Our first family weekend away- part 1

Silly I know but I have been looking forward to our first trip away for some time. We headed to Launceston to visit family and take part in our first Walk for Prems. 

These last few weeks the spring weather has been foul, gale force winds and rain. For once the walls of the hut seemed to close in around me. Even on the weekends with Rob home the destructive winds have been making us both a bit tetchy as we watched it play havoc with the garden and trees.

So we headed off on Friday after Rob mowed the lawns and I dyed my hair. Our commodore wagon groaned with it's load. Packed to the gunnels with gear. Poor dogs had to be squished between the pram and suitcase until we got to their dog babysitter. I'm sure we had to pack the same amount of baby gear if we'd been going for a month!

After a quick stop in the city for cheese (for dinner) and sushi for lunch on the run, we drove north, the girls slept peacefully, and Rob and I chatted without  simultaneously amusing a baby. 

We shared our ritual Friday cheese platter with family, before settling in at Rob's parents place. The girls snuggled between us. 

The novelty of curtains meant we all slept in until 8am! We headed down to the local farmer's market, the harvest market. The girls first expedition in the big pram. Maggie slept through most of it, but Elisabeth took in her surroundings keenly.  

After loading up the pram with baked goods, we headed back to feed the babies and let them have some floor time. Elisabeth took advantage of the carpeted hallway and practised her crawling. She has perfected the coordination of diagonal arms and legs, and is starting to move quickly. We spent the afternoon visiting family.

Earlier in the day Rob and I had decided upon dinner out at Smokey Joe's Creole Cafe. We've been meaning to try it for a while now. I admit that about 4pm my enthusiasm was waning a little. The girls were a little grizzly (they had been in and out of the car several times) and I was a bit tired. But we headed back to feed and change them and if they'd been upset after that I would have pulled the plug. But we all rallied and headed out into the lovely evening. We arrived at 6pm, first in the doors. The restaurant were very accommodating of the girls and their pram. Rob and I enjoyed a beer and BBQ oysters while we soaked in the atmosphere of the restaurant. 

At about this stage I had hoped the girls would fall asleep in their pram. But Elisabeth must have been able to smell the pulled pork. She complained until we took her out of the pram. Her mood picked up as she banged her little hands on the table, drank water out of a glass and waved to the waitress.

The mains arrived: mine a ginormous pulled pork sandwich with fries and slaw, and Rob's BBQ ribs. I gave Rob some of my pork to give to Elisabeth, it was very soft, so perfect baby food. Maggie had a taste but wasn't keen, so after a little rocking I was able to put her in the pram to sleep. Rob was juggling his ribs and feeding a demanding baby, there was BBQ sauce everywhere! I quickly finished and then held Elisabeth so Rob could enjoy his ribs properly. Elisabeth was extremely pleased with herself. Giggling and looking around at the other patrons who had begun to fill the room. 

We thought dessert might be pushing our luck, so with a piece of French Silk pie to go, we headed home. Elisabeth was still in a good mood in the car. Chatting away to herself and breaking out in laughter. Obviously she enjoyed her first dinner out.

The best bit was we were home by 7.30, so we changed the girls, I gave them one last feed and they fell asleep (Elisabeth still grinning) between us. I snuck off Nigella like to eat my pie and then we fell asleep. 

Vignettes from the Hobart airport

I waited.
I listened to visitors bemoan the service.
I stood in a line for 2.5 hours.
I watched a quarantine dog disgrace himself inside.
They kept promising just another hour.
The engineer needs to fly in from Melbourne, or Sydney.
He needs to flush the fuel system and see if it's still leaking.
The last delay was one too many.
I haven't felt well all day, and now I have a headache.
I just gave up after spending 8 hours in our pokey little domestic airport.
I wanted my husband, my puppies, my bed in my hut.
Goodnight Hobart domestic airport. I hope I don't see you again for awhile.

Traveling

I'm sitting in the Canberra Airport waiting. I've eaten a dinner of steamed pork dumplings and a beef pho. My brain has been numbed by commercial television (in the background).
My visit was brief, flying to Brisbane yesterday afternoon for a work meeting this morning. Then home again.
Last night I ran across the carpark of my hotel to a DFO. I had 40 minutes for a quick shop (found a few gym tops and some clothes for Rob) then came back outside to dark skies and a tropical downpour. I ran across to the hotel but got quite wet.
So I thought I might as well go for a swim. The pool at the Novotel is on the roof and hangs a little over the edge. 20m long, I surprised myself with my freestyle technique. I only learnt to swim when I met Rob, he was horrified that I couldn't swim. Refreshed I had a Massaman curry and beer (and a chocolate tart) before tossing and turning all night. I'm looking forward to seeing my husband (even though he's got a bad cold), my dogs and the hut. Oh and my bed. Have a lovely weekend. I'm planning a quiet one, which is hardly different from normal!

Monday mix up

Sorry I tried to upload my regular post last night, but the blogger app on my phone beat me. So I'll save the pics for a double post next week as I won't be near a real computer for a while.
I enjoyed a quiet weekend-Rob has finished planting the box hedges around my flower gardens and it looks so much better already! Sorry I'll take a photo later in the week.
We visited our favourite local antique store and it was full to the brim with new treasures, not only furniture, but kitchen wear, baskets and now retro clothes. I loved this red dress, but the waist was tiny! I haven't a hope of fitting into it! We did score 3 more Piper-Truline blackwood dining chairs. They're so comfortable, an important factor for enjoying dinner! They are covered in some terrible beige vinyl, but we've still got some red fabric that we can recover them with on a rainy afternoon.
I'm in Brisbane for the next few days for an annual planning meeting for work. My flights were fairly delayed as I was transiting through Sydney and there'd been some serious storm activity slowing down air traffic. So I arrived late, checked into my room and fell asleep (the time difference made it feel even later!)
I've never been to Brisbane before, but sadly I don't have really any time to look around.

Sunrise

So I had a fast trip to Canberra. No culinary delights to share, as the restaurant was picked out for us to meet at on Monday night, and I picked a doozy- the vegetarian burger. Not sure what came over me, but it was dry, and the bun toasted until it was hard and crunchy. Breakfast at the hotel was pretty good, but fairly standard hotel breakfast fare. Then I had an all day meeting so had a catering lunch, and snacked at the airport.
The hotel was a new one, the Burbury, all black walls and pale limestone tiles. It did have a nice big bed, with lovely crisp white linen, and even a doona, something I always miss when travelling. I'm not a sheet and blankets sort of girl.
I had some time to wait before our dinner so enjoyed lazing on the big bed (for once with out dog fur) and watching the tennis. We haven't had a tv for over 6 months now, and for the most part I don't miss it. But the tennis just isn't the same on the radio!

Rob took these photos the other morning at sunrise. I'm trying to pick one for my blog header.
I'm thinking number 1? What do you think?

A crazy busy week

Thank goodness for an extra hour of sleep (end of daylight savings) last night, after this week I needed it. Last weekend Rob was on a field trip with his university students, so I had a weekend to look after the dogs. My sister had flown in from Sydney for a few days before heading back home to the UK. So there were a few family dinners (I seemed to spend the entire weekend peeling potatoes). I did bake an experimental cake. I had bought a bag of limes that were just going to sit and grow mould if I didn't do something with them. So I made lime curd. I baked a couple of coconut cakes and sandwiched them together with the curd. Next I made a Nigella italian meringue frosting, a little exciting but manageable (egg whites, sugar, golden syrup over a double boiler), thank goodness for electric whisks! Verdict was pretty favourable. It certainly looked the part. Rob came home Sunday night and we rushed to have a look at the hut (not much had happened during the week) Rob spent a few lonely days coating the boards in a preservative but the builders weren't really there. I'm afraid I am quite an organised traveller, I always write a list, and tick off things as I put them in my bag. Normally I am laughed at for this behaviour. I even put out the clothes to wear the next morning. I had picked the horrible 6am flight to Melbourne, which means being at the airport at 5.30am. So I set the alarm, booked a taxi and fell asleep. The next morning I woke to my work mobile phone ringing. Gosh I thought that's wierd. The phone call was the taxi company, wondering if I still wanted the taxi waiting at the front gate?! After a few exclamations of oh my gosh, I quickly put my contact lenses in, dressed, threw the last few things in my suitcase and was in the taxi in 5 minutes. I swear I wasn't awake til I got to Melbourne. I collected my suitcase and tried to make myself presentable in the airport bathroom. But wasn't really looking forward to a whole day at the conference without having had a shower! Luckily on arrival at my hotel my room was ready (I had even been upgraded to a spa room) so I felt far more human once I'd showered. The conference didn't start til quite late so I visited a favourite shop. Cake deco (in a little arcade opposite Flinders St station) they have so much stuff in there. Cupcake cases, icing colours, biscuit cutters, books. It's quite overwhelming. But I got a few things I needed for making "hut" biscuits, and couldn't resist a tea pot cookie cutter. A quick coffee stop at Degraves and then I hopped on a tram to head up to Carlton for the conference. The conference food was as normal quite ordinary. A few of us decided to head out to dinner together. I should've heard the warning bells when they both admitted to eating baked beans in their hotel rooms the night before (rather than dining out). We wandered around china town (although one of the group was keen on Thai), even sat down in the Hairy canary, but ended up in a little Thai place. It could have been worse and the company was excellent but it wasn't a good use of an evening meal in Melbourne! I was quite tired though so didn't mind heading back to my room by 8pm. Next morning, I was up and wandering up Bourke St to Spring St for breakfast at the European, I'd read online they serve the best eggs benedict. It was a cute little place, a long narrow room with dark panelled walls. The eggs were certainly very good and the two coffees woke me up. Off to the conference. The lunch breaks were very long, (and the food was certainly not worth lingering over overcooked chicken drumsticks or an unidentifiable white fish), so I headed for a walk along Lygon street, eating a gelato as I window shopped. At the end of the day I squeezed in a little shopping before deciding to try my luck at Movida. One of our favourite places (although I ususally book weeks in advance). Being 8pm I thought I'd give it a go. Sadly the main restaurant was busy, but they directed to me to their little sister, Movida next door, and I was seated at the bar in a few minutes. Perfect for the lone diner. After ordering a glass of El coto (Spanish red of course) I tried to narrow down what I'd like to try from the menu. I settled on a white anchovy on tomato, some Queso cheese, a potato bomba, flathead wrapped in jamon and mussels, and I hate to confess confit pork belly. That's right I put the body on the line to try as many different plates as I could! I waddled out into the warm Melbourne evening, satisfied and headed back to the hotel. I made the most of last remaing meal in Melbourne and headed to Earl Canteen for breakfast. Ok but I think I'd like to head back at lunch for the famous pork belly sandwich! Rob and the builders have been busy at the hut, the timber overlay flooring has been stuck down in the living room, Rob has coated most of the boards and, finally the blue is starting to disappear, slowly replaced by vertical celery top boards. It looks just how we imagined. All going well we should have a timberclad hut by the end of this week. It was nice to have a weekend together again, we spent time at the block (coating more boards) and drinking tea in the living room yesterday. Then today we've been to the market for vegetables, bread and treats and a chat with Jo and Michelle from C & C cupcake factory. Couldn't resist some hot cross buns as well from Jackman & McRoss. Rob has some quince jelly bubbling on the stove top.Time for tea I think. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad