The potential of 'Us'

Earlier this month I returned home for a few days - it was whirlwind to say the least but I visited the lovely Wolgan Valley Estate for a friend's wedding. It was small and intimate but done very beautifully and tastefully. The setting was picturesque and you could certainly feel the love in the room, for a couple who had many obstacles to overcome, and a long distance relationship to their path to happily ever after.

It got me thinking about life's journey (this is starting to sound like a sermon isn't it?...) . Only eight short years ago that was me and hubby were getting married, amongst a small and intimate crowd, picturesque setting, and hubby and I had overcome some geographical issues to finally come together.

I remember when he asked me to marry him, we were living in different States, but six long months later he packed up his life and we started making a life together under one roof. I still can remember the giddy excitement of knowing he was on his way to me and what the future held. Our wedding, marriage, children, the lot.

I cut back my work travel commitments, 'We' started to make decisions together and really now I find it hard to remember a time when I wasn't part of an 'us'. And I don't mean that in an 'identity-lost' kind of way.

'Us' started out with just 'Us-two'.
Now it is 'Us-five'.

This past weekend in Melbourne I wish I had said to hubby 'Thanks for having the foresight to see that 'We' could be so wonderful. (Well I just did on my blog, does that count?) We've had bad times and good times but we are still strong and really, if it had of been up to me I don't think I would have seen the 'us' in us. (I was a relationship gumby to say the least!!)

Truly, if I'm honest I don't think he could even see see how 'Us' could be this wonderful. Life brings joy sometimes that you can't even begin to imagine...

What about you?  Has the 'Us' you've become turned out differently (better/worse) than you imagined?

Loving the holidays

I just can't believe we're half way through our Easter holidays already!  We had a few busy days last week but we also made time to do nothing - which makes the holidays more like a holiday right?  As much as we all love a day trip I savour the days at home when we can just get on with things, have friends over to visit and we can just relax.

Last week the lovely Corrie came over and it's such a lovely friendship we've procured over the past year. It feels like we've known each other a lot longer than that actually.  Corrie having twins like myself and having young ones as she does now - I understand how busy her life is, the internal and external pressures, the need for a creative outlet.  We both love to cook, sew, blog and hold our babies close.  We love to chat.  We can chat for ages but our kids seldom let us!

Our tribes played together well - Tillie and Keira were right in their element with three girls to play with....

Whilst I cooed at beautiful Elodie... she's such a good and smiley baby - awake and sweet one moment:

and tuckered out and having a kip the next... bless!

Finn is going to have no shortage of options for formal partners between his three sisters and our three girls but he'd rather just play with his 'hangry birds' hehe.

And Eloise of course being the eldest showed her form on her bike... which impressed the young-folk as you would expect..

How's your holidays going?  Do you have a highlight so far?

A glimpse at our Australia day - how was yours?

Last year I chastised myself as I hardly took any photos - luckily my friends did but this year we took it to new levels -hardly anyone did!  Only a few and mainly of food (this I call food bloggers curse) but I hope you like them.  Good news is I have a whole lotta new recipes to share with you in the coming days!

It was a pretty laid back affair with most of the food preparation taking place the night before and we were pretty organised - so organised I even managed to whip myself up a quick shirt in the morning.  (See, retromummy is a good influence on me, but my fabric stash says otherwise!) I saw the fabric on sale a few weeks ago and thought it looked aussie-flag-like.  $4 for this shirt, with leftover fabric for a head wrap!

It was nice and cool and THANK GOODNESS because it was HOT.  Steamy would be a more accurate description.  The group of 8 kids we had here got busy in the wading pool, the slip n slide.  After lunch this included the adults too getting into ice-fights, water fights and then by the end of the day, mud fights... ahem.

We had enough to feed an army (I always over cater, cater for blow-ins etc) and friends bought wonderful contributions like Baileys cheesecake, smoked salmon dip (I am SO getting that recipe for you guys!) and of course how could I forget the caramel lamington shaped like Australia?!  (delicious for any time of the year!!).

So the upside of catering for an army is there's lots of delicious leftovers and I get a rest from the kitchen for a few days.  I'm sure there's a few hangovers amongst our party today - and I don't want to point anyone out in particular, but none of those would be the ladies at the party... if you catch my drift.  I'm sure hubby is feeling a little worse for wear at work today and has drunk his bodyweight in coffee...

How was your Australia Day?

Step one- don't forget the memory card! 2 recipes today!

I'm having a wonderful time on our 'at home' holiday this year.  All of the insane 'to-do lists' of December are ticked off, Christmas is done and dusted, now it's time to enjoy the days off.   Hubby is home until next Monday and we've been busying ourselves with pleasurable things - homey things and today, we had our besties over to chill out and enjoy this glorious (albeit short-lived) weather.

We haven't had time to catch up properly for ages - and it's a shame but we are all so busy with every-days.

I had planned to cook, and I did - three new glorious things to share - and had it all organised, took photos - and then realised after my first drink hours later - there was no memory card in my camera!

So let me give you the layman's recipe and photos for 2 recipes I made today - and the last I managed to get all the pictures, so I'll share that one tomorrow!

