For those times you crave something sweet, want to be healthy and only have 10 minutes (any longer and it’s all too easy to reach for the chocolate..), then this, my friends, is the recipe for you. It makes enough for at least 6 portions – perfect for a little serving every evening or for a meal with a group of friends.
Ingredients
250 ml low fat yoghurt
500g frozen berries (my favorite ingredient as they just sit in the freezer waiting to be used!)
1 tbsp runny honey (the naughty part)
Crushed digestive biscuits
Mint
Prep time
1 minute + 20 minutes foraging for your magimix if you are anything like me
Method
Throw all the ingredients in the magimixe and whizz until smooth. Serve with crumbled digestive biscuits on top and a sprig of mint on the side. I promise you, it will satisfy your sweet tooth without inducing that guilt pang afterwards.
I’m of the belief that having a little one does not mean life has to stop. I’ve been going to festivals every Summer for as long as I can remember and I wasn’t about to let becoming a mama change that. (We took Jack to Somersault festival last year, but he was only 12 weeks old so it didn’t really count!)
WOMAD, which stands for World of Music, Art and Dance takes place in the exquisite Wiltshire countryside and is a real cultural feast musically, artistically, and gastronomically. Now in its thirty-third year, you can tell that this is a festival that know’s what works. Stewards welcomed us with warm smiles and we were even offered a lift by Tony (the most amazing steward I’ve ever met) who bundled us on to his 4 x 4 before we could even pretend to protest and drove us, and our ninety bags (here’s my festivals essentials), to the camping field as Jack squealed with joy at every turn. And this was just the beginning.
Jack was happy as Larry the majority of our time at WOMAD. From toddling around the grass in his wellies whilst we chugged back a cider and put up our bell tent to being stuck under a rain cover gnawing on a plum for an hour whilst Sam and I frantically packed everything up in torrential rain. The Taste the World food area was our first experience inside WOMAD where we refuelled on delicious Goan fish curry and had our first bop with Jack snoozing on my back in the Ergo carrier. At other times we would sip on rich Colombian coffee, indulge in freshly baked plump sugary donuts and dine on a huge tray of steaming paella.
Delicious fresh fish curry with enough rice to keep us going for a while!
The array of music was incredible and over the course of the weekend our ears were treated to Israeli Jazz, Ghanaian soul, French reggae and so much more. Whilst we weren’t able to “rave” as we may have done in past years, new experiences with music were formed. One of the highlights of WOMAD for me took place around sunset. As the sun started descending and the Staves dulcet voices began wafting through the air, beautiful scenes began unfolding around us. I watched as families set about bedding down for the night with loving focus; women breastfeeding their baby to sleep propped up against the back of the tent, fathers making the final tweaks to their kids’ cart, groups of children being fed by the nominated mother. Calm contentment pervaded. We left our buggy outside the tent with another mum as we made our way into the tent to get closer to those magical voices, Jack on our back. In the end we settled near the back with another few families and watched with warm hearts as the older children welcomed Jack in to their group and game of limbo they had set up with a long piece of straw whilst we chatted away with the parents.
We loved the Steam Fair with its vintage rides and the Global Market, full of beautiful Peruvian feather earrings and fleecy blankets that made me feel cosy just looking at. At night fall we would change Jack into his babygrow and just about manage to give him some dinner propped up on a bench without him racing off to discover a new friend or wooden spoon to play with. Mealtimes are slightly tricky at a festival or camping without any sort of chair but once with his bottle of milk, dummy, nightshade and lullabies playing from our phone in the basket of the buggy (our secret weapon!), Jack would soon easily drift off to sleep leaving us to enjoy the night together as a couple, intermittently snuggling and shimmying at the sidelines as the headliners blasted out. All the while, with our child sleeping soundly by our side. What could be nicer?
Cuddles before bedtime
What I love about festivals, and WOMAD excelled in this space, is the exceptional friendliness of everyone you meet. No one asks what your day job is, where you live or often, even what your name is. Everyone just wants to get lost in the colorful haze of the festival and throw themselves in to the “moment.” And when you have a child, it is those”moments” that are so precious and beautiful. At one point, Jack struck up a relationship with a greying older man who dazzled him with some fancy footwork in the All Singing All Dancing tent and who Jack in turn made feel young again, I am sure.
