New thread for all Chinese mothers

[wyls]

I think this might work?!

ooooo... i remember oriental city. have only been there once. mouth watering at the thought of chicken rice [doing a homer simpson impression as i type]

heybaby, that is frustrating. how flexible is your employer?

Yummy, oriental city sounds great, must go at some point. Am being dumb but do they also have shops or just food?

Understand how you feel about nurseries versus childminders, hey baby. I put dd1 in a nursery for the same reason when i went back to work! Could your mum or mother in law help out for a while? Perhaps if dh also took some annual leave between all of you the time could be covered? It is tricky, I also have a gap in time but my mum was able to help out. Good luck

on a different note, my boiler broke down last night and brit gas said they won't get the parts till monday - boo! at least the cover I paid for means no extra costs!!! Am freezing though as electric fan heaters just aren't the same!!!!

do you think we should start a new thread? this one is soooo long now

Yingers - Oriental City has some shops but not high st stores or anything like that. Mainly little asian type stores and not many in any case. There is one place that sells nice Japanese crockery and chopsticks etc. There is a BIG asian grocery store though which is good and also Chinese bakery etc. Can get massive bags of rice etc.

Speaking of which, I'm curious to know what you guys all eat at home with your families? chinese meals or
western? We mainly eat western stuff like pasta or a meat/fish dish with salad etc. But when my mum was here after DS was born we ate what she cooked nearly every night and it was great. I find that there is too much preparation for chinese food myself, when you can just throw something in the oven and prepare a salad to go with it!

Re: the help etc, unfortunately our families all live in Australia so no such luck there! I am going to check out another nursery tomorrow (the next closest one to home) but it is 20-30 mins walk from our place and then even further to the nearest tube station (to get to/from work) etc. Sigh! And though they have told me they have places in June, well ... once bitten twice shy etc so I'll believe it when I get there. Just found out from another mum today that two of her friends received similar phone calls from "my" nursery saying there was no space for their kids etc so I imagine that they have done the same thing and called the nursery that I am visiting tomorrow as there are not many in this area. Hope that doesn't mean that the 2nd choice nursery is now full. ARGH!!!!

Heybaby - if those 2 other mums live close to you, perhaps you could get together and organise a nanny share in one or either of your homes?

That might mean you could afford a professional nany price and children would be cared for in home environment and would definitely be more flexible in terms of hours.

We do like you and cook mostly pasta and what I call "nursery food" (shepherd's pie etc which the kids will eat) and I think we do a Chinese-style rice thing once or twice a week.

When my mum comes over, it's rice or noodles everyday and I don't have to cook

Thanks Rojak. The problem is that DS has a "guaranteed" place from August so a nannyshare would be a temp arrangement only and it is unlikely that a nanny will just want a two month position IYSWIM. Also, I want DS to be in a nursery rather than with a nanny/childminder for the social aspect but also other safety reasons detailed earlier in the thread (ie. mother's paranoia!).

So now we are looking at 2 months in one nursery and then changing to the preferred nursery. Poor DS. But hopefully children are as adaptable as they say ... Am still praying that someone will drop out of the preferred nursery between now and then but it is doubtful. I found out that these two nurseries (the closest ones to my home) have between them 27 places for babies and that is supposed to service this entire area!!!!

Heybaby - awful news on nursery but unfortunately not uncommon. We have DD booked into nursery place from June as well but we had to pay one month's deposit to secure the place. I think it might be worthwhile to investigate getting a temporary nanny, some nannies only want a short contract. As the kids would be in someone's home, it would be safe and the kids could play with each other plus the nanny would be fully trained. Just a thought...

Oriental City food court is yummy. Haven't been for ages. Perhaps some of us could meet there for lunch one day? It gets horrendously busy at weekends which is why DH and I haven't been for a while.

Wyls - interested to read you thought Yauatcha was child friendly. Was this the ground floor bit? Do they serve dim sum there? I've only been to the basement which is down some steep stairs. I thought the ground floor part was only for tea and cakes? The dim sum there is gorgeous thought quite pricey.

Foodwise, DH and I try to keep a mix of chinese and non-chinese food. Sometimes do the spag bol, shep pie or if chinese, usually steam fish with stir fry veg etc. Not quite sure if this will change as DD gets older and can have our food. She does look fascinated when she sees us using chopsticks!

Just want to say Happy New Year to everyone for tomorrow. It's also my ds christening tomorrow so it's going to be a double celebration.

Snowmum, maybe I was wrong about Yauatcha but last time I went there I saw quite a few kids downstairs eating. Maybe it's ok for older children but not for babies?

Anyway, have a great weekend!!!

Just wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone as well

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!!
Have not been on thread for a while. Will not be attempting to fight through the china town area in Liverpool tomorrow!! It's a pity as would like to take DS and DD and fancy a nice bit of dim sum too!!. Oriental City sounds great. Must put that in my list of places to go when next in London!

hi all. have started a new thread!