Review: Karma Cola

I don't think it's over exaggerating to say that Anthony is addicted to coke - but at least it's the carbonated variety! He can easily get through two big bottles a day so we long ago switched from the usual names to Aldi's own for everyday consumption, but we still splurge a little on branded soft drinks at the weekend. Mostly because that's when I have a glass or two. ;)

It goes without saying that we were both psyched to be given the opportunity to review Karma Cola.

Karma Cola - #DrinkNoEvil

Based in New Zealand, the first batch of Karma Cola was bottled back in 2012 and has been available in the UK since 2015. They sum their approach up as:

LEAVE A BETTER TASTE IN YOUR MOUTH.

We believe what you drink should not only taste good, it should be good for the land, good for the people who grown the ingredients and as good for you as a fizzy drink can be.

Lofty aims for a soft drinks company, but Karma Cola really do put their money where their mouth is. As winner of the 2014 World's Fairest Trader award, they pump funding back into the communities they source their organic ingredients (all passed by The Soil Association) from, either directly or through ethical sourcing. In Sierra Leone, the home of Karma Cola's cola nuts, the people of Boma have been able to make improvements to local infrastructure, education and sanitation as a result of the 3p given from the sale of every bottle - some £50,000 between 2012 and 2015.

In addition to being better for your conscience, Karma Cola is better for your body. Their full list of ingredients is printed on the label of every bottle, and the absence of typical fizzy drink ingredients like phosphoric acid and high fructose corn syrup is really refreshing to see.

Karma Cola - Taste the Justice

Karma Cola comes in 330ml glass bottles with a screw cap which is a little thing, but... The label designs - in fact, all the graphic design associated with the brand - are really cool, so I was pleased I would be able to reuse the bottles before they made their way into the recycling. With the eco and cool credentials covered , it was time to move on to the taste test! First up was the flagship Karma Cola.


The cola was very sweet, and reminded me more of Pepsi than Coca Cola. For the diet conscious, it did fine on the calorie front; 141 to 140 in the same serving of Coca Cola. It was nice, but we both agreed it needed to be served chilled - and would probably have been better with ice to help dilute the sweetness a little. Our verdict: 4/5.


The lemonade was lovely, not too sweet - and not too sharp either. Calorie wise it performed well too, at 132kcal compared to c. 155kcal in a can of Ben Shaws Cloudy Lemonade. We gave this one 5/5.


I absolutely love the design on this bottle and, as Anthony doesn't like ginger ale, I got it all to myself. I didn't feel too guilty either; at 139kcal per bottle it's a little more calorific than say, Schweppes, but not by much. This one was just beautiful, really refreshing and, although we're scoring out of five, my verdict was 6/5!

Karma Cola - Check it Out!

Karma Cola is available from various ethical online stores, and on the shelves at Waitrose for £1.59 a bottle. Find out more about the brand at www.karmacola.co.uk.

Review: Nom Nom Kids Reusable Pouches

Somebody said to me the other day that my reviews are always glowing and positive. Well, that's because I pretty much only review things I am 100% glowing and positive about! The Nom Nom Kids Reusable Food Pouches are no exception to this rule - they are easy to use, kind to both the bank balance and the eco conscience and, most importantly, very popular with a baby named Marianna.

I was super impressed with these, and they also got a seal of approval from Nanny Wendy when we tried them out at my parents' house. We even let Marianna have one in the car which, given Marianna's ability to make mess, is really saying something!

What are Nom Nom Kids Reusable Pouches?

Created by mum of two, Suzanne Moore, Nom Nom Kids came into being when Suzanne was unable to find a reasonably priced - and decently sized - reusable food pouch for her own kids. Most of the ones on the market were either single use, or needed a bulky filling station to get the food into the pouch.

Nom Nom Kids pouches are made of dishwasher and freezer safe plastic, are super easy to fill, and are completely reusable.

How do they work?

