A day in the life...

Today's juice: guava, apple, orange and carrot ( Levi got a few sips, he couldn't get enough)

At nearly 9 months now, Levi is really beginning to enjoy his solids. I'm making chunkier purées for him, leaving whole peas in and julienned carrot and pumpkin, allowing him to get used to more texture in his food. He is just learning how to pick up his tiny baby Cheerios, his little fingers moving slowly, face focused with such concentration as he catches the little O shaped cereal in his hands and then fumbles it into his mouth. Since this action takes him quite awhile, I'm capitalising on it and I give him one Cheerio at a time when we are out to keep him occupied and happy in his pram. It works a treat (for both of us) and I can get quite a bit of shopping done, ha!

A sink full of family swimmers. We had a great time in the pool today :)

 

 

 

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5 weeks in Perth

 

 

 

 

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Pics from Perth

Levi had a blast. So did Grandma and Grandpa :)

 

 

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This week...

This week I would like to:

Cook Japanese beef curry

Get my hair cut (thin it out, keep the length but get a blunt fringe)

Go for a mani/pedi

Make a new batch of lavender honey ice cream

We went to Moo Cow frozen yoghurt in Lintas after dinner at Party Play. I got a cup of their original yoghurt with a sprinkling of Oreo crumbs. It was a pretty good dessert, very refreshing with a nice tang and not too sweet. Levi enjoyed a few mouthfuls too :)

I'm just easing back into blogging after a very long hiatus. The past nine months with bub have been both wonderful yet gruelling .... I'm sure all new parents can relate to that statement :) Levi is now just starting to be more independent as he can sit up and crawl around to get to his toys. He also loves his kids tv shows (especially Giggle and Hoot) so it allows me to leave him on his mat for a few moments while I get some work done or have lunch. Otherwise I'll put him in his walker and he'll follow me round the house waving his spatula/wooden spoon/comb/balloon... whatever he can get his hands on. He loves anything metal and is especially fascinated with the knobs on cupboards and will stretch his little arms out from his walker to grab hold of them.

He is a happy and extremely friendly baby. Everyone who smiles at him is his friend. We are very lucky to have our cheerful little man :)

 

 

 

 

 

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And our boy arrives...

 

And so he is here.

Our big bruiser. All 8 pounds 8 ounces of him arrived at 2.11am on Saturday the 11th August 2012, four days overdue. If I had an inkling of how big he was going to be I would have had a heart attack for sure. Ignorance was definitely bliss on this occasion.We've named him Levi. He was going to be an Elias for about 6 months so I still can't believe we changed his name right at the very last moment. But it feels right and I love it. Levi - our little man. I'll be saying this name over a billion times in my lifetime.Everything is still so new, I'm still trying to process it all. Gid is too....the fact that we have finally become a mum and dad! It's hard to wrap our heads around it. So we just take things one moment at a time, enjoying our little dude, learning all his funny quirks, his likes and dislikes (Likes: his milk - A LOT. Dislikes: having his leg touched when he is drinking) and delighting in his thousand expressions.He is already turning out to be a little Hercules and can hold hid head up on his own for a few seconds. When we put him on his stomach for tummy time a couple of days ago, he could lift and turn his head from one side to the other. We're attributing it his strong jungle boy genes. Yesterday he let out a high pitched "heeheehee" laugh on three occasions while giving an open mouthed grin. It completely shocked and delighted me.So we are in Perth at the moment, staying at my parent's place. Mum and Dad have been wonderful and seeing to our every need. Cooking meals, washing clothes, taking care of Levi which allows us to nap during the day or pop out to the shops. It's been so special too watching them in their new roles as Grandma and Grandpa. They've waited a long time for this. Grandpa's specialty is baby napping Levi in the mornings. He wants to hold him all the time. Mum claims she is so rusty and has forgotten all her baby knowledge, but I think differently. Watching her with Levi, I can see all her instincts come back. She calms his so effortlessly and is such a natural mother. I pick up all sorts of tips just watching her with him.And Gid. I always knew he would be a great father but he has gone above and beyond everything I could expect a new father to do. In eight short days he has become an expert burper, bottle feeder, nappy changer, bottle cleaner and baby bather. Always anticipating my needs he fetches me water, brings me cereal in bed, makes sure I am comfy when breast feeding, provides comic relief and helps me to feel more confident as a new mum."We're a team." he says. .......Big breath.......It's a whole new world now....one with Levi in it :)

 

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New loves

Breakfast was extra delicious this morning washed down with a funky new juice I made up - apple, guava, orange, carrot and the secret ingredient...beetroot! It made such a gorgeous looking drink. I definitely will be adding beets into my morning juice from now on.

Then it was over to my in law's house to check on our two new loves...Angus and Skittles. They are four and a half month old American Staffys and they have been taking up most of our attention over the past 4 days.

