Joanne the Coach

Review and giveaway: French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon GIVEAWAY CLOSED

  THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW CLOSED. DON'T LEAVE A COMMENT, IT WON'T BE COUNTED

That is the most offensive book title I have ever seen, said my child when the review copy of French Kids Eat Everything arrived in the post: I mean, it's putting down all kids who aren't French.

Hmm I thought I can see where you're coming from, but then again you do regard pasta with pesto as highly exotic.

Part memoir, part cook book, part nutritional rallying cry French Kids Eat Everything: How our family moved to France, cured picky eating, banned snacking and discovered 10 simple rules for raising happy, healthy eaters by Karen Le Billon is a feast for the mind in many ways.

We're off to this place in France in the summer, and given that neither of my kids are what you might call culinarily adventurous, I was interested to read this book for ideas on what to expect, and pick up some pointers we could apply at home.

French Kids Eat Everything traces Le Billon's family, who moved from Vancouver to spend a year in France and in doing so found their eating habits transformed.

In contrast to Le Billon's children, French children seem to happily tuck into a huge variety of food. The author researches how this comes to be and how she can apply it to her own picky eaters. A big stumbling block seems to be Le Billon herself, who freely admits that she's a reluctant cook with fairly narrow tastes and a hardened attachment to snacking.

I was reminded of the chapter on fussy eating in Toddlers: An Instruction Manual, which says:

"If, deep down, you know that your own approach to food and trying new things is less than positive, then don’t be surprised if your child picks up on this. And if that’s the case, then the place to start making improvements is within your own attitudes rather than your child’s. Be honest – does your child see you eating a varied, balanced diet? Are you up for new food experiences, even if it’s something you don’t expect to like? Does all the family regularly share meals together?"

Le Billon distills what she learns from French ways into 10 rules, though some of this will seem like common sense rather than a uniquely French approach. What makes this book stand out is the way in which it shows Le Billon attempting to apply these rules to her own family, a journey which is often far from plain sailing. She's a mother who has struggled like a lot of us, and is sharing the lessons this has taught her.

Controversially, part of the French way involves the attitude that it's OK for kids to be hungry sometimes, with even little babies left waiting for the next scheduled milk stop. There's absolutely no snacking, no eating on the run or in the car - French parents would be horrified at the way most UK parents carry a snack on every school run.

I liked this book very much and found it to be a fascinating, engaging and thought-provoking read. I don't think it's just one for parents of picky eaters - anyone who has an interest in children's nutrition will find it worth reading. And anyone whose child has erupted in the face of something green on their plate will find this an invaluable source of ideas for a new approach.

 

GIVEAWAY

I'm delighted to be able to share this fascinating book with you. I have one copy of French Kids Eat Everything to give away.

To enter, leave a comment below saying what was your favourite food as a child. Closing date: Midnight on Monday 21st May.

EXTRA ENTRY

Optional extra entry if you like this blog on Facebook - state in your comment if you're claiming an extra entry.

 

I will pick a winner at random after the closing date and post the book to them as soon as possible after that. No regional restrictions, will post the prize anywhere in the world. Though if you're in France you probably don't need it.

 

 

You can find more competitions to enter at ThePrizeFinder - UK Competitions and Loquax Competitions

Brighton in the 1970's

So the sun has finally come out, and you may be thinking of taking a trip to the seaside this weekend. Right now, seafront parking in Brighton is so expensive that they might as well charge you an actual body part, or your youngest child.

But jump into your Tardis and visit Brighton in the 1970's and this is what you'll get (click on the image to play. It goes on a bit but it's very hypnotic):

 

BRIGHTON FRONT AND PIER

 

In other news, my book about fear of driving is almost finished, at 50,000 words. But right now, I'm thinking of dumping it all and replacing it with one laminated A4 sheet which simply says: Get Tardis and relocate to the seventies - there was no traffic and it was all lovely then. Whaddya reckon? Potential best seller, no?

