The School Shirt Graveyard

I'm still in the process of tidying up my dining room - I'll post before and after photos when I'm content that I'm done.  It's one of those projects that seems to be best done in little snatches, rather than exhausting myself to get it all done at once.  In the meantime there have been some interesting finds.  Or more accurately, rediscoveries of things that had gone missing.

For example I found the glass confectionary jars given to me by a student at the end of my first teaching job.  I knew they'd come home and then didn't know where I'd put them.  Well...I'm not wondering anymore!  I also went through a bag that came out of the boot of my old car.  I've had my new car for 15 months now. 🙄

Then I unearthed this little pile of school sports shirts.  Our school doesn't have a uniform, except for this one item, to be worn the day the kids do PE and if they are off site for excursions or sports days.  Having had three kids wear these shirts over many years, we have had to enough for each of them to wear one in their current size.  And then as the kids grew they were replaced, and the too-small shirts handed down.  Until finally, Mr Busy, the last one at school, owns one shirt in his current, tall size.  The girls have kept the shirt the each had in Year 12.

The five on this chair have been cleared out of Mr Busy's wardrobe over time.  These are headed for my brother's girls, who also attend Our School, and who both still have many years ahead of them!

Welcome to 2017

Gardens at Entally House (near Launceston)

Happy New Year everyone!

My 2017 has begun slowly and quietly.  You know that saying "begin as you intend to continue"?  I'd be quite content for a slow and quiet year.  Of course, that's highly unlikely, but maybe just being aware of making slow, quiet choices is a good way to begin.

We have ended up being home for the summer holidays this year, for perhaps the first time ever.  In a couple of days the girls are off to housesit for friends who are in Austria for a few weeks.  Mr Busy, Dh and I may spend a few days with my parents, near Ballarat.  Otherwise, it's just reading, and napping, and movie-watching, and planning a kitchen overhaul, and trying very hard to avoid watching cricket.  Given Dh's adoration for the game, this leaves me with lots of YouTube watching, or watching catch-up TV online.  Thank you unlimited internet!  I think the slothful life needs to come to an end, so I'm beginning to think about bite-sized tasks that need to be dealt with before I head back to work in a few weeks.

• Clear out dining room.  We don't use the dining room for dining.  Ever.  So it has become Dh's "Chinese Laundry" and general dumping area.  I can't stand it!  That'll be the makings of a before and after post, I think.
• Deal with Yr12 Artworks.  With two girls having done Yr12 Studio Arts, we have some bulky items that have been languishing, inconveniently, about the place.  These. Must. Go!  I'm going to be setting a time line, after which they cannot reasonably expect these pieces to continue their space-clogging ways.
• Term Planning.  What can I say, I have some work that needs to get done before I arrive back at school for  what we call "Work Break" - that time between teachers going back to school and when the kids start back.
• Friend catch up's.  I need to schedule in some time with a few friends.
• Freezer Stock Up.  This will need to be closer to going back to school - a trip to Costco and some pre-cooking preparation will go a long way to keeping us fed with less stress at dinner time.
• Kitchen Preparation.  I need to look into kitchen sinks, tap ware and tile for the backsplash.  I have a design consultant coming in this week, so I'll likely need to add to that list.  Having said that, I already know what style of doors, door handles and bench top I want.

That'll do me!  I need to make sure I have space to continue my slow and quiet beginning to the year.

What are your short-term goals for the summer (or winter, if that's what you've got going where you are)?

Best Post-Indulgence Breakfast

Same smoothie, different mug.  Still my favourite:  banana, raspberries (frozen), cinnamon. I prefer almond milk for this (and only this!), but since all we had was regular jersey milk that's what I used.

'Twas the night before Christmas...

Dh's view of St Kilda Beach this morning

Well, it's not night yet, and there's lots of stirring about the place here, but it IS the day before Christmas.  I have some baby adult people in my house that are very excited!!!

In typical Melbourne fashion it's been a warm morning, and Dh has had rain and hail on his Saturday morning ride with "the boys".  Thank you Melbourne.  What would we do without your confusing weather?

We have organised a Plan B for my family's Christmas Even afternoon tea, which was meant to be at a park.  Miss Mischief tells me she has experienced flies in plague proportions this past week so maybe it's not just the rain we have to contend with this time.