Angus

Skittles

I normally prefer the calmness of adult dogs to the frantic playfulness of puppies, but these two monkeys have already won my heart. Angus especially with his big wide pink mouth and his sleepy puppy eyes. He loves nothing more than a cuddle and will sit down straight way when you give him a pat as if to say "Ahh...that's nice, keep going, I'll stay here awhile."

Skittles is the larger and more boisterous of the two. She is extremely curious and has the maddest rabbit ears . One points forward and the other backward, giving her the most comical appearance. I think they suit her personality to a tee.

The other dogs have been great with the pups so far. Playing with them and putting them in their place when they get too rough. Gid intends to take the pups up to camp next month after they get their final vaccination so i'm hoping they'll get along well with Pinkie, Milo, Chilie and Liko as well.

I know I'll miss these little guys when I leave for Perth in 3 weeks.

Starfruit

Starfruit is in season at the moment. It's such a strange looking fruit. The taste is mildly sweet with a grassy background and the texture is crisp and juicy. I'm not really a huge fan but I juiced one up this morning along with carrots, spinach, green apple, orange and ginger. Gotta say, it wasn't bad at all :)

Breakfast before assembling.

Egg (which is what we call the little one in my tummy) has been so kicky lately. I can imagine him growing in there, kinda looking around going "I swear there was more space in here before." Every night before bed he entertains his dad and I by performing a series of waves and thumps, making my tummy jump, literally moving the iPad if it's resting on my belly. 10pm seems to be party time for him every night - just when I'm ready to wind down.

Gid and I are now getting quite impatient to meet the little guy. I just can't imagine how his little face will look like - even with the 3D ultrasound images we get every month. With me officially into the third trimester this week, I guess it's not long to go.

A day in May

It was over to Gid's parent's place first thing in the morning. I got to play with the dogs for a bit while Gid helped fix his mum's internet connection, then it was back home again for breakfast.

Today's juices were pineapple and honeydew. I am so loving our new juicer!

We spent the day organising to get our new American Staffy pups delivered to us so we stopped off at the vet to buy two dog travel crates then drove over to the bus station to get the crates delivered to Tawau where the pups are. They'll be arriving by courier tomorrow!

I bought a range of pasta sauces from Muji when we were in Tokyo this February. I busted them out today for an easy dinner. I also made a quick salad of snow pea sprouts, onion, cranberries, tomato wedges, and sunflower seeds in a red wine vinaigrette. No pics of the salad as it was gobbled up too fast.

His: Squid ink; Hers: Arriabatta

After dinner we drove to ZenQ for a Taiwanese dessert of shaved ice, pearl bubbles, and jelly. I was kinda tickled to see who made the cool metal spoon that came with our dessert!

Gid and his mango juice. It gave him brain freeze.

Vanilla and cinnamon rice pudding

I was feeling rather miserable last night with the beginnings of a scratchy throat developing and a headache nagging at me. "It's not nice having to be heavily pregnant and sick." I moaned to Gid.

Thankfully this morning my throat feels a bit better and my head is clear. This calls for a special breakfast celebration so I whipped up a pot of homey comfy warm vanilla and cinnamon rice pudding with plump raisins scattered in.

Gid isn't a fan of any kind of sweet rice, so he had Eggle waffles with maple syrup and cornbread. He found Eggles for sale in the freezer section of the new City Grocer in Suria. He grabbed a box claiming he used to love eating this as a kid in Michigan. I can't say I'm much of a fan (they're a bit dry) but as long as he likes it :)

Vanilla and Cinnamon Rice Pudding (adapted from Shutterbean)

Serves 2

1/2 cup arborio rice

1/8 cup raisins

2 cups whole milk

1/4 cup vanilla sugar - plain caster sugar is fine too (I used slightly less than this)

A dash of cinnamon

A dash ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (use a whole teaspoon if using plain sugar)

Place the rice, raisins, milk, vanilla sugar cinnamon and ground ginger into a medium saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 25-30 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in vanilla extract just before rice is cooked.

I chilled the leftovers as a delicious cold pudding dessert for later.

Colour block nails

I drove over to Citymall this morning for a mani/pedi. My favourite girl Viona resigned awhile back and unfortunately the two girls left working there are not very experienced. One cut my cuticle twice (ouch!) and the other botched up one of my nails and decided to paint over it many times so I now have a very lumpy finish on one finger :S Oh well, time to look for a new salon. Gid rang to say that he will be trying to make it home from camp tonight. I have my fingers crossed. X

I'm back :)

Well hello there! Long time no blog. Well I'm back, for today at least :) I've kinda missed this little blog of mine. Things have been busy around here to say the least. When I last left off my dear doggie Pinkie was very unwell...well the good news is she has made a 100% recovery and is as obnoxious as ever much to Gid's despair! It turned out she didn't have kidney failure and had a blood parasite instead which was treatable with a course of antibiotics...so all is well on the doggy front :) And in other other news....I have a bun in the oven! Yep, Gid and I baked up a little wee one back in November and he (yes it's a BOY!) will be due in early August. I actually have only a month left in KK before I head to Perth to deliver this bub. I'll be staying with my parents for about 4 months before we come back to KK. I still find it hard to believe I'm going to be a mum. It's just been Gid and I for the past 11 years and now we are going to add a new buddy to our pack. It's exciting and surreal and a little nerve wracking at the same time. Anyways, I took a bunch of food pics today that I want to share. First up we have breakfast!

