the little things you do

every now and then Jim likes to surprise me with after dinner treats. sometimes he would come home from work with some Belgium waffles from Max Brennan, sometimes macarons from Lindt cafe. 

last night, he came home with a box of macarons from Laduree. all in different flavours. he has never heard or know anything about Laduree but i mentioned to him that Laduree is a famous French macarons shop when we walked past it in Westfields city last month. we haven't spoken about it since. but i know one of these days he'd come home with some to surprise me and he did.

a weekend project

we had a little project this weekend. it's actually my project to win a place to attend a photography/memory keeping workshop in October but i got Jim to help me to execute my idea. 

Jim took these two photos for me. i can't decide which one to use for the competition but one of them will be printed and framed. 

in a few years time, we will take another photo of boo holding it up. i think we could be onto something special here. 

weekend baking \\ panna cotta with Campari jelly

i made this desserts for Father's Day last weekend. i'm filling it under 'weekend baking' even though there's no baking involved. i'm quite happy on how it turned out so i'm documenting the recipe on the blog for future use. 

Jim asked for the vanilla panna cotta from Donna Hay's Modern Classics cook book but i wanted to try something different. five minutes of googling later, i found this recipe which i thought is perfect because it combines both of Jim's favourites - panna cotta and jelly. coincidentally, this is a Donna Hay's recipe too. 

ingredients \\

2 teaspoons powdered gelatine

2 tablespoons single cream

500ml single cream

1/3 cup (55g) icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (i used 1 whole fresh vanilla bean)

Campari jelly \\

2 teaspoons powdered gelatine

1 1/2 tablespoons water

250ml lemonade

1 tablespoon Campari

1 1/2 tablespoon caster sugar

to make the panna cotta, place the gelatine and 2 tablespoon of cream in a bowl and stir to combine. set aside for 5 minutes or until the gelatine is absorbed. 

place the 500ml of cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. 

add the gelatine mixture and stir until dissolved. 

pour the mixture into 4 x 3/4 cup capacity glasses and refrigerate for 2 hours or until set. 

to make the jelly, place the gelatine and water Ian bowl ands stir to combine. 

set aside for 5 minutes or until the gelatine is absorbed. 

place the lemonade, Campari and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. 

add the gelatine mixture and stir until dissolved. set aside to cool. 

pour the jelly mixture on to the panna cotta and refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. 

serves 4

//original recipe can be found here. 

Father's Day

we're almost at the end of the week and i finally got around to blog about the Father's day we had last Sunday. we didn’t get up to much because Jim is a homebody and he enjoys staying in and doing nothing. 

 

after breakfast, we went to the Italian deli to get our lunch. we bought two different types of prosciutto, salami, buffalo mozzarella, marinated swiss brown mushrooms, marinated artichoke hearts, marinated eggplant and kalamata olives.

i arranged them on a wooden board and i also made fresh bread first thing in the morning to accompany our antipasto. Jim opened a bottle of red from his collection which he saved for special occasions like these and he had two glasses. the weather was so beautiful as we lunched in our verandah soaking in the sun. sometimes it's so much more enjoyable when we have lunch at home. we could take our time without having to worry about boo getting agitated in his high chair. he could go play in the garden after he finishes his lunch while we continue to finish ours. 

we were meant to finish the meal with the vanilla panna cotta with Campari jelly but Jim was too full for any desserts so we had to save them for later.

we went out for a walk just before the sun went down. i was hoping to take some photos of daddy and boo but i brought the wrong lens with me. lucky i managed to get a couple of decent photos. 

 

i'm glad Father's Day only comes once a year. by the end of Sunday, i was knackered. Jim on the other hand, felt all relaxed because he had a two hours nap after lunch. 

  

 

 

today you are 21 months

_which means you are 3 months away from turning two and i should start thinking about your 2nd birthday party. i know the design of your birthday cake i'll be making but i'm still undecided about the party itself.
_ you are like a little parrot this month, repeating after everything we say. we have to be extra careful of what we say in front of you.
_you started putting three words together like 'mummy wear shoes'. my favourite phrase this month has got to be 'bike bike boom boom'.
_you started saying your own name and referring yourself as a third person. you call yourself babiel (Gabriel).
_on top of Pororo, you now like to watch Postman Pat, O-not (Octonauts), Fireman Sam and Driver Dan. you get upset when the shows are over on tv and we often have to give you the iPad so that you can continue to watch these shows on YouTube.
_you are at a phase where you like everything big. you prefer your big bottle over the small one and you prefer to get in daddy's big car rather than my small car.
_daddy wants to start reading books with a story line to you but your attention span is still very short. he says he will keep trying.
_you now know what you like and what you don't. you get upset and throw a tantrum when we don't give you what you want. we try not to give in to you too much.
_after 20 months, you finally started sleeping through the night consistently. last month i only had to go into your room a handful of times in the middle of the night.
_you are still not very good at sharing. you don't like to share your food, your toys or your mummy. you get very upset when i talk to another child at daycare.
_you are at such a fun age at the moment and i hope you will continue to be the cheeky little boy that you are. 

boo's first petting zoo experience

there was a spring fair at one of the local schools in the area last Saturday. we didn't know it was on until we tried to find a parking spot for some lunch in the area.

the school was packed. there was the usual fair set up with different rides, stalls selling bric-a-brac and some food stalls too. after lunch, we thought we'd check it out because boo has never been to a spring fair. 

boo is still too young for any rides so we walked straight past them and Jim spotted a little petting zoo set up at the far corner of the school. 

we spent about twenty minutes at the petting zoo and boo got to, for the first time in his life, see and touch the goats, an alpaca, the ducks, a dairy calf, rabbits and chickens. he fed the goats and was very intrigued by the rabbits. one of the ducks pecked his little finger as he pointed at it. after that, boo kept his distance and put both his hands behind his back. i think we might have to take him to the royal Easter show next year. 

 

 

spring!

my favourite time of the year is finally here. the flowers are in bloom and the temperature is just nice. i'm currently waiting for the neighbour's cherry blossom tree to flower. some of the branches are on our side of the fence so every year, we would cut a few branches to put in a vase for the house. it's my favourite tree in the backyard because i don't have to look after it but when spring comes, i get to enjoy the flowers too. 

i have two blog entries for yesterday and today but i'm too tired to write them today. i've been up since 5:30 this morning (boo is already on daylight savings time) and i've been on my feet most of the day cooking and baking. Jim had a day off most of his daddy duties because it's Father's Day today. after his Father's Day lunch he had a nice nap while i kept the little rascal entertained. 

i couldn't let the first day of spring go past without a blog entry. so while boo had his nap, i managed to gather these beautiful blooms from our own backyard for this short entry. i never knew how pretty camellia are until today.