Books

Cooking inspiration from My Daddy Cooks

Posted by cafebebemama on Jun 20, 2011 in Books, Mealtimes, Motherhood, Product Reviews | 1 comment

Back in January of 2010, Ella and I attended a lovely blogging event where we were to learn how to make a proper pancake. One of the bloggers we were supposed to meet at that event was Nick Coffer of My Daddy Cooks. Unfortunately Nick was unwell that day but I thought I would Google the My Daddy Cooks site to find out just who this guy was. Perusing Nick’s site I was most disappointed that I hadn’t met him that day!

Nick and his son Archie are the stars of My Daddy Cooks where they tackle family friendly recipes together in their eeny-meeny kitchen with, almost always, outstanding results. Archie is adorable, the recipes are tasty and user-friendly and the site is an amazing, one-of-a-kind experience. Eventually I did meet Nick (and Archie) and have been friends with Nick ever since. I can say, “I knew him when…”

You see, Nick is becoming quite the media darling. His site went viral within months of hitting the blogosphere, he negotiated a book deal, secured a radio show on BBC Three Counties and, just last month,  My Daddy Cooks was published for the great wide world to enjoy! Ella and I were fortunate enough, as we’re friends of Nick’s, to be invited to a Book Celebration at Fire & Stone, Covent Garden at the end of May along with some of the other lovely bloggers who have supported Nick along the way.

Ella got to make a pizza of her very own along with the other very happy children and we all got to take home Nick’s GORGEOUS cookbook to add to our kitchens. I dove into the cookbook when we arrived back at home (I just love to READ cookbooks) and was so very impressed with what Nick has created. The recipes are do-able and family-friendly (your kids can cook right along with you just like Nick and Archie), the book itself is beautiful with heart-warming pictures and lovely stories to accompany and support the recipes and the book itself lies FLAT when you open it to any page which helps immensely when cooking in the kitchen.

We’ve had the pleasure of cooking and eating the Sloppy Joes recipe (for which I have awarded Nick honorary American citizenship), the Crispy Duck pancakes, the Fruity Popovers and Breakfast Pikelets which have become regular favourites in our house. Today (Father’s Day), I decided to give the FAMOUS Muddy Flourless Chocolate Cake a go to accompany the roast beef dinner at the inlaws in celebration of Father’s Day. Many of you know that I can’t eat gluten so any recipe that is flourless is a winner in my book. The recipe was pretty straightforward and I have decided, after enjoying the results, that it will become my claim to fame. GORGEOUS is barely enough to express how delightful this cake is. For this reason alone, GET THE COOKBOOK!

Thank you to Nick and his publishers, Hodder & Stoughton, for inviting us to enjoy lunch at Fire & Stone, Covent Garden and for the lovely goody bag including the My Daddy Cooks cookbook. We will be using Nick’s cookbook (and his site) for years to come. You will LOVE cooking these fabulous family recipes with your children which are sure to become regulars in your menu planning.

It's Your Story

Posted by cafebebemama on Nov 25, 2009 in Books | 2 comments

Wouldn’t your child like to see themselves in the pages of a brilliant story?  It’s Your Story is a wonderful website which produces amazing personalised books which feature your child’s face, name, best friend and home address to make the story that much more personal.  The illustrations are entertaining and creative and there’s a lot to see on every page which will make the reading experience that much more fun.

• STRENGTHS:  Who wouldn’t want to be in the pages of a brilliant and entertaining story?  My Little Miss was pretty intrigued to see herself on the pages of her book!  And she perked right up when she heard her best friend’s name as well.  The Fairy Girl story book was a story which continued to build and add characters and situations and there was so much to see on every page!  The ZSL London Zoo book had amazing facts about the animals featured and really took you on a walk through the zoo.  We’re going to the London Zoo again this weekend and I think we’ll have to take the book along for a guide!  All of Little Miss’ favourite animals are featured in the book as well.  The pages of the “It’s Your Story” books are very strong and durable which is welcome with toddlers in particular.  The illustrations are detailed and colourful.  Both “It’s Your Story” books are items that Little Miss will treasure for years to come.
• WEAKNESSES:  Initially, there are a lot of items on the page but it is fun to pick things out and look for certain animals or items to keep your child’s attention.  Little Miss is a little young to remain focused for the entire Fairy Girl book but she loves the pictures and we gloss over some of the wording for now.  Age ranges are 3+ which is appropriate.
• OPINION:  I love the idea of having my child’s face in a book!  She thinks it’s pretty cool too!  The ordering process is simple- you provide a photo of your child looking directly at the camera, your child’s name, their best friend’s name, your address and are allowed to include a short, personalised message to be printed on the inside of the book.  Everything was straightforward about ordering and within a week or so of placing my order, the book was in our possession.  It’s Your Story also creates personalised cards and invitations and has a wonderful selection of Christmas items which are sure to please any child this year for Christmas.
• TECHNICAL STUFF:  The “Fairy Girl” and “ZSL London Zoo” books are £19.99.  Both the “Order” and “Q & A” sections of the It’s Your Story site are very informative and explain the process effectively.
• RATING:  5 out of 5!

SPECIAL CAFE BEBE OFFER:  For the next 2 weeks, It’s Your Story is offering Cafe Bebe readers a 15% discount off  any purchases from the It’s Your Story site!  Simply use the code CAFEBEBE15 in the voucher box for your 15% discount when ordering.  Take advantage of a generous discount in the run up to Christmas!

