Disarray February 2, 2012

No meal plan this week. I’ve kind of fallen in a bit of a heap since my stuff was stolen last week. Then our car died the next day so not a good week in all! I was meant to start the million kilo challenge but, to be honest, I haven’t done anything about it *shamefaced*. I could blame not having any money (or cards to access money even if I had any) to buy the new things on the grocery list or not having a car to go and do the shopping. In reality though I’m just feeling in a bit of a funk.

I had my Phoenix 2012 launch on Saturday and I think it was a success! Sold some cards and spruiked the new range and may even get some coffee & cards bookings too. By the way, see the linky to the right if you want to purchase anything. Free delivery in Perth and $2.00 delivery Australia wide! Plug plug plug. I decided to make cupcakes for the first ever time in my adult memory (I know, right?) and used this icing, which is from the 2009 Thermomix calender. Oh. My. God. This stuff is amazing! It’s so soft and shiny it has a shimmery sheen to it (go alliteration)! It would make a great icing for wedding cupcakes. As it is, I dyed it purple, covered them in rainbow choc chips and called them unicorn poo since they were so shimmery 🙂 The picture is of the last, munted looking one. They went so quickly (mostly scoffed by my other half…) that I didn’t take a photo of the good ones! I also made these crio bru brownies for the party. Mmmm. I’m such a crio bru convert since I tried it last week. So rich! Crio bru is to cocoa powder what real coffee is to instant coffee. And we don’t drink instant coffee in our house!

By some weird coincidence, we ended up with purple mashed potato this week almost the exact colour of the cupcakes. Who knew that steaming purple carrots in the varoma while making mash in the bowl makes purple mash? 🙂 Also tried the Aussie Meat Pie recipe from Meat on the Menu and was quite impressed, though I made it into a (purple) shepherd’s pie with the leftover potato.

I’m so excited to be going to Tenina’s For Food’s Sake book launch tonight since I was lucky enough to score a free ticket via Facebook. Weeee! I’ve been waiting with bated breath for this book to be published 😀 A bit of a social thermomix week really, since I’m toodling along to a friend’s demo party on Sunday. The best kind of socialising!

Thieving Bastards January 26, 2012

Not the best day yesterday. I was out grocery shopping and had my phone, wallet and glasses stolen from Squidlet’s pram. Gosh, they’re quick! I had no idea until I got to the register to pay for everything, but at one point I pulled out my (brand new birthday present) phone and checked my messages and replaced it in the pram’s pocket so some lowlife piece of scum must have watched me and followed me until I was looking at something on the shelves. That’s the worst part; I’m so creeped out that someone followed me and touched the pram that my son was sitting in and stole my stuff. My perspective’s changed since having a baby. I’m just so glad that they didn’t make off with the pram and that Squidlet is ok. He could have bloody well bitten them though. Sheesh, child. Those eight teeth in my eight month old baby should come to some use!

So now I’ve got the inconvenience of replacing all my cards, wallet etc, the expense of buying a new phone and all that jazz. Oh not to mention the cost of replacing my phone SIM, new public transport pass and all those little things you take for granted. I’d just been to the optometrist and picked up my new glasses so they must have thought the glasses case held sunnies and they took those as well. Suckers. Good luck using my prescription for my crappy eyesight! Hoping those, at least, will be dumped and handed in.

The manager at Woolies was fantastic. He sat with me while I filed a police report over the phone and cancelled my bank cards. He gave me a free bottle of water and the best part is he insisted I take my shopping with me and come back and pay for it when I got hold of some money. That’s lovely service, really and very much appreciated.

I feel lost without my purse and phone. I feel weird knowing I don’t have any money, ID, drivers licence, medicare card, bank cards, and all the things it’s going to take me months to replace. Plus the nice, shiny new smartphone. I’d only just entered The World of Apps and was wondering why it had taken me so long to switch from my shitty nokia into this wonderful technological magical world. Oh, that’s right, because we couldn’t afford it since I’m on maternity leave with one income. Sigh. Send me good vibes and hope that the karma police, and more importantly the regular police, catch the bastard who thought stealing from a pram is choice they’d make in life.

