Milan is an expensive city, and when you are visiting on travel it’s probably even more difficult to have dinner without spending a fortune. During the day the ubiquitous bakeries allow you to eat on a budget easily but at night it’s easy to have to shell out a small fortune for a dinner, however nice it may be. If you take into account that children’s menus and small portions are hard to find, then the bill will be even higher for families with small children.
A nice solution might be to make the best of the Milanese aperitivo or “happy hour”. The hour is happy not because you get two drinks for the price of one, but because by paying for a drink you get unlimited access to a free buffet.
Most bars now, after 6 pm, will offer way more than a few crisps and a bowl of olives. The quality of the food will obviously depend on the venue, but most of them will offer some pasta or rice, focaccia and fritata, cold cuts, raw vegetables and many styles of bruschetta-style nibbles. More than enough for a light dinner and definitely food that appeals to children.
I have already written about an aperitivo option in Milan but the peculiarity of what has become a habit here has attracted the attention of Matt Gross, the NYT Frugal Traveller, who has spent a whole week in Milan without ever paying for food at dinner! (You can find all his suggestions and comments here.)
Actually, it is the best things in life that are free! A cliché but oh, so true. In a quest to live more simply and to try and instill this truth in my children, I have been trying to entertain them these term holidays with ‘nature inspired’ activities and simple pleasures. Homemade picnics in the garden, collecting pebbles and leaves to paint, walking rather than driving, and so forth.
Now in doing so I am learning 3 things – one, my children know a lot more about recycling than I do, even my 4-year-old (for this I have their school to thank!). Two, my kids are quite happy living more ‘simply’; they have much more of a respect for and interest in nature and their planet than I ever had, which I am ashamed to admit but of which I am so, so proud (and which I am determined to keep fostering as I learn too, with them). And three, that in Melbourne you can treat your children to the most beautiful nature attractions without needing to pay for the pleasure as you do with so many other activities – they are ‘free’, indeed just as they should be, for everyone to enjoy.
This gorgeous garden is designed specifically for children to enjoy and explore and is enclosed with only one gate in and out. It is full of interesting and interactive spots where children can play and hide, dig, climb, paddle and generally have a wonderful time learning about plants, conservation and the environment first hand. There is a wetland, a rainforest, a bamboo forest, a rocky gorge, a ruin garden with an ancient redgum, plant tunnels and a winding “river” meandering around grassy mounds. There is also a fantastic kitchen garden planted with seasonal crops.
The garden is really a great day out for all, children and adults alike (afterall, who isn’t wowed by gigantic vegetables?) and a cheap one too (well….that is, providing you don’t read the parking signs incorrectly and incur an astronomical parking ticket as I did on my last trip!)
Just don’t forget to pack the homemade picnic or you may have to rely on supplies from the ‘Observatory Cafe’ – very delicious but can be a little pricey…
My kids tear their clothes like it is going out of fashion. I’m constantly finding scuffed-up knees on their jeans, torn tops and unexplained holes on the seats of their pants! The fact is: kids are always going to tear their clothes. And while the ripped jeans look has never been my thing, I am just not willing to throw clothes away anymore. So I have started patching their clothes, just like in the good old days.
I am not any good at making an invisible patch like my grandmother used to make, so I’ve decided not to even try and instead make a statement with my patches. I actually reckon it should be called customising not patching! Here’s what you’ll need:
-Fabric scraps
-Some Thermobind (which you can get in most haberdashery shops or departments, its like an iron on double-sided sticky tape for fabric)
-A couple of cute designs (my kids are lucky enough to have a dad who is an illustrator and sketched these little shapes in 2 minutes)
-A pen
-A pair of scissors
Print out the shapes (above) and cut out. Cut out a piece of fabric roughly the size of the patch needed and cut a piece of Thermobind a little bit smaller. Iron on the Thermobind as instructed on the pack. Put the shape on the paperside of the Thermo and trace around it (I normally pin them down so that they don’t move around while I am tracing). Cut out the shape.
The patch is now ready to be ironed over your hole. It is really quick and easy and “customising” is lot cheaper then buying new clothes all the time!
A while back I stumbled across this website when I was looking for ideas on how to add a bit more pizzazz to the girls’ room. I am not what you call “gifted” when it comes to home decor but I had to give myself a major pat on the back for what I was able to accomplish for around $75 and a half hour of work. Wall decals offer a quick, easy and inexpensive way to change a room in minutes and I when I scattered these sunburst circles on the wall it brightened up the space instantly. What’s even better is that when you need a change down the road you can just peel them off. I am thinking of investing in their chalkboard stick-ons to write out my weekly schedule and they recently launched a line of items to dress up a laptop. Scribble on Everything offers “Plastic Surgery for your Walls” and I get a kick out of just reading their website because whoever is in charge over there is really funny – just read their “How To” section.
I was reading yesterday that even London fashion week has gone back to basics. As the Guardian reported, instead of last year’s sashimi, this year simple Croque Monsieurs — otherwise known as plain old grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, are all the rage. After all, there is no food more cheap, cheerful and comforting as melted cheese on a buttered grilled piece of bread.
And this is my favourite way of making a Croque Monsieur:
Croque Monsieur for 4 people:
-8 big slices of Poulaine Bread (I love Poulaine bread, but any type of sour dough bread works)
-4 slices of ham
-3 good healthy handfuls of gruyere cheese
-butter
-1 egg
Bechamel sauce:
-200 ml milk
-1 tablespoon of flour
-20 g butter
To make the bechamel sauce: Melt the butter in a pan and add in the flour. Gradually add the milk, mixing constantly to avoid lumps. When the sauce starts to thicken continue cooking it for 2 minutes and then let it cool down to make the Croque Monsieur. (If you want to be really decadent, add an extra handful of gruyere to the bechamel).
Beat the egg and mixed it together with the cheese. Generously butter the slices of bread. Place a slice of bread with the buttered side down on a grill pan. Add on a slice of ham and some of cheese on top of the slice of bread and close the sandwich with a second slice of bread this time with the butter side facing up. Spread some bechamel sauce on top of the sandwich and finish off with more cheese. Repeat with the rest of the sandwiches and then grill until all the cheese is melted.
Now this is the basic recipe. Here are some of the variations I have come up with:
I love adding some mustard onto my bread and some tomatoes, but my girls hate it!
Add a fried egg on top of the croque to turn the Croque Monsieur into a Croque Madame.
And finally the vegetarian option, leave out the ham and add in sundried tomato or olive tapanade.
Oh, and if you serve it with a green salad dressed with vinaigrette, I promise you will feel like you are sitting at a bistro in Paris! Enjoy!
Speaking about Simple Living — what better family entertainment can you think of than old-fashioned parlour and board games?? I think my kids are probably too little for strategy classics such as Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, or Monopoly— but I can’t wait until they are big enough because I just LOVE to sit around a big table and play games!
I recently challenged my husband to a few games of Scrabble (he lost), and it brought back such great memories of playing Scrabble with my mum on a winter evening. My grandmother and I have played endless rounds of RummyCub, so cosy…
As a student I played loads of Yahtzee with my housemates (still love the mix of strategy and luck; did you know dice were found in Egyptian tombs?). And Twister! Such fun!!!
The great benefit of playing parlour games (over f.i. watching television or playing computer games), apart from being fun and cheap, is that you’re interacting. Children learn to follow rules, wait for their turns, and to correct and challenge each other. It trains their strategic thinking and problem solving abilities, and can improve their skills. They also have to deal with the emotional consequences of their games: handling loss, helping a friend to handle a loss, and being a gracious winner…
To celebrate our ‘Simple Life’ theme week I have put together a tutorial on how to make a girl’s tunic out of an old shirt.
Here is the thing: shirts fray first at the collar and at the cuffs though the rest of the shirt is still in perfect condition. The material shirts are made out of is perfect for a little girl’s tunic, so why not try and recycle the shirt and give it a new lease of life? The best part is that the buttons and button holes are already made, saving you a huge amount of work.
I got together with my friend Purvika, the owner of bebe bunting and a really talented, creative girl and away we went, making a tunic for my 18-month-old, Violette.
I have to say, I am quite pleased with our result! It is very simple, but I think it works well and is an easy pattern to start off with. If you want, you can add on appliqués, trimmings, ribbons, etc. after finishing off the tunic (I added on a little bit of smocking on the front). You can even make it longer and make it into a dress. The sky is the limit.
Here is the tutorial:
Print out the pattern part 1 and part 2, and cut it out. Start by cutting out the front, back and the sleeves. We used the same pattern for the front and back as we wanted to keep the pattern as simple as possible and it worked well.
To make the front and back panels of the tunic:
Lay out the shirt flat with the buttons facing down. Fold the shirt lengthwise in half, with the button exactly on the fold. Now place the pattern on the shirt, placing it even with the folded edge of the shirt. The pattern should be placed on the shirt so that you have a 1 cm allowance over the first button at the top of the panel. Cut out the panels. After the pieces are cut out and unfolded, they will become full size panels.
