The rollercoaster weekend... in Melbourne

I know there's a very healthy rivalry with Sydney Melbourne, but honestly you are so charming.   Sydney is my part of my heart and who I am but I always love to visit Melbourne, and this trip to Melbourne was the most wonderful time I've ever had.

And although it rained for the first two days, I forgive you Melbourne.   Nothing could have dampened my days with my gorgeous family, who I met after flying in from Manila last Thursday night and attending the Problogger Conference on Friday (more on that later) I thought my heart was going to burst into a million pieces when I saw Hubby and my frills approach in a taxi to stay at the apartment I'd booked for us to have the weekend together before I had to fly back....

There were tears all round, they leapt out of the taxi and in my arms, frantic kissing and squeezing, I couldn't pull myself away.  Working long days, 6 days a week for weeks on end it seems I was desperately needing my family.   I'm a real sook.  I haven't seen them for three weeks.   15 minutes of Skype a day with my kids just isn't enough for me, and it's not enough for them.

So that night we ignored bed-time and set out for a late night bite.  We dropped the bags in and headed for a lovely dinner, nothing special but I remember sitting there staring at their faces and feeling so grateful.  

Next day (yesterday - Saturday)  we headed to the best place for breakfast - in fact we went back today.  The service was amazing and my husband who is a very fussy coffee person said it's the best vanilla latte he's had in his life, they were great with the kids too... Cafe Andiamo if you are in town..

One of the eleventy-billion baby-cinos consumed on the weekend...

And red cups too!  

Yesterday we hit the shops, because when it's raining in Melbourne what else is there to do?  I bought 3 pairs of new shoes, I was the silly person who took only 1 pair of work sandals to Manila - these ones:

- and found these on sale for 25% off in Myer yesterday

Thank you Diana Ferrari for making such comfortable shoes.... I bought them in black, latte and blue the only colour I didn't buy was red.. which is my favourite colour, not sure why actually...

We literally shopped until we dropped:  

Laura clearly has my genes, I tire of shopping pretty easily...

A perk-me-up was a carriage ride around Melbourne, I would totally recommend this - although $60 for 15 minutes or $100 for 30 minutes when you get 5 people in the carriage and you see Melbourne in style I think it's worth it.. the kids LOVED it!

The only downer to the weekend was going to a restaurant/bar which had the worst service I'd ever had.  And to top that off the worst food.  Not only could we not order half/half pizzas, we weren't allowed to take any leftovers with us and in hindsight a good thing because my hubby informed me that he'd tasted better McCains Pizzas.  My crab spaghetti was too oily and my hubby's main size of pork belly looked more like an entree.  That's the only time you let me down Melbourne.  $184 later for five of us... money better spent at Pizza Hut and buying shoes with the change....

We did cheer ourselves up afterwards by heading down to Ganache for a chocolate overload afterwards... as you do...

Today our last day together I woke up with a heavy heart, I could feel it with Olivia too, she wouldn't leave me even for a second.  We took the girls on the tram - because you HAVE to if you're in Melbourne.... 

Perfect opportunity to get pics of my frills - Olivia waiting for the tram

Thanks Mummy for my twirly dress (Love the shopping in the Philippines, dresses were $20 each!)

And we got ourselves down to.....

LUNA PARK!  Now this is an expensive little exercise, but if you can stay at least 3 hours I think it's worth it.  For us the admission worked out to be about $35 each... for unlimited rides, but unlike Sydney's Luna Park no re-mortgage of the house is necessary to buy drinks, lunch, sideshow alley or souvenirs.   The rides are good and for a good range of ages, you'll have at least 4-5 rides even if you have the littlest ones....

Mummy 'looking cool'

Free entertainment!

I'm a bit of a fan of sideshow alley...

Everyone went home with a toy after not much $$ too.  Win/win.

Then Mummy did some shopping at the St Kilda Markets, enroute back to the hotel to quickly pack and come out to the airport...

Tearful farewell... I'm not due home until December 8 - I'm hoping my frills and hubby can come visit me.. not sure when I'll have time to see them even if they do.. I would settle for the evenings and my one day off a week... I truly would.  Until then, it's back to Skype.

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?

Sunday baking project - Australia Day Damper!

Can't believe it's taken me two years to put this up with all the bread I've made and simple, easy recipes I like to share - but there you go - it's finally here.

