Ah, teething.

Merry Christmas Mummy! You get the teething stage as a Christmas present. Joy. We have the bonjela, Sophie the giraffe, and possibly an amber teething necklace waiting in the wings.
Nothing seems to beat Dad's knuckle at the moment though. If we could work out how to chop that off, we'd be doing really well.

Thank God she's asleep at the moment though. Teething and hot weather (38C, 39C, 40C, 39C, 40C...etc.!!) does NOT mix. Especially not after Christmas day.
We have aircon, and a little wading pool though. Well, sort of little. It's big enough for the hubby to fit into at least! He reckons he's going to sleep in it tonight.

Christmas presents turned out really well - the coffee machine being near the top of the list I think. We're just cracking onto this 'pod' coffee technology now here in Australia, but according to my Dutch rellies here for a visit the technology's been around for at least 8 years over there.

So, Boxing Day in Australia. My husband summed it up nicely this morning when he ducked out to the chemist. He nearly reversed out of the driveway into a skateboarder with a beer in his hand. At 9:30am. Yes, Boxing Day seems to be all about recovery (translation: drinking and eating even more than Christmas Day), cricket (Australia vs. Sri Lanka), and fixing Christmas presents that broke. Or building copious amounts of Lego constructions. Take your pick. No Lego in this house yet. But we'll see - in a few years time our little girl might be interested. Her mummy certainly hopes so, as it's the easiest Christmas/Birthday present to buy EVER. And the best part is that they're around for most of the year, so you don't need to worry about it going out of fashion before you've had time to save up for it!

My personal Christmas was very cooking related this year. Although cooking will not be happening over the next few days much. I'd melt if I stood in my kitchen for longer than 5 minutes!

More Christmas craftiness

And so it continues! These were the product of a day at home with my little girl. Naturally she didn't assist practically, but she did assist by sleeping for 3 hours which allowed me to finish them off!

It's getting warmer and warmer, day by day here. Hopefully Christmas day will be warm, but not a 40C wonder like in the past. 

Attempting a Jamie meal tonight, with the usual adaptations by yours truly because we either a: don't have the ingredients available in Perth and b: I still like cutting corners even on a 'cutting corners' recipe!

Trying to work out when I'll have to do some shopping again, as Christmas is on a Tuesday. To be honest, the world ending would kinda help in this department! I'm definitely not keen to go food shopping on Monday. I might just have to stock up a little more on Saturday...

Keeping good food, i.e. fruit and veg, fresh in my fridge is a real pain in the backside. Although I've learnt that shopping at a chain grocery store is a bad idea and a guaranteed way to get ripped off with overripe and poorly grown fruit and veg. Best to go to a veggie shop, and even then you have to be choosy. Unfortunately the best one that's closest to me is a half hour drive away. But then, that's pretty darned good compared to the distances some people have to travel for food and water! And they have to do it every day/twice a day!!

Speaking of which, I bought Mum and Dad a Christmas pressie from Opportunity International. They're an Australian charity that specialises in getting people to help themselves. Micro loans for people in various countries who just need a little push and assistance in getting a small business up and running and therefore supporting their family and others around them. 

We won't be able to afford much in the following years for ourselves, so it's nice to know that what little we can give will go a long way.

Chocolate brownies and griping

There is a reason I don't follow recipes to the letter. Usually because it just doesn't work. For example, when baking a cake and the recipe says 180C and 20 minutes it usually works out in my oven to be 40-50 minutes instead. 
Why recipes bother printing a time frame I have no idea. Every oven is different....*rant, rant*.

So the brownies stayed in for around half an hour instead of the 12-14 mins specified. Yes, they're still gooey and under-cooked as they should be Jamie! 
My first taste tester will be here after lunch. The mix tasted damn good so I'm assuming the oven wouldn't have wrecked that. We may need to eat them with a spoon though...

Still haven't gotten to Spotlight to finish my Christmas decorations off. I plan to get there next week. Busy waiting for the sparky to come (hopefully this week) to get my ceiling fans installed. 

Rellies arrive next week! So looking forward to meeting them - even if they are old enough to be my grandparents. 

Christmas craft

I can do this! Didn't think I could but apparently the proof is in the pudding. Or the Christmas tree, love heart and various pipe cleaner shapes.

Anyone who knows me knows that me stitching something is nothing short of a small miracle.

Thanks for a fantastic afternoon Diana! Great suggestion, and roll on Easter...more excuses to decorate.

The 'Brown Betty', aka fruit slice, turned out well. I didn't have a slice baking tray, so made do with a muffin tray and they worked beautifully. Next week, brownies a la Jamie Oliver...

Christmas gifts and beetroot?!

First up, thanks a million to Taz for the lovely homegrown beetroots. They were awesome - I roasted them with olive oil and seasoning as suggested. However it might be best if I showed more restraint next time as I ate half of them and hubby ate the other half. No tummy aches, but, well, beetroot does tend to stain things quite well!
If I get another pot then I'll definitely consider growing some myself and storing them.

I keep seeing gifts (mainly books) that would be great for our little girl. Problem is she's only 4 months old, so what I'm really seeing is gifts I want.

Book Depository is such a dangerous place.








So the Christmas tree is finished, and I used some clear sticky hooks to hang some of the leftover decorations in the shape of a tree on the front door. It looks pretty good - at least I think so.

More baking tomorrow I hope - I mean to make some 'Brown Betty' slice for Saturday's crafty arvo at a friend's place.