To make the sleeves:
Align the sleeve pattern with the fold on the sleeve and cut out, repeat with the other sleeve.
To make the bias for the neck:
Use some of the remaining fabric to make some bias binding. Cutting on bias simply means cutting a 3 cm wide by 20 cm long strip of fabric on a diagonal. Fold it in half widthwise and now you have a perfect strip of bias to finish the neck opening later on.
To sew the front and the back panels:
Pin together the front and the back panels right sides together and sew together on the sides and on the shoulders.
To sew the sleeves:
Fold the raw edge of the end of the sleeves twice out 0.5 cm towards the wrong side and press to make a neat hem. Top stitch the hem of the sleeves. Now pin together the sides of the sleeves right side on right side and sew.
Sew the bodice and sleeves together:
Turn the tunic top inside out with the seams facing outwards and insert the sleeves, with the right side facing out, into the sleeve openings. Make sure you align the seam on the sleeve with the seam on the bodice.
Finish off the neck:
Pin the bias around right side of the neck opening . Sew around it, leaving an extra cm allowance on each end.
Trim off the excess fabric on the seam, fold the bias to the inside of the tunic and iron it down flat so that it makes a neat finish. Tuck in the excess bias at the end.Topstitch all around the neck opening.
Sadly, I don’t read very many books these days. In fact, I’ve only read two in the past year! But thankfully one of them was a book that has completely changed my life: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.
The book is a memoir about Kingsolver and her family who spent a year living on a farm, eating off the land or buying only locally grown provisions. Kingsolver walks you through the year, month by month, discussing the ups and downs of farming, which vegetables are in season and why it’s important to eat organically and seasonally in order to avoid pesticides and food miles. She also provides the occasional recipe for simple but tasty meals.
Reading the book made me long for a more simple life, one spent on a farm, enjoying time with my family, appreciating the land and the food it makes. It’s a wonderful book filled with Kingsolver’s famous wit and warmth, and I could not recommend it more highly.
In the Netherlands, it’s quite normal to reuse your shopping bags. Plastic bags are available at the supermarkets, but you have to pay for them them and they’re not even that cheap! For as long as I can remember, I have brought my own bags to the supermarkets, and even as a little girl I recall my grandma and mum bringing their big canvas shopping bags on their weekly trips to the supermarket.
Imagine my surprise when I first went to the States as a teenager, and there were people at the end of the conveyor belt packing our groceries in an endless stream of plastic bags! Not only didn’t we have to bring our own canvas bags, we also were spared the trouble of packing everything! Such luxury, I thought!
Looking back, now that our world is overflowing with plastic bags, our Dutch system of bring-your-own-bags isn’t too bad. Although I wouldn’t mind the help at the end of the conveyor belt, especially now that those cashiers or so SUPER fast — I can’t keep up with them, it’s seriously stressful!!
I while ago I blogged about ZPM’s Trolley Dolly, and I’m still religiously bringing my Trolley Dolly to the supermarket every week. It’s SO handy! The fifteen-or-so bags are great: big, sturdy and colour coded might you wan to go that far (I’m too stressed about the race-packing everything to even consider colour-coding).
ZPM now also has a baby version, the Bagz, with 3 or 5 bags in a pouch. As they state — there’s no excuse anymore to be caught without a bag!
I remember my mum used to make playdough for me when I was a kid — I LOVED it! When I was old enough I started making the dough myself, and made Christmas and Easter decorations out of it! I remember that I preferred to make plain playdough, without colouring, and paint and lacquer the pieces when it was thoroughly dry.
For our Simple Living theme week I decided to try to make playdough with my kids and it was an instant success! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before — it’s made in less than 5 minutes from cheap ingredients that are always in the cupboard, it’s completely natural and earth-friendly, and what child doesn’t like to have their hands in the dough?
Here’s how to make the dough (my way):
-2 cups of plain flour
-3/4 cup of salt
-3/4 cup of water
-1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
Knead well, add more water if too dry and more flour if too wet. To glue one piece of dough to another it’s best to use a little bit of water. Dry for a couple of days at room temperature to paint and lacquer or keep in a plastic bag for future use… (Just add a bit of water when it gets too dry). Have fun!!
Last year I did something really quite indulgent but worth every penny. I hired a “wardrobe consultant/stylist” to come in and help me de-clutter and organize my very messy and chaotic closet.
Her job: 1) toss what is heinous, dated and does not fit 2) make a list of what was missing and 3) not make fun of me for being a hoarder.
