What I Wore Wednesday

Most days this is what I'm wearing. Not very glamorous but it is what it is. Working from home while watching a toddler means most days I rarely leave my living room so formal attire is shockingly not required. I'm never going to be one of those women who get dressed up for grocery shopping or toddler groups; when I have someplace to go and someone to see I like to look my best but if it is just Blondie Boy and I kicking it style takes a backseat.


If I'm wearing a t-shirt 9 time out of 10 it will be of the Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati Bengals or Cincinnati Bearcats variety. I don't know if I'd rep my hometown so much through fashion if I still lived there but I certainly wear it with pride over here. What are your go to comfy clothes?

Fearless Tiny Skull Studs- Dogeared

Cincinnati Bengals T-Shirt- Present from my Dad

The Flirt Skinny Jeans-Old Navy

Black Boots- Sketchers

Potty Training & Reward Charts

It has been awhile since I have updated on potty training and I know y'all are dying to know what is going on, right? Every one of those stickers is for peeing on the potty. I made him the reward chart and stuck it up in the bathroom. I just used some old poster board and got 1,000 stickers for £1 at Poundland so it wasn't expensive to implement.

As you can see from all the cars he is doing well but that also means he is going a lot. Sometimes he asks to go just to stare at his stickers--seriously. He also has a little sticker book that we used this weekend at his Grandma's house so he is still getting rewarded when away from home.


No pooping on the potty yet which is kind of annoying but I feel like if we can get one he'll be good to go in the future. I gather from others that not pooping on the toilet is normal so I'm not too worried. 


We know he is young so again we aren't pushing it but he asks to go himself now so we are moving forward. If anyone has any tips for the elusive poo in the potty that would be great! We got some Mickey Mouse big boy undies in the US as well so hopefully that will encourage him?

What I Wore Wednesday: Versace for HM

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to win a Twitter competition and skip the queue for the unveiling of the new Versace for H and M collection! (ed note: I know it is not H and M, but I can't get an ampersand to work for some reason!) I got to go in early and shop before anyone else hit the store. The same rules still applied: I could only shop for 10 minutes and only one of each item.  

I went in with only two items in mind and came out with five items from the Versace collection. I had planned a fashion show for y'all but well life took over so lucky for me Polyvore stepped in! So here is how I *would* have worn them if I actually got chance!

I'm still unsure about a few items and have until tomorrow to return them so please be honest about what you think! I'm also keen to hear alternate styling options, too!

Embellished Skirt-Versace for H and M 

Black 3/4 sleeve top- H and M

Black Peep Toe Heels- Stuart Weitzman (Don't actually own but have similar pair)

High stylized bun

Black Ice Manicure- 15 Royal Terrace (I'm loving how the micro glitter breaks up the black!)

Red Dress- Versace for H and M (Sold out! No Link)
Black Peep Toe Heels- Stuart Weitzman (Don't actually own but have similar pair)
Long, Straight Hair; Middle Part

Black Fur Vest- Versace for H and M (Sold out! No link.)
Black Leather Studded Bag- Versace for H and M
Black Boots- Sketchers
Skinny Jeans- Old Navy

Floral Leggings- Versace for H and M

I've no idea how to really wear the leggings other than some sort of plain black top; any ideas? Did you shop the new Versace collection?

Guest Post: Mummy's accent

This guest post is from a fellow expat Adele from Circus Queen. I briefly met the stunning Adele at the MADs and immediately wanted to know her experiences of being an expat mother in the UK. Here she shares her concerns about something I've often wondered myself-- what kind of accent will our dual national children have?


It's recently occurred to me that if we continue to live here, my daughter will grow up with a Bristolian accent. I'm not sure how I feel about that. 


There's a certain edgy charm to it, sure, but I just can't get my head around the idea. To be fair, it's not just the Bristol thing. 


This is just part of the general confusion I feel over raising a child who is British when I am not. 





Growing up in Trinidad, a "farrin" (foreign) accent was something exotic.
It meant experiences outside of mine - contact with a bigger world.


