Thursday, June 30, 2011

Day 187

I'm a disgrace. See, I have been living in trackies for the last week which is acceptable seen as I've been nursing an unwell little guy, and not venturing outside - so it didn't matter that everyday I looked like I had just rolled out of bed. But today, while in the middle of cooking, I desperately needed butter to finish off a meal... and thanks to my relaxed, hermit state of mind, without thinking I went out in public dressed like a total dag, wearing 'just got out of bed' tracky pants... I didn't even brush my hair.... 

Time to get back into the real world huh? and start putting on proper attire when out in public. But let's look on the bright side - I'm not wearing my slippers! 

The boys look like they are cruising along at light speed... pretty cool.. but just the camera affect I'm afraid! Oh hey... I might not be wearing slippers.. but Sam is wears his Ug boots... sooooo we really dressed up for the trip as you can see :)


I decided a trip to the video store was in order... to help us get through one last day of being at home. Sam is all better now so he is off to daycare tomorrow to make up for his missed day on Tuesday... he is so excited to see some actual kids again!



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So...broccoli. I'm a huge fan..  I decided to accompany tonight's dinner (which was a sweet potato/turnip/carrot gratin) with broccoli prepared a little differently. So, after some Googling for ideas... I made up a mixture of 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar (yes!), and 2 tablespoons of oil. Then I tossed broccoli with the mixture in a bowl, sprinkled some of the 'Alseason' that made an appearance on yesterdays post and then roasted it on high in the oven. The sugar mixture caramelises and wow! delicious! Nice for something different and to add a bit of BANG to the meal :) 


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You might be looking at all this food I've been putting on the blog lately... and feeling a bit sorry for my boys and husband for all this vege food and lack of meat! Never fear! My little boys actually eat meat regularly during the week for their lunch and occasional dinner... and Lewy, even though I was more than happy to make meat dinners for him, he has opted to go the vege path for his dinners and he loves it! So everyone wins:) Although as a little surprise for Lewy this week, I'm cooking him up a Scotch Fillet, with a broccolini and chips side... he is going to be very happy :) 

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That's all folks... sweet dreams! xxx

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Day 186

I had great plans of sharing another recipe tonight .. and took the photos while making a spinach, feta and cherry tomato pie (with a roast potato and vege side)... and although the pie was okay, it wasn't fantastic by any means... so it doesn't make the cut for the blog. Sorry pie! You tried, but you didn't succeed. I blame you, Feta, there was too much of you in there.... better luck next time.

But the potatoes... oh you guys were good! And it was all due to this miracle stuff.....



Maybe I should have ditched the pie and just made a whole plate of these golden crunchy pieces of heaven :)

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So, another day at home... I caught a bit of Sam's cold, although apart from some slight symptoms I'm still feeling pretty great.. so let's just hope it stays that way! Sam is on the mend thankfully. I must admit I'm really looking forward to taking my boys out to do something fun when we are all healthy again... I'm already planning what adventure we can go on to make up for our week at home!

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The other day Sam said he wanted to make a cubby... and I said, we'd go one better than that.... we'll get out the beach tent and set up 'home' in there. 

The boys have been loving it....they potter around in there, I don't exactly know what that are doing but they seem to enjoy moving the bikes in and out, sitting on the chairs and just generally sitting in there chilling out. Last night Sam wanted to eat his dinner in the tent, so off he went and Jacob of course, followed him. About 5 minutes later, Jacob wanders back inside... with no knowledge of his new head piece.. that obviously Sam had decided to decorate him with! That's what happens I guess when I leave them unsupervised with pasta!



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Night all... I can't get enough of my book, so I'm off to read!

(Safe travels to the beautiful couple - Sonny and Val.... they are off to Bali for a well deserved break :) Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy and take a whole stack of photos! Love you guys... xx)

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Day 185

It's raining... hard.... I love it. I always feel like I'm a little kid when the weather gets unruly, I feel excitement like a big adventure is about to happen!

So this is us today... according to BOM.
Forecast for Tuesday  
Rain, heavy at times, with the risk of a squally thunderstorm. Rain easing to a few showers from late afternoon. Strong and gusty N/NW'ly winds, then becoming fresh W'ly during the afternoon and evening.
Squally thunderstorm... great!

Before the rain started early this morning, me and the boys went outside for a quick look at the sky.  WOW.


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So I'm back to reading this book, after it had been sitting collecting dust for some time. 

The first one, The Pillars of the Earth, was set in the middle of the 12th century and the book centres around the town of Kingsbridge and the building of a Cathedral. 

World Without End takes place in the same town and features the descendants of some Pillars characters two centuries later. It's a great read... fascinating!

I read this paragraph in the book the other day and it hit me hard.. I love it - 

"Mankind is fallible, so we should not rely on our own reasoning. We cannot hope to understand the world - all we can do is stand amazed at God's creation. True knowledge comes only from revelation. We should not question received wisdom". 


Trust me.. you have to read these books... you'll love them!

