Happy Birthday Tabitha!

Tabitha turned three on Sunday.  She is a Really Big Girl now.  We had a fairy party with all of her little friends and their parents - from her ballet class, ABA, mothers group, my little sister, and a few other friends.  In total, 20 toddlers and around 30 or so parents.

Because The Daddy has been overseas for a few weeks, and only got home a few days before the party, I kept things pretty simple.  I have a new philosophy for children's party food - work out how much food you need, then halve it.  This actually worked brilliantly for this party, we had just about the right amount, with a few cupcakes and sausage rolls leftover for munching on the next day.

On the menu were:

Homemade sausage rolls with lots of grated veggies
Poached chicken and chive sandwiches
Vanilla cupcakes with buttercream
Mini raspberry pavlovas
Fairy bread
Fruit salad
Honey joys
'Fairy and toadstool meringues'

We also had lots of mini San Pellegrino flavoured mineral waters in a large champagne bucket of ice for the adults, which made it easy for people to grab their own drinks, and raspberry cordial in bottles for the kids. 

We had a few of these tiered plates.  I have a few sets of them, they are terribly useful for parties!

We sent each fairy home with a toffee apple.  I made them with Granny Smith apples and green toffee - I like the contrast of the very sharp flavoured, and crunchy Granny Smith with the sweet toffee.  Toffee apples are outrageously easy to make if you have a candy thermometer (or a brilliant Thermapen).

Prepare your apples by washing and rubbing dry 10 medium sized apples, then spearing each apple with a thick skewer or paddle pop stick (available from craft shops).

In a heavy-based, large saucepan, combine 6 cups of sugar, 1.5 cups of water, 150g glucose syrup and 1.5 teaspoons of green food colouring (or red, if you prefer, though use red apples in that case).  Heat over medium heat, stirring without boiling, until the sugar is dissolved.  Then bring to a boil, without stirring, and allow to boil, undisturbed, until the toffee reaches 155 degrees celsius (or the 'hard crack' stage, where a small amount of mixture poured into a glass of cold water makes a sharp cracking noise, and forms a solid ball of toffee which crunches when bitten into).

Remove the saucepan from the heat, and into a baking dish filled with warm water.  Leave for a minute, until the bubbles subside, then tip the saucepan to the side, pooling the toffee, and dip each apple, twirling as you remove it, over the pan, allowing any excess toffee to drip off, then place each apple down onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving to cool.

Toffee apples are best made within two days of serving, and should be stored at cool room temperature in an airtight container or wrapped in cellophane, away from heat or sunlight.

For decor, I made a 'curtain' of pink and green ribbons, hanging along the window behind the food table:

I also made 20 tissue paper pom poms, hung from the ceiling:

We also had some nice pink baby roses around the house in vases, some pink and green vintage floral bunting, and a little pink 'fairy door' attached to the front door, for the 'real fairies' to come into the party.

Sorry, too busy chatting to snap many photos of the decor!

We bought Tabitha a balance bike for her birthday, with a cute heart-print helmet from Nutcase.  I also bought a cute icy pole playfood set from Le Toy Van, which she loves.

For breakfast on her birthday, I made a strawberry jelly mould.  She found it inconceivably thrilling ("This is the best birthday I've ever seen!"), and it was actually a fairly healthy treat.  I simply packed a small jelly mould (this glass Tala one) full of sliced strawberries, then made up some jelly mixture with flavourless jelly crystals and juice, and poured it into the mould.  So it was roughly 3/4 chopped fruit, 1/4 fruit juice jelly.  Not bad!  I think this will become a regular birthday breakfast in this house.

For the cake, I baked a 4-layer chocolate cake using THIS recipe, doubled (the same one I have used for every one of Tabitha's birthday cakes so far, it is her favourite cake), covered in chocolate buttercream with pistachio and rose macarons to decorate.  I bought these from La Belle Miette - no time to bake macarons, and besides, theirs are far superior to anything I could produce.

I found a tiny pair of blue and silver fairy wings, meant for a doll, and attached longer blue elastic to turn them into baby fairy wings for Zachary.  He made the most adorable baby fairy!

