And now I am suffering blogging block! I really did love blogging as it gave me a space to be creative and free thinking and moan to myself and whoever wanted to listed.. now I have a baby screaming in my ear for attention most of the time and I just want to scream at anyone who will actually listen.. hmm.. so the blogging thing needs to be more of a creative outlet, a place of calm, a place to be myself and not just a mum.. I am thinking on it.. I will start blogging more often.. this is my oath.. oath.. is that a word.. ?? Must also admit that baby brain has taken over.. and I have been left a little less.. little less.. erm.. my brain just doesnt work anymore.. I WILL be back. xxx

Well all this time I have been worrying about turning 30, freaking out about not having what we are all supposed to have by the time it arrives and look.. I am here.. I have done it! I have everything anyone could possibly ask for and being 30 could not be more fabulous. Clearly this whole event has been bothering me more than I cared to give it credit as I cant quite believe how it has actually turned out.
This time last year, I was in a horrible place. Just turned 29, single, no job, no money, extremely unhappy. I was drinking and smoking far to much, eating far to little and absolutely miserable about the fact I was in the last year of my 20s and had nothing to show for it (bar a pretty good backside and nice long hair!)

The ‘Race for a life’ was almost certainly on! This time last year I had 1 year left to get everything I was supposed to have. The holy grails of a 30 year old.

My god where was I to start?

First things first I needed a man. I am crap at being on my own. A man is definitely the most important thing.. and not just any man ..The Man.. My man. I needed to get my man back. After a series of extremely sexy encounters, some very wise words, lots of tears, a trip round the Inca trail and a very private blog, mission was accomplished. Love love love TICK

Next on the list was a little bit of responsibility. Being a grown up really does suck sometimes as by this point you have realised that responsibility means boring things like ‘You must pay your credit card bill’, and ‘atleast half of what you earn has to be spent of rent and bills’.. boring!

Now is the time to start getting some responsibility in a more fun way. I have always wanted a puppy. I am a grown up now. 30 is not an age to wait for your parents permission. Beautiful, perfect, black labradoodle puppy called Thomas. TICK TICK

With everything that has happened in the previous year (which i wont go into) I had let my consultancy business slip and had not much time to go before credit card said no! Time to concentrate. I remember thinking at this stage how much better you feel about yourself and about life when you have love in your life. My wonderful man and wonderful puppy were the best love anyone could ever ask for. With my new found confidence and a spring in my step business was soon back on track and is now rocking the Caz bar. (where ever that is? I have never known what that saying means but hey Caz bar sounds like a cool place!) TICK TICK TICK

All of a sudden life was back on track, I had love, I had confidence and the best 2 boys in the world.. what else is on the holy grail list? A baby perhaps?? Well…. TICK TICK TICK and TICK!

On my 30th Birthday. 2nd of Feburary 2009 I was exactly 15 weeks pregnant. I was surrounded by my wonderful friends and my fan-bloody-tastic family. I had my lovely puppy running around, my amazing man at my side and our new little addition listening from within to everyone (except me-boo) get very very dwunk.

… and the next morning I woke up in our lovely house (without a hangover) and smiled to myself.

Well done me.

Fabulous 30s here I am.

So with at-least 10 years cooking under my belt I think I can safely say I am confident in the kitchen. The trick I have decided is not to be afraid of it and just go with your instincts. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t but… if you pretend what you have cooked is exactly what you have planned then there really is no problem is there?!

Being English I always find it hard to categorise true ‘English food’, I think one of the best things about being British is that we really do enjoy a whole host of food from all over the world. I love trying out new recipes and challenging myself to learn about different food and where it comes from.

When it comes to deciding what to cook of an evening I rarely cook the same thing twice so what better way to find inspiration than to just look at what the rest of the world eat.

Here I plan to post as many different ‘Foods of World’ to help get you inspired.. starting with..

Japanese:

Me and Jase (the BF) had our very own Sushi making night last week. Our local Deli has started selling little lunch boxes of Sushi on a Saturday and charging £4.25 for the privilege. While it is lovely sushi I do think that is rather a lot of money for what you get. Therefore with my new ‘frugal-world-food’ head on I decided to give it a go. Problem was though.. while £4.25 seems expensive for 6 pieces of sushi it ended up costing me nearly £35 to get all the ingredients to make our own! It was top fun though and such a great idea for a dinner party. We ended up making enough food for about 6 people. The whole process took a few hours but really made for a very enjoyable evening. We started off by making the sushi rolls with a mixture of raw tuna, fresh prawns, cream cheese, roasted courgette, chives, cucumber and pepper. While Jason cleared up the mess I quickly fried up 2 salmon steaks which had been marinating in Teriyaki sauce for a few hours, adding in a handful of asparagus at the end. We then feasted on the hot Teriyaki dish, fresh sushi and lots of wine before it was time to give the dog some exercise….. which consisted of drunkenly laying on the bean bag in the kitchen skillfully trying to bounce the ball into the open washing machine and letting Thomas play ‘ball boy’!