The pouches are so straightforward even a kitchen-phobe like myself can use them. There is a zip lock opening running along one side of the pouch - you just open that and pour / spoon in the food. Simple! If you blow into the spout first to fully open the pouch the process is even easier.

Once the pouch is full, just press the opening closed. It has a double zip lock closure and, in spite of my fears, there is no way anything is going to seep out or leak once you've closed it.

Our Experience

I was curious to find out how Marianna would get on with them, as we had never given her anything in a pouch before. She looked at me quizzically for a moment while I demonstrated what she should do with it, and that was that. There was a container full of spaghetti bits in her hands, and she didn't need my help to get it into her mouth!

The Nom Nom Kids pouches are perfect for weaning - you can use it with a spoon attachment, or older babies can hold it themselves - and as they're freezer safe, you can make up a whole batch of them in advance. They're also perfect for on the go snacks, lunchbox essentials (yogurts and suchlike), and allowing kids who have yet to master a spoon to feed gooey foods to themselves.

Marianna's spoon control is almost non-existent, something not helped by the fact she refuses to let me feed her with a spoon, and loses her temper big style after a few attempts to get it in herself. We're still practicing with the spoon, of course, but I've been using these alongside to prevent meltdowns, and to be sure she is eating.

As close as I was allowed to get!

Anything else I should know?

Nom Nom Kids Reusable Pouches come in two different sizes, 140 ml / 4.5floz (jungle animal design) and 200 ml / 7 floz (monster design). They'll both hold a full yoghurt! You can see the difference in size in this pic:


The clear window on the back of the pouch lets you see how much food is left in it, and I love the space on the back for you to write in details about the food - such as what it is, who it belongs to, and when it went in. As that last suggests, Nom Nom Kids pouches are all about safety. The red caps are large enough not to be a choking hazard, while the pouches are BPA, PVC and Phthalate free.

The other great thing about these is that they are compatible with all the existing pouch accessories - like spoons, caps, handles, and spouts - on the market. For more info on what is available, check out the Nom Nom Kids pouch compatibility page. I think the only other thing to be aware of is that you can't microwave them, just heat them in a bowl of water instead.

Where can I buy Nom Nom Kids Reusable Pouches?

In the UK you can purchase them from Amazon, or directly from nomnomkids.co.uk.

The pouches come individually (£2.95 for the smaller or £3.25 for the larger), packs of three (£6.95 vs £7.95), a pack of eight larger pouches for £20, or a weaning starter pack of ten pouches, spare caps, and a non-permanent pen for £20. When you think that each pouch will last around 40 uses - or eight weeks of school packed lunches - that's really good value! You can also get packs of three replacement caps for £1.

Shipping is a flat rate of £2, or free if you spend over £30.

Out and About: Tredegar House

My parents used to take my brother and I to Tredegar House in Newport a lot as children, and it has so many happy memories for us all. So when I was offered a day pass to use as part of the #NTFirst promotion, I jumped at the chance. It's a new National Trust campaign to get people out and about, and enjoying some of our native wildlife.

We hadn't been able to use it over the Easter holidays, as planned, so when the sun came out on Wednesday we decided to grab the opportunity. Marianna, me, Bracken the dog, and my parents all piled into the car for a trip down memory lane...

My brother taking the first step on his future path of bodybuilding and powerlifting at Tredegar House, c. 1994.
Tredegar House

The house is really a mansion. Some parts date back to the 15th century, but most of it is an extravagant 17th century rebuild by William Morgan. It stayed in the Morgan / Tredegar family for centuries, until it was bought by the Catholic Church and converted into a school in 1951, later serving as the first site of St. Joseph's Comprehensive. It was bought by Newport Council in 1974 and finally came into National Trust ownership in 2012. You can read more about the history of the estate at Friends of Tredegar House.

It's a beautiful place to visit, and I love that they have restored different rooms to reflect different periods. There are gilt edged 17th century rooms full of art, glamorous art deco 1930s bedrooms, and somewhat less glamorous servants' areas below stairs. The house is so child friendly, with dress up clothes, activities, and just a really welcoming atmosphere. Outside there are some gorgeous formal gardens too, laid out in 18th century style.

