Category: Food

It’s my birthday week! (and I forgot!)

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It was my birthday yesterday and it just hasn’t felt like my birthday week this year. I don’t really know why. I have reminders for all of my friends and family’s birthdays a week in advance in my phone, and a week ago, a reminder popped up for my birthday and I thought “huh? Really??”

So anyway, I woke up yesterday morning (at 8:45!) to this:

which quickly turned into this:
If there’s a better way to wake up, I’m yet to find it. 

We then headed to our local Kiwi cafe, Jandals for this:

and this:
Sitting here:

We then went for a drive around Scarborough and dreamed about houses we might one day live in (you know, when we’re old and rich!) It was then coffee o’clock so we grabbed a couple of take-aways and went for a walk on the Redcliffe pier.

After dropping Chanbe off for an afternoon with Aunty Liesel, Hubs and I met my parents for a Gold Class screening of the second Sherlock Holmes movie. So. Much. Fun.

And to top the day off, we met up with our immediate family (there were 12 of us) for a scrumptious dinner at the Brekky Creek Hotel. By the end of the night, I finally started to feel like it was my birthday. And what a great one it was…

Christmas 2011

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This year, Christmas day was held at the house we’re staying at, with both mine and Hubs’ families coming along. Which meant we didn’t have to travel anywhere all day long. All. Day. Long. This is quite significant for us, as every Christmas we have been together we have gone to at least 3 events on Christmas day, so it was just so nice to sit back, relax, and enjoy ourselves. I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the tale.

A mere 30 people gathered around the table(s) in the back yard

Just a few prezzies under the Christmas tree
A few of Chanbe’s Christmas presents (the pool as well as the outfit)
There was a bit of food
and a yummy Christmas Cake made by my Mum
And Santa came to give out the presents!
And boy were there a LOT of presents!
Including a very clever shirt for Grumpy 
(“Grumpy 
But not by Chance”)
Thanks to everyone for making the effort to come all the way out to our place for Christmas day. I can’t tell you how lovely it was to not have to move from our house all day, and to be with you all.

He’s still one

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Though, with the number of birthday parties we had for him, you could be forgiven for thinking Chanbe was already onto his second birthday! The day after we arrived in Brisbane, we had the whole family over to celebrate. I had found some gorgeous rocket ship invitations, so in keeping with the theme, I decided to make a rocket ship cake. Mum prepared the slabs of cake for me the night before so I just had to cut out and decorate.

We found Nanny’s old Kenwood to help with mixing the icing – how retro!

vanilla gluten-free and yummy chocolate on the bottom

The icing job was a bit more involved than I expected it to be, but thanks to some strategically placed snakes and smarties, you wouldn’t have known. I couldn’t wait to light the sparklers!!

10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…
Blast off! The sparklers were awesome!
Happy birthday Chanbe! What a wonderful year it has been watching you grow up and learn so much. You bring your Dadda and I endless joy and we can’t wait to see what you get up to in the next year. Love, Mama  x x x

Road trip

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Hubs and I love a good road trip. So when we decided to drive up to Brizzie for Christmas etc, I immediately got excited and started planning the route we would take. I have rellies in Griffith, NSW, that we have been wanting to visit since we moved south, so that was immediately going to be our first point of call. Then I asked my cousin who lives in Sydney if we could stay a night and she was most happy to have us. I just had to find somewhere between Sydney and Brisbane to spend the third night. Normally we would stay with my aunty Heather in Armidale but she has since moved back to Brisbane 🙁

I just happened to be at the baby shower of a girl Frith works with, talking to one of the locum’s wives and she asked what we were doing for Christmas. I told her about the road trip and she immediately said “Kempsey is about halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, you should come and stay with us.” I replied “Wow that’s really nice, thanks for the offer” to which she responded “It’s not really nice, it’s a genuine offer. It’s settled. You can stay with us.”

How could I refuse?

