LivingwithKids

What does being a responsible tourist mean to you? Obviously we all know we should take only pictures and leave only footprints in the sand... and if you’re flying you might be ‘offsetting’ your airmiles.

Virgin Holidays have just launched their Human Nature Collection, offering holidays ranging from volunteering projects and eco-friendly safaris to stays in small, specially selected hotels. The collection is all about balancing unforgettable experiences with more responsible travel choices, and the holidays directly benefit the local community or contribute to conservation.

I think it’s a pretty good concept and it’s certainly given me food for thought – I’m all in favour of educating our children to be responsible tourists, too. Let me know your views.

Puffin Books are big favourites in this house, and here’s a fantastic chance to give children in Africa the chance to enjoy brand new books too.

Simply go online to wegivebooks and every time you read a fabulous Tinga Tinga Tales story with your kids, a book will be donated to the Tinga Tinga Tales Teacher Training Programme in Kenya and Tanzania. There are 20,000 books to be donated, and as many as 90 African children can benefit from the donation of just one book!

Brilliant cause and as you can see, Lenny Henry, who provides the voice of Elephant and Buffalo in the Tinga Tinga Tales TV series , is already a fan.  ‘It’s great that children in Africa will also benefit from the success of these stories with actual books being donated to help improve their literacy skills,’ he says. Couldn't have said it better myself.

For those of you not on a diet, here's a gorgeous recipe perfect for Easter. I’ve always loved the look of Simnel cakes – they’re so pretty. The recipe is from the new Divine Heavenly Chocolate Recipes cookbook by Linda Collister (available from Waterstones), and it looks absolutely scrummy.

Ingredients: 230g plain flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder A good pinch of salt 175g unsalted butter, softened 175g soft light brown muscovado sugar 4 large free-range eggs, beaten to mix 50g ground almonds 350g mixed dried fruit 100g glace cherries, rinsed, dried and halved 100g bar Divine dark chocolate, roughly chopped 2 tablespoons milk 450g white marzipan A little apricot jam or sherry for brushing

To Decorate:
Divine miniature Easter eggs
A ribbon
20.5cm/8in round, deep cake tin or springform, greased and lined

Method:
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas4.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt on to a sheet of greaseproof paper and set aside until needed.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; you can use a wooden spoon or an electric whisk or mixer.  Gradually beat in the eggs, beating well after each addition and adding the ground almonds with the last egg.  Using a large metal spoon fold in the flour followed by the dried fruit, cherries, chocolate and milk.  When thoroughly combined spoon half of the mixture into the prepared tin and spread evenly.  Roll-out one third of the marzipan to a circle slightly smaller than the tin.  Set in on top of the cake the cover with the rest of the cake mixture.  Spread it evenly then make a slight hollow in the centre so the cake rises evenly.  Bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 170C/325F/ Gas3 and bake for a further 60 to 70 minutes or until a skewer inserted in to the centre of the cake, just down to the marzipan layer, comes out clean.  Leave to cool on a wire rack then remove from the tin and discard the lining paper. 

Roll out two-thirds of the remaining marzipan to a circle to fit the top of the cake.  Brush the top of the cake with a little warm apricot jam or sherry and set the marzipan disc on top.  Shape the rest of the marzipan into 11 balls and arrange around the edge.    Fill the centre with miniature Easter eggs and finish with a ribbon around the cake.

What I love about Sport Relief is that you don't actually have to be that sporty to get involved. You can do as much, or as little as you like. So total respect to you if you're doing something sponsored and energetic this weekend. But if like me you're more of an armchair athlete (*ahem*) the good news is you can raise money for the charity by eating chocolate - these fab Dubble medals are only £1, and available from selected Sainsbury's.

Sport Relief also produces the most unlikely stars - this time in the form of Rufus Hound. Before his performance as Cheryl Cole he was slightly below radar for me - I knew who he was, I just wouldn't have been able to pick him out in a line-up. If you missed his rendition of Fight For This Love, here it is. Comedy gold.

Last summer was a washout in more ways than one – our poor garden ended up a bit of a quagmire. Add in a puppy with a penchant for digging up every plant in sight and it’s looking very neglected indeed.

Anyway, I’ve decided that while the weather is *fairly* warm it’s a good time to tackle the weeds and do some planting. Unfortunately, ‘someone’ left our tools out in the rain to rust, so I’ve been looking for some new ones.

Here’s my short list:

I love the OXO range of Gel-etools (available from Lakeland) – they’re sturdy and easy to use and start at a very reasonable £10. There’s also a fab watering can (£20).

Sainsbury's has a brilliant range, including this Bazaar Print Hand Tool Set  (£14.99). (They also have some lovely garden furniture, too, so you can sit back and enjoy your hard work.)

