Hi everyone and welcome to London!
Although I grew up in the small town of La Spezia in Italy, I’ve been calling London my home for the past 15 years. We live in South East London, more specifically Mottingham, part of Bromley borough. It’s a great place to be as it’s a quick train commute to central London and a quick drive into Kent countryside. We get the best of both worlds and to be honest, there is nowhere I would rather be!
I’m Marta, 35, self-taught cook, nutritional expert, avid traveler and founder of Mummy’s Little Chef, a cooking school for children, which also runs nutrition workshops for kids and adults alike.
My husband Max and I have been together for the past decade and married for almost seven years. We have a gorgeous little four-year-old girl Ali. We love traveling with her and showing her the world.
I’m also lucky enough to be part of the hard-working editorial team at Bébé Voyage as the current Features Editor, writing articles on many different topics like the Coronavirus outbreak, Mompreneur series and I’m currently in the process of starting a new series on Healthy Food for Kids While Travelling. I’m super excited about this as I feel very passionate about the topic. In my spare time, I also help moderate the Club Bébé Voyage on our Facebook page and work behind the scenes with all the other team members to make sure everything runs smoothly.
London is an amazing place to call home. I really cannot think of anywhere else in the world that I would love quite as much, although I do keep looking. You never know what you might find! There is so much to do and explore here in London that you could never get bored.
MORNING–Rise and Shine
6.30 AM
It’s Friday and it’s my lucky day as Max normally helps Ali get ready and then does the nursery drop off while I get my only chance of the day to do some yoga or a little boxing.
Once Ali and Max are off, I start my day with coffee and breakfast plus a little catch up with the latest news. As I’m a savory person, toast with avocado or tomatoes are usually my go-to meal.
If I’m lucky enough to be in town for breakfast, I like nothing more than to go to The Breakfast Club in Soho. There’s always a queue to get in but it’s worth it, believe me.
9:00 AM
Friday used to be my most chill day involving recipe testing for future classes and catching up with all my emails. Now that I have joined the Editorial Team at Bébé Voyage, I dedicate a good part of the morning to do most of my writing for the latest article. I tend to spend two to three hours a day every day working on Bébé Voyage but I love it. It never feels like I’m actually working.
LUNCH–Time to eat
12:30 PM
Lunch is a solo affair, Ali eats at her nursery school ,and Max is at the office, If I’m home, I tend to make something quick and easy like roasted veggies with cous cous or a veggie stir fry.
If I’m in town for lunch, I do have a few favorites depending on what I am in the mood for, Wagamama for Japanese, Wahaca for Mexican, Kin for Thai, and Princi if I fancy something Italian. To be fair, London offers an incredible selection of amazing cafés and restaurants . There’s always somewhere good to go for a quick bite to eat!
AFTERNOON–Time to play and explore
1:30 PM
I pick up Ali from nursery and off we go. Afternoons are dedicated to the two of us and we try and make the most of them.
As the Southbank is one of our favorite places, only a 20-minute train drive from our house, we do end up there a lot. Depending on the weather, we might go for a stroll along the river Thames starting from Westminster Bridge all the way down to Tower Bridge. It’s a gorgeous pedestrian-only walk. We pass by quite a few sites such as Shakespeare’s Globe, Borough Market, Blackfriars Bridge, and the Tower of London. Ali is free to bring her scooter and burn a lot of energy. There’s also a beautiful carousel we tend to stop at for a ride or two. We generally find a nice bench by the Thames. We sit while munching on our snacks and watching the boats pass by.
If the weather is not nice, we are lucky to be Merlin Pass Holders and we take advantage of their offerings. We either jump on the London Eye or take a tour of the London Aquarium. Sometimes, we pop into the Tate Modern where they have a really nice café. It’s a nice stop along the way for coffee and babyccino.
DINNER/EVENING –Time to go home, dinner, and downtime
6:00 PM
Our evenings tend to be quite chill and relaxed.
Ali and I get busy in the kitchen to make dinner together. I try to follow what I preach and get Ali involved in cooking at every possible opportunity. This also gives us a chance to have more time together and talk about what we have done during the day.
7:00 PM
Dinner is a family affair. We always eat together, sitting at the table and chatting with some low music playing in the background. If the right song happens to come along, a singalong is always guaranteed!
Max is in charge of the bedtime routine which gives the two of them a chance to bond and spend some time together. I tend to use this time to catch up on my emails for Mummy’s Little Chef and see what’s going on with the editorial team at Bébé Voyage. Working across multiple time zones means that there is always a message or an email waiting for me!
8:00 PM
Once Ali is in bed and we have both finished catching up on our work, we spend the rest of the evening relaxing. Sometimes, we binge a TV series and other times read and listen to music.
