Apple Preserves

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Several months ago, my mum put a condiment on the dinner table which was gorgeous. It was an apple and mint jelly. Was it for pork, was it for lamb? Did it matter? I'm vegetarian so whatever it was originally meant for was never going to be something that I would consume. Nonetheless it was delicious with salads and baby boiled new potatoes smothered in butter and black pepper.

I've tried to find it, to no avail. Then when the 'chutney chums' (i.e. The Crazy Kitchen, me and Mummy Mishaps) started talking about all things preserving a few weeks ago, I thought I'd give it a go.

Apple and Mint Jelly

Makes: 2 jam jars

Ingredients:

  • 1kg apples, peeled and cored
  • 1 litre water
  • 30g fresh mint, chopped
  • 500g caster sugar
  1. Add the apples and 2 tablespoons of water to a large saucepan, cook for twenty minutes over low to medium heat. Spoon the mixture into a large sieve with a sterilised muslin (I used one of The Boy's unused muslins sterilised with a steaming hot iron) and let the juice drain into a bowl. (Try to leave for 3 hours, I didn't have that amount of time so I left it for 2 hours).
  2. Add the mint and 1 litre of water to a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes.
  3. Pour in the strained apple juice and add sugar. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and and simmer gently for 1 hour+, stirring constantly. (The original recipe said 40 minutes, I ended up simmering it away for an hour and a half before it reached setting point).
  4. Pour into sterilized jars, cover with damp cellophane covers (which will tighten as they dry, creating an air-tight seal) and leave to cool. Store in a dark, cool cupboard. They should have a best before of a year from sealing.

My recipe has been adapted from one on AllRecipes.co.uk. I also found this site most helpful when I was trying to work out if it had reached setting point.

The big question of what to do with all that left over apple arose. So I made some Spiced Apple Chutney!

Ingredients:

Makes 2 jam jars

  • 225g onions (chopped)
  • 900g apples (cored & chopped)
  • 110g sultanas or raisins
  • 15g ground coriander
  • 15g paprika
  • 15g salt
  • 15g each of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger
  • 340 granulated sugar
  • 425ml white wine vinegar
  1. Put all the ingredients into a heavy pan.
  2. Slowly bring to the boil until all the sugar has dissolved.
  3. Simmer for 1½-2 hours, stirring from time-time to stop the chutney from sticking.
  4. Take the lid off to reduce down for further thirty minutes or so.
  5. When it is very thick and a spoon drawn across it leaves a channel which doesn't immediately fill with liquid, the chutney is ready to transfer to the jars.
  6. While still hot, turn into sterilised jars, use wax discs and damp cellophane to seal. Allow to cool.
  7. Store in a cool, dark cupboard for two-three months before eating. Can be kept for up to twelve months sealed.
 
 

I adapted this recipe from one on the BBC Good Food Guide.

Tips:

  • Sterilise jars and utensils in the dishwasher.
  • Use wax discs and cellophane film lids as lids from jars can corrode effecting the chutney. Also it has to be put in piping hot for the dimple on the lid to suction down or it's not sterile.
  • Sterilise the muslin with a hot iron.
  • When fastening the fabric cover, hold it in place with an elastic band first. If you are one of those genetically-modified humans who have four hands, and can therefore hold the fabric in place and wrap the raffia around, don't bother, you'll be fine. Once the raffia is wrapped around, remove the elastic band.

Our Haven

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At the end of the Summer, I posted how I had been invited to take part in the Bosch Garden Makeover Challenge. As a keen gardener who has been feeling a little distraught for the past year about two areas in my otherwise idyllic (for me anyway) garden, I was very eager to transform these, making them work for us at the stage that we are: young family with a little one who needs a safe place space.

I posted here, highlighting the two areas that needed attention in my otherwise perfect paradise:

The two vegetable patches hadn't been used in ages and I was lacking inspiration; my seedlings kept dying and the weeds kept growing. In the picture on the right, is what was my herb garden. It was because a gale-force wind saw the fence panel behind it being blown halfway across the garden; it crushed most of my rosemary, and all of the thyme and coriander. Then when my dad fixed the fence (thanks dad) he did in the remainder of my rosemary with a spade and his size tens! All that was left was an overgrown lavender. In addition this 'herb garden' (pah!) was edged with sharp stones and I just had visions of a nasty accident.

