This might be an upside down, inside out kind of year but at least half term is providing something of a breather this week. Even the appalling weather seems to be telling us to stay home, watch films and not feel quite so guilty about screen time right now. Anyway, we might not be able …
We’re back in big jumper season again and honestly, I’m thrilled. Much as I love the feel of sun on skin give me a polo neck, roaring fire and a glass of red any day. Or rather, evening. And when it comes to what’s in my glass I want something properly interesting and delicious. Step …
Okay, not exactly a watermelon. It was a jackfruit. No, me neither but apparently they’re the ‘meat’ of the vegetable world and you can make curries and stews out of them and it feels a bit like eating pulled pork. Anyway, I got to carry one this weekend on Saturday Kitchen before heading to the …
I do love a baby. Especially mine obviously, but they’re not babies anymore. And I’m not broody when I see one nowadays, just ridiculously tears-in-eyes happy. So much so I think I slightly freaked out the young mother in John Lewis last week, whose sleeping baby looked so beautiful tucked up in its pram I …
A reader emailed recently asking for some low sulphur wines to try after being told by her GP that wine intolerance was common in middle-aged pre-menopausal women and a low/no added sulphur approach might help. I mean, a hot flush is one thing. But wine intolerance? Talk about adding insult to injury. Anyway, if you …
I had lunch with Rob Lowe last week. OK, ‘had lunch with’ might be pushing it. I was in a restaurant and he was on the next door table. Still, close enough to see that he looked pretty much as he did in St Elmo’s Fire but with slightly better hair. And to think I …
We’re off to a festival this weekend. And it’s my favourite kind of festival because it’s local, meaning I get to soak up the atmosphere and still collapse into my own bed at the end of it. (It’s the Curious Arts Festival and you can find out more about it here). Anyway, this made me …
After spending last week in London tasting around 100 wines a day (I was judging at the International Wine Challenge, not just really thirsty), I’m back and trying to get on top of things. It’s not going that well. The house is a tip, the laundry basket needs a room of its own, work has …
So Camp Bestival at the weekend was wet but happily the wine was dry. And delicious. And plentiful. On Saturday night around 50 of us crammed into a tent for the annual Secret Mummies Wine Club and, as always, The Scummy Mummies made us laugh a lot. The wines went down well (and fast), especially a …
Good TV is like buses. Nothing, then two arrive at once. I’m talking about Wimbledon and Love Island, obviously. I love both, equally. I mean I know Love Island is ridiculous but I just can’t. Stop. Watching. As for Wimbledon, I love that it gives us an excuse to watch telly in the afternoon, even when …
So that’s January almost over and done with. Thank goodness; it’s been exhausting. But I have JUST the thing for anyone in need of a little r&r. Lime Wood, in the New Forest, is one of the most gorgeous hotels I know and their Herb House Spa is positively d-r-e-a-m-y. There’s a spa day for two up for grabs …
Remember when I did a dry January? I do, all too clearly. Anyway, the thing I found tough was not the not drinking so much as finding something non-alcoholic and interesting to drink in the evenings. Given that we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing a glass of wine, it’s surprisingly difficult to …
You already know about my granola habit. Tonight – I blame Bake Off – I decided to move on to bread. Now, I love my carbs (how can you not love carbs?) and so when I saw the recipe for protein bread in Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook Super Food (a recent birthday present), I thought …
You’ve got to love a chorus that goes Ba De Ya. Earth Wind & Fire sang about dancing in September when, according to them, there never was a cloudy day. A little wide of the mark given the past week but a great song nonetheless. Anyway, September in this house is all about early mornings …
This is me, at the Knackered Mother’s Wine Club tasting at Camp Bestival last Saturday. We had a brilliant crowd, including a gorgeous lady who’d got married that day at Camp Bestival’s inflatable church (not making this up) and another on her hen night. There was a performance by the brilliant Scummy Mummies, Ellie & …
Laughter is the best medicine, or so they say. Clearly they forgot wine, carbs and Codeine but I know what they were getting at. Anyway, one of the biggest successes of the Easter holidays so far has been the comedy workshop that Middle Boy went to last week. Run by my old friend Laura, she’s …
Last Friday, I went to the Bath Literary Festival and my session was at 7.30pm. Turned out so was Kazuo Ishiguro’s, in the room next door. He might have won the Booker Prize but I had free wine (very kindly donated by wine merchant Averys of Bristol – thank you, Mimi). And afterwards, as I …
Last week, when everyone went Fifty Shades of mad about a certain film, I tweeted that my abiding memory of the book was the wine descriptions. Specifically, how delicious they sounded (there was definitely a cool, crisp Chablis at some point; and I think there was a Sancerre and a Pouilly Fume too, always perfectly …