 

Sun, Sun, Go Away… January 24, 2012

Perth is hitting a heatwave this week, with at least the next 7 days around 40 degrees. I’m resigning myself to the fact that my vege garden will die. This happens every summer at around this time and every year just *after* this time I vow to rig up some sort of removable shade that I can erect on the hottest of hot days to protect the plants. This year of course we have a baby taking up any second of spare time I have and outside gardening time has been devoted to keeping our new poo  factories, er, rabbits, happy and cool.

Poor things. Must be hard being so furry. Simon and Garfunkel live in a movable enclosure on our tiny square of front lawn in about 4 square metres, so they’ve got enough room to have a bounce around and eat the grass. We then harvest (i.e. rake!) up the poo every week and move the enclosure to give the grass time to recover. We’ve got a small rabbit hutch inside for really hot days, so they’re lounge room bunnies when it’s over about 30 degrees. On warm but bearable outside bunny days they get frozen water bottles to cuddle up to. It’s very cute. Squidlet loves them with all his heart and they at least let him pat them, unlike the cat. I’m “aging” the poo and hay in a compost bin so that I’m not putting fresh manure on the garden.

So, yes, garden is shrivelling in the heat but the bunnies are alive and well. It’s all about priorities when you’re time poor!

 

 

 

Getting in the groove January 23, 2012

Phew, so the madness of Christmas was closely followed by the madness of my birthday week, which included a Beatles themed bbq complete with shisha den out the back! Much fun was had. Our first Christmas with a baby was full on (as to be expected!) and filled with adoring family doting on Squid. Plus food food, food oh and more food! So with that all over, and an extra few kilos to show for it I’ve decided that this extra weight has knobs on and I have to do something about it! Squid is finally able to play happily by my feet for more than 5 minutes at a time, and he finally naps for more than 20mins at a time. You can’t sense the relief from the blogosphere. It’s HUMUNGOUS! I can occasionally clean and cook when noone else is home to hold the baby! Milestones ahoy, baby.

We’ve been having far (far, far) too much take away since Squid was born and now he can entertain himself I’m looking forward to nipping that in the bud. Take away food should be something to look forward to as a treat, like our awesome local japanese place, burger joint or thai. Not an exhausted 9pm text to my partner as he’s on his way home from work ‘Squid had the crappiest day. More teething. Couldn’t put him down. Need food STAT’ and lo and behold we get red rooster or hungry jacks. Again. Because only really bad take away places are open at 930pm.

My goal for the next two weeks is absolutely no take away at all. I’m going to trawl through my recipes and find those that have less than 15 minutes preparation tops and preferably 5 or 10! This’ll mean mostly Trevor ones then, I’m thinkin’. Any suggestions on your favourite QUICK and healthy recipes would be fabulous 🙂 Then next week I’ll be working from someone else’s menu plans. I’ve signed up for the million kilo challenge, with the goal of losing 12kg in 10 weeks. I’ve put on so much weight since having Squid that I sadly think that’s achievable 😦 Anyway, it includes a menu plan for each week and I’m planning on loosely following it, but I’ll have to adjust some to fit with my time constraints and baby-friendly food.

So in the mean time, this week’s Mad Dash Menu:

Monday:

lunch: leftover zucchini and mushroom slice based on this recipe and salad

dinner: tuna mornay (Budget Busters)

Tuesday:

lunch: sandwiches

dinner: lentil bolognese

Wednesday:

lunch: leftover lentils

dinner: chicken patties and salad (EDC)

Thursday:

lunch: leftovers again!

dinner: spiced meatballs (Dinner Spinner)

Friday:

lunch: spare

dinner: ‘fried’ rice

Saturday:

lunch: sandwiches plus afternoon tea for my 2012 Phoenix launch!

dinner: homemade pizzas

Sunday:

lunch: spare

dinner: spare

Baby’s calling (mamamamaaaaarghgurgleessaaaaahhhmmmm) better go!!

Christmas Week Menu Plan December 19, 2011

AAAAARGH!! How is it the week before Christmas? And who decided to make nice little gifts to go with bought presents while taking care of a teething 7 month old?? He’s got at least 3 teeth coming through simultaneously and I have a sneaking suspicion there’s more lurking. Teeth lurk, you know. So, this week’s menu is mainly Christmas gift related, and it seems I’m having a Very Tenina Christmas this year with the amount of recipes by her!

