Happy New Year

As a mother of a young son I will be spending this New Year in front of the telly with my lovely family, trying to stay awake lol.

But I hope you all have a fab time.

I will be posting my resolution over the coming days. I've decided if I write them down and share them it's harder for me to pretend I didn't make them lol.

I hope to stick to all of them, I'm feeling very positive about 2015 and I hope this feeling lasts. I think it will as long as I stay focus and happy.

Any who enjoy the night and of course the New Year :) 

My Christmas Day

Yay Christmas 2014 in the DCM household was a low key affair this year well apart from my fab crimbo accessories.

With a little one you think we'd be up earlier but the pudding slept past 7am and by the time I managed to get husband unit out of bed we did presents at 8am.

As the little one only 14 months we decided not to go too mad with gifts as I'm sure over the coming years the demands on Santa will increase. 

Christmas morning in our house all ways consist of Bacon Sandwiches. Mmm Bacon making the house smell delicious.. 

Then on with a The Christmas Tv while we enjoyed the bacon and slowly got dressed. Think there's nothing nicer than having a quiet Christmas morning as the day can be stressful enough without starting it in a panic. 

Then it was off to my folks for Christmas Dinner they're only 10 minutes away so it was a short jaunt. I drove there so the Husband unit would drive back. Don't feel too sorry for him he's not a big drinker and with us just getting over cold I wouldn't be having a lot.

Now it is true what they say nothing beats your mother's cooking. My mum always pulls out all the stops for Christmas a proper Turkey Dinner. The starter was Prawn Cocktail which is a bit 1970 chic. But hey I like them and if someone else is making it I'm in no position to comment. 

We have a serve yourself system at dinner at my mum's which I think is great so you can just have what you want rather than being rude and leaving stuff on the plate you don't like. For me it's peas I like them in stuff like a cottage pie but have a thing about the on their own (yes I know I'm weird). 

So dinner with all the trimmings was amazing.

Followed by Christmas pudding and custard.

As you can see I'm a traditionalist when it  comes to Christmas eats. 

But that's just once a year ( well we are having Christmas two tomorrow when my brother and Nephew go over to my mums). So that's okay... 

And considering my fantastic Christmas present 

Know I'll be cooking up some interesting flavours in the New Year. So if any of you out there have any good Tangine Recipes I would love for you to share them,

I'm now having a relaxing Boxing Day ( for my American readers this is a holiday we have the day after Christmas in the UK) in front of the telly with a sick little man. 

Piece of advice people don't get your kids MMR jab just before the holidays as he's having a mini measles session while the vaccination start work. Not too bad apart from the 1am sickness session :( but seems to be not too bad now.

So a quiet day in front of the box with some movies (mostly cartoons) and the odd treat to keep me going.

So I hope you all had a great Christmas Day and have a fun fuelled new year planned.... 

Happy Christmas

Just to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and I hope Santa brings you everything you want xoxo 

Christmas Decs and Do

Hello everyone hope you're all doing well.

With only 9 days left till the Jolly Fat man comes, hope festive cheer is filling your lives. 

I am starting to now feel christmassy as we've got the decorations up. Although as we have a very inquisitive (and by inquisitive, I mean want to destroy everything he sees) 14 month old darling son. We thought it best not to get a tree.

This is quite sad in a way as I've never not had a tree :( although it is far less stressful than constantly try to prevent the little man trying to pull it down on himself :). We'll get a massive one next year to make up for it. 

We also had our works Christmas do in a very nice pub called The Queen Adelaide in Shepherds Bush. I had smoked salmon to start, Duck for main and Christmas Pud for dessert. It was all super lovely unfortunately didn't take any pics as I was in charge of the event as well as our Christmas Attire competitions. I didn't win boo, I didn't even get one vote out of 35. I thought my headband and Totes Amazeballs T-shirt were very festive.

Oh well, but a fun afternoon and night was had by all. Also my folks had the little one over night so I got to have a couple of drinks. I even got the 10pm train home which sounds early but if you have a little on and the fact it started at 2 that is uber rock and roll.

Yesterday I had a lovely night out with my hubby and couple of good friends. My folks even had the baby overnight again which was great for us. (although it transpired that he wasn't well he's got an infection so wasn't a good night for them).

We went to a lovely restaurant call 28 West in Canary Wharf.

Also for once as I am now driving I didn't drink boo, but I got to drive all the way home and even got my first time on a motorway which was interesting I was a bit scared to go over 65mph but I did manage it a couple of times lol... What do they say practise makes perfect :)

We all go there hungry which was a bit of a bad idea as we all over ordered.




I got the Bones and Buns combo and changed my fries to cheesy chips.

I ordered the Chicken, brie and pesto Burger it was nice it came in a Brioche Bun, which seems to be all the rage at the moment.

My Hubby ordered a load of sides including Nachos and Onion Rings as he thought the burgers might not be enough.

We tried to eat it all but failed.

The food was nice but it was way to much I couldn't even get through my Burger and Ribs let alone the sides.

