Madhouse diaries : Bouncy castle fun

A couple of weeks ago, the town centre was completely taken over with a load of bouncy castles. As it was free, we decided to head over for a look, despite the decidedly grey skies.

The sun was missing but we did have palm trees - inflatable ones at that !

Pierre took it all very seriously when trying to shoot the hoops - easier said than done on a bouncy castle !

It was even harder for Juliette because she did it properly and strapped herself in to the big elastic band that was pulling her back every time she tried to go forwards !

I think the squeals on the death slides were an indication of how much fun they were having (judging by the smiles afterwards !).

Some refreshments were in order and these brightly coloured slushies got a big thumbs up.

Where do they get all their energy ?! Pierre was half asleep on the bus back home though !

Dvd review : Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

Move over Thelma and Louise, there's a new road trip movie in town and it features probably the cutest and definitely the furriest boysband, Alvin and the Chipmunks !

In this latest Chipmunks film, Alvin, Simon and Theodore's human friend/father figure/owner (we can never decide how to define him !) Dave has a new girlfriend and, while she's nice enough, her teenage son Miles would be the brother from hell, so the furry trio decide to race to Miami and stop him popping the question. With a hostile air marshall hot on their heels, they ditch the plane and go cross country instead in a wild road trip leading to hilarious hijinks and music-packed adventures across the country.

The plot's on the thin side and the gags are a bit weak but anyone under the age of ten will be in hysterics and I defy you, whatever your age, not to have the Chipmunks' version of Uptown Funk on the brain for days afterwards !

The Ultimate Playlist is featured on both Blu-ray and dvd, providing all the songs in their various forms, including the sing-alongs, dance-alongs, and lyric music videos. We always like to have a couple of duvet days during the holidays (there are always a couple of rainy days) and this is ideal as a family movie to keep the kids happy. Don't forget the popcorn !

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip is out now on Digital HD, Blu-ray and DVD

star rating : 4/5

• Classification: U
• Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: 20 Jun. 2016
• Run Time: 92 minutes

Disclosure : We received the dvd in order to write an honest review.

Summer holiday fun whatever the weather with Zuru ! (review)

In just a few short weeks, school will be over for another year and the long summer holidays will be laid out before us like a blank canvas, waiting to be filled with summer fun activities and days out. I've been asking the Madhouse kids what they'd like to do and one of the first things they all said was water fights. Hmmm.

I remember having fun with water bombs when I was a kid myself but when you're a grown-up, it's such a chore because it takes absolutely ages filling them all up at the tap, not to mention getting soaked (minus the fun) when one falls off too early and the water sprays everywhere or hurting your fingers tying them all up one by one. Well, help is at hand, with Zuru's Bunch o Balloons, that promises to fill and tie 100 balloons in just 60 seconds. Here's the trailer to show you show it works.

I'll admit it, I was dubious, because it sounded too good to be true, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say, and it really does live up to the hype. You just attach the contraption to a hose and the water trickles down into the straws attached to each separate water bomb. The snazziest bit is the self-sealing bands that "tie" the water bombs all by themselves when they're full - you just gently shake them off.

It's so simple that it's every parent's dream, especially if you've got kids who love water fights. Each Bunch O Balloons contains 35 water bombs and you get 3 bunches in the box so there are plenty to play with. They are also biodegradable which is great news because I always spend ages picking up bits of broken balloon usually. Bunch O Balloons will be taking water fights to epic levels, extending their range to include Launchers, Slime balloons and blasters, which sound like even more fun !

Currently available in the UK are the X-SHOT BUNCH O BALLOONS 3pck (RRP £9.99), X-SHOT BUNCH O BALLOONS LAUNCHER PACK (RRP £14.99) and X-SHOT BUNCH O BALLOONS VALUE LAUNCHER PACK (RRP £24.99).

If the weather doesn't play game and you need some indoor fun, Zuru have that covered too with their Hamsters In A House playsets. We received the Supermarket playset, but there is also a Little Hamster House (£9.99) and Hamster and Accessory Packs (£7.99) for you to add to your collection.

