I`m a bit of an addict when it comes to cookery programmes on the tv. I`ll happily watch Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall when they are on the box. Inspired by these celebrity chefs I`ve now become more adventurous in the kitchen. There are now shelves packed with interesting cookery books that at one time stood completely bare. More and more people are expanding their cookery skills and why not when cooking can be so much fun? In actual fact a number of Cookery Events are running throughout the UK and they are ideal for team building exercises. Colleagues can be enrolled on the events and together they`ll have to work together to achieve a common goal. It could be a canapé challenge or a tasty chocolate test that teams will have to pass. Ideal for a spot of team building the Cookery Events are proving to be extremely popular at the moment. Companies can book groups of their workers on one of the Cookery Events and they`ll come back to work wiser as a result. Only by working as a team for the good of a general cause will they prove to be successful at the challenges that they are set.

For more information about Cookery Events, this article or the author visit http://www.hartleysevents.co.uk

Over the past three years our daughter has accumulated quite a comprehensive collection of wooden educational toys. She has a wooden clock that has removable numbers on it and each one of the numbers is a different shape and colour. I`ve lost count of the amount of time that we have spent playing with this clock. The one thing that I have noticed is how my daughter can now distinguish which shape goes into which recess to form the numbers around the clock face. Another favourite type of toy that my daughter likes to play with is her wooden letter snake. The main body of the snake divides into wooden sections and each separate piece has a letter of the alphabet upon it. I don`t mind buying the wooden educational toys because I know that my daughter gains great pleasure from them and they help to educate her at the same time. I`d much rather she spent time playing with toys like these than other electronic varieties. With Christmas looming in the not too distant future our thoughts as parents will be turning to presents for our children once more. It`s certainly feasible that we`ll be buying a few more wooden educational toys to add to the collection that our daughter has already accumulated thus far.