Food Revolution....Yeah!!!!!

Image by marymaddux6272 via Flickr

 So, I am TOTALLY hooked on Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution showing here on TV at the moment. I have been a fan of Jamie's cooking shows and recipes for years now. (His Yorkshire Pudding recipe rocks!)
And I have heard of the good influence he has had in the UK school system.

Kudos to Jamie for coming to America! As far as I have heard, a lot of the food served in schools here (including my own kids elementary school) are fast foods. Yes, I will also say that a healthy alternative is given at some schools - it is at my kids' school anyway. But I am pretty sure that it isn't the case everywhere.

Yes, I am the mother of a very picky 6 year old, who would much rather be eating cookies, candy and ice-cream. And that's all the more reason why I think this programme is so important! The last few weeks in our home come dinner time, has been one of constant negotiations to get him to eat his veggies. I am not one of those mom's who'll cook 3 different meals every night, in order for every family member to eat and be happy. Agree, or disagree with me, but I just won't do it.

Jamie said it perfectly on the show, when he said the kids might not want to drink the natural milk, over the sugar loaded chocolate and strawberry milk. But take the bad options away, and keep giving them the healthy alternative, and they'll get used to it!

Call me the eternal optimist, but I have always dished up mashed potatoes to my 6 year old......
He. HATES. Mashed. Potatoes!
Can that be normal, I ask myself ???? He hates it probably as much as I hate green beans....and that's a LOT!!! But there is a persistent, nagging, motherly trait, deep, deep, inside of me, that believes.....truly believes....that my son will one day wolf down his mashed potatoes with gusto! (It's my dream, and I'm sticking with it!)

So go on people, have a look for the Food Revolution badge on the right of the screen, and click on it to sign the petition to help Jamie make a difference.....you know you want to!

I'm Sorry!!

Yeah, that's me......I'm truly sorry for my extended absence. That thing called life has kept me busy, and the first thing to bear the brunt of this was my blog.

Never fear however, I am BACK!!

It's been a busy few months. Spring has truly sprung here in The Woodlands, Tx, and Easter has come and gone in a flurry of eggs and chocolate. We however, spent the weekend in San Antonio, but that's a post for another day, and you can be sure I'll post lots of photos.

The kids have been busy at school, and I cannot believe there are only 6 weeks of the school year left, and the LONG Summer holiday begins. So, I have been busy helping them with school stuff, and we are attending a Grade 2 musical tonight at Kellan's school, that should be fun!

I'm happy to report that the weather is wonderful, although I believe the dreaded humidity is lurking in the not too distant future. The Woodlands, and the Hill country in Texas are truly beautiful in Spring. With the wildflowers painting the highways and byways in stunning colours of blue (from the Texas state flower Bluebonnet) and other bright colours. I took the following photos on the return trip from San Antonio, after much cajoling on my part in getting the kids to sit amongst the Blue Bonnets, and smile on top of that!

  

I got a few smiles out of them finally.  The wildflowers are a wonderful thing to see, and admire. After the dreary months of Winter, the earth is putting on a glorious display and I just LOVE it!!

Catch up

Well it's been a while since my last post. For some reason I just haven't managed to get the time to sit down and actually write! I have been busy enjoying the new course I am doing, which is tomorrows post (hopefully), and today we are getting some visitors! Yay!!

Our neighbours in South Africa are here visiting their daughter and son who are both staying here in the States. And they have managed to fit in a visit with us, before they go back home. We are all looking forward to catching up.

At last we are experiencing some wonderful Spring weather here in Houston. Blue skies and sunlight...gotta love it!

Today I'm going to show y'all another great advertisement for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. My previous one is over here.

Hope you enjoy it like I did!

Colours of Winter

Now aren't those colours just glorious?

Just goes to show that you can still find beauty in the dead of winter. 
And I didn't have to go far, these beauties were just down the end of my street.

Just wanted to share that with y'all.

I'm talking men's figure skating

I have really been enjoying watching the Winter Olympics over the last few weeks. Especially the figure skating. I love figure skating. And most especially the men's skating. For reason's I can't explain, they just seem more exciting to watch.

To me, this olympics was really exciting because we had the former champion, a Russian by the name of Evgeni Plushenko. And USA's medal hope Evan Lysacek. Both are really good. And great to watch.

In the end Evan Lysacek won the gold for USA, leaving Plushenko visible upset, as he really thought he had nailed it. My favourite was always Lysacek, to me he skated amazingly, and worked really hard for it.

But back to Plushenko. He is very serious on the ice, like a machine, and performs quad and triple jumps like they were cartwheels.
Okay....thats a bad example as I have NEVER been able to do a cartwheel in my life!! But you get the idea!

Anywaaay.....this is a little clip of his free program that led to him getting the silver medal. Just to give you an idea of the caliber of skater that he is.

(Please excuse the foreign commentators throughout the performance, alternately, hit mute!)




How's that???

Well, you can imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this next video of him, performing totally unlike I've seen him perform in competitions. It gave me a very different perspective on Evgeni Plushenko: World Champion.
Now he was channelling Tom Jones: Sex Bomb.

Now if you aren't a fan of Tom Jones and this song (like me), go ahead and hit mute again. But the performance is really funny!