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So... seen as I'm in a bit of an 'excitable adventure mood' thanks to the weather, I decided to come up with something different to make for our lunch rather than a boring old sandwich (okay, and also because we have no bread left....) and man oh man, I was pleasantly surprised - mouth watering delicious!!!

So simple... just using some left over ingredients...

Mushrooms, grated cheese, chopped up basil leaves & I found a tin of whole tomatoes in the pantry (thankfully as the tomatoes really brings the meal together)

I halved a sheet of shortcrust pastry, layered on the ingredients...

Then rolled it up (after brushing some milk to the edge so that it sticks when you join the edges)

Brushed the top with milk, and sprinkled with dried rosemary ..

Into the oven (at 180)... I can't actually remember how long it took - I'd say around 20 or so mins? Just kept checking back for when the pastry was brown and crunchy...

Make it! Now! It's too yummy not to! 

Sam wholeheartedly gave his approval :)

Happy days!
xxx

Monday, June 27, 2011

Day 184

 Cookies and Cream cake.... YUM!

Had a lovely evening out for dinner with Claire last night .. :) Great conversation, great company, yummy food and mouth watering dessert.. perfect!

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My little patient is doing okay. Sam still has a pretty nasty cough and a bit under the weather, so plans have been cancelled for the week until he starts to feel 100% again. He is a trooper though and handles it all in his stride :) Jacob, thankfully is not sick so hopefully it stays that way. :)

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Lastly, let's talk food again!......So, tell me - what is your favourite pizza topping?? Friday night dinners  are usually reserved for home made pizzas, and I like to mix things up a little! Give me your best ideas! 

Short and sweet post tonight... I'm dying to get into bed and read my book :) Night all and sweet dreams xxxx

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Day 183 The Emergency Room

So.....this is where me, Sam and Ted ended up in the middle of the night....

My poor patient had croup. He has had it once before so when he came into our room at 9.30pm last night, we knew the signs pretty much straight away. After throwing up on our bed, and getting frantic because he was having trouble catching his breath through all the coughing (I hated seeing him like this :( just after 10pm, I got us into the car quick smart to head to Emergency. 

It's another world in there... the nurses were fantastic, and looked at Sam straight away and organised some medicine. (The nurse remembered Sam from last time even though it was months ago! She said she remembered him because he was so chatty and friendly :) Then it was hanging out in the waiting room, waiting for a bed so he could get a check over by the doctor before we could go home. By this stage the medicine was doing the trick and although the cough was still there, it was minor and Sam was back to his happy, chatty self. 

Let me just say... Sam... what a special character! There were some cops waiting for a patient who was in a car accident, and apparently (from what I could gather when I was eavesdropping.. :) he was in big trouble ... but anyway - the cops were great! They loved Sam.. and chatted with him the whole time. Sam thought it was the best ever, and asked them all sorted of questions (like 'what's that?' pointing to their gun.. that was awkward!).. it made the wait a whole lot more interesting though as it was cool to chat with the cops and it sure did keep Sam occupied. Then Sam, being the social butterfly, ended up chatting with everyone else in the waiting room and by the end of it everyone was sitting around all chatting with us and each other... it was amazing actually! I think Sam will have a knack of bringing people together when he is older, and really getting people involved and feeling important.. it was quite special to watch the vibe in the room change and everyone come together, when we were all there for not so great reasons. I was very proud of my little guy... :)

So, we were finally called in and Sam popped onto the bed to get checked over by the nurse, and he also got to use the stethoscope to listen to his own heart which he thought was pretty cool,... some more waiting for the doctor and then the doc (who was amazing by the way, and so great with Sam!) gave him the all clear and we were good to go home...around 2am!

Sam is doing much better today, still has a slight cough, but too busy being excited about his hospital adventure to let it bother him too much! I, on the other hand, am exhausted! 

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VEGETARIAN PAELLA

I made this dish last night... and WOW it's so easy and so delicious and healthy! We've added it to our family favourites list. 

What you need: 
3 cups of Vegetable stock
2 cups of water
pinch Saffron threads
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 baby eggplants (120g) quartered
2 cloves garlic
1 red onion, chopped finely
2 tomatoes, chopped finely
1 red capsicum, chopped finely
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 3/4 cups of arborio rice
1 cup frozen peas
100g green beans (I used snow peas and this worked great too)
1/2 seeded black olives
1/4 finely chopped parsley


How to do it!

1. Put Vegetable Stock and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil, remove from the heat and stir in a pinch of Saffron. 


2. Heat oil in large frying pan; cook eggplant, stirring occasionally, for about 5 mins or until browned. Remove and put aside. 

Optional - Pour glass of wine while you are cooking to make it all the more fun :) 


3. Cook garlic, onion, tomato, capsicum and paprika in same pan, stirring, until onion softens.(This smells gorgeous!)


4. Add rice, stir to coat in mixture. 


5. Stir in stock mixture and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for about 20 minutes or until rice is almost tender (stirring occasionally)


6. Stir in peas, beans and eggplant and simmer covered for about 10 minutes or until beans and rice are cooked. Stir in olives and parsley... all done! Delicious! 


