Travelling COLOMBIA with Kids - Yes South America, NOT Columbia!

I still see it being spelt Columbia
on maps

With news that Colombia was safer to travel to now, we grabbed at the chance to experience tourism here in its infancy, and cannot recommend highly enough.
It was 2017, and we were travelling as a  well travelled family of 4 - Chris, myself, Jasper (13) and Scarlett (9).   We booked the flights in January, with plans to travel for just over 3 weeks in August 2017. 
We made up our own itinerary, then booked our accommodation and internal flights etc. from the UK, whilst leaving us some wriggle room if we wanted to change the itinerary en route.
In the words of the kids Best.Trip.Ever!!!!

Our Itinerary was:
Bogota, bus to
Chiquiza
Villa De Leyva, ancient sites and Terracotta House
Pereira, coffee country, how could you not!, bus to
Medellin, incl. Nutibara Hill, Penol, mountain climb and zip wire! Guatape
Cartagena
San Andres, boat to
Providensia, boat to
San Andres, flight back to
Bogota

I'll blog about each of the destinations we went to separately, to save you hauling through all of the places we visited, but will start with some basic, and hopefully, useful information.

BASICS:
Currency: The local currency is Colombian Pesos, which you won't be able to get before you go.  A lot of things may be priced in US$ but we took some and weren't able to spend them (same happened in Peru so should have guessed that, but didn't want to chance it).   It is also a tad confusing as the Peso sign is very similar to the Dollar sign!

At the time of travel (August 2017) 1US$ was around 3000 Pesos, and we got 1.290 $ to the £!   Clear as mud, maybe not but you can do the sums when you go.

Cash Machines and Debit Cards: We used cash machines - cajero automatic - without a problem. They generally max the amount you can take out daily, minimum 600,000 most we saw was 780,000. There was sometimes a charge on top of around 4000 pesos, but at around £1 not too bothered, and made sense to take out the most we could each time.
We used our debit cards in the Supermarkets (Exito was a major supermarket in a few of the areas), and in some restaurants no problem, but check first at some of the more local restaurants in the more rural areas.

Toilets: Toilets - Baños - there is often a charge to use the toilets, around 1000 pesos, and they will often give you a small supply of toilet paper each time, or you will find them on a roll inside - so make sure you are sorted for supply before you go into the actual toilets. Having said that, they were all very clean, no complaints there.

Altitude Sickness - we didn't look into this before we went, but we did meet 1 man in Bogota who was suffering with it.  Though we all had a mild "thick head" for a few days, not uncomfortable, in hindsight might well have experienced a bit, but we all managed to get by.
There is coca leaf tea available, which was also widely available in Peru, and you can google yourself as to what it may or may not contain?

Getting around - we used a combination of busses, boats and planes, very easy to book, though Chris speaks Spanish which obviously helped, but the local people are so lovely and welcoming, and desperate for tourism.
Accommodation was booked from the UK, using Booking.com, which gives you some flexibiliy of course,  I'll detail where we stayed on each post.

Ask away if you plan similar and have any questions or concerns.

Otherwise, thanks for reading.
Annie

Sausage and Egg Bagel, home style, kids favourite

Ever find yourself stuck in a rut when it comes to the kids tea, my own end up with pasta, sausages, fish fingers and chicken on a loop, interspersed with the odd inspiration of a home-made pie or fish pie etc., but as a busy working mum, it's often hard to find inspiration.

Tonight I had a rare moment of inspiration, I deconstructed a sausage and egg "mcmuffin., actually, I de-skinned a few sausages and went from there, but I have to say the outcome was "awesome"!

Ingredients
pack of 8 sausages
free range eggs
bagels

Method
Cut the skin of the sausages and remove the sausage meat, I made the patties out of 2 sausages per pattie.

Fried in a little oil, and when near, fried the egg too. 

Toasted the bagel, and combine.

Happy kids, happy mummy!

