Do I now have the most spoilt dog in the world?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece in the Daily Mail about having cookery lessons to learn how to make dog food for my labradoodle, Rufus.

The lessons were arranged by Henrietta Morrison who is passionate about dog nutrition and owns the dog food company Lily's Kitchen. 

After listening to her views on dog food (basically, most are rubbish) and the importance of a dog eating a healthy diet, I was hooked, and went out and bought a huge sack of Lily's Kitchen organic food at a cost of around £50 - almost double what I usually spend. 

I also started making Rufus a few homemade meals with the recipes Henrietta had given me, and feeding him blueberries and pieces of dried apple instead of his usual dog treats. 

My husband was furious, declared I was spoiling Rufus as if he was the son I never had, and insisted (quite rightly, actually) that at the very least I use up the dog food we already have in the garage before moving on to the pricer stuff. 

The thing is...Rufus doesn't like it any more. I have turned him into the fussiest dog in the world. A gastropup. A canine Egon Ronay. 

The only way I have found around it is to make a batch of chicken and vegetable soup which I (unbeknown to angry husband) drizzle over Rufus's dry food every day, making it more palatable for him.

I just hope we get through the old food quickly so I can move over to the food he now likes and can stop my secret doggy soup cooking...

 

The Norwegian tragedy has moved us all

The horror of what has happened in Norway has, of course, touched us all. I can't be the only person in tears as I read the hideous detail this morning. 

But one thing that has moved me as much as the terrible accounts of what happened is the quiet dignity with which the Norwegians are dealing with it. Not necessarily what we are used to at times of huge tragedy, but far more appropriate than dramatic statements and threats. 

 

Campervan trip to the Isle of Wight

With the summer stretching endlessly before us, I decided it would be fun to take my daughters on a campervan holiday around the Isle of Wight. 

A great decision - it was the most fabulous trip, all rockpools and mackerel fishing and filling bottles with coloured sand, just as it was when I was little. 

And no, before you ask, this was not a freebie, it was fully paid for by me, arranged through a wonderful company called Isle of Wight Campervan Holidays (isleofwightcampers.com, 01983 852089).

Book now for next summer - they are pretty full for this year now! Sarah will give you loads of tips for fun stuff to do, as well as provide you with a gorgeous refurbed VW camper, in the colour of your choice, complete with all your kit - and even a homemade Victoria sponge cake. 

 

Hats off to the consultant who made a fool of Camelegg

I love the pictures and film of the wonderful consultant fuming at the smug double-act that is Camelegg. (Have we ever seen them looking more irritatingly identical or self satisfied than they were at Guys' Hospital, as they sandwiched that poor patient in his bed?)

Yes, he may have shouted at the journalists present to roll up their sleeves and take their ties off but I am sure that's not what he really wanted to be saying.

I can just imagine David Nunn, before he went in, saying to colleagues: 'I can't bear my ward being used for some political stunt.

'These idiotic politicians have no idea about anything to do with the NHS or this hospital. I want them out of my ward.

'What do you mean I can't get them out? I'm in charge here. You just watch me...'

Result? Journos leave, Cameron starts flapping like a circus seal and Mr Nunn is my hero of the day.

Hats off to you, sir.

You've managed to make David Cameron and Nick Clegg look even more stupid over their NHS reforms U-Turn than they had already made themselves look.

And that's no mean feat. 

Zara Phillips: I can see why you love this man!

The photographs of Mike Tindall on his stag do are pretty astonishing. Some might well be disapproving, but I have to admit to being very impressed. 

I do like a man who can hold his drink - is there anything less attractive than a man who can't? - and he seems to have done so to an incredible degree.

Can after can, bottle after bottle - even a carafe! - and not one photo of him doing anything too naughty or that might upset his wife-to-be, Zara Phillips.  

OK, so it might not be appropriate behaviour really, for a soon-to-be member of the Royal Family. All a bit laddish and common and unhealthy and a total waste of £20k, some might say. 

But he spent his own money, at the end of a long rugby season, and it doesn't look to me like he did any harm to anyone. And I am sure it's not how he would behave at one of the Queen's garden parties. 

It looked like he was having a fantastic time with his mates - and he was at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami, where I stayed on holiday earlier this year.

I only wish he had been there then! 

 

Looks like there's a lot less of Demi Moore

If it seems like I'm obsessed with celebrities' weight that's because I very much am.

I have a total fascination with their quest to be thinner and younger-looking than each other. 

Until now, Demi Moore was surely wore the crown, looking astonishingly young, slender and utterly stunning at all times.

But the latest photos show that, like most of them in the end, she's taken the thin thing too far and looks absolutely awful. 

Does the poor woman eat nothing? I can't even begin to think how hungry she must be! And why is it so important to her to be so thin? Her other half Ashton Kutcher is way younger than her and beyond handsome, but does he really like cuddling a rake?