  
Tabitha wore a pale yellow tutu from Tutu Du Monde - this one, Giselle - with gold fairy wings, a matching wand, and a delicate headband featuring small pearls and diamontes.  Bare feet - Tabitha says that fairies don't wear shoes.

Zachary used his puppy-dog eyes to beg for a taste of the birthday cake.  I let him have a little nibble.  He wasn't that sold on the taste, actually!

After the party, one of Tabitha's little fairy friends stayed behind, and they flopped onto the couch to watch Alice in Wonderland.  Note the two pairs of discarded fairy wings on the back of the couch!  They also shared out the remaining honey joys between themselves:

By late afternoon, all of the beautiful gifts were unwrapped and put away, the house was cleaned and mopped, and I was able to put my feet up with a cup of tea and some leftover sweet bits:

A Tale of Two Highchairs

We have two of the most popular high chairs in this house - the Stokke Trip Trapp, and the Ikea Antilop.  Tabitha still uses her Stokke (sometimes - though mostly she sits at a 'grown up' chair), and Zach is currently loving his Ikea chair.

Top two are Tabitha in the Stokke, bottom three are Zach in the Ikea.  Hard to get a photo of Zach smiling in his chair - he has only been eating food for a couple of weeks, and he takes this eating business Very Seriously!

Stokke Trip Trapp.  Sleek lines, lifetime-or-longer durability and style.  Perfectly designed to offer the perfect seating and dining positions for babies and toddlers.  Design that enhances the decor, rather than cries "colourful baby product".  More than $300.

Ikea Antilop.  Sleek lines, understated, incredibly durable.  Easy to store, relatively portable.  Easiest possible chair to clean - take it outside and hose it down, put the tray on the top shelf in the dishwasher.  Quite pretty in a modern way with a fabric cushion.  Less than $30.

Both highchairs have pros and cons.  But each has a long list of pros, and only a couple of cons.

What is fantastic about the Stokke Trip Trapp?  Obviously, it's great looking.  It's sturdy enough to withstand years of use, even from multiple children.  It can even handle adult weight - I've used it as a stepladder in a pinch many times!  It comes in a range of colours, from bright pop colours to a range of neutral wood tones to match existing furniture (we have walnut).  You can adjust the seat height as the child ages, ensuring a perfect height for eating from the main dining table (elbows to the tabletop is the correct height), and you can also separately adjust the footrest to make sure the child has the perfect 90 degree knee bend, again for ultimate comfort and posture.  The smooth finish, and lack of buckles, sliding parts or built-in cushions mean it is a breeze to clean (I just use an Enjo glove and hot water, or sometimes some water/vinegar mixture).  You can get an add-on baby seat, which you need to start with (we removed ours quite early, a little over 14 months, because T was climbing out over the baby seat, so it ended up safer to remove it and she could just climb on and off as she wished).  You can also use webbed straps to keep your child in place - however I don't love the design of them.  They join low on the back, so always slipped off the shoulders.  The main feature of the Stokke that people seem to love is that the child sits right up at the table with the family, eating alongside everyone, without the physical and mental separation of a big tray.  I absolutely agree that this was brilliant, however for the early days of baby-led weaning, when life is very messy, I don't mind a bit of a tray, which you can remove and wash properly.  Even with the small tray of the Ikea chair, Zach is only half a foot back from the table - he certainly feels like part of things!  We sit him at the head of the table, so he has an excellent view of everyone eating.

What is bad about the Stokke Trip Trapp?  The cost is high - prohibitively high for some.  Its solid structure (which is great in most ways) means that it is far from portable.  You wouldn't want to take it to a friend's place for dinner.  The design means your baby or toddler eats right at the table with the family - not on a separate tray - however this means that your table generally becomes thoroughly coated in food.  This isn't always a problem (nothing a sponge won't fix, right?) however our table is made of reclaimed timber sleepers and has lots of uneven gaps, textures etc which makes it a bit of a nightmare to constantly goopy, hardened clean food off.  Aesthetically, while the Stokke is quite lovely, it is incredibly bulky, and visually 'heavy', particularly in the darker colours.  It takes up a lot of visual space.

