In the UK – Mothering Sunday falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent. It was customary for people to return to the church where they were baptised and to visit their mother and their families, bring gifts to give their mums.
I look forward to this day, as my kids surprise me with a homemade card which is just about the best thing to wake up to on a Sunday morning.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Mother’s Day card from Little Bird with a little lavender scented felt blackbird decoration
Monday 8th February 2016 will be the first day of the Year of the Monkey and the Chinese New Year.
Growing up we didn’t really celebrate the coming of the new year as much as we should have done.
What I do remember are – just a few things that I’ve made an effort to carry on as traditions in our family.
Like Christmas crackers these are great fun. When the kids were much younger, their first reception year at Primary School, I was asked to bring in some things that were Chinese for the children in my kids school. It was easy to bring in some fresh ginger, spring onions, noodles, Chinese cabbage and a bottle of soy. I handed lucky fortune cookies to the kids. Since then we’ve celebrated Chinese New Year with a few Fortune Cookies
It’s traditional in Chinese Culture to hand out little envelopes filled with Money as a way of welcoming in the New Year and wishing loved ones good fortune with little packets with money. I remember receiving these as a child. Now that my kids are a little older and understand the value of money, I’ll be leaving two little packets on the mantle for them to find.
Lots and lots of food, at any given time, the Chinese celebrate the New Year with lots of food, always freshly prepared. Aparently, and I don’t know whether this is superstition or just a family thing, my parents would make sure there were plenty left over so that there would always be food.
Seeing the new year in would also involve setting off fireworks or firecrackers, the louder the better as this would mean scarying the demons and monsters away from your home
Whilst alcohol, such as rice wine would be served at mealtimes, the ritual of drinking Chinese tea as part of the meal is something which I still remember
Snacks and sweets, more food!
Watching the dragon dance and taking part in the celebrations in China Town and Trafalgar Square. This is something we’ve done a few times. This year we didn’t manage to travel into Central London. A small incident with the washing machine on Saturday, meant we were catching up on the week’s laundry on Sunday, the day when London celebrates the Chinese New Year. Whilst this was an inconvenience, it’s better to be appreciative and count our blessings rather than worry over misfortunes. Something my mum taught me when I was I was little. At least, we didn’t have to go to the expense of getting a new washing machine, because it was fixed and very quickly too. Instead, we visited a Chinese Supermarket on Sunday and stocked up on lots of goodies to enjoy this week.
The number eight is considered a lucky number. Maybe it was just coincidence, I like to think that fate had a part to play, we live in the 8th house along our road. This year is the Year of the Monkey and there are 2 generations of Monkeys in this house, I think this will be a year full of great surprises and eventful too as my youngest will start secondary school this year.
Christmas would not be complete without Mince Pies. This year, I had an idea to make these Christmas Muffins. Perfect for Breakfast on Boxing day.
I love their freshly baked scent of Cinnamon filling the house. A lovely way to start the day with a fresh muffin and coffee.
Very easy to make. Just follow the recipe for the fresh Blueberry Muffins and substitute the Blueberries with Mincemeat.
Rather than adding the mincemeat and mixing it into the bake, add little dollops into the muffin tins alternating between the batter and the mincemeat until all the mincemeat has been added into the Muffin mix. Bake as normal.
Merry Christmas!
Every year, I look for gifts to give friends and family that are unique, thoughtful and show that their tastes or what they like have been considered and reflected in the gift.
On most occasions, their gifts to me have out done me in every respect, so this year to show my appreciation, the gifts I’ve made are uniquely personalised. Even better, I’ve not spent any time walking around shops trying to find something special, because the ingredients are already in the cuboard ready to be made into something special and take very little time or effort to prepare and make.
If you have ever tried the Shea Butter Hand and foot cream from L’Occitane or from Burt’s Bees, these are lovely little gifts to give and receive. The only thing is that there’s a possibility that someone else has had the same idea and purchased the very same. They smell wonderful, with a range of delicate scents and I must admit are lovely gifts to receive.
To make these Foot and hand Salves is very simple, easier than baking a cake in fact. All you need to do is measure out the ingredients, gently melt them in a jug in a pan of simmering water, add the essential oils and once melted, pour into your chosen containers. Personalising the scents makes these gifts unique, especially if you know what scents they enjoy the most.
