Family Food - Eating Outdoors

Well there is little doubt that the return of the bright yellow orb in the sky will bring on a flurry of outdoor cooking and eating around the country, as we all take advantage of the change in weather.  Actually I am sitting outside typing this at the moment, which is where I intend to stay all weekend if possible.   

So what to eat over the weekend, are you going to get the barbecue fired up, or maybe just bring the meals from the kitchen to the garden table.  Either way works just fine, but it you are grilling outside just make sure you allow enough time to get those coals ready for action, crispy and raw never being a good idea.

Barbecue ready to cook on

I always find that it is nice to get the children involved in anything outdoors and cooking is no exception.  That is not to say that leaving them in charge of the barbecue is a good idea, but they can certainly take part in much of the preparation, marinades, salsa and salads being just a few things which they are quite capable of managing with a little bit of supervision.

Quiche, kebabs, satay and crispy duck

Actually there really is no limit as to what you can eat outdoors, but I guess most of us tend to go for a summer type of menu.  We try all sorts of different things, home made flat breads for example are brilliant on the barbecue and the simplest of all breads to make.  While the crispy duck in the picture was prepared indoors, before being laid out on the garden table, a great feast for the children.  

Key Lime Pie

Whatever you do though don't forget a nice, cooling dessert to finish off your outdoor meal with, if you have gone down the quiche route may I suggest you rustle up some meringues, you will have enough spare egg whites sitting around, and fill them with cream or crush them up and make an Eton Mess.

Anyway I hope you all get your fair allowance of sunshine this weekend and if you are eating outside, have a great time and enjoy yourselves.

Andy

The New Zoe & Drew Blog

Good afternoon, I hope you have all had a fantastic weekend and are looking forward to a weekend in the sunshine.  I'm looking forward to catching up on some gardening, eating al fresco and playing in the garden with the children.  As some of you are aware I am busily building a new Wordpress blog for Zoe & Drew, which has at times left me in tears of frustration.  I finally feel that I am getting somewhere this week and will officially be moving across there after the bank holiday weekend.  However I really wanted to give you all a little sneak peak today and share some of the new features with you.

I have loved using Blogger but felt I had outgrown it and needed more options to be able to do all the things I have wanted to do with the blog.  The new Wordpress site will mean that you, my lovely readers will be able to find posts from specific categories, with a drop down menu in the sidebar.  I will also be starting a new weekly newsletter in addition to the blog to bring even more fab ideas and special offers to you. 

I am also adding a new feature called The Directory.  This will be filled, I hope, with wonderful British businesses making products or offering services that fit with the Zoe & Drew ethos.  All the businesses that apply will be approved by me before joining The Directory, to ensure their business and products fit the Zoe & Drew ethos. The categories in The Directory are Baby, Children's Fashion, Children's Rooms, Family Days Out, Family Holidays, Family Photographers, Party Time, and finally Toys & Gifts. Members of The Directory will not necessarily need their own website, but must have an online retail outlet, eg Etsy.  If you would like information about this fantastic new feature, please email thedirectory@zoeanddrew.co.uk for a media pack. 

Obviously moving to Wordpress has provided plenty of headaches, which I expected.  One of the most frustrating is that all the tags used in posts on Blogger have been imported as categories, so I am having to go through every post to change this! Another problem was finding a template I liked.  Having got incredibly frustrated with the free options I decided to buy one, from an Etsy designer, as funds are limited otherwise I would have loved to have a professional blog design completed.  So will it all be worth it? I certainly hope so!

Right back to changing those categories and tags and lots more tweaking,  so that everything will be ready for the official launch on Wednesday 5 June. 

Have a wonderful weekend,
Zoe
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Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant

Hello, I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday.  I had a wonderful day out with Kitty's class at Felixstowe beach, looking at houses, shops and hotels in a seaside town and of course some time to build sandcastles and a picnic on the beach.  Felixstowe is also a very busy port, so the horizon out to sea often features large container ships as they head into port.  There are also plenty of sailing boats, little fishing boats, canoes and more out on the sea, especially at weekends when the sun is shining.  But it sounds like the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant will more than rival our skyline here on the Suffolk coast! 

image source

With over one thousand boats joining this amazing pagent on Sunday 3 June, the River Thames will be brought to life with this huge flotilla.  Starting up river at Battersea Bridge at 2pm the flotilla will travel along the river to Tower Bridge, however the boats will be seen further along the river as they muster in Hammersmith and disperse to West India Docks.  Rowing boats, working boats, steam boats, pleasure vessels, Police, armed forces and Fire crews will all be sailing along the River Thames adorned with union jacks and streamers in celebration of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee.  There will also be passenger boats carrying up to 30,000 flag waving well wishers.  As if this wasn't enough there will be music barges and boats spouting geysers.

image source

I am sure you will agree that the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant sounds like a wonderful spectacle of quintessential British celebration.  Sadly I will not be one of the crowd lining the riverbank, but I think it will all be broadcast on that good ol' British institution, the BBC.  Please do share photos if  you do attend, it would be lovely to share them here on the blog. 

Have a great day everybody and remember that sunscreen if you're lucky to be out in the sun today.
Zoe
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The Beach Factory

Morning! Well the sun has finally got his hat on and we are basking in a little piece of summer here in the UK.  I am heading off to the beach this morning with 50 chidlren aged 5-7, as I am helping with Kittys school trip.  Apparently we are searching for pirates, which Kitty is very excited about, but I will clarify this pirate hunt with the teachers shortly!  Heading to the beach when the sun is out makes me very happy, even if I will have 8 little people to work with whilst I'm there.  But as the sun is out I am double checking essential kit, suncream, sunhats, water, Jungle Fever spray.  Although it is often easier to head out in the summer than the winter it is important to keep our little ones and not so little ones protected in the sun.  Recently I discovered The Beach Factory, a fantastic website with everything every sun loving family needs.

Mitty James Towelling Hooded Long Tops

The Beach Factory was started back in 2003 to offer UV swimwear.  Whilst UV swimwear is still the core of the business, The Beach Factory now offer a fantastic selection of products that make your trip to the beach safe and fun.  Over the past few years my own daughters have loved having towelling dresses for wearing on the beach to keep them warm after playing in the sea and all of my chidlren have Aqua Shoes, as the Suffolk coast is mainly shingle. 

Aqua Shoes

Popup UV Tents are ideal for keeping your youngest children in the shade and away from the suns harmful rays without missing out on the fun.  They are also great for tired toddlers to take a nap in, especially when the sun is at it's hottest. 

Junior UV Pop Up Tent

The Beach Factory has a fantastic selection of board shorts, wetsuits, swimwear and beach bags.  They also have windbreaks, essential for any trip to a beach in the UK, picnic rugs and fabulous stripy deckchairs.  With everything in one place this website really is a must visit for all of your summer essentials.  As the sun has finally arrived and with the summer holidays drawing ever closer The Beach Factory have a fantastic discount especially for you, my lovely readers.  From now until the end of June you can get a 10% discount on all your summer kit using code ZD100612 when you shop on their website.

The Beach Factory

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Now I'm off to have fun and make sure my charges stay safe in the sun. 

Have a fun day everyone,

Zoe

Bookclub - A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern

I love a good book and so do all of my children so I thought I would start a weekly bookclub post, to share some of my favourite books and some of the childrens favourites too.  With an eclectic taste in fiction and with a broad age range of children I am sure we will have a book for you.  This first post is part of the Tots 100 Bookclub and is by one of my favourite modern writers, Cecelia Ahern.  Whilst the tag chicklit is quickly stuck to the cover of so many books written by female writers in the past decade, Cecelia Ahern's books do not fall into this category.  I have read all of her novels at least once and I can assure you they are well written and have all made me stop and think, often in new ways.  Her storylines are clever, her characters are thoughful and thought provoking, her writing may take you a little out of your comfort zone but I assure you that it is worth the journey.

For todays post I want to share my favourite of her books, A Place Called Here.  The main female character, Sandy Shortt, has been a little lost in her own life, but refuses to admit it, as she is always on the hunt for lost things after her classmate went missing twenty years ago.  Now as an adult she helps families whose loved ones have vanished try to track down the missing people.  Meanwhile Jack Ruttle is desperate to find his brother, Donal, who disappeared a year ago and believes that Sandy will be the one to find him.

 

However life is never that simple and whilst Sandy starts her quest in her latest search, she herself goes missing.  As if fallen down a rabbit hole, or more like through a hedge, Sandy has stumbled into a world where every lost item and person she has searched for in the past two decades now lives.  Whilst this may seem like a crazy notion, Ahern writes in such a way to make it believable, allowing us to actually question if there is such a place.  She made me question if such place exists and I truly believe there mucy be a place that has a whole bunch of Grant family odd socks and missing toys.  But really this book has a much more serious message and tone in the fact that often we need to stop running away and see what it is that we really want.  Yet Ahern writes in such a way that doesn't make the book seem gloomy, the story is incredibly well written, captivating her audience with the tale of Sandy and the lost souls.

The book continues as Sandy's constant seraching continues but this time it is her who is trying to find a way a home, to the loved ones and home she had spent years running away from.  Will she manage to leave a place called Here? Well I will let you find out for yourselves!

Are you a Cecelia Ahern fan? Be sure to let me know which is your favourite or if you read A Place Called Here after reading my review, I would love to know what you think.

Have a lovely afternoon,
Zoe
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Junior Magazine Design Awards

Morning! I anticipated the arrival of the latest copy of Junior yesterday as some companies were tweeting their successes in the Design Awards early yesterday morning.  Thankfully I was right and just in time for lunch Junior landed on the doormat.  I already knew that I Love Gorgeous had won Best Designer Girls Fashion and Belle and Boo had won Best Online Toy & Gift Retailer.  However these were the only winners I knew of and so eagerly looked to see if there were any other names I hoped to see in the Winners and the Highly Commended lists.

Popcorn Jumpsuit from I Love Gorgeous

Of course there was the predictable winner of Best Family Day Out, Legoland.  However the rest wasn't so predictable.  I was incredibly excited to see Carddies gaining Highly Commended in Best Arts & Crafts.  Don't forget to enter the giveaway to win two sets of Carddies.   I was also pleased to see Trunki winning with their Paddlepak, which I reviewed back in March.  I also recognised a couple of companies that I have featured in my weekly Family Holiday posts, including The Athenaeum which was highly commended in  Best Family UK Hotel and Ski Famille gaining highly commended in the Best Family Holiday Tour Operator award. 

Best Interiors Collection awards went to PaperBoy Wallpaper and Baby Joule Nursery, with highly commended going to Funky Little Darlings and Laura Ashley.  Best Furniture Collection award winners were Feather & Black and Tissington Little Chair, with highly commended going to Laurette, Maclaren Nursery and P'kolino.  I really don't envy the judges of either of these categories as the shortlist of contenders was incredible.

Safari Collection from P'Kolino

I am still absorbing all of the awards winners and highly commended businesses but one thing I have realised is that Zoe & Drew needs to feature a few more designs for the littlest people in our lives. Although I will not be adding a little person to make it easier to do this! But fear not I have a couple of ideas that I have already started researching to make this happen. 

So were there any winners I felt that were undeserved? To be honest no, apart from the Best Family Car winner.  How can a car with only 5 seats possibly win Best Family Car? Even with the average 2.4 children you will need extra seats for when friends come to tea, it's your turn to do the Brownie pick up, your turn to do the Rugby away match road trip.  Sadly five seats do not meet the needs of many modern families, so yes I was disappointed to see the Skoda Yeti win this award.  Which car would I choose for the modern family? Well let me make a coffee and I'll make a list!

So many deserving winners in the Junior Design Awards but sadly not enough time to share all of them here, but you can buy the special issue in the shops later this week or visit their website. 

Right I'm off to make that list of Best Family Cars with more than five seats!

Have a fab day

Zoe

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Family Fun - V&A Museum of Childhood

Morning! I hope you all had a fab weekend.  It was Connors birthday yesterday so there was plenty of cake, infact a very delicious three layer creation by Drew that was a real treat.  Whenever any of our children celebrates a birthday Drew & I find ourselves thinking back to when they were little and reminiscing about their younger years.  I am sure we are not the only ones!  How many treasures have we all squirreled away to remind us of our childrens childhoods? I know I have several, that each hold special memories.  But I wonder how they choose what gets to stay in the museums? These are not such personal choices but things of importance to a certain era, a way for the international public to reminisce with newer artefacts or learn of previous generations.  However each year they have a particular programme, befitting of current affairs, so it is no surprise that the V&A Museum of Childhood has displays and exhibitions for the Olympics and the Jubilee this summer.

London 2012 Mascots - Wenlock and Mandeville

This weekend saw the start of the 'Mascots of the Olympic Games' display at the V&A Museum of Childhood.  Since 1972 when the first mascot, a Dachshund, appeared at the games in Munich there have been mascots at every Olympic and Paralympic Games.  I am sure you have all seen the mascots for the olympics this year, Wenlock and Mandeville.  Each of these mascots illustrates the identity of the host city but also have to incorporate the Olympic Games brand.  Some countries use national symbols, but I am hoping Wenlock and Mandeville are not the new iconic symbol for Team GB!

During the Jubilee weekend the V&A Museum of Childhood will be hosting a Royal Rumpus.  Families can drop in for storytime, 'The Princess and the Pea' being the tale of choice, arts and crafts including flag and crown making, then ending in a Royal Promenade to show off your crafty skills. 

There are numerous displays, exhibitions and activities at the V&A Museum of Childhood throughout the year so even if you don't make it there this summer I am sure you and your children will have a wonderful time whenever you visit.

I hope your week starts well,

Zoe
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