Meanwhile, today holds some present wrapping, some pavlova making and some welcoming my parents in for a few days.  Probably no afternoon napping.  I've become somewhat of a champion, of Olympic proportions, with the afternoon naps.  It won't last forever, but I'm being totally exceptional in that department, for the moment!

And the medical/para-medical appointments continue.  I need to update the prescription for my glasses.

Lazy Day Dinner

Post-nap dinner:  Butter chicken sauce from a jar with a whole pile of veggies, served over rice and accompanied by roti bread.

I used what veggies I had: sweet potato, potato, carrots (all cut into chunks), broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms.  I augmented the jarred sauce with onions, garlic, garam marsala and a can of coconut milk to make the sauce go further.

Mr Busy got his braces tightened yesterday (the boy people didn't think the date of that one through very carefully!) so tonight it's post-braces-potato-and-leek-soup night.  Bread for the rest of us, just soup for Mr Busy.

Considering the approaching excesses of Christmas Eve afternoon tea and Christmas Day meals, the idea of a few veggie dinners is not such a bad idea.

The Eye of the Busy Storm

Today is my quietest day for the week, and even it has already been marred by a quick jaunt out for a fasting blood test.  Because I haven't had one done since computers, apparently, or more accurately, since my GP got a computer.  This week seems to have become our specialist/orthodontist/other medical appointments week.  And also figuring out why our internet keeps dropping out.  The answer?  The phone plug to which the modem was connected has deteriorated and needs some professional phone-man surgery.  We now have phones and devices hijacking other phone points in highly inconvenient locations, but we have stable internet again.  Whew.

So after my little trip up the street, I compensated with a breakfast of poached eggs with hollandaise sauce, over the most beautiful sourdough toast, from The Artisan Crust.  These people are so dear to me, and their breads and pastries are simply otherworldly.  My goal for next year is to take all three of their bake school classes.

For the rest of my day....diving back in to some stitching, and re-watching "Nigella's Christmas Kitchen".  Because a little Nigella inspiration for getting into the kitchen seems to be required in this household of people who are tired of figuring out what to eat all the time.  Grocery shopping should probably be on my list, although tomorrow seems like a better idea.  In the interests of quietness and rest, you know.  And definitely a little nap in the afternoon.  Because a nap is totally necessary every day, following the end of school.  But most exciting is the diving back in to stitching.  I haven't stitched a thing since about Easter last year, so the other night I went looking for some simple freebie patterns with which to get my feet wet again.

What feeds your creativity when you're busy?

Because they know I love pink

School has finished up for the year, and we are all very excited (and not a little relieved) to be on summer holidays.  You don't know what kids take in until they do something that makes you aware of the little, seemingly insignificant things.

Apparently the two students who brought me these gifts noticed that pink is my favourite colour.  It might have been the new pink phone.  Or the phone cover - also pink.  And flowery.  Perhaps it was the computer with the pink shell-cover.  Could also have been the heart necklace with the pink fake-pearl in it.  Either way two of my students were so observant they chose to bless me with pink gifts on Tuesday.

The macarons were delicious, and tasted pink, if that were even possible.  The lychee hand cream smells divine.  And pink.

I don't think you're meant to have favourite students, but I have a little handful of kids that have certainly touched a soft place in my heart.  Lucky for me I get to keep a couple of them next year.  But the ones leaving my classroom, or leaving the school, are definitely taking a little piece of my heart with them.

And a little bit of pink!

A Little Break

View from the front door of our cabin

It seems like, when you have kids, you never know when the last time is the last time.  Mr Busy reminded me of this when we were walking along the other day.  Our hands bumped as we walked and he remembered that once upon a time we had held hands when crossing the road.  We don't do that anymore.  He's 16 and 6 foot 3 inches.  He doesn't need me to keep him safe like that.  I never knew, the last time I held his hand to cross the road, that it would be the last time.

