it has been a long time

Life can kick you in the ass and that is certainly what has happened to me lately. But it's all the day to day things that help resolve and soften pain, loss or disappointment, little things that just make life normal, balanced and reinforce the value of my good friends and family that I cannot live without. Tough times make these people even more critical in my life and I'm so thankful for them. Simple things like riding a bike and crashing, and losing a tooth.

enjoying the freedom of the open spaces on a clean and beautiful beach,

birthday celebrations,

finding new places to explore,


graduating from kinder,

making pasta.

normal

Its important to do normal things to keep myself balanced, when other parts of life are chaotic, busy and uncontrollable...to eat a lovely homemade lunch of snapper sashimi, and a hand made soup stock made from mackerel, with soba noodles and spring onions....thanks to my love for that...
slow brekky at a lovely cafe....
...and pretty poppies in season. This is enough. Happy weekend to you all.

slowpoke

A few weeks back we had a lovely brekky at the small and sweet Slowpoke cafe, 157 Brunswick St, Fitzroy. Its been a good 10 years since I have eaten over that side of town and it was really nice to be out there early on a Sunday morning while everyone started to wake up.
We scored the great front table which was bathed in morning sun and provided an opportunity for a few random street dwellers to ask for donations through the large window....this cafe was warm with share table and a few little tables at the front, a big open fire down the back and more seating as well as an outdoor part. Greeting us was smell of fresh coffee brewing and warm kitchen smells.....good morning!
Simple food of team friends avocado and feta with a squeeze of lemon and chilli twist....
Ricotta with softly marinated cherry tomatoes, a touch a rosemary and s and p heaped on top of fresh tasty bread. Plenty of super smooth coffee, hot chocs and babychinos. A really nice cafe, friendly staff and a good place to take kids if you go early. They even have a copy of Mr Slow in the loo. This place gets 3 sugar lumps out of 5.

Beatrix cafe

We had brekky at the very cute and lovely Beatrix in North Melbourne. The cafe was quiet and had the most tasty food.
This cake was given the thumbs up, a flaky pastry roll with pecans and raisins....
...sweet decorations and cute utensils with big windows overlooking lovely Nth Melbourne streets..
The kind of hot chocolate I like, not too sweet, milk not too hot and made from chocolate sauce not gritty powder....mmmmmmmm
This whopee cake with a hint of ginger and real cream was so soft and delicious. Eaten along with my hot chocolate, still wasn't too much of a sugar rush. I didn't take a photo of the beautiful mushroom ciabatta or the lemon slice with a buttery cookie base. A good reason to go back!

This was a really nice place to go for a cafe catch up, I'm sure the coffee is good but I didn't have one today, friendly and prompt service, well priced, lots of parking and a great variety of sweets and savouries. I did notice a huge, fluffy lemon chiffon cake on the counter but resisted, another reason to go back!! Did I mention we got some handmade lamingtons to take away.....

fun stuff in no order

Every weekend we try to do something interesting. Go somewhere or do something....there's a lot to do! Snow already at Mt Donna Buang, according to locals, its going to be a bumper year. It might be time to invest in a toboggan.

Yo Gabba Gabba was so funny and clever, except the bit that had Hughesy..he is not very funny. High lights were appearances by the Biz the beat box guy and Little Red
Another weekend we went to Daylesford and Hepburn. This is near the lake where we quietly watched the lovely blue wrens in the trees.
Peaceful! Winter isn't so bad :)

back home

We started the adventure just two and met the third in Singapore. We ran to catch the flight to KL. We made it. KL was great, busy, hot and interesting. Some nice food and shopping too...
Then, we made to our favourite little secret beach on Redang island. Beautiful, no people, plenty of sunshine and swimming, turtle sightings, fish, bombings off the jetty into warm, warm waters, kayaking, paddle boarding, swimming, eating, drinking, eating, diving, snorkelling, boating, massaging, talking, relaxing.....
Back to KL after a week at the beach, finding some great and cheap places to eat....about $3 to feed 3 hungry tummies....
We took a day trip to see the great grandma, who grows peanuts amongst other things. Here is mooey learning the finer points of peanut shelling, which soon turned into how many shells can be thrown around the place, which entertained everyone.
This was followed by a goodbye lunch at the very famous and very local beef balls shop....
We had dinner one night in the old town where my husband grew up as a kid, otherwise known as dodgytown.....a very special dinner of longevity noodles and crispy baby piglet for his Dads birthday party.....
Here is a normal brekky place we had some noodles and stuff...no lattes here :(