Really, along with Irish soda bread it doesn't get easier than this with bread - of course the best way to eat damper is with lashings of butter and vegemite.   The girls like to help making this and I daresay there will be few dampers on the table at my Australia Day gathering... what about you?


Ingredients:

3 tablespoons (75g) butter
2 cups self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 cup milk


Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees c.

Put all dry ingredients into a bowl with the butter

Mix well and then rub butter in with your fingers until you have a breadcrumb-like consistency

Should look a bit like this...

Slowly add the milk 1/2 at a time, mix through until you get a lump of dough. 

Grease a tin or pan with canola oil or butter and then plop your dough onto a floured surface, knead a little (no longer than a minute) until it comes together

Fold into disc (I put a little ball on top but you can do whatever you like - shape it like Australia perhaps!?)

Brush with a little more milk

Pop into the oven for about 40 minutes, until golden brown on top.

What have you got planned for Australia Day?

Frilly Christmas 2010 - Part one

I thought I'd share some of our photos from this Christmas, in instalments... because there are so many and most of them tell a story and you know - I don't want you to feel like in you're in the family slideshow from hell.... so here goes!

Santa plates, cups and key ready to go!  (And we were off to bed at 11.15pm- it's a record for us!)

Here are the Christmas stockings I made! Now I initially wasn't happy with them but now, seeing them all up there filled with goodies, I felt quite proud of my efforts. (Thanks for the applique tips and backing Corrie xx)  

All we're missing is a person starting with the initial 'n' and we'd have 'noel' - very Christmassy!

And here we are in our Christmas dresses up at 6.20am.  I made Eloise's for her Carols concert but quickly sewed up two extras on Christmas Eve so Olivia and Laura would have one too. They were chuffed!

Santa was a hit with the stockings this year !

Eloise about to open her present from Santa (ZhuZhu Pets)

There were so many presents this year - and because most of our family don't live in Sydney anymore there's a lot to open at once instead of spreading it over the day.  So we've decided next year interstate presents will be opened on Christmas Eve... to cut down on time mainly - it took us well over an hour to open all the gifts as we open them one at a time (a tradition I don't want to give up)

Then came time for the big present from Gran who has been visiting with us (MIL) she sent some money down for a swing set - and hubby has been building it bit by bit over the week- we had all but the swings put on by Christmas eve, by the clever guise of it being a new garden bed (Eloise has A-frame garden beds at her school) and none of the kids suspected for a moment!

So we led them out the garden with hands over their eyes and faced their backs to the swing set.

Then we told them to turn around and close their eyes.. (they were a bit confused!)

 

A SWWWWIIIIIIIIIIIII-NG!!

Excitement plus!!!
Unfortunately safety stands say only two swings on this length of cross-beam but after initial issues it's all worked out because Mummy and Daddy bought them Totem tennis too - so someone plays totem tennis whilst others are swinging, or even playing with the Hula hoops Santa delivered!

Poor Gran did do a lot of pushing on those swings yesterday - they have mostly now got the hang of swinging themselves..

(Part two coming soon - My gifts and Christmas lunch!)

Gift or your christmas table - irresistable orange and cranberry shortbread

These ones are set out to impress my mother-in-law this year because she's a bit of a shortbread fan and a staunch traditionalist but I don't particularly like regular shortbread.  It's a bit too buttery and tasteless for me.   So this is my compromise.  Hubby loves it, and I mean looooves it.  This will be on our table every Christmas from here on, it's easy, yummy and a great gift too!

Ingredients:

250g butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

zest of 1 orange

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup craisins, finely chopped (or processed in mini food processor)

2 1/4 cups plain flour

Method:

Preheat oven 160 degrees (or 150 c fan forced)

Whip your butter until it's light and fluffy.  Add sugars and mix well.

Add vanilla, craisins and orange zest.

Lastly add flour a cup at a time, until mix until combined.  It will resemble crumbly sand, don't worry it will stick together!

Pour out onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Push together and rollout over the surface with a small rolling pin or the edge of a smooth glass until all smooth.  Try and make it a rectangle shape, don't worry if there are jagged edges - that's your 'taste testing bits' :)

Dock your shortbread by piercing all over with a fork

Place in the oven in the top 1/3 of the oven.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the edges turn golden brown.  Remove and cool for 5-10 minutes then cut into strips and then rectangles with a sharp knife.