Since we have some baby adult kids now I am so keenly aware that we don't know when the last family holiday will be our last one together.  We've just spent three days up on the Murray River in Echuca.  Actually, Moama.  These border towns are such a thing!  We slept in NSW and spent our time in Victoria.  In any case, three days in a little cabin, in a big caravan park, but right on the riverfront.  We got to watch the Emmy Lou paddle past from time to time, and we watched the river meander by.  It was cold, so we cosied up inside with a good heater and played games and read books and watched "The West Wing" episodes (we all wish we could vote for Jed Bartlett in our federal election on Saturday).  Dh worked a fair bit, because that's what you do when you're self-employed and some of your clients are near Echuca.

But mostly we just enjoyed being able to watch the river.  There is something serene about being near slow-moving, calm water.

Banks of the Murray River - right opposite our cabin

Miss Sunshine showed me how to use the panorama function on my phone's camera.  The teacher in my just *had* to take a shot of the erosion on the river bank, since we've just been learning about that in class.  My new phone also takes a few seconds of live action, so it's been kind of fun to see what is captured when you think you're taking a still shot - like cousins heckling each other as they get into position for a photo.

I don't know how many family holidays we have left before our baby chicks start leaving the nest, but this one was delightfully relaxing.  Slow days, dark and quiet nights for good sleeping, enjoying our funny little bunch of crazies.

And Then She Crashed

It is the way of things, come the end of the school year.  I crash, and I crash hard.  It happens every year, beginning with the weekends leading up to me finishing up.  What this means is that daily naps are not-negotiable necessities.  And I am playing fast and loose with the term 'nap'.  Is it really a nap when it lasts 2-3 hours?  Every. Day.

The best possible place to do such end-of-year crashing is surely in Hobart, Tasmania.  When Dh suggested we go away for our wedding anniversary he raised Queensland as a possibility.  Unfortunately I am not much of a summer-loving person so the heat and humidity of the summer months was a huge deterrent to me.  No.....let's head south, I countered.  To Tasmania.  It is one of my favourite places in the world.  Small, quiet, unhurried.  Cool.  Dh has an aunt & uncle, and one of his cousins around Hobart so that's where we headed.

We ate at the Ball & Chain Grill a couple of times because the steaks were soooooo good!  Fish and chips on Constitution Dock and a meal with family were our food highlights.  We had a morning at Salamanca Market, with a cunning plan to get free parking fairly close.  The evening before, we found a little lane-sized street in Battery Point, just behind Salamanca Place with free street parking.  We decided that if we arrived early enough in the morning we should be able to get parking there again, before the market crowds began to arrive.  And we were right!  We took a short stroll through Princes Park and down into Salamanca Market.  Perfect!  We ate breakfast and then wandered through the market and were done by the time it started to get crowded.

Because I have a bit of a thing for Aussie history we also went through the Mawson's Hut Replica Museum and The Tench convict penitentiary.  I would have loved to have visited the Female Factory as well, but you can't spend hours and hours of your time napping and get through all the things you might want to do.  We'll just have to go back.

As always, we came home with a suitcase full of jam from The Richmond Jam Maker, who also happens to be Dh's cousin.  A double joy - visiting with family AND bringing home jars and jars of the best jam you'll ever taste.  The whiskey marmalade is particularly good for breakfast!

All that in between crashing hard and sleeping lots.  Tasmania is the very best of places to do so.  It really wouldn't be a chore to live down there.  Frequent visits will have to do us.  After a 25 year drought we've managed two trips in 12 months!

A New Holiday Hobby

I have discovered a new hobby to add to the ways I enjoy relaxing.

Jigsaw Puzzling.

There is something so productive and satisfying about putting pieces together, one by one, to create a picture.  There is nothing rushed or hurried, and the puzzle doesn't mind a bit if you end up letting it sit a day or two in between working on it.  There are no deadlines or pressure to work hard or fast or with frantic desperation.  As I discovered, when I sprained my hand a few weeks back, you can do this one handed and feel like there is one small thing that is normal in your world.

I generally get my puzzles from the local Op Shop for no more than $2.  Cheapest entertainment ever.  Inevitably there is a piece or two missing, but I find that oddly part of the charm.  Finding out which piece is missing is part of the puzzle.

This week I have been going between my jigsaw puzzle and completing some PD hours so I could renew my teaching registration.  I have discovered the best puzzles are the ones where there is a lot of detail that is different and unique.  Puzzles with lots of sky are hard.  Puzzles with lots of uniform detail are hard (think lots of lizards with similar patterns, or repeated terracotta pots.  I don't like hard and frustrating.  I like to feel productive and successful!