Enjoy!
Annie x

The Rockit - Wow! #gamechanger

I've been childminding for 14 years now, and many a day I've been rocking a little one off to sleep and dreaming of inventing "something" to make me my millions.  Never occurred to me to invent something to rock the buggy for me, but so glad someone did, and I wish them all the best, because this is sheer genius!

I first saw it on This Morning when they were reviewing baby products, due to the impending new Royal baby due to William and Kate.   It caught my eye straight away (forgive the dodgy video), ordered it from Amazon - John Lewis had sold out at that point, and having used it successfully since, am declaring it a game changer!

For less than £40 it helps get a little one off to sleep whilst letting you deal with other ones hand free.  You are still there next to them, but better equipped to deal with other necessities.

Meh, I'll go write that award winning book instead ha (another daydream), but well done to The Rockit team, I'll be praising this from the rooftops.

I would say that I do like kids to settle themselves, which is easier when the kids are older, but when they are younger, in my instance 9 months old, it's absolute genius!

Just Wow!
Annie x

National Citizen Service (NCS) Goverment Programme for 16-17 year old's (Year 11's)

I've a soon to be 14 year old, my first born and therefore my pioneer.   You can't help reflect on your own teenage years, and much has been said about how many worries there are around for children in general these days, and the additional pressures modern life throws at them.

I've been made aware of the National Citizen Service - NCS Government programme for 16 and 17 year old's, and hopefully this will still be around when Jasper hits that milestone, as it sounds exciting, fulfilling and enabling.

Their aim is bring together young people from differing backgrounds, for a 3-4 week programme, in the school holidays.  It will include a variety of outdoor team-building exercises, a residential to join in and learn "life skills", a community-based social action project, and an end of programme celebration event.   

NCS is also amazing value for money. The whole experience, including food, accommodation and travel costs is just £50 and bursaries are available on a case by case basis. Support is also provided for young people with additional needs.

Currently places are still available for this Summer, for details of how to book or register your interest, click here  No matter what other commitments you may have planned for the Summer, registering your interest will ensure they can be offered a spot at a time that suits.

Through the experience NCS help the participants to become better individuals and in turn better citizens.

In a nutshell, the programme:

● Puts young people through a series of challenging activities to take them out of their comfort zones and develop their strength of character

● Provides a progressive journey that hands over more responsibility to young people as the programme progresses and develops leadership skills necessary to succeed in the workplace

● Enables young people to connect with their communities through social action. 

To date: 

● Almost 400,000 young people have taken part

● More than seven million hours of community action have been completed

● For every £1 spent, NCS’  2016 summer programme delivered between £1.15 and £2.42 of benefits back to society

Further ways to contact NCS:

○ Facebook: @NCS
○ Twitter: @NCS
○ Instagram: @NCSyes

What's not to love, I can already here the "I'm bored" ringing out in my ears, on this programme they certainly won't be.

Thanks for reading

Annie

Scarlett's Debut on TV - London Live - cooking with Grace Foods

Not sure how long this link will last, but here is a look at Scarlett's TV debut, 14 minutes in.
Watch it here

If you watch closely, you even get to see Chris side on.
Nice work Scally x

Grenglish - Slow Cooker "Roast" Lamb with Tesco Cypriot New Potatoes, tomatoes, feta and tsatziki............Raki Optional!

With Spring loitering around the corner, and looking out at the drizzle on a lazy Sunday morning, thoughts turn to Summers spent hopping around Greek islands, and a recipe to capture all that is great about Greece, keeping it simple, but totally tasty......

Last year we went to Mykonos, Paros, Anti-Paros, Naxos, Tinos and Crete.....and yet so many more islands to explore.

Chris and I got engaged in Cyprus in 2001, it's a beautiful country, with an amazing though sad history. With two very different sides to the island, we only saw the South, where these Cypriot potatoes are grown, but would love to go back and experience the North Turkish side of the island.

