A month in Review - January 2009

What we did:Had lovely family time in Christmas BreakMany days in the backyard wading pool and trampolineExperienced very hot weatherDid a lot of farmgate trailingVisited the Flying Fox park for the first timeSpent some time with cousinsHad a visit from NineMet Uncle PeterWent back to KindyDaddy became a year olderMilestonesLaura:Started...

Those good 'ol coming of age chestnuts..

I'm taken back as I lay here watching 'Little Darlin's' on TV. In the day when Kristy McNichol was cool and Tatum O'Neill was known as a sweet girl and talented actress. I remember watching this way back when and was horrified to wonder WHY these poor girls would subject themselves to such a bet, at 15 no less! I was SUCH a good girl. hehe.What...

TGIF

Considering I'm not even working at the moment this seems a little silly to say it - but I love spending time as a family... the countdown to the Gold Coast Jaunt is on... this time next week I'll be in Sunny Queensland hopefully enjoying the pool and feeling in a real holiday spirit. I'm feeling quite flat at the moment. The non-employed-status is starting to get to me a little if I'm honest. I'm bored at home! Money would be...

Movie Review: The Wrestler

I don't know what to say really. I was really looking forward to seeing this movie and maybe that's exactly why I didn't 'enjoy it'. I enjoyed the performances certainly. Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei certain deserve every last snippet of publicity about their performances...The story in itself is pretty depressing, I don't know why but...

Not a record I'd want to break....

Apparently Australia is heading towards breaking the heatwave barrier with the warmest temperatures in heatwave fashion (i.e. series of days - I think four?) since records began. We've had our share of the heat last week and it's still mighty humid in Sydney but poor South Australia, 47 forecast today in Ceduna (for those farenheit people that's close to 117degF..) For those going over 40 today (Melbourne, Adelaide for example) I...

Could the end be nigh?

I almost can't believe I'm writing this but our day-nappy-days are almost over. 4.5 years of constant nappies, 1.5 of that with 3 children in nappies (like in the days of photo at right!), that's a lot of wipes, disposables, cloth nappies, washing, changing and disgusting odours! Our little girls are almost nappy free. Olivia will have...

Celebrating the Inner Ocker...

It's funny how the more you travel, the more patriotic you realise you are. Back before I started my worldwide travels many years ago I used to look upon Australia Day as a mere public holiday and a day off school/work/extra night at the pub. My first Australia Day overseas was in 1993. I had just moved to London 4 weeks prior and went to...

Lazy Sundays..

Today has been really just recovering from the heat of the last couple of days - had one of those de-hydration headaches-from-hell this morning so my hubby was heroic and let me sleep in, until of course he got restless and decided there were things he needed to do (like mow the backyard, yes agreed!) Finished off the lamingtons - and they...

Telemarketers' nightmare

I came across this today - a sure-fire-way to get rid of those telemarketers. Obviously they're into offering a lot more than a holiday in the US - I am SO doing this during the week!Telemarketer: Hi you have won a free brand name laptop computer and an LCD T.V. or printer. Please press one to take advantage of this opportunity. Genius:*who...

The feat to beat the heat

Well unless you haven't been in Sydney this week, and you haven't read my blog this week (shame on you!) aaaand you haven't seen any Australian news this week - it's been FRRREEAKING hot.Today being no exception... 38.2 degrees when we got home from a trip out to Richmond this morning - which I am positive was well over 40 degrees.We went...

Festival of Aussie LIfe...

Well with Australia Day Weekend upon us, culminating on Monday with Australia Day public holiday I've been giving some thought to some treats to make.As we're in the middle of a heatwave it does somewhat curb the enthusiasm to get baking but the nights are a bit cooler so tonight I'm going to give Lamingtons a whirl. They can stay in the...

Favourite TV shows as a kid...

Just surfing the net here on the couch and I stumble upon 'Brady Bunch Re-cast in Hawaii'... on the Travel channel (seems odd but meh!) They still after all these years act like a family.. !!Got me thinking how much I used to love watching the Brady Bunch - I liked Cindy - I think it was the pig-tails, I always loved wearing pig-tails (and...

Whose smart idea was that?

Oh my goodness, why oh why in 35 degree heat did I decide that making a cottage pie was a bright idea? I really thought at one point I was going to pass out!Just learned from Mike the weather-guy that last summer we only had 2 days over 30, compared to so far, we've had 10 - and I think we're in for a good few more... bring on autumn! I cope...

A new marketing ploy for Pizza Hut?

Eloise just stumbled upon something that finally could earn her keep in this house. She just (mistakenly) asked for Dalek bread (I think that means Garlic Bread). Watch for that coming soon to your latest Pizza Hut along with Dr Who merchandise. Gave us a giggle anywa...

Summer days..

Well it was HOT today. Which I don't mind as long as it only is moderately humid.. today was positively tropical though. The girls had a lovely day with their cousins Maya and Eva.Water-play was definitely a great plan, they had a wonderful time in the wading pool - even watering poor Aunty Becky's feet to see if they would grow (how did...

Molten Chocolate Baby Cakes success

Exactly how luscious and sinful are these? Pretty quick too. I did however do a substitution - I only had 100grams of club 70% dark chocolate, so I put in 3 tb premium powdered chocolate, and also used regular flour instead of Tipo 00 (which I only just ran out of - dang!) but the result was still scrum-diddly-umptious.The batter could be...

Happy birthday to my GSH

My Gorgeous Sexy Husband is 37 today. We are the same age again for 6 months!As it's a 'school day' it was business-as-usual getting everyone out the door by 7am so no special breakfasts but we did have time for cuddles and some card opening. I finally also got to spill the beans by way of finally divulging we are going on holiday in just...

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

Yes a few of my favourite things combined tonight. Wooohoooo to Top Chef New York starting (as I type!)I love this show - and New York being on the desperate-to-travel-to-destination-of-choice-list.,,Oh bliss!! I'm expecting Tony Bourdain will make a few appearances too - love him! Ever since reading Kitchen Confidential 10 years ago I'm...

Nummy Nokki

This is what Laura calls Mummy's Yummy Gnocchi. It's all made and ready for the oven but I will share my recipe here: Ingredients 2 packets of gnocchi 300mls runny cream 1 cup white wine (I use semillion) 2 cloves garlic 1/3 leek, finely diced 1 spring onion bulb and stalk, finely chopped Proscuitto (3 slices) or bacon (2 rashers) diced...

Flying Fox Park Adventures...

I've always heard the locals rave about the Flying Fox Park and Cafe at Bayview about 10 minutes drive from our house... so when we were looking for something new to do with the kids and enjoy the good weather we decided to give it a go. I'm so glad we did! It's FANTASTIC and would recommend it to anyone who even wanted a day-trip from anywhere...

Lovely times make lovely memories

Flying visit or not, it's lovely to catch up with family. When we got home from Farmgate Trail adventures quickly made my salad (Sweet potato and bean - always a winner) and tried some new recipes for nibblies.Babaganouj - Eggplant dip, Warm Bean Dip and Mild Mexican Salsa. All delicious - I'll share these recipes this week... (I'll re-make...

Today's Farmgate Trail Reconaissance.

Well after a later start than intended (well ok, only by 45 minutes) we set off solo on our farmgate trail expedition.First was Riverview - Got some gorgeous baby eggplant today for $2 a kilo - which I made into Babaganouj dip this afternoon for family gathering. Other bargains of the day was enormous bunch of silverbeet for 50c and huge...