Next on my list of World food treats is.. Moroccan.. watch this space..

Just lately I have had lots of dreams of being back at school and either being late for a lesson or not having my homework and getting in trouble. I have woken up on several mornings, feeling like I am in big trouble, with that sinking feeling of being the last person to walk into the classroom 20 minutes late! I can only imagine this is all to do with the fear I have of turning 30. Although I am not sure it is fear anymore just a massive reality check. I keep drifting off into daydreams of those days at school when everything was so easy and you have no responsibility. It got me thinking and I suddenly remembered that tucked away in my ‘big-red-box-of-crap’ I have a story that I wrote when I was 17 about the day I left home to go to college. It was a project set during my first year at college called ‘creative writing’. I as usual, left it until the very last minute to write and amazingly got a distinction for it…. it was, as it turns out the only distinction I ever got which is why i kept it safe! I have just sat reading it with tears in my eyes, realising how far I have come since that day and how much I have developed and grown in these 12 (nearly 13) years.  I wanted to scan it in and put it on here so you could see all the ‘red pen’ from my teacher but my scanner is having a tantrum so I have re typed it. Here it is….

Away from Home

Everything I have ever owned, ever collected and had as my own is at my feet. “Bye Bye darling, good luck” is what I can hear over and over, Good bye and good luck is all I have heard all week, “good luck, I’ll miss you”.

August 1996, Australia was amazing, four weeks of walking, sunbathing, eating and sleeping in one of the worlds most beautiful countries. Now I am back it means I have one week left. I try to convince myself that’s its real, that I’m really going away, I’m sure it will click soon.

Three days to go, everything is packed, everything except a few clothes, my black mascara, natural beige foundation, toothbrush and deoderant.

Two days to go, “I’ve bought you some pasta and sauce, 4 tins of baked beans, and some potatoes, oh and a jar of coffee”. Thanks Grandma.

It’s my last night, its here already, it hasn’t felt like I am actually going yet even after having a leaving party and endless good luck cards. I suppose I should be excited but for some reason I’m not. Maybe its because I don’t want to go, but i do, i think! Something is telling me not to think about it. If I think about it I will have to cry or something.

Everything was packed into the car by 10.30am, Mum had to be back by 4pm. I have my whole family waiting to wave goodbye. Dad gave me a pouch of tobacco and a big cuddle, I don’t cuddle him much it felt really nice, that was the first time I had cried about leaving. Next was my big brother, he is only 14 but he is bigger than me, he wasn’t crying but I am sure he wanted to. Jack and Sam are my little brothers six and nine. Sam had helped me pack my teddies, he didn’t really understand that I was going, neither did I really. I hugged them both and tried to tell them not to cry. I will be back for holidays I told them, it was so hard telling them not to cry when I was crying my eyes out.

It was time to go. Bye everyone, I love you all.

Mum couldn’t see out of her rear view mirror on the way there. We didn’t say much all the way, I didn’t know what to say. Someone was selling flowers outside their house for fifty pence a bunch, mum bought me two bunchs.

The sign read Ipswich 6 miles, mum was holding my hand. I love my mums hands, I always think about them, she wears a heart shaped diamond ring and my great grandma’s wedding ring. How am I going to live without my mum? I am only 17 years old, I am going to be in a four bedroom house on my own for 9 days, the other people that live there won’t be back till then and they don’t know I am going to be there. I have never been to Ipswich before, I don’t know the place or anyone in it. I feel sick I have never had such butterfly’s before.

The landlord was waiting for us to give me the key, “you can arrange the roon however you want to” he said “I will leave you to get settle in”.

We unloaded everything out of the car, walked in with my black bag full of teddies, I started to oppen the bag and all of a sudden felt really stupid. For some reason I did the bag back up and put it back in the car. Why did I do that I thought and went to get them back, i dont know why I am so worried about having teddies, It because when the other three people living here get back they will think I’m a kid, no that’s silly everyone has teddies, not that many though, I just took my two favourite.

I put the kettle on while mum carried on unloading the car and taking things upstairs. I had bought three new cups, they were metalic pink, gold and green.