During the past two months we've received a lawn treatment from Green Thumb which highlighted that my lush, green lawn was in fact 85% full of weeds. The very lovely gentleman who explained about keeping the lawn healthy also kindly explained that I really needed to keep The Boy's toys off the grass when they're not being used. This set my mind whirring, one of the main culprits was the Little Tikes Playhouse which was crushing the grass underneath. I therefore decided to remove the left vegetable patch, pave that creating a base for the playhouse, and use the railway sleepers to edge the now-defunct herb garden. During the Winter months, the other vegetable patch (on the right) is going to be used as a digging plot for The Boy, before we plant seeds together next Spring.

When it came to the completely pointless herb garden (which, if I'm entirely honest, was never used anyway because I couldn't be bothered to be that creative with my cooking!) I decided to turn it into another flower bed, but this time full of vibrant plants to give colour from my kitchen window during the forthcoming grey season. With the lavender bush long-gone, and now edged in railway sleeper, I chose shrubs and Winter flowering plants. In this flower bed we now have a beautiful mix of plants including a dogwood,  berberis, a new lavender (which I shall keep controlled!), a globe thistle and a nice selection of Lenten and Christmas roses.

Here's some other gratuitous shots of my garden to give you an overall feel.

Our garden is now a much more user-friendly environment, the specific user being a two year old tiddler by the name of The Boy. It also has a finished feel to it and I'm very grateful to Bosch, Coblands and GreenThumb for providing us with the resources to make this happen.

If you'd like to vote for us to win this competition, you can do so below.

We were provided with Bosch tools, a lawn treatment and plants in order to complete this challenge. My opinions and actions are independent.

Veggie-Terror!

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No, this is not a post about how The Boy won't eat his greens; far from it in fact!

We received a lovely orange box the other day wrapped in a hand-tied bow. Inside was a lovely selection of fruit and vegetables and a note from Innocent asking us if we could create a veggie-monster. The Boy had a good old look at the selection inside and was very intrigued with the kiwi! Wouldn't try it though!

Using the toothpicks which they provided, and spelling out the name with the special innocent glow-in-the-dark magnets (a full set; I almost jumped for joy!), we came up with this lovely lady:

Her name is Ms. Hel O Wyn and she was rather pleased to be visiting our house for the day!

However, she's now sat in a pot on the stove making a stew for tea tonight.

Innocent have a rather fabulous campaign on at the moment to celebrate Halloween and their new glow in the dark magnets. They want children across the land to get creating their very own weird and wonderful fruity freak or veg monster. It's very simple, just do the following:

  1. Cut, carve and create your fruity freak or vegetable monster from the weirdest looking fruit or veg you can find.
  2. Give it a name and spell it out in innocent magnets (how about 'Terry Able' or 'Aaaaaaaaaalan'.)
  3. Then take a picture of your spooky creation, post it in their scary halloween flickr gallery.
  4. When you've done that, email them (myfruitandvegmonster@innocentdrinks.co.uk) with your flickr name and a postal address (important so we know which picture is yours, in case you're one of the first thousand people).
  5. The first 1,000 entries win a very special set of limited edition halloween 0-9 number magnets which ALL glow in the dark (the perfect addition to your alphabet ones)

The competition runs until 7th November 2011.

And because we love food and hate waste, afterwards, why not use any leftover veg to make a stew like us?

We were sent a box of fruit & vegetables (& magnets, hurrah!) to take part in this campaign and help spread the word.

ShowOff ShowCase: The Scary & Spooky One

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You know the usual format for ShowOff ShowCase by now; link up a post either along a theme, or The One That Should Have Done Better.

This weekend, it's the turn of a theme. So in recognition of all the ghoulish and ghastly posts out there highlighting craft activities or cookery or party games, I've decided that the theme is:

The Scary & Spooky One

Link up as many Hallowe'en posts as you want, let's use it as a resource bank of activities!

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Hungry Hallowe'en

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This year, probably due to The Boy being that much older, I'm really feeling Hallowe'en. Not the ghosts and ghoulies (steady on) you understand, but the whole party, dressing up malarky. It's helped by the planning that I'm doing for my toddler group's party this weekend, and so I've been going to town on costumes, decorations and food. As it's obviously a party for under-five year olds, the food we're preparing has to be quick and easy to cook, transfer and eat. However, there are some other meals that will be featuring on the menu at home this weekend.

Scary Soup

  1. Heat 1tbsp of olive oil in a large pan, add one chopped leek and a handful of sliced mushrooms. Sweat for a few minutes to soften.
  2. Add the chopped flesh of one butternut squash (or pumpkin), two diced carrots and two peeled and diced sweet potatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. Then add 1½ pints of stock. Season with salt and ground black pepper, cover and bring to the boil, then simmer for 25 mins until the squash, carrot and sweet potato are really tender.
  3. Stir 200ml of Alpro soya milk* into the soup, whiz everything together in blender or processor in batches until smooth. Return to the pan, gently warm through to serve. Pour into bowls and finish with a swirl of Alpro soya alternative to cream*.
  4. Serve with crusty, warmed baguette or tiger bread.

Alpro Soya is a tasty alternative to dairy for those who are lactose intolerant.

 Devil's Cakes

Who doesn't love a little bit of Gothic coloured sponge cake? Black oozing red, sticky substance anyone? The full recipe for these, can be found here.

Mudpots

I've always wanted to have a go at making my own jelly-type pudding but obviously being vegetarian, it's a bit tricky! I recently discovered a vegetarian gelatine and had a go at using the powder. I mixed one sachet with 1 pint of Alpro Soya 'milk'* and stirred it until it had dissolved. Bringing it to just under the boil, I stirred in one pot of Alpro Soya chocolate dessert* and mixed it through with a balloon whisk. To flavour even further, I added 40g of chocolate orange drinking chocolate (if this is intended as a dairy-free pudding, check the drinking chocolate is lactose-free) and whisked this in thoroughly. Pour the mixture into serving dishes and allow to cool. After half an hour, the pudding should be thick enough to allow a segment of satsuma (hoorah, Christmas is coming) to rest on the top, sprinkle with chocolate flakes.

Scrummy!

Ghoulish Guzzlers

Vampire Broth: 3 parts diet cola* made using our new Sodastream* and 1 part vanilla ice-cream. Dust the rim of the glass with caster sugar, place the ice-cream inside and pour on the cola. Watch it froth up!

Magic Potion: 2 parts sparkling apple juice* and 2 parts cranberry and raspberry juice* (both sugar-free). Decorate the rim with red edible glitter for that extra touch of blood-curdling authenticity. If you've got any raspberries (we don't) crush them up and add them to the mix.

Chilling Chocolate: Dust the edge of a glass with cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate as it often contains dairy) and pour in some cool Alpro Soya chocolate milk*.

Can you come up with any more funky mocktails?

 I was sent the items marked with a * to review. However, all the cooking, images and text are my own, and honest.

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The C Word

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Eight years ago, I found a lump in my breast.

About the size of a pea, the hard lump was about an inch below my nipple and scared the hell out of me. I buried my head in the sand for a day, then told Mr. TheBoyandMe and my boss (who at the time was like a surrogate mum for me when I was living away from home) and went to the doctor's straight away. They referred me into the hospital to have it checked out and I saw a consultant within a week. I had an examination, a needle inserted into my breast to try and take a sample (which I won't lie, was painful), and a scan. By the time I had the scan, it transspired that it had only been a cyst and the needle had dispersed it.

Thinking back now, it was one of the scariest moments. Not only because I knew there was a history of breast cancer in my family, but for a young woman who wanted to start a family, finding a lump in my breast felt immobilising.

Breast cancer, like any cancer, is real and affects people all around us. I know this only too well from personal experiences. It cannot, just like any other cancer, be ignored.

Today is 'Wear it Pink' day and various people and organisations, both big and small, have got behind it. Vanish, the stain removal brand, is supporting Breast Cancer Campaign for this special awareness day. Together they are hoping to raise much needed funds for research into prevention, diagnosis and treatment for an illness which touches the lives of so many women in the UK.

You can help in a number of ways:

    • Simply “like” the page then place your donation token into the pot of your choice between Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment.
    • For every new 1,000 supporters, £1,000 will be donated to research (up to £10,000).

Please share the pink love and become an online Supporter for Breast Cancer Campaign with Vanish!

This isn't a sponsored post. I wasn't offered, nor would I have accepted any money to blog about this.

Recipe Shed: Chutneys and Preserves

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There's a lingering aroma in this house, and it's permeating through the cables tethering us to the outer world, finding it's way through the timeline of many a twit and combining with other bloggers' fragrances.

No, it's not the latest parfum. It's a far more consuming smell than that.

Vinegar.

Of course, there are the variants: red wine, white wine, balsamic, malt and pickling, but they all have the one purpose. To preserve our chosen fruit or vegetable, creating a mouth-watering chutney that needs to be given time to mature and reach its full-bodied flavour.

I've been like a woman possessed recently. Never having made a chutney before, I've been having a go at a few different types, experimenting with and altering recipes that I've found. Noting changes down in my recipe folder, splashing it with spices and caramelised onions for that added authenticity.