What Roald Dahl taught us about writing

On Saturday we had a fizwhizzing trip to the Roald Dahl museum in Buckinghamshire. They're got a new exhibit which recreates his writing hut. And here it is:

 

This is where Roald Dahl worked every day for decades with almost ritualised repetition and precision. From 10 am every day, after the school run, he would settle into his chair, feet in a sleeping bag. The original hut was in the garden of his house, but he kept the curtains closed so the beautiful view didn't intrude.

After lunch Dahl had two Bloody Marys and a gambling break, then powered on for another afternoon's writing. He had a bar of Dairy Milk chocolate every day, and formed the silver paper wrappers into an impressive silver ball. You can see it in the picture above, near the top right hand side of the table. Every object on that table has meaning. Each is an essential ingredient. It looks like a random collection of stuff, but really it's anything but.

 If Roald Dahl was writing today, I wonder what would be different?  Would he still be writing in pencil on giant yellow legal pads, or would he have graduated to a keyboard? I don't think this hut would be the same with wifi. I can't see Dahl losing half the day arguing with that guy about that thing on Twitter.

I took away two lessons from Roald Dahl's writing hut - the first is to get to know your writing rhythm and work with it, not against it. For some people that will mean settling down in your favourite chair with a blanket round your legs. For others it might mean early mornings or late nights. There's no right or wrong way. There's just your way. The main thing is to write, and keep writing, for years and years. It's another kind of marathon.

The other lesson I picked up was a sense of a life lived - Dahl had the most amazing life, with all kinds of crazy dramatic shit happening throughout. Death, sweets and hanging out with Ernest Hemingway was just the start of it. I guess imagination doesn't prosper in a still pond.

So that's it then - live and write. And find a comfy chair to sit in. Also being awesome helps.

Guest post: Confessions of a pregnant travel journalist

Today I have a guest post from the marvellous Cathy Winston, who's a travel journalist, lemur juggler and blogger at the multi award nominated MummyTravels 

Cathy's known for reporting from exotic trips, so has that been affected by her current pregnancy? Does having a plus one on board necessarily slow you down? This is what Cathy says:

"I love travel. I really really love travel, and having carved out a career as a travel journalist, I’m lucky enough to get to indulge it under cover of work, visiting over 50 countries so far (and counting). I’m also lucky enough to be pregnant. Which, according to almost everyone I meet, means I’ll have to give up the travelling. The only problem – I don’t want to.

But even as I’m putting my fingers in my ears, going ‘la-la-la I can’t hear you’ to everyone’s dire warnings, I know there’s a few concessions I’ve got to make. All right, quite a few.

For starters, large chunks of the world are suddenly off-limits because of a threat so tiny, it’s invisible to the naked eye. Malaria. I’d been so busy smugly congratulating myself on updating all my travel vaccinations before getting pregnant that I’d forgotten about the mosquitoes - until I was in the middle of making plans for one of my dream trips, visiting Burma with my Burmese sister-in-law showing me the sights.

Most anti-malarials have a barrage of side effects so horrific that the only thing that’s worse for the baby is getting malaria itself. Depending on the areas you’re visiting, there’s one which is OK ‘if you have to’ take it – but even I couldn’t convince myself that desperately wanting to go equalled having to visit. And while I’d probably have been OK, it wasn’t a risk I could take.

Also off my list was everything from tree climbing and canoeing and boat trips (as a lot of operators won’t insure you) and almost as depressingly, having to forego the almost limitless free drinks and wine tastings that seem to come as standard on press trips. My vague first trimester excuses about medication must have seemed as thin as my smile. Oh and out goes shellfish, various cheeses, rare steak and a string of other gourmet treats.

Thankfully, I didn’t get morning sickness too badly so after the first exhaustion lifted, I packed in as much as possible before the bump grounded me – racking up a respectable total including the Cayman Islands, Belfast, Israel and the Azores.

