SuperJarvis/Destructaboy...

Hmmm. Just what is this chap up to? About to take off like superman? Leap into the air & see if he can in fact fly? Dive onto an unsuspecting cat & give her a very enthusiastic cuddle?

Lately Jarvis has been taking huge leaps - both developmentally & literally! He's specifically undertaking daredevil-esque stunts, then takes a bow afterwards in celebration of his success - even giving himself a clap. 

He knows what he's doing too - I sneakily swapped around our two couches a couple of days ago, and he made the assessment (thank goodness), that taking dives from the arm of the wooden couch just wouldn't be the same as doing it from the arm of the huge squishy couch. Instead he climbs up, balances with his arms in the air, and climbs carefully down again. I spend a lot of time sitting on the couch, trying not to make it obvious that I'm actually there to catch him if he loses his footing! 

He has a fascination with all things expensive and fragile - after the death of the camera, the ipod and a couple of mobile phones, his new target is the television. As it's a bit big to easily destroy, he's set his sights on the freeview box. The lounge is a mysterious array of things arranged in such a way that Jarvis can't climb up onto tables where his new targets are located ; a giant toybox sitting on a desk next to the stereo & freeview box, all the kitchen chairs scattered around the house (nowhere near the table, lest he decide it would make a fab stage for his dance moves), the top of the bookcases overflowing with stuff that just doesn't want to meet with the floor at speed. 

Ahhh the joy of developmentally appropriate (but potentially disastrous) exploration...I think I'm winning though, for a few days nothing of consequence has been destroyed, and he's having a wonderful time opening draws & cupboards, putting lids on bottles & containers, and racing tractors around the house. 

Even though there's been some destruction around these parts (which I have to take responsibility for...if I'd had my brain switched on, I would have shifted the fragile stuff before he had the opportunity to bust it), I wouldn't change a thing! I love my inquisitive little guy to bits :) 

PS...Hmmm. Latest item to succumb to destructaboy (or, I'm really really hoping, some bad weather & a power surge?), the piano. Ahhhhghhhhh. Off to the electronics place it goes. It crapped out in the middle of a crazy storm, just as Jarvis climbed onto the keyboard. Hmmm. Now to try and get a full sized electric piano into the car. Awesome. 

The King of Spaghetti

                                                 

Saturday lunch rocks when you have a Daddy who makes awesome bacon & a gang of chickens who lay you a million eggs a day. Best carbonara in the universe!

Jarvis's Fave Carbonara

Fry as much of Daddy's super bacon as you like with a few squished garlic cloves. 

Cook a packet of pasta.  

Pour the pasta into the cooked bacon & garlic 

(turn off the heat or you'll get scrambled eggs!) 

Pour in as many whisked up eggs as you like 

Stir stir stir 

Add lots of grated parmesan and pepper

(and salt if you're not a little boy or watching your salt intake !) 

YUM. 

A Morning in the Garden

Wardrobe Wednesday...week two

Hmmm, with the camera disasters we've had around here Wardrobe Wednesday was quite the challenge this week! I'd forgotten just how kind & clever the pentax is, the way it balances light for you & minimises what you have to do to make a photo look good! 

Anyhow, out came the old canon, and without my lovely assistant working at home to be my photographer, I had to make do with the mirror shot. 

I made the dress a couple of years ago, when I was pre baby & of rather different proportions - luckily my hack sewing turned out to be a bonus, I'd made it from a pattern which was too big for me, and instead of taking it in in a sensible fashion, I just sewed up the side seams and made huge darts in the back. This made it exceptionally easy to enlarge - rip rip rip, done! No sewing involved! 

It's a really fantastic pattern, a 1960's simplicity one I found in an op shop :) I plan to make another soon, but I'll plan out my neckline alterations and actually buy some interfacing, in an attempt to be slightly less hack. 

In the first photo is something I've been wearing a whole lot this week, one small (large) boy! He's been a bit toothy and a bit grumpy, and chases me around the house with the mei tai until I attach him. We alternate between front & back carry, depending on the dangerousness of what I'm doing! (cooking - back, wandering around house - front, that sort of thing). 

Photo number two, me minus my kangaroo baby. Not the best view of the dress & I look a little crazy-eyed (so not good at this mirror portraiture! If I looked in the mirror I ended up wobbling the camera & blurring the picture!). 

I think the new camera should arrive today, thank goodness. However did I survive in the days when you needed to have some kind of skill to take a good photo! 

Happy Wardrobe Wednesday!

Linkity Link

No inspirational musings from me today, and no pictures (as the camera met with a very unfortunate accident...oh dear). I do, however, have a link to a wonderful blog with a wonderful giveaway!

Go and visit The Wardrobe and enter to win a gorgeous bag with this pretty pattern appliquéd & embroidered on it :) 

Wardrobe Wednesday...

So, the lovely Clare at Green Valley Crafts along with a group of other wonderful bloggy ladies came up with the marvellous idea of Wardrobe Wednesday - where we all post a picky of ourselves in something we've worn during the week. We're all looking for a bit of clothing inspiration, and a few giggles ;) 

Here's yesterday's ensemble - a dress which was originally a preggo dress, a belt from Kilt to make it not a preggo dress, and a cardy from glassons! Not the most creative of outfits , but as it's been raining and raining and raining, my washing has been hanging on the line for some time and if I peek out the back door, I can still see it ;) 

If you other Wardrobe Wednesday lovelies visit, leave a comment with a linky so we can all go see what you've been wearing this week! 