And I can talk to whichever family member happens to stop by for a chat without feeling like I need to stop, or like I am being taken completely out of what I am doing.

Win-win.

En Route - Launceston to Hobart

Entally House Conservatory

One of the things that has always amused me about Tasmanians is their perspective about how long a trip will or should take.  When I was 18 and Dh and I were staying with my great aunt and uncle they declared a trip from Burnie to Hobart via the west coast was a two-day trip.  We were sure it was a gently-paced, meandering kind of whole day drive.  We were right.  No need to stop overnight.

Neither was there any need to stop overnight on the drive from Launceston to Hobart.  We did take our time.  Dh met with a coffee guy he had met at a market while Miss Mischief and I hit the bookshops in town.  I hesitate to call Launceston a city - it's so small and intimate!  Then met up again and hit the historic homesteads of Entally House and then Clarendon House.  I have always adored these old homes and I was keen to share them with our kids.  The two houses are in general same vicinity just south of Launceston.

 Entally House

Clearly I'm not the photographer in the family!  I'm sure Miss Sunshine got a much straighter shot!  In any case, Entally House and Clarendon House were both built around the same time (early 1800's), both by people who were considered incredibly wealthy.  What struck me was how pokey Entally House is, inside, compared to the grandeur and space of Clarendon House.  Especially when it comes to staircases!!!  The former with a nerve-racking version that felt more like a ladder and the latter with a wide spacious staircase on which one could easily play all day if they were so inclined.

Clarendon House

These poor old houses are showing their age, especially the stately Clarendon, with water damage requiring a new roof and works going on in the basement level.  Interestingly we were not allowed to photograph inside Clarendon.  Although curious I did not enquire about the odd request.  Whilst Entally has been furnished with a number of pieces that are either original to the house or to match photographs, Clarendon House has been staged in keeping with the time period, but not necessarily pieces that match photographic evidence.  Perhaps that's why?

Once we had delved into history and enjoyed a little step back in time - and a devonshire tea for morning tea - we hopped back in the car and headed off on our two-hour drive to Hobart.  Note to self - next time, go through Richmond.  If only I'd known to look for those signs instead of the Hobart ones.  It would have saved us quite a bit of time....and having to drive through a torrential downpour.  So much for Hobart being the driest capital city in Australia!

Tamar Valley Tourists

Low Head Lighthouse

While we were in Tasmania last month we spent a lot of time being, dare I say it, t-t-t-tourists.  We have a slight bias against tourists in this house, because we live in an area where tourists like to visit.  I'm more than happy to share this beautiful corner of the world with visitors, but just please drive at the speed limit and we'll all be happy.  Our roads do not cater for things like overtaking people who don't know where they are going and who are driving at 50kph in an 80kph zone.  I'm sorry...we want to be hospitable, but we need to get on with our day in a timely manner.

While we stayed in Launceston our time was mostly to do with my graduation.  But after that we had a few days of doing some things we had on our list.  One day we travelled up the east side of the Tamar River to the north coast, and then came back down the other side, in a bit of a loop.

We picked strawberries

We visited a dairy

The fruits of these two stops became our lunch

We visited the lighthouse and museum village at Low Head (first picture) and then we crossed the Tamar River and visited some platypuses and echidnas.

This cute little guy and his mates wandered around licking our ankles and snuffling about to see who all the strange visitors were.  We were able to stroke their backs as they waddled past - making sure you stroke in the right direction, of course.  Tasmanian echidnas, we discovered, have more fur than the mainland version.  It seemed to me they were a little bigger as well.  We often have to stop and let an echidna cross the road around here and ours just seem quite a bit smaller.

If you ever find yourself in the beautiful state of Tasmania, make sure you get out and take a leisurely wander about the place.  Your efforts will more than be rewarded.  And as you drive along you'll see plenty of poppy fields.  Apparently the poppy industry is pretty big in Tasmania - something I didn't know til we started seeing so many fields of beautiful white/blue poppies bobbing their heads at us.

Post Christmas Entertaining and Cleansing

Image Credit

It seems that, with Christmas, additional entertaining tends to be the way things go.  For us it comes in the form of family members who travel down from interstate.  In our desperation to eke out a extra little time with people we love and rarely get to see, we invite them over for an impromptu meal with very little notice.

