Not what it seems

Winter in the Southern Hemisphere can be deceiving. It doesn’t snow (at least in the city). The streets are not covered in white and ice. The skies are blue and sunny. You really can’t tell that it’s freezing cold just by looking at the photo below which was taken at midday.

But it was pretty chilly and became even more so once the sun disappeared from the skies. Thankfully there was a pot of slow cooked Indian vegetable curry to warm our bellies.

It sounds strange to slow cook vegetables. We were a little skeptical about how the dish would taste like ( over boiled spicy veggies?). But it was needless worry for the dish turned out perfect! Packed with flavour and extremely yummy!

Wow I’ll happily turn vegetarian if every meal is as delicious as this one was! Have a great day everyone!

Where the road takes us

“Let’s go for a walk Bugs,” I announced this afternoon an hour after Bugs had woken up from her nap. She seemed a little cooped up at home so perhaps a change of scenery might be exciting for her.

“We are going to take a stroll, to no where in particular.” I softly mentioned to Bugs as we stepped out into the cold. It was pretty chilly and windy. I cuddled Bugs to my chest as we plodded along the corridor.

“Oh look at that tree!” I exclaimed to Bugs, stopping briefly and pointing at the barren tree, “We used to play with it in the summer! Remember how I helped you reach for the leaves by carrying you higher? That was quite fun, wasn’t it?”

An extremely enthusiastic little puppy greeted us as we continued on our walk in the direction of the shops. Bugs smiled when she saw the puppy happily wagging its tail.

We walked past many shops, weaving in and out of a few which seemed a bit more interesting. There was the tantalising tea store and its exotic wares….

And the clothing shop with empty mannequins on display.

Our final pit stop before heading back was the Jam Factory foyer where the colourful glass ceiling captivated Bugs. The little one smiled widely and stretched out her hands in the direction of the star.

It was a simple walk but filled with lots of special moments. Moments which I’m going to miss when Bugs is older, thankfully she still has a lot of growing up to do!

Happy Monday folks!

It’s art!

Inspired by our Arts Centre outing yesterday, the family indulged in a little finger painting today! The weather was decidedly grey and wet as well, which gave us even more reason to hibernate at home.

A mixture of cornflour and hot and cold water was what we used to make the paint base. Add a few drops of food colouring and voila! Home made finger paint ready for play!

It was Bugs’s first time dabbling in the art so naturally, she was a bit hesitant. Especially since the cornflour paint mixture wasn’t the most sweet smelling of liquids. She studied the coloured bowls of paint for a good ten seconds and decided that the electronic toy telephone was way more interesting than the weird smelling activity we tried to interest her in.

The Dude and I spent a few minutes messing around with the paint before clean up and here’s the end result.

Not exactly a Monet or a Picasso but it was lots of fun on a gloomy day like today!

Hope your day is filled with sunshine! Till tomorrow everyone!

Arty party

Could opening celebrations get more fun than this? We visited the Arts centre precinct this morning after our regular trip to the NGV. The reopening of Hamer Hall celebrations was on! That together with Open House Melbourne running concurrently meant that the area was swarmed with lots of people. On an early Saturday morning!

A gigantic vase of Gladiolas had been installed in the open grass patch behind the Arts centre to mark the event! It was so quirky that you had to stop and stare at it and take a picture or two.

We made our way round the famous Art centre market stalls where there were lots of handmade craft items on sale.

While we were browsing through the stores, a giant mouth puppet popped out from Hamer hall and started to lick the people passing by with its equally large tongue! The ones that stopped to take a shot of the oddity copped the bulk of the tongue lashing!

Not far from the giant mouth was the giant nose sniffing its way through the crowd. The picture doesn’t tell much but this was taken right after the nose had hopped and cornered a passerby who tried to take a sneak photo behind its back! This nose really knows!

As we walked along, we spotted the gentle giant ear mingling quietly with a couple of kids….

And a very cross looking giant eye hovering close by! It looked so perturbed that most of the kids, except for a few brave ones, stayed away from it!

Our little jaunt around the Arts Centre ended with a spot of yarn shopping….

Where I picked up this gorgeous hank of hand dyed yarn in bright and pretty sunny colours! I think I’ve found the perfect pattern for it -can’t wait to get started, hopefully it’ll be very soon!

Second chances

It’s been quite a while since I’ve updated about how our gardening is going. The herb pots that we tried to grow a few months ago have sadly gone to the big garden shed in the sky.

We’ve erred on the side of caution gardening wise and purchased a couple of plants that had already gone way past the seedling stage to ensure a greater chance of success – a lemon plant that will only bear fruit in a year’s time (oh! The wait!) and a handy coriander pot.

I’d been feeling a little discouraged about my lack of green thumbs since those initial herb pots met their untimely doom till I chanced upon this book at the library.

It’s The Edible Balcony book! The same book that got me planting in the first place!

The book is such an inspiring read! I’ve only gone through the first three pages where Indira describes why she decided to start a balcony garden and already I feel pumped! With enthusiasm and hope for the future! A future where the (balcony) world will be covered in luscious green vegetables and herbs!

So at the market today, with my gardening passion reignited, a little of our marketing budget went towards the purchase of a couple of organic seed packets!

Fingers crossed that it works out much better this time round! Happy Friday everyone!

Social Boyd-terflies

Boy has it been a busy week so far! A new playgroup and a play date so far and it’s not even the end of the week yet! Well today there’s something else to add to the list – we checked out another playgroup at the brand new Boyd building in Southbank!