What Did I Do Today?

I stumbled upon this poem a few days ago on the Magical Childhood blog...so true :)

What did I do today?

Today I left some dishes dirty
The bed got made around 3:30

The diapers soaked a little longer,
The odor grew a little stronger.

The crumbs I spilled the day before
Are staring at me from the floor.

The fingerprints there on the wall
Will likely be there still next fall.

The dirty streaks on those windowpanes
Will still be there next time it rains.

Shame on you, you sit and say,
Just what did you do today?

I held a baby till he slept,
I held a toddler while he wept.

I played a game of hide and seek,
I squeezed a toy so it would squeak.

I pulled a wagon, sang a song,
Taught a child right from wrong.

What did I do this whole day through?
Not much that shows, I guess that’s true.

Unless you think that what I’ve done
Might be important to someone

With dark brown eyes and soft brown hair.
If that is true… I’ve done my share.”

Author Unknown

Honey...

We are very fortunate indeed to have a friend with bees :) As a result, we have lots of gorgeous honey, and an endless supply of beeswax for my kitchen apothecary! 


As yesterday was Sunday, and I just felt like we needed to move beyond porridge for breakfast, I made pancakes. And, surprisingly, they actually worked (eventually). 


I found a recipe for honey pancakes in issue 30 of Dish Magazine (it seems to be an ad for Arataki honey), and tweaked it just a little...by far the loveliest pancakes I've ever created.


Arataki Honey Pancakes (made with Rosco's awesome honey).
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
50g butter
2 cups milk
rather a large glob of runny honey
2 1/2 cups flour
2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt


Beat egg yolks and sugar til pale & creamy. Melt butter and honey together (try not to eat it before it goes into the mixture...). Add melty mixture to egg yolk mixture & beat, keep beating whilst adding the milk in. Add sifted dry ingredients, keep on beating til well combined. Beat egg whites til stiff, fold in.


It took me three pans and eventually a sandwich press to cook my pancakes, so I hope you have a better pancake making pan than we do! The sandwich press was a surprising star though - I'll know where to start next time, and have a whole lot less washing up to do. 


Perfect with a cup of tea, especially if it's in a tiny cup like the one in the picture. You need to have about forty cups to make it a worthwhile tea drinking experience, but the cup & saucer just make me so happy ;)


PS - excuse the rubbish photo...totally the wrong time of day to take pictures in my lounge!

Million Dollar Smile

Our Fabulous Indian Barbecue...

When Shane & I were in Wellington a couple of years ago, we saw a really cool little barbecue at Asiana Foods in Newtown (where we go in with twenty dollars and come out with more Indian groceries than we can carry!). So many times since then we've reminisced about it, and wished that we'd brought it home with us. Our regular barbecue is a huge big Weber which, even though it's fantastic, involves quite a song & dance to get going. 

When we were back in the Big City on our disastrous holiday a couple of months back, lo and behold, the barbecue was still there, sitting inconspicuously near the doorway, just where it had been when we first fell in love. Despite having all of the paraphernalia of three adults and one Jarvis, this time we did bring it home (packed full of spices, to save space). 

Obviously it's been winter, and a wet one at that, so the new barbecue hadn't had an outing until last weekend. Last Saturday was beautiful, a snippet of spring letting us know what's coming. So, out came the barbecue. Shiny and new, with it's Singh's Tandoors of Mumbai sticker reminding us that this was the barbecue we crazily bought in Wellington and packed into the car like a tetris block. (I stupidly didn't take a picture of the sticker, which disintegrated as soon as it got up to heat. Bugger!). 

Jarvis thought the barbecue was awesome. He seems to be a sensible lad, in that he stands back and watches hot things with a wary look on his face. 

If I'd been super organised, our first meal on our authentic barbecue from Mumbai would have been Indian, sadly I was not, and the garden is full of South East Asian ingredients right now! 

Bun Cha 

(my own special recipe...mish mashed from about a million I've read & tried out!)

500g or so of pork mince

A few tablespoons of fish sauce

A tablespoon or so of palm sugar

A few mashed up cloves of garlic

A few kaffir lime leaves, veins taken out, chopped into very very little bits

I usually warm the fish sauce a bit & melt the sugar in it, you probably don't need to do it this way, but I always have :)  Then it's easy peasy - mix the whole lot together. You could probably put an egg in if you like, but it seems to stick together fairly well. Leave the whole concoction in the fridge for a couple of hours for the flavours to infuse, then make them into little balls (refrigerate again, it helps them to keep their shape).

Barbecue!

Very nice with a dipping sauce of lime juice/fish sauce/chilli flakes. Traditionally they eat this in Vietnam with rice vermicilli and lots of gorgeous fresh herbs, but it's not herb time yet so we mutated the dish even more & had it with rice & flatbreads. Yummy. 

Next time I'll make something Indian, just in case the barbecue feels homesick ;)

Mow-Mow

Goodness knows why, but Jarvis is in love with the lawn mower. Maybe it's the wheels, maybe it's the 'brroom brrroom' sound, maybe it's the fact that it's always covered in grass. Who knows. 


Mow-Mow (as he has affectionately dubbed it) currently lives outside the front door, as this avoids us having to leave the safety of the closed in yard & visit it in the carport. When Mow-Mow is parked outside the front door, Jarvis can visit as much as he likes, sit on it, and pretend he's off to conquer the world.