August 2010 entires
Friday 27 August 2010We love the summer holidays! We also love having the opportunity to dust
off our camera and snap away - capturing the essence of summer from sunbathing
and sandcastles to puddle stomping and soggy sandwiches.
We’ve been lucky this summer and have been
sent a few of our customers’ favourite holiday photos. From far flung places to
the back garden, they’re full of fun!
Receiving photos from our Pili Pals and customers really cheers up our
days so please keep up the good work and send over your pics (email us at
news@pilipalachildrenswear.com)!
If you’re stuck for inspiration, there are
numerous blogs online which feature fantastic photographs. One such blog is Emma Bradshaw’s. Emma is a mother, photographer and regular
blogger. Sneak a peek at her blog here
– we guarantee you’ll love it.
Another blog which highlights the best
photos from other blogs is this is not my
work. We’ve lost hours gazing at her
photos and those from other blogs and have been truly inspired to get snap
happy.
We’ll shortly be holding our next photo
shoot for our Spring/Summer 2011 collection - something we’re particularly
excited about! With a bit of luck, the
sun will shine and our little ones will be bouncing around in the samples from
our next collection. Keep your eyes
peeled for the photos on our blog in September!
All together now, say “CHEESE”!
0 Comments | Tags: photos, organic, childrenswear, emma bradshaw,
Wednesday 18 August 2010Do
you rough it with not much more than a toothbrush and a sleeping bag? Or do you
pack the duvet, air bed, wide screen telly, toaster and fill every possible
space in the car with ‘essentials’?
Whatever your style, we love camping!
We
have a few favourite camp sites around the country and frequently check out the
pages of Cool Camping - Kids for
destination ideas. One of our favourite
camp sites is Naturesbase in Cilcennin, West Wales. Imagine a field with thigh high grass and
wild flowers, then imagine a great big patch of cut grass and a path cut out
just for you and your tent – that’s Naturesbase! A warm welcome awaits and they even provide
you with a fire pit to encourage you to build your own camp-fire for the all
important marshmallow toasting session!
Check out www.naturesbaseholidays.co.uk
and tell them we say hello – we’ll be back soon!
We
also love drooling over the pages of the Happy Campers book which
if full of fantastic ideas about how your camping holiday can be turned into a
brilliant adventure. From tips on what
to take to recipes and games, it’ll have you searching for your torch and
packing your wellies before you reach the second chapter. Take a look here
for their tips on how to cope with little ones and camping!
Pili
Pala has some seriously cool wardrobe ideas for your camping trip too – our velour harem
style trousers are great with wellies as you don’t have to tuck anything
in! For sunnier days, our stripy shorts
are firm favourites – wellies or barefoot!
Now,
where did we put that air bed....?
0 Comments | Tags: Pili Pala, organic, clothing, camping, glamping,
Thursday 12 August 2010
We’re picky about our bananas. We like them on the greener side of
yellow. When the black spots appear they tend to be the last thing left
in the fruit bowl.
However, we’ve now found a solution which not only solves our banana
problem (and doesn’t involve throwing them out!) and is a great activity for
all involved. So, grab your bananas and get to the kitchen to make our
fantastic banana pili pala cakes!
Banana Butterfly Cakes – makes around 24
Ingredients
4 large over-ripe bananas, mashed
285g/10 oz wholemeal (or plain) flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
110g/4oz butter at room temperature
225g/8oz golden caster sugar
2 organic free range eggs
85 ml/3fl oz of buttermilk (or normal milk mixed with 1 ½ tsp lemon
juice)
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g/3 ½oz dark chocolate broken up into small chips
For the chocolate butter icing
30 ml/2 tbsp cocoa powder
15 ml/1 tbsp boiling water
100 g/4 oz butter or margarine, softened
225 g/8 oz icing sugar, sifted
15 ml/1 tbsp milk
You will also need 24 paper cases and two, 12 hole tartlet trays (or use
the same one twice).
Method
- Aprons on? Hands clean? Everybody happy? Let's go!
- Preheat the oven to
180C/350F/Gas 4.
- In a clean bowl, cream
the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, mashed
bananas, chocolate chips, buttermilk and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar
mixture and mix well.
- Sift the flour and
baking powder into the bowl and fold in.
- Place the paper cases in
the 12 hole tartlet tray(s). Spoon out the mixture into the 24 paper cases.
- Transfer to the oven and
bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until well-risen and golden-brown.
- Remove from the oven and
cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool
completely before icing.
- Whilst the cakes are in
the oven, or cooling, mix the cocoa to a paste with the boiling water, then
leave to cool. Beat the butter or margarine until soft. Gradually beat in the
icing sugar, milk and cocoa mixture until well blended.
- To make the pili pala
(butterfly) part of the cake, take a sharp knife and cut off the tops of the
cakes. Spread a thin layer of the chocolate icing over each cake.
Cut the ‘top’ part of the cake in half and place on top of the cake to
make a butterfly as shown in the photo.
- Put your feet up and
enjoy a cake with a cup of tea, glass of milk or whatever takes your fancy!
We’d love to see your cakes – send in any photos to us at
news@pilipalachildrenswear.com
0 Comments | Tags: organic, banana cake, pili pala, butterfly,
Wednesday 04 August 2010
Music, stripy marquees, ice cream, beer tents, bunting, strawberries and cream, flip-flops and wellies - hooray for festival season! Have you been grooving at Glastonbury or are you planning on entering your prize onions at the local village fête? Whatever you fancy, festivals are a fantastic part of the summer. So pack up a picnic, grab your tent, invite your friends and go and find yourself a festival!
Fancy a festival of culture? Then head off to the National Eisteddfod in Ebbw Vale this week. From poetry recitals to disco dancing, there’s plenty to entertain all members of the family.
Heading north? Look out for the world-renowned Edinburgh Festival! Want to bop till you drop? Brecon Jazz is a fab festival which brings music and dance to the streets of Brecon.
Fancy yourself as a bit of a foodie? There are numerous food festivals across the UK – check in with your local tourist information centre for local ones or for food festivals in Wales visit www.walesthetruetaste.com
Planning next year’s holiday already? If you love big music festivals but don’t feel that they cater for young children you obviously haven’t been to Camp Bestival! Held at the end of July at Lulworth Castle it’s like Glastonbury with pushchairs and the line-up this year included big name bands from across the decades in addition to the ever popular Mr Tumble!
One of the festival essentials for many Pili Pals is the green and brown jumpsuit. Roomy enough for it to be worn over day clothes, it makes sure that your little ones are kept warm when the sun goes down.
0 Comments | Tags: Pili Pala, organic jumpsuit, organic clothes,