Jack thankfully slept well in his travel cot in the tent, despite me being worried he’d be too cold (my main concern) Waking up in nature makes me so happy and I loved unlacing (yes, we have a lace up tent.. it’s mega old school) the tent to show Jack the trees and the sky followed by a little amble to spot all the early morning campers. On the last day of the festival, a huge torrential downpour hit the site from first thing in the morning and we decided to head home. Cue absolute mayhem and as much peppa pig as we could get down Jack as we packed everything up and took the tent down. WOMAD stewards again saved the day as we left them watching over Jack whilst we dashed to and from the car.
Thank you Peppa Pig. That is all.
We were gutted to leave WOMAD early particularly as we knew we there was just so much on offer we’d not managed to experience – the World of Wellbeing with its host of holistic activities including the spa complete with pools, sauna, showers and even a cocktail bar, the World of Words for debates and discussions and mainly, the World of Kids which hosted themed workshops and activities around Myths, Legends and Folktales (each year it’s different) culminating in the Children’s Parade on the Sunday. Thank you so much for having us WOMAD…we’ll be back.
And so has having a child change my festival experience? Yup. It’s just got even better.
xxx
P. S Here’s a quick video on our time there…take a peek and subscribe to the channel if you enjoyed this slice of our life 🙂
My husband Sam and I did a lot of travelling in our twenties and neither of us saw it as something we necessarily needed to give up once Jack came along. Exploring the world, meeting people from different cultures, hiking (and getting lost) through forests and up mountains, lying in hammocks, trying new foods were all experiences that made us who we are and ones that we wanted to continue to build on. It’s just that this time we would have a third team member: our baby.
“Ah South Africa – no time difference so that’s perfect!” friends with babies exclaimed when we told them we were going there. To be honest it hadn’t even occurred to us. A good friend was getting married in South Africa which we seized as an opportunity to start embarking on some proper travelling just the three of us. And with Jack approaching 1 and a free flight under his belt, we felt he was old enough (and innoculated enough) to get his teeth into some travelling. Suffice to say it was by far the happiest trip we have ever had and one that we will forever remember. Jack’s squeals as he sat in the jeep in the game reserve, bobbing up and down on Sam’s knee whilst the wind rippled through his curls, is a scene I will never forget.
When it came to packing, I tried to take the bare essentials. I took only a few nappies (I quickly reasoned with myself that babies in foreign countries wear nappies too), a few emergency baby food jars, a huge bag of toys, sunhat, sunscreen. The two most useful items we brought along though were a fabric highchair in the photo at the bottom and a snoozeshade – mainly for when we took Jack out at night so that he could get some shut eye in the buggy whilst we enjoyed a glass of riesling.
There was really nothing we couldn’t get out there – in fact, call me a geek but I find visiting foreign supermarkets a fun pastime. Accommodation wise, we stayed in a combination of hotels, hostels, cabins and air b n bs. My preference were the small b n bs, who were relaxed about having a young child crawl around and personable enough to have time to coo over him and bring him a little foreign treat.
The best thing about travelling with a baby? Everyone is so darn nice to you. Oh, and you have an excuse to politely move away from the guy around the campfire who is playing ‘Imagine’ badly on his sitar. So if you and / or your partner have ever been travelling, and you have a baby in tow, I massively encourage you to dust off those backpacks and get out there – this time as a family – and I promise you, your adventures will get even better.
Here’s a video I made from our time there – take a look:
Everyone always talks about the importance of date night with your partner once you have a baby. And this is definitely true: there is something wonderful about cavorting around the streets, hand in hand, without a buggy or changing bag weighing you down.
However, the importance of getting out of the house, with your little one and as a family is, in my opinion, just as important. Not just because it eliminates the washing up and highchair scrubbing but also because it allows you to step outside the everyday and take a moment to enjoy being a family in public and to reconnect.