There are nine hamsters for you to choose from, which come in a variety of colours and they are all very cute. They remind me very much of a slightly smaller version of Zhu Zhu Pets and they have just as many fun activities to get involved in, such as buzzing, scooting and scurrying around and even ... pushing round a little shopping trolley ! They need a watch-type battery but the great news is, it's comes pre-installed.

The Supermarket playset contains 20 different pieces, including one hamster, a six piece plastic track, a trolley, the shop, groceries (grapes, tomatoes, bananas, milk, ...) and a checkout. There is a turntable which you can use to drop the chosen food down a chute into your hamster's trolley before he pushes it round the track to the checkout and the cards displaying the produce can be swapped over to change the backdrop.

If you buy extra playsets, they can be added on to create a big hamster world. The hamsters are also happy to scurry across tables or hard floors and they go quite fast so there are guaranteed giggles !

Hamsters In A House Super Market (RRP : £19.99, Ages 4+)

Disclosure : We received the products in otrder to write an honest review.

Book review : Deadly Diplomacy - Jean Harrod

Deadly Diplomacy is the first book in Jean Harrod's Diplomatic Crime Series featuring British Consul Jessica Turner. Doing things backwards, I've just read and reviewed the second book in the series, Deadly Deceit, which saw Jess sent off on a new assignment to the Turks & Caicos Islands in the Caribbean. Both books can be enjoyed as stand-alone novels in their own right, but it was interesting to see the background story and the developing relationships between the characters.

In Deadly Diplomacy, Jessica is based in Canberra and finds herself sent to Brisbane to liaise with police and support the family following the brutal murder of a young British businesswoman. Jess ends up being the only person that the dead woman's journalist sister will trust so she finds herself dragged deeper and deeper into a dangerous cat-and-mouse game in which the body count, and Jess's uneasy sense of being followed, grows ever greater.

It's interesting to see a diplomat as the main protagonist of a crime fiction novel, although she does work closely with a rather brusque Aussie cop, DI Tom Sangster (who becomes more pleasant as the story progresses). The plot is fast-paced and the suspense is maintained right to the very end because there are numerous characters who could all turn out to be the bad guy. I thought the villain's motives were slightly flimsy so his character could have done with being further developed, but overall it's an enjoyable read that has left me wanting to follow the further adventures of Jess, who seems to be a magnet for trouble, danger and excitement.

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £6.99

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: York Authors Coffee Shop; Second edition (28 Feb. 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0992997135
• ISBN-13: 978-0992997137
• Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 2.7 x 19.9 cm

Disclosure : I received a copy of the book in order to write an honest review.

Get ready for a new pocket money craze - Tsum Tsum Squishies ! (review)

Pierre and Juliette are both obsessed with Tsum Tsums. They've been collecting the plush toys for a while now and as soon as they have enough pocket money, they always want to head to the toy shop to see if they have any new ones.

I didn't believe Juliette when she told me that they were designed as screen cleaners but she showed me on the label and I had to admit she was right ! I've told her it's a bad idea though because her beloved plush collectibles would end up very grubby (and I was also a bit concerned about them scratching the screen).

Tsum Tsums have now been given a new lease of life in Tsum Tsum Squishies, which are smaller, cuter and squishier versions of the original plush collectibles.

Series 1 of Tsum Tsum Squishies was comprised of 50 characters, including 8 Rare Characters and 4 Ultra Rare Characters. Just like the plush toys, they are stackable - in fact Tsum Tsum (pronounced Zoom Zoom, so we've all been saying it wrong all this time !) means "stack stack" in Japanese.

Things are about to get even more exciting because this month sees the launch of Series 2 Flocked Tsum Tsum Squishies which come with a super-fuzzy upgrade! Each pack contains famous characters from the smash-hit Disney movies and one of the characters is a surprise. Can you collect them all?