So on Wednesday the 7th of December, we began our journey. We had a lovely visit in Griffith with the fam and Chance had a lovely time being spoiled. We left the next morning for Sydney and were told to stop in at a place in Harden that sells good Devonshire Tea. We had over half a tank of gas (our car takes LPG) and even though we thought we should fuel up in Griffith before we left, it didn’t happen and we thought we’d just find somewhere on the way. Towns passed by and no one seemed to sell LPG. We thought Harden would have it as it seemed like a fairly big town, so with 80km left on the predicted range, we stopped for our Dev Tea.

And I promptly locked the keys in the car. We rang RACV (NRMA in NSW) and decided there was nothing else to do but enjoy our tea and scones. And Hubs enjoyed some soup.

NRMA came and helped us out and advised us that the next LPG wasn’t til Yass – about 70km away. Or we could backtrack and get off the main highway about 30km back. We decided to live recklessly (and we knew we could get towed if we did run out of fuel!) and set off for Yass, praying like crazy.
With some excellent, fuel-efficient driving, and no air con, this is what the dashboard looked like when we got to the petrol station at Yass:

We fueled up on gas and cherries and set our sights for Sydney. And of course, in true Sydney fashion, the traffic started banking back about 60km out of the city. Thankfully we exited not long after and it was very easy finding our way to Nikki’s. My friend sent me a text to suggest Sydney peak hour traffic + crazy hour for kids = not much fun for Chanbe in the car. I took this photo:

 
… and assured her he seemed okay! We had a lovely night in and although I was worried Chanbe wouldn’t sleep very well, being on a major, busy, noisy main road, he slept amazingly well, only waking up once. I joked that we should get a CD full of traffic sounds to help him sleep at home!

We left Nikki’s place at around 8:30am the next morning and took the one road all the way around the outskirts of Sydney and onto the Pacific Highway. Even though it took an hour, it was very easy, and when it comes to Sydney traffic, that is saying A LOT!

We stopped at Bulahdelah for delicious burgers and picked up a couple of $1 Hawaiin shirts (one was actually made in Hawaii!!) for Hubs, and then made our way to Kempsey arriving shortly after 3pm. We had a lovely afternoon playing on the lawn of our new friends’ house and also getting up close and personal with the local farmyard animals.

We all shared delicious home-made pizza for dinner and followed that with fresh fruit salad and a couple of games of Yahtzee – I won the first game and Hubs won the second. We had a bit of a rough night with Chanbe but I knew the end was in sight so I just kept my eye on the prize!

We left Kempsey around 9am and had to battle through roadworks, stopping and starting for a couple hundred kms. It was pretty frustrating but we managed. We stopped just outside of Grafton for lunch, then headed to Coolangatta to visit Hubs’ Dad and Nanna. After a cuppa and home made date loaf, we convinced a protesting Chanbe to get back in the carseat for the final leg.

We happily drove across the Houghton Highway in more rain and arrived at our new home not long after 6pm.

It was so good to get there. Mum and Dad made us a yummy dinner and that glass of wine I had hit the spot. We all slept soundly, awaiting the excitement of the birthday party to come!

Sconnoisseur

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To say that Hubs loves scones would be an understatement. He loves scones. When our lovely neighbour made some the other week, Hubs devoured them and claimed they were the best scones he’d ever had. So when we had said lovely neighbour over for dinner last night, I asked what her recipe was.

She reminded me of Nanny when she told me she had to recipe. You just start with about 2 cups of self-raising flour, and add the right amount of butter, a couple of spoons of icing sugar, an egg, some very cold cream and chopped dates. Her tips were to just use a knife to stir (handling as little as possible) and use a very hot oven – about 240 degrees. Also, if it’s an electric oven, cook the scones on the bottom shelf, and if it’s gas, cook on the top.

Seeing as how I’d never made scones before, I thought I’d give it a go, as Hubs has his first exam this week and I wanted to do something extra nice for him.

I didn’t have dates so I substituted with craisins. That reminds me of one of our favourite moments in the TV show My Family, where Susan is cooking dinner (she is not known for her skills in the kitchen) and she says “I’m cooking Duck a l’orange. But I didn’t have any duck so I used mince. And I didn’t have any oranges so I used pears.” Ha ha ha ha ha!!!

Anyway. Back to the scones. This is how the mixture looked:

It wasn’t until I had put them on the tray that I realised I’d forgotten the egg. And the icing sugar. But I figured they looked pretty good, so I’d give them a go. What do you think?

