Food Minia

I had a very nice email recently from a reader seeking advice. My favourite kind of reader email, really - actually asking my opinion. It gives me licence to take a deep breath and just go on and on and on about what I think, which is the state in which I am happiest, as long-time readers of this blog will know. Anyway the email went "Shall I take my 2 year old on a 7 hour flight to Montreal?" And my answer, which ran to several hundred words, was: "No." I guessed that if she was even asking me, she was really looking for a "no" answer anyway, she just wanted it validated by a dispassionate third party. As I was writing my reply to her, hammering away at my keyboard (I do not type in a tapetty tappetty tap way, I HAMMMER THE FUCKING KEYS LIKE THEY HAVE DONE SOMETHING BAD - I always used to get complaints at work about it) some things became clear to me. I ended up writing this paragraph: " I’ve always felt like I had my whole life up until having kids...

It doesn't get any easier using a crock pot and only 3 i ngredient to make this chicken taco recipe.  We love Mexican food and this chicken is great for tacos, nachos and even on a salad. 2 lbs chicken breasts (if frozen, make sure they are thawed)  1 packet taco seasoning 16oz jar salsa (I like to use Medium Restaurant Style Tomtits Salsa, it's thick and flavorful) Taco toppings: tomato, lettuce, avocado , cheese, sour cream, cilantro, etc Directions:  Sprinkle chicken breast on all sides with taco seasoning.   Lay breasts in bottom of crock pot  then pour in salsa.  Cook on low for 4 hours, or high for 2 hours, or until chicken breasts are tender. Shred chicken and mix with some or all of the cooking liquid and continue to cook for another 15-20 minutes. Serve on taco shells or tortillas with all your favorite toppings. Serves 6-8

This was my first attempt at making baked oatmeal and if I had known how good this was I would of been making it all winter long!  I don't usually eat oatmeal once the spring weather appears but this oatmeal will continue to make an appearance.  I really like that it can be made the night before and baked in the morning.  The nuts rise to the top for a crispy topping with the creamy oats underneath and the sweet blueberries throughout.  If there are any leftovers it warms up wonderfully in the microwave. I found this great recipe on  Alexandra Cooks blog .  Check out her blog.      I'm looking forward to making this again.  I want to try it with dried cherries and pecans or apples and walnuts but this blueberry and walnut combo is a keeper.      Ingredients: 2 cups 2% or whole milk 1/3 cup PURE maple syrup (don't use flavored maple pancake syrup) 1 large egg 3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly 2 teas...

Now that my kids are set square on the path of growing up, we are none of us stuck in a non-speaking, non-walking hell, no-one is pregnant, no-one is postpartum, I can feel myself regressing, going backwards, getting younger. When you have a baby you explode outwards. Sometimes quite literally. But also metaphorically. All your stuff  explodes outwards. Your neuroses, your anxieties, your life, your everything goes KAPOW out into the world. Everyone talks about you and what you are doing. Everyone compares notes going "She's really freaking out," or "She's really bossing it," or "She's just so relaxed!" or "She's just SO uptight." None of it is complimentary - not really. It's all a total diss. Even if you are doing well, everyone with more or older kids will look at each other and transmit via ESP those awful, awful words that we have all thought: "You just fucking wait." Yes it's all fine now but wait until you...

The problem with all fashion, no matter who you are or what you do, is trying to make it work for you - for who you are and what your life is like. There are also levels of fashionability. I simply do not have the kind of personality that goes well with high fashion. I'm just too much of an awful piss-taker to go about in a neon scuba top and a hat. But I also think it is important to change the way that you look, to modernise. You know all this. I've written about it before. My particular problem with any kind of fashion, any year, wherever I am is that is has to be practical. It just does. I cannot wear slithery dry-clean only fabrics because they will attract butter and Marmite stains out of thin air. I cannot wear heels because there is enough discomfort in my life without adding sore feet to it. (And often I will need to break into a run - or at least a fast trot - at short notice.) I also cannot wear mini - or even shortish - skirts because I do a lot of bending and sitti...

I was in an absolutely foul mood the other weekend - pretty much all weekend. My husband would say "how could you tell?" because he thinks I am always in a foul mood, even if I am smiling, wearing a yellow top and handing him a plate of food. I suppose as far as he's concerned even though I might look alright and normal I could suddenly turn at any given moment - I can switch in an instant, like a pirate captain, driven insane from the heat and the rum. He is not entirely wrong. Anyway I really was in a bad mood. I have, recently, genuinely been counting my blessings in a really excellent and mindful way and finding very little to complain or be annoyed about: the children are okay - (not ill, both walking and talking, sort of sleeping on and off), I have written and published two books, Spring is round the corner and so on. But the other weekend I just lost it. The children were both driving me insane with their constant bloody falling over and wailing and breaking thin...