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Spring is in the Air!

March 31, 2010 Lifestyle No Comments

I really feel that we are finally turning a corner and spring is on its way. AT LAST! It seems like this winter has been going on for an eternity.

I’m looking forward to coming home from work in the daylight and sitting in my garden with a crisp glass of rose and a packet of Pringles.

Unfortunately my back garden looks like a slushy patch of mud covered in children’s toys with a rotten shed in it and the front garden looks like a rather grey and moss ridden path surrounded by overgrown shrubs which are impossible to identify.

It’s not attractive and I feel totally uninspired and will be sitting indoors with the curtains drawn if I don’t do something about it soon.  Help!!!

This month’s challenge is to make it beautiful, practical and edible – without spending a fortune!  I’m going to watch Alys Fowler’s new gardening show which is called Edible Gardens and even buy the book so that my patch of grass can become a colourful and welcoming place to be in addition to being educational for my little girl.

I love the idea of planting seeds with my daughter and watching them grow with her.  At the moment she thinks food is just something you buy from Sainsbury’s – she has no idea that it actually grows somewhere – except when she watches ‘I Can Cook’ and the presenter Katy Ashworth dons wellies and ferrets around in the garden for carrots, tomatoes or spring onions!

I am determined not to spend another summer green with envy at other people enjoying their sweet smelling and colourful surroundings whilst I sit frustrated in a square piece of land that is more like a rubbish tip.  I’m relying on an injection of enthusiasm from the Gardeners World Team and the passion that Alys Fowler has for small gardens on a budget – really should buy her ‘Thrifty Gardens’ book too!

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Cooking with Katy

April 28, 2010

How are we ever going to get cookery onto the national school curriculum?  Jamie Oliver might have tackled what kids are eating at school, but the greater challenge might have been to get them actual cooking lessons.  It’s a life skill and if you think about it, it’s astonishing that we learn to speak a second language but can’t boil an egg.

Yes there are basic home economics offered here and there but none of this instills a love for cookery at a young age.  London is suffering a severe chef shortage and until we tackle this at the root of the problem – school kids – we’ll lose our place as one of the greatest cities in the world for eating.  So hats off to CBeebies for recommissioning I Can Cook with the charming Katy Ashworth.  She inspires the kids to find fun in the kitchen, an area most parents don’t want their kids in, let alone thinking of it as a place in which to entertain and interact with one’s kids.  And what a shame.  Cooking is about getting dirty and making mistakes as well as achieving great triumphs – and that’s for all ages I say.

The show is educational too and Katy shows the kids about where the food comes from – simple but genius.  When is the last time you explained to your child that a burger is a piece of dead cow?  It doesn’t distress them – they are curious and should know about food, cooking, ingredients and flavours from as early as possible.  To consider a toddler as a possible helper in the kitchen is a stretch for most, but why not, even just twice a week?

Cooking is about science, magic, creativity and good tastes, and brings out the best in kids once they’re involved.  And if you still think this is a waste of time, then at least let your young ones watch the show…