Carolyn Mandache

I heard recently to my dismay, that the world will soon be facing a chocolate shortage. As  a self-confessed chocoholic I decided to do some research... I found a video on Time.com which was useful in explaining why cocoa farmers are struggling to keep up with demand. Ghana and the Ivory Coast produce around 70% of the world's cocoa. Drought and a fungal disease which has killed off 30-40% of the cocoa trees have dramatically reduced the crops, and ebola has meant migrant workers have not been allowed to cross borders and help harvest the cocoa beans. The video can be found here: http://time.com/3591915/ebola-fungus-chocolate/ I also came across an interesting, and very thought provoking article describing cocoa farmers from the Ivory Coast tasting chocolate for the first time. I watched the video in disbelief that these hard working farmers had never actually tasted chocolate, or seemed to really know up until that point, what actually happened to the cocoa beans that provid...

In July this year my beloved Gran Susan died at the age of 93. My gran was a huge part of my life, and her passing has been a very painful loss. I both admired and cringed in equal measure at her unfaultering honesty, a woman never afraid to speak her own mind. Many people offering their condolences pointed out that she'd lived to a good age, had a full life. However, this did not make her death any easier to accept, in some ways it was harder. I had longer to bond with her, and since her health was relatively good and she had such a wicked sense of humour, she almost seemed invincible to both my sister and myself. The funeral was, of course, extremely sad, and as my family and I faced the difficult task of the lineup whilst trying to maintain our composure, Doris Day's "Que sera, sera" played as everyone filtered out of the crematorium. I had suggested that song, as she used to sing it to my sister and I as little girls. The song brought back bittersweet me...

I've not written a blog in far too long. I've missed my therapeutic spilling of thoughts to complete strangers (mostly) on the internet. Honest explanation? Life got in the way... Like most parents, I find the leadup to the school holidays (which fill me in equal measure with dread and excitement), pretty hectic. There's sports days, parents evenings, fun days, projects to hand in, not to mention yellow day...it would be hard to find a more difficult colour in which to dress 4 children. I know I'm not alone in the end of term stress. Why do school shoes have such a habit of falling to bits literally weeks before the final day of school? I found the following blog very entertaining by a fellow mum suffering from end of term frustrations: http://theclotheslineie.wordpress.com/2014/06/06/crawling-to-the-finish-line-of-the-school-year / I also have the dreaded nursery graduation of my youngest to attend. A. is more than ready for school, especially since I am sending...

Life has been fairly stressful in the Mandache household of late. We are nearing the annual dilemma over holiday arrangements, and until a decision is made (none of which are ideal), I have a cloud hanging over my head. You see, like many carers of relatives, our lives revolve around complicated family situations (which I won't go into), but which can make life very difficult. I've been trying to stay positive, and have read a few good quotes which have inspired me: "We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."- Carlos Casteneda To put these thoughts into context, my husband and I have two sons, and became the guardians of our two nieces from Romania, almost three years ago. Describing our experience so far as challenging, would be an understatement...but it has also been incredibly rewarding, which is the part I always strive to focus on. I'm writing this blog with thoughts of other carers who may ...

I read an article on huffpost.com recently entitled "R.I.P Barbie...", detailing the reasons for the decline in sales of the popular doll, which has been around since 1959. I read with interest the different viewpoints over the controversial toy, but having grown up with Barbies, owned a Barbie house, cars, horses etc, I honestly don't see much harm in young girls playing with them. I don't remember ever obsessing over growing up with the aim of reaching the glamorous blonde's unrealistic proportions. I also didn't think of her as some kind of WAG, a blonde bimbo with the sole ambition to marry a rich man. Surely Barbie was, and remains, a toy to inspire the imagination. Barbie can be whoever the child wants her to be, and behave in whatever way the child decides. The article can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/13/barbie-sales-drop_n_4756734.html Barbie's manufacturer Mattel have done their best to please parents, and try to keep u...