Enter Nigella.

I knew that with only a couple of hours to shop and cook Nigella would have some kind of answer for me.  Actually, it was Miss Sunshine who suggested fajitas, and I knew Nigella had a great recipe.  So we sat down to a meal which, apart from the colour of the dishes, looked exactly like the one pictured above.  Simple, easy and not too time-consuming.  Two children hate capsicum.  Three children love it.  One child didn't care.  There was some picking out and some gobbling up, in equal measure, on that score.

For dessert we had watermelon and nectarine slices.

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Today I decided it was time to find out what lies beyond my kitchen window.  Four years of build up meant a dusty, somewhat moldy view.  This morning I took out the fly screen and hosed it down, and then cleaned the windows.  Wow - there are really pretty trees, and rosemary, and chives out there.  And now I can see it all very clearly.

I could be persuaded to do a little window cleaning here and there and find out what lies beyond all the other windows too.  It might take some time.  Between reading.  And sleeping.

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Do you get to the end of all your Christmas celebrations and find yourself unable to digest a single morsel more?  I didn't quite get to that this year, but a day at my parents saw me nibble my way through more sugar than I eat in a month.  Well....my pavlova, my Mum's apple pie and a mango twist on a tiramisu...what's a girl to do?  And sugar coated peanuts embody my childhood and I simply cannot leave them in the bowl.  It wouldn't be right.  And homemade shortbread.  You can see how the day went.  

I'm finding it very easy to nibble on small tidbits rather than sit down to a full meal.  Unfortunately the boys in the house don't quite agree.  I'm sitting here trying to figure out a menu plan so I can go grocery shopping (in the Aldi store that opened in Our Town just before Christmas.  Hallelujah and Praise the Lord!).  You know what?  I can't think of a single thing I feel like eating.  Because I don't feel like eating at all.  And then my tummy rumbles and I know something has to keep it quiet.  But what?

It will be 37C and 39C (around the 100F mark) on Friday and Saturday so I image something cold will need to happen.  Who wants to cook on days like that?!

What do you eat after Christmas when your tummy is tired of digesting food?

Beginning 2014

Shallow Inlet - Victoria

 

Where to begin with this first post for the year?!  Firstly it seems I had disappeared for a bit and truly we did.  We've just returned from two weeks away camping down near Wilson's Promontory.  We found a little bush caravan park on Shallow Inlet that was much quieter than the Prom camping ground and where it is much easier to get a site.  We did drive down to the Prom a couple of times because it is beautiful and the beach was lovely.  We've spent a couple of weeks relaxing, reading, swimming, fishing and playing games together in the evenings.  Such a simple existence.  Just what we needed to begin what will no doubt be a busy year.

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I've been busily reviewing books for my dear friend Rel and am very excited to report I am into my 17th book for the summer.  My goal is 20 by the time I go back to work.  I have 8 days.  Not a problem!!!

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Rather than setting resolutions for the new year I read about someone who sets a theme instead.  I like that idea much more than making goals that probably won't ever be accomplished.  I decided our goal for the year should be "healthier" .  We have discussed the idea as a family and whilst the children were miffed a time or two when I reminded them ice-creams are not healthier everyone agreed it is a good thing after all.  For myself I have begun a journey with "The Maker's Diet".  I read the book about 7 or 8 years ago and appreciated the Biblical perspective the author gives.  Obviously there are always bits and pieces that are either impractical, impossible or inappropriate for individual circumstances and one must take a balanced view on what will work.  I do remember the first phase being a challenge but worthwhile and given the holiday season excesses it is probably quite timely to spend some time detoxing from the things I have not avoided as I should have.

Meanwhile, it is good to be home.

The week before Christmas....

 Our Christmas Tree - we love our new baubles

Our first official day of school holidays passed quietly and slowly.  The bulk of our Christmas shopping was done over the weekend, with plans for the final purchases to be made tomorrow.  Our Christmas menus have been assembled in consultation with everyone in the family.  Presents are wrapped and under the tree. 