Admission to the actual house is £7.20 per adult, £3.60 per child, or £18 for a family pass. Find out more about the opening times and other details at the National Trust Website. Don't forget to check out the What's On Page for some of the cool activities you can take part in, from 'Meet the Gardeners' sessions to the annual Folk Festival.

Beyond the gardens is the parkland. It's open to everyone, free of charge, and the car park charge is a reasonable £2. (Or free to blue badge holders.) We went to feed the ducks - though they were completely disinterested in our special seed and grain duck mix - and walked down the ancient oak avenue.


Dogs are totally welcome in the parkland, with dog poop bags and bins plentifully provided, so we let Bracken have a run around while we sat in the sun next to rows of daffodils. I dreamed of perfect photos of Marianna against a backdrop of sunny daffs. This the best we could manage:


All the exploring had built up an appetite, so our next stop was the Brewhouse cafe. It serves hot and cold food, but in the end we went for tea and carrot cake - made with organic carrots from the estate's gardens, according to the website. There is a little gift shop next door and, as I've always been addicted to gift shops, we had to have a look around. My mum, exhibiting way more eagerness to get her purse open than I remember from childhood gift shop trips, bought Marianna a little wooden wriggly worm. It's now her new favourite toy.

Marianna was getting a bit grouchy by this point, so we gave in while the going was good and went home for naptime. It was a lovely day though, and I'm sure it will be the first of many many trips there!

Review: The Journey & Flying Eye Books

One of the greatest things about having a child, is having an excuse to read lots and lots of kids' books. The only problem is that I get fussy about the illustration - I want things to either be completely twee and lifted out of an Edwardian nursery, or retro cool and oozing with the design vibe of the 1970s. This is why I've become a fan of Flying Eye Books, the children's imprint of the awesome Nobrow Press.

I love the bold colour palette, and the striking graphics. But FEB don't just look good, they have compelling stories too. (And fab titles - I can't wait for My Dad Used to be So Cool!)

We were sent The Journey by Francesca Sanna to review, and I was really intrigued to see how a book aimed at young children would tackle an issue which so many of us adults find difficult to comprehend - the plight of refugees attempting to reach safety.

The answer: brilliantly.

The art is beautiful, bold and powerful, but still whimsical. The words are carefully chosen, and always feel just right. Marianna is still too young to understand, but I was so moved I cried.

My parents were surprised when they visited and flicked through, drawn in by the gorgeous cover art. They had never really associated picture books with serious messages, but they agreed that it worked well. Because you don't need oceans of text to explain something that impacts on all of us.

We all feel alone and afraid sometimes. We all want to feel safe.

We're all human.

This is an excellent book for starting discussion with children, and helping them to understand stories they hear in the media. You can get it from the Flying Eye Books website for £12.99.

Marianna reading The Journey all by herself. Kind of...
Flying Eye Books also sent us two extra books for Marianna. It was a lovely touch, and we have had great fun reading the counting book Clap, Clap! by Madalena Madoso.

Anthony was especially taken by At the Beach: First Words by Katja Spitzer. In his own words, it was like if 'Ikea did Ladybird', which I think ties into what I so like about Flying Eye Books - they're a modern company, dealing with modern issues, but they haven't lost sight of the traditional values of children's publishing. Learning should be fun, and there is no reason why any book should ever be dull!

Basic HTML For Bloggers

Everything is so automated these days it can seem like you have no reason to learn any HTML. Blogger, Wordpress and all the other platforms have nice clean interfaces for uploading pictures, formatting your text, and anything else you might want to do in your day-to-day blogging. But sometimes they're not working, or perhaps they just seem to be messing up for no apparent reason. That's when a little HTML comes in handy.

What is HTML?

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, which is the standard markup language for creating web pages. As Wikipedia puts it: web browsers use HTML to interpret and compose text, images, and other material into visual or audible web pages.

It started life way back in 1989 when Tim Berners Lee, computer scientist extraordinaire, had the idea of conjoining hypertext and the internet. The result was the World Wide Web! HTML is still constantly evolving; we're currently on the fifth version of the language, HTML5.

How does HTML work?

HTML uses tags to create elements, which come together to form a document.

Or, to put it another way, HTML uses commands written in angle brackets to create an individual component of a web page. Put together, these components will form a - hopefully! - aesthetically pleasing web page when viewed via your web browser.

To give you a quick example of how it works in practice, here are a couple of sentences I wrote using HTML:

Check out this ^AWESOME guide to Pinterest.

- a blogging guide by Babi a Fi.
And here they are without any:

Check out this AWESOME guide to interest. - a blogging guide by Babi a Fi.

Big difference, huh?

What HTML should I know?

As a blogger you won't really use any structural tags - commands which tell the browser about the basics of the page - with, perhaps, the exception of meta tags. They're the ones aimed at search engines, and so are often used for SEO (search engine optimisation) purposes.

This post will focus on giving you a grounding in three areas: Text Formatting, Links and Images.

Text Formatting

There are lots of cool things you can do to your text with HTML. You can make it bold, you can make it italicised, and you can underline it. You can make it _subscript, ^superscript, or strike it through. You can change the font size, colour and even the actual font itself.


To make your text a specific colour, you can use hex codes. Black is #000000, for example, while red is #FF0000. Wiki has a great article on web colours HERE. When you're choosing a font, you can select a back up in case the browser can't display it. Read more about it - and the fonts available - HERE.

Images

Blogging and pretty pictures tend to go hand in hand - and HTML can have almost as big an impact as the effort you took in creating the image in the first place.

Please note that this uses the CSS (cascading style sheets) based 'style' property. CSS helps user interfaces with the presentation of documents in markup language and, although pure HTML attributes are simpler, HTML5 no longer supports them.

Links

We all know how important they are! Here are some of the extra things you can do with them:

Review: The Ashbridge Inn

I was so pleased this week to be asked to review The Ashbridge Inn in Pontrhydyrun, Cwmbran, part of the Table Table restaurant brand. I have lots of memories of visiting The Ashbridge growing up, back when it was part of a different chain - many moments of sibling rivalry were played out to their natural conclusion amidst the organised chaos that was Charlie Chalks' Fun Factory...

When you walk into The Ashbridge today it's like a different world. Gone is the acrid tang of sweaty feet emanating from said Fun Factory and the accompanying screeching, in its place is modern decor, comfy seating, and an atmosphere of cheerful calm.

We - my Mum, Anthony, Marianna and I - went for a late lunch, with the table booked for 1:30pm. As soon as we arrived we were shown to our table, a swanky leather half-moon booth with a view out to the bar, and provided with a highchair for Marianna. She was grouchy and clingy, whingy and loud, but there were lots of other families eating, and the layout of the restaurant gives each table enough privacy that you don't feel as stressed as you otherwise might with a screaming baby.

There were Easter activities available: some awesome looking face painting (which sadly I knew Marianna would not keep still for), and some easter egg colouring sheets with little packs of crayons. We went for the latter which kept her amused while we ordered our drinks and looked through the menu.

No colouring, but the crayons were fascinating enough...
There was such a fab choice of food though, in the end, my Mum and I still opted for our usual gammon steak and chips (£8.79). Anthony had the cauliflower and asparagus macaroni cheese (£7.99). Our food arrived really quickly, and tasted absolutely gorgeous. I find gammon can often be a bit dry when eating out but this wasn't dry at all, something my Mum commented on too. Even Anthony cleared his plate!

I knew Marianna wouldn't eat much, but we decided to order her something from the kids menu and see how she went. I was so impressed with it! You can get two courses from the main kids' menu for £1.99 before 5pm, Mon - Sat, or £3.99 in the evening - even better you can pick and choose from a selection of mains and sides. We settled on poppin' chicken nuggets, skinny cut fries and baked beans. True to form she just picked at it (and threw some chips on the floor *sigh*), but for that value I didn't really mind!