I've written before about how "pure dead brilliant" my home town of Glasgow is. There is now another reason for that, in the shape of the brand new club Wild Cabaret. I was lucky enough to be invited along to the pre-opening night of the new Merchant city venue, which will officially open this Saturday, the 22nd of February. I'll admit I was a little apprehensive as to what exactly an evening in a place called the Wild Cabaret would involve. However, I was pleasantly surprised, my husband and I had the best night out we've had in a while. Arriving at the club, we were welcomed by two very glamorous show girls adorned with feathers and sequins, and then shown through to the Wicked Lounge. The Lounge is very classy, the colour scheme is black and gold, and you could happily sit and chat with friends for a good few hours. We were entertained by violinists playing modern music such as "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk/Pharell Williams and "When I Ruled...

February is finally here, hooray! Like most people, I have found it an exceptionally long, dreary month. I'm also feeling very sorry for myself, since, as is so often the case, my husband's away on  business...so the kids are ill. This time, it's been one after the other, I'm now starting week two of being housebound. I've decided to cheer myself up by thinking of all the romantic Valetine's treats my husband will be planning for me while he's away...some chance! Thankfully, he does not read The Daily Mail. I noticed a tweet with the alarming news that apparently 78% of women want Botox for Valentine's Day! Maybe it's just me, but if I were to receive such an offer, I'm pretty sure February 14th would turn out to be seriously UNromantic. Granted, it's certainly more original than flowers and chocolate, but not in a good way. The article can be found here, would you be pleased with the gift of Botox? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic...

I'm guessing many people will have eagerly joined the gym, or taken up some form of exercise recently. We've all done it, start the new year with good intentions that this will be the year you'll get fit, no more excuses...2014 WILL be the year. Nearly the end of January now...have you stuck with it, or is your gym pass gathering dust somewhere, unloved and no longer in use?   Personally, I spend more time running 4 kids about to their various sporting activities, than actually partaking in any myself. However, I'm pretty sure walking up and down to the school and nursery 3 times a day must count for something. I do enjoy a class called Combat. Punching an invisible assailant to manic music I've not heard since I was 15 ("Like a shooting star..."), is surprisingly therapeutic. I find it a great release for stress. I am very fussy about instructors though. In my view, if I wanted a sergeant major yelling at me, I'd have joined the army. I want someone...

Just before Christmas, my 4 year old made an important announcement: "It's Tom Fluffy-Whiskers birthday tomorrow, we need to have a birthday party." (Tom Fluffy Whiskers is the brilliantly imaginative name he has given his toy bunny.) As you can imagine, holding birthday parties for toys was not at the top of my priority list in the manic lead-up to Christmas. However, who could resist such a cute request? I managed to persuade him that Tom's birthday was a few days later, which just happened to be a Saturday, and not a weekday taken up with homework/after-school clubs. We decided to have a tea party, the toy tea set was set out on a blanket on the floor, Tom and his guests sat on cushions. My son and his cousins really put a lot of thought into it, Tom brought his own teddy, and his bunny friend even wore a tie for such an important occasion: The food was all very rabbit friendly, we made a carrot cake. Betty Crocker may have had a helping hand...

My first post of 2014, Happy New Year! This year we went away for the limbo period between Christmas and New Year. Perth was our destination (Scotland, not Australia). The holiday, which we shared with very good friends, was not without it's share of mishaps. However, as seems to be so often the case, in many ways they added to the fun we had. Our destination was the Log Cabin Hotel, part of the Nae Limits group offering adventure breaks. We did not book any adventure activities, but seemed to end up having some of our own anyway. The drive took us to the tiny village of Kirkmichael, which was very remote (think Blair Witch Project). Our room, although quite spacious, did feel a bit Waltonish every bed time, as all 6 of us said our good nights and tried not to wake each other in our side by side beds. There were often bumps in the night as one child or another rolled off their bed, or onto someone else. There were no bears in the woods surrounding the hotel, but a grizzly in th...