We’d been on the waiting list for this particular playgroup for almost half a year. I’d been searching for somewhere close to home to bring Bugs to late last year. This particular playgroup was one of the first that caught my eye. When I finally contacted the centre, I was informed that they had suspended all playgroup activities till the new building was up and running. Till now that is!

We entered this old looking, heritage listed building. A little sign by the door informed us of its origins and history. Pretty cool that it now houses playgroups, a library and various other government services!

Given that it was a freshly renovated space, it was not surprising to find the play area nice and new, with the smell of paint still lingering in the air. More importantly, every toy in the space was brand new! The variety of toys was pretty huge. From books and dolls to practical ones like this wooden mini clothes hanger….

and this appetising tray of wooden sushi pieces (the salmon and maki rolls look especially cute)…

Bugs was quite intrigued by the huge variety of wooden shakers and rattles on offer.

The baskets (yes there was more than one. Three to be exact) of plastic play food were also pretty popular toys for the day for Bugs. The crocodile puppet peeking out from the basket in the picture below did not enjoy the same amount of attention. She seemed quite concerned to learn that such a reptile was hovering so close to the plastic food and tried to fling it as far away as possible the moment she spotted it!

Our playgroup session ended with a simple storytelling and nursery rhyme activity which was a sweet way to finish off and say goodbye to the kids!

Yet another interesting day for Bugs, our little social Boyd-terfly!

A warm welcome

Bugs and I headed out bright and early to Cinnamon’s house for a play date! I’d been looking forward all week long as it had been ages since we last caught up!

It was a beautiful sunny day today and the roads were fairly empty which made the drive there extremely pleasant and faster than I’d expected!

While the kids were busy playing with toys, Cinnamon and I chatted over tea and muffins. Oh the joy of being able to have a conversation over hot tea is truly one of life’s simple pleasures! I was even surprised with a belated birthday present for Bugs halfway through our catch up!

We lingered around till lunchtime. Cinnamon kindly gave Bugs a taste of the yummy and nutritious fish congee that she’d lovingly prepared for her little one. It felt as if we could just hang out the whole day together. But the little ones were tired and due for a nap. So we said our goodbyes and promised to catch up in the very near future!

It’s always lots of fun when you experience a welcome as warm as the sun! Have a great day folks!

Five stars

If you’re in the market for a quick and easy muffin recipe like I was today, you can’t go too wrong with this five star member rated recipe from the Taste website that I found for some scrumptious banana and chocolate chip muffins!

Bugs and I are heading over to Cinnamon’s place for a play date tomorrow and I’d promised to bring something over for morning tea. It would have been much easier to duck out and grab a store bought dessert. But something homemade for a catch up in someone’s home seemed way more appealing! Plus it’s difficult to walk away from a recipe that contains chocolate chips! And a whole lot of it!

The recipe was so easy to follow that I managed to whip up a batch to bake in the oven in under twenty minutes! Oh of course I have to thank dear little Bugs for being a real darling while the baking frenzy was going on!

I love it when a recipe just works! The muffins came out perfect after twenty minutes in the oven, just as prescribed!

I managed to make 10 decent sized muffins out of the batter which meant that there was lots leftover to keep. That definitely brought quite a few smiles around the house this evening!

I’ll end off with a close up of those droolicious muffins! Hopefully the pictures inspire you to give the recipe a go! Be sure to let me know if you do!

New beginnings

It’s the start of a brand new week and I’m pretty excited as its shaping up to be quite an eventful one! Today, for instance, Bugs and I start our brand new playgroup!

Not that there is anything wrong with the one we regularly attend on Thursdays. We still frequent that one and love it to bits. Just that it’s really nice to have something within the week as well where Bugs can have fun with kids her age and I get the chance to meet new people!

We arrived at the venue and found the room bustling with activity. The little ones were crawling/ toddling around, exploring the many many toys scattered throughout the room. The moms were engaged in conversation.

Bugs did take a while to warm up – she’s a cautious little one, our little chicken. After a little bit of reassuring and a dangle of an interesting toy on her direction, Bugs finally relaxed and joined in the fun! Which gave me the chance to have a chat with a few moms, something I enjoyed tremendously!

It’s always a great day when you get to make new friends and the little one gets lots of play! Let’s hope the rest of week continues on a high!

Have a great day folks!

A star is born

It was such a gorgeous and sunny Winter’s day today that it would be a real shame if we stayed indoors. So we headed out! Out for a little stroll in Federation Square and the nearby Yarra river!

Heading out early morning has its perks. For one, the city is still kind of waking up so everything is still nice and quiet. At least quiet enough such that you can take in the sights peacefully.

The Yarra was looking quite full when we strolled along the banks. We did wonder a bit where all the water ended up. To the ocean perhaps?

It looked like such a nice day for a river cruise but we thought we might shelf that activity till Bugs is a lot older. A seasick baby on a Sunday didn’t sound like lots of fun at all.

Back home, there was a little time after lunch which allowed me to squeeze in a few extra stitches and complete Sprout! Yes! You heard that right! Sprout, my charity knit, is now complete!

If Sprout looks kind of familiar, that’s because its the same pattern that I used for Sweet Berry Love! It was such a simple and fun pattern that I thought it would be good for this purpose! A few green star buttons that I found during a recent Lincraft trip complete the look!

There’s still lots of green cotton left over (its a pretty big ball to begin with) after finishing Sprout so I’ve decided to knit something else to accompany it!

Stay tuned to find out – hope your Sunday is going great!