The car was nearly empty now, all unpacked into my new room, the feeling is indescribable, emptiness, fear, anxiety just a complete feeling of loneliness. Mum stayed for as long as she could. I was trying to get her to stay longer I hated her for leaving I was so scared. I don’t think I have even hugged my for so long before, I didn’t want to be on my own, what would I do now? I couldn’t stop crying and hated seeing my mum cry. She got in the car and drove away. I stood and watched until the car was out of sight for ten minutes. I think I was hoping she would come back and take me home but she didn’t. This was it.. life starts here.

Everything I have ever owned, ever collected and had as my own is at my feet. “Bye Bye darling, good luck” is what I can hear over and over, Good bye and good luck is all I have heard all week, “good luck, I’ll miss you”.

I came across a really nice site called etsy. It is a place where people who have more talent than purely making birthday cards can sell their creations. It’s just lovely and such a nice idea. Just look at this fabulous ring..

So in taking advice from the legendary Julie Andres.. my favourite things…

Favourite item of clothing: My Ugg Boots

I am a little reluctant to share these with the world as they really are the most fabulous things ever and I do not want the whole world wearing them but… just look at them! They are beautiful. They are the most comfortable thing in the world and look fantastic. I was lucky enough to get mine for just £50 from a shop in Norwich. They were reduced because they had mis sold a pair and the 2 boots they had left were different sizes! Perfect for me though as i have one foot bigger than the other anyway! lol

Favourite accessory: My Raybans

I just can not live without my Raybans, not matter how rough you feel and how bad you look these little gems always make you look at feel better. They cost around £100 in England which is rather a lot, but i stumbled across a right bargain recently. 80spurple.com sell them for just $120 which works out about £60ish. You do have to pay import tax but sill a big saving. I think they suit everyone and are also timeless.

Favourite snack: Peanut Butter on Toast

Need I say more? Well actually yes because I don’t just love any peanut butter on toast I am very particular over how is should be served! It has to be bog standard white bread, and the toast has to be hot. The butter and peanut butter need to melt into the toast and there can’t be to much of each. The most important thing to achieve the ultimate peanut butter on toast is NOT to put the peanut butter in the fridge.

Favourite Place: Wells-Next-the-Sea Beach

There really is no place quite like it. Tucked away in little North Norfolk is this truly fabulous beach. The best memories of my life have been on this beach and I am pretty sure the best new memories will be created here. Our family have a lovely yellow and blue beach hut on the beach which has been wisely name ‘Gardulla’ (Jabba the Huts wife!)

Favourite Movie: Dirty Dancing (still!)“

No-body puts baby in a corner”

I think I have seen this movie more times than I have seen my own reflection!

My BF took me to see the Theatre show of this for my birthday last year much to his disliking. I was soooo excited. Problem was though he had planned the evening so well that he had the taxi waiting outside the show ready for us to get the last train back to Norwich, he (stupidly) thought it would be OK to leave a few minutes before the end.. THE END.. the “no-body puts baby in a corner” END of Dirty Dancing… the most important bit of the whole film/show. I kicked and screamed and cried and punched but still he made me walk out of the show just as the final dance was happening. All the way back in the cab I was in tears like a kid who was made to leave the kids party without getting the goody bag. The only way I could make him understand was to say it was like me taking him to the World Cup final when England are Playing Germany, it’s the last penalty kick and England could win the cup.. Me being the ‘organised GF’ stand up as Beckham is about to take the kick and stand in front of him and drag him away so we can get the last train back to Norwich!!

He didn’t agree!

Oo and final thing to say about DD.. did you know there is a DD2? Yes yes.. no where near as good as the first (obviously) but worth a watch none the less.

Ooo sorry final final thing.. check out lovefilm.com its brilliant, for just £4 a month you get 2 movies delivered to your door and they come with a pre paid envelope to send them back. Just like blockbuster but without having to play paper-rock-scissors to decide who goes to the vid shop and without the stupid fines when you take them back late. You basically chose as many films as you like and state how important they are and they send them to you one at a time. If you are late sending it back then they just do’nt send you the next one.. simple as that. Its great when a new one arrives on your doormat. It does kind of take away the deciding what kind of film mood you are in but in way its much easier to know you have that mood waiting for you when you are ready to have it!

This recipe is just great if you need a good healthy vegetable kick. It’s extremely cheap, very good for you and is really tasty. The reason I have not taken a picture of the cooked final version is because it does end up looking like a pile of brown school dinner slop on your plate! I am sure most children would look at you as if you were mad if you served them up this, so save it for the grown ups and tuck in with a lovely bit of Nan bread, some rice and a bottle of beer… …well you can’t be healthy all the time.. and what is a curry without a beer?!