We had a great trip and did a lot of things but I always love to come back to Australia. I really do love Melbourne. I have had a few extra days off before returning to full time work. I have enjoyed these few days to do boring things like shopping and fun things like cooking, running, thinking and catching up with friends and family. With time or no time I still hate washing clothes. I still have 3 or 4 emails to write to lovely people far away. I have not done one creative thing, which I regret. I even bought a big, inspiring canvas and its still big and empty. I have also not done a creative projects with mooey, I hope to do at least one this weekend. Making/creating stuff is so enjoyable, I do not know why I have not dedicated any time at all to engaging in free and playful thoughts, time to rectify this I think!!.....

I have found a lovely work mentor and decided on 3 goals I would like to achieve/work towards this half year to help make my work life more meaningful and purposeful. I did just get a new job and worked in it a week before going on holidays so it kind of feels like a new year even though its June.

Hope to keep this blog updated a bit more often, it has been much neglected. I have found quite a few new blogs this week and wasted quite a bit of time reading them, but that in itself has been pleasurable as its nice to know there are some really cool people out there with their own struggles and successes.

not much

A couple of days off seems enough, without actually going on holidays...its been good to do the daily drop off and picks ups and have dinner ready early and keep on top of the washing and wait stupidly long times for coffee and hang out with peoples, read many blogs, look at lots of nice recipes, think about work and life, go running when I feel like it, go every where without rushing, walk in the sunshine, avoid public transport. Time just to reflect. A nice few days!

happy holidays

We are having a ball and with the rest of the week as holidays and sunny days predicted, it couldn't be a better Easter!

brighter days

My 38th Birthday is looming so I received an early pressie, a point and shoot of the new variety. I am so impressed at the clarity of these shots taken from various locations at Vic market. I played with all the settings but basically it is automatic, point and shoot. The first shot is in China town.

beautiful japan

I have never felt such sadness and so connected to an event, external to my little world, before this past horrible week of events in my beloved adopted country, Japan. I am glued to the news reports and images, of the beautiful, devastated people, standing in lines for hours, feeling dazed and completely shattered by the loss of their lives, jobs, houses, friends and families yet remain incredibly dignified. The piles of lives once lived simply, in those small streets with sliding doors and no locks and pretty flowers, all smashed up and covered in broken pieces of everyone's private lives, now all mixed together, is hard to comprehend. I cant imagine the smell. I read an elderly lady had been interviewed and she had accepted that this is part of the cycle of life. How amazing, amongst all of this, to have such acceptance. The images of snow falling on the already broken communities is heartbreaking, photos of families discovering loved ones dead under piles of rubble make me cry with sadness. I can only feel empathy as I cant ever understand fully such a loss at such a scale. I feel so helpless and useless to return the generosity of help and support that I have, time and time again been shown by so many Japanese people. So I can only be so thankful that those that I care for are safe and unharmed, and keep my heart and mind on those who need all the kind thoughts and support they can get. Thoughts are nice but they cant provide any tangible help so I hope warmth, food and safety will come soon. Helpless.

weekend delight

warm weather and sunny days....
even a holiday for Long Long.
Good food and wine at T'Gallant,
mmm.....only some of the good food eaten over the weekend..
lovely views....
relaxing walks,
my favourite drink.....
with my favourite people. I hope you also find some time in your busy days to take a breath.

2011

I hope all of your 2011 days so far have been happy and productive. It has been a while since I dropped in so I would like to wish you all a safe and happy new year. I didn't do all that much, there was only one or 2 beach days and now work is back in full swing it feels like xmas and new year is a distant memory. I did enjoy the break in routine and we hosted a lovely xmas day lunch so that was fun. I have high expectations of what I can do in 2011, new things in my job, more creativity at home, a possible home reno project, a few more dates with my husband, a couple (!!) of holidays, more girlfriend catch ups, quality family time, less toys, more healthy living and eating and I can hope for less washing and folding of clothes, which I particularly hate, but that will remain a dream until I can afford a person to do just that job!
I walked past this cool shaped elastic band and although Tassie is missing, I think, Australia as a whole is feeling the pains of those who have been lost and those who have lost their homes in the floods. Lets hope for the best and help where we can.