Yum Cha

This Sunday just gone we went to lunch with some of our church family after the morning service.

I am so thankful for the way that these people have welcomed us into their lives. One of my favourite things about being part of a church family is being able to share life with people; to be able to share each others’ joys, achievements, doubts, struggles and mostly (and all-encompassing) sharing and encouraging each other in our walk with Christ : “And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works,not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25 (HCSB).

We had a great time taking the boys to their first experience of Yum Cha (my first in over a decade) at Sunny’s in Hurstville. We got a massive table and just squeezed 8 adults and 8 children around it. My boys were most taken by anything fried, and Finn liked the tea. I sat with Julie, Emma, ‘Gordon’ the beautiful bump and Louis, who educated me on the finer points of dining at a Yum Cha restaurant including tapping the table to say ‘thanks’ for the tea. After stuffing ourselves on dumplings the boys (Findlay, James, Harry and little Finn) played under the table while the rest of us (those mentioned plus Clint, Shane, Karen, Josh, Bella and Caitlin) enjoyed the twinkly red, gold and crystal interior of the restaurant, each others’ company and picking at the leftovers!

Archer (practicing with chopsticks), Brian, Findlay and Clint

Emma, Louis and Me

A very full table of hungry peeps

Karen, Caitlin, James, Josh, little Finn and Julie getting stuck into it!

Under Table shenanigins….it ended in tears

Archer and Me

Mothers’ Day (a day early)

This is my first Mothers’ Day with a child old enough to get into make stuff for the occasion; and let me tell you, I am one proud Mum!

On Friday at preschool I had the privilege of attending a special Mothers’ Day Morning Tea with the theme of “Treat Mum like a princess for the day”. I happily joined in! The teachers had put in so much effort to making such a lovely morning, and the kids had been preparing for the past three weeks of term (learning songs, making craft etc).

The girls were allowed to wear princess dresses from home (if the had them….which they all seemed to have) and Finn wanted to dress up too. No princess dresses in our house, but he wore a bow tie and looked very spunky. Upon entry I was presented with a crown that Finn had made for me and was led to some activities to do alongside him (craft, building blocks, stamps, puzzles…). We (the mums) sat down for morning tea at decorated pink tables with tiered plates full of lamingtons and chocolate chip bikkies (which Finn and Archer managed to scoff off my plate while I was talking)  and had orange juice and ‘special cake’ (with sugar butterflies made by the kids) brought to us by the children (so sweet, although Finn had a hard time handing it over to me). We had some singing time all together, which Finn was a little too shy to do in the group (which I kid of expected), but I had a special treat from him a day earlier when he sang the song to me in the backyard (perfectly). Such a sweet song “I love Mummy, I love Mummy, yes I do, yes I do, and my Mummy loves me, and my Mummy loves me, yes it’s true, yes it’s true” , to the tune of Frère Jacques. We were then given bracelets painted by our kids (guess what I’m wearing to church on Sunday). So spoiled! Such a lovely morning.

Today I went to the Biggest Morning Tea held at church, and picked up a fabulous red tea pot with an even more fabulous knitted tea cosy (my Mothers’ Day present). In the afternoon I got to go Burnt Orange in Mosman with my Mum and Michelle (my brother’s lovely girlfriend) and her Mum.  It was a glorious clear day, and a packed cafe! We enjoyed the biggest scones I’ve ever seen, cake, tea and conversation. It was a really lovely chance to spend some time with Mum before her and Dad head off to Prague for a holiday next week.

So, it’s been a very special Mother’s day already….even though it’s not till tomorrow

Detox – Done and Dusted!

We made it! – 12 weeks of detox.

We each celebrated in our own way tonight: Brian with a Flake and a coffee, me with some Maya Gold dark chocolate and a chai tea. Simple pleasures!

Here is the obligatory ‘after’ photo (to follow our original before photo):

Not sure that you can see much of a difference…but there is it anyway as promised.

