Creating a Tradition

Here's something I hadn't thought too much upon until quite recently - having children and becoming a 'Family' opens up the opportunities to create your own family traditions. Not just going by what we did in our own families growing up, but rather adding to these. Custom-made traditions throughout the year, made and designed specifically for our family unit, according to our own tastes and personalities.

Last weekend was a long weekend in the UK - a public holiday which always occurs on the last weekend in August. And during this long weekend we went blackberry picking. So we could have blackberry pie.
I didn't realise it at the time but we did exactly the same thing last year on this same national holiday.

And that's when it struck me - we are creating a tradition!

Blackberry picking is something we have discovered we love doing together as a family. We have also discovered we love blackberry pie {who doesn't?} so having an extra incentive to not eat all the blackberries straight away is always good.

We wandered through our local heath, discovering treasure-troves of blackberries along the way, breathing in the fresh air created by the thick, green foliage around us.

Oh and how very convenient that at the end of our walk through the heath there is a lovely country pub as our final destination. This makes blackberry picking all the more rewarding.

After a lengthy stop-over here it was back home for.... blackberry pie!

I'm excited about our new blackberry picking and pie-eating family tradition! Especially for all the time we remain living in London. When we move to Italy we'll need to rethink this. Maybe we can create a tradition of mozzarella/mascarpone/ricotta cheese making instead. Yeah I'd be happy with that.

What is a tradition you have started doing each year with your family? One that is custom-made by you and for you? I'd love to hear about them!

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Linking up with Paisley Jade for Things I'm Loving

Bike rides, Bratwurst and Beer

I've realised that this is a post I have been putting off doing because I'm just not quite sure how to put into words all the sights, smells and sounds experienced over our weekend in Germany. I mean, when you are surrounded by beautiful people in a beautiful country who eat FREAKING AWESOME food, where do you start??...

My nearest and dearest friend has parents.
Her parents live in Bremen, Germany.
We have been meaning to visit them in Bremen for the past 3 years.
They are moving back to NZ at the beginning of next year.
I am now GUTTED that I never went and stayed with them sooner. GUTT-ED.
But I am EVER SO GRATEFUL we were given an opportunity to experience a weekend in Bremen before they head back to their Homeland.

Austin and I left the boys in the more-than-capable hands of Auntie Gretchie (and her reinforcement/support troops) while we flitted across to another Continent for 3 days.

Oh the freedom and uninterrupted sleep! Freedom in that we didn't need to be responsible for anyone other than ourselves. Therefore, we hit the town on the very first night!
Hard core. I know.
But instead of hitting the clubs we went along to the final night of the Freimarkt (a big festival/carnival) that runs for the month of October and has done so since the 1600's.
It's actually just a big stimulation session for all the senses.

My favouritest stall from the evening - Corn On The Cob served with an Aioli (creamy garlic) type sauce. 
Oh. My. Word. A seriously exciting taste-bud party.

There were rides and other such things to do. Matty and Austin braved one ride but came off looking decidedly pale so we decided to head straight for the Festival Hall for the rest of the evening where they serve beer. And not just any ol' beer. MASSIVE beer.

For the record, I was NOT drinking the beer, being pregnant and all. The above photo is for aesthetic reasons only.

The Festival Hall is where the Germans - young (16yrs+) and old alike - sit around drinking beer and dancing on tables to live bands. Very fun times indeed!
Those Germans sure do know how to have a good time without it ending in tears and punches. We only saw one punch-up the whole night (which was football-related of course. I know this only because one of them was wearing a Bremen football shirt and they had just played a game that afternoon...). I was pleasantly surprised the crowd was so well-behaved, considering all drinks are served in maHOOsive glass Steins - anywhere else (except for Germany it seems) this would be asking for trouble!

:::

The following morning we headed out for a bike ride to the park to take in the beauty of Autumn in Bremen.

Leaves of gold and mahogany fell all around us like snow as we cycled along leaf-strewn tracks. The beauty and serenity was absolutely breath-taking.
There was a bit of a drizzle happening so you can imagine our excitement when we rounded a corner and were greeted with this:

It would have been rude to just cycle on by so we decided it was hot chocolate time.
The decorations inside were pretty crazy - wooden horses and old brass instruments hung from the ceilings and very retro old advertising signs filled the walls.

The rest of the day was spent discovering the streets and shops of Bremen and partaking of more great German food.
Kartoffelpuffen (Potato Pancakes) served with apple sauce, Bratwurst, mushrooms cooked in white wine and served with that yummy Aioli-type sauce and fresh bread.

We made ourselves acquainted with the infamous 'Town Musicians of Bremen' characters and wandered the streets, soaking up the ever-so-quaint atmosphere of the city.

And check this out - making boiled candy.