But I'm not the only one. My timeline (and inbox) is full of others who've been taken with the preserving passion, and so I said to Reluctant Housedad last week that he ought to do it as a theme one week for his successful Recipe Shed linky. After the tumbleweed had finally settled, he kindly told me that it wasn't 'his bag' (because we are in the '70s) and offered for me to host the Recipe Shed this week while he visits family for half-term. I jumped at the chance!

So here you have it, for one week only:

TheBoyandMe hosts the Recipe Shed!

Caramelised Red Onion Chutney

Ingredients

  • 8 red onions
  • 1 red chilli
  • 25ml olive oil
  • 200g brown sugar
  • 150ml balsamic vinegar
  • 150ml red wine vinegar

1. Cut the onion and chilli into short thin slivers and put into a heavy pan with the oil. Cook gently over a low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Once the onions are dark and sticky, add the sugar and vinegars. Cook on a high heat until bubbling (usually about 30 minutes), then turn the gas down to simmering for a further hour. It will be ready when drawing a wooden spoon through the mixtures leaves a channel behind that doesn't immediately fill with liquid or juices.

3. Immediately, spoon the chutney into sterilised jars, filling almost to the top of the jar.

4. While still piping hot, press a wax disc down on the mixture (wax side down) ensuring that it has been pushed against it fully with no air bubbles. Wet a cellophane circle (especially for preserving) on one side and place over the hot jar, damp side up. Pull it tight and use a tight elastic band around the neck. As the mixture cools, the damp cellophane will be pulled even more taut making it airtight and preventing the nasty bacteria from multiplying. Store for 2-3 months to allow the chutney to mature.

Or if you have some spare that doesn't fit into the bottles, spread it on cream crackers with some mature cheddar and enjoy as a late-night snack.

I've been making quite a few batches of different flavoured chutneys recently, with the intention of giving them for Christmas presents. I've bought some little wooden tags from ebay and am using them to label.

I'd be happy with that, wouldn't you?

—

Both Reluctant Housedad and I would love it if you would link up to our Chutneys and Preserves linky using the linky tools below. With his permission, I've adapted the code for the badge for this week only so that when it's added to your post, it comes back to this main page.

Next week, he's reclaiming his Recipe Shed where the theme will be Vegetarian in honour of me (I like to think!).

Recipe Shed

A Crumpled Piece of Paper

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The leaves are falling from the trees, the rain is pitter-pattering more heavily, and the nights are drawing in which means only one thing: it's coming up to that time of year again. Mr. TheBoyandMe knows it as well, I can sense him twitching.

No, not Christmas! Something else has to happen first before the festivities for baby Jesus and Father Christmas.

And woe betide Mr. TheBoyandMe if he gets it wrong.

Which is why he carries a note around in his wallet: akito roses, white spiky chrysanthemums, eucalyptus leaves, purple lisianthus. The piece of paper has become faded and ripped around the corners, but it's there and has been since the first time. Since our first anniversary. Years later however, it's looking a little battered.

Yet every year in mid-November he toddles off one lunchtime to one of the many florists in Cardiff to do his husbandly duty. He will ask for the flowers on his crumpled bit of paper and insist on only those flowers in them, not to be fobbed off with a cheaper white rose or normal chrysanthemums, they must be those and despite the akito roses having to be ordered in, he will be presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers to pass on to me, his adoring wife.

As you may have twigged, in just under a month's time, Mr. TheBoyandMe and I will be celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary. Tin! (There's exciting hey? I bought my sister some cooking tins for hers, hope she reciprocates, mine are looking a bit battered)

We were fresh-faced and had everything in front of us on that cold day in November 2001. I was just 24 and he was 26, and we had a small but cosy wedding. It cost £4,500. How many people could put together a wedding nowadays for that? We didn't scrimp on anything; I had a raw silk and lace wedding dress made for me, a vintage Rolls-Royce took me to the fairytale castle aside the wooded mountain overlooking Cardiff, there was a three-course meal in a top-Cardiff hotel (for £17.50 a head! McDonald's would charge that nowadays if you mention the word wedding alongside cheese-burger) and we stayed in the five-star Rocco Forte hotel that night. In the same suite that Robbie Williams had stayed in, but not at the same time (we had a television when we stayed there, his was removed because he'd previously thrown it into the bay).