Monday: 

Gifts: Dried Apricot Preserves, Strawberry Vanilla Jam, EDC Marmalade, EDC Dukkha, Flavoured Salts (fennel, olive citrus, chilli lime, saffron, vanilla), Cookies and Cream Fudge.

Lunch: HAHAHA like there was time for lunch

Dinner: Lamb with olive and citrus rub and leftovers of the most awesome salad in the world

Tuesday:

Gifts: Hot Chocolate, EDC Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, Spelt and Rosemary Crackers

Lunch: sandwiches

Dinner: EDC pasta, probably involving bacon

Wednesday:

Lunch: out!

Dinner: zucchini slice

Thursday

Lunch: zucchini slice

Dinner: Asian style fish fillets (EDC)

Friday:

Gifts: almond chop chip biscuits, cranberry and choc chip biscuits, orange shortbread, pomegranate molasses biscuits

Lunch: probably biscuits to be honest 😉

Dinner: Prozac

Saturday:

Baking: Fruity pear mince tarts

Can’t think about eating anything. Oh all right maybe one mince pie

Sunday

Christmas! We’re having a big combined lunch at my mum’s house, with my partner’s family coming up from the country to join us for Squidlet’s first Christmas. We’re a cold meat and salad kind of family, but last year we had roasts on the bbq with salads because I was pregnant and couldn’t have cold meats. We liked it so much we’re doing it again! The in-laws are providing some organic, free range, couldn’t-have-had-a-better-life lamb from their farm, as well as eggs etc.  We’re taking salads to mum’s for lunch – that standby fruity harvest salad and a caesar salad using EDC dressing and the pear mince tarts. My brother will probably make his famous potato salad with basil and char grilled capsicum and there will probably be an Amanda’s salad, which is an in-joke. My mum is making her famous icecream cake with raspberry coulis. We’ve had this at Christmas for the last few years and mum puts in varying layers of whatever she feels like, but it’s always delicious! Cream, nuts, cherries, icecream, custard, choc chips…yuuum. Oh, and my Nanny is bringing a trifle, as usual. I think the thing I love about Christmas is the tradition. It doesn’t have to be stuffy, old style carols and trimming the tree together. In our house, it’s our favourite foods, the same people (with new additions!), the same old in-jokes that we laugh at every single year. Oh and then there’s a few games of ‘Gilchrist Tennis’ which my brother and I invented a few years ago. It’s just playing totem tennis while seated, because we were too full to get up and play 🙂 If the ball hits your hand then you both have to drop the bats and play with your feet. My nephew scores in the most fluid way possible and only he knows the rules 🙂 I guess you had to be there to understand, and we will be there again in a few days.

Merry Christmas!

 

On the menu December 7, 2011

I’m a couple of days late posting my menu. The last two weeks have been mad. I’ve become an independent trader for Phoenix cards and stationary as well as taken on a couple of paper rounds to get paid while I walk around the neighbourhood with the Squidlet 🙂 I haven’t even unpacked the card stock that arrived last week. It’s all taunting me from the dining room but today, TODAY I shall start! I’m very excited, as you can tell, being the gigantic stationary nerd that I am.

My partner alternates shifts every fortnight so one week he’s home for dinner and the other we have leftovers mostly, as I’m busy dealing with the Mr 7 month’s witching hour (or 3… or 4 hours) and bedtime. The first menu plan I’ve ever done was a roaring success and I can’t believe how smoothly everything went, how little food we wasted and how organised I was for Squid’s meals too. I’m definitely a convert to meal planning!

The spanakopita from last fortnight was lovely and used up heaps of languishing silverbeet from the garden.  The ricotta was so easy to make. I’m never buying it again! Tenina’s fruity harvest salad was the hit of the week. We had friends round for a bbq and two weeks later they’re still raving about this salad! I think I’ll be taking it to mum’s for Christmas lunch.

