What are you made of?

Sugar and spice and all things nice? Or slugs and snail and puppy dog tails.

Or are you able to hold an online message board style conversation with consideration and respect?

This week I have experienced the exhilaration and sheer mind blowing awe of how supportive and loving an online community can be. And then I've also seen plain old online nastiness.

How do you find a place to be in this vast wilderness? How do you find you niche? It's a different world out there, and there are very different rules.

Coming to America

No I'm not Eddie Murphy, and I'm not looking for a bride, but I am coming to America. In April, and get this, August too. Yes twice.

In April I will be enjoying the weather in the San Francisco area, Berkley, and the surrounding hills (that contain a long time internet buddy of Toby's). We won't be there long, a week maybe. Long enough for me to look around and see whether the place feels right.

I hope to visit Cammie http://www.audreyandava.blogspot.com/ if I get the chance. I have to prove to a few people she isn't a sweaty old man.

I hope to shop, and eat super sized meals, and find a pair of jeans that suit me (oh sorry, that's more shopping isn't it ;)).

I'm buying my ticket soon, to get a cheap fare. I hope my In Laws don't die of shock that I've suddenly capitulated to not just a night's sleep over for the boys, but a week at first then two weeks later in the year. I suffer from separation anxiety. I'll probably want to back out of this when the time comes to leave my babies (Beatie will be almost three by then...but still my baby).

We'll see.....

Sleep walking with toys

Beatie came into our room last night, just at the end of a fantastic Spooks episode. He was so delighted to see us still awake that he dropped the tiger, the piece of train track, and the hot wheels car he was carrying, brushed his hands off (as if to say, well, that's my job done) and climbed into bed with us. He fell asleep grinning like a loon. Too cute.

He comes into bed with us almost every night, which is fine, he only moved out a couple of months ago, so I'm happy with his growing independence taking baby steps. The funny thing is, he manages to get out of his bed, pick up several random toys in the bedroom, and walk/stumble to our room without properly waking up. He always brings toys. He is always still mostly asleep.

Cafe Intolerance

It's now been over 5 years since I travelled overseas. This makes me feel very sad.

On the up side my boys are now interested and interesting when we leave the safety of the nest, and show excitement and enthusiasm for the unknown. This is what I hoped for. I can't wait until we're in another country, watching their faces as they realise nobody is speaking the same language as them.

Callum's big achievement for the day was learning how to swim with a kick board properly. On his back he's so fast he almost knocked himself out on the wall.

Beatie is at that massive language acquisition stage. No word is too long, and he has the patience of a saint with Callum 'helping' him pronounce things correctly.

Cafe Intolerance

I need to get in here and revamp this place!

I have a job!

I've had the most wonderful of foodie days!

This morning I had the pleasure of looking after my best friend's little girl for an hour or so while my friend was out shopping. Makkade was a delight, and the boys doted on her, smothering her in kisses and driving matchbox cars all over her. Very cute. Makes me itchy to have another baby ;)

Makkade is one of those delightful toddlers who eats almost anything, and seems supremely happy almost all the time. It warms the cockles of my heart to see children eating. I have gained enormous satisfaction over the years from feeding first tastes of all sorts of weird and wonderful things to the children in my acquaintance. But I digress, my morning was wonderful with the three children in my care all being well behaved and eating anything in sight.

When Nicky got back to pick Makkade up she brought in a veritable bounty of Not Quite Right gourmet herb and spice grinder flavours as a gift for me, and she made me cry. There are 8 in total and they range from chocolate and sugar (to add to the tops of coffee or cup cakes, or I bet it'd be lovely on a slice of butter fried bread), to an oriental mix combining star anise, coriander, garlic... I can't remember what else. I don't quite know why they were NQR, and I don't care! I felt spoilt and loved, and understood. Nicky isn't very gourmet herself, but is always finding me little foodie things she thinks I might be interested in.

Then the afternoon sort of dragged by. The boys discovered a strange white striped worm or slug under the bark of a tree in the backyard. I have suspicions that I may have been a leech, but they sadly dispatched it before I could confirm one way or another. As Callum put it 'Mummy I was just trying to pick it up and it broke into pieces in my hand'. The good mummy I am, I found another for them to attempt to be careful with (still not sure what the heck it was), and Cal and I talked about what it might eat, what sort of place it liked to live in etc. In the end he decided to feed it dirt, and well, that was the end of slug/worm/leech number two.

After a run around in the cold and wet, we retired to the kitchen for warm drinks. The boys attempted to helped me chop onions and garlic for the bolognese for dinner but Cal only lasted until the onion started making his eyes water ('I have to go now mummy, I have sensitive eyes'), but Ethan stayed and delicately peeled the paper off the garlic for me with his tiny fingernails.

Dinner was lovely, the boys ate without shouting, fighting, throwing food, or spilling anything. Almost unheard of in this house. They're asleep now, and I have my quiet time, before Toby gets home, but after my last duty for the day is complete. I'm savouring a cup of chai tea (not home made, but it has inspired me to get back to making my own), and looking forward to a glass of Friday wine.

Oh yes, and the owner of a local shop - Herbicious Delicious phoned me and asked me to start work on Sunday afternoon. Half a day a week in the most exciting cookware/foody shop I've seen in years. All I had to do was pop in and ask for a job, and bingo, I have a job!

My boys have expenisive tastes

Callum and Ethan are both enamored with seafood. Lobster, prawns, scallops and fish (except for salmon or tinned tuna) are all on the menu, and have been requested for birthday dinners recently.

Luckily the price of seafood has stayed static, while the price of other forms of animal protein have dramatically increased. So perhaps we'll be eating a lot more seafood in the weeks to come.

The nice thing about seafood is that the less you do to it the better it tastes.

All I want is a chicken salad

So why is it that a chicken salad, made at home, with nice freshly bought ingredients should cost so much? Why is it that a take away meal would cost the same/less? Why is it that highly processed food products are cheap, even with our GST applied, and makes a simple salad seem like a luxury item.

Here is my oh so luxurious dinner plan:

Skinless chicken breasts marinated in: garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, fish sauce, and just a little bit of fresh vietnamese mint (from my garden). Left to marinate for a while, then grilled and served on a bed of broccoli (blanched), cucumber, spring onions, cashews, more mint, and crisp deep fried shallots. Dressing will be a slight variation of the marinade or maybe just a splash of oil and vinegar.

This meal will be gluten free, dairy free, egg free. Nut allergy warning on the cashews.

The short people in my house will have some steamed rice with their meal, and they won't have the onion or the nuts. They'll probably throw most of the rocket from their plates, but Ethan will eat just enough to choke on a leaf. Cal will refuse anything that has dressing on it, and Ethan will want double of it. The rice will adhere itself to every surface imaginable.

I'll post a picture for your viewing pleasure tomorrow.

My family traditions

This is an interesting subject for me, and one I have been pondering a lot recently.

We currently have no significant family traditions, except for one recently established. I want to build traditions, and little weekly and daily rituals. Traditions are comforting and memorable things. Most of my significant childhood memories are based around the anticipation and fulfillment of traditions

So anyway, our recently established tradition involves decorating the living room for birthday mornings. This year I put up streamers and balloons in the doorway leading out to the living space so that when my birthday boy(s) got up, he would be greeted with a riot of colour and excitement, even before seeing his birthday present. The boys got to open their birthday present as soon as they got up, and then we sat down to a breakfast of their choosing. Toby stayed home for both the boys birthdays this year, and that is something I'd like to see happen in future years if at all possible (and indeed for myself if/when I go back to work). I want my boys birthdays to be magical, and to be all about them. So as they get older, they will have a greater say in planning. Oh they also got to chose what sort of cake design I'd do for them. Callum took over 6 weeks to make up his mind, whereas Ethan decided at once!

Christmas is still under negotiation, we're doing stockings in the morning, and a big gift, or the gifts from us rather than Santa after lunch. Who we spend the day with, and what we eat will change form year to year as our various large extended families grow and change. Santa stays for as long as my boys can bare to put up with the pretense (I was still getting a Santa stocking when I was 18).

Christmas tree decorations will be added to each year, one special one purchased (or internationally swapped), and one made by each person (well maybe just the boys).

Each year the boys will do a foot print/hand print to hang in a frame. I have previously done this at Christmas time, so I might keep this as our traditional time...or I may switch it to their birthdays...hmmm.

On a weekly basis, Sunday mornings are a time for family. Sleeping in, or staying in jammies, playing music, making and eating pancakes and freshly squeezed juice. The boys are already enjoying helping cook and make juice, or voicing opinions over what kind of music we listen to (no kiddie music mind you!). I love my Sunday mornings.

I want to develop more traditions. I'd love to hear about some others!

Please be patient while I kick my computer

I don't know whether my anger should be directed at Blogger or my own computer, but I've been tinkering for two hours, and am feeling very unhappy.

To top it all off my computer has a strange ability to electrify my kitchen table. I'm told by my resident IT expert that it is some kind of power leakage from the battery charger. I get little electric shocks on the undersides if my wrists while I type. Pleasant? Not really.