It’s Your Story

The Mumpreneur Guide

Posted by cafebebemama on Nov 1, 2009 in Books | 0 comments

I was given the opportunity to review “The Mumpreneur Guide” from the author herself, Antonia Chitty. Antonia, who has been running her own home business since 2003, advises that:

The Mumpreneur Guide Start Your Own Business Book is what you need to get your business going. A practical workbook, it is written in manageable parts that you can implement immediately, without putting your life on hold.  This is a down to earth, practical guide book to take you from wherever you are right now.  It will get you focused on the sort of business you want to run.  It will help you take the steps to make that business a reality.  And, it will help you enjoy the journey to becoming a business owner.

• STRENGTHS:  “The Mumpreneur Guide” is structured in easy to read chapters which can easily be put down and picked back up without losing the flow, as we busy mothers are apt to do.  Each section has workbook pages and exercises to take you through the process toward starting up your own business.  Chapter Three is devoted to assisting you in writing a Business Plan.  I had no idea that it was so important or how involved it is.  I particularly appreciated the “real life” quotes from some very successful and well-known Mumpreneurs in each chapter.  They gave their personal experiences and I find that is so helpful to have those testimonials.  It really brings the message home, in my opinion.  My favourite chapters were Chapters 6 & 7- Business on the Web and Online Promotion and Attracting Customers.  I learned a great deal about SEO’s, Keywords and the importance of Social Networking.
• WEAKNESSES:  As I am not in the “mumpreneur” category, some of the information in “The Mumpreneur Guide” was irrelevant but still exceptionally informative.  A bizarre weakness for me, personally, were the handwritten-style fonts used in the “real life experiences” boxes from the selected Mumpreneurs.  After a while of reading the font becomes difficult to read.
• OPINION:  This is an excellent, thorough and easy to read guide to starting up your own business and should become the bedside manual for any potential Mumpreneurs.  You won’t go wrong if you follow the steps that Antonia Chitty so appropriately outlines for you.
• TECHNICAL STUFF:  RRP = £18.00; Paperback manual
• RATING:  4 out of 5

The Mumpreneur Guide website

Family Friendly Working

Babymoon

Posted by cafebebemama on Oct 18, 2009 in Books | 0 comments

In my “JUST ASK” philosophy, after seeing an advertisement for the novel “Babymoon” by Australian author, Melanie La’Brooy, I contacted the publisher to request a copy for review and for a competition on Café Bébé.  I got it!  I haven’t read an ADULT piece of non-fiction since before Little Miss was born so I was really excited to kick off my re-entry to reading with this book.  A bit of a summary, before commencing with the review:

“The countdown to mummydom has started…  Isabelle and Jack are expecting their first child.  And Isabelle is the very model of a calm Earth Mother-to-be.  Or she would be if she wasn’t consumed by anxiety about finding her pelvic floor, watching birthing videos or being accepted into the yummy mummy parade with a very practical pram.  Of course she’s thrilled and excited- she just feels slightly out…of…control.  But with the support of a host of new mothers and friends- all full of the worst possible advice- just maybe Isabelle can make it through pregnancy and childbirth with her dignity, her relationship and some more private bits intact.  Then again, maybe not.”

The Author:  Melanie La’Brooy is the author of the bestselling Australian published novels, Love Struck, The Wish List and Serendipity (Penguin Australia).  Babymoon was written shortly after the birth of her first child.  Melanie lives in Melbourne with her husband Charlie, her two year old son Dashiell and she is expecting another baby in August.

STRENGTHS:  This book is very well-written and had me hooked very quickly, which is very important as a busy mother.  I don’t have time to take forever to read a book!  One of the issues that the main character, Isabelle, deals with is her fear of her life changing when she’s a mother.  I loved how this was addressed on page 127 in a conversation between Isabelle and her partner Jack:

” ‘I mean that, after the baby is born, for five days a week, eight hours a day- or, knowing you six days a week, fourteen hours a day- your life will still be the same when you’re at work,’ I almost shouted.  ‘For me, this baby is going to change everything.  It’s already changing my body.  It’s going to change my work, my life, my everything.’ “

There are a lot of laugh-out-loud funny sections of “Babymoon” which was why it was the perfect book for me to start my re-entry to the reading world.  The relationship with her partner, Jack- a surgeon, struck a few chords with me as, though not a surgeon, my husband works long hours as well and it’s just me and Little Miss for many very long days.  I also loved Isabelle’s challenges with her sister, Audie.  Her sister possessed a lot of the same OCD reflexes that I struggle with!  Melanie La’Brooy even wades into the Breastfeeding/Bottlefeeding debate  with an interesting and accurate statement:

” Basically, once you moved past the natural childbirth/too posh to push hurdle, the next politically charged brawl was breastfeeding versus bottle-feeding.  This was the sort of spectacular fight usually reserved for a WrestleMania smackdown in a full-capacity arena. “

WEAKNESSES:

I have to admit that I did get a bit uncomfortable with Melanie La’Brooy’s ongoing theme about the fear of losing yourself as a woman and a PERSON when motherhood hits.  La’Brooy’s character Isabelle cannot really wrap her head around the concept of being a mother which made me wonder why she would consider motherhood and then I remembered that it was just a NOVEL.  But I know almost every woman must have at least a few twinges of worry about losing themselves.  Personally, I never struggled with that and for that I am grateful.  The only other weakness to speak of was that the end of the book ended with the actualy birth of “Fetid” (Isabelle and Jack’s nickname for their unborn child).  I’m awaiting the sequel now!

OPINION:

If you’re looking for a light read which will make you laugh out loud and wax nostalgic about your own pregnancies, then “Babymoon” by Melanie La’Brooy will definitely fit the bill.  It’s an easy read and one which doesn’t weigh you down too terribly.  Perfect for Mummies everywhere.

TECHNICAL STUFF:

“Babymoon” is authored by Melanie La’Brooy and is published by Little Brown in the UK.  The paperback original is £6.99.

RATING:

4.5 out of 5