1Â tablespoons of Argan Oil
2 tablespoons of Coconut Oil
1Â tablespoon beeswax
4 tablespoons of unrefined Shea Butter
1/4 tsb of essential oils – a combination of Peppermint and Cedarwood (for the boys) or Peppermint and Lavender (for the girls)
To make the Hand Salve variant, you can change the oil and use Jojoba or Rosehip Oil, whichever you think their hands (or your own) will appreciate the most and add your choice of essential oils to add scent. Beeswax and the Shea Butter will emulsify and give the salve it’s lovely thick creamy texture.
Better still, if you want to make the Handsalve to treat age spots (after all, most beauty mags will tell you it’s your hands that show the first signs of aging) select the essential oils for their skin therapeutic benefits.
That’s it. All there is to it for making scented rich moisturising salves. Perfect as a gift or an indulgent luxurious treat. Hmm I think I’m going to find a bit of me time for a Manicure and try some of the handsalve I made.
Last weekend, I decided to make some lovely Christmas gifts to give to friends and family. After a Sunday spent making these lovely gifts, I found myself succumbing to a cold which I have only just shaken off. It meant that I didn’t get round to writing this post until now.
If like me, you like scented candles, receiving one as a Christmas gift would be lovely. I love the gentle glow of candle light, it seems to calm and soothe the senses. I have a small collection of candles from L’Occitane in little metal tins, which gave me the inspiration for this little hand made version.
Making your own filled candles is so easy that I’m now addicted to making them, all you need is to find some containers, flame proof of course and some candle wicks for lighting the candles.
The wicks can be simple pieces of string tied to a stick so that it can dangle down to the bottom of the container (I’ve tried this using chopsticks and a metal Skewer) but it turned out that the cotton string I used didn’t stay alight.
After a bit of research, I found a company that makes ready-made wicks (already inserted into stablisers). They are actually called sustainers. Choose the ones that are pre-waxed and are labeled with the diameter (You need to make sure that the pool of the melted wax goes to the edge of your container) that matches the diameter of your container.
To keep the sustainers from moving, place a small amount of melted wax on the bottom, or if this is a bit fiddly, use Glue Dots – these won’t show as they are transparent.
Once the beeswax has melted in a jug over simmering hot water, add your choice of fragrance to the wax just before you are going to pour them into the containers. Personally, I prefer using essential oils.
I’ve chosen Cinnamon Bark, Sweet Orange and Ginger to fragrance these little candles. Â Just add 10 drops of each essential oil into the wax which is based on the dilution amounts in aromatherapy – 30 drops for every 100ml of carrier oil (The quantity I’ve put into the tins is approx 100ml in each tin. I’ve made two tins with cotton wicks and two with Cotton Wicks.)
If you’d like to make the candles as gifts, there’s just enough time to order the materials from Amazon in time to make up a batch.
You can get the beeswax from Amazon in the UK here:  or if you are in the US you can find it here.
I also tried them with these wooden wicks from Amazon, they crackle and sound like the crackling of an open fire. Perfect to sit and enjoy with a hot cup of coco at night. If your in the US, you can get these here:
Metal Tins* can be found here in the UK.
You can get them also from Amazon in the US here*.
As these are little, they will make perfect little stocking filler treats.
*Contains affiliate links
Making your own perfume is relatively straightforward.
This year, I’m making a few Christmas Gifts, as a way of making Christmas feel just a little bit more home spun and personal.
Having looked on several sites and researched the types of ingredients that goes into perfume making, there are just a few ingredients most of which you will find easily either in your cupboard or online.
This is determined by the amount of scent to alcohol. An Eau de toilette is around 10 percent. An Eau de parfum is around 15-20 percent and the strongest called Parfum is around 30 percent.
Solid (such as in a oil based waxy balm) or Rollerball (oil based) or in a Spray. The main ingredient in the perfume is the carrier, which can be alcohol or oil based. With Alcohol, the oils in the fragrance can be dispersed from a spray and is how most of the famous brands market their perfumes. Very high quality fragrance houses such as Chanel will offer the perfume in stronger variants, for instance Chanel No5 is available as a Parfum in a very tiny but exquisite bottle. The higher the alcohol content (proof) you can find the better in terms of dispersing the scent. You can of course go for perfumers alcohol, but since there’s likely to be chemicals, which is sometimes called Alcohol Denat – this means it’s been treated so you can’t drink it. Personally, I think it’s better if you can drink it, as it means, if it’s ok to drink, it’s going to be suitable to put onto your skin. I’m choosing Vodka as this has no scent and is as pure a form of alcohol as you can get easily. Smirnoff or Grey Goose will do.