So what’s the verdict? We both feel ‘good’; less bloated or sluggish after meals, no ‘food hangover. I have definitely broken my sugar addiction. Brian reports that he has more sustained blood sugar because he hasn’t been relying on caffeine and sugar to give him boosts during the day – this has meant that his sleeping patterns have become somewhat more normal (sleeping 7 or 8 hours at night), because he hasn’t been using caffeine to stay up late working, then sleeping in late into the morning. He also said he feels better in the morning; less groggy. However the fatigue that causes him to need to sleep during the day because of ‘heavy headedness’ is still there – we think it is more structural though (we knew of existing neck and back problems, but haven’t found a super effective way of helping this situation), rather than diet induced.

So, the detox hasn’t been a cure all, but has certainly been a worthwhile exercise. We really feel convinced that it’s a good way to eat, and we are hoping to continue with as much of the diet as possible when we are at home – we’ll just loosen up a bit when we are out and about, or want a treat. We would both recommend doing it to anyone who wants a really good ‘clean out’ or to break the sugar cycle (also drops a bit of weight and clears your skin – small bonus).

Our last official detox meal was dinner tonight. Here is one last picture and recipe in keeping with the theme: Lamb and mint rissoles (courtesy of our friendly butcher), baby spinach, homemade sweet potato chips and chickpeas fried in cumin, paprika, olive oil, garlic and spanish onion (yum).

Sunday Dinners

We like routine in our house.

Finn especially likes routine.

We have routines and systems for pretty much everything….including Sunday night dinners. Sunday night Daddy is out at church from just after 5pm and I have the boys to myself. We have a few things that we always do on a sunday night. One of those things is watch “In the Night Garden” and another is ‘Mummy’s dinner’ which for the past however many months has been a cheese omelette with semi dried tomatoes and pickles on the side of the plate. That is how Finn likes his omelette – I tried putting the tomatoes in the omelette once….it did not get eaten. Archer likes the omelette too, but passes on the tomato and pickles.

Tonight I thought I would bend the routine. I prepared Finn that I was going to cook something different tonight. I made some (detox friendly) Vegie Muffins, and we had some gluten free pasta with tomato and olive sauce. Archer scoffed the lot, I thought they were yum….Finn ate the pasta and passed on the muffin (back to omelettes next week?) and opted to return to his play ‘cooking’.

Here is the recipe:

• Melted Nuttelex for greasing
• 300g (2 cups) gluten free self-raising flour
• 4 small carrots, coarsely grated
• 2 cobs of corn, kernels cut off
• 1 zucchini, trimmed, coarsely grated
• 65g (3/4 cup) coarsely grated sheeps’ milk cheese
• small handful fresh basil, torn
• 125ml (1/2 cup) rice or soy milk
• 3 eggs, lightly whisked
• 60g (3 tbs) Nuttelex, melted
• Sesame seeds, to sprinkle on top

1. Preheat oven to 210°C. Brush 12 medium (125ml/1/2 cup) muffin pans with melted Nuttelex to grease.
2. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the carrots, corn, zucchini, cheese and basil. Toss to combine until the vegetables are well coated with the flour. Make a well in the centre of the vegetable mixture.
3. Whisk the milk, eggs and butter in a large jug. Pour into the centre of the vegetable mixture and use a large metal spoon to fold in until just combined. Don’t overmix or the muffins will be tough.
4. Spoon the mixture into the greased pans, sprinkle on sesame seeds, and bake in preheated oven for 20 -30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Sweet Saturday Sunshine

Today I went to Leura with Eleanor and Heather from church. Such a beautiful day for a drive – clear, blue, sunshiny skies. Despite each of us feeling a little under the weather at the start of the day we had a lovely, mellow day, trawling the Hippie Shop in Springwood then visiting the CWA crafts stall, lunching at the Leura Deli, exploring stationary stores and making a final stop in a Josophan’s Fine Chocolate Store.

Heather picked up some cute owl salt and pepper shakers along the way and the pair joined us for lunch (as documented below). I bought a green, purple and brown striped, knitted vest (For Finn) from a lovely old lady at the CWA and Eleanor stocked up on the homemade fudge.