I've been learning a bit about Mindful Eating this week - a trend that originated from Buddhist thinking and is big in the U.S.

It teaches you to think about what you eat and how it is affecting you - whether it makes you feel nourished and good about yourself. 

I like it as a concept because it's about respecting your body and giving yourself some self-love.

It doesn't look like Demi loves herself in that way at all. 

*****

Yesterday I went aboard a mackerel trailer on the Thames to find out about M&S's new fish policy and their pledge to help clean our beaches and look after our fish stocks. 

Aside from being a rather fun place to eat a fabulous lunch, talking to some really interesting people about fishing, it got me thinking I really ought to do my bit. 

So with my sustainable fish and Mindful Eating hats on at the same time, I bought some fresh mackerel fillets for dinner, smeared them with spicy harissa paste, topped them with thinly sliced lemons and slapped them on a very hot barbecue, skin side down for just five minutes. 

To accompany them I made a couscous, feta and mint salad and a red onion, tomato and coriander 'salsa' type thing. 

Fantastic - and so worthy.  And do you know how much the mackerel cost? £1.50 each! Smug? Me? Oh yes...

 

 

I think Kate still looks great!

Looking at the photographs of Kate Moss as a 17-year-old bride, I was actually struck by how good she still looks, as she approaches 40.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been suggested that 20 years of partying have taken their toll.

But I would say she looks great despite the years of smoking, drinking etc - still with barely a wrinkle despite wearing no make up, slender as anything, and utterly cool. 

Not for her the bingo-wing arms, mumsy hair and post Caesarean over-hang of many a woman in her late 30s. Far from it.

Plus she still looks at her best and happiest in tiny cut off denim shorts. 

She looks absolutely fantastic in my book, and I'm jealous to bits of her - though not just because of what she looks like.

It's mainly because we seem to see pictures of her enjoying endless, long, boozy lunches looking happy as can be without a care in the world, despite the fact that she has a young daughter and a successful career.

Does she look like she's worrying that she might be a bit tipsy on the school run or she hasn't got anything in for dinner? Not a bit of it. 

If only...

Will Twitter make celebs behave better? Of course not!

So the secret that never was is no longer even pretending to be one. Ryan Giggs must be furious  - and the others with injunctions must be feeling sick with terror, waiting to see who is next to be exposed. 

Everyone I know seems to have a different view on the superinjunctions. 

Some - mainly journalists - argue that a fact is a fact, therefore it can be reported and hard luck if that means you are about to be exposed for doing something you don't want people to know about. 

They say we have freedom of speech and therefore the press should be able to say exactly what it wants, so long as what it's saying is true. 

Others say that all of us, famous or not, are entitled to live our lives with a degree of privacy, unless we are doing something illegal or politically corrupt.

That if you are sleeping with a prostitute, or your ex-wife, or a lover, it's none of anybody else's business and it's not for the papers to decide what should be public knowledge and what should be kept quiet.  

However, the truth is, it doesn't matter any more what your view is.

The wrongs and rights of this argument have ceased to be relevant. Because in the modern age you cannot keep a secret.

The internet means people will say what they want to say on Twitter, Facebook and blogs, and there's nothing anyone can really do to stop them. 

It's fascinating, terrifying - and I bet has zero impact on the behaviour of certain well-known figures.

 

 

 

Eggsitement chez Shooter...

Much excitement in our house this week as we have three new guests. 

Ginger, Topaz and Poachy have moved into the Eglu in our garden and are getting on very well - save for destroying my herb garden and new strawberry plants. 

They haven't started laying eggs yet, so aren't really earning their keep, but still, just listening to the clucking away as they peck around the garden is enough to make me smile. I am just hoping that the foxes stay away. Our last chickens were stalked by a particularly wily one who eventually had his way....

We are also looking forward to a little summer adventure. I am going to drive my daughters, Charlotte and Jessica, around the Isle of Wight for a few days in a VW campervan - a girly road trip for some bonding before I start studying full-time in September (more about that soon). We've booked it through a company called Isle of Wight Campers, and it is called Seaside. Here it is, below. 

Happy days!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend. x

 

What a celebtastic wedding!

There's something about this wedding, wonderful though it is, that makes it almost more a celebrity do than a Royal one. 

Then Queen almost looks out of place amongst that throng of Beckhams, Mr and Mrs Elton John, Guy Richie (a relative of Kate's? really?), Rowan Atkinson, Ben Fogle and the like. 

It all makes fabulous viewing - though frankly I would have preferred some more lingering shots of all the outfits while the formal bits were going on.

Oooh, I've just spotted someone touching up their lip gloss - how fantastically inappropriate!

Now come on! Get in your carriage and let's see that kiss!