and make sure your children will distract you as little as possible (is there such a thing!??!) during the journey. A common distraction is when my children drop a toy on the car floor and God knows what can happen if they don’t get it back asap! I therefore stopped carrying toys in the car, especially small ones as they are the worse to look for. So instead we just make up games to play or I point at interesting things to see (like that big pink bird flying in the sky holding hands with the fluffy unicorn! – trust me they will spend half an hour looking for it and forget about anything else). If you think that you MUST bring some toys otherwise your child will easily throw a tatrum without having one, than pick big ones so you have more chance to find them and you will be able to grab them by quickly pulling over at the side of the road.
Check your tyres. I cannot stress enough how important this is. For a while I had a faulty light on my dashboard telling me that my tyres were loosing pressure and I always over looked the importance of fixing it until I read an article about safety and tyres. Because tyres are the only part of the car touching the floor, they are in control of your steering, breaking and they absorb all bumps of the road so it is essential that they are in very good conditions. Did you know that by keeping tyres at their correct pressure you can consume less fuel and help to reduce CO2 emissions? Well I didn’t! A good habit would be checking your tyre pressures monthly and before any long trip. At the same time you should check the tyre tread depth and look for any signs of damage or irregular wear. IF you are like me and don’t have a clue about treat deph then just go to your trusted garage and ask and the experts who will be able to tell you if your tyre is still good to go. Good quality tyres are essential so try to invest in a good brand and perhaps get some help by looking at websites like Point S tyres where you can find good deals on tyre brands such as Continental, Bridgestone or Yokohama . Oh and remember that rotating your tyres can also help to get the most out of them.
forget about your phone. It’s so easy to just leave your phone in the seat next to you and every now and again (especially in traffic) just have a look at your messages or make a quick phone call at the red traffic light but please refrain of doing so. I’m guilty of this (although never with the kids in the car) and probably don’t realise how much less aware I am about what’s happening on the road around me. Talking on the phone makes people four times more likely to crash and the chance to crash while texting is 23 times higher. If we want to be picky then even eating behind the wheel would be a threat! (ok let’s calm down now). For a while I thought to start using a phone hands-free phone while driving but then I read that this does not significantly reduce the risks of crashing based on the fact that a phone is a mental distraction and it does divide your attention between having a phone conversation at the same time as driving. So it’s a big NO NO for me now.
leave plenty of time for your journey. I go literally bonkers every time someone makes me wait so I hate being late! I try to plan ahead every time we leave the house. I’d rather arrive a lot early than start my journey with the idea that I might be late ( a freak I know!) because that would potentially tempt me to speed.
family, HolidayComments Off on How to survive the summer holidays
Ahhh summer holidays! Sun, beach, relax…
Nope.
Not for us.
Not this year…:(
We recently bought a flat and we have started renting it out as holiday let so we took the decision that this summer we were not going to go anywhere (ouch!) .
Now.. how to survive 6 weeks of holidays with two very lively, crazy children?
I knew I needed a hand so I organized to have some moral and physical support from my family . My mother in law is “booked” to stay here until the 19th of July and then my sister will be here till the beginning of August. In both cases I know the kids will have fun playing with them
but
I had to plan few activities to make sure that there was plenty of entertainment for the children.
This is what I planned:
My kids looove making “recipes” ie putting together anything they can find in the garden (flowers, grass, stones, feathers,etc) and pretending it’s a new dish so I bought different plastic bowls and wooden spoons, a plastic jar and here you go, the perfect activity that for once doesn’t cost you money and that will keep them entertained for at least a couple of hours! Obviously if it rains it is not doable … oh well, I have a confession to make… at the moment I still send them outside,even with the rain! We live in Scotland and most of the time we just have drizzle than sunny again, drizzle and sunny, well you got the pattern.
Face painting! We recently bought a pretty cheap set of face painting and the kids cannot get enough of painting each other faces, legs, arms. The good thing about it is that they then get to spend one hour in the bath playing to wash it all off! Perfect!
We make obstacle courses. Again based on the weather it can be done either outside or inside. My kids love it because every time we use different things to make one. The popular obstacle course at the moment is in the living room where we use the big cushions of the sofa, some blankets, a rotating chair and a few small cardboard boxes. We just create different levels where the kids need to walk, jump, crawl, they absolutely love it!
We bake! Obviously the best activity for me although when it’s done with the kids it just involves a “little” bit too much of flour (or powder sugar if we make the delicious meringues!)
Treasure hunting. As long as it involves little sweets and marshmallows left here and there trust me this is one of the easiest activities to do with kids. If they know that there are still more sweets to be found (or strawberries or other fruits if you think sweets are too bad for them) they will just keep searching everywhere and the time will fly for everyone.
Build a snail house.
I give each of my children a big pot base and I first ask them to fetch as much snails as possible in the garden. Then I ask them to create the most beautiful snail house possible. They use flowers, plants, little stones, sometimes I give them a small bowl, fill it with water so they can make a snail swimming pool. I love to see the final project, it’s fun especially because at the end we get to have a snail race where the winner will get to have lay in a “room” full of lettuce 😉
7) Eat gelato!
Now in between activities OBVIOUSLY I propose to them to watch a cartoon or to play with some games on the iPad but I guess as long as there is a good balance everyone is happy and mummy can keep her sanity intact!
This post is an entry for BritMums Confessions of a Summer Parent Challenge, sponsored by Anchor.