The first one is a good ol' Greek salad.  Nothing too formal about his one but I love it.  Eloise is a huge olive freak so needless to say this is her favourite!

You'll need to combine:  4 large tomatoes, diced, 2 lebanese cucumbers, diced, 1/4 large red onion, finely diced, 200g feta, diced and 1/2 tsp dried or 20 or so leaves of fresh oregano finely chopped, plus lastly 3/4 cup kalamata olives - drizzle some olive oil over bowl and crack some pepper on top... couldn't be easier!

The one that I'm really kicking myself about the photos on is this Nigella Lawson London Cheesecake. It's honestly delicious - and if you're a bit of a cheesecake snob like me I'm sure you'll love it.  I prefer a baked cheesecake and Nigella's New York is my favourite but I didn't have 4 hours to spare so I made the London one - and it's still baked, just takes a portion of the time.

I have 'aussiefied' it a little with a few changes..

1 packet 'rich tea' biscuits
75g butter, melted
500g cream cheese
2/3 cup caster sugar
3 whole eggs and 3 extra egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tb lemon juice

plus, 150ml sour cream, 1/4 cup caster sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract.


Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees, non fan forced.
• Process or crush biscuits until fine crumbs, mix with butter and press into springform pan - place in the fridge
• In a mixing bowl beat cream cheese until soft and fluffy.  Add sugar and combine well.
• Add eggs, one at a time, and then egg yolks, vanilla and lemon juice, whip until fluffy.
• Remove the springform tin from the fridge and wrap from the bottom up around the sides with aluminium foil - two layers should be fine.
• Fill the springform with the cream cheese mixture and place the whole tin in a roasting tray.  
•  Pour boiling water from a kettle in the baking tray until it reaches about 1/2 way up the tin.
• Bake in oven for 40-50 minutes - it should be a little browned on top and spring back when you touch it.   Having the water around the pan ensures that the cheesecake stays moist.
• When cooked, remove from oven and carefully remove the spring form outer - you may need to put a knife around the edges to dislodge it.  Allow to cool for 20 minutes
• Meanwhile combine sour cream, vanilla and sugar in a bowl.
• When cake has cooled, put the outer back on and pour the sour cream over the top.  Return to the fridge until ready to serve (at least 30 minutes).
• Cut with a hot knife

So after a lovely early dinner, dessert - we got down to hanging out in the garden and I managed to get some shots of the lovely J, L and C - L and C are the same age as our girls - so they are like cousins - their Mum and I were pregnant together both times... lovely how life works after 26 years of friendship.     J was our flowergirl - and well I have a soft-spot for her.  I used to love shopping for clothes for her before my frills came along!

Beautiful kids no?

I'm baaack!

Yes, as of today I will be-a-cooking.. so keep your eyes peeled my friends I intend to cook up a storm in the coming days!  I've had cooking withdrawals BIG time and can't wait to get creating in my kitchen!

Talking of creating - a very dear friend (in fact we met as teenagers and she was my first ever flatmate) sent me this last week and it's been getting my creative juices flowing - it's a magazine called 'Where women cook' and it's part of the 'Where women create' magazine series (I'm sure some of you crafters would know that one?).

If you love photographs and you love kitchens this is one magazine I seriously recommend you pick up - this will not be my last copy!  This one features the one-and-only THE Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond (or as I like to call her "Mrs Pi-dubble-yer") and her beautiful kitchen:

 I'm in one-hundred kinds of love with her farmhouse sink....

Love it all really...  so much of her kitchen is my dream kitchen.  Homely, spacious, gracious.

There's also some great recipes not only by Ree...

But also from many others - there's loads of funky preserve ones in this issue!

Look how pretty it is!

You can purchase individually or subscribe here

Now talking of magazines and foodporn, you might have seen the little ditty about Australian Good Taste Magazine Reader forum that I told you about (and I'm in!) well here's one of the teams and my lovely reader Ingrid! (blue dress, blonde hair at the rear on the right hand side) in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph!!  Hello Ingrid!

Here's the full story

So that's enough reading and inspiration for a Monday morning don't you think?  Back to dreaming about my dream kitchen... what's in yours?

My online life....

Today I'm going to tell you a bit about my online life.   I've had an 'online life' (as opposed to a 'real life' but we all know they are very interchangeable these days)... since I got engaged.   I wasn't one of those regular girls who dreamed about every detail of their wedding or even had an idea of what ring I wanted.  To say I was a little surprised when hubby proposed would be a bit of an understatement.....

So I found an Australian wedding forum and it changed my life.  Almost 10 years ago I 'met' a bunch of gals who had married or planned to marry around the same time as my nuptuals.  It was a fabulous way to talk about your wedding and share the excitement as there's only so much your friends and family want to talk about it and also it was a great place to learn money-saving tips, find suppliers who people had used and make some friendships that spilled over into real life.

As I've told you, shortly after we were married we found out we were expecting, so I continued on the same forum which had morphed into not only a wedding forum, but a pregnancy and baby one too.  Pretty soon there were a whole lot of us expecting babies around the same time and before we knew it we were sharing pregnancy and parenting tips and how to survive on one income.