I’ve even managed to find a few mild adrenaline thrills which are pregnancy-friendly, including swimming with stingrays off Grand Cayman and floating in a geothermal pool before eating volcano-cooked food in the Azores. Maybe not quite on the same level as my previous exploits, including the world’s fastest zipwire in Italy, an Edge Walk on Toronto’s CN Tower and canyoning in Jordan, but enough excitement to keep a smile on my face.

And while my third trimester means flying and ferries are now out, cars and trains are still in, so to tackle my itchy feet I’ve found myself casting a closer eye over the best of the UK.

As for not travelling after the birth? I’m already plotting to branch out into family travel. Well, babies look fairly portable – and this one’s already had plenty of experience of planes!"

Cathy Winston blogs at www.mummytravels.com and is on Twitter at @mummytravels

The Christmas journey of the other cake

Remember I told you about our Christmas tradition of The Other Cake? Well, here's the rest of its journey:

First of all I got the square Christmas cake and cut it into four:

This gave four decent sized cakes, enough for one or two people. They were a bit lumpy in the middle - I could have carved them into a more perfect cube shape but frankly I couldn't be arsed:

I marzipanned each cake, then left them to dry for 24 hours. At this point I was wondering what it is about me that sees the need to over-complicate things. No answer as yet:

Then I iced them, pleased as punch to have found a dalek cookie cutter. Can you spot the exterminatingly good cake?

While I was doing all this I was thinking about what to do with the cakes. I never start out with a plan of who to give the other cake to, but there's always someone who feels like the right recipient.

 So this year, one cake is going to a relative who's on her own, another to someone who's been having chemo and hasn't felt up to making a Christmas cake. The third one went to my lovely 74 year old aunt who's been making cakes for me her whole life. To be honest, she didn't look best pleased - it was like that episode of Father Ted when they bought Mrs Doyle a teasmade.

And the Dalek one? That's for my friend whom I was birth partner to.

Happy Magic Cake Christmas!

That speedboat/Mumsnet mashup in full

As it turned out, my fashion fretting was unfounded, as I was given a delightful jacket to wear on the speedboat, which had the added bonus of making me look the size of a small house.

And I wore my lucky clogs, which I was also wearing when I met Take That, so they are the very epitome of good fortune. I wasn't taking any chances.

 

This gives you a phone's eye flavour of the trip:

 

Just after this was filmed, the speedboat revved up considerably and lurched about in the water in that Am I going to tip you out?...Maybe...Maybe not kind of way that rollercoasters do. Couldn't film that as I was too busy squealing like a piglet on piglet's pay day.

After that we retired to a posh hotel for lunch, during which TV sports and travel presenter Craig Doyle popped in to say hello. Nice bloke, doesn't mind posing for app-pics (as you can see here) and I was very taken by his justification for having 4 kids under 8: "Ach, sure, what else is there to do in life?". Quite.

Now although a bunch of bloggers had been invited on this outing, none of us really knew exactly why we were there. Turned out it was all about the launch of a cool-sounding new activity holiday website called iExplore. It's for people who like to have exciting new experiences on holiday. Like speedboating, for example. Ah, I see. It all makes sense now.

And continuing in the theme of I'm Not Sure Why I'm Here But I'll Give it a Go, later that night I tootled along to the Mumsnet Family Friendly Awards.

I briefly considered making a badge that said I look shit because I've been on a speedboat, what's your excuse? but decided against that on the grounds that it was incredibly aggressive and insulting. See, I do have a few social skills. Not many, but one or two.

However, I must admit that I was feeling rather deranged at this point in the day.

So when I arrived at the Mumsnet Awards and was greeted by a receiving line of Boden-clad Mumsnet ladies, I instantly hollered:

I'VE BEEN ON A SPEEDBOAT TODAY!

To which they graciously replied

You're joking

And I hollered back

I WISH I WAS!