They were very very light and fluffy and quite delicious, even if I do say so myself! We had them straight out of the oven with a bit of butter and a cup of coffee, sitting on our deck. Chanbe even liked them!

As I was sitting there, enjoying our view, I thought to myself once again how lucky I have been to have had Hubs around so much in the last 12 months. A lot of people say to us how hard it must be with Hubs studying full time, and not having an income. And as much as it sucks not having money most of the time, having Hubs around to see Chanbe’s first year, and to give me sleep-ins and a cooked breakfast a few mornings a week, and to be able to have 3 meals a day together a lot of the time, and and and and… well it’s worth being broke for a while. Hubs has 1 more year of full-time study, and then it will be a totally different ball game. But I’m looking forward to the challenges that will bring.

Birthday Boy

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(Warning: This post may contain clichés.)

Chanbe turned one yesterday. Where has the time gone? (I warned you!) Actually, I know exactly where it has gone, and we have enjoyed it so much. Chanbe woke up at 6am yesterday – we all wake up early on our birthday, right? – but I wasn’t quite ready to get up so we had a play in the spare bed and by 7 he had drifted back to sleep! We didn’t get up until 8:30 so we were all rested for our big day to come.

Chanbe had a birthday breakfast of home-made (of course) berry pancakes.

We then headed to church for lots of cuddles and kisses and birthday wishes. And then it was time for the party! Well, just a small BBQ with a couple of families from the medical centre where Hubs works. It had been raining all day Friday and Saturday (and most of the night too!) but Sunday was beautiful. The kids played in the playground (and the mud) and it was so nice to be outside after being couped up for 2 days.

And then it was time for CAKE!!!

Not my best effort, but the cake was delish! We had a gluten-free requirement, so it’s a flourless chocolate cake. Really quite delectable. There were no candles, but there were kids and party hats so that more than made up for it!

And now for the obligatory one-year-old-eating-cake photo.
Oh yeeeeeeaaaaah! Thank you to everyone for their birthday wishes! We look forward to sharing many more with you all!

Happy Birthday! (the first of many…)

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As I mentioned, we hosted mothers group at our place this week, and I decided to throw a combined birthday party for all the kids!

We had such a lovely time with all the kids tearing around, showing off all their new skills. And of course, there was cake! I saw the idea for this cake months and months ago and knew I had to give it a go. And I gotta say, it turned out pretty damn nicely.

All the birthday boys! (The one girl who is part of our mum’s group couldn’t make it)

We then headed outside for the kids to have a run up and down our deck, pushing their carts.

 
Chance really rose to the occasion, and even though he missed out on his morning sleep (which usually goes for 2 hours) and only had 45 min at 2:30, he’s still awake at 7pm and having a great time! But Dadda just got home so Chanbe will be boarding the sleeping train and will hopefully be in sleepy land very soon. What a great day!

Cousins

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Growing up, we were always surrounded by cousins. My brother’s and my first cousins are all withing about 13 years of our age and many times through the year we would catch up with them. This still happens, although a little less often now that a few of us aren’t in Brizzie anymore. I have such a special relationship with them, that it absolutely warms my heart to see Chance’s cousins adoring him so much.

On our last few visits to Brisbane, Chance’s cousin Josie was such a great help and was always ready to volunteer to look after Chance. She also became quite good at feeding him!

I’m really looking forward to seeing their relationship develop, as I’m sure they’ll be great friends as they get older. And I’m also pretty sure Josie will be volunteering for babysitting duties in the not-so-distant future!

I should be napping…

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We had a pretty rough night with Chance last night, and he’s having a very good nap at the moment. I know I should be too, but there’s just too many other fun things to be doing! Like catching up on my Google Reader, reading my emails, and sitting on the couch drinking coffee, enjoying my view.

We all arrived back home to MB late Saturday night (about midnight!) and had a really great relaxing day yesterday in preparation for Hubs’ first day at his new position today. We left Brisbane on Friday which was a bit sad, but we had a lovely time visiting, although it was bitter sweet. It was so lovely seeing Hubs again after almost 2 weeks away. We headed over to Nathan and Cal’s for dinner and sleepover which was, as always, lovely and relaxing. We had a bit of a sleep in Saturday and after some brekky, headed over to Uncle Wayne and Aunty Alida’s for lunch. And boy were we in for a treat!