Cool completely before removing from the tray. Store in airtight container for up to 10 days.

How do you feel about toilet humour? The List Operators for kids makes it fun..ny... even for the adults!.

You know with two almost-five year olds and a six year old, toilet humour at times can be a bit out of control. It's a stage I'm told (I'm hoping so) and I do discourage it but I realise upon speaking to other parents it's happening everywhere. Even just keeping your ears open in the school playground you start to realise that you are pretty powerless to avoid it completely.  It drives me crazy at times !!

courtesy www.comedyfestival.com.au 

So you know, hearing that the List of Operators for Kids had a fair bit of toilet humour in it, I was a little cringe-y but I thought, 'hey the kids will like it at least?...'.  We arrived at the Seymour centre with time to spare and actually bumped into a classmate from Eloise's school and his family.   It was a fun reunion after almost two weeks holiday and the kids were excited to see each other and excited to be on a fun day out.

We sat in our chairs looking at the set (and the theatre was fairly full!), and I didn't quite know what to expect.  The reviews I've read say it's not just for kids, the parents find it pretty funny so I hoped I'd be entertained at least, even if the kids dissolved into a giggly mess.

How entertained I had no idea. Seriously, there wasn't 30 seconds where we all weren't laughing!  I don't want to spoil the surprise for those of you who are going along but it's something we'd probably berate our kids for doing, however it was a hilarious - most of it was aimed smack-bang at what our kids find funny.  Rude words, poo, vomit and let's not forget farting.  Farting is really the new black.

Don't let that last sentence put you off - just let yourself go with it, laugh with your kids!   Matt and Richard really engage you, there's plenty of audience participation and also a number of the 'adult jokes' that the kids just won't get.  The List Operators for kids really is a great hour of fun where you will escalate yourself on the cool Mum/Dad stakes infinitely by just taking the kids along.  Eloise complained that there is NO WAY that show went for an hour and didn't want to leave!

We briefly met Matt (left) and Richard (right) after the show!  The frills were very excited.

And you know what?  No bottom, far, poo talk since.  Maybe the frills have been exorcised?

Good news is that as part of the Sydney Children's Festival - the tickets are capped at  $17.50 each - a great price for live entertainment!!!  So get along!

How do YOU feel about toilet humour?  Something you avoid at all costs of do you just embrace it and have fun?  Something in between?

Sunday baking project: Traditional Pavlova

I'm finding myself internally squealing and clapping my hands during our farmgate runs.  I'm loving seeing all the new spring and advance summer produce coming in and the other day when I saw good passionfruit, with kiwi and strawberries the only thing I wanted to make was pavlova.    We've been eating outdoors as much as possible lately and last weekend I made this and we had it for afternoon tea.  It was meant to be for dessert but no one could wait!

The pavlova recipe is Stephanie Alexander - goddess of pavlovas.  It's never failed for me and I've made it into mini pavlovas too.  Love it.  *Squeal* I feel summer edging its way....

What do you like on your pavlova?


Ingredients
4 egg whites, at room temperature
half a lemon
250 grams caster sugar
2 teaspoons cornflour
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

600mls double cream or whipped cream

Fresh fruit like passionfruit, kiwi, bananas, strawberries - whatever you fancy!  Or you could do raspberries and shaved chocolate - get creative!

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees c

Grease and line a spring form tin.  I put my baking paper on the bottom - not cutting it size and clamp the springform onto it then cut around the outside of the tin... then cut strips and place around the sides.

Cut your lemon in half, and rub the juice into the inner surfaces of your mixing bowl (or kitchenaid bowl) and beaters.  wipe with paper towel.  This gets rid of any greasy residue on either and ensures perfect egg whites every time (good tip huh?)

Place your egg whites in bowl and beat until stiff peaks. Add sugar in 1/3 at a time and beat until completely mixed (mix should be glossy)

Turn off beaters, remove from stand and add cornflour, vanilla, vinegar and vinegar.  Mix through carefully.  (By using the vinegar and cornflour, it makes the pavlovas crispy on the outside, and gooey-marshmallow-chewy like in the centre.)

When ready to place in oven - turn down oven to 150 degrees immediately.   Bake for one hour.

Once baking is down, turn off oven, and leave pavlova in oven for at least one hour to cool.(You can store in airtight containers for about 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 3 months.)

When completely cooled, top with cream and decorate as you wish..