Before we headed home we took some fun photos in a fenced lane lined with trees that had started to drop their leaves for Autumn. Such a picturesque spot….the perfect place for throwing leaves in the air!

        

        

When I got home I was greeted warmly by the three men in my life (bliss!), had dinner and then partook in our newish family ritual instilled by Daddy – “Saturday Night Dance Party”. Tonight on the playlist was some Tone Loc, Plaid, They Might Be Giants and Blue Suede. Finn and Brian did most of the dancing tonight, Archer and I bopped along too. Below is a picture of Finny and I with our “feet in the aiiiiirrr Daddy!!!!!”

One week to go!

We are nearly at the three month (12 week) mark in the detox – Hooray!!

It’s been a while since I posted about what we’ve been eating, but we’ve been plugging along, with only a few days off for special ocassions. We have decided to finish the official detox next friday (just 2 days short of 12 weeks, for Mothers’ day).

So what have we been eating….more of the same, but we have found some really nice cereals which have become our ‘dessert’ – Freedom Foods Rice Flakes and Carmen’s Deluxe Museli. I thought I’d post just a few more meals that we have eaten over the past few weeks.

Left to Right: Lamb and Veggie ‘one pot wonder’ (left over slow cooked lamb, celery, capsicum, peas, mint, carrt and Moroccan spice mix), Roast Beetroot and pumpking soup (4 roast beets, 1 roast butternut pumpkin, 6 cloves roat garlic, all blended up and served with natural yoghurt), Brown rice with Roast carrot and capsicum, chickpeas, sultanas, avocado, fresh mint and Zataar spice.

Left to Right: Slow cooked Lamb stew, Vegetable slice (egg, sheep’s milk, LSA, grated carrot, sweet potatoe and zucchini and tofu), Slow cooked lamb shoulder (I served it with roast carrot and sweet potato and broccoli).

Finally, a ‘cook in the mug’ cake from Blogilates, I just changed it from blueberries to raspberry and coconut – YUM!!

Here is the recipe, with my changes:

Berrylicious Microwave Minute Muffin

Take a little less than a quarter cup of quick oats (I used whole oats), 1 egg, a small handful of blueberries (I used raspberries and a tablespoon of shredded coconut), and some brown sugar or Stevia (I used 2 teaspoons of Stevia) if you like things sweet, and mix it all up in a coffee mug. If you want your muffin a little moist a tablespoon of plain soymilk or almond milk (Rice milk) will do it.

Then place in the microwave for 1 min. Watch it carefully! This could overflow!

If the muffin top does not look firm, place back in 30 sec at a time. (It took 2 1/2 minutes with whole oats)

Once ready, flip mug upside down onto a plate and slice some fresh strawberries to decorate (Or just eat it, cause it’s cake!).

I’ll give a proper wrap up of the detox when we are finished, next week!

Little Speckled Frogs

Last weekend we celebrated our godson, Joseph’s, first birthday. It was a frog party, so we all dressed in green. It was a lovely time, and a great chance to revisit the college playground.

Mark and Rachael are some of our closest friends, and godparents to our two boys, and we are truly blessed to know them, and share our lives with them. We all met on beach mission, at Umina, over a decade ago now, and have shared a lot of good time together since then – we have even found ourselves in very similar life situations: Two boys the same age, both Mums are teachers and both Dads, Christian ministers (Mark finishes college this year). We love them! They’re tops!

Rachael had organised a fabulous spread with frogy hats and badges, a super frog cake and an assortment of other green or frog inspired foods and decorations.

Here are some photos from the day.

Ben and Finn on the playground’s pirate ship

Mummas and Bubbas

Green Halls

Birthday Boy and family

Back in the Groove

So, last week I inadvertently picked up my laptop (while trying to stop it falling off the coffee table after being knocked by a wriggly baby) by its’ screen and broke it from the inside (or something like that). Anyway, this is what it looked like:

I was a bit sad – I had photos to load, blog posts to write, people to Skype, you know…stuff. Thankfully we were led to the Laptop Screen Man who picked up my laptop from home and brought it back fixed in two days for $239! Far cheaper than the new computer I was imagining needing to buy. Hooray for that!

And here we are, back in the groove. It seems I’m also back in the sewing groove – it’s been a while. About a year and a half ago, under the tutelage of a lovely friend from church, Lyn, I started making my first patchwork quilt – a present for Finn, for his ‘big boy’ bed. Finn is certainly a much bigger boy now than when we started, but in the last week I was able to give this quilt to him (and just in time – winter seems to have arrived early). It all started with a piece of fabric I bought from Yoshi Jones (3 years ago) in Newtown; a children’s print with rows of different animals on it. I then picked some other fabrics with a similar colour palette featuring owls, Noah and the ark, polka dots, mushrooms, numbers and letters. I really enjoyed the process of cutting, pinning and sewing it all together….and I’m very thankful that Lyn was able to quilt it all together for me! – not sure I’m at that stage yet! Anyway, Finn loves it, as you can see in the picture below.

I’ve also spent the last few nights making a dress for my niece, Lily’s, upcoming 4th birthday present. I’ve wanted to make her a dress for a while, but I didn’t have the right any patterns for one, which forced me to make my own. I’ve never made a pattern before, but I have used a lot of patterns, so I drew up a rough shape using one of Finn’s T-shirts as a size guideline. I had a large-ish piece of fabric leftover from a dress I made myself years back, with butterflies and fairies on it (perfectly girly). I cut out enough fabric to make a lined bodice and an A-line skirt base. I can’t say it was my best sewing work, but it all came together neatly, and I even managed to put the zip in alright. I think if I make another one I’ll be able to perfect the process. I finished the unhemmed dress this morning and tried it on my reluctant model (Finn), who is pretty much the same size as Lily.

This evening I hemmed the dress and addred a yellow bobble waist band. I’m pretty chuffed with it – can’t wait to give it to the birthday girl!

Hopefully the sewing frenzy continues, I’ve got a few unfinished projects hanging about the place!

Lovely Ladylike Luncheoning

Well, I’ve just been spoilt this weekend! Twice in the one weekend I got to go out BY MYSELF to visit some of my lovely girl friends while Brian minded the boys. Such luxury!

Saturday I got to visit three good friends from school/youth group in Newtown, and this afternoon (Sunday) I went to a Girls’ Picnic at the Manly Wine Bar to celebrate my longest standing friend (since preschool… 28 years!!) Nikki’s upcoming birthday. It was a gorgeous day – clear and warm, after a week of intermittent downpours. The Wine Bar was so great. Really eclectically decorated with mismatched vintage lampshades, stuffed peacocks on swings, patterned tiles, floral tablecloths, orange roses and Art Deco style mirrors. The food was beautiful too, and I did enjoy a slight detour from detox with a celebratory brownie (I had no idea I missed them until I ate this – AMAZING!). It was fabulous to see Nikki. It had been quite a while (our lives are both busy in different ways and it’s hard to coordinate catch ups), but it never feels like long when we get a chance to chat.

       

       

I’m so thankful for the refreshment that some ‘adult’ conversation has brought, and thankful to Brian for hanging with the boys most of the weekend without me!

Archer at One

I just wanted to take a little time to commemorate where Archer is at, now (indulge me). It seems so much of my energy is directed at Findlay at the moment, so I don’t want to forget all the things I love so much about Archer (so this post is mostly for me!).

He is 1 year and 17 days old. He looks like his Daddy, with his Mummy’s eyes….but Daddy’s long eyelashes. He is walking bustling everywhere, toppling over and jumping straight back up over and over again. He has 8 teeth and a full set of swollen gums. He loves to eat (everything) and loves to drink from anything that looks remotely like a cup. He giggles a lot and anticipates a tickle approaching. He gurgles while we change him, and melts his Mummy’s heart. He tries to get in on the action with Finn, throwing himself into whatever Finn is doing (trampoline, lego, painting…). He loves a bit of ‘rough and tumble’ and doesn’t seem to be bothered by very much at all really. He says “Ta” when we give him things and “bye, bye” when we wave at him (he waves back too).

He is a delight, and such a blessing to us.