The Bonito Baby Blog is moving!

I know we have only just started again at Blogger, but the Bonito Baby blog has now found its proper home within the Bonito Baby website. Click here to find the new blog. We hope you will join us there! Just click on the RSS feed icon to subscribe to the blog using whichever reader you use or enter your email address to subscribe by email.

See you on the other side!

Mashed potato anyone???

Well, as you may have noticed, my blog has been drifting around aimlessly the last few entries. However, the fog has cleared and I've found a clear direction for where it is going. The tagline for Bonito Baby is "making life easier for mum and more fun for bub" and this is what my blog is going to be all about.

This concept is a bit fluid and so it could be practical hints and tips for new mums, recipes for child friendly food, gadgets to make your life easier or just fun things for your child to do or see.

In keeping with this new direction, I have to rave about a new kitchen gadget that my husband bought for me the other day which I just tried out last night. If you are a fan of mashed potato (and who isn't - it goes with just about everything, is easy to make and nice and warm and filling) you simply must try out the Smood by Dreamfarm. I had read about this fancy potato masher in a magazine some time ago and thought "how good could this really be? It's just mashed potato."

Well, I tried out my new gadget last night and I do have to say that it made me the fluffiest, creamiest mash potato that I have ever made in my life! Maybe not as good as I have had in some fine dining restaurants, but a pretty darned good home attempt in about 2 minutes. It mashes the potato more quickly than your usual potato masher and somehow the consistency ends up fluffy and smooth, not lumpy. I love it and will be throwing our my old potato masher (or maybe giving it to the kids to play with in the sandpit).

What's the catch, you ask? Well, unfortunately it's the price at a RRP of $29.95, but for me, it was well worth it.

So - what's your secret to yummy mashed potatoes????

Making something old into something new

Yesterday I was overjoyed when my husband announced to me that a store I had been coveting for quite some time was having a relocation sale with all prices greatly reduced. You see, I was fascinated with the concept of the Handcut store which offers preloved clothing which has been "refashioned" into gorgeous new items of clothing. These are a couple of the designs below.

The Preloved label originated in Canada but was brought to Australia under the Handcut label. Apart from loving the clothing that is in the store, I agree wholeheartedly with the concept of recycling clothing by reinventing it. All these little things help reduce our carbon footprint on the earth and reducing waste.

Anyway, I trotted on down after school pick up with two kids in tow and managed to pick myself up a lovely wooly vest for winter and a grey corduroy dress which will go great with my black boots this winter, both on sale. I've been informed that grey is the colour this winter so am doing my best to be a fashionable mum this season! Wore the wooly vest today and got a lot of compliments too. Who knows, I might even head down to Vinnies and give it a go myself!

You are what you eat, or so they say....

I'm usually so careful with the containers I use to cook my food (no aluminium cookware), store my food and serve my food (use stainless steel, BPA-free, no melamine etc etc). After attending the Everleigh Farmers Market on the weekend and seeing all the delicious organic fruits and vegetables I started thinking very belatedly about the actual food we were eating. Now, in the past I guess I've paid lip service to buying organic fruit and vegetables and only when the price was not that much more than the non-organic variety, but I thought that the list of the "best" and "worst" fruits and vegetables was very interesting.

The Environmental Working Group has done a study of the best and worst, and here is is below:

Worst:

1. Peach
2. Apple
3. Bell Pepper
4. Celery
5. Nectarine
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale
9. Lettuce
10. Grapes
11. Carrot
12. Pear

 Best:

1. Onion
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mango
6. Asparagus
7. Sweet Peas
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Papaya
12. Watermelon
13. Broccoli
14. Tomato
15. Sweet Potato

Now, I don't know about you, but in this house we eat an awful lot of apples, stone fruit and berries when they are in season. Hmmm, not so good.

EWG research has found that people who eat the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables consume an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat the 15 least contaminated conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables ingest fewer than 2 pesticides daily. So, pineapple and kiwi, here we come and I cannot wait for mango season! 

If you want to read more about this study, click here. Food for thought...

My boy can read!!!

My boy started kindy this year and turned 5 last month. He is growing up so quickly and I realised this when I was doing stories with him last night and he was actually reading with me, not me reading stories to him. We were alternating pages and he could read practically every word in a new book he had never read before. I was so proud of him.

I wasn't a great fan of the Charlie and Lola books initially, but they are great fun to read with your child. The pictures are great and the way the writing is placed all over the page makes it interesting and fun for your child and the concepts all always quite relevant! We might be getting a couple more coming home from the school library in coming weeks!

New stock!

Today has been a big day with deliveries of a lot of brand new stock. I am super excited (that sounds a bit American!) with the arrival of the new Scootababy hip carrier. The lower price point of this new Scootababy at less than $110 compared the $145 of the standard model makes it very very good value indeed.

I loved using the Scootababy for my second boy. However, once he got a bit heavier my sling, much as I loved it, did not do the job for me, but the padded waist belt of the Scootababy made it easy. Plus the fact that I was hands-free meant I could juggle school bag, lunch bag, art and craft etc for a preschooler as well as a 14 month old baby. Easy on, easy off too!

The styling of the new Scootababy is simple and great for Dads as well, my husband loved using it as much as me.

Well, enough about the Scootababy. Lots of other new stock to unpack as well, including the absolutely fantastic Playtex sippy cups, drop buddies, wee targets (for those of you with bad aiming or non-aiming little boys!) and much more.

Till next time...

Welcome to the Bonito Baby blog - take 2!

Well, I started this blog with good intentions back in January 2009, but sadly it all fizzled out, so I'm back in 2010 with renewed energy and enthusiasm! In the blog I am intending to show you new products were are excited about in our store, and just generally things we are excited about.

The first product which I simply just have to mention is our range of Contigo drink bottles. Contigo drink bottles are absolutely huge in the US where I think they sold over US$50million worth of them last year and we are so, so excited to be one of the few online retailers for the Australian launch of the drink bottles.

They have a patented seal which means the liquid only comes out when the button is pressed. My 2 year old worked it out in about 5 seconds and the first day I gave it to him had so much fun with it he drank about two bottles of water in half an hour. Everyone I have showed these bottles at school has bought some and spread the word to their friends, they are absolutely fantastic.  Love em!

Till next time...