Month / December 2016

by One Curious Mother

The Festive Alternative

CHRISTMAS. DRINKS. Two words that exist in complete harmony for a good month of every year. Whether it’s with all your friends on Christmas Eve, catching up with distant relatives or celebrating a good year with the team at work, going for Christmas drinks is always on the cards usually from mid-November well into January.

For me, there are mostly just two occasions a year I like to join everyone else when enjoying a good drink: in the Summer sunshine and during Christmas activities (my birthday does fall under Christmas as it’s so close!). Unfortunately, this year I have been unable to partake in either of these so in a quest to enjoy a festive drink, I have wracked my brain and consulted a cookbook or two for the best and tastiest sounding non-alcoholic alternatives. As I am not usually one for dry or bitter drinks and preferring something sweet and fruity I have kept my sweet tooth in mind whilst creating the following recipes.

(Please note all rights reserved for the photographs and recipes to One Curious Mother of course)

_______________________________________

 

p1490557-lo

 

The first recipe is for Mulled Apple Juice – a fitting substitute for Mulled Cider virtually tasting exactly the same but without the morning after headache.  The recipe measurements for this one makes approximately 8 servings (so you can half/quarter as appropriate or use the flavourings as you wish).

You will need to buy the following: 

  • 1 litre/5 x 200ml cartons of apple juice
  • strips of orange peel – 1 large orange should do the trick
  • 1 cinnamon stick – 2 or more if you wish to garnish
  • 3 cloves 
  • sugar or honey to sweeten (optional extra!)
  • Glass mug (or any glass with a handle as it’s going to be hot)

 

 

You will need to do the following:

  • Put the apple juice in a saucepan to simmer with strips of orange peel, one cinnamon stick and the cloves for about 5-10 minutes. In this time the flavours should have fully infused
  • Pour into glass – if you find your juice is too bitter, sweeten to with that sugar or honey
  • You can put a little orange peel curl in and/or a cinnamon stick, if you like

 

 

_______________________________________

 

p1490592-lo

The second recipe is inspired by cherries and fizz so appropriately, I named it Cherry Fizz. A delicious take on homemade Cherry Lemonade, this mock-tail is just that little bit more fancy for the festive season. Specific measurements in this ‘to do’ method are per glass but may differ depending on your choice of glass or plastic cup!

You will to need the following:

  • Cherry cordial (I highly recommend Blossom Cottage) 
  • Crushed ice
  • 1 large bottle of Sprite (or any sparkling lemon-lime alternative)
  • 2 tspn of granulated sugar
  • Glace cherries/slices of lime, for garnish (an optional extra!)
  • Glasses or cups – you may use whichever type of glass or cup you fancy!

 

 

You will need to do the following:

  • Place your granulated sugar on a plate and spread evenly
  • Put some water in a bowl and dip the rim of the glass/cupin it
  • Keeping your glass upside down to avoid dripples, press the rim of the glass/cup into the granulated sugar 
  • Now fill the glass/cup with crushed ice – around half a glass/cup is recommended
  • Pour 3/4 of a glass/cup of Sprite/sparkling lemon-lime alternative – be careful not to overfill as you still have your cordial and garnish to add!
  • Pour one 25ml measurement of cherry cordial in the top of the glass/cup and leave to sink into the fizz
  • Top with one glorious shiny glace cherry and a slice of lime if you wish

 

 

_______________________________________

p1490605-lo

Last but not least, the third recipe is by far the easiest one that was invented (well discovered) by my dearest other half at the beginning of the season. As his family hold the tradition of a glass of bubbly or ‘Bucks Fizz’ when putting the tree up, he every so sweetly came across this winning non-alcoholic concoction I have now names quite simply: Grape & Orange.

You will to need the following:

  • Shloer (or a fizzy white grape alternative)
  • Oranje Juice
  • 1 slice of orange (or a quarter of a slice)
  • 1 or 2 white grapes (optional extra!)
  • Champagne flute glass

 

You will need to do the following:

  • Pour 2/3 glass of Shloer (or your fizzy white grape alternative)
  • Pour orange juice in to the glass until about 1 finger from the top 
  • Slice your orange to sit on the rim of the flute
  • Add your grapes (if required) – Yes that’s all!

 

 

_______________________________________

 

So there you have it! Hopefully this will inspire all you ladies-with-babies out there who are either pregnant or breastfeeding who were searching for that fancy festive drink without the booze!

Hope you have a safe holiday season. Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to you all!

One Curious Mother x

 

by One Curious Mother

Still Administrating A Face Lift

This post is a short and sweet update!

For the past week I’ve been spending a lot of my time deliberating over how to build the ‘face’ of One Curious Mother. As the owner of One Curious Baker too, I have taken extra thought when designing my new logo; I wanted to bear in mind that it could be part of a ‘One Curious’ brand and not just a one off blog. It has taken quite some thought on how I want this blog to roll as part of a brand but I believe I’ve cracked it – Hurrah!

