Huxley William Harold arrived yesterday, the 16th May, at 3.04pm. He was born via semi-emergency caesarian after four loooong days of contractions, a worrying period of decreased movements, heartbeat decelerations and a lot of monitoring. It’s been a long week.

We are both doing very well in hospital and will be here for a few more tests until Monday at the earliest whilst the Doctors determine whether or not he has inherited the same condition as Elfie. So far so positive.

He is pretty amazing.

Sometimes Will works away during the week, and whilst I miss him when he’s not at home I use the opportunity to indulge in my favourite faux-single gal activities. Because I am cool and hip these often include cleaning until the whole house smells bleachy, watching crap TV like The Real Housewives of The OC/NYC and eating food for dinner that Will doesn’t like. Sometimes I even take a bath or wax some body parts; it can get wild.

Two foods that I don’t get to eat much are beetroot and mackerel. Will dislikes them both, though in the early days of our relationship he ate my kedgeree on more than one occasion because he is a polite boy who didn’t want to hurt my feelings. One of my favourite spring/summer recipes is a salad that contains both mackerel and beetroot and I eat it often when he is away and I am alone for lunch or dinner.

I love salads but sometimes they aren’t substantial enough for dinner – the addition of sweet potato to this one means it fills me up til morning, plus you have the added bonus of both mackerel and beetroot being so-called ‘superfoods’. Should you be on a low-carb diet the sweet potato can also be substituted for roast butternut squash.

As if the mackerel and beetroot wasn’t enough brilliance on its own, this salad is also served with a side of horseradish cream. I love horseradish. I love cream. I love mackerel. I love beetroot. This is basically heaven on a plate.

Lest you think that all mackerel is created equal (it isn’t), think carefully before purchasing your fillets. I always  make a special effort to buy Tesco’s Sweetcure Mackerel fillets which are cured with sugar and then smoked over hickory logs. It gives the mackerel a delicious sweet taste that I think is better than plain old smoked mackerel.

]]> http://morethantoast.org/2012/05/mtt-mackerel-beetroot-and-sweet-potato-salad/feed/ 5 http://morethantoast.org/2012/05/know-your-coffee/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=know-your-coffee http://morethantoast.org/2012/05/know-your-coffee/#comments Sat, 12 May 2012 11:02:32 +0000 alice http://morethantoast.org/?p=2460 I can’t wait to chuck my decaf teabags in the bin and get re-acquainted with these little cups of caffeine delight. Yum.

Image via Stylist.

It’s Will’s 30th birthday this weekend and I let him open his birthday present a couple of days early. Something tells me we’re going to be relying on this more than we thought with a newborn baby in the house…

Coffee, anyone?!

When you get pregnant it seems that you open yourself up to be marketed at by what feels like every company in the world, ever. And if you’re anything like me you are so over the moon to be pregnant that you will LOVE each and every last bit of literature or product you are given and will treasure it, reading from cover to cover. See: Bounty Packs, Boots/Tesco/Sainsbury’s Baby Club, The Baby Show, Emma’s Diary… it’s a relentless cycle of marketing and information.

Most of these sample sized products and leaflets will end up in a basket or drawer somewhere, because you don’t actually need that much crap when you’re pregnant. Check out this list: I have never needed nor purchased a full body pillow, tennis balls or peppermint hand lotion. There are some things that have been lifesavers, however.

Here’s my list of Alternative Pregnancy Essentials:

Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream – my skin has been all over the place since I got pregnant, in the last trimester specifically. I’ve had dry patches that my usual moisturiser hasn’t even been touching, so I’ve been putting 8 Hour Cream on these bits at night. It’s worked wonders. Plus once Elfie scraped her palm falling down and I used it to heal her booboo, she now requests mummy’s special cream on her hand every morning.

Sudocrem – ditto, my zits have been out of control in these last couple of weeks, particularly on my jawline. Sudocrem really helps clean up these spots and again I put it on before I go to sleep at night. Plus it makes your face smell like a baby’s bum.

Crappy literature – I read four parenting books in a row and it just about sent me cross eyed from boredom and information overload. So I moved on to The Hunger Games trilogy, 50 Shades Of Grey and most recently Me Before You. The light relief these books have brought me when I’ve been slightly freaked out about having two kids and giving birth has been wonderful.