Perfumes tend to be made up of top notes, the scent you can smell immediately. The middle note, the heart of the fragrance and the base note which is the final scent that lingers long after the others have dissipated, all three notes combine give the perfume the harmonics that make defines it’s unique character which when mixed with the chemicals that make up your skin, makes the experience of the perfume unique.
I love experimenting and mixing scents together. It makes the process so much fun and it also means it’s one of a kind, unique as no one else will have the scent that you’ve made.
Since Jasmine is my favourite scent of all time, I’m going to use this as the “middle note” for the heart and distinctive character of the perfume. And as I prefer things to be as natural as possible, all the oils I have chosen to make this perfume are essential oils.
Jasmine Officinale or Jasmine Absolute is known as the King of flowers. It has a very sweet floral scent. The scent has been central in perfumes for centuries, in China it represents the sweetness of women, in Persia it was known as the perfume of love.
It is also amongst the most expensive pure fragrances, the version I am using is 10% diluted in Jojoba oil. Since the fragrance is very strong, a little goes a long way.
I’m combining this with citrus notes of Sweet Orange and Bergamot essential oils.
Finally, for the base note, just a hint of Cedar wood essential oil, which not only has therapeutic benefits, is also a “fixative” which will slow down the evaporation of the perfume and slows down the overall scent of the perfume from fading. It is sweet and woody at the same time and combines well with both the citrus notes as well as the floral scent of Jasmine.
To make the perfume couldn’t be easier. In a small bottle which should be as opaque as possible to prevent sunlight from affecting the oils, I have combined the following:
50ml Vodka
20Â drops of the Jasmine Absolute in Jojoba oil
10 drops of Sweet Orange
10 drops of Bergamot
2 drops of Cedar Wood essential oils.
With the spray stopper in place, shake the bottle until all the essential oils have been mixed together into the Vodka.
It will take about a week for the oils to come together to form the perfume. You can of course mix the oils first in a small mixing jar until you get the desired scent you prefer.
You can find more information about the different types of scents at Aromaweb’s section on Aromatic blending.
All that’s left is to find a pretty box and gift wrap to make this little personalised gift ready to give for Christmas.
We knew the weekend would be special, it had been planned early on in the year. A celebration of my father in law’s 80th birthday which my mother in law had planned in great secrecy.
She had mentioned that the hotel booking was in central London, something about it being near Whitehall. This was some time ago and with getting the kids ready for school each day, work and everything else in between I forgot all about it until the weekend approached.
The address of the hotel is located at Number 2 Whitehall Court and called The Royal Horseguards Hotel.
We checked in last Saturday afternoon, that is my hubby and our two kids and headed for our rooms on the 8th floor. My parents-in-law had checked into the hotel the night before.
As we looked out across the London skyline from our room on the 8th floor at the top of the building, we both commented almost at the same time that it vaguely reminded us of something we’d seen in a film, probably a James Bond Movie.
Turns out we were staying in a hotel a few feet away from the scene and shoot location for the Skyfall movie. The location of the shoot was at N0 3 Whitehall Place, the department of Energy and Climate Change.
Directly opposite the hotel is the street sign for New Scotland Yard, I think you can just about make this out in the photo with the Bus below.
Here’s the scene in the movie trailer:
Here’s some pics from the windows across the rooms on the 8th floor:
The Royal Horseguards Hotel  was once apartments and built in 1884. It was modelled in the style of a French Chateau and adjoins  the Liberal Club.
During both world wars, the building that is now the hotel was taken over by the Ministry of Defence and used by MI5 and MI6.
The 8th floor of the hotel is where the MOD held meetings and coordinated their activities during the wars, it was then known as Block Two.
It was easy to get carried away imagining the secrets, decisions being discussed, perhaps even, in the rooms we were staying in.
The opulence of the hotel and its history was breathtaking, we even managed to get a sneak peek into the Liberal Club, where a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill is proudly displayed amongst many portraits of national heroes.
In March of this year, the first Chief of Secret Intelligence Sir Mansfield Cumming was honored with an English Heritage Blue Plaque which commemorates his former London home and office at 2 Whitehall Court which is part of the Royal Horseguards Hotel.
