t-changers's posterous

It's all about me

This statement is a favourite thrown around by Noah and Ethan in equal quantity. Whatever the occasion one - or both - thinks it should be about them. And it often is. But not this weekend. This was all about me.

I was one of the 40 lucky ladies invited to Big4 Bellarine's Mum's Only Sleepover which started yesterday afternoon and finished after breakfast this morning. But the weekend started before then.

I left home on Friday morning, heading to Melbourne with my business hat on first to speak at Renee Mayne's Stereo Untypical Success business and lifestyle event. I covered editorial and marketing planning for the eager attendees before heading back to my room in the city.

Awake bright and early in Saturday, I set off in search of a good soy latte before being whisked away for lunch with friend and client, Alycia Edgar, at her Jan Juc coffice Swell. Lunch and the company were completely delightful, but the time went way too quickly. Afterwards Alycia drove me along the gorgeous Victorian coast to the Big 4 holiday park.

I had just enough time to drop my bag and admire the bed that would be just mine, before joining my fellow Team Red members for a challenge that saw me trying several things for the first time - or the first time in a long time!

This list included:

Putting up a tent
Riding a flying fox
Running
Steering a pedalled go cart
Jumping on a huge pillow.

Afterwards I was in dire need of some quiet time with a cup of tea (you can tell I married a Pom).

The jumping pillows and kid's playground.

5pm saw us all gathering for drinks and nibbles. Imagine 40 women all talking at once! It was noisy and fun :) Dinner came when we'd all decided we needed to soak up some of the alcohol and this yummy dhal was perfect.

Dessert was a selection of mini pastries, cupcakes and lollies. And I didn't have to share with anyone!

Heading back to my cabin I reveled in the fact I had the entire place to myself! There was no negotiating - just me, an ebook and a big bed. Bliss!

Knowing I had to leave early I was up and ready by 7.30am and then wasn't sure what to do with myself. The solution, of course, was reading the paper leisurely over breakfast. Another treat for me.

This time out was just what I needed to recharge and remember everyone I loved was just over the Bass Strait. And there they were when I walked off the plane this afternoon - three grinning faces and three sets of arms eagerly waiting to enfold me in a welcome-home hug. It was still all about me.

Gourmet Garden Blog Off: Mini Tomato & Basil Quiches

I was very excited to arrive home from the Stanley & Nelson kitchen on Friday to find my cooler bag full of a Gourmet Garden goodies. Of course I had to try one of the tubes so I made some garlic bread with the crushed garlic.

For Harvey's birthday afternoon tea on Sunday I made mini quiches with Gourmet Garden's basil.

Ingredients
2 sheets short crust pastry
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp basil paste
Salt and pepper
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
Grated cheese

Cut 12 circles from the pastry sheets and push into a greased muffin tray.

Whisk the eggs, milk, basil and seasoning in a jug and pour evenly between each pastry case. Put tomatoes in each quiche.

Season with pepper and add grated cheese on top.

Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, or until browned.

Enjoy!

Autumn Apple Curd

I made a delicious strawberry curd last year, so when I had some egg yolks and apples to spare I thought why not try apple curd.

Ingredients
4 apples, grated
1 1/2 cups raw sugar
250g unsalted butter
3 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp lemon juice
9 egg yolks

Method
Put the apple, sugar, butter, lemon zest and juice in a saucepan and cook over a low heat until the butter melts and sugar dissolves. Simmer gently for five minutes.

Beat the egg yolks in a large bowl and add the apple mixture while stirring. It will thicken as you stir.

Pour the mix back into the saucepan and stir over a low heat until it thickens further (about five minutes), then bottle. This made two large bottles of curd.

Fire Engine Red for Mr 6

Happy birthday to my big boy Noah!

We celebrated his birthday with some friends from school, family friends and Granny and Poppy Jim, who came down from NSW for the occasion.

Musical chairs

Blowing out the candles

Presents!

Remembering the ANZACs

I thought about the article I wrote below today as I was explaining what ANZAC Day meant to Noah, who turns six next week. Of course he doesn't understand the reasons (actually many of us don't completely understand war), but I think I instilled the importance of remembering.

Since it is ANZAC Day tomorrow I thought I would post my thoughts written for mX after I attended the dawn service at Gallipoli nine years ago. The strains of the Last Post are still vivid in my memory.

Surrounded by 9,000 Australians and New Zealanders spread out across the grass at ANZAC Cove in the early hours of April 25, I felt an amazing sense of camaraderie.

We were all there for the same reason – to pay our respects to a generation of men, younger than most of us, who fought in one of the most famous battles of modern times. Those whose relatives fought on the Gallipoli Peninsula almost 90 years ago proudly displayed their medals on their chests but for many, like me, the connection was as basic as the need to commemorate the ANZACs.

A steady stream of people arrived at ANZAC Cove from early evening on April 24 until around 2am on ANZAC Day. We were all heavily rugged up against the cold wind blowing in from the Aegean Sea, thinking about how this clear, cold night was not unlike the night the soldiers set off from their battleships carrying 45kg packs and rifles, unsure of their fate. Travelling by ferry through the Dardanelles and around Gallipoli Peninsula earlier in the day, I had my first site of ANZAC Cove and the rugged cliffs the soldiers were forced to climb after they landed at the wrong site. But soldiers of a different kind lined the cliffs for our visit - armed Turkish security personnel were dotted around the hills watching out for security threats in light of the war in Iraq.