Which was not true at all, I was very happy about having been on a speedboat. I don't know why I said that. Put it down to the derangement.

It gets worse.

My Twitter buddy @MmeLindor demanded news of the event, so I twitpic-ed her the important bits - the bar and the food.

Then it was in to the main hall for the awards ceremony and a very interesting discussion about family friendly working, led by Emily Maitlis from Newsnight.

This being a modern sort of event, tweets about it were also scrolling on a big screen. In general these tweets were rather bumlicky: @bigbrand Off to fab #Mumsnetawards, @megaPR So excited about amazing #Mumsnetawards sort of thing.

Until my tweets started popping up on screen

 

 

@joannemallon - The bar! #Mumsnetawards

 

@joannemallon  - The canapes! #Mumsnetawards

 

For shame! We were supposed to be bigging up the family friendly vibe, and all I was doing was bigging up the wine and crisps. And the tweetshow was on a loop, so I had the pleasure of  cringeing everytime they came round and got broadcast to 120 VIPs. Trust me to bring down the tone. I don't think I'll be invited back.

 Still, I survived the speedboat, that's the main thing.

Our cult TV tour of Wales

A walking holiday in Wales is a marvellous thing - the mountains, the lush, green landscape and the sheep are the perfect antidote to home life enslaved by the goggle box.

Unless, of course, you combine the two, as we did last week, and base your Welsh holiday around TV shows you like. 

First stop was Portmeirion, location for the Sixties classic The Prisoner. Be seeing you!

 

It's just like Disneyland squeaked The Offspring. That's right kids - a Disneyland you can never leave. Though the hotel is pretty dandy, so you might not want to.

Tonight we fly

OK, so I need you to do me a favour. Specifically, if you're travelling in Europe via easyJet this month, I need you to do me a big favour.

In the seat pocket in front of you there will be a magazine. Turn to page 91 of the magazine. There you will find a feature article about Playmobil toys. I wrote that.

Once you've read the feature, please remark loudly: "This is the finest article known to humanity. And I bet the quotes they left out were even better. Let's hope this writer is featured in every issue, as I plan to take more flights specifically to read this magazine"

That's all, it's pretty simple. For your reward, I can promise you a big cheque made out to the Bank of Kudos or a kiss. You choose which.

Thank you for your help in this matter.

 

image: Flickr, travels of a monkey

Sharks, celebrities and a near death experience - just another typical day at Legoland

 

Well, I never expected this I thought, as I complimented Cherie Blair on her choice of kagool.

Nor this either as an hour later, thanks to Keeley Hawes, I narrowly avoided being eaten by sharks.

*rewind*

So on Sunday we pitched up to Legoland in Windsor for the launch of their new Atlantis Submarine Voyage ride. Like BlogCamp, I had once again dressed all wrong for the occasion, in sandals and a light cardie. It was a gawdawful day, with rain tipping tipping down ceaselessly. But I truly believed the sun would shine. I was wrong.

Cherie, stood behind us in the queue for wristbands, had opted much more wisely for a windcheater, and smirked at my open-toed sandals.

On the ride itself we shared a submarine with actors Keeley Hawes, Matthew Macfadyen and family. A yellow submarine. Somebody should write a song about that.

A warning about Playmobil Fun Parks...

My review of the Playmobil Fun Park in Malta for Have a Lovely Time accidentally caused a bit of a kerfuffle. A Facebook commenter living on Malta disagreed with my recommendation of the fun park as a place to visit. In fact she said she'd put it "below eating sand" on a list of things to do on the island.

Well, each to their own. Personally, I loved it. Look, I met a real pirate.

The Easyjet website has now made my review one of their travel picks of the month, proving once and for all that I am RIGHT and you, sand-eating person are wrong. Or at least, we have different opinions, both of which we are fully entitled to. And somebody else on the internet probably disagrees with both of us.