He was known as “C” due to his habit of initialising papers. This tradition of adopting the pseudonym “C” continues today as each Chief of the service is called C. It inspired Ian Fleming to create the character “M” in the James Bond novels.
Nearby to the hotel are a number of London’s landmarks:
Although we live in London, it isn’t often that we take a moment out of the hectic daily grind to take-in the history and iconic scenery that surrounds us in everyday life.
As we looked across the rooftops, it was easy to imagine James Bond standing on the roof terrace planning a secret rendezvous. With the release of the next instalment of Bond’s adventures in Spectre this week, I’m looking forward to watching the film.
All in all, it was a fantastic way to celebrate such a big milestone for someone who has been the patriarch of the family. I couldn’t imagine anything else more fitting than this.
The weather forecast for last weekend was not good, both Siri and Google predicted a cloudy day with sunshine and rain. Not great for walking around in a field full of Lavender then.
However as Saturday morning arrived and I peeked out through the blinds, the sun was shining.
We decided to go because I’d always wanted to and this was the only weekend the event is held each year.
In the usual mum mode, I tried to persuade everyone to come along, but my eldest wasn’t going to be budged from her laptop. Only me then and my youngest. I made her wear a raincoat, plus a hat in case of both sun and rain. We must have been pretty funny to look at.
My husband drove us to Carshalton, it’s not really very far from our house, but it would have taken us a long walk. Â With plenty of lavender we wanted to pick, I thought it best to save our energy for when we got there.
The field itself is tucked away in a quiet residential corner of Carshalton Village, less than 20 miles from Central London.
Field of lavender in Carshalton
It is one of the few remaining sites where Lavender and other herbs was grown as part of a once a thriving industry for the Surrey towns and villages of Mitcham, Sutton and Carshalton.
I had read about the Lavender Picking in Carshalton at our local library some years ago and had always wanted to go, yet somehow, as each year passed, the opportunity also passed. It was either too wet or we had already planned something else.
It is run by local volunteers as a charity, keen to keep the lavender field and it’s history alive.
As we approached, there was no need for the directions or signs, a small steady stream of families, with buggies, young toddlers, teenagers, adults made their way to the field. Plenty were leaving too with huge bushels of Lavender in their arms or tucked into their shopping bags.
The sight of the people with their bags and armfuls of lavender got my youngest daughter so excited that she walked on ahead to investigate. If you’d like to see the post my daugther has written, please visit here it made made me laugh just reading it.
A small line of people were in front of us and we queued patiently to collect our bucket and scisssors.
Bucket of freshly picked lavender
Cutting the Lavender was the best, in the field were different varieties of lavender, some had shorter stems of blue grey colour with round soft flowering heads, whilst other lavender plants were tall and proudly waved their stems of deeper coloured lavender flowers in the summer breeze.
The fragrance was all around and we were enthralled as people mixed with butterflies and bees, collecting pollen and harvesting the lavender together.
No one seemed bothered by the bees as they buzzed around us collecting their harvest, as there seemed to be plenty for everyone.
The event would not be complete without a craft fair display. Locally produced goods was available, including ready to purchase cut bundles of Lavender alongside bottles of Lavender Essential oil which had been distilled from the lavender grown in the field.
If I could describe a perfect afternoon then this would be it. Our haul of lavender consisted of 2 large bales of lavender (I have no idea what I’m going to do with it all, but I expect none of it will go to waste), a little tiny bottle of the essential oil, apparently it takes about 3/4 of a ton of fresh lavender to produce about 11-12 pounds of oil. So very precious indeed.
Bees in Lavender field
There was a demonstration with the distillery which had been made locally from recycled materials, so we got to learn about the process of distilling the lavender oil.
It’s made in a giant steel container. The process is a bit like one of those Morrocan Hookhas where the bottom of the container holds boiling water to steam the leaves or lavender in this case. As the steam rises, it passes through the freshly picked lavender and the oil from the steam is collected in a special reservoir and the water collected below. This water is the floral water that perfumers and the beauty industry call “hydrolat”.
As well as the oil, I purchased a small pot of Lavender to grow in our garden called Lavender Grosso.
After speaking with the gardener, I asked him which variety would be best for someone who isn’t very green fingered and wants to see the plant grow quick (I have no patience). Apparently Lavender Grosso grows to a meter high and is very fast growing and likes to be in sunshine, when planted in soil, it doesn’t need very much water (in a pot it will need watering frequently). It seemed the ideal plant suited to my temperament.
