Big steps for little feet
It’s been a fairly momentous month in the Allergen Dad household. Things have moved on a lot since I last posted a blog: Dragon is now 9 months old and, judging by her appetite, enjoying the full capability of those ever-so-sharp two bottom teeth that she’s so proud of. Piglet has just turned 6 and…
9-bar, finely ground bean water
Sounds nice doesn’t it? No? How about medium-dark roasted coffee beans grown at high altitude, finely but consistently ground into a light powder, tamped tightly into a ~18g ‘puck’, pre infused with near-boiling water and then perfectly extracted by (optimally) high pressure water for roughly 30 seconds to make a tiger-striped, aromatic, crema-topped velvety 40g…
New Job
Thoughts on a first day Well… not quite the start to my first day in a new job I was hoping for. I arrived at Slough train station in plenty of time only to find that all trains running between London Paddington and Reading were suspended. Roughly 90 mins later I was finally on a…
All change please!
Change I’m not sure I’ve ever been particularly good at it. I remember (or have reconstructed the memory from having it recounted to me) that we were meant to move house when I was little. In ways I can entirely relate to now, we had, then, outgrown our Victorian terrace home and needed something with…
2022: Two too
Well it’s been a long time! Apparently May was my last blog post but in truth I haven’t been that active as Allergen Dad across 2021 at all. There are multiple reasons for this but actually I’m much more interested in looking forwards at this point than looking back. There are some big things to…
Sleep, oh how I miss you…
It’s going to get worse… That’s the sad truth of the matter! We have a second child coming in August and although I have blocked out any memory of the sleep deprivation that comes with a newborn child, I am painfully aware of the fact I will be a walking zombie by the end of…
A little news…
August 2021: Freedom from lockdown, socialising in pubs and restaurants, vegan ice-creams in the unpredictable British sunshine, and (hopefully) a little brother or sister for Piglet. Yes, as quite a surprise to us, it seems that we are going to have a second child! For those who of you who have followed our story closely,…
Chocolate Easter Egg Review
I do realise that this is all in the wrong order in the sense that it’s now too late for you to stock up on Easter eggs for this year but I still think it’s worth letting you know what we thought of them in general, in terms of ‘free from’ chocolate. As discussed in…
Absence makes the heart grow fonder (for chocolate!)
Hello! Remember me: the dad of one who over-shares about allergic reactions and claims to blog about the challenges of feeding someone with multiple allergies but mostly just ponders on the beautiful futility of self-guided parenthood? It’s been a while! I kinda missed 2020. Not to be confused with the phrase “I miss 2020”, that…
Lockdown v2.0
Here we are again… A country-wide lock down enforced across England until the 2nd December. Although, lets be honest, that feels like a slightly plucked-out-of-the-air date at the moment. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it right now; a little overwhelmed if I’m honest: I’m hoping the following paragraphs will give me a…
Bored? Board Games!
I am absolutely loving playing board games with Piglet now that the clocks are going back and our daylight is shrinking. We’ve played things like Ludo and Snakes and Ladders for a while but he used to struggle to stay with the game and, while keen to start, would often get distracted. Since he’s started…
And so to bed…
The bedtime routine, or lack of it, is an intensely personal part of parenthood. For many it’s an exquisite coordination of intimate down time; for others it’s the gathering of the herd. I think we’re pretty lucky in that bedtime for us is generally a happy and shared experience but it’s also a time of…
And so to school
It starts! My little Piglet, the little smiling boy who only a few weeks ago (in my chronologically muddled daddy mind) was a giggling bouncing little baby, has only gone and started school. He turned four earlier this year, it’s now September and so, with all the predictability of a small child forgetting to cover…
A tart for all the family
Quick post this time. Just wanted to share a pudding that my wife made last week that was gone before you could say “low-fructose, gluten-free millionaire cheesecake pie?” I think what surprised me most about it is that the tart seems to be more than the sum of its parts. All three of us (with…
An allergy by any other name
I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’ve been working on this blog post for quite a while now. I struggle to articulate my thoughts on the subject and feel a sort of guilt that I don’t have clearer views – especially considering how much it underpins this blog. And so, to guide you…
Oh Ella…
Ella Woodward has been a (virtual) part of our lives for a couple of years now. She might not be a name you’ve heard of before but you may well have seen her blog, heard her podcast, or (most likely) seen her products in your supermarket. She is more commonly known as “Deliciously Ella” and…
Mortality
*Trigger Warning* I’ve never felt the need to write one of these before but I can see why this might be a difficult blog post for some to read. Unsurprisingly, given the title, this contains discussions about death. Well… That was not the lunchtime I’d expected… Piglet has been really enjoying two of the great…
The Hike
A gentle stroll in the park. Well, actually a pretty long stroll for a 4-year old who did remarkably well – all things considered. We planted the idea a few weeks ago. I can’t remember what got us talking about it but I mentioned how much I loved walking in hills and mountains. I guess…
Oh for the joy of a curry
Spice. Aromatics. Chillies. Poppadoms. Chutneys. These are a few of my favourite things… From as soon as I learnt to cook, and definitely by the time I was fully self-sufficient at university, I have adored cooking (admittedly heavily anglicised) Indian food. In fact, it was a chicken curry bought from a local takeaway back in…
Running: the long road run to recovery
This is me! No, I’m not about to start singing the back catalogue of ‘The Greatest Showman’, although if you don’t know what I’m talking about you should give it a listen… No, this is me after completing a 10 mile run last weekend. Please forgive me, I’m not trying to brag (although I am…