When she left, I kid you not, there was basically a lonely hanging t-shirt swinging in the breeze and I was sitting between two ginormous heaps of clothing to give away.
It was emotionally draining, sad and scary….but mostly FREEING!!! The clutter was gone!
It really did feel great — not just from an organizational standpoint but emotional one as well. Even better, I was able to donate all of my old work suits, never worn items, things with the tags still on to a girl’s garage sale in my neighborhood and raise money for charity. Like they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Someone out there was going to be delighted that I parted ways with my light-wash boot cut jeans and boxy, unflattering sweaters.
Another fun thing to do is to host a girl’s cocktail clothing swap. Everyone brings a bottle of wine and a giant bag of clothing and you trade the night away. Get a whole new wardrobe for free!
Simplifying your life, starting with your closet, is a good way to start the process. It’s the first thing we face when we start our day and I must say, there is nothing better then having fewer options to choose from than more. Having a lot of stuff can be emotionally taxing and you can wind up like these people. (I am totally obsessed with this show by the way.)
Frittata is a delicious and extremely simple dish that you can find in any Italian region. Everybody has their own special recipe for it — which means that you just can’t go wrong. Whomever the cook, a frittata will always contains eggs (obviously), typically one or more vegetables, often some cheese and possibly some ham. It’s different from a French omelette because it is more set and it is delicious even hours after being cooked. And it’s different from a Spanish tortilla because the vegetables need not be fried and it is usually much thinner.
Frittata is a great way to use leftover vegetables; honestly it does not matter how little of them you have left, there will always be enough for a frittata (a bit like when you make a quiche). I find it’s also a good and sneaky way to make your children eat veggies; my son is really picky with green stuff but will eat a (partially green) frittata.
Frittata is also great for aperitivo and dinner parties — just cut it into squares and let your guests help themselves! It is best if a bit warm but it is delicious even at room temperature.
The most common frittata are with courgette, onions and spinach but you can make them with mushrooms, peas, tomatoes, broccoli and also can add parmesan, other cheese, ham or bacon to it. Let your imagination (and your fridge) inspire you!
The following recipe requires a 26/28 cm non-stick pan and will serve 3 or 4 people as a main course.
Frittata
6 eggs
salt
pepper (optional)
about 1 cup of cooked vegetables (courgette)
2 tbsp of parmesan
olive oil
Beat the eggs until smooth, add salt and pepper. If the vegetables are in big chunks you may want to cut them in smaller pieces or mash them with a fork. Then mix the vegetables with the eggs, they should not be too hot (otherwise the eggs will start cooking when in contact with the piping hot veggies) and add the parmesan if you like.
Heat 1 or 2 tbsp of olive oil in the non-stick pan (26 or 28 cm), then pour the egg mixtures, lower heat and cover with a lid. The thicker the frittata the lower the heat, this will ensure it will cook thoroughly without burning on the outside.
While it cooks you should check with a spatula that the frittata is not sticking to the pan. Once the bottom is cooked and the upper part looks less runny but still soft, you have to turn the frittata. Experts do flip it in the air with a clever wrist move, but I don’t. Just use the lid and slide the frittata on it then rapidly turn the lid over to the pan and let the frittata complete the cooking.
Now cut it in squares or wedges — it depends on the size of the party!
For a printable version of this recipe, click here.
Yes, simple ideas are often the best and two of the places I go for them are the blogs of illustrator, interior designer and all-round creative Antonia Pesenti and Brooke Reynolds from Inchmark Journal. Antonia once did a post on painting with water on concrete, and often I think of it because it’s simple, easy and completely un-messy. Likewise I really enjoy the books Brooke shares on her blog and her craft and cooking projects too. Well worth a look.
Last fall Esther wrote a really cute post about collecting acorns and chestnuts and turning them into little ‘chestnut chaps’. I thought it was such a cute idea and definitely worth repeating for this theme week. I love the idea of bundling up your family and taking a long walk together to collect nuts and leaves. And making the little men (and animals) is easy — you just poke some wooden skewers or matchsticks into the chestnuts and form them however you wish. A really simple project, perfect for this time of year.
We are getting ready to move. Again. The third time this year. Phew! All I can say is that my kids have been great, and nothing entertains them more than playing with cardboard boxes. On our first move, from Paris to DC, my then 3½-year-old spent hours using rolls of colorful electrical tape to decorate the boxes with her stuff in them. This time around, both my daughters are having loads of fun playing in the boxes — playing peek-a-boo, house, you name it, they play it. It keeps them both entertained, and it doesn’t cost a thing!