And I’m a great believer in getting kids involved in gardening – so this brightly coloured set (£6.99) from Bright Minds is ideal. (For tips from Charlie Dimmock to encourage your children to garden, click here).

Let's get digging...

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, including Global Patron Sarah Brown and WRA Ambassador Naomi Campbell, are asking people around the world to wear white and hold a dinner party in March to celebrate the 100th year of International Women’s Day, which is on the 8th.

Now as I can’t invite all of you round to my house unless you’re happy for it to be standing room only, I thought I would hold a virtual dinner party  - with a little help from some of my talented friends.  I hope it inspires you to host your own.

Here’s what’s on the menu:

Starter Carrot and Coriander soup served with crusty granary bread (created by Sandy from Baby Baby)

Main course
Pan Fried Sea Bass fillets with new potatoes crushed with spinach watercress and rocket (courtesy of Nick from My Daddy Cooks)
or

Tender Sweet Chicken Satay (from My Daddy Cooks) served with Persian Jewelled Rice (made by Carly at Wives and Daughters) or Butternut Squash Risotto from English Mum

Dessert Cheesecake courtesy of Lorraine from Ramblings of a Mum on the Run or Divine Chocolate’s Little Hot Chocolate Mousse. Served with cream.

Mmmmmm. Enjoy!

Despite Government guidelines urging new mums to breastfeed for the first six months*, a new KidStart survey has found that just 44% of you believe breastfeeding is always best.

Over 1000 of you took part in the survey, which revealed 19% feel it’s important to put their own wellbeing first. 16% believe mums should always put their baby’s needs first, while 13% feel it’s important to research all the arguments in favour of breastfeeding and bottle feeding before making a decision. A further 8% argued that no one had the right to tell them how to feed their babies.

As my recent post on breastfeeding v bottlefeeding showed, many of you feel very strongly about being told how to feed your babies - and quite right too. But a friend of mine who gave birth recently said she was astonished to find she was the only one on the ward of 10 women who was breastfeeding her baby. Perhaps some mums still aren't getting the support and encouragement they need to breastfeed.

‘Breastfeeding is the method that has been proven to be the most beneficial time and time again,’ says LivingwithKids' GP Dr Clare Heggie. ‘Unfortunately it does not suit everyone and lots of women who try breastfeeding and had to give up for one reason or another are left feeling guilty and that they have failed. Ultimately, the decision of whether to breast or bottle feed has to be made by the mum and there is no point trying to breast feed when mum just doesn't want to do it or when breast feeding is intolerable either to Mum or baby. It is vital that mums make their own decision about feeding using all the information provided.’

*What do you think - are you surprised by the survey results?

How cool is Tomy's new mOmma range of bottles and feeding utensils for little ones? Not only is the range available in one of the best colours (orange), but it's really brilliantly designed to help babies and toddlers with their hand-eye coordination and grip, and it's also BPA free.

The range includes the Bottle Starter Kit (£31.49), Developmental meal set (£15.99) and incredibly cute Baby bib (£8.49). All available from Kiddicare (who also have a car seat sale on at the moment).

Peter Andre was on GMTV this morning talking about a picture of two-year-old Princess which has appeared on Katie's facebook page of the little girl wearing make-up. And false eyelashes. 'It's disgusting,' he told Kate Garraway.

Now, leaving aside the fact that this was on his ex-wife's facebook page, which presumably, unlike the rest of the family's lives, isn't usually available for public consumption until someone decided to share it, I can see his point. I don't like the thought of kids wearing make-up.

But at the same time, perhaps she was just playing dress-up and wanted to be like mummy.

What do you think?

Four of my favourite mummy bloggers - English Mum, Mummy Tips, New Mummy and Not Supermum - tagged me recently in the 'favourite photo' meme. But you know what? Choosing a favourite from the many stowed away in bags and boxes in our cupboards (for goodness sake don't try to open them) is really, really hard.

So as it's No 1 Son's birthday today I thought I'd share this one with you. It was taken on holiday in Antigua a few years ago. In between all the snorkelling, swimming and sunbathing we were lucky enough to visit a dolphin sanctuary. As you can see my little boy wasn't quite sure about cuddling up to the dolphin (they're actually wonderfully smooth to the touch and only smell a little fishy) but he didn't stop talking about the experience for ages afterwards, so I know it made an impression.

The best part though was watching them (the dolphins) chase each other in the sea. (And if you're dreaming of the Caribbean, don't forget Virgin Holidays and Thomas Cook  have brilliant offers on at the moment, plus you get money back for your kids through KidStart .)

Oh, and if my son should happen to read this... Happy Birthday. Please can you pick up the rubbish from your bedroom floor?