I'm still in touch with a lot of those ladies (hello if you're visiting!) who were there with me when I discovered we were having our twins - hubby and I set up the AMBA forum because after having a local network for both our wedding and our first child we were missing that online support we needed.

Now these days I spend my online life here, a few other forums, on facebook occasionally and on twitter (how I love twitter!).    There's a new little community I've joined too, and I will occasionally be contributing to over at KleenexMums - keep an eye out!  KleenexMums have also release a gorgeous little eBook which I contributed to, along with some other very talented Mums.

Download it here or view it via the very fancy flash interface here - make sure you read all of it, but especially the article about 'real friends' which is my very real and gorgeous friend telling a story about how we first met.  Brought a tear to my eye *sniff*

The gift from my online life is I feel connected, educated, entertained, amused and supported.  I really don't know what I would have done without my online life. It has enhanced my real life more than I ever could have expected.

Comment and tell me about your online life - or link up your own post if you like, I'd love to read it! xxx

Impossible NOT to share this!

My very clever friend, Nisha came over yesterday with her adorables Nicholas and Alexander and arrived with a birthday gift for me.

Look at the decoration detail she's put in the wrapping!

It's got the little kitchen thingies on the bottom - how cute is the cake with an 'L' on it and the kitchen aid!? I just adore it!

She is SO clever, it was such a shame to unwrap!  You can see other clever things Nisha does here or visit her blog here.

Gorgeous right?

See you later on today with something you can cook with the kids!

The seven (new) faces of Dianne

Remember how last week I told you about my friend who with waist-length hair shaved it for a cure?  I'm pleased to announce that Dianne raised 3,175 for the Leukaemia Foundation ! Go Di!

Now here she is sporting her new 'do'

This was before:

To see pics of the 'chop'n'shave' click here - you can still donate if you wish too!

Now for something serious...

I have a friend Di.  We've been friends oh, for about 7 years now.   Di is a very supportive and generous person.  Extremely funny too.  Di has beautiful hair.  Long hair down to waist.

But it's about be chopped off.  All off.  Shaved even.

Why?  In honour of her Dad who died of leukemia.... and if that wasn't enough, her 5 year old niece currently has leukemia.  Enough said.

So this Friday she's doing to worlds' greatest shave.   If you're in Sydney, pop on down to the Salisbury Hotel in Stanmore and watch/support/cheer her on at 7pm!  She's pretty nervous about it, you can imagine!

If you can't make it but would love to support a worthy (tax deductible!) cause - you can donate online here - every little bit helps - please spread the word!

Are you cooking for Australia Day?

Do you usually have a picnic, visit friends or have a BBQ? Go to the beach perhaps? Or do you sleep in or work on either having a hangover or nursing one?

We usually host a BBQ - this year we will again - looking forward to it.  As some of my readers are actually coming I won't spoil the surprise about what I'm serving but... I'd love to know what you are or what you love to eat on Australia Day!

If you are cooking, why not blog it and submit it to the Make it from Scratch Carnival - I will then feature it next Tuesday when I host the carnival here!

An important lesson when you start drinking

Do you remember when you were first eighteen and legal to drink whatever you wanted? To be considered an adult amongst your family and friends?

Here's a 101 to start your drinking career:

DO NOT start early

Do NOT mix drinks

Do not pass out before the party is over, because your PARENTS might do this to you...

Lastly, delete all evidence on said parents' camera, before they distribute it to friends and the www.

SnapHappySaturday: The Kool Kids...

These pics were taken by the very talented Nisha - when she and her gorgeous boys came over last week for a playdate. I love that even Dougall is in this pic!!!

l-r: Olivia (3y8m), Eloise (5y2m), Nicholas (4y11m), Alexander (3y8m), Laura (3y8m), Dougall (10m)

(Alexander and Laura and Olivia's birthdays' are 2 days apart)

Eloise prior to fringe butchering

Sugar, sugar, sugar!

Rainbow cake.yumm.

cute!

The gang show off their sugar fix!

'When I was like you' and similar annoying 'help'

Do you have a friend or relative that does this?  Or do you maybe unwittingly do it?

I'm a bystander in this situation but I notice it between two friends.  One might vent in a self deprecating or even in a more serious way and the response recently is more often than not 'I used to be like that, but XYZ and I'm not now'.

Is that an insult?  Is it well-meaning but badly delivered or is it just elitist?  I kind of wrote it off to well-meaning at first but now I'm starting to think the latter...

I know find myself wondering when I share my parenting experiences with friends whether I do this?  I mean in a way when people have their first child, and your opinions change through experience (the abovementioned is not the same situation)...   Hmm off to ponder...

Eloise is (almost) five.. in Pictures....

Birthday party day - woke up to find her cake - I iced it last night - oh how I love orchard icing! She was as expected - thrilled!

The party table - with barbie rice bubble treats and barbie hats! It's alllll about Barbie you know...

LollyGobbleBlissBombs

Little miss Eva - Cute as a button as always

Pass the parcel

Nanny and Eva

Ze cake - debutante Barbie