RRP : Disney Tsum Tsum Squishies 2 Pack £2.99; Disney Tsum Tsum Squishies 4 Pack £4.99; Disney Tsum Tsum Squishies Pack of 5 with Carry Carabiner £7.99

Suitable for Ages 3+

Disclosure ; We received the product in order to write an honest review.

Help the kids drink water like they oughta ! #EnjoyMoreWater

Over the past few weeks, the weather has been full of thunderstorms, torrential downpours and grey skies, but I'm hopeful that the summer can't be too far away. That will mean lots of days out, long walks, picnics at the beach, playing football in the park, bike rides, swingball, geocaching, running up and down hills, ladybird hunting, the list is endless... all of which leaves the kids feeling hot and sweaty. Ask them if they want an ice cream or a bar of chocolate and they'll inevitably say yes, but offer them a drink and more often than not, they'll say they're not thirsty or they'll have one later because they don't want to stop playing yet.

Keeping your kids hydrated during the summer months can actually turn into a bit of a headache. Two thirds of parents (64%) say they don't know how much water their kids should be drinking and almost half (42%) say that their children find the taste of water ‘boring’. I must admit, when I was a kid, I always used to say I didn't like the taste of water too. With hindsight, it was probably the taste of chlorine in the water that I didn't like rather than the water itself, but I'd never drink a glass of plain water - it would always be a glass of fruit juice, fizzy pop or radioactive-looking orange squash filled with e-numbers ! Luckily, there are healthier options available these days. Robinsons, who launched the Enjoy Drinking More Water campaign in January 2016, use real fruit in their squash and no added sugar, artificial colours or preservatives. Their Squash’d super concentrated squash range comes in a bottle so small that you can fit it easily in your handbag, kids' backpack or even the glovebox of the car, making it cheaper and easier to keep your kids hydrated this summer. We received a gift box including six delicious flavours of Robinsons Squash’d, along with a star chart to help track our water-drinking progress, and the kids have been having great fun mixing up the flavours and guzzling gallons of water !

Robinsons asked us to share our top tips to #EnjoyMoreWater so here are our fun ways of getting the kids to drink water like they oughta !

Get scientific - Put an old washing-up sponge outside in the sun then come back and see how dry and shrivelled up it looks later in the day. You could even get creative and add googly eyes so it looks like Spongebob Squarepants ! Explain that this is what happens to your body when you don't drink enough water. Kids always love yucky stuff too so show them an online "wee-checker" so they can check if they are starting to get dehydrated. This is guaranteed to have them drinking loads so that they can keep running to the toilet to check the colour !

Ice is nice - Water doesn't just come in liquid form so making iced lollies in a variety of flavours is a simple way to keep your kids' water levels topped up. The Squash'd squeezy bottles are ideal for this because the kids will make a lot less mess than using the big bottles if they want to help. They also give a lovely strong flavour.

Funk it up - Let's face it, water IS pretty boring most of the time, but it doesn't have to be ! When I was in Poland, I discovered infused-water - jugs of water in restaurants with anything from orange, lemon and lime wedges to strips of cucumber and sprigs of fresh mint in them. You can also make ice cubes with berries in or use a Sodastream machine to add bubbles to tap water.

A lotta bottle - Finding drinkware that appeals to the kids is always a great way to encourage them to drink more. At home, tumblers featuring their favourite characters or curly straws are ideal, but buying a water bottle for when you're out and about is also essential for the summer. These easy-to-hold sports bottles got a big thumbs-up from the Madhouse kids and the fact that they have them constantly at hand during long walks always encourages them to drink more.

Feeling fruity - Take advantage of summer fruits to make smoothies and juices - have you ever tasted pure fresh strawberry juice from sieving crushed strawberries? It is absolutely divine. We also had fun last year making honeydew melons into edible drinking vessels for special fruity cocktails. After having a drink, you get to eat it which even saves on the washing up !

Have you got any top tips for getting your kids to drink more over the summer?