What is fantastic about the Ikea Antilop?  Less than $30.  For that sort of money, it's worth grabbing one even just to give it a try!  If it's not exactly what you want, pass it on to someone else.  It is also incredibly minimalist in the design, so even though it's moulded plastic and plain metal, it isn't exactly unattractive.  Ikea sells cushions for it, but I wasn't fond of their range.  We bought a gorgeous cushion from Galoomp, and if you can sew (or know someone who does), there are loads of tutorials for fantastic cushions online, including ones which pad the bottom area, ones with a pocket at the back for storing bibs and cloths etc.  Actually, I tend to use the cushion as a decorative touch, and rarely leave it in place while Zach is eating, since it gets dirty, and I honestly don't think it needs a cushion.  The chair seat is very comfortable, with a nice high back, smooth lines, a deep seat and a low, practical lap-sash belt.  It is pretty tricky to climb out of one of these chairs - and I've seen many babies try!  The legs are nicely wide-set, which makes tipping very unlikely.  The sleek lines and design - like the Stokke - make cleaning an absolute breeze, with the added advantage of being able to easily remove the tray, and you can put it through the dishwasher!  Just sit it over the cups on the top rack.  You can even take the whole thing outside and hose it down.  The legs click off really easily, making storage a breeze.  It's also so light - easy to move upstairs, from room to room, or take to a friend's place when visiting for dinner.  You'll probably also find - at least in Australia - that 9 out of 10 cafes and restaurants have these as their highchair.  So your child will be familiar with it, if you use one when out to dinner.

What is bad about the Ikea Antilop?  It's not particularly pretty - though I personally do not find it unattractive, particularly with the addition of a nice cushion.  Lacking a footrest, it is not as comfortable for a baby, as they tend to slump forward in it, and I think that this discomfort can mean babies get fed up with sitting down to eat quicker - Tabitha, aged 6 months, would happily sit for 20 minutes in her Stokke, but would get upset after 10 minutes or so in the Ikea.  The fixed height of the chair means that it cannot be used 'pulled up' to all dining tables.  It is a little too short to use against our table.  This means it either needs to be used with its tray (which is small, so the baby is still almost up at the table) or can be sat up on something secure (probably not recommended from a safety point of view!)

Ultimately, I think the Ikea is fairly useless as an everyday, comfortable highchair beyond the first 10 or so months. Once a child is sitting down to reasonably long meals, I think they really feel much happier in something with a footrest.  It is also fairly small, and wouldn't hold a larger toddler.  Sure, we've popped Tabitha in one out at a restaurant when she was 2, but it's not the chair I would choose for home at that age.

Basically, if you were only going to buy one highchair, to get you through the first food days, through to the toddler years and even beyond, the Stokke Trip Trapp is certainly my recommendation.  But if you are going to shell out $300 or so, I'd really recommend grabbing an Ikea Antilop as well.  For the same price as a cheerful bottle of wine, it will be a useful piece of equipment for the first months of baby led weaning.  After it's past its most useful period, simply pop off its legs, and stow it in a cupboard or set it up at the grandparents' house!

NOTE - the Ikea Antilop costs less than the baby chair attachment for the Stokke.  So I think it's completely justifiable to use the Ikea one for the first 6 months or so, then move onto the Stokke, if that appeals to you.

But, what about all the other high chairs?  Yeah, there are lots.  Some are expensive to the point of absurdity (though of course, if you love it, can afford it, and it meets your needs, knock yourself out!).  Some are so padded and tricked-out that they give me eye twitches when I think about cleaning them.  Some are so unattractive that I would feel sad having them in my house for two or more years.  Some are just plain badly designed, with backs that cannot sit completely upright, or other such flaws.

There are some other great ones out there too!  But based on my experience, and that of my many mummy friends, these are the two main contenders.  If you don't want to buy a Stokke (and consider them second hand - they hold their value well, but you can still pick up a bargain), then grab an Ikea chair and then a booster seat later on when your child outgrows it.  Will still set you back far less than $80 in total.

