[Oct - