pottering around the house

we had a long weekend last weekend. after going out on Saturday and Sunday, Jim wanted to stay in on Monday to relax and enjoy the extra day off work. Jim's way of relaxing is by playing pc games, playing with boo, laze about and take a nap. as for me, i get bored easily and can't stand sitting still. i also think that if i don't do something, i'm wasting time. so in between playing with boo, i made corn fritters and bacon for lunch, baked some macarons, tend to my little veggie patch and harvested some spinach from the garden to supplement the bunch of spinach we bought from the shops for our stir fry. i was pretty tired by the end of the day but i also felt satisfied and content.

long weekend picnic at Cockatoo Island

last weekend, we visited Cockatoo Island for the first time and had a picnic brunch with the Chaus and the Chans. Cockatoo Island has been on my mind for awhile because of its name. i always thought the only way to get there is by catching a ferry from Circular Quay. turns out, we could catch a ferry from Woolwich (which is 30 minutes away) and Cockatoo Island is only 5 minutes away from there. 

there are streets parking within walking distance to Woolwich wharf and we managed to find a good parking spot too. it was a really sunny day last Sunday. lucky there is a huge shaded area facing the water where we could set up our picnic rugs. i was hoping to take a walk with boo to check out the rest of the island but it was way too sunny. we settled with just a walk around the camp sites next to the picnic area. 

boo had a chance to play with 'Nach Nach' - Lachlan, who is 5 months older than him. they've seen each other many times but they are both too shy. i wish they wouldn't take so long to warm up to each other because by the time they warmed up to each other, it was time to go home. 

we spent about 3 hours on the island, watching the boys play together (i.e. in parallel to each other), we blew bubbles, we watched boats, yachts and ferry go past and boo also spotted a family of ducks with six little ducklings. he was very fascinated by them. as we were catching the ferry back to Woolwich wharf, i said to Jim that we should go back again one day for a family day out to check out the rest of the island. maybe next winter, on a sunny day. 

kale chips. baked not fried

i planted some purple kale at the beginning of winter out of curiosity. they weren't growing that well initially but ever since i started giving them a weekly dose of worm tea, they started growing really well. 

normal kale has curly leaves and is known as a superfood due to its high concentration of antioxidant so i assume my purple kale has the same health benefits. kale only became more widely known recently (under my radar anyway) and i've never tasted or cooked with it. 

these purple kale have pretty leaves and purplish stems which make them rather decorative in the garden. they've served the purpose of were of being ornamental in the garden until i decided to turn them into kale chips. after some research on the Internet, i harvested a bunch of leaves and off i went to make some kale chips. 

they were super easy to make and the only ingredients required are a flavourless oil like rice bran or vegetable oil and sale. i found the taste of olive oil to be too strong and it overpowers the kale taste. 

the end result is a crispy, seaweed like snack. they taste like roasted seaweed but with a slight greenish, vegetable taste. i made some for our picnic brunch at cockatoo island. none of our friends have tasted kale chips until today and they all loved it.  

please don't put me in your bad book...

i have a few posts for the blog but we're currently experiencing some technical difficulties at home. the modem has been out of action since saturday morning. the earliest a technician will come fix it is tomorrow morning. to save myself from getting into your bad book, ahem, yes, you Rosie Peach, i thought i'd do a special post. especially when we've just had a long weekend and i had plenty of time to blog. 

i didn't know how much i rely on our home wifi until this weekend. we're only in the first week of October so i've had to refrain from going online on my mobile too much in case i use up all my data credit. hopefully the modem will be fixed tomorrow. 

today you are 22 months

_ you are two months away from turning two. daddy and i finally have a better idea of what we wanna do for your birthday. we'll be checking out some play centres this weekend. 
_ gung gung and ma ma came back to Sydney last month. even though you haven't seen them since May this year, you can still remember them. 
_ we had a few bad days this month. we had days where you were throwing tantrums left right and centre. it is so hard to stop myself from giving in to you but you need to learn that things will not always go your way.
_ the funniest moment this month has got to be the time when you were looking for gung gung but Joby was the only one in the room so you decided to ask him. you said to Joby: boo bee, gung gung where? 
_ you are getting very good at drinking out of a cup. the sight of you drinking out of a cup is so very cute. 
_ you like to imitate whatever we do. you now want to sleep with a quilt just like us. you haven't slept through one night ever since you started sleeping with a quilt because every time your quilt slip off, i have to go in to tuck you in again before you can go back to bed. some nights i have to tuck you in three times. i like that you are behaving more and more like a little boy but i'm sad that you are no longer a little baby anymore. hopefully you'll learn how to tuck yourself in soon. 
_ you are already waking up to daylight savings time and you like to wake up at 5:30 especially on the weekend. i wonder with daylight savings starting this weekend, would you still wake up at 5:30?!? 
_ i wish i had more photos of you to go with this month's post but for some reasons, i didn't take many photos of you on the DSLR this month. because i had to send my new smart phone to be repaired, i'm trying a new way of adding photos to this post. 

Lucy's birthday party

we were invited to Lucy's third birthday party at Lollypop's playland last Saturday. boo has been to a handful of playlands in Malaysia when we went back in May this year but he has never been to one in Sydney. 

he had such a great time. not only did he get to have hot chips, his favourite frankfurt sausages which he hasn't had for awhile and chocolate cakes, he also had a ball exploring the playland, swimming in the ball pit and going down one of the biggest/longest slippery dip he's ever seen. 

now we can't wait for Tate's birthday at Little Rascal's playland next month. boo and Tate first met when they were seven and eleven weeks old. Rosie and i were hoping they would play together but both boys were a bit shy as they haven't seen each other for awhile. hopefully they will remember each other and play together better at Tate's birthday. 

// the birthday girl //

// spinning tea cup ride fun //

// the boys //

// cake time! //

// cake face //

// bananas! //

disconnecting and switching off

can't believe it's the beginning of October already. before we know it, it's boo's second birthday and then it's Christmas. 

in July, i gave myself a challenge to buy nothing new. this month, i want to challenge myself to disconnect from any form of media from 10pm onwards. it sounds easy but it is not. with the iPad and the iPhone next to me, youtube videos to be watched, candy crush games to be played and an abundance of new information to be explored on the internet, it really is not easy to switch off and go to bed before 10pm. 

i often come home from work feeling exhausted and i'd tell myself i should have an early night. i should go to bed before 10pm so that i would feel more rested and refreshed the next day. i would get in bed around 9. watch a bit of tv, go on the internet, do some blogsurfing and play candy crush. in the end, i would put my phone or the iPad away just before 11 and by the time i fall asleep, it is almost 11:30. the next morning i would ask myself why didn't i go to bed earlier the night before. if i did, i wouldn't have felt so tired. then the vicious cycle continues over and over again. 

but this month, i want to change this. i'm going to aim to put away the laptop, the iPad and the smart phone at 10pm. after all, what i do between 8 to 11 is actually not that productive and having a good night rest is probably more important. 

i'm not sure if i'll be able to break this habit but i'll give it a go.