Are there any other baby products you would like a review of?

Sponge Drops and Winter Garden

Sponge Drops.  Somewhere between a scone and a sponge cake.  A sort of cupcake-sized sponge cake arrangement.  As easy as anything, and a perfectly delicious sweet treat on a dreary Winter day, with a cup of tea.  Tabitha calls them 'dot cakes', and can eat a vast quantity in once sitting.

Sponge Drops

From How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

2 large eggs

75g caster sugar (I use my vanilla-infused)

50g self raising flour

25g cornflour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

150ml thickened cream whipped

Excellent jam

Berries, optional

Lightly whisk the eggs, then add sugar and whisk until pale and voluminous - thick ribbon stage.  Sieve in the combined flours and baking powder, then fold through with a large metal spoon.

Drop scant dessertspoonfuls of mixture onto baking sheets lined with baking paper, allowing room for spreading.

Bake at 200 degrees for 5 minutes, then remove them onto a wire rack to cool.  Sometimes, it's easier to yank the piece of baking paper, puffs and all, off the hot tray and onto the wire rack, then to gently peel them off the paper once they are cool.

To serve, sandwich with plenty of cream, some jam, and crushed berries if you have them to hand.  Nigella recommends blackberry jam with crushed blackberries and this is an absolute winner.  But today, raspberry jam!

Apart from sitting eating sponge drops and drinking tea, I have also been getting out in the garden.  Each season seems to bring its own special mood to the garden, and I appreciate them all.

The Spring garden is moist and pretty, colourful and sweet-smelling, with mild blue skies and bulbs competing for space.  The Summer garden is relentlessly hot, carrying the smell of tomatoes and basil, crunchy mulch helpfully blanketing the cool, moist soil from the harsh sun.  The Autumn garden is my least favourite - leggy, overgrown relics of Summer begging to be tidied up, cool-weather plants in but not yet growing.

But Winter, what a glorious garden you bring.  Everything covered in delicate dew drops, green bulb tips poking through the soil already, and beautifully rich green plants growing robustly.  Plenty of colour thanks to marigolds and potted plants, and the pea straw keeps bring up self-seeded, pretty purple pea shoots and flowers in forgotten corners.

In the mornings, the sun comes up over the gum trees that fill the park behind our house.  Here is a hanging basket of dward sweetpeas.  I planted them months ago, and they did absolutely nothing - I thought they'd died - but have suddenly sprung to life.  The cooler weather seems to agree with them.

So many self-seeded peas from the pea straw.  I pull out most of the shoots (and toss them to the grateful, clucking chooks), but I provided a climbing frame for a few that grew next to the decking.

Love the flowers.  So chic.

Tabitha's little fairy garden sits nestled in between spring onions and carrots.  We actually had some real mushrooms spring up amongst these ones, the other morning - perhaps some fairy magic?

We have a couple of small pots of flowers, different colours of pansies, which keep things looking cheerful at this time of year.  They seem to thrive as long as they get lots of sunshine.

The Daddy build large cages over the raised veggie beds, to keep the chooks out.  They are cheeky ladies, and will devour entire plants in minutes if given the opportunity.  The cages are not particularly glamorous, but they are incredibly effective.  The sides come off for access.  At the moment, in the caged beds, we have Brussels sprouts, bok choi, carrots, lettuce, coriander, leeks, rainbow chard, chilies, and some nasturtiums, sweet alyssum and marigolds.

Garlic cloves - from my aunt's beautiful biodynamic hobby farm in Tasmania - were flung out on a chair, and promptly forgotten about.  They sent out green shoots to remind me they needed planting.  So I've popped them in.  Never grown garlic, fingers crossed!

Truly, there is something magical about the tiny beads of dew that cover the garden in the mornings.  Even the neighbours' ancient Hills Hoist looks gorgeous, like a gigantic dew-covered spiders web.

Fox Noodles and Upcoming Posts

Hello friends!  I've been on hiatus.  I'd love to be able to tell you it's because I took a last-minute tropical getaway, and I've been on the beach sipping fruity cocktails, however the truth is far more dismal.  The Daddy has been away for nearly 3 weeks on work trips, leaving myself, Tabitha and Zachary to soldier on at home.  It's been a little chaotic - Tabitha decided this was the perfect time to drop her daytime sleep, and Zach has teeth numbers 4, 5 and 6 breaking through all at once.


Anyway, we are back in the swing of things now, The Daddy arrived home and brought back lots of wonderful presents (from NY and Hong Kong), and I am diving head-first into preparations for Tabitha's third birthday party, which is in just four days!  EEEEEK!

Here is a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago and forgot to post... 


Kitsune Udon.  Fox Noodles.  The former name is the correct Japanese title, the latter is the English translation which endears this dish to children.  Kitsune Udon is a traditional one-bowl noodle dish containing thick, chewy udon noodles in a delicious broth of dashi flavoured with soy and mirin, with the addition of fried bean curd pockets (Inari) and, generally, sliced spring onions.

Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox.  Traditionally, in Japanese folk tales, foxes love to eat aburaage, those deep-fried, sweetened pockets of bean curd used to make Inarizushi. Inari is the Shinto goddess of foxes.  Hence the aburaage also being called Inari.  Have I completely confused you?!  Anyway, this is a quick, delicious noodle dish, featuring tofu, and the fun name of Fox Noodles.

The traditional version features udon noodles, broth, and the aburaage / Inari pockets are simmered and marinated in a mixture of soy, mirin and sugar.  This is pretty yum but also very salty, so I have tweaked the standard recipe a bit.

Also, instead of always adding spring onions, I often add a green vegetable as well or instead, to make it into a more complete meal.  Most commonly, I add some blanched snow peas or sliced bok choi.  Sometimes, I also like to put some Japanese pickles on top, or some seaweed chilli salad.

Fox Noodles - Kitsune Udon

To make the noodle broth, add to a large pot 2 litres of dashi stock (2 sachets of hon-dashi, or instant dashi powder, with 2 litres of boiling water), with 3 tablespoons dark (regular) soy sauce, 3 tablespoons light soy sauce, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons mirin, and 1.5 teaspoons of salt.  Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.  You can prepare this in advance, and store in a covered container in the fridge for up to 3 days

To prepare the aburaage, combine in a small saucepan a tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of mirin and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.  Heat until sugar is disolved, then add the aburaage (either in whole pieces, or strips) and gently simmer for a couple of minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed.  Drain.

Prepare the noodles by either cooking and draining dried udon, or - for ease - simply soaking vacuum packed pre-cooked udon noodles in some boiling water for a couple of minutes, or until hot and separated.

Prepare your fox noodles by assembling in each bowl, udon noodles, broth, aburaage, and topping with spring onions, blanched snow peas or whatever topping you would like.  Some Japanese pickles or seaweed salad on the top is nice, too.

I do love Japanese food and cooking, although I seem to have less time these days for more complex dishes (such as a silky crab custard I used to make).  But I hope to get back into it again soon.

I was first inspired to make kitsune udon after reading Matthew Amster-Burton's enticing description of them in his brilliant Japanese travel memoir / food book Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo.  One day soon I will write a proper review of the book here, to do it justice (one word review?  AMAZING!) but in the meantime, please do yourself a favour and read it pronto.  It's only around $5 on Amazon (e-book only, so on your Kindle or Nook or iPad or you can even get it in PDF format and print it out if you so desire) and I'm pretty sure it's the best $5 I've ever spent.  Read the Amazon reviews, they are all glowing.  Matthew Amster-Burton is definitely one of my favourite food writers (I've mentioned his previous book, Hungry Monkey, a few times before on this blog) and his latest book is just hilarious.

What else has been going on this week?  Cubbies.  Or, more specifically, tents, according to Tabitha.  She loves to drape a gauzy silk over some chairs, then just lay on her back and chat - to me, or to herself.  She set one up for me the other day, and I have to admit, it's pretty relaxing.

