Night Out: Curry Leaf Cafe (The Lanes), Brighton [AD – Review]

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Last week, we were invited to dinner at the Curry Leaf Cafe in The Lanes, Brighton, which was a new one for us, surprisingly, considering they have been in the city since 2014 – serving authentic Indian street food. During the day, the cafes offer a wide range of ‘nibbles’ and light bites; such as naan wraps, Thali platters and salads, and at night the cafes turn into buzzing restaurants serving a variety of curries.

Curry Leaf Cafe actually have two cafes in Brighton, as well as two take-away kiosks located at Brighton Station and, more recently, Churchill Square! Their original, and first, cafe is located in the heart of Brighton Lanes and a few yards up from the seafront in Ship Street. Their other cafe is located in Kemp Town.

We were lucky enough to be invited for dinner at their cafe in Ship Street, which couldn’t have come at a better time as we had just arrived home from our holiday the day before.

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Milestones: T’s First Trip on a Ferry (with Red Funnel) [AD]

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Last week, during school half term, we visited the Isle of Wight. We’d never been before as a family, and didn’t know much about the area, so we thought we’d take advantage of the bargain we’d found and booked a little break.

You can read more about our holiday and what we got up to here.

What made this holiday extra special though is the fact that it would offer T his first trip on a ferry. Prior to this, his only experience was a small car ferry in the Lake District or the cargo ferry that comes in at a neighbouring town, so this was going to be a whole new experience!

After then speaking to the lovely folks at Red Funnel, and letting them know about this exciting milestone, they kindly provided us with outward and return tickets! Here’s how we, or more so T, go on:

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Our Holiday to the Isle of Wight

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To celebrate T’s first term at school, we decided to book a cheap UK holiday to make sure we were able to relax after what was inevitably going to be a busy couple of weeks. With this, we decided on the Isle of Wight.

Apart from visiting back in our school days when Sharon visited with family and me visiting as part of a school trip (does anyone remember Camp Beaumont?) we’d never visited the Isle of Wight so we thought we’d take advantage of the bargain we found and pay the island a visit. It also meant that T was able to experience his first trip on a ferry!

Being October, the weather wasn’t always on our side, but we managed to grab a couple of nice days before donning our wellies, jumpers, and raincoats! Here’s what we got up to during our week:

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Rainbow Pencils

School: What To Ask Potential Schools as an LGBTQ Family

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With T’s first term at school over and done with, it’s made me realise not only how fast each term is now going to go (where did those 6 weeks go?!) but how far T has come in the short space of time that he’s been in school. He’s doing really well mentally and academically, and I can honestly say that we chose the best school for him. It’s probably not the best in terms of stats and accolades, but to us, those numbers don’t matter as much in comparison to how comfortable your child will be in school, as well as how supported they will be if problems were to ever arise. As soon as we visited T’s school we knew we had found the right one.

As a same sex family we were naturally anxious when we were viewing schools. Researching Ofstead reports and school results are easy, but it’s the stuff in-between, probably the more important things; such as school policies and attitudes in and around the school, which was harder to research and look into.

We were probably the “nightmare parents” when it came to open evenings as we were the ones looking through library books, the artwork on the walls, and asking dozens of questions about equality and inclusion and, dare I say it, their bullying policy. Don’t be naive to think that bullying won’t happen – regardless of whether you’re from a minority group or not – but it’s still important to know how a school deals with issues after that’s important.

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Games night! Our Favourite Family Games (Ages 4+)

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We’ve always enjoyed playing games, even before T was born. On holiday Sharon and I would take a few games with us to enjoy of an evening, and when friends come round we often get the games out after dinner.

When T then came along it was natural for us to start shopping for age appropriate games for us to play with him, starting with matching games and pairs. When he then became old enough to understand more intricate rules he would join in on family games nights. This would often be limited to weekends, but now that T’s in school we try and avoid going straight for the television of an evening, and instead will often get a short game out to play together.

We’re probably a minority when we say we enjoy playing games as a family, but there’s just something really enjoyable – once you know how to play (!) – about sitting round a table and playing a game together, and not just at Christmas! I remember doing it when I was young and I hope T remembers it when he’s older. We find I’m more present and whilst you’re waiting for your turn you can talk about your day.

If you’re thinking of introducing family board games into your evening, here are a few of our favourites:

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Dough Nab The Game [AD – Review]

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A few weeks ago, as part of International Coffee Day, we were invited to try our Dough Nab – a fun new game (which, sadly, does not include real doughnuts) for the family. We really enjoy playing games together as a family, so we’re always interested in finding new ones to fill our evenings!

If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s rules are similar to that of a snatching or matching game where the aim of the game is to match as many cards to the three doughnuts in front of you before the other player, however there are plenty of “special” cards to shake things up along the way.

The game is aimed at 8 year olds and up, however T is 4 and got on with it just fine (once he understood the rules) Here’s how we got on:

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