So even though date night with Jack doesn’t ever involve gazing into each others’ eyes over a flickering candle, it feeds our soul in other ways.
Megan and I got married to each other age 14 and have 11 children together. We have collapsed on the ground from laughing so much together. We have spent evenings putting the world to right. We do headstands together on the grass.
We leave each other long answer machine messages, knowing that the other one will likely never even listen to our ramblings but it just seems a great outlet to laugh or vent….to ourselves.
Megan’s support to me whilst having Jack has been immense…she listens to my frustrated ramblings whilst simultaneously seeming to offer lifting advice.
Some friends move in and out of each others’ lives, and I know that Meg and I will have flux within our friendship, but we afford the relationship such respect that we will never ebb too far from each other.
And this year Meg, my sea-loving best mate, is getting married. Words cannot explain how happy I am for her that she has found her one, so this is really just a post to express that, and to thank her for being such a rock in so many shapes and forms over the years.
I knew that I wanted to make Jack a cake for his first birthday, but having recently returned back to work I also knew that time was somewhat limited. I hunted high and low on the internet for an easy recipe that didn’t require me buying Lakeland out / dusting off my magimix / breaking the bank on special ingredients and finally stumbled across one. It’s genuinely super easy, and I promise you, anyone can make this. I am by no means a “baker” and let’s just say, this ain’t going to pass as shop bought. But I kinda like it that way. Hope you give it a go one day 🙂
What you will need:
280g butter
250g self raising flour
25g cocoa powder
250g sugar
5 large eggs
2 tsps of vanilla essence
2 tsps of baking powder
Betty crocker chocolate icing
Better crocker vanilla icing
Pack of giant buttons
Pack of catherine wheels
Mix the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, mix, then add the vanilla essence.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder
Just seeing a VW campervan makes me come over all funny. To me, they conjure up wind-blowing-through-your-hair freedom and open ended adventure. They take me to a place away from petty disputes over whose turn it is to empty the dishwasher and instead transport me to a world where washing machines exist only in vibrant new cities or they are the breeze on a beachfront where you sit and wait on the sand for hours only to let one pair of socks dry for the next day.
I find myself day dreaming about packing up and setting off with Sam and Jack on one long road trip adventure where the resting place is unknown. Routine is my anathema; spontaneity is my life force. I get adrenaline rushes every time there is a new happy twist to the story; whether that’s something as stoopid as the bus terminating at an unexpected place and having to work out a new route home, or being gifted an extra night for free in our cabin in the woods in Austin because we made a mistake with our booking, I was 13 weeks pregnant and our Air b n b hosts were awesome.
We once hired a campervan when I was 30 weeks pregnant. We drove to Kent and spent three of the wettest, most miserable nights cooped up in the van. We ate pasta out of the saucepan, trudged to the campsite toilets in our pyjamas and wellies and used a hand towel as a doormat … but we also had three hilarious, romantic and totally random nights.
So why don’t we do it? Why don’t I just suggest to my hubby that we pack up and head off ? OK, why do I suggest it but don’t have the guts to go through with it?
The answer for me, I’ve come to realise, through the sleepless nights, Jack falling poorly, work becoming stressful, lonely mornings spent just wanting someone to have a cup of tea with, having little idea how to wean a child, inevitable bickers with my husband due to aforementioned tiredness, DOT DOT DOT, is the support. Support when you have a baby is the most precious thing in the world. (which is also why I am so disappointed that the Government are doing this.) Not new clothes for your baby, not another toy, but time, an ear and a kettle. Really instead of a campervan, I should have a big photo of my family, particularly my mum and Sam’s mum. It’s easy to take it for granted but someone to really look out for you and your other half and genuinely care when you have a baby is insanely wonderful and I feel extremely blessed to have it. Due to the fact that I only really have one close friend who has a baby, my family really became my friends and my main support network. So even though packing up and heading off is a pipe dream, I know there are a good few special things right here on my doorstep worth sticking around for. (quite literally on my doorstep as my mum lives across the road) Who is the one person you couldn’t have been without when you started out a a mum?
Jack enjoying one of his afternoon’s with his grandma.