I was chatting to a friend last week about veggies.  Her two children (2 and 5) don't seem to like many vegetables, and she doesn't want to get into battles about it over dinner.  Anyway, the conversation started because her two kids were sitting at the bench with Tabitha, munching their way through a massive pile of cut-up veggies while I cooked lunch.  She mentioned that she was surprised, because they don't tend to eat vegetables, and I commented that Tabitha prefers raw veggies or cold cooked veg (such as leftover cooked broccoli, asparagus and carrots, straight from the fridge).  Even in the cooked category, she prefers things with a bit of crunch, such as snowpeas or stir-fried bok choi stems.

For this reason, I tend to plonk a plate of cut-up or cold veg on the table, a couple of times a day, with or without dip.  I don't ask her, I just put it there, and nine times out of ten, she will eat the lot.  I do this mostly at around 11am and 5pm, the times when she is just starting to get hungry.  If I make her wait until dinner, she gets the grumps, but if I can catch her just before the hunger kicks in, she will sit there, munching and chatting quite contentedly while I cook.  Also, this way, I have absolutely zero stress about it if she just wants to eat the meat-and-carbs portions of her meal, since she has already eaten plenty of veg.  I realise this is hardly ground-breaking advice (offer cut up veggies before meals), but I am surprised by how often even veggie-phobic type children will go for it, as long as no fuss is made and the plate is presented wordlessly, then ignored.

Added bonus?  I tend to eat loads of it myself, whereas I probably wouldn't bother chopping it up for myself alone.

Zachary hits the 6 month mark in about a week, so we will probably start him on food.  Baby led weaning (BLW), just as we did with Tabitha.  This basically involves just giving your baby regular food - whatever you are eating (though avoid excess salt - I just salt food at the end of cooking, after pulling out the baby's portion).  Put the food on their table or tray, then leave them to it and enjoy your own meal.  You can learn more about this way of feeding babies by reading the fantastic book Baby Led Weaning (answers all the common questions about choking concerns, good first foods, tips etc), or I have posted about it before when we started with Tabitha (check the Baby Led Weaning tagged posts, probably starting with the oldest ones first).  I will re-post about BLW once we start with Zach, and cover most of it again - this time, with some more information and learnings gained from the past few years, with my own experience and that of many of my friends.

I'll also be posting about Cloth Nappies, baby products and clothes (what I've learnt this time around, including differences with boy babies), babywearing and woven wraps, winter gardening and of course more baking.  Maybe a home decor post (by request, apparently!)  Is there anything else you want me to blog about?  Any baby products you have questions about?

Pork Chops with Caramelised Leeks

Cool weather comfort food.  Can't go past a pork chop with buttery mash and a creamy sauce!

Finely slice leeks (white part and some of the green part) and add to a pan with melted butter (say, 3 tablespoons of butter to 5-6 thin leeks).  Cook over low to medium heat, stirring semi-regularly, until soft and sweet.  They should melt in the mouth.  Might be anywhere between 20 minutes - 1.5 hours.  You can do it in the morning and reheat them easily later!

Pan-fry pork loin chops until cooked to medium (63 degrees) and nicely browned.  Set aside to rest under foil.

Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine, scraping well, then add a good glug of cream, some seeded mustard and some maple syrup (it's hard to give quantities - for 3 pork chops, I use about 150ml cream, 2 heaped teaspoons of seeded mustard and a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup).  Stir over heat until thickened.

Serve the pork chops with plenty of leeks, covered in sauce, and with silky mashed potatoes, made gloriously golden by the addition of plenty of butter (and salt, and some warmed cream).  I also steamed some snowpeas, though I more often do carrots or broccoli.  There you go, meat and three veg - I don't do that very often!