Ready Meals and Ice Cream – cooking is one of the last things on my mind at the moment so low-maintenance meals are my friend. Ice cream? Well, it’s just nice to eat ice cream.

Something nice to rub on your bump - I swear by L’Occitane Almond Supple Skin Oil. I seem to have inherited my mum’s magic genes as we’ve both been through two pregnancies with no stretch marks to show for them so I don’t use the oil for this purpose, it just smells divine and always feels like a special treat.

Spray bleach – I have had a big ‘thing’ for the smell of bleach this time around, especially in the second trimester and now as I’m coming up to the end of the pregnancy. Spray bleach for me is the only thing that makes me feel that my desired level of clean has been achieved and my favourite brand is Flash. Also, Cillit Bang polishes nasty stainless steel sinks up a treat.

Great accessories – as I’ve written about, it can get a little depressing when your favourite clothes no longer fit. Accessories will always fit, maybe with the exception of rings or shoes when you swell up like a balloon. Stick with bracelets, or necklaces. They’ll always fit. Ditto handbags.

Nice comfy pyjamas – you will be wearing them a lot if you are anything like me.

A decent foundation and concealer – these days I NEED to wear makeup before I go out but I don’t want to put a full face on, so I stick with foundation and concealer only. I have found Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum paired with MAC’s Select Coverup works really well for me, perhaps with a bit of BeneFit Coralista blusher for colour .

Maternity vests, jeans and leggings – these ARE essential. I recommend H&M leggings and jeans for comfort and staying-up-ability.

Some smart retorts – for all the crap people think it’s ok to say to pregnant women.

And finally, this website – HaveYouHadThatBabyYet.com.

Sidenote: can you believe that I have made the finals of the MAD Blog Awards??! Thank you so very much to everyone who nominated me and for all the support I’ve received, I was over the moon to have even been considered so to be a finalist is just amazing. I would love for you to consider voting More Than Toast in the Best Pregnancy Blog category, which you can do here. Thank-you! 

I often moan that since we moved away from London we’ve felt a bit short-changed for decent restaurants and have to travel for a really good dining experience. The same is true for clothes shopping; we have Milton Keynes Shopping Centre a 20 minute drive away with your usual high street suspects but in our little town there are no Start Boutiques, no Selfridges. Just a lot of shops for ladies a generation or two older than me. Think twinsets, pastel linen and Noa Noa – great for lots of ladies here but just not my taste.

When my new local friend Kaisa Larkas-Mossop told me she had taken on the lease on one of the ladieswear shops I was delighted; not only is Kaisa a fashion PR/Journalist  but she has excellent taste in clothing. And did I mention she has three adorable kids under 5 and teaches a local fitness class too? Kaisa is basically superwoman, but with better clothes.

It’s been really exciting to see everything come together and after what seemed like a whirlwind of vintage display case purchasing, label scouting and lots of excitement, POP The Fashion Store was born! I was lucky enough to go along to the press launch last Friday evening, attended by bloggers, local press and even London-based fashion heavyweights from Cosmo and Selfridges.

Moxham Amulet Necklace / Finsk Wedges

At POP Kaisa has created an Aladdin’s cave of her favourite brands, plenty of whom I’d never heard of before. You’ll find Minna, Finsk (a Lady Gaga favourite), Moxham and Nurma as well as creator of my new favourite skull bracelet accessories, Elkin. She’s also stocking necklaces made by my talented Auntie Tina, who I am chortling with in the photo above along with my beautiful cousin Harriet.

Elkin Skull Bracelets

The beautiful Annalie who writes a great blog about our local shops 

The launch was attended by some of my favourite bloggers like Charlotte, Jenny and TheMiniPost who did all branding and design for POP. There were also some very lovely local ladies in attendance which is great, because right now my social life needs all the help it can get and it has been wonderful to meet some like-minded mothers in the area.

Kaisa with Jenny, owner of organic kid’s clothing company KyNa boutique

Kaisa and her lovely husband Phil

My main MILF Charlotte chatting with her husband and TheMiniPost, and the gorgeous Kari from Style My Baby London

I’d describe Kaisa’s vision as Finnish cool with a British twist (erm, that sounds kind of ridiculous); there are plenty of simple and classic day dresses, beautiful tops, jackets and shoes with a trendy slant. Think COS with a bit more colour and texture. My personal favourite pieces at the moment include this Minna Beth top, the Nurmi dress Kaisa wore to the launch, the Finsk leopard print flats, an amazing Jane Goodchild tote that isn’t in stock yet and the Moxham Amulet necklace. Will has already joked that he will just be giving Kaisa my whole birthday present allowance from now on and allowing her to choose the best bits from POP for me.