Available in Tesco Stores Nationwide

So, to go with my Cyprus potatoes it had to be lamb, and it had to have oregano.   The potatoes had to be roasted with Paprika, and it had to be served with feta, tomatoes and home made tsatziki.  In Crete we've seen Lamb on the menu as Lamp regularly - this is because in the Greek alphabet there is no letter "b"!

I guess roast potatoes aren't particularly Greek, so using Cypriot potatoes roasted, kind of makes it Grenglish!   I was also going to use the more Cypriot Haloumi cheese, but it doesn't crumble as Feta does, so that's an experiment for another day.

Perfect Cypriot New Potato Roasties
1 pack Tesco Cypriot New Potatoes 750g
Paprika
Oregano
Olive Oil
Salt

Cut potatoes in half and par boil in a large saucepan for around 10 minutes.   When draining swirl them around so that they "bash up" a little, as this helps the roasting process.

Sprinkle with paprika and oregano, and move around to make sure covered (doesn't have to be precise).  Add a little salt - this helps to draw the moisture out and gets them to crisp up.

Pre heat the oil in a roasting pan until hot.  Add the potatoes and move the potatoes around to ensure covered in oil.  Roast for around 40 mins.

Slow Cooker "Roast Lamb"
Half leg of lamb -
bring to room temperature before cooking.
Rosemary (I have some in my garden)
Garlic - sliced, as much or as little as you want
Olive Oil
Seasoning: oregano, rosemary, white pepper

I have used the slow cooker regularly for roasts, and lamb works beautifully.  Make little slits in the lamb joint, and fill with sprigs of rosemary and slices of garlic.  Drizzle with olive oil and cover with seasoning.

Put into the slow cooker, and cook slow for 8-10 hours.

Meanwhile, prepare the tsatziki.
1/2 a cucumber
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tbs of good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
500g Greek Yoghurt - I use 0% fat
Snall bunch of fresh dill, chopped
1 tsp dried mint
squeeze of lemon

Peel and grate the cucumber, drain and combine with the rest of the ingredients.

Crete last Summer *sighs*

Serve the slow cooker lamb with the Cypriot New Potatoes, tomatoes with feta and oregano, together with fresh crusty bread, and maybe a glass of Raki if you like.  Memories of that blue sky and ocean.....beautiful!

Enjoy
Annie


Disclaimer, Tesco paid for the ingredients for this post.

Gravity Force St Albans, something for everyone...............

·         Gravity Force is the leading provider of trampoline parks in the UK

We were lucky enough to experience the St Albans launch back in August.  I'd never taken the kids to anything like this before, so needless to say they had an amazing time.  Whilst Scarlett basically bounded around the various trampolines, and launched herself into foam bricks, Jasper enjoyed the hoops and bouncing around with a ball in general.  I didn't partake myself, but was very tempted, am especially intrigued by the fitness classes!

Whilst the kids were jumping, I stayed comfortably upstairs with a cuppa.  Very bright and spacious with a well stocked cafe.   Am going back today with a good book, what's not to love!

If you would like to have a go yourself, they currently have a deal on Groupon at £7.50 instead of £10 for an hour session............... 

There is something for everyone at Gravity Force. “Gravity Jump” is the core session and gives you access to all the park’s facilities. “Gravity Tots” kids’ class is suitable for toddlers from walking age up to five-years-old, along with any parents or guardians. “Gravity Fit” provides a high intensity, low impact structured fitness class that burns fat whilst building, toning and defining muscle. Children can also host their birthday parties at the trampoline park.

Gravity Force is the ultimate UK trampoline park. Whether you’re a freestyle pro looking to showcase an insane routine on the Tumble Tracks or an average Joe looking to get stuck into a game of trampoline dodgeball there really is something for everyone.

To book and find out more about the sessions available either visit www.gravityforce.co.uk or call 0845 498 9049.