For this theme week, I thought I’d do a quick look around the web to see if there were other inspiring projects to do with boxes… here is what I found:
–About.com: Family Crafts articles on how to make a princess castle, a Lego costume, a pizza costume, and more!
– Talkingchild.com: how to make a puzzle, a doll house, and a dragon out of smaller (shoe box sized) boxes.
Courtney and I have had more than one discussion about ‘which bib is best’. Amongst the two of us and in the past 4 years we have tested a fair amount of different varieties and in the end we have both agreed on our all-time favourite bib. (We also talk about other things, BTW, but we seem to have a strange interest in bibs).
The advantage of our favourite bib is that it’s so big it covers a lot of your child, including the shoulders. It is made of terrycloth, which makes it ideal to use as a napkin during dinner or to wipe faces and hands with afterward. It can be washed at high temperatures, doesn’t require ironing at all and still looks great. It is super durable – it is well possible that my grandchildren will be using these bibs! And last but not least, they are easy and cheap to make yourself: you can use any old towel you have around and for the binding you can use any old piece of fabric you have left over from previous sewing projects. You’re free to make your own colour combinations — the possibilities are endless! And you can make plenty – I always have a nice, clean stack of these bibs on hand.
Now, even though I love sewing, I’m not at all an expert in this field, so forgive my clumsy way of explaining everything… But I made a bib for my son, Pim, from a kitchen towel and photographed the different steps in the process to give you an idea of how to do it…
Step 1:
Print these 2 download-able patterns: here (1) and here (2). Cut out and stick together following the directions.
Fold fabric (if there’s a print, make sure it will look good) and cut out bib. Don’t cut where the fold is! Don’t worry about seams — there are none.
Step 2:
Cut out 4 cm (1,6″) strips from any cute fabric you have laying around. Iron strips in half lengthwise, then iron edges to fold as shown in pictures. You need about 120 cm (47″) and 90 cm (35″) of binding. (You can also use store bought binding.)
Step 3:
Pin binding around bib at straight edges. Fold binding at the corners as shown in picture. Sew binding to bib. Cut off excess binding at neck part.
Step 4:
Pin binding neatly around neck part of bib. Start in the centre of the circle (with the middle of the binding) and work towards edges. Sew. (The neck part looks sort of tiny but it’s correct!)
Step 5:
Presto!
Step 6 (optional):
I made a little doll bib from the leftover terry cloth and binding, here’s the free download-able pattern. You need about 15 cm (6″) of binding for the neck part, and 82 cm (32″) for the bib part and tie strings. In this case you first start with the neck part and after sew on the bib part (including tie strings).
I hope this explanation is clear enough — the bib is really easy to make! Honestly, it took me much longer to write these instructions down than to make the bib and the doll’s bib together!
xxx Esther
P.S. For on the go: fold bib lengthwise, roll up starting from bottom, tie with tie strings.
P.P.S. These bibs are more suitable for 1+ than for babies!
The credit crunch has been a bit of a wake-up call for all of us. It seems as if nowadays we’re focusing more on what really matters, on the good things in life, our families, our health, our planet. In light of this new world order we at Babyccino have decided to focus our writing for the next week on the simple way of life. So… stay tuned for Babyccino’s Simple Living theme week!
We have come up with some great craft ideas, inexpensive recipes, recycling projects, simple sewing ideas and lots more!! It has been really fun to come up with simple things to do with and for your family.
We hope you enjoy this week and please do share your own “simple” projects with us. We’re sure that you have some great ideas and we would love to hear them!
Milan is an expensive city, and when you are visiting on travel it’s probably even more difficult to have dinner without spending a fortune. During the day the ubiquitous bakeries allow you to eat on a budget easily but at night it’s easy to have to shell out a small fortune for a dinner, however nice it may be. If you take into account that children’s menus and small portions are hard to find, then the bill will be even higher for families with small children.
Michela in Milan
October 10th, 2009
1 comment
I was reading yesterday that even London fashion week has gone back to basics. As the 
Last year I did something really quite indulgent but worth every penny. I hired a “wardrobe consultant/stylist” to come in and help me de-clutter and organize my very messy and chaotic closet.
Frittata is a delicious and extremely simple dish that you can find in any Italian region. Everybody has their own special recipe for it — which means that you just can’t go wrong. Whomever the cook, a frittata will always contains eggs (obviously), typically one or more vegetables, often some cheese and possibly some ham. It’s different from a French omelette because it is more set and it is delicious even hours after being cooked. And it’s different from a Spanish tortilla because the vegetables need not be fried and it is usually much thinner.