Zach, AKA Mr Happiness, continues to be a ray of sunshine in our lives.  I don't know what else to say about him!  He's crawling (very slowly and erratically, like a little drunk baby, but he can get a few feet), very sore of gums (bottom two teeth completely through, top ones coming and causing pain on their way) and apart from that, just an easygoing, smily kinda guy:

Have I mentioned I am a tamagoyaki addict?  My favourites are from Suzuran in Camberwell.  They also do a fantastic Inari, with pretty salmon topping.  Don't worry, the below is not my lunch, I am not a sparrow-like eater.  This was what I ordered in addition to a 12-piece nigiri-sushi set!

One of our chooks, Sweetpea, is laying like a champion.  One egg every day, even though the weather is getting cold.  But the others?  Not so much.  Any tips for getting them laying?  I'm trying hot porridge for them each morning!

The Sick Kit

We've all recently recovered from our first colds of the season.  Thankfully it was a fairly mild cold - The Daddy avoided it altogether, Zach and I had a moderate dose, and Tabitha's manifested as a cough and good old grumpiness.

In the pre-child days, I used to quite enjoy the odd cold!  It meant a day or two curled up in bed, watching DVDs, drinking hot tea and moaning about how sick I was.  Sounds glorious, actually.

As a mother of small children, getting sick is the absolute pits.  Not only is there no chance to recuperate and recover, if the children are also sick you will get even less rest and sleep than usual, tending to the children overnight and managing their misery and grumps during the day.  So even a mild illness tends to drag on and on for a good week or two.

Once one or more children are involved in any sort of activities or childcare, there is basically zero chance of avoiding illness.  So, be prepared...

I like to keep all of our 'illness paraphernalia' together in one spot, so that if sickness strikes, we are ready to go, without having to lug my aching body around the house looking for all the bits and pieces, scattered between the various bathrooms and storage spots.

• Two vaporisers or humidifiers.  I like a hot steam sort - the Vicks one is my choice - and find the gurgling noise so soothing when I'm unwell.  I never used one before Tabitha was born, and purchased one when she first got sick after a recommendation from the GP.  Now I couldn't imagine being sick without one - completely changes overnights with a cold from being endless stretches of sleepless congestion to a relatively restful night.  One goes in Tabitha's bedroom, and one goes in the master bedroom (where we sleep with Zach).
• Saline nose drops and a sucker for the baby.
• Cold and flu tablets, with plenty of nighttime ones, for The Daddy (can't take them while breastfeeding unfortunately).
• A couple of boxes of nice soft tissues tucked away - nothing worse than running out and having to use scratchy napkins or toilet paper on a tender nose!
• Badger Balm Organic Aromatic Chest Rub
• Zinc and caster oil cream for dry red noses.  Lip balm for parched lips.
• Manuka honey (UMF 15 or above) to swallow raw on a sore throat (don't heat it or add to tea since it diminishes the antibacterial properties)
• Chamomile tea, to drink with regular raw honey

Apart from the above, more fluids than you could possibly imagine needing (3-4 litres a day of water minimum, otherwise I find I get massively dehydrated, what with the extra breastfeeding a sick baby needs for their fluids and the nose blowing), plenty of hot or cold chamomile tea, and soup.

A good amount of clear chicken soup is not only soothing, it also counts as fluids to help keep you hydrated and several studies show that strong chicken broth may actually lessen cold symptoms.

I keep a big stash in the freezer - bagged in 500ml serves - ready for the onset of sickness.  It's basically just chicken stock, so it gets used regardless.  Friends also know they can hit me up for some homemade chicken soup if they get sick!

I have a 12 litre stock pot which produces around 8 litres of chicken broth / stock.  Here's a blueprint if you haven't made it before (for a smaller amount):

Chicken Soup for the Flu

In a very large pot, put all of the following:

• 1kg chicken carcasses (called chicken frames, you can buy bags of them from chicken shops) or a mixture of frames and wings
• 2 brown onions, quatered, with the skins still on
• 2 carrots, chopped into chunks
• 2 celery stalks, including tops, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 4 big sprigs parsley

Cover with cold water.  Bring to almost a boil, skimming any dirty foam off the top and discarding.  Reduce heat and gently simmer for at least 2 hours, and up to 6 or more hours.  Skim any foam if needed during the cooking.  Pour through a fine seive (preferably lined with muslin or cheesecloth), season generously to taste (plenty of salt), and chill overnight.  In the morning, remove fat solids from the surface (set aside in the fridge to use for matzo balls, yum!).  

