playing the spoons

I haven't really talked much about BLW (baby led weaning), mostly because there wasn't much to delve into. I gave Mia finger foods instead of purees and avoided baby rice completely (her first foods were slices of avocado, banana, sweet potato, green beans, and other assorted fruits and veg), waited until she was developmentally ready to start (she didn't really eat in earnest until around 9 months, for those curious), and gave her a spoon to "play with" during mealtimes. She gagged, threw up, and made alarming choking noises whenever she ate for quite a while. I know it had nothing to do with the texture, because I gave her a bit of yoghurt once and she had exactly the same reaction. Unlike my son - who devoured everything I gave him from day one - Mia took time to understand that food was for swallowing. I made sure she ate with at least one of us so that she could watch and learn. Sometimes I loaded a spoon up for her, and gave it to her to feed herself. She actually dislikes being spoon fed, and is much happier holding it herself...even if 70% never makes it close to her mouth.

So, at one year, she can use a spoon and is happily grabbing and gnawing on things she can hold. I'm also pleased that we pretty much avoided bottles (I think Mia got expressed milk maybe 5 or 6 times at most?), so we didn't need to transition her from bottle to sippy cup. One less battle is always good in my books.

I took some clips of Mia using a spoon. I'm not kidding myself, I do know that most times there is no food on her spoon. I'm just tickled to see her moving it from the bowl or whatever to her mouth, it's so cute. It's also slightly alarming because it's making my little baby girl look that much more grown up. *big sigh*

fun on a rainy day

Spotted on Emma's blog.

Here's how you play:

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3. What high school did you attend?
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5. Who is your celebrity crush?
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Race For Life 2008

Yep, it's that time of year again - I did the 5k Race for Life this afternoon in Cambridge with a couple of friends and 1,000 other lovely ladies. And just as in previous years, I planned to do lots of training and run the whole thing, whooshing smugly past everyone with such ease that I could give myself a pedicure at the same time. I ended up doing no training whatsoever (and had a couple of physical hindrances today that I won't go into because it'll make you go EWWWW) and it was raining to boot. Amazingly, I managed to jog/walk most of it and finished the course in 36 minutes...a personal best! Oh, but I ache right now. Next year, I will - honest truly promise - train and run the whole thing.

I love taking part in this event. Last year, I was hugely disappointed that I couldn't do the walk because despite being 2 weeks post partum, I felt up to it on the day. I didn't want to sign up for it in advance (a necessity) because I had no idea if Mia would be late, how I would be feeling, etc. I could have done it with Mia in a sling and that would have been pretty cool. That would have made two Race for Lifes whilst carrying my children (1 in utero.)

Every race, I read the dedications on everyone's backs and choke back tears. At the finish line, people shouted encouragement and applauded everyone who passed. One older man in particular caught my eye, clapping enthusiastically and shouted at me "Well done!" If I wasn't about to pass out from pushing myself to run the last kilometer, I would have burst into tears. I did get quite teary, actually. I do this every year for my grandma and every time I cross the finish line, I'd like to think I did her proud.

If you would like to make a donation, you can still do so on my sponsorship page for the next couple of weeks here.

Race For Life 2008

Yep, it's that time of year again - I did the 5k Race for Life this afternoon in Cambridge with a couple of friends and 1,000 other lovely ladies. And just as in previous years, I planned to do lots of training and run the whole thing, whooshing smugly past everyone with such ease that I could give myself a pedicure at the same time. I ended up doing no training whatsoever (and had a couple of physical hindrances today that I won't go into because it'll make you go EWWWW) and it was raining to boot. Amazingly, I managed to jog/walk most of it and finished the course in 36 minutes...a personal best! Oh, but I ache right now. Next year, I will - honest truly promise - train and run the whole thing.

I love taking part in this event. Last year, I was hugely disappointed that I couldn't do the walk because despite being 2 weeks post partum, I felt up to it on the day. I didn't want to sign up for it in advance (a necessity) because I had no idea if Mia would be late, how I would be feeling, etc. I could have done it with Mia in a sling and that would have been pretty cool. That would have made two Race for Lifes whilst carrying my children (1 in utero.)

Every race, I read the dedications on everyone's backs and choke back tears. At the finish line, people shouted encouragement and applauded everyone who passed. One older man in particular caught my eye, clapping enthusiastically and shouted at me "Well done!" If I wasn't about to pass out from pushing myself to run the last kilometer, I would have burst into tears. I did get quite teary, actually. I do this every year for my grandma and every time I cross the finish line, I'd like to think I did her proud.

