About two months ago I made Bert a story book from scratch. I did all the illustrations, including pictures of his favourite things, like his blue car and some flowers he’d picked for his dad. I wrote the story based on one of the ones I tell him every night at bed time after lights out – all adventures with Bert as the hero and all to do with our every day life. I rewrote and rewrote it till it rhymed and scanned. I redrew some of the illustrations till I was happy with them. I got it self-published as a hard back book with a slip cover – on the front was a picture of Bert and his blue car. In the inside cover it read, ‘for Bert’.

Whenever I get it out he says ‘no Bert book’.

This week I made this totally toddler-friendly meal from scratch. Bert ate all the plain noodles, carefully separated from the veg and salmon to avoid cross contamination, and, when I suggested he try some honey marinated salmon, he cried.

You win some…

Serves 3

3 salmon fillets

1 inch of fresh ginger, grated

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Splash of sunflower or veg oil

3 carrots, peeled and cut into batons

1 courgette, cut into batons

1 red onion, sliced

3 nests dried egg noodles

1 tablespoon sesame oil

To serve:

1 table spoon soy sauce

1 dessert spoon sesame seeds, toasted in a dry pan first if you can be bothered

Combine the soy, honey, garlic and ginger in a shallow bowl and add the whole salmon fillets to the mixture, turning so both sides are covered in the marinade. Cover and chill in the fridge for about an hour.

Take the salmon fillets out of their marinade, put on a baking sheet and cook at 220 degrees for about 12-15 minutes. (That’s two rungs up in the roasting oven for our Aga – in our oven they’re done after 12 minutes.)

Cook the noodles in boiling water according to packet instructions. Heat the oil in a wok till very hot, add the onion and cook for a minute, add the carrot and cook for two minutes, add the courgette and cook for another minute. The veg should be cooked through but still firm. Add the marinade from the salmon and heat through. Then add the cooked noodles and sesame oil, and combine the lot, stirring through the extra soy and sprinkling on the sesame seeds. (I separated Bert’s noodles and veg first due to the toddler cross-contamination terror.) Serve with the whole pieces of cooked salmon on the side.