winding down

I'm finally learning how to incorporate this new hectic life into my slow ideals. Embrace it!
I'm reminded that I can be busy as but mindful and present, letting go of the need to control most aspects of our life has really helped. Recognizing my need to control these things is a bit of a revelation. Its really OK if the kid doesn't get a bath or have a sleep some days, even two days in a row! Enjoying life is the important bit. Letting go of some rigidity in structure really helps this. I try not to freak out about the expenditure on my new business, the ethicurean, too much, and its plodding along nicely but i really must get into some marketing next year if I am to recoup any investment in the future! lol

The girls are happy happy happy and its so lovely to have them on holidays and home! The bean loves it too, more people to play with! and more often! B2 has finished up at her Montessori primary school and is heading off to high school next year and  B1 starts her final year of school. Its a holiday to enjoy this one! The house is a noisy mess and I'm loving it. It helps that the girls have finally moved into that lovely 'adult' phase where they do dishes and washing and tidy up without being asked. this is most likely the primary reason  for my loosening of the reigns!

The Bloke is now a Councillor and is out OFTEN. He's enjoying the challenges that have already arisen (Inverbrackie - the site for the new refugee centre is in our council ward) and is beating off the rednecks who have emerged from the woodwork in force. The new council is very Green and we have a very Green new mayor. I'm looking  forward to lots of great new and exciting local initiatives in the next four years with the appointments of arts and sustainability officers for the Hills region.

Work is winding down (well except for the three new grant applications Im trying to get ready for early in the new year)  and I love  the languid sense that work gets in the last few weeks of the year with people starting to chill and the weather changing and Xmas functions aplenty. We are all looking forward to what may well be our last complete ( all 5 of us) family holiday in the New Year.

Christmas prep with the brother is working well, just received an email as he is trying to plan  the lunch menu! How good is that! Bit different to last years family fiasco! I'm really looking forward to some glazed happy ham that i intend to take. Anyone got a perfect glazed ham recipe? I love food prep for Christmas! its so...festive!

I hope your end of year is slowing down and you are looking forward to a wee break!

My that pile of crusts in the pic waiting to become breadcrumbs really needs addressing...it looks a little precarious! lol

unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot...

We intended to go to the final race stage of the Tour Down Under on Sunday. We won tickets for the family to attend in the corporate box but when the time came, i said I'd rather take the kid for his first trip to the zoo. Men in tights, albeit on enviro-tools, whizzing past for a second and a small bean to chase around in a very adult environment..pass. Totally in my style we missed the pandas (you have to be one of those book ahead, uber organised families (read mothers) which Im not usually, unless we're travelling...sorry kids -if you're not from around here, you need to know the whole State has gone freakin' panda crazy, drives me nuts!) i clapped eyes for the very first time on the zoos chameleon, which just blew me away! my new alltime favourite (well, maybe the meercats still win), best- est ever with the oogliest eyes and most fabulous skills ever, animal!.

I loved the new envirodome they have there, its small; Adelaide style, but awesome... when you walk in the door you're faced with a quote from The Lorax by Dr Seuss, which got me in a good mood straight away. I knew it would be intelligent fun from there-on in.

seating... made from cardboard boxes


small, fascinating creatures...
a plaque in the loo was right up my alley...

My kind of public toilet message!

the magnetic storyboard plates were a fun way to construct a day...good choices and bad both rated on a happiness, wealth and environmental meter...B2 enjoyed being a total enviro-pig!

and the bean doing lots of learning...
and the coolest bit of the day!...the Aldabra tortoise which is like 100 years old and i have never seen move, actually only ever seen in the same spot looking like another boulder, was doin' his stuff with Ms Galapagos and makin' a whole lotta feral tortoise noise. Go George!(oops, he's called Tati!)

Haiku Friday

morning creation
holidays stretched out ahead
plastic perfection

bean playing

I've been busy the last few days. Busy unwinding, really unwinding, from the tight coil that was me trying to get my thesis done by Christmas. It took a few days to unfurl, to drop the physical and emotional stress I had been carrying, which had been propelling me along. Its been beautiful, this time at home. I've mostly spent my time playing in the garden, the girls too, the weather has been just perfect for outdoors. We have spent most of our days sitting in the creek, above the creek, beside the creek, listening to the waterfalls and indulging the Boybean in his favourite new pastine; rock tossing. Plonk.
I havent been out in public since I finished. We've been living off food from the garden, Christmas leftovers and pantry staples. We've been playing games, cooking together, doing hours of Lego building and watering the vegetables. Life is good this week.

i dunno what i was thinking

when i decided that the 24th December would be a good deadline to submit my thesis for its last supervisors' edit. Im snappy. I think I thought maximum time to finish and then I'd be free and able to enjoy the compulsory University shut down from midday tomorow until January 5. Im cranky, stressed, short tempered and suffering a mga burn (dropped a hot molten butter pie crust on my arm??!!??) I've cooked three dishes tonight since i got home from work- dinner; ravioli with carrot sauce, sweet potato bake with nut crumble topping- sweet potatos baked with fresh thyme then mashed with cooked garlic and leek and ready to have the parmesan pine nut crumble topping placed then baked tomorrow night. Boysenberry pie crust cooked, creme patissiere made, that too is ready to be assembled tomorrow and berries piled on top. Just the Beef Wellington and hasselback potatoes and beans to do tomorrow when i get home, after Ive finished the thesis.

Looking forward to that, and the fact that my brother has promised a massive lobster, and prawns and calamari. Surf n turf tomorrow night here i come! Cant remember the last time I ate all that over farmed seafood but Im not going to kick up a stink. I love love lobster. And I look forward to a glass or two (or three or four) of celebration fizz. My mums coming for a sleepover too- first Christmas morning with her for a long time. The big beans are pretty happy about that and she's stoked too. So, this may be the last post until after the crazy hullabaloo has died down. Ive so enjoyed having you all in my neighbourhood, thanks for your company. Have a wonderful time in peace and solitude, with friends, with family; whatever the silly season holds for you. Take care and look after the planet.

so my brother called...

and told me that he loved me, that they would lock in next Christmas lunch as i had requested, that they would come to our house on Christmas Eve and we would do dinner as a complete family, that they would bring food, and I cried. I think my last email must have worked or something? My poor mum was beside herself with joy. I cant remember the last time we had a Christmas meal with them...

So my head turns to a menu. Thinking that I will suggest they bring wine and i will do the food. I'm thinking a piece of fantastic local fillet of beef wrapped in mustard, wild mushroom duxelle and pastry ala Wellington style, a boysenberry tart courtesy of the Gnome berry bushes, nut loaf with pimiento sauce for the vegos and some vegetables/warm salads. Any suggestions? I haven't ever done a Christmas Eve dinner. Usually Im a seafood for lunch at Christmas kind of girl and we always have nut loaf, its our family tradition. Whats your favourite Christmas food? Do you have a Christmas food that's tradition for you?

Scallion pancakes

Finally, a food post! A two ingredient lunch. Scallions + flour; way too easy peasy. Well water and some oil too, but hey, minimal!
A half used bunch of scallions had been languishing in the frdge for a week. Scallion gulit had become a problem. Thankfully the light bulb went on. Problem solved. Family Styles scallion panckaes. They also have a good series of pics if you cant understand my instructions. My hands were so flour coated I only took a few pics of the process.
These pancakes are quick, tasty , crispy, flaky and best of all easy and low fat. We scoffed them for lunch, even the bean loved them (sans spicy sauce).

makes 4 frypan size pancakes

:: 2 cups plain flour
:: 1 cup boiling water
:: 1/2 cup of chopped scallions
:: sesame oil

mix flour and water with spoon (its hot) and then knead with hands into a smooth, soft ball. Divide into 4 balls.

Roll a ball of dough into a thin flat circle to fit your frypan. Drizzle sesame oil to taste over surface then scatter 1/4 of the scallions over complete surface. Then take an edge and roll the circle into a 'cigar' shape. Make a coil from the 'cigar' and then roll the coil back into a thin flat circle. Fry in a sesame oiled pan , turning until cooked. Nest time I will use more oil and cook for less time. Im too used to dry frying tortilla and indian bread.

Sauce
:: soy sauce
:: smashed clove/s of garlic
:: chopped scallions
:: chilli flakes/sauce
:: sugar
:: rice wine vinegar

Mix together vinegar and sugar to dissolve the sugar. Add other ingredients to taste.

Serve with the pancakes! (the leftover sauce I used to season the okonomiyaki we had for dinner)

I squeezed these in for lunch around finishing the dill pickles (after fermentation comes canning!) and limoncello bottling before I braved the 'Monster Mall' with three kids in tow. It was actually much less traumatic than usual. Either we've all grown up or the planets were aligned. No tantrums, no tears, just endless searching for the 'perfect' summer apparrel. I thought I handled myself well not to mention the picture perfect small-child-handed-down-from-heaven who happily sat in his wheel chair watching all that an afternoon at 'Fountain Lakes' offerred his innocent self without complaint. He was pretty enamoured with all the sparkly christmas baubly bits. Four hours of shopping centre tramping took its toll on both my feet and my 'stumulus tolerance' level, driving me to fall into a deeply soothing alcoholic beverage after the unpacking, re-feeding, fashion parading and bathing frenzy subsided. Ive now fallen into a second snifter of limoncello. Good thing I made somewhere near six litres of the stuff! Might get me through till Christmas...

Christmas planning

Not having a religious bone in my body (only if you discount Green as a religion) I do ridiculously look forward to Christmas. I think possibly it may be the excuse to cook way more food than usual,and the chance to eat full interesting meals at least twice a day for days on end. Really, all i have to say about christmas planning at the moment can be found here. All i want for Christmas is to write like her. Loving the kids fridge based Christmas lists this year; scrap papers with ambit claims for outrageous 'things'. Plasma TVs, a new home, Pandora bracelets (each BEAD is a mortgage payment) and you'd definitely need oh about 15 to have something resembling anywhere near 'cool'. Must examine them to check for something reasonable.

Christamas at Chez Pan compensates for the rest of the years non-indulgence. Christmas staples from this tight wad always include a recommended read, 'more than one' piece of clothing-a whole new outit or two all at once kind of deal-(told you I was tight), fair trade chocolate, a bottle of sparkling grape juice, one 'something quite outraegous' that they have been hankering for (usually a piece de resistance ala Christmas list) and a few small other things that I hesitate to buy them throughout the year that they pester me for (make-up, perfume, new belts, bags, sunglasses). Somehow I always manage to fill the sack and they're always more than happy with their 'stuff'. B1 was NOT impressed upon learning that Christmas sacks do not just go on indefinitely until one leaves home but expire at age 16, at which she was quick to get me to clarify whether it was the 16th year or at age 16! meaning otherwise this was going to be her last Christmas and she just wasnt emotionally prepared for that! I love the christmas morning ritual of kids piling onto the bed with sacks and the patient ceremony of sharing turns at selecting and opening. Five on the bed this year. Could be messy.

How many days left to get it together? Im no way there. Havent even planned the menu!

relaxation and a good dose of...guilt

We have found ourselves in an unexpected heaven, paradise. We expected some heaven, but this is bliss. Three weeks of this? It may kill me.
We're camping out in a house found on Craigslist six months ago. Its a family compound of beautiful proportions, tropical gardens, resident mangy dog, a herd of cattle, roosters in bamboo huts, frogs, snails of mammoth proportions and two chefs! We were a little surprised to find upon arrival that the villa came equipped with an onsite manager, cooks, gardener, 3 cleaners and all the babysitting you can ask for (actually I have to be quite assertive to get the bean back, he gets whisked off quite frequently, i find him eating with strangers, out the front with the blokes and their motorbikes, on the cooks hip while shes grinding spice in the mortar and pestle- babies are hard currency in Bali. 'Just relax, just relax' we keep being told as we pack up after ourselves, try to do our own washing, look after my own kid. Its hard to relax when there are people wandering around cleaning up your own 'mess'. Colonial mistress I certainly fail at. The girls are finding it confronting too, wanting them to go home and be with their own families and let us do our night time dishes. So were struggling a bit. But its beautiful here, friendly and quiet. and were slowly relaxing. The chef, Nunga is a wonderful cook and lovely woman and she has agreed to show me some dishes in the kitchen and to go to the traditional market next time she goes; that's a motorbike ride Im looking forward too! So Im looking forward to learning some wonderful new dishes while we are here. The pic taken is a water spinach and mung bean cooked salad and Balinese chicken with cracked rice. Our first meal here and recalled in this post just for Veggie.

I love the tropics; the incense, the damp, the thickness of the air, the smells of spices wafting, the slightly cloying smell of waterways, the rapid fire language that you cant quite understand, the laughter, the flowers, the colour of the green. My favorite are the delicate plates of offerings made morning noon and night to please the Gods; flowers and fragrant pandanus leaves on flat woven banana-palm bowls topped with a stick of lit incense and a Ritz cracker. These gifts are placed in alcoves, on the grass, on a path, about 20 around the compound at any given time (i think the dog ate the cracker in the pic, else it was one of the kids). We are away from tourist town, located at the end of a long banana palm lined lane and amongst trees and families. Its beautiful, full of ancient culture, tradition and lots of flowering vines and mossy walls. I just have to manage the guilt.

my crowded hour[s]

Ive been mad crazy busy at work lately preparing to go on 3 weeks leave. Today is my last day at work and I have just crossed off the last project on my list. Jesus that felt good. Celebrated with a Kit Kat (shhh) and a cup off tea. Goin' craaaaaazy i know! I'm hours ahead of schedule and I can feel a stress release headache coming on. Mid-winter school holidays here I come! Not too sure about internet access where we are staying, i do recall something about wifi... will post if and when I can. Totally looking forward to weeks with the kids and the bloke, sun, a good book or five and some drafted webpage ideas. Any suggestions on that front?