If you would like to make a donation, you can still do so on my sponsorship page for the next couple of weeks here.

two small steps for girlykind

Yesterday, my beautiful and incredibly clever baby girl took her very first steps from her daddy to me. She's getting braver by the day, tentatively standing on her own until she wibblewobbles back down bum first. She can toddle along for quite a few steps when she's holding on to one of my hands, so I'm sure solo walking isn't far off at all.

Baby needs new walking shoes.

back to school

Last Saturday, I took an Indian cooking course at Angela Malik's cookery school, which was a Christmas present from my fabulous husband. I did ask him for it, I hasten to add - it wasn't one of those "'Ere. Go and learn how to make me something edible, woman!" kind of things. I was somewhat hesitant about taking the course on my own and feeling a bit awkward, as I imagined it would be mostly friends and couples attending together. There ended up being another lone lady in the class, but in the end, it didn't really matter at all.

The school is in a beautiful Georgian country mansion roughly 10 miles from where we live. It was a fantastic day. I learned quite a bit about combining flavours and picked up a few tips on how to make the perfect (authentic) curry, and the food we made was absolutely delicious. We had spicy deep fried paneer (Indian cheese), crushed aubergines, a creamy coconut salmon curry, and vegetable pakoras, all washed down with some rose Zinfandel. Gorgeous. The atmosphere was friendly and relaxed, and the people who attended the class were great fun. Most of them were self-professed "foodies" (not the pretentious variety) who were deeply passionate about cooking...and eating. We were encouraged to go around and taste everyone else's curries to get a sense of how different the same dish could turn out, depending on individual taste. We all left with big smiles and full bellies, which to me is always the formula for a very good day.

On Sunday, we held our annual Canada Day BBQ, which again involved lots of smiles and bellies full to bursting. In honour of our beautiful girl's first birthday, I made these ice cream cone cupcakes, which were incredibly easy to make. That is, once you've done at least one test run. The original recipe was from the Betty Crocker site, which stated that you needed to put the cake batter in muffin tins and stick the cone in on top. The problem with that method is that the cone topples over as the batter cooks and rises. What's worse is that I used a mix for that test run, so I couldn't even eat the mistakes as the cake tasted so horrible. For the final run, I made my own sponge using Nigella's Victoria sponge recipe (food processor method) and it worked really well. My faith in Nigella has been restored after the buttermilk cake fiasco (seriously, avoid that one at all costs unless you like your cakes 1" thick and as dense as a steamed suet pudding.)

For the Canadian Content, I made butter tarts and Nanaimo bars. As with all North American desserts I serve to my friends, they were deemed yummy but incredibly sweet. I think there is a Victorian psyche in every British person that makes them outwardly denounce American puddings for their terribly uncouth decadence, but they secretly enjoy them. Put a New York cheesecake in front of a Brit and they'll claim it's "too rich" but leave them alone with it, and they'll be naked and rolling in it, giggling like schoolgirls. It's the only thing that explains why every British television chef has to apologise or make a comment about ingredients such as cream and sugar in recipes. "This isn't for the faint-hearted", "This isn't a diet dish", etc. Just make it, for crying out loud! We know that clotted cream will kill you, but at least we'll all die happy!

So anyway, yes. The desserts must have been enjoyed because all that was left was one lone cupcake. Paul made some gorgeous salmon, trout, ribs, and pulled chicken in the smoker and grilled up burgers and sausages on the BBQ. I made coleslaw and Greek salad to go with the meat fest, along with my newly-acquired aubergine recipe from the day before. The crowd must have been hungry that day because even the salads were gone by the end of it. We had a fabulous time; the dances to the weather gods were heeded.

More photos of the day can be seen here.

Mia's Birthday Party

Thanks to everyone who left birthday wishes and lovely comments in the post below. Another wonderful thing to add to her scrapbook. You know, that scrapbook I started 9 months ago and got up to page three? My baby shower? Yeah, that one.

Mia's party was full of sunshine, good food, and lots of laughs, which is everything a good party should have. She devoured her cake, two fistfuls at a time. She sort of had the hang of opening presents, but would lose interest and crawl off to go eat a leaf. She got brave and took steps with only the gentlest of hand holds, and even stood on her own for a second (i.e. until I shouted out "OOOH!!" and startled her.) She wore a pointy party hat for ages and kept her party dress surprisingly clean. She clapped. She danced. She made everyone smile. She is so beautiful and I'm so glad we celebrated her birth accordingly.

On to the next one.

(Click the photo to see more images from the party.)