I had these grand plans of whipping up a batch of hollandaise sauce to go with my eggs but after I got out my blender and re-read the recipe I put it in my "too-much-work-for-one-person" basket and decided to just go with Kewpie mayo as an accompaniment. With a sprinkling of paprika, salt and pepper, it worked out really nice. We also bought ourselves a Hurom Slow Juicer this week. I've had my eye on this lovely machine for ages and was so stoked to find a dealer selling it over here. When I saw their demo stall set up in City Mall I squeezed Gid's hand so hard he complained I bruised it lol. Today's juice was an apple, orange, cucumber and guava concoction. I love that I can just gulp down a glass and not have to worry about my fruit consumption for the rest of the day. The best thing about the juicer is that it takes me about 3 minutes to clean it up so I don't mind using it every day. Plus watching it poo out all that colourful pith as it grinds is endlessly entertaining to me for some reason.

My morning entertainment - Hurom poo pith!

I also baked up some honey cornbread which I slathered with salted butter - it was sweet and soft yet had a bit of crunch from the polenta. I had two fat slices.

Lunch was home baked bread with ham, snow pea sprouts, cheddar, mustard, and cashews.

Hard Decisions

I keep waking up before 7am, no matter what time I go to sleep the night before. As soon as there is a sliver of blue morning light at the curtains, I wake up.

After much flip flopping about in bed, I got bored and got up and had breakfast. Cereal! Yes, i was excited! I haven't had cereal in about a year. I kept buying healthy cereal flavours that were gross and I'd end up throwing a nearly full box out, so I stopped buying it. This one was really good though, Kelloggs Honey Cornflakes. Not quite as good as Crunchy Nut which they don't sell here, but nice enough.

I went over to my in-law's place after breakfast to give Pinkie her medication. The silly dog ate poison up at camp about a month ago(she went over to the adjoining plantation and ate poison pellets there). While she survived the initial poisoning, the poison damaged her kidneys, and kidneys cannot be fixed :( My father-in-law says we should put her down as she has lost a lot of weight and will have to be on meds for the rest of her life, but G and I want to see if she will respond to the medicine first. I'm just buying time really until I can figure out what to do. Pinkie has been a camp dog her whole life, but bringing her back up may not be possible as her medicine needs to be kept below 4C and the generator only powers the fridge at camp for 7-8 hours of the day.

So, we'll just wait and see for now. I actually googled "kidney transplant for dogs" the other day. I'm dreaming of course as a procedure like that for dogs in Malaysia is basically science fiction.

I was starving after playing with the dogs and went home and made a pizza. I used the leftover meatloaf as a topping along with ricotta, spring onions , cherry tomatoes, parmesan and fresh parsley sprinkled over at the end.

Dinner: Cold green tea soba and salad with wasabi-ponzu sauce.

Dessert: Can you spot my Meiji chocolate wrappers? Just lazing in front of the tv. Looking forward to G coming home tomorrow.

Ricotta Baby

I made two batches of fresh ricotta in the last couple of weeks and I've been enjoying this creamy mild cheese in just about everything, including pancakes. Bill Granger's Ricotta Hotcakes got a big thumb's up from G. I don't think I'll be making pancakes any other way from now on. The ricotta and the whipped egg whites made the softest fluffiest melt in your mouth pancakes I've ever had.

This morning I made baked eggs with ricotta, spring onions, marinara sauce and cherry tomatoes for breakfast. They puffed up like crazy in the oven (yay!) but quickly deflated when I took them out.( boo!)

They were a little tricky to unmould. Next time I'll just serve them up in ramekins. I had them with a little Japanese mayo.

Lunch was spaghetti with garlic prawns, ricotta and marinara sauce (the sauce was hiding underneath the pasta) with a little seven spice Japanese pepper sprinkled on top, and a simple salad of cucumber, cherry tomatoes, mint n spring onions with ponzu n olive oil.

I'm supposed to be going out to run some errands today but it's bucketing down so hard. December is normally rainy here in KK. I just realised this is the third December I've had living here. Time is really flying. I'm a lot happier here now, but I'm still looking forward to the day when we can move away, either back to Melbourne or somewhere else.

Update: My dinner. I admit, when I make up my own recipe, it can be 50/50. Sometimes it comes out great n sometimes it's just meeeehhhh. This made up tofu chicken meatloaf however was very moreish. No, I didn't put ricotta in it, I used parmesan instead. With egg, breadcrumbs, spring onions, garlic powder, parsley, dried thyme n paprika. Smeared with a tomato bbq sauce on top, then baked at 180 C for 45 mins.