From around 3am the crowd was entertained with ANZAC and Australian folk songs and our sense of companionship grew. As the first rays of light blue appeared behind the cliffs, the Duntroon Royal Military College band performed until the Dawn Service started at 5.30am.

Seeing representatives from Britain, Turkey and India standing beside those from Australia and New Zealand made me realise the Gallipoli campaign is not solely owned by the southern hemisphere - it has international significance. I felt proud to be representing my nation and I knew everyone who had weathered the cold night before felt the same as we sang our national anthems at the end of our individual services.

After walking up from ANZAC Cove it was a poignant moment when I entered Lone Pine and saw the lines of gravestones marking where so many Australian soldiers had died - or where it was thought they died. But what stood out more were the thousands of stones missing that would otherwise have been claimed by the soldiers who have no known grave. Their names are marked on the Lone Pine Memorial. In the nine months of the Gallipoli campaign more than 36,000 ANZAC servicemen died.

At the peninsula’s Kabatepe Museum a bronze plaque displays the words of Turkish poet Bulent Ecevit. The poem, entitled Gallipoli: A Postwar Epic, is very powerful:

“… It was a ruthless war

yet breeding respect

in heart-to-heart exchange

as confronting trenches fell into closer range

turning foe to friend

as the fighters reached their end

the war came to a close

those who survived

returned to their lands and homes

leaving the dead behind…

lying side by side as friends in each other’s arms

they may sleep in comfort and peace

in the land for which they died.”

A Rare Day Out

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Almost since we arrived in Tasmania more than 18 months ago we have wanted to visit Mount Gnomon Farm at Penguin. Today was the day we fulfilled that wish.

Guy Robertson and Eliza Wood threw open the gates and welcomed more than 500 people to the rare breed pig farm they established almost three years ago, calling it a Rare Day Out. And, for us, a day like this has been a bit rare recently. Since moving to Trevallyn and starting new business Stanley & Nelson, we haven't had that many days out as a family, but I digress.

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As you can see from these shots, there were lots of gorgeous little Wessex Saddleback piglets at the farm today and, amazingly, they seemed quite happy to be picked up and cuddled, patted and the endured the occasional squeeze (although this sometimes resulted in a squeal from the little piggies). They are incredibly social and good-natured creatures.

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Noah and Ethan had a ball patting the pigs and were thrilled there was a face painter on hand (Noah was a pirate and Ethan a pink butterfly). Ethan was a bit bothered when one eager sow sniffed him so vigorously he toppled over. We think she could smell the apples both boys had eaten on the way to Penguin. It provided lots of laughed for the assmebled hordes anyway.

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Easter Craft

While Harvey was gardening at Ut Si Cafe on Sunday, I spent the day doing mum things like pushing the kids on the swings at the park and Easter craft.

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Both boys are craft mad, so I stocked up on supplies to make Easter crowns (the Easter eggs are visible somewhere) above, and Easter chickens (inspired by the lovely Kelly at Be a Fun Mum) below.

Ethan's chicken "Mummy"

Noah's creation "Chickeny"

We had loads of fun, got covered in glue (including Ethan's hair) and now the boys are set for when the bunny arrives.

Pink Kitties and Icecream

Anyone who has seen or spoken to Ethan over the past six months will know he is completely obsessed with anything pink.

So in his regular surfing of the web, Ethan found some Hello Kitty images and promptly fell in love. He wanted the Hello Kitty house (by Megabloks) for his present and a Hello Kitty cake. He was definite about this. I set about finding something I could make easily and the result is above. Of course, we also found the Hello Kitty house online (not available in Tasmania at the time of purchase) and bought that, with Granny (my mum) completing the scene with a Hello Kitty camper van. Ethan's life was complete.

The party was a huge success. As we've recently moved to Trevallyn we thought we'd combine housewarming and birthday dos, so we had a mix of adults and children to enjoy the pink party in our new backyard. Everyone had a ball, with the kids enjoying jelly shots and musical chairs and adults sampling a variety of cupcake flavours from my new venture (with Suse Henshaw), Stanley & Nelson.

As seems to happen in our household, Ethan had a birthday festival. This festival extended for just over a week - he had the party on January 28, a party at day care with his friends for which I baked two dozen pink cupcakes (above) and then fun family activities on his actual birthday (last Friday). His choice was pink icecream at Cube Seaport and then a play at the Wal Green activity centre outside Hallam's. Just to deviate from the pink theme, he requested a chocolate birthday cake that night. I made a pound cake with cream and Maltesers on top and Ethan's slice had three cute candles.

Happy birthday Polly

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I baked these cupcakes last night for Polly's birthday today. The first are chocolate cupcakes, next is red velvet and the last are chocolate zucchini with cinnamon buttercream.

Happy birthday Polly (and Linda)

Sent from my iPhone

Final sunset on the East Tamar

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Tonight is our last night at Dilston as we will be sleeping at our new home in Trevallyn from tomorrow. I thought it was fitting to capture one last sunset over the stretch of the Tamar that we have called home for the past 18 months.