This was my wedding bouquet:

I loved those flowers, even though they were heavy as anything, and was devastated when they died. They lasted a fortnight which just goes to show the freshness of flowers that come from a company like Interflora. Mr. TheBoyandMe knows how upset I was when they withered, which is why he makes such an effort to always get the same types.

Ten years on, and times have changed. We may not have much disposable income for regular flowers, but I can guarantee that by the end of November there will be a beautiful bouquet of flowers in the living room.

And the crumpled piece of paper will be back in Mr. TheBoyandMe's wallet, safe until next year.

The words and sentiments are my own and honest. The crumpled piece of paper is genuine; it's looking past its best-before.

Music As Therapy

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One of my favourite bloggers, who just happens to be one of my best mates, wrote the other day how she used Music as Therapy. How she listened to it as a 'drug' of choice before her little AddyWoo was born, and how it can cut through all the crap and get straight to the core of her being.

And so the inordinately amazing MammyWoo (did you know by the way that she is not only MAD New Blog of the Year winner, but also one of the Guardian's Hottest Five New Bloggers. Not as in saucy, although she is rather, but as in fresh & new!) has requested that I identify three songs that get to me. The three songs that can epitomise my mood or change how I'm feeling within three minutes and four seconds. I don't get a chance to listen to my music nowadays very often, The Boy prefers Zingzillas.

They're not very cool, in fact probably far from it. However these three songs really get to me, and into me. I listen to these, without interruption and they get right into my core. Unlike MammyWoo, these songs aren't all about the lyrics, they are about the music, the crescendo, the kick-arse 'sod you' in them.

Daniel Powter: Had a Bad Day

This one is the song that gets put on the car CD-player when I roll out of school. It used to get played a lot before I was pregnant, now I don't have time to find the track because I just want to get home to my son; he has the same effect.

These are the lyrics that get me:

You're faking a smile with the coffee to go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces everytime and I don't need no carryin' on

or these…

You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day, the camera don't lie

and these…

Well, you need a blue sky holiday
The point is they laugh at what you say

Kenny Loggins: "Footloose"

This song gets my feet going every time and raises my mood probably above every other song. My husband knows that he mustn't make a sound when it's on, and just let Mr. Loggins do his work.

I've got this feeling
That time's just holding me down
I'll hit the ceiling or else I'll tear up this town
Tonight I gotta cut loose

and I love these too

And you're playing so cool
Obeying every rule
I dig a way down in your heart
You're burning, yearning for some

Somebody to tell you
That life ain't passing you by
I'm trying to tell you
It will if you don't even try
You can fly if you'd only cut loose

Oh, they're going! The feet are moving!

And here it is, my final song. It's so completely uncool that I think it is cool just by default. Who doesn't love a spot of Babs?

Barbra Streisand: "Rain on my Parade"

Don't tell me not to live, just sit and putter
Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter
Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade
Don't tell me not to fly, I simply got to
If someone takes a spill, it's me and not you
Who told you you're allowed to rain on my parade?

So there you go, my three songs that get me going, that help me kick-arse and feel like I can do this and don't need to listen to anyone else who wants to make me feel rubbish!

Can you tell I'm down in the doldrums at the moment?

And so I now tag these bloggers to share their top three Music As Therapy songs:

  1. The Crazy Kitchen
  2. Mummy Mishaps
  3. The Real Housewife of Suffolk County
  4. SAHD and Proud
  5. Reluctant Housedad
  6. The Moiderer (she'll never do it)
  7. MotherVenting
  8. Diary of a Lagos Mum
  9. Multiple Mummy
  10. NotMyYearOff

Go on, have a go!

Blue Skies and Bluebirds

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Before yesterday I had never been to a football match. Neither had my 36 year old husband. Clearly The Boy hadn't either, unless he tootles off when he's supposed to be having his afternoon nap.

Therefore when I was invited to watch Cardiff City Football Club (the Bluebirds) against Barnsley by Netmums as part of the Family Football Festival, I jumped at the chance. While remaining sceptical that it wasn't my (ball) game, I was eager to shake off the opinion based on the reputation that football has had for many a year. That of a male-orientated, shouty, sweary sport. My friends and I had a rule in our 'going-out' days; we would always go into Cardiff on a rugby match night, but never on a football match night. Twelve or so years on, I was interested to know if football's reputation has changed or not.

We arrived at Cardiff City Stadium just over an hour before kick-off and already it was a hive of activity. Giving the magic password (the name of the Director of International Marketing), we were directed into the dedicated car-park. Parking at Cardiff City Stadium is extremely limited on match-days. The majority of spots are taken by staff and Season Ticket Holders with valid match-day parking permits. The remaining spots are allocated on a first-come first served basis on the day of the game. However, despite the fact that the stadium is opposite a retail park (parking is not advised there, the shops get cross for some strange reason), there are a variety of carparks within a five-ten minute walking distance. I am only too aware that we were given a reserved space and that normally we would walk in with the other families.