Do pop in (see what I did there?!) if you’re ever in North Buckinghamshire (we’re only 30 minutes from Euston by train), but if not you can have a nosy at Kaisa’s online shop which also launched last Friday.

POP The Fashion Store, 4 Rose Court, Olney, MK46 4BY

Photographs courtesy of Siobhan Murphy. 

A couple of weeks ago my sister-in-law, who works for one of BT’s creative agencies, was looking for a family with young children who had BT products in their homes to take part in a photo shoot. We got roped in as we are both a family with such products and if anyone says the words ‘photo shoot’ to me I start practicing my smize and Oscar acceptance speech. Will agreed to it begrudgingly because he is a wonderful husband who loves me very much.

The whole experience reminded me how tedious and loooong these things can be (the briefs the cameraman had to work with were crazily precise) but Elfie was an absolute gem throughout and we now have some lovely photos of the three of us. I was more than a bit embarrassed at the dustbunnies that were revealed with all the furniture moving though.

And hey, if you’re lucky enough to receive a copy of BT’s annual report you may just see the Harolds on the cover. Smizing away.

1. A wedding outfit: Silk dress – Gap, Jacket – ASOS, Wedges - Comptoir Des Cotonniers. 2. The local launch of POP The Fashion Store: dress – The White Company, boots – M&S. 

So I’ve pretty much given up on the jeans thing and have switched my allegiance to leggings, but only because it’s not really acceptable to wear yoga pants or pyjama bottoms out of the house. I’m sticking with my rule of wearing as many ‘interesting’ leggings as possible to make things a bit colourful but don’t mention the incident when the leggings I ordered off eBay wouldn’t stretch over my thighs. They must’ve been a really really really small size ten or something. Ahem.

3. Cashmere and pearl jumper – House of Holland, dress underneath – American Apparel, Leggings – eBay, Jacket – M&S. 4. Dress – Uniqlo, cardigan – H&M, linen jacket – Topshop.

I’m still really proud of the fact that I’ve managed to not buy any expensive maternity wear aside from jeans and leggings and have instead bought things with a bit of stretch that can be worn after the pregnancy, or slightly larger sizes that will look good oversized or belted. But on days like today when it’s a bit chilly and very rainy it is really quite depressing that I literally have nothing that fits me anymore. Things that cover the belly make me look huge and things the belly pokes out of make me cold. I’m basically in serious mourning for Spring.

5. Dress – Untold, cardigan – H&M, leggings – eBay. Slippers shamelessly pinched from a hotel room. 6. Off to the press launch of POP. Jacket and shirt – Primark, Leggings, American Apparel. 

The first time I struggled to do my own shoes up I was quite depressed, I’d forgotten about the aspect of pregnancy where you have to beg your husband to do up your shoes. Ballet pumps aren’t particularly comfortable anymore as my feet need a bit more support so I’ve resorted to UGGs. The dream would be to pull out my trusty old Havaianas, but again DAMN YOU RAIN. The last time I wore heels was to the local launch of POP, a new fashion store by Kaisa Larkas, and I won’t be repeating that until I can have more than a tiny glass of wine to take my mind off the pain in the balls of my feet.

7. Tshirt – the best wedding favour ever, hoodie – Topshop, leggings – eBay. 8. Shirt – Primark, vest – ASOS, jacket – TopShop, leggings – eBay, shoes – TK Maxx.

As I am starting to look forward to all the slim fitting clothes that will go over my belly at some point in the next couple of months (yay!) I’m also starting to ponder the next stage of dressing for the situation at hand: breastfeeding. I don’t particularly like to wear shirts that much (doh) so this will be a very interesting challenge. I foresee plenty of tummy flashing.

A Pregnancy Wardrobe, Weeks 30-35
A Pregnancy Wardrobe, Weeks 23-30
A Pregnancy Wardrobe, Weeks 18-22

Despite cooking every single day it’s rare I will come across a recipe that completely rocks my world to the core. I can’t really remember the last time this happened, the last time I came across a recipe that I know I will return to time and time again. It also feels weird to refer to a lowly cabbage recipe as a core rocker, but this is exactly what this is. It’s rescued me from marital upsets, has made me friends and impressed everyone who has ever eaten it. It’s all you could ever want in a side dish.

I originally found this recipe on the most excellent food blog Bon Appetempt (original post here), and I’m sure Amelia, Ms Bon Appetempt, is going to be delighted that I’m finally posting up the recipe here rather than just tweeting superfluous adjectives at her each and every time I cook the dish (i.e. about once a week right now). It’s a solid side dish that I’ve served with a number of meats but I reckon it goes best with a joint of lamb cooked really, really slowly. It’s also a lovely accompaniment to a chicken Sunday roast.

Are you ready? Here goes. Prepare to be blown away… oh, and you’re welcome. 

(PS: Amelia first found this recipe in Molly Wizenberg’s book, a Homemade Life, which you can buy here. The below is my interpretation of it with UK measurements).

We have reached 38 weeks! Which feels very real in terms of baby arrival as Elfie came at about this stage (via planned Caesarian): it’s nearly BABY NUMBER 2 TIME.

My belly is completely stuffed full of baby and as a consequence I have a small(ish) appetite and need to wee all the time. Which is mostly annoying at night. This also means I have some really weird pressure issues going on with my internal organs that just feel bizarre and I can’t wait for them to all have their own space again. I’m also looking forward to sleeping on my belly, getting up from the floor/sofa/bed unassisted, doing up my shoes and wearing clothes that don’t have stretch to them. Although I am kind of enjoying the feeling of wearing such comfortable clothes all day every day. In no other situation is it appropriate to wear such a large amount of lycra – except for when playing sports perhaps.

Despite the small appetite I’ve found myself eating a bunch of crap this week. I just don’t have the energy to cook anything healthy so I’ve been enjoying curries, jacket potatoes, pizza… well and truly making up for eating so much salad and healthy business at the start of the pregnancy. I’m especially craving mild curries (I can’t take the hot ones) including Coronation Chicken sandwiches again, and luckily they sell a gorgeous version on white doorstop bread at the deli round the corner.

All boy baby bits and pieces are washed, ready and in the two drawers in our bedroom that we emptied for this purpose last week. The BedNest is out the attic, cleaned and next to our bed with a pile of fresh-smelling blankets and sheets and my hospital bags are finally packed (including massive pants from Primark to wear after the birth and the mattress pads that will go in them. Sexy). After thinking I had bought enough baby clothes already I had a mad panic over trousers this week and so rushed to buy 5 more pairs. I think I probably had enough in the first place.

The week’s visit to the midwife went really well and baby’s head down and in the perfect position, ready to launch like a rocket (maybe). My palpitations and dizzy spells have completely disappeared since I identified their source: it turned out they were related to how stressed I was feeling at the time and Will has stepped up to the mark and taken a lot of the child care duties off my hands, as well as drawing up a rota so Elfie spends one day a week with each of her Grannies. This has been so helpful in terms of rest for me, knowing she’s well taken care of so I can relax a bit. Ergo, I am no longer worried about having a heart attack whilst giving birth but no matter how much sleep I get I still seem to be freaking exhausted. Energy, return please!

On the midwife’s advice I ordered a TENS machine which arrived this morning and I hope it’ll give me some pain relief during the early stages of labour.  Speaking of which, I was up all last night with lower back pain after a brilliant time at POP Boutique‘s launch (more on that next week) and have had persistant period-type cramps all day today. Plus my nose has been bunged up to high heaven which some have said can be a sign of early labour: I’ve had dodgy sinuses all the way through this pregnancy and it’s really stepped up a notch today. So who knows… this might be the last pregnancy update (but baby 2, please don’t come before Homeland on Sunday).

(Photography note: it makes sense that right at the end Mr David Bailey, aka Will, wants to get creative with his photos. Charlotte, I hope you appreciate his efforts). 

Week 36
Week 33
Week 31
Week 28
Week 24
Week 20
Week 16
Week 14
Week 12
Week 6/8

I reckon I’m a bit challenged when it comes to interior decoration; I know what I like but I’m not really sure if this is stylish or fashionable. I just like it. Subscribing to some interiors blogs have helped (I love Apartment Therapy, Little Green Notebook and A Beach Cottage) but I still like to think I’m a bit of a loose cannon in IKEA and John Lewis. I love finding ‘treasures’ on eBay or in charity shops, mixing old with new and lots and lots of colour, apart from in the bedroom where I think it’s important to use toned-down, peaceful hues.