Lastly, my hubby spotted a small display of pots full of honey and jams, and we couldn’t resist purchasing a small pot of lavender honey.
And the rain stayed away until Sunday. perfect!
The Rose Garden in Morden Hall, Greater London
Before the next Post on Perfume, I couldn’t resist writing about the picnic we had on Saturday afternoon.
We had been planning to go for a picnic for a while, but each time we got the food in, the weather for the weekend turned against us. Last Saturday, however, seemed the perfect picnic weather.
Morden Hall is a National Trust park open to everyone, free of charge and open nearly 365 days of the year.
Along the edge of the park is the river Wandle, which in industrial times had a watermill and is the site where William Morris produced the lovely fabrics and furniture during the Arts and Crafts era. We live so close to the park, about a two-mile walk, that we sometimes make a point of walking instead of getting the bus or driving.
Within the grounds are a Wedding registry office and a rose garden, which was planted during the 1930s and currently undergoing renovation. It is a beautiful setting and popular for weddings.
This Saturday, we sat under the shade of a tree within the rose garden and watched the spectacle of a wedding take place while enjoying the simple pleasure of eating the food we had prepared for the picnic.
Chicken drumsticks which had been marinated in honey and apple juice to make them tender and oven roasted, they took 45 mins to cook while we had breakfast.
Mozzarella, basil and tomato rolls, along with some traditional Melton Mowbray pork pies (bought from M&S).
Summer fruit with mint in a cup
For dessert, we had summer fruits, these were washed and put into a plastic container. To add a little fragrance, I laid some fresh mint leaves in between the layers of fresh strawberries, blueberries, nectarine pieces. I cut the nectarine into pieces to be eaten with our fingers straight out of the plastic bowl. I brought a small pot of honey for dipping the fruit into.
The picnic was simple in preparation, wrapped in cling film for the rolls and foil for the chicken, placed in a cold bag along with the iced tea we decanted into water bottles. The plan being to eat with our hands and minimise on washing up when we got home.
As I didn’t think our old picnic rug or food we wrapped in cling film and foil would be particularly inspiring to look at, I have included some photos of the roses and the walled enclosure with a clock tower.instead.
The girls managed to get themselves wet in the stream which they had gone to explore and paddle in while we sat and watched the wedding. I love days like these when we just chill and do nothing for a whole afternoon.
As for the summer fruit in the plastic tub, I have prepared this again tonight, it is a little more pleasing to look at as a dessert. This time in a short tumbler, with mint laid between the fruit layers to add fragrance to the fruit, together with a drizzle of honey over the top and fruit juice splashed into the glass with the tiniest amount of rosewater. It took all of 5 minutes to prepare, and enjoyed in about the same amount of time, for our tea tonight.
Breakfast tray with freshly brewed coffee, sesame seed bagel with bacon.
I managed to wake fairly early this morning, by the time I headed downstairs, my eldest was awake too, this was a good sign.
Reminding her to wish her dad a happy father’s day, she asked what I was doing up. I let her know that I was making dad breakfast.
Coffee, Jam, Marmalade, ingredients for breakfast
She got out of bed pretty quick and came down to inspect what I was doing. By the time I had found the bacon in the fridge, she was in keen to join in and with the pan on the stove had taken over to fry the bacon.
We had Sesame bagels in the cupboard, along with sliced bread, so these went into the toaster.
By the time the coffee was brewed, my youngest had made an appearance, she took one look and disappeared upstairs.
Hand Made Father’s Day Card
When she came down, we had just started to put breakfast on the table. She presented her dad with a card.
I hadn’t seen what she had written and assumed this was a card she had gone to buy with her nanny when she came to visit on Tuesday. Turns out she’d made it.
It produced a burst of laughter from my husband. I looked at the card and as he’d only just had his birthday, the humour and timing was perfect.
Although I’d had an idea to treat my husband to a breakfast, the kind you get in a swanky hotel, when you order room service, wearing their fluffy bathrobe and slippers. Â We used to enjoy these as a treat on weekend breaks, when we were just a couple without kids, when breakfast would arrive cooked to perfection. It didn’t turn out quite the way it was planned.
As my cooking skills are basic and it mostly involved keeping my eldest from burning herself on the hot stove, it ended up a simple home made breakfast, with a few good ingredients. I think this breakfast turned out better.