#16 How to find things that you have lost
Whether your house looks like this or is as tidy as a show home, we all lose things. I'm often guilty of having something in my hand one second and...
17 Dec 2010
10 Dec 2010
Wonderful cake decorations
I've not had a chance to get any more drawings online, so the Things My Mother Taught Me is on a slight pause. I promised in #12 The recipe for the best chocolate birthday cake to add some photos of the cakes decorated by my mother. So, here are a few I had to hand. The jungle cake was for my sister's 18th just this year, and the Klimt (you...
5 Dec 2010
#15 Sewing Machines Are Like Computers
Unfortunately, this is less of a tip and more of an unavoidable truth. Sewing machines freeze, they crash, they seize up and do things that you have...
28 Nov 2010
#14 Don't put your plastic sieve in the oven
Sometimes, when you're not thinking properly, you can do some daft things. For my mother it went something like this: sieve = wet... oven = warm......
24 Nov 2010
#13 How to stay warm after a shower
You know the feeling - dreading getting out of the nice warm shower into the cold air, shivering and wet. Especially this time of year. Well, this...
20 Nov 2010
#12 The recipe for the best chocolate birthday cake
When my sisters and I were young, our birthday parties were epic adventures in which our living room and playroom were transformed into other worlds,...
16 Nov 2010
#11 Never wear shoes with an ankle-strap
Before I explain the reasoning behind this particular "rule", I would like to add a brief disclaimer that I don't necessarily agree with this wisdom....
13 Nov 2010
#10 When removing gaffered-down electrical cables, remove the gaffer tape first
This is really a tip for anyone involved in the technical side of theatre/music etc. (an industry that both of my parents know well) but you never...
6 Nov 2010
#9 How to open a jam jar
Here is a handy little hint that we all use in my family. The next time that you are struggling to open a new jam jar (or a jar of marmalade, or pickle,...
30 Oct 2010
#8 How not to amuse small children
This is quite a specific piece of advice, and one which actually came to us through my father's side. The story begins with his parents who, for reasons...
25 Oct 2010
#7 Make a list
If life is getting on top of you, and you don't know where to start, write a list. We all know that this can get your head in order and make tasks seem...
18 Oct 2010
#6 If you can't choose between two things, buy the cheapest one
Life is full of tricky choices... The shirt or the vest?... The teacosy or the pretty apron?... The pumpkin or the butternut squash?... You can really...
10 Oct 2010
#5 Warm the teapot first
My mother advises that tea leaves require boiling water, but if you pour water from the kettle into a cold teapot, the tea pot will quickly absorb the...
3 Oct 2010
#4 Never put washing up liquid in the dishwasher
This one is not so much a tip from my mother, but more a lesson learnt (in fact, she wasn't even in the same city). Consider me and my boyfriend...
30 Sept 2010
#3 Lean forward when eating to avoid drips
So, this sounds obvious and, in all honesty, it is obvious. But perhaps it is so obvious that you've never really thought about it.If you are a...
17 Sept 2010
#2 Scrape all food waste onto one plate, meaning only one trip to the bin
This is one of those things which seems ridiculously obvious. Generally, I like to think that I have quite good common sense, but when this was suggested...
14 Sept 2010
#1 How to slice an onion
Let us start with one of the most practically useful pearls of wisdom handed to me by my mother. This simple technique allows you to slice an onion into...