So, on to this week’s belated menu:

Monday:

lunch: sandwiches

dinner: teriyaki beef from Meat on the Menu (Squid – veges and couscous)

Tuesday:

lunch: sandwiches

dinner: minestrone soup with olive and rosemary spelt bread (Squid – same)

Wednesday:

lunch: minestrone (Squid – same)

dinner: leftover lamb tagine with pilaf (Squid – same)

Thursday:

lunch: out

dinner: falafel, hummus, leftover pilaf and salad (Squid – same)

Friday:

lunch: falafel kebabs (Squid – falafel and flatbread)

dinner: fish pie (Squid – same)

Saturday:

lunch: leftover fish pie

dinner: lamb bbq and Tenina’s seeded quinoa salad from the dinner spinner

Sunday:

lunch: cold meat and salad

dinner: roast pork if home, picnic if going to carols by candlelight 🙂

Really, really have to start thinking about Christmas, what to make as gifts etc. My plans of being all organised and ready early this year? Yeah, utter failure 🙂

Cooking up a plan, Stan November 21, 2011

In an attempt to be a tad more organised and save my remaining brain cells, I’m starting to menu plan. I was inspired by  Quirky Jo’s thermomix menu plan over at Quirky Cooking and decided to take part in her great idea of a Thermomix menu plan link up.  The menu below isn’t entirely thermomixed but thems the breaks. Squid is able to start eating meat now, though he’s been on solids for a couple of months (due to reflux issues and 2 teeth that sprung up at 4 months and now another humungo one has appeared. My boobs are cringing). I usually freeze his purees into ice blocks to thaw as needed but I’d like to start offering him what we eat now too. So, here goes!

Monday

Lunch: leftover roast chicken (Squid: apricot and yogurt)

Dinner: Arancini balls with salad (made with leftover mushroom risotto from EDC recipe) (Squid: risotto)

Making: spelt bread; chicken stock and vege puree for Squid using chicken bones and freezing

Tuesday

Lunch: sandwiches (Squid: chicken “casserole” made yesterday)

Dinner: slow cooked lamb tagine made in the morning (Squid: tagine + pumpkin/sweet potato/potato puree)

Making: pumpkin/sweet potato/potato puree and freezing

Wednesday

Lunch: leftover tagine (Squid: leftovers)

Dinner: spanakopita using some of the buttload of silverbeet in the garden (Squid: spinach/ricotta and fruit pieces)

Making: ricotta for dinner

Thursday

Lunch: leftovers (Squid: leftovers)

Dinner: beef tacos (Squid: taste of taco mince, toast fingers, fruit)

Making: Spelt bread

Friday:

Lunch: minestrone soup from EDC (Squid: minestrone and toast)

Dinner: Asian-style fish fillets from EDC (Squid: fish and cheese)

Making: green mango chutney from Indian thermomix cookbook

Saturday

Lunch: leftover minestrone (Squid: minestrone and toast)

Dinner: we’re out!

Sunday: 

Lunch: probably sandwiches

Dinner: BBQ with friends including Tenina’s Fruity Harvest Salad (Squid: chicken casserole, pear slices)

Gah, no idea what happened to the formatting there but I have to go so no time to fix! Whingey child awaits

Been a Long Time November 20, 2011

So, this blog has been languishing in the ether for 18 months now. Whoops. Quick wrap up: Holiday in Thailand in June -July last year as a last gasp of freedom before we had kids and then in August I fell pregnant. Well, that was quick! As you can imagine, gardening took a backseat to clearing out a space in our teensy house for a baby. Pregnancy over a very long, hot summer also didn’t inspire me to garden, nor did the blistering sun, which scorched everything in sight on a particularly hot week. I gave up after that and retreated to the air conditioning to complain about my resemblance to an orca in a quite nice maternity dress.

Fast forward to the present and I’m now loving my time as a stay at home mum to my gorgeous 6 month old boy. He’s a really happy baby now that he’s able to lunge around and grab, well, anything within reach really!  He loves ‘talking’ and ‘singing’, which are just freaking adorable. It took a while to get here though. The first few months were tough. In fact, I remember a pregnant friend calling me up a few weeks after Squid was born and I said in a feverish tone something like: “no, really, they say it’s exhausting and really hard and you prepare yourself for it, but NOTHING can prepare you for this. Nothing, It’s a total mindf*ck. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. EVER”. At the worried silence on the other end of the phone I tacked on “oh, but also the best thing ever. It’s truly magical”. And it is.