When we first moved to this house the lounge was a big blank canvas. It’s a huge room in the part of our house that used to be barns, flanked on both sides by windows and french doors with a faux-log burning stove as the centerpoint (it’s gas!). As the lounge is the hub of the house I wanted to create a room that would be fun for Elfie to play in during the day and peaceful for Will and I to relax in come evening time.

After Elfie arrived my tastes took a bit of a 360 and became most noticeable in the lounge. In our old house this used to be a very grown-up room with glass, grown-up books, pale colours and vases of flowers (it looked like this). But here I’ve used lots and lots of colour so our baby and toddler paraphernalia blends in and becomes part of the furniture. I am a bit of a nazi when it comes to not buying large toys that won’t fit in with our primary colour scheme (I know, I know) and anything that doesn’t pass this test lives in Elfie’s room. Also: wood over plastic toys anyday.

Our IKEA shelves used to be full of books (2 rows per shelf) but when we moved last time and I’d just received a Kindle for Christmas we decided to get rid of all our crappy paperbacks. So now we only have nice booksets and hardbacks, which makes us look pretty intellectual (Shakespeare, Blyton, Rowling… and TWILIGHT). The bottom two shelves are free for Elfie’s toys and the big bass thing that comes with Will’s Bose speakers. In my little ‘reading corner’ we have a John Lewis leather bucket chair (though I have a dream chair that I’ve been lusting after for a couple of years now, it will be mine), a gorgeous dark wood chest that was inherited from Will’s family, my lovely blue porcelain dog from SCP and a very weird framed gold map of the UK that was a charity shop special. I really love to be surrounded by so many colours and I’m sure it makes me a happier person, plus the multicoloured rug hides raisins brilliantly.

I think that when it comes to items in your home it’s the stories behind your favourite objects that bring that feeling of warmth to a room. I love my orange lamp that my parents gave us for a housewarming gift, the beautiful chest of drawers (another inheritance piece) that it sits on, the weird portrait I got off eBay and the photo of Will and I on holiday in New York. This is one of my favourite corners in the whole house.

Either side of our chimney breast we have more shelves that hold both grown-up and baby books: the one on the right belongs to Elfie and the one on the left is for the adults. I have every single copy of Vice Magazine that has my name on the the masthead along with a few coffee table books and Elfie has inherited all my best books from when I was little.

I am a self-confessed cushion fetishist and my current favourites are the ones featuring horses, flamingoes and dogs from Habitat. My dad bought me the electric guitar Union Jack one from The White Company as a joke for my birthday last year, but the joke’s on him because I LOVE IT. I’m planning on getting rid of some of our older cushions soon and have my eye on these skull designs, in pink, blue and gold. The sofa is a Farnborough from Laura Ashley and I adore the contrast between that and our more modern looking Karlstad.

Mixing it up again with the artwork, I have this Grand Taxonomy of Rap Names from Pop Chart Lab in the corner which not only brings some colour into the room but is also awesome. I wrote about it previously here. I think it’s important to have a bit of greenery in your home so I have this lovely dead Geranium plant on display (must replace); I kill all plants, it’s a wonder I remember to feed Elfie every day. The lamp is from Homebase and the Union Jack shield matches ones I have on display in the kitchen, and were part of some WWII memorabilia we inherited from Will’s grandpa. Out of shot is my beloved Will & Kate calendar that I never got round to opening as we were moving house so it’s in impeccable shrinkwrapped condition.

Elfie’s old rainbow chair is out ready for its new occupant and our huge wicker basket is brilliant for chucking in larger toys – I then cover it with this blanket that one of my mum’s best friends made for Elfie when she was born, it hides a wide manner of crap. We also have a smaller basket on top of a Habitat closing down bargain coffee table which again is brilliant for picking up toys quickly at the end of the day.

This is ‘before’, or what our lounge looked like on moving-in day in February:

I really hope Elfie enjoys being in this room as much as I think she does. I love curling up on the sofa with her at the end of the day with some books and milk (for her) and Location Location Location (for me). Hopefully number two will like spending time here too, I think he’ll blend in quite nicely in the rainbow bouncer.

Elsewhere in my house:
The Kitchen