I am quietly appalled at what I did not achieve today.  Every time I sit down I end up sleeping for a few hours and today was  no different.  My wonderful children are becoming very good at quietly going off to other corners of the house while I lay claim to the family room.  This morning Mr Busy followed my lead and claimed the other couch for a long morning nap.

This afternoon I was completely enthralled by the discovery of a birds nest in our apple trees.  When I looked closely a little mother bird was sitting there quietly.  I guess she was sitting on eggs because she didn't budge even a feather until Miss Sunshine got too close in her efforts to take a photo.  At that point I directed my over-zealous kids away so that mummy bird could tend her nest in peace.

Tomorrow I need to begin on my cleaning list.  Before I succumb to a nap.

The Summer Holiday Plan

It has been decided!  I have a plan for the summer holidays and it includes lots of books.  Frances tells me a holiday, to her, is guilt-free reading and not having to cook.  I don't like my chances on the latter but I can definitely manage the former in bucket-loads.

Those of you who have been reading here for a long time might remember I used to do book reviews for my very dear friend Rel....before I began my degree.  I emailed her this morning to suggest that some book reviewing might assuage my fears of being bored.  She was quick to agree!

So that's my plan.  A LOT of reading and reviewing.  If I can read close to 20 books in three weeks imagine what I could accomplish over six weeks?!  My overflowing bookshelf will need a new buddy to contain everything.

And while we're talking summer holidays, can I tell you something funny?  This morning when trying to figure out how long term 4 will be I counted six weeks and was devastated when Mr Busy told me ten.  In my figuring of weeks I completely forgot November.  Yep...the month with the long weekend and I skipped right over it.  Sad but true.

Kitchen Night Shift

I awoke this morning to a funny smell.  Given our septic adventures I sniffed a little more to determine what it was.  And then I remembered.  While I had been sleeping somewhat peacefully my crockpot was simmering away with carrot, celery, onion and the bones of the two chooks we've had this week and voila!  This morning we had stock, with almost no effort on my part!  Look how beautiful and golden that stock is.  And it tastes as good as it looks.  I have two ice cube trays plus the two containers of stock.  I am ready for a chicken stock hit in sauces and stock for soups.  I keep looking at the liquid stock containers in the supermarket and balking at the ingredients.  This has no yeast, sugar or maltodextrose - a stock I am happy to use.  I knew those Lilydale free rangers would spoil me and indeed I was correct.  They taste soooo good and there is very little liquid from them while roasting.  I usually buy the most affordable chooks I can find and they are full of extra 'water' which also seem to wash out the flavour.  Darn!

My girls and a friend of Miss Sunshine's have reaped the benefits of my holiday cookfest today.  There were pancakes for breakfast and after a couple of hours of study they were so determined for sushi rolls to be their lunch that they took themselves up the street to buy an avocado and some tuna.  So more slow food.  Simple.  So simple.  But again, one of those time consuming things I tend to avoid when life is on full speed. 

And we have decided what meal Mr Busy will learn to cook independently.  Pasta Bolognese.  We'll begin this week and then he will have lots of opportunities to practise. 

I wonder what will come out of my kitchen tomorrow?  Every day seems to bring some unexpected reason to be in there.  For now I need to clean up before we head out to visit a friend in their newly finished home.  I can't wait to see it.  I'm in love with the library, and I haven't even seen it in its finished form.  Just that there is one quickens my heart!

Frugal Winter School Holiday Fun

Photo Credit

We came home from church yesterday to brilliant winter sunshine - too nice to stay inside all day.  So I suggested heading into the Queen Victoria Market.  Something I've been wanting to do for a very long time!  We went back and forth about more local markets and the chocolaterie in the Yarra Valley.  Eventually we agreed to the Queen Vic.  YES!  We really just went in and wandered and looked.  We came home with a leather wallet for Mr Busy, strawberries for Miss Mischief, a rocky road treat to eat along the way and a stop at the doughnut van for hot jam doughnuts.  I borrowed the picture above from one of the many available when searching google images.  Some clever person combined the doughtnut AND the van!!!!  This are my weakness and are a treat that I only end up eating once every few years.  That's how often I'm near a doughnut van.  By the time we came home the skies were becoming very dark indeed - the best of both worlds.  I love a good storm.