As darkness fell the shops lit up, luring passers-by in with their invitingly warm glow.

We managed to not get too seduced by the stores tempting us to buy their very German/Quaint/European wares. One must keep in mind the 10kg carry-on bag allowance when flying with RyanAir...

:::

Our final day happened to be a certain young man's birthday

We celebrated in style with a champagne breakfast at home with fresh bread from the bakery, meats, cheese, some crazy German dishes with pickled Herring in them which are DIVINE and lots and lots of coffee.

Our flight back to London didn't leave until later that evening so, after the wonderfully lazy breakfast, we still had a good handful of hours left - time enough to indulge in some Kaffee und Kuchen and revisit some of those dear little streets of Bremen.

I am sorry to report (Ma & Pa Bokser) that I brought shame to the Bokser name.
We were in a very classy kitchen store where everything was very stylised and expensive and I'd discovered some very cute egg-cups that I thought would be great for Christmas presents for the boys. One of the shop assistants very kindly offered us a coffee from their machine they were promoting. Of course we said "HELL YES!" and were served espresso in some very dinky dainty stylish cups and saucers.
So I was holding my dinky dainty stylish cup & saucer with one hand and asking the shop assistant if she could gift-wrap the egg-cups when suddenly my dinky dainty stylish cup (still mostly full of coffee) went crashing to the floor.
Friends and Husband - being so wonderful and loyal to me - immediately headed for the door, leaving a very embarrassed me apologising profusely to the shop assistant. I could have blamed it on the baby "I am with child" but thought that was a bit of a fob off...
But she still gift-wrapped the egg-cups for me and wouldn't let me pay for the broken cup. Bless her.

Our last port of call was for the largest meal of Weiner Schnitzel EVER served at the Hofbräuhaus
AND they even served alkoholfrei weiss bier (alcohol-free white beer) which is truly heaven-sent when you are pregnant and would kill for a beer.

I am sad to say I only managed to polish off half of the Weiner Schnitzel - but it wasn't wasted, that's what husbands are for.

So after a truly wonderful and relaxing weekend away we were still eager to see our boys again. They were both asleep when we got home so I spent some time poking them hoping they'd wake up and want to come and snuggle in bed with us. But no such luck. Auntie Gretchie had done a SUPER job of wearing them out so they didn't wake until their usual 7am.
And the first thing Luca says when he walks into our room - "Where's Gretchie?"
*Sigh*
I'm sure he did actually miss us.

Escape to Wisley

There are always some mornings that are better than others. Today was a very trying morning on our poor nerves.

Children. CHILdren. CHILDREN!

Why oh why must you wake up early and come into our bed for snuggles (which is fine, we like this part), but then you wriggle and squirm and poke each other in the eye and pull hair and it always ends in tears.
All your mamma and papa want to do is sleep because it's a SATURDAY!

And so our day started off grumpily.
Mamma was ill and tired because of the baby in her tummy.
Papa was tired because he had been doing the morning shifts all week (because Mamma has been ill and tired because of the baby in her tummy) before going to work each day.
"A foul, sleep-deprived mood" as Austin described it. Not a great way to start any Saturday morning...

The only good things to come out of this morning were:
1. Ciabatta and Boston Bun made by Amazing Husband Of Mine.

2. Our most precious friends came for coffee (and Boston Bun) and brought their calming influence to our household. I love the way that as soon as they turn up our boys drop what they are doing and immediately engage in running/playing/tickling/jumping with two of their favourite people in the world.

After coffee and two slices of Boston Bun {because it really is that good} we decided a drive to a country pub for lunch was in order. So we headed south to a little village called Wisley which Austin and I stumbled upon one rainy day when we were out for a family drive. Love it when that happens - discovering little jewels hidden away off the beaten track.

The pub we lunched at is situated right beside a canal - a lovely old brick building (of course, we are in England!) with thick wooden beams inside, very cosy. AND children friendly! We like that.

Beni had his first taste of hot chips. He liked them. A lot.

After a good hearty meal of fish and chips and burgers (oh, and my side of freshly steamed vegetables... just to help balance out the fat intake from my fish and chips...) we decided upon a stroll along the canal. The rain had gone and left clear blue skies and fresh air in it's wake.

 Of course Thomas Bike came along for the ride and got his wheels very dirty which probably did him good as he's been a bit of a 'city' bike all this time and has never experienced the joys of riding his tyres through muddy puddles. He smiled and played his annoying theme tune and tooted his whistle the whole way.

So what started out being a very sucky day ended up being filled to the brim with fresh air, laughter, good food and the best company.

I highly recommend Escaping To Wisley for lunch at the pub and a walk along the canal with good friends to soothe the soul and let your children blow out their cobwebs.

Wisley may just see us again next Saturday....