AA knows how much we love home-made gnocchi, so that’s what was on the menu! We were lucky enough to get there while it was all being prepared, so I was able to get some handy hints for my next attempt.

Served with a tomato sauce (home made too, of course!)
Chanbe’s first gnocchi!

After lunch (which included tiramisu for dessert!) we headed to Albert Park to watch Chance’s Godfather, Dr Luke, play a friendly game of footy. Not long after we arrived, one of the guys was injured so they asked Hubs if he’d like to play. Would he ever!

(That was a pretty dumb photo to take – Hubs is out there somewhere!) Hubs had a great time, and although he got a bit battered and bruised, it was good to have a run around with the guys. He helped set up a goal and made a few good tackles, including one on Dr Luke! We cheered on from the sideline on a lovely Melbourne afternoon.

It must have been our cheering, as Dr Luke kicked a total of 15 goals!

We left the park around 5pm and headed to Wangaratta for dinner with Kyra and Stephan and Frederick, arriving around 8pm. We were treated to delicious lasagne, salad and garlic bread. It’s always so hard to leave their house and the time flies by so quickly! We dragged ourselves away at 10pm and after a fuel stop, got home at 11:45pm. We collapsed into bed and Chance had a pretty good night so that meant we did too.

After such an emotional, albeit wonderful 2 weeks in Brizzie, the day of family, friends, and great food, was just what I needed to lift my spirits.

Chance has been asleep for over an hour and a half now, and it’s almost time for lunch. (Looking at those gnocchi photos has made me hungry!) And the sun has come out, so we might go for a walk after we eat. This is the view I’m looking at right now. Pretty nice, huh?

Where to start

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This is the problem with not blogging “live” for a while – too much to catch up on!! For those of you who were in on the secret, the surprise weekend birthday party for Hubs was just brilliant. Maybe I’ll start with that, and work my way backwards. A few months ago, Hubs’ sister and I started planning for her and 6 of Hubs’ friends to fly down to Melbourne, drive to Mt Beauty, and turn up on our doorstep as a surprise to Hubs, and spend the weekend here. I cannot tell you how many times I accidentally nearly blew the surprise. Sleep deprivation does not help with keeping surprises a secret, but I managed to keep my mouth shut and even convinced Hubs to go snowboarding on Friday (didn’t take much) so I could prepare for the arrivals.

The first carload of people rocked up at 5pm and Hubs came home a bit after 6 and got a great surprise! The beers and rum began to flow freely, and by 11:30pm I was beat, so left Hubs and 3 of his mates (2 others had retired earlier) to catch up. I knew Hubs’ sister and other friend were due to arrive after 3am and I could hear Hubs and Uncle Ben – the last men standing – chatting and drinking into the wee hours. I thought they would come to bed, and have Lsl wake Hubs up to surprise him, but Ben had other plans. They were still up when Lsl and Hubs’ mate arrived at 3:30am and he got another great surprise!! I popped out to say hi and set up extra beds, and retired again around 4:30am. Hubs didn’t crawl into bed until 6, and guess who woke up, ready to play with Mama at 6:15am!!! WOO HOO!!!! Thankfully after a little brekky and play, Chanbe and I rejoined Hubs for another hour of sleep around 8.

So Saturday was spent with a walk into town, a visit to the local Tavern, and a push home in the stroller. (I had driven Chance home earlier.) Oh, and Hubs’ last birthday cake for this year.

I had had the Tetris cake idea in my head (and in my iPhone reminders) for months, and I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

We spent Sunday at a few wineries and the Bright Brewery, and had dinner at home. At this point, I might share some photos instead of more words.

Hubs at the first winery

The whole gang at the third winery
Too cute at the brewery
It really was such a great weekend, and quite sad to bid everyone farewell on Monday morning. I would like to take this opportunity to say THANKS FOR COMING – you really made Hubs’ 30th birthday something special x x x