This week our frugal fun would appear not so frugal, but really it is.  Our house is constipated.  The pipes are making funny noises and things are not draining so well.  So we're having the septic tank sucked out and cleaned tomorrow.  Now it does cost a little bit.  But when you only get it done once every seven years the cost is about a quarter of paying sewage fees if you were connected to 'town sewage'.  Now that all sounds pretty disgusting really, but it is very interesting to watch the men do their thing.  They come with a big truck and Mr Busy will sit at the family room window or stand on the deck outside and watch the entire time they're there.  I'm telling you, this is the best entertainment money can buy!

Otherwise, our entertainment will be in the form of already-owned DVD's, iPad games, already owned, baking and I don't know what else.  But not a lot.  Maybe a Star Wars night with my brother?  I'm thinking some Nigella time might do the trick right now.  I need some menu planning and grocery shopping inspiration!

I'm still looking at the cleaning and wishing I felt like digging in.

Slow Holiday Cooking....and Happy 4th of July!!

Photo Credit

My house was reminiscent of the image above yesterday afternoon.  My clothes horse looks a little different, but I definitely had handmade fettuccine and linguine hanging on mine!  Early on I decided that if I was going to go to all that effort I should double the pasta recipe and invite some friends over to share.  I also christened my new ramekins.  Joolz suggested lemon delicious puddings and she was spot on the money!  I used both the ramekins and some oven-proof mugs to feed two families and everyone agreed they were as delicious as the pasta.  Mine looked very much like the one pictured below.

 Photo Credit

What struck me about yesterday's meal was that I really do enjoy just puddling about in my kitchen when I have the time to do it.  Handmade pasta is a time-consuming but simple meal that just suits lazy winter days that have you all cosy at home. I spend much of the year running from one end of the day to the other that I had quite forgotten how satisfying slow food is.  Both in the making and the eating.  Don't worry - there was a green salad to satisfy my new goal of including more vegies in my diet!

I know it's a tad early for those on the other side of the globe, but Happy 4th of July to those of you who celebrate it.  We don't normally take on the holidays of other countries, but we were in the US on the 4th three years ago and spent the night in Denver, CO to see some spectacular fireworks.  What we really saw was the most amazingly awesome storm.  As well as the fireworks.  I have never seen a sky so black.  It was truly beautiful in a stormy kind of way.  So tonight we're having American-style hamburgers, and we're following that with a trip across the pond and down memory lane with some bread and butter pudding Nigella-style.  I know it's not American but I have some ginger jam and I really want my freezer as sparse as it can be before I head into Costco.  In any case, if Miss Sunshine has her way we'll celebrate the 4th a few times because she really wants deep-fried mozzarella which comes frozen at Costco.  I'm inclined to indulge her just this once as it is the one food thing from that US holiday she has remembered with great fondness!

Holidays and New Starts

Miss Sunshine's holiday homework in progress

Finally.  I have a whole two weeks without Uni and without work.  I can tell you I was just a little bit excited on Friday as that's the day holidays began for me.  The girls, unfortunately, have holiday homework but some of it isn't such a chore.  Miss Sunshine is using acrylic on fabric for this piece and decided the window was the best place to work on it.  I think she's a pretty good artist. 

Us girls began the holidays with a day out to celebrate Miss Sunshine's birthday from back in May.  We took my sister-in-law and had breakfast at a local tea house and then drove in to the city to see the Hollywood Costume exhibition at the Australian Centre for Moving Images (ACMI).

Photo Credit

And because we're on holidays and it's cold and miserable outside I've decided to tackle some diet and health goals.  I watched 'Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead' on You Tube the other day and was inspired and challenged in equal portions to include more fruit and vegetables in my diet. Not as juices though - I need to chew!  Despite all my best intentions to the contrary unhelpful things have attempted to become habits in my end-of-term weary mindedness.  A friend of mine recently told me about a 7 Day Diet she's been using and while I think it's a little bit faddish there's nothing wrong with using it as a guide to eating more fruit and vegies before reaching for crackers or bread.....or chocolate.  Or jelly bellies.

Photo Credit

 

So here's to a colourful, restful week in the midst of a grey old wintery week.  One in which we will have a bit of a 4th of July celebration.  Because it's the 3-year anniversary of our trip to the US where we had oh so much fun!

 

What do you do to celebrate the 4th of July?