Disclosure : This post is an entry for BritMums #DrinkMoreWater Challenge, sponsored by Robinsons

Globecooking recipe : Pide - Turkish pizza (Turkey)

I first discovered (and told you about) pide or Turkish pizza when we were in Kusadasi on holiday and shared platefuls of it at the snack bar. I've been playing around with the recipe and think I have it tasting pretty authentic now. You could put whatever you like in it though - they also did a cheese version that was equally tasty.

 Pide - Turkish pizza

ingredients :

500g bread mix (I used focaccia)

600g beef mince

2 onions

1 clove garlic

tin of chopped tomatoes (or baby plum tomatoes)

3tbsp tomato concentrate

1/4 red pepper

1/4 green pepper

2tbsp sumac

1tbsp dried basil

1tbsp berberé (or smoked paprika)

drizzle of chilli-infused olive oil

drizzle of pomegranate molasses (optional)

I went for the lazy easy option and used half a bag (500g) of Lidl Focaccia mix in the bread machine on the pizza dough programme (50 minutes) while I sorted out the topping. You could make it by hand though.

Finely chop the garlic, onion and peppers and mix in with the minced beef.

 Add a tin of chopped tomatoes - I used baby plum tomatoes to give it a nice chunky texture.

Stir in the tomato concentrate for extra richness.

 Add the seasoning - sumac and basil are traditional, berberé isn't (I was clearing out my spice rack) so feel free to use whatever you have to hand. Smoked paprika and cumin would work well too.

Add a drizzle of olive oil (I used chilli infused oil to give it a little kick) and I stirred in some pomegranate molasses that I brought back from Turkey, which adds a sweet tartness.

I originally planned on using it raw as a topping then changed my mind at the last minute and cooked it all and left it to cool. I think this was the better option because it meant I could taste it and adjust the seasoning.

Once the pizza dough has finished rising, tip it out onto a floured surface, shape it into a log and chop it into several equal-sized pieces.

Use your hands to squish the dough out until it's flat and roughly rectangular.

Transfer the dough to a baking tray and place spoonfuls of meat topping all over, leaving a 2cm margin all the way round (as in the bottom one). Use your fingers to pinch the extremities into a point, then press the edges up and over the filliing, at the same time pressing the meat topping flat. It should end up resembling an elongated boat (as in the top one).

  

As I didn't have an authentic wood-burning oven like the pizza chef in Turkey, I popped them in the oven at 200° for 20 minutes until the dough was cooked through and golden brown.

Cut into slices and drizzle with extra pomegranate molasses if you have some - or you could sprinkle with parmesan if you haven't.

*** Don't miss my country-by-country globecooking recipe index ! ***

Fancy trying some more Turkish cuisine? How about Baklava, Gözleme, Kofte or Menemen?

Adding to this month's #KitchenClearout because it cleared out my spice rack and used up some pomegranate molasses that I brought back from Turkey last year.

June's Degustabox heralding in the summer is the BBQ Box (review)

June's Degustabox has just arrived and it's a taste of things to come, focusing on picnic and BBQ food for when the summer weather has decided to stick around. As soon as we took our first peek inside the box, we could see brands and products that we knew we'd love.

Here's the contents of this month's box :

Butterkist Yogurt Coated Popcorn - I wasn't sure about the combination of popcorn and yogurt when I saw the pack - they're both things I like but together? Well, it's better than I expected, because it doesn't make the popcorn go soggy, as I feared, but I do prefer a classic toffee coated popcorn if I'm honest. The Madhouse kids loved it though, even if they thought it was a white chocolate coating to begin with !

Haywards Medium & Tangy Silverskin Onions - I love pickled onions, especially the big ones, and these ones have a fabulously tart tanginess to them. Perfect in salads, cheese sandwiches or alongside fish and chips. They'd also be great in these British Ploughman's Pies.

Branston Spicy Tomato Relish - Another picnic and BBQ essential, lovely on burgers and hotdogs fresh off the grill or squirted on the side of the plate to accompany grilled meats and rice. It's got a bit of a kick so it's great for jazzing up the leftovers and can be used as a more grown-up alternative to ketchup. I'll be adding a squirt to my Spanish omelettes and cheese scones to take them to another level. The squeezy bottle is more convenient than a jar for alfresco dining and picnics.

Zeo Cloudy Lemonade - I've tried Zeo drinks in previous Degustaboxes and loved them. Made with 98% spring water, lemon flesh and essential oils from the skin, then sweetened with a touch of stevia and beet and cane sugar, they are a refreshing, natural-tasting drink that is perfect for enjoying over ice in the summer. Each bottle only contains 28 calories and 1.5 teaspoons of sugar.

Schwartz Grillmates Burger Mix - When you buy frozen burgers from the supermarket, you can never really be sure what's gone into them, but if making your own from fresh always seemed like too much faff, Schwartz have the perfect solution. Just add a sachet of their Grillmates Burger mix to some minced beef (I also added a chopped onion), shape into burgers (or onto skewers or into meatballs) and grill or fry. The result is lovely fresh, juicy burgers ready in moments.

Amoy Rich & Creamy Coconut Milk - Back up until a few years ago, I'd never have dreamed of buying and using coconut milk, but now it's turned into a kitchen cupboard staple here at The Madhouse. It's great for adding creaminess and richness to sweet and savoury dishes and gives a more delicate flavour than normal cream. Things I've made using coconut milk that you might like to try include Jasmine-infused Coconut & Cherry Custards, Thai Prawn & Coconut Soup and Prawn & Salmon Massaman Curry.

Sacla Pesto Pots - I love Sacla Pesto but it's usually just me and Madhouse Daddy eating it because the kids aren't keen. A big jar is therefore usually too much so these individual-serving pots are a great way of reducing food waste. They can be added to pasta for an instant supper, smeared over chicken breasts or used as a pizza sauce to make a change from tomato-based sauces. I strongly recommend making a Cherry Tomato Pesto Tart for a twist on pizza too - cover a puff-pastry sheet in pesto, top with halved cherry tomatoes and sprinkle with cheese then bake in the oven. Delicious warm or cold.

Bakedin Mug Brownie Mix - A rich and velvety Belgian chocolate brownie, baked in a mug, ready in 2 minutes in the microwave - what's not to like? OK, so you never get the perfect texture when it's microwaved but when you need a chocolate/cake fix in a hurry, you could do a lot worse !

Think Products Smooze: Coconut & Mango - A brand and a product that I'd never heard of but it's a total winner for the summer - it's a freeze-at-home fruit ice made from 40% coconut milk and 50% fruit juice and puree. Tastes lovely, 100% vegan and free from most allergens, healthier than many "fruit" ices and made from all natural ingredients. Win-win !

Marstons King Star Lager - One for Madhouse Daddy. This is the new crafted lager from the Wychwood brewery and it was apparently very nice - refreshing and very drinkable with a mellow flavour. 

Miracle Noodle Angel Hair - Low calorie (they're basically calorie and carb free), vegan, non GMO, gluten free and soy free. They can be used as a substitute for regular pasta if you're trying to lose weight. I don't like the smell and the texture, but as long as you smother them in sauce, they're edible !

Destrooper-Olivier Belgian Butter Waffle Crisp Biscuits - These are absolutely scrummy and totally moreish. Their rich buttery taste and crisp texture that melts in the mouth had us coming back for more until the whole pack had gone.

This month's recipe card suggests two dishes, Penne with Sacla Pesto, Pancetta & Parmesan and Amoy Thai Green Curry, which both sound tasty.

A subscription to Degustabox costs £12.99 per month including delivery, with each box having a value of much more than that, but the great news is, I have a discount coupon code for you which gives you a whopping £6 off the price of your first box - just enter code BLDEG15 at the checkout - making it great value and a fab way to discover new products.

for more information :

http://bit.ly/DBhomepage - website

http://bit.ly/DBUKfacebook - Facebook

http://bit.ly/DBUKTwitter - twitter

Also now on Instagram @DegustaboxUK 

Disclosure : We received the box in order to write an honest review.