Three Cheers!! ‘Little’ dinner parties are back on, and I am ecstatic! I delight in having friends over to eat with us. I adore the preparation, the laying of the table, the lighting of the candles. I love everything there is to love about getting together with those you feel most at ease with. Sharing a meal is so significant to me, even more so since we moved away from our nearest and dearest. It’s a great way for us to spoil new friends, build on friendships and create a real family atmosphere for our children.
Cooking a meal for others really is a great way to show how much you love them; and when I say meal, I mostly mean curry! Nothing warms my heart more than the air filled with the scent of India, the sounds of romantic Hindi love songs playing gently in the background, cutlery hitting plates, sharing plates being passed around and laughter gently powdering the air. Meals like this are the be all and end all for me, and I hope it’s something my children look back on fondly.
Family – परिवार
An ‘Indian Culture Night’ is a great way of getting everyone involved, whilst savouring some of the words most divine spices. There are so many wonderful things to explore when it comes to the diverse and vibrant Indian culture which makes it a great conversation starter. Saturday night was cold and wet here, so an Indian meal was the perfect way to warm things up. We popped Om Shanti Om on (best movie ever) whilst we got to work. We chatted, danced, and the children wrote place cards for everyone in Hindi. It was the sweetest touch to the table.
“There are so many options for people looking to create their own Indian meals at home. It feels to me that there has been a gap in the market for a long time to show people how they can introduce authentic Indian tastes and flavours to dishes beyond just curries” – Beloved chef Anjum Anand, founder of The SpiceTailor
स्वादिष्ट – Delicious
Thankfully, I was fully prepared to create a feast with The Spice Tailor’s incredible meal kits. They have an easy three step process to creating a restaurant quality meal that the children can get involved in. Hurrah! Glass of red wine in hand and three simple steps to create the most authentic curry to wow my guests!
These meals are not only easy to prepare, but they are thoughtfully created, free from artificial preservatives, colours, and flavourings which is always a good thing. The Spice Tailor use natural ingredients to create their simple to use, flavourful sauces, dahl and pastes which means even the least creative cooks can shine.
यादें – Memories
Creating a themed dinner party is so much fun for the whole family. Our table was full. Full of friends, of love, and of laughter whilst brimming with curries and rice, chapatis, naan bread, poppadum and pickles. It was a truly delicious banquet, that we all had a hand in preparing.
What a night to cherish; the beginning of the end of lockdown, celebrating travels to come, India, food, friendship and family; all before diving in to a tray of carefully selected Indian Sweets.
The fondest memories are made, gathered round the table.
In Australia you can find The Spice Tailor range in Coles and Woolworths
*We were gifted The Spice Tailor meal kits however, as always, these are my own words, and my own opinions.
I completely underestimated how I would feel when the postie handed me the box from Moxie. I have been researching, reading, chatting to other mums, and having the odd chat with my girl about what’s to come, but I still feel like I’ve not done enough to prepare her for the arrival of her monthly friend! *mum guilt. Talking periods has never really been something I’ve done (eek), or had to do *yet, so I have recently made more of an effort to open up and start the conversation in order to make it as ‘normal’ as it should be for a young girl.
I vividly remember being dragged through endless awful chats about periods with Ms King, the most ghastly matron at school. My little 9 year old friends and I were too terror stricken to ask questions, too horrified to touch the bible sized sanitary pad and god forbid we giggled! We sat wide eyed, aghast at the very thought of getting ‘The Curse’. Periods were something not to be spoken about outside of those four walls, and each one of us left class safe in the knowledge that whenever the day came, we would bleed to death! Thanks Matron!
Roll on a few years
I’m now well and truly ensconced in womanhood and motherhood, tuns out you don’t bleed to death after all, and now it’s my turn to teach my daughter about all things woman! **Cue little chubby angels singing… As if by magic, not long ago, I stumbled across ‘Welcome to your Period‘ by Yumi Stynes and Melissa Kang. If you’re a mama of girls and haven’t seen this book, you must grab a copy.
It’s like a bible for mums and daughters when it comes to ‘the curse, the monthly’s, Aunt Flo’s visit, Lady time,’ or what ever you like to affectionately name your period! **You’ll be glad to know Matron had no hand in the writing of this book, it’s simply packed with honest words from real teens and hot advice from the experts. Phew! This ‘monthly’s manual’ has been a fab way to start the conversation, answer the gross questions, and put to bed all the horror stories that come from the playground pow wows. It also encouraged me to buy a Period Pack. *I was hell bent on making my own, but.. life….
A recent study found that us girls would rather say anything other than the P word hence there are over 5,000 slang terms for ‘Period’ across the world
If you know me you’ll know that I love a bit of research. Google is my bestie for pointing me in the right direction, I can often be found knee deep in magazines, and Instagram is my go to when I want the perfect gift! I want to see it from all angles, in all kinds of places, worn, thrown on the floor, lying on the kitchen bench, chucked in a pool! I’m all over it! I’m a massive sucker for a pretty parcel! Let it be known, I’m a packaging whore! I will always go for the prettiest box! Whether it’s cereal or makeup, a book or a t-shirt, wrap it up nicely (always with a sticker) and I’m all in! Hey, we all have our ‘things’!
Thankfully the gift I have just researched & purchased for my girl ticked all of my ‘boxes’ and many, many more. Moxie have not only carefully curated their ‘Welcome to Periods‘ box, but they have smashed goals in making it so much more than a box of ‘period paraphernalia’. From the wrapping paper, to the Freckleberry chocolate bar, to the tampons and hot water bottle, it was a gift I wished I’d bought my 11 year old self. *Luckily Moxie do heaps of boxes for those of us who have been in the game a while too. Winning!!
So, how did she take it?
I had no idea how my daughter would feel to receive a ‘gift’ like this. Before it arrived I wasn’t even sure if it could be classed as a gift or more of a ‘tasteful toolbox!’ Honestly I was a little nervous. Would she look at me as if I had gone mad? Would she cringe, grunt and then hide it under her bed? I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Watching her unwrap the gorgeous wrapping covered in hilarious little ‘tampon angels’, cooing over each and every treat she pulled out was a real tearjerker. “Oh I love this mum!” “Look at this!” “Did you see this one mum?” She was thrilled, and I was teary. My girl has everything she needs for the journey ahead, and it couldn’t have been gifted in a more glorious way.
Moxie have not only created a gorgeous gift for girls of a certain age, but they’ve created a moment in time for us Mamas. They have turned what was once a ‘cringefest’ filled with embarrassment and fear, into a beautiful, gentle and exciting pathway to womanhood for our girls.
Most importantly, Moxie have gifted a treasured date in time where Mama and daughter got to pause, chat, giggle and grow together. Moxie gifted us a moment we will treasure forever.
Here’s to raising good women, and here’s to Moxie for the helping hand!
*This is not a paid post, this is a genuine appreciation for a fab product, in amongst a whole lot of spectacular products for women of all ages. Check out Moxie now!
The Wilsons of Oz 