My advise is if you go there not have eyes too big for your belly. Start small then if you're still hungry order some more till your full.

To sign off this week I thought I use a quote from the 1980 film "Working Girl" as it was on at E4 at some ungodly hour this past week but with a sick baby you sometime come across these gems when dealing with soothing them in the middle of the night.

"You want to be taken seriously you've got to have serious hair"

Which is a true now as it was in the 1980 lol. 

Driving Test and Santa

Just a short post from me this week as I'm trying to pull myself together for Christmas don't know why but I can't seem to get into this year. I'm hoping after I put up a few decorations and start wrapping presents I'll feel better.

So this week was a momentous occasion in my life, I finally past my Driving test.  As I grew up and lived most of my life in London and what with the great Transport links and the fact that I always commuted and my Husband who I met in 1999 drove when we needed to get somewhere, it never really came up.

But now living in Kent and having a child I definitely needed to be on the road so after 6 month worth of lesson and one failed test I can now legally drive on our fair nations roads.

The other fun thing I did this week was take the little one to visit Santa at the local school fete. I love these things. The smell of classrooms mixed with, mulled wine and a ancient tea urn coupled with the throng of mostly parents of the children who attend the school they are quintessentially English. So we entered the grotto which was two classroom merged together with a actually quite festive array of lights and tinsel to the Beard Man sitting in his sleigh. Then in usual comic as it is with Kids he was having none of it so I now have a blurry photo of him throwing a fit lol

So hopefully we'll have better luck next year :)

IKEA, Christmas and Curry

This Weekend we took a trip trip to Ikea (Lakeside). Have to say I love the store and as it's a bit out of a way out it becomes an event going there.

I think I love the fact that they see you the vision as well as the product. Sometimes seeing things in isolation doesn't really work I like see it in a context. I.E a lamp in a bedroom or a couch near a TV.

I also fell in love with this Kitchen as I plan to move earlier next year this will definitely be on my wish list when renovating the new place. Think of all the cooking I could do... Sighs longingly

Also walking around I came across these dogs - between you and me, I think the one on the end has had a bit too much, but hey it Saturday and he obviously likes to party :)

I don't care what anyone says it not a trip to Ikea without stopping for some Swedish Meatball. I love them and so does my other half. We even gave the little man some but he wasn't as impressed as we were, which is probably lucky as I dread to think of the salt and fat content.

I think it's the gravy I like the most, having a parent from the North East of England I am particular to Gravy and Chips and this is just Swedish gravy and chips.




I even to treat myself as I obviously didn't get enough calories from the meatballs, gravy and chip I had a slice of there Dime Bar Cake. Actually I say had a slice I had a bite and I didn't like it. It looked a lot nicer than it tasted which is a shame for my taste buds but not for my thighs.




We didn't leave empty handed we bought a light for the living room as our last lamp was destroyed by a head on crash with a train. Thomas the Tank engine walker that my son uses to be exact. But you'll be pleased to know there were no injured apart from the lamp, unfortunately we couldn't save it. (a moment of silence for the lamp)..

I couldn't leave with out some thing sweet so in the food hall I picked up some Godis Snogubbe and some Singoalla. At the time of writting this blog the Godis Snogubbe are no more as they were very delicious and we hadn't started on the Singoalla but I'm thinking they are like Jammie Dodgers...



On Sunday it was our local Village Christmas Market and light switch on. As it was only me and the little man and owing to the weather and the not great facilities for pram users we just had a quick look round.



He managed to get a nice Santa balloon and we hightailed it out of there before it became too busy. It is actually a very nice event they have the local school choirs and lots of local shops and local producers with their stalls. I think I would have stayed longer if I was with the other half or my parents. but even now I sometimes get nervous of being out with the little one on my own especially when there's a bit of a squeeze and not ready access to toilets if there is a changing emergency.




I got the free bus down to the town but I walked home which was a bit silly as it up hill all the way. but hey it will of least gone some way to burning off my Ikea meatballs.

Sunday late afternoon I decided to do some cooking. After pigging out on nommy stuff from Ikea I decided to make myself a Potato and Spinach curry.




Ingredients:

1 bag of New Potatoes (or 800g of other potatoes)
Onions (about two or a whole bag of chopped (why yes I am that lazy lol))
Two Tins of Chopped Tomatoes
300g of Spinach
1 Stock Cube
Curry Powder (as hot or a mild as you want)
Water

chop the potatoes and if needed the onions and add them with some of the spinach to a pan with a little bit of oil and a big dash of the curry powder (for the exact mesure I'll leave that up to you to have as little or as much as you want) cook them off for about 3 mins. then add the tomatoes and about 300ml of water.

Then you just simmer it all for 30 mins adding more spinach as you go. I like spinach so I sometimes add more from another bag just to make sure there's enough. About 5 mins from the end I add the stock cube and stir.

(You can if you want add chicken at the start throwing them in with the potatoes and onions if you want to add a bit more protein.)

Cook up some rice (My Fav is Brown) and Voila homemade, very healthy, curry for a cold winters night.