Freeze in 500ml bags and defrost as needed.  Reheat in a small saucepan, and add small pasta or rice (cooked separately, otherwise it makes the soup go cloudy) or matzo balls.  I'll post a recipe for matzo balls soon, and link to it here when I do!  Little pasta like alphabet noodles, or those tiny stars, work well.  

Add a good grind of fresh pepper and some nice herbs as well, to serve - dill is lovely, or parsley.

My only other tip for surviving cold season with a young baby is to indulge in plenty of nice steamy baths and showers.  I bathe with Zach in warm water, then pop him onto the floor (on a quilt) or into The Daddy's arms, and add plenty of hot water to my own bath, getting the room nice and steamy.  Helps clear out the sinuses for all of us, before bed.

Chocolate Fondant Puddings

Chocolate fondant puddings are those soft-centred dark chocolate desserts of deliciousness.  You know, the ones that look like a small mud cake but gently cascade a molten flow of chocolate when opened with a spoon?

I am always torn when I eat out at a great restaurant, and these are on the dessert menu.  On the one hand, there are often at least a couple of other truly awesome sounding desserts, that I know I will love. On the other hand - molten chocolate goop!  Normally, the fondant pudding wins.

Now, I make them at home all the time, so I am free to branch out when we go out to dinner (anything involving peanuts and caramel?  Yes please!).

These are so incredibly easy.  Ridiculously so, considering the end result.  This is one of those recipes that is almost more time consuming to type out than it is to make.  The best part is, they cook best from frozen, so you can knock up a batch, stash them in the freezer, and you are only ever about 15 minutes away from the ultimate chocolate dessert.  Dangerous...

You will need:

50g melted butter (for brushing)

Cocoa for dusting

200g best quality dark chocolate (minimum 70 per cent cocoa)

200g butter, in small pieces

Pinch of salt

200g golden caster sugar

4 whole eggs

4 egg yolks

200g plain flour

This recipe makes nine.  So you need nine 200ml ramekins.  Or you can use a tray of large muffin tins, apparently.

To start, melt your chocolate and butter together in a double boiler (or over very low heat in a heavy bottomed saucepan).  Add pinch of salt, set aside.

Brush the inside of each ramekin with melted butter, then whack them in the freezer.  Once set, paint on another layer of melted butter, and add a good spoonful of cocoa powder into the ramekin.  Tip so that the powder completely coats the butter, then tap upside down to remove any excess.  Repeat until the ramekins are all done.

Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and caster sugar together until thick ribbons form when you lift the whisk.  I'd say at least 5 minutes with an electric stand mixer.

Sift the flour into the egg mixture, and beat together.

Add the melted chocolate and butter in thirds, beating well between each addition, until well combined.  It will resemble very thick, light cake batter.

Divide evenly between the nine ramekins.  Freeze.

When you're ready to cook them - or just one! - simply preheat the oven to 200 degrees (180 fan forced), and pop them in for between 14 - 17 minutes.  This really depends on your oven.  If you are serving 8 people, still cook the 9 the first time, as you can check one before you pull them out.  In my oven, 16 minutes is spot on.

You want the top to still look a bit goopy in the middle.  Err on the side of undercooked:

Once they are out, run a butter knife around the edges, then invert the ramekin into the serving bowl.  Leave to sit for a minute, then pull the ramekin off.  Serve with plenty of vanilla ice cream (recipe HERE).  If you were serving them to guests, I'd add a dusting of cocoa on top, and perhaps a drizzle of caramel or berry coulis, but they are just brilliant as is.

PS in our house, ramekins are called panicins.  Or panekins, depending on how you want to spell it.  My dad once called to ask for a recipe, and opened with, "you know those things that are cooked in, oh, panicins, are they called?" and I have never stopped laughing about it.  Every single time I use a ramekin, I get hardcore giggles, as 'panicin' conjures up such a sense of dessert emergency.