With my final logo design, created with many thanks to the brilliant ‘Paper53’ app, I have managed incorporated hints of my Curious Baker logo into the design with use of the flowers. As for the rabbit, I decided on this for the main part of the logo as for me, my childhood is full of fond memories of the ‘Guess How Much I Love You’ books and their adorable illustrations so felt it reflected the soft and delicate nature of the books quite well – definitely a book I will be reading my little one. I really wanted to make it a fun design but keep it minimalist to fit in with the clean page theme I have finally settled on as this also reflects the link with my Curious Baker blog – see the logo below:

obc-whiteSince becoming pregnant, my Curious Baker blog seems to have taken a never ending sabbatical. With most food repulsing me and I spending 95% of my time sleeping and steering very clear of the kitchen, it’s safe to say my inspiration had flown the nest. Now my appetite has restored (and to it’s highest level) I have lots of new ideas and plans for that blog and I do have every intention of picking this back up in the new year as, you know, I’ll have all that extra time with a little person keeping me awake and needing my care and attention 110% of the day… Don’t worry, I will always share my Curious Baker new blog links here to save you from rummaging the internet for them!

One of my next blog posts will be about my all important vaccinations – keep an eye out!

One Curious Mother x

by One Curious Mother

Mondays, Bumps and Kicks

Monday aren’t always my favourite. Usually containing lists longer than my arms, pouring rain and/or seemingly dark weather along with that consistent feeling of sleep walking. Let’s just agree Monday’s are usually days I would rather sleep through – we all need a second Sunday, right? However, this Monday I decided not to let the wet weather, boring lists and sleepiness get to me as not only is it my birthday, little baby has reached a wonderful milestone – kicking all day and all night long, our little one has become quite the frequent wriggler! From the moment I found out I was pregnant, I tried telling myself I would document my pregnancy from the absolute beginning capturing every milestone and photographing each growing inch but unfortunately everyday life and a growing baby brain stood has firmly in my way. Now we’ve past 26 weeks, I feel time is beginning to slip away as we tiptoe into the third trimester. With 53 days until I go on maternity leave and only 95 days until my due date I have decided now is better late than never!

To keep you up to date as much as possible, we are due on March 17th, happy and healthy so far with all check-ups running smoothly and heart beating beautifully. At our last midwife appointment, we did measure slightly over as bump came to 26cms at 24 weeks but apparently, nothing to worry about. Our 20-week scan was where we decided we would take the plunge and ask to know whether we were going to have a girl or a boy. Whilst I know it’s nice to have a ‘surprise’, we were just too impatient to wait and could not stomach the thought of going through millions of shops looking for anything else bright white or yellow. Hating to sound traditional or stereotypical, we are waving the blue flag in this corner!

So far, I would like to say I’ve been well behaved when buying baby clothes and accessories but as a self-confessed shopaholic I think I may be very close to ‘too much too soon’ – even though a strong believer in never having too many muslin cloths. Regardless of this, to celebrate all our joy as well as reaching the beginning of the third trimester, we decided buying a ‘going home’ outfit for him would be perfect. Cue Cath Kidston with her soft baby colours and her epic space print – The zero to three-month sized sleep suit with little fold over scratch mittens and built in feet going home never looked so cosy and I only wish these were matching ones available in mum sizes. He’s going to look the absolute bee’s knees going home. Just 14 weeks to go!

As we descend into full Christmas holidays and further into Winter, my next few posts over the coming weeks I will be discussing my choice for vaccinations, more of measuring my bump and most importantly finding those Christmas time alternatives as we all know pate and prosecco are off the list!

Hope you’re all having a good Monday,

One Curious Mother x

 

 

by One Curious Mother

A New Chapter Calls for a New Blog

Hi, I’m Naomi and welcome!

Before we begin please excuse me, I am about to nervously attempt to navigate my way into the world of blogging – as a total beginner I have little understanding of perfect fonts, fancy settings or themes and hope over time that I will progress.

Although not usually a writer at all, I have found over the years that blogging can be very therapeutic, calming and a great opportunity for reflection. This said, I feel now is time to step it up, as I wave goodbye to the trusty ‘safety blanket’ that was Tumblr and attempt to join the big world and run head first into documenting my latest project – Baby Number One.

As a photographer, food lover and soon-to-be first time Mother, this blog might be just about the only ‘grown-up only’ thing I am going to have for a while – despite my intentions for this is to pretty much document this baby’s journey. Between finishing university, a year and a half ago, swapping jobs to make a career, waiting on a building project to begin and supporting a significant other through a complete career change, I am hoping my sanity might just be saved through writing and illustrating this blog with our abundance of stepping stones as my life gets a complete make over.

Please keep an eye out for my first post and I hope to see you again soon!

One Curious Mother x