Cooking Day

This saying sums up how my kitchen will look in the next couple of hours!

Today has been a scorcher of a summer day. 37C/98F is not really my idea of a fun time and I am again incredibly grateful to have cooling in our house for the second summer! Now that we've had a cool change and the breeze through the kitchen is blissfully refreshing I'm all set to get into my cooking plans for today. See...this is what I love about living in Melbourne!

I tried a new Maggie Beer recipe for chicken with raisins and pinenuts for dinner tonight. I love the combination of dried fruits with meat. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. YUM!

I'm about to further indulge my adoration of Hummingbird cake and make Hummingbird muffins with the bananas that need to be used up right away. I'll use gluten free flour for those. Then I'll make some chocolate muffins for the rest of the family.

While they're cooking I'm going to cook the meat sauce for lasagna with the kangaroo mince I've been trying to get to. I don't know that I'll feel energetic enough to make a whole lasagna....but at least I'll be half way there! The vegies are chopped and waiting for me, so I'd better hop to if I want to get to bed at a reasonable time!

Motherhood Milestone

I believe I have reached a milestone, albeit with a large dose of reluctance and caution on my part.

Miss Sunshine went to the movies this morning. With her friend. Without adults. The friend's mother dropped the girls off and I picked them up after. They saw 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' together and hopped into the car at the end as happy as two girls could possibly be. Miss Sunshine was perfectly safe ... and I survived just fine.

I suspect we will continue to proceed on such occasions with great caution. The group of kids has a lot to do with whether or not we feel comfortable allowing Miss Sunshine to experience such independence. Last time she was invited to the movies with friends Dh and I both balked when we she told us who was going along.

On the other hand, I had Miss Mischief firmly attached to my side all morning....even once we got to school (we had a working bee on) and she had the opportunity to play with her friends. Ugh. She finally extricated herself enough to go home with a little girl who lives just around the corner. Yay!

And where was Mr Busy whilst all this was going on? Working his heart out at school with the men, pulling an old retaining wall down and digging the bricks out from behind it. I reckon he earned his fair share of our family's community levy points!

I'm Such a Wuss!

This morning, just as I had my toast in the toaster, the power went out. Two hours after it should've been back on, it was still out so I phoned again. Power lines down and an estimated time of power returning: 5.30pm. Ah ha. Yep...not so fun with three kids at home and no plans to get us out of the house.

I prevailed upon a friend who had power and plonked the kids in front of a 'Home Improvement' DVD so we could chat in peace. I know, I know. You'll all be horrified at the huge amount of screen time in one day....but my friend's kids were at her parents.

I hate it when the power is out for long periods of time (ie more than an hour or two). I had a few things I wanted to do and all of them required electricity. I also wanted to try out my kangaroo mince....but I got home way too late to a) defrost it, and b) cook it.

So that's IT. I'm declaring war on power outages. Tomorrow, I will make that lasagna and pop it in the freezer for another night. Furthermore, I am making it my mission to ensure I have something in the pantry at all times that can be cooked on the gas cooktop. No more wussy inability to cope with no power. It just takes some planning for right? Right!

Yesterday's Simple Joys

I had two little splash of pure joy in the day yesterday.

• I was offered a little tiny office to use as my own!!!!! There's a lot to be said for having a place to belong.
  
• As I went out to a meeting last night, my girls were doing the dishes together.

Impromptu Dinner Menu

Don't you love it when a few simple ingredients make for simple, impromptu entertaining? It doesn't have to be fancy. The friendship shared at the table is, after all, the most desirable ingredient!

My menu for my most recent spontaneous entertaining effort:

• On the BBQ: pork, rissoles, sausages, potato cubes, onion
• Tossed Green Salad
• Beetroot
• Bread and Butter
• Easy Pineapple Pudding for dessert
• ....and a delightful plastic fruit picnic afterwards hosted by our youngest guest, Miss Pink.
  

'Becca by the Book' by Laura Jensen Walker

My review for 'Becca by the Book' was posted a few days back. It is another great installment of Laura's Getaway Girls series. To read my review, click here.

While not absolutely essential to read these books in order, I would highly recommend the first two books, 'Daring Chloe' and 'Turning the Paige'. In fact...perhaps you should just begin collecting the series. Laura's books are always worth having on your shelf!

Happy Australia Day

Happy Australia Day!

We're celebrating by picnicking at a park with some very dear friends. I have cake in the oven to make lamingtons....otherwise, it'll be egg or chicken sandwiches, chips, fruit and cordial for us and great time catching up with our friends.

Lamingtons: picture not mine!

What do you do to celebrate Australia Day?