Jessica Coates-Judson

I used an elevated serving dish on top of the chopping board   Grazing platters and tables are everywhere at the moment. They look great, taste even better and cater to everyone. Plus, I’ve found there is much less waste than those huge stale bowls of chips that we seem to have left behind in the noughties.  I was pretty keen to put together an insta-worthy platter but was reluctant to spend the same as a five course dinner for two at a fancy restaurant. Also, my palate is in no way distinguished and I like rather plain, everyday foods.  So, I set the challenge to create a grazing platter for 4-6 people for under twenty dollars. There was very little styling logic but it was rather satisfying putting it all together. I used a large round wooden chopping board and a raised marble platter to display everything and contained the messy stuff with a few random bowls found at the back of the cupboard. My guests deemed it a success and I also quizzed them on what additio...

Back when all I could do was imagine her sleeping there.  *we have no freaking idea. This post gives no real advice and is not selling a sleep program. It is purely a recount of my experience so far. ** Daisy is sleeping through at the moment. She is not teething yet but she is about to enter a leap. We are by no means under the illusion that this is forever. Daisy sleeping through the night happened by accident. We just woke up one morning and realised that she hadn't woken up. Cue the diving out of bed to check she was still breathing. We stood at the cot and grinned at each other for a really long time. The next night it happened again. The third night, she woke us up. "But Daisy," I said, "you sleep through now,". She had a bottle and went back to sleep. We haven't really worked at setting a routine but fell into one anyway. She has a bath every night, a bottle and then is either rocked to sleep or placed into her cradle in our room awake but sl...