Though six years of living in the UK have confused my own accent, perhaps
irreparably, I can't help but be weirded out by the idea that the baby
whose nappies I'm changing will sound (and be) "farrin".

But what's in an accent? Can it tell a person’s whole story?

I was teased for mine as a child and teen. For one thing, it was
inexplicably affluent. One sentence and people would make assumptions
about the kind of school I’d been to and the kind of family I was from. I
don’t know why the fact that my accent was associated with wealth was such
a point of amusement for others or why it bothered me so much myself.

Secondly, it morphed according to context. As a teenager a lot of my
sounds were hugely influenced by time spent in a mini-marriage to my best
friend who was in fact “farrin”. She was from Texas.

I was self-conscious about my accent the way some girls are about their
boobs (and, of course, I was conscious of those too).

Then I moved to England and apart from mistaking me for Welsh, people kept
getting confused about whether I meant "hair", "here" or "hear". Uh,
context, please.

Little by little, what started as a bid to be better understood became
conformism.

For instance, last week, I was thinking through some political issues and
found that when I referred to the “British public”, I’d included myself in
that entity.

For most of the time I’ve lived here, I’ve viewed myself as separate from
“the British”, a self-identified outsider. It was “them” and “me”.

But I’ve married a British man, I am raising a British child, I benefit
from the National Health Service. I pay taxes. I take an interest in
British politics. I watch XFactor. Religiously.

And the more Britishness my life accumulates, the more my accent seems to
transform. Is it disingenuous? Is it self-loathing?

Part of me wants a slap for admitting that I’ve conformed. It's telling me
it's time to buck up, take a swig of rum and start sounding broadly
Caribbean and proud.

But really, I don't see that it is such a big deal. So what if I'm
starting to sound British? Maybe it means I'm becoming more comfortable
with being here. Maybe, just maybe, Britain is becoming home.

And if that's so, perhaps by the time my daughter's old enough to chat
with, I'll not notice that she's "farrin".

What I Wore Wednesday: Family Photos

So technically I am cheating because I wore this in October but I've only got the photos back this week so in my mind that counts! This week's outfit is three for the price of one! It is what we wore for our family photos when we were home in Ohio.


The ridiculously talented Geri Ciulla took our photos and I couldn't have been happier with how they turned out. I don't think you should get professional photos taken without professional make-up (trust me on this one) so the fabulous Mollie from Brideface gave me that defined eye I love so much without making me look like I just tripped off the Rock of Love Bus. Blondie Boy and NotBlondeHusband are gorgeous as is so they just rolled out of bed and turned up.


The photos were taken in Eden Park, one of Cincinnati's many stunning public parks, which overlooks the Cincinnati River, Kentucky and part of the Cincinnati skyline. It was a fabulous location for photos and I'm so glad Geri suggested it! Now on to the clothes!

NotBlondeHusband:

Pink Polo: Ralph Lauren

Black Trousers: Nautica

Brown Shoes: Sketchers

Blondie Boy:

Grey Cable Knit Crew Sweater: Next

Jeans: The Gap

Black High Top Sneakers: Converse

Kilt: Bare Knees

Blondie:

Black Feather Earrings- Monsoon

Black Ribbed Zipper Dress- M&Co

Black Leather Biker Jacket- John Lewis (Oasis Concession)

Purple Tights- Tesco

Black Boots- Sketchers

I listed kilt but Blondie Boy isn't wearing one you say? Hell yes he had a wardrobe change!

A teeny, tiny sporan? I die. Here are a few of the other photos from that day Geri has so kindly shared but I can tell you there were SO many more amazing ones! I think we did a good job of matching without being too matchy-matchy?

Fish is the Dish: Fish Pie ala NotBlondeHusband

It's always fun to get a parcel in the mail. It's even more fun when the parcel turns out to be a box full of delicious, gourmet fish, which is exactly what arrived in our house on Thursday. The box contained haddock, smoked haddock and salmon fillets provided by John Milne at Delish Fish.

Given that smoked haddock is one of my favourite things in the entire world, I was pretty excited. I was also hugely impressed by the sustainability of this particular fish and of it's easily traceable origin. The haddock is caught in the North Sea and has Marine Stewardship Council accreditation. 

Not only do we know who provided the fish and where it was caught and landed, we also know it had been caught by the crew of one of two vessels:   Harvest Hope or Sustain.

More and more people want to know not only that the food they are eating is sustainable but also where it came from. It's pretty difficult to be more specific about where the food you are eating has come from, without providing the fisherman's name, shoe size and sexual preferences, which would probably be taking it too far anyway.

The people at Fish is the Dish provided a recipe for "Karen's Scrumptious Fish Pie", which was pretty lucky, since fish pie is probably Blondie Boy's favourite meal so it's a bit of a staple round here. The recipe also came with a challenge, to provide a top tip to change the recipe in some way. I changed a few things. Sorry Karen, I'm sure the original was nice too!

The ingredients:

potatoes

200g each of haddock, smoked haddock and salmon fillets

1 pint of milk

30g butter

30g plain flour

salt

pepper

optional:

chives

grated parmesan

lemon pepper

dijon mustard 

1 Make some mash as you normally would, enough to cover your dish. I probably used 1.5-2kg of potatoes.

2 Chop the fish into 2cm chunks. I also skinned the salmon at this point. The great thing about making the fish into a pie is the pieces don't have to be perfectly symmetrical. Rough chunks are great.

3 Bung it all in your pyrex dish and give it a good mix together so all three varieties of fish are evenly distributed.

4 Melt the butter in a saucepan and gradually stir in the flour. Heat for a minute or so, stirring constantly.

5 Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the milk. Return to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring all the time.

6 Fish is the Dish challenged us to change something about the recipe, I can't help tinkering with recipes, so I changed a few things but if I could only recommend one tip it would be this: stir in a teaspoon or a teaspoon and a half of Dijon mustard. The sauce without it might be rather bland, the mustard makes it richer and velvety, without overpowering the fish.

7 Simmer for 8-10 minutes then season. The recipe recommended adding parsley at this point but we're not really a parsley house, so I added finely chopped chives.

Next tip, switch out the pepper here and season with lemon pepper. Light, zingy and perfect with fish.

8 Pour over the uncooked fish then top with the potato. 

Topping isn't the easiest thing to do elegantly but fortunately it doesn't need to be elegant, just delicious. I put the potato into a piping bag with a large nozzle and piped it on before forking the top to give the peaks which will crisp up in the oven.

9 Scatter some parmesan over the top (optional, but highly recommended) and bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees celsius.

We ate the pie with my Dad and his wife. I prepped and cooked it at home and then heated it through for 10 minutes in his oven. It was still perfect.

Although the recipe suggested serving with petit pois, I served it with savoy cabbage and broccoli. The pie was delicious, it seemed to be a success with everybody at the table from 22 months to 50+, even including Miss "I don't like cooked fish" herself, Blondie.

You can really taste the difference between good quality fish such as this and cheaper supermarket stuff. It really needed nothing done to it, it arrived filleted and perfectly boned, it was thrown roughly into a dish and with little effort on my part and it produced a delicious meal for 4 adults and a toddler, with enough leftovers for 4 toddler sized portions which are now in our freezer! 

As I said I'm a bit of a smoked haddock aficionado and this stuff was the business, I'll definitely be getting some from Delish Fish again. It's such an easy food to prepare, stick it in an omelet, fire it in a pie, or even just poach it and flake it through some mashed potato, it's seriously difficult to mess it up and the results are always exquisite.

Transatlantic Blonde were provided the fish used in this recipe.

We totally rocked the vote

Super excited to vote in a polling booth for only the second time ever! I've almost exclusively voted via absentee ballot since I turned 18.

I'm not shy about my opinions so I am proud to say I voted NO on Issues 1, 2 and 3 in the State of Ohio.

Blondie Boy and I are both rocking our "I voted" stickers and if you are American and haven't gone out and voted why not? If you don't vote you can't complain...