It’s taken me this long to recover some brain cells though and even then they’re still stumbling around in the dark after a hard night. There’s enough of them that I’ve got stuck into the garden again and I’m contemplating things like work. I know, right? Probably a guaranteed way to get those brain cells comatose again. I may have to change the name of this blog though, as in true mumsy fashion I’m branching out from gardening and knitting into (really crappy) sewing and more cooking. My nannafication is now complete. I’m a rabid thermomix fan for cooking and I sing its praises to anyone who doesn’t back away slowly from the maniacal glint in my eye.

The vege patch is coming along after a year of neglect. I’ve planted some tomato, zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin, rainbow chard and capsicum. Chilli is going great guns and the silverbeet from last season is still hanging around. We got a couple of lemons off the dwarf tree in it’s first year and more are coming out now. I’m hoping to really get it looking nice outside again. There’s a chance at least, because Squid LOVES his swing so it’s pretty much the only place in the house I’m guaranteed to be able to do something without him getting upset. Hooray!

Out with the old… May 9, 2010

I’m a bad person. We have a bulk greenwaste collection this week so took the opportunity to cut down 4 healthy trees in the front yard. That felt wrong.  They’re pencil pines and totally unsuitable for the 0.5m wide garden bed they’re planted in. Space is at a premium here folks. We thought it was better to get rid of them now, while we can still use a little manual hand chainsaw (have you seen those things – they are nifty!) instead of paying someone once they’re too big. There’s also a cape lilac and freaking horrid lantanas. Basically your typical grow-like-wildfire Australian suburban garden. I’ll replace them with some fruit trees or something useful.

The raised garden beds have been pretty much planted out and they are going strong, mostly green leafy veg, herbs and brassicas. Is it wrong to feel proudest of those plants that I’ve raised from seed vs the bought seedlings? Go you little seeds! The lettuce and pak choi are the oldest grown from seed and are lookin’ good (see photos). We haven’t had any snails or slugs yet (touch wood) hence the lush leaves 🙂

I’ve potted a dwarf lemon, dwarf lime and a curry leaf tree (the three pots behind the bed) so hopefully they’ll stabilise before it gets chilly here. I’m surprised that things are actually growing in the shady part of the beds too. Things besides mint too (though that’s there too). Awesome.

Settling Down April 20, 2010

The raised garden beds have been in for almost two weeks and are starting to settle down. They don’t stink as much, as evidenced by Amy, Queen of the Poo, shown below. She loves rolling in it on sunny days. Disgusting cat 🙂

I’ve planted a few things: a borage and greek basil I bought recently, and some lettuce seedings that were just-about-big-enough. The plan was to interplant with strawberries, but the mushroom compost is quite alkaline – pH of around 8.5 when I tested it fresh! Hopefully that will go down over time or I”ll have to add some sulphur. Strawberries like slightly acidic conditions so I’m thinking instead maybe I’ll put  them in pots on the front veranda. Besides watering my seeds and watching them germinate and grow (marginally more interesting than watching grass grow) I haven’t done a lot to the garden.

I have finished Stupid Shawl. Only stupid because it took SO FREAKING LONG to finish. The pattern is actually really nice, and is exactly what it says it it – a simple yet effective shawl!200g of 4ply in a straight either stockinette or garter stitch really did my head in after  a while though. My fault for deciding to double the pattern, really. I like the finished product though, in the end:

To recover I’m doing some much shorter projects for a while including some quick presents, a slouchy beret for me and a cream Biggles scarf for Pilot Boy as a congratulatory present for when he gets his private pilot’s licence very soon 🙂 Actually it’s a nice suave herringbone pattern but I”m calling it a Biggles scarf. Dammit. I’ve also ordered stupid amounts of yarn lately. Bendigo Woollen Mills have brought out this cashmere blend that is rather lovely and soft…and I’ve somehow ordered 43 (just added them up…oh dear) balls over 3 orders. *scuffs feet* they’re only 50g balls…ahem. Not to mention the lovely 4 skeins of Lush yarn that are staring at me, waiting to be put away. It’s infinitely pettable. Do they have a Yarn Anonymous? My name is Wendy, and I have a problem.