Cardiff City Football Club has been lucky to have a new stadium (opened in July 2009), moving from their original football ground literally across the road to a brand-spanking new stadium, shared with the Cardiff Blues. At the time, the stalwart fans of CCFC mourned the loss of Ninian Park Road stadium, but times change and it needed moderinising. And oh how it has been! The new stadium is clean, modern, fresh with great facilities for all.

When we first walked in to the stadium, we were greeted in reception by the previously mentioned Director of International Marketing with a goody-bag for The Boy. The chocolate was most welcome half way through the match!

We were taken through into the 'back-stage' area and were taken to be shown around the ground. It was only when we walked through some double-doors onto the pitch, and I glanced up at some eager teenagers wondering who I was, that I realised we'd been taken out through the tunnel!

Walking alongside the pitch, we were told how the entirety of the Grange end of the stadium was given over to the family section. Normally this would allow for six and a half thousand seats, on that day (as it was a Family Football Festival day) they had opened up more and were expecting eight thousand family seats filled. We were shown the various food outlets, the plentiful toilets (male, female, disabled, baby-changing) and then taken to the area aimed at families.

There we found a dedicated area for playing games on computer consoles, a magician who made fabulous balloon animals (he also made The Boy a football player), a football-skills game and…

…this is where we met Cardiff City's special guest. Having already tweeted with him we knew that he was going to be there, watching the match. I'd hoped that we'd have a chance to meet him, but was delighted to be actually introduced by the club.

Chatting with Alex (CBeebies) he explained to me that he supported the Bluebirds and often came to home matches, either with his niece (in her teens) or with his own children (who are under six). The main point that Alex was keen to stress is that what was in the stadium that day, was always there. Cardiff completely understand how important it is to make this a family-friendly sport, and cater for that. There are signs all over the stadium saying 'watch your language' or 'no swearing', and if any is heard, then one of the many polite and helpful attendants are on hand to have a word with the offender. CCFC also has a family-focus group that meets every three months to discuss ways forward with the club, and how they can make it more family-orientated and improve facilities.

We were left to enjoy the family entertainment prior to the match, and of course we checked out the clean and tidy facilities before finding our seats. I was expecting to be up in the Gods, and therefore was pleasantly surprised to find that we had seats in 'h' row, which was actually only four rows back from the pitch. Luckily, it was a beautiful sunny day, I suspect we'd be a bit damp mid-Winter. However, we had a perfect view of Cardiff's goalposts, which was just as well bearing in mind the outcome.

As to the match itself. I found that I had butterflies in my stomach waiting for kick-off, and with good reason. The first half was amazing, playing out right in front of our eyes. Three goals and an unfortunate head injury, left us ooh-ing and aah-ing, jumping to our feet and cheering along with everyone else. When one of our players (because they're mine now too) was fouled, The Boy looked on in interest while everyone urged for a subsequently-granted yellow card. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and my fears of The Boy being frightened by the noise were quashed when he clapped, cheered and laughed along with everyone else.

The second half was just as nail-biting as the first, although (as I soon found out) mostly conducted at the other end of the pitch. This obviously meant that The Boy had difficulty maintaining concentration, and luckily I had been told to take something to entertain him; cue a colouring pad, crayons or the iPod Touch.

We left just before the end of the match so didn't see what happened then. Although we were right by the stairwell and didn't have to worry about any heights, I knew that trying to get out of a football stadium car-park which is on the edge of a retail park at tea-time on a Saturday would be a nightmare. However, we really didn't want to leave, but The Boy was beginning to find it difficult to concentrate.

I am a convert! I never thought I'd say that about football, but I am. It was exciting, friendly, and the facilities in Cardiff are excellent. We will be going again, although I suspect we'll wait until The Boy is a little older.

There's a reason why Cardiff have this proudly displayed outside:

I am a member of the Netmums Parent Bloggers Network, a unique community of parent bloggers from around the UK who have been handpicked by the Netmums team from our database to review products and brands on their behalf. I am paid an expenses fee to cover my time but Netmums have no editorial control whatsoever about what I blog about. Being a member of the Netmums Blogging Network means that I can 'opt in' to try out products and brands and get my expenses covered but that I retain full editorial integrity.

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