Every year, on or around the 25th January, we do Burns Night. I’m married to a sort-of-Scot (my father-in-law was born and brought up in Edinburgh; the Husband’s more of a Hampshire Highlander) so Burns is big in his family. One year, my sister-in-law and I took on the cooking with the help of Pippa …
Hooray for half term. Sort of. As we crawl towards it, I’m half-excited, half-panicking. Excited about not having to set the alarm quite so early. Panicking about fitting in some work. The children are most excited about Halloween, obviously. Which has turned into a monster (pun intended). They usually come back from Trick or Treating …
Sequins, check. I’m off to Vegas. For work. For four days. I know, I’m extremely lucky. I’ll have time to sit by a pool, do a spot of shopping, have grown up dinners and see a show (not Britney though, I checked). But the thing I am most looking forward to? A lie-in. After last week’s …
If ever there was a good way to start the week, it’s with a wine tasting. On Monday night, I was asked to do one for a lovely group of people at Soho House’s West London outpost, High Road House. I picked a line up of current favourite wines from local shops and supermarkets, all …
Last Friday & Saturday I was at BritMums Live, an event that brings together 500 bloggers under one London roof to talk, listen, laugh, cry (well, you try listening to Katie Piper’s story and not end up in a sobbing heap on the floor). One of the best discussion groups I attended was run by …
No, not me, silly. Not that I would mind getting married again*, having gone to the most beautiful of second weddings last Friday. If ever there was a time to have a day of pure life-affirming joy with old friends, celebrating love, then early January is it. Most of us were in tears before the …
It was my friend’s 40th on Saturday night and the theme was Caribbean. So I had a spray tan. The idea was to look slightly less knackered bronzed. As it turned out, I got caught on the eyebrow by an empty wine bottle being used as a microphone by a friend (old university habits die …
Last week, I spoke at a wine industry seminar about how to make wine more engaging for people buying it. Ahead of the talk, I turned to you lot to save my little-larger-than-I’d-like backside. I emailed some of you and asked via the BritMums forum if anyone had any views they could share. The response …
I never did see the Kevin film. Turns out The Help started at the same time so we chose schmaltz over shootings. Cried on and off for two hours and loved it. What we do need to talk about, however, is how to broach the subject of booze with our children. How young is too …
Fancy Dress parties and me do not have a happy history. There was the time Bearded Husband decided we should go as Derek & Clive to a New Year’s Eve party. As other girls glowed in beautiful dresses, I sweated profusely in a Mac, flat cap and men’s shoes. I even had a ham sandwich …
Shortly after 12am this morning, at the International Wine Challenge Awards Dinner in London (click here for results), I was on the dance floor in high heels and Westwood. And I was actually Shakira. In bed by 2am, awake by 6am, back home from town by 8am ready for the school run. For just a little …
Tonight, the 6yo Boy had his school disco. It was a 5.45pm drop off, £1 entry, all drinks & snacks included and an hour of wall to wall dance floor fillers. He really did dance like no-one was watching. He and his friends went BONKERS; they busted moves, laughed their heads off and generally had …
My sister and I found my mother’s latest boyfriend on the internet. Background: post first marriage, she’s not been a great picker. After a string of unsuitables, we decided to take action. Following a particularly jolly wedding (not hers), we got home and signed her up on a dating website. We added her profile, a picture (in retrospect, using …
I’m not a huge sports fan. I once asked Andrew Strauss if he was following the Ashes. I was making polite conversation, the Ashes was in the news at the time and I had no idea who he was. Obviously. But tonight, I watched The Arse whoop Barca’s backside and it was great fun. It was just …
Maybe it is the harsh jute-like feel of January compared with the velvet comfort of December, but I am struggling to get going. It might be the extra weight I’m carrying (booze/food, not baby for once) but I think it is just January. I’ll go straight to the wines, that’ll cheer me up. This week’s white in the …
I don’t get big festivals. There was a massive festival on the Isle of Wight at the weekend and a friend came back complaining of feeling old. That’s because you are twice as old as most people there! I said. To myself. Of course, we go to Glastonbury every year and watch all the bands’ best bits without getting …
“Ohmigod, that’s a headache wine” said a friend the other day after sipping a Spanish white wine. Then Ladybird World Mother said that she too got wretched headaches when drinking wine and doesn’t even throw it back like the old days (her words, not mine). What might cause these headaches, other than having three too many? The usual suspect is sulphur, which …
Much excitement all round: we’re off to Venice for a few days to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. The children seem to sense the highly indulgent grand-parenting that lies ahead. I thought I’d buy something new for the occasion and today I did just that. Underwear that actually matches? A Spring-tastic print scarf? Clogs to make it clear I still read Vogue and …
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