Our Sunday... after last nights adventure, is a nice quiet one... and I'm looking forward to heading out to dinner tonight with the lovely Claire, while she and her family are here in Perth for a few days! 

Peaceful Sunday with no more trips to Emergency... :) 
xx

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Day 182 This is loooong

Grab a cuppa... this is going to be a long one!!!! 

First of all, I'm really into rain drops at the moment... they are just so beautiful, delicate and simple....just like little diamonds when the sun hits them just right..... 

Sweet huh?!

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Secondly... this next part I wrote last night (Friday night).....

About once a month, I end up going to bed at a crazy early time to make up for all my early mornings and long days... today was that day in the month. By 4.40pm (today being Friday!) I could no longer stay awake and Lewy kindly took care of the boys for me and I very happily went to sleep. What always happens though is I usually wake up later that evening full of beans and revived... which is why I'm up now, updating my blog for tomorrow! I will wait until tomorrow to post it though as I will need to make sure I take some pictures to accompany the post!

Seen as my mind is active I thought I would share what I've been thinking about .. :)

I have been thinking about how I have really enjoyed taking my boys out these last few days.. so simple - looking at leaves, talking about our surroundings, the animals, the trees, the water. I love doing this, it makes me feel full of life to get back to nature and enjoy watching the curiosity and learning from my boys' perspectives.

It made me think about my own childhood.... we had a great childhood.. very different to most, but I wouldn't change it for anything. My parents were missionaries and also at times, foster parents, so we spent a lot of our childhood in remote places in Australia, with aboriginal children that my parents fostered... we spent our days in the bush, playing games, running around, making our own fun, going on picnics in the middle of nowhere, having kangaroo tail that was cooked in a ground fire and eating Widgety Grubs ... toys were sparse but we didn't notice.. we were too busy climbing in trees, running around in the rain and playing in mud, picking fruit and laying on the ground looking at insects and animals that we would find along our adventures.... I remember when we lived in a village in Canarvon for awhile we would run around, play hide and seek at the banana plantation, all the kids of the village would meet at the tennis court after dinner and play until our parents would come and get us for bedtime, we'd sit in our cubby houses and pretend to fish off the side while someone was at the bottom putting leaves on our string and tug it to let us know we had caught a 'fish'....so many memories. 

There is a point to all this rambling! I was thinking the other day.. wondering if I should be providing more things for my boys to play with outside seen as we have a small background.. and then I realised... wow - it really is so easy to drawn into the material side of things.. too easy! As soon as I thought it, I picked myself up on it and decided my boys have plenty, but what they would benefit from FAR MORE than more toys.. is more outings outside, more time in nature, more time to enjoy the beautiful natural things around us, the animals, the water, the trees, the flowers.... this is what I want for my boys, because this is what I'm so grateful for with my own upbringing.

This also explains why I have such a huge yearning to move away from the city and get out to the country... I have a strong desire to live more simply, to be surrounded by nature.. one day... one day (Please God?! One day?!)

So... that helped... I'm feeling tired again! By the way, it's pouring with rain outside, late at night, the boys of our household are sleeping... this feels so nice and cosy being awake when life has slowed down for the night :) Sweet dreams all ... xxxx

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And that brings us to today! (are you still there?? still awake?? need another coffee??) 
Last nights musing inspired our day trip today... so here it is!.....


I decided that today me and the boys would head to John Forrest for a little wander around, just at the bottom of the hills, to get some fresh air and enjoy some nature.... well, a little wander around turned into a full on 2 hour hike into the hills! But it was GREAT! 


Sam handled the journey like a pro hiker... and Jacob enjoyed being carried the whole way... apart from our rest stops where he would have a little waddle around to check out the scenery :)
More rain drops.... 


Check these boys out... this was literally like 5 seconds after we got out of the car! I then figured the sooner I filled them up, the sooner we could go exploring! .... anyone would think I coloured coordinated my boys and our belongings! .. least they would have been easy to find if I lost them :)



It was perfect weather for a bush walk... not too hot, not too cold.... juuuust right.






Out of the blue... Sam started singing Justin Bieber's "Baby, baby, babbyyyyyyy oohhhhh"....please believe me - he sure didn't hear that song from me! I asked him where he heard it and he said the boys were singing it at daycare! ha! funny stuff and nice to have some music entertainment on our walk.. :) although it would have been better if it wasn't Bieber tunes!



Yes... there was even a part of the trek that Jacob hitched a ride on my shoulders.. he giggled the whole time.


Please excuse the crazy smile... we had been going for quite some time by this stage and I was getting rather tired but feeling pretty pleased we made it to the top!


The only shame of today was that Lewy had to work and couldn't join us .... we miss him lately as he is working so hard but we have a lovely Bali holiday coming up to look forward too... so we will enjoy some adventures with Daddy soon :)

Right! I'm done! (are you relieved?!)

I'm off to make another coffee and put my feet up! Happy Saturday all! xx