1 red onion
2 gloves of garlic
1 red chili (optional.. depending on how brave you are!)
Good selection of chopped vegetables (what ever you have in fridge, although good example would be: 2 Carrots, half a broccoli, handful of green beans, pepper and mushrooms)
3 – 4 large handfuls of red lentils (ready to use)
2 vegetable stock cubes
3 tablespoons of Pataks Balti curry paste

Fry all the veg in a large pan with the garlic, onion and chili for 5 minutes. Add the curry paste and the lentils and continue frying for a few minutes. Add the stock cubes and then completely cover the whole mixture with water. Leave to simmer for 30 – 40 minutes adding a little water every 10 minutes if necessary. You will know when it’s ready when the lentils are soft and not chewy. Lovely yubbly.

Things like Caserole are so easy and so cheap everyone should know how to cook it. I love it with my own home made bread.

Left overs can be frozon and you can easily feed a family of 5 for less than £10.

Sometimes going back to basics is just so satisfying, especially on these cold and windy summer days!

For the bread:
2lb wholemeal bread flour
1 pint of warm water
1oz of dried yeast
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of salt
Handful of fresh rosemary (chopped)
Handful of Sesame seeds
2 x handfuls of Sunflower seeds.

Combine the flour, yeast, sugar, salt and half of the sesame and sunflower seeds.
Add the water and mix together. Shake a load of flour onto your work surface and plonk the mixture on top. Now is time to get stuck in with the kneading for at least 5 minutes. roll, slap, fold and push around and then do it all some more! Place back in a bowl with a wet tea towel on top and leave it to rise for 30 minutes, or until it has doubled in size. Then mold into shape and cover the whole of the outside with the remaining seeds. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

For the Chicken and Veg casserole:

2 x chicken breasts (cut up)
1 large onion
Varied assortment of veg: Potato, sweet potato, cabbage, carrot, peas, broccoli (whatever you have basically)
2 Pints of hot veggie and or chicken stock.
Salt and pepper.
3 rosemary stalks (chopped)

Brown the chicken in a frying pan with the onion and transfer to a casserole dish, add all the uncooked veg and completely cover with stock. Add salt and pepper and chopped up rosemary. Cover and cook in oven on medium to high heat for around an hour or you can leave this is in the oven to cook on a low heat for hours if you wish. I am sure back in caveman times this used to be cooking all day!
Serve with the lovely chunky bread and real butter

Fish is good, Fish is nice, Fish is just a healthy dish. Eat it hot, eat it cold it in your marigolds!

Ok I will never be a poet but i am not bad at cooking!

I thought it would be nice to share my favourate Fishy Dish with you……

You will need:

2 Sea Trout fillets (salmon fillets also work well)
Half a tin of chopped tomatoes
5 roughly chopped sundried tomatoes
Handful of chopped green olives
Half a red onion
2 gloves of garlic
Handful of fresh basil.

Start by frying the onion and garlic in a small amount of oil on a medium heat. Add the Sea Trout fillets face down (so the skin is facing up!) and cook for 3 - 4 minutes. Add all the tomatoes and olives and flip the fillets over. Continue cooking for a further 8 - 9 minutes spooning the sauce over the top of the fish as you cook. Stir though the basil right at the end. Serve with steamed green veg and boiled potatoes.
I think this meal is relatively fat free, apart from perhaps the olives but they are a good fat aren’t they?!

Basic story is a 29 year old guy is about to turn 30 and is going through all the normal motions of freaking out about it. He finishes with his girlfriend, changes his job, tracks down all his old school friends and changes his wardrobe. Very funny indeed.

Extremely funny account of Turning 30 from a male perspective. Can be a little cheesy at times but worth a read all the same. It had me laughing out loud on many occasions. Click here to buy.

Smoking Poppy by Graham Joyce

I came across this book when on holiday in Thailand. The story is written by a guy whose daughter has been off travelling and gets herself in trouble. She ends up in village in the depths of Thailand. She is held by the tribe as a sacred lady and is worshiped by the locals.

Her Dad goes on a mission to find her and the result is both hilarious and gripping. This is one of my favourate books of all time, you will not be able to put it down. I have passed this book on to so many people and all of them have loved it. I seriously laughed and cried my through this book in days. If you fancy it get it here.

Marching Powder by Rusty Young

Unbelievablestory real life story of a British drug smuggler locked up in jail in Bolivia. It is just truly astonishing what goes on inside the prison. Some inmates are even allowed thier wife and children to come and live with them!

Very good read, one you will not be able to leave. I learnt so much from theis book I strongly recommend this book to everyone. buy here