The kids' menu - awesome value for money, and on the back they have a selection of junior meals, smaller versions of adult meals, perfect for youngsters (or oldsters) who can't manage an adult sized portion but feel too grown up for the main kids' range.  You can check the menus out online.
After the main course the staff were around really quickly to clear the plates, and refill the drinks. They were wearing bunny ears in readiness for Easter, and some had gone the full hog and sat for a face painting session. Marianna was most impressed with a minion on one waiter's forehead! The staff were so friendly throughout our entire visit, and I never once felt like Marianna's fussing and grouching was an imposition.

For dessert I chose vanilla dairy ice cream with raspberry sauce (£3.59), Anthony had a scrummy looking chocolate and caramel tart (£4.99), while my mum went for apple and blueberry crumble (£4.49). Marianna had the best dessert of all: the scary face sundae! All the kids' desserts are really cool; my favourite was the 'Graveyard Horror', a wafer coffin filled with chocolate mousse soil, gummy bones and skulls! Other options include a design your own iced biscuit, and lime slime jelly.

I had way too much fun making the face for Marianna.
Again, the desserts were gorgeous, and Marianna forgot her fussiness as soon as ice cream was involved...

It was so lovely to go out for lunch - it's been months since the last time we did - and, although it's a much different experience with a baby than without, the restaurant is so family friendly. The laid back atmosphere, cheerful staff, and the Easter activities going on combined to make us feel really welcome and at ease.


I've been writing about visiting as a family, but the restaurant covers a lot of floor space, and has plenty of private booths - if you visited as a couple, or a group of adults,  I definitely don't think you would feel overwhelmed by children and families, even in the day. There is a nice bar area too, if you're waiting to be seated, or just want a drink, and picnic style benches outside for when the weather is fine. Plus, if you're visiting from further afield, there's a very handy Premier Inn which is literally right next door.

A quick mention of the other amenities: the car park is large and doesn't require any walking, a bus stop on the main route through Torfaen (X24) is situated almost directly opposite, and it's only about a 25 minute walk from Cwmbran Shopping. The loos were spotless, and the dining area itself was really clean too. The value for money was fab. I really couldn't find anything to nitpick about.

In short, I'd recommend The Ashbridge Inn to anyone. I'm sure we'll be making many more visits over the next few years!

Review: One Third Stories

Languages open up a whole world of new opportunities and new experiences, and Anthony and I both determined that Marianna will buck the Welsh trend of rather dismal modern foreign language take up. Welsh is all well and good, of course, but unless you really want to live and work in Wales forever, or just love watching live coverage of Young Farmers' Conference, its use is somewhat limited.

The problem is, how do we introduce languages to young children in a way which makes them both accessible and fun? This is what One Third Stories have set out to accomplish and their approach is really something to get excited about!

Instead of throwing you in at the deep end, or just skirting the edges with a word followed by its translation, One Third Stories substitute English words for their counterparts, relying on the context of the surrounding sentence to clarify their meaning. >br />
This short story follows a little girl who has lost her voice - the first couple of pages are English only, then Spanish words begin to appear as you move through the tale. This is such a fab idea, and feels a very natural way of learning new vocabulary. Enabling children to pick up those key words of the story very quickly is essential, as it inspires them to keep going by proving that they can do it. It's so much better than endlessly reciting the same thing over and over again, the way so many forays into language learning begin.

We were sent a prototype story book before the kickstarter campaign. (You can read more about their journey at the One Third Stories website.) The story was unfinished as they were running a competition for children to write their own ending.

Marianna is obviously too young to come up with an ending for the story herself, so just for laughs I got my big kid (Anthony) to tell us what happens next:


The focus at the moment is on French and Spanish - if you sign up to the One Third Stories website newsletter you get a free introductory audiobook, to try out the method for yourself - but expansion into other languages isn't too far away. I'm going to be following their progress closely!

What do you think? Do you speak any other languages?