Macy

While I was taking some photos of the cat,  Macy walked in and asked me to take some of her.

I couldn't not post this one as it just has her personality shining through!

Bengal Kittens?

So I took some photos of Spice our bengal cat today. She has been away for almost 2 weeks with a stud cat.  I am so pleased to have her back, can't believe how much we have all missed her and how quiet the house has been without her!

I can't believe how much it bothered me - sending to stud. I just felt so guilty for abandoning her somewhere she didn't know with a random cat. The two weeks she was gone I felt like I had a huge weight on my shoulders and as soon as she was back it lifted.  So basically we are looking for a nice active male we can use for ourselves and not have to send her away.  I am just hoping she has caught as I don't think I can cope with another 2 weeks without her!

Sad I know but she is a massive part of the family and always under your feet getting into mischief - am totally besotted with the breed and will never be without one!

I have set up my Facebook page and website, prefix is TICA reg. Spice is dual reg and so is dad so kittens will be gccf & TICA registered.
http://www.cositoes.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/cositoes

Little Dish Go Gos

What Little Dish have to say about their New Go Gos:

Little Dish Go Gos are yummy mini oat biscuits made with wholegrain oats, flax and chia seeds and protein, created in partnership with our nutritionist. These natural and nutritious ingredients all help to deliver slow release energy and nourishment to your little one. Each little bag of Go Gos provides a source of fibre and 3g of protein, which is important for the growth of healthy muscles and bones. And they’re made from a wheat and dairy-free recipe*.  That’s what we call Good Energy.
*Go Gos have been made in a kitchen that uses wheat and milk for other recipes, so there is always a chance they may contain traces of wheat or milk.

Macy isn't a fan of anything overly sweet, I think it's what she is used to.  She has been brought up on fruit, veg and healthier snacks, I used to make her cheese biscuits when she was younger.  It is difficult to find a healthy snack, we obviously use fruit as snacks but it's nice to have something else as well.  So when I saw the opportunity to test these I thought it suited us well!

The box was well presented and I love the fun branding.  Our first opportunity was to take a pack for a snack after swimming, we used the Go Gos drawstring bag to take Macy's towel and costume too!  Macy is always hungry after swimming and we usually take a piece of fruit with us, but she tends to have a lot of fruit during the day anyway.  We tried the Vanilla Go Gos and they went down a treat with lots of nom noms!

Macy also loved the ginger, I was surprised she liked the ginger but it was a nice delicate flavour rather than being over powering, you can really taste the oats and just a hint of flavour. She didn't like the raspberry flavour, said they were a bit sweet - I didn't think they were overly so but because they contain real pieces of raspberry the flavour was a bit stronger than the delicate vanilla and ginger ones.  What Macy really loves in life at the moment is a sticker! What did we find on these little packets - a sticker - great idea to reseal the packs for little ones who can't manage them all and when you have finished they can stick it on their top, really cute stickers.

Little Dish don't shy aware from the 'no added sugar' they are honest and tell you that they have added molasses and honey, however when you compare the amount of sugar to a leading well known brand, they still have less sugar.  Guidelines are maximum daily free sugar intake of 19g or 5 teaspoons for 4-6 year olds.  For 2-3 year olds, no more than 14g or 3.5 teaspoons per day*. *based on population average energy requirements (SACN 2011 DRVs for Energy, EAR population averages).  A pack of Go Gos contains 4g of sugar.

Typical Values 100g	Vanilla Go Gos	Heinz Banana Biscotti
Energy	462kcal	422kcal
Fat	15.5g	9.5g
- Of which saturates	2.0g	4.1g
Carbohydrates	65.4g	71.7g
- Of which sugars	16.0g	22.0g
Fibre	6.0g	5.0g
Protein	12.1g	10.0g
Salt	0.3g	0.50g

I really like these snacks, the bags are a decent 25g size, they are a healthier alternative to other snacks on the market and the best of all Macy loves them!  We will always take fruit out with us but these are something I can keep in the cupboard or in the car for when we run out or when she has already had enough fruit during the day which she quite often has had.

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The Cellarz, Spring Grove

We don't normally go out on Valentines night as it is our anniversary on 23rd so we normally go out for that instead.  It seems madness when I look at local restaurants they are charging an extra £20 just for one night and the menu is the same, it's the principal!  However when we went to Safari Park for the awards ceremony we saw The Cellarz advertised and thought it looked an amazing venue which only opens for private events and special nights, one of which was Valentines.  So we booked it.

Dinner was from 7pm and by the time we booked the earliest sitting was 7.45pm.  The menu is specially designed for Valentines with sharing platters and was £45 per person including a welcome glass of sparking wine:

Mezze: Share Platter of Continental Meats, Fish and Vegetarian items.
~~~
Soup: Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper with Pesto
~~~
Mains: Sirloin Steak with Hand-cut Chips, Flat Mushroom, Vine Tomatoes & Onion Rings
or
Open Celeriac and Tomato Lasagne served with a Kale and Truffle Dressing
or
Smoked Haddock with a Lemon and Pea Risotto
~~~
Dessert: Pudding Platter to share.
~~~
Cheeseboard
~
Freshly Brewed Coffee and Tea with Home-made Sweetmeats

Arrival was very civilised as they really do stagger the sittings in order to make sure everyone doesn't turn up at the same time.  We were asked whether we would like to sit in the bar or go straight to the table so we choose to sit in the bar for 10 minutes and soak up the sound of Huw – a London based guitarist & singer who was excellent.

We were shown to our table and handed the menu so we could choose our main, I chose the lasagne (I find sirloin a bit fatty) and Mark chose the steak.  Our starter arrived presented on slate which consisted of some meats, olive tapenade, prawns, melon and strawberry, fish paste and crostini.  It was really tasty, even Mark who doesn't like olive liked the tapenade.

Starter followed and to be honest we weren't overly impressed, the bread didn't seem warm and fresh - it was cold and quite dry.  The soup was lovely with the pesto but once you got under the drizzle of pesto, it wasn't very tasty at all and quite bland, for homemade tomato soup I expected something really tasty.

Mains, well what can I say, the steak was just steak piled high with chips and onion rings, it wasn't anything special - for a venue like this I expected more, it was just a steak you could order in your local pub.  My lasagne wasn't very warm at all and I did mention it to the waitress who said she would feedback to the chef.  It was just a bit disappointing though, literally a piece of lasagne, a bit of lambs lettuce and two pieces of crispy kale on top - it needed more accompaniments.

We were looking forward to dessert but again we were disappointed - the chocolate brownie was lovely however the other two 'things' were awful, the tart was completely tasteless and the other thing just tasted like overly sweet synthetic cream coated in coconut.  You could see other couples weren't impressed by the taste either.

Cheeseboard again wasn't brilliant, onion marmalade, small piece of brie, small piece of blue cheese and a large piece of cheddar accompanied by shop bought crackers and rather over ripe grapes.

Coffee arrived with a couple of shop bought mints and a small éclair and small cheesecake bite which had a lot of gelatine in it!

Service - well this started of really good.  However it fell apart at the mains - we weren't offered any sauces (another table had been taken a platter of sauces, we weren't) not did anyone come to check to see if our meals were okay mid way through.  The other thing that disappointed me was our platters weren't explained to us - when you are presented with a platter of food when you don't know what it consists of, it is common sense that the waiter should explain what each piece of food it.  That way we may have known what the desserts should have been.

Drinks - on the website it mentions cocktails so I was looking forward to a nice cocktail however they only offer three and they are all just three different flavoured vodkas.

This could be a fantastic night out for Valentines, the venue is AMAZING, truly is stunning.  However the food is a massive disappointment, paying £45 and expecting a civilised night out we expected some really nice tasty food.  It isn't somewhere we will be going again nor is it somewhere we would recommend which is such a shame as it really could be something special.

Happy Valentine's from the Bengal!

Happy Valentine's Day from the Bengal!

The second one is out of focus as she shook when she picked the rose up, such a shame!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I picked up my copycat millies cookie recipe from a couple of years ago and just swapped white chocolate buttons for galaxy counters.

We have a heart shaped cake tin now also - quite pleased with the result and Mark thought it had been shop bought, result!

Active Childhood

I want Macy to experience as much as possible to find out what she enjoys and what she excels at. I also don't want a child that sits in front of a television or a computer all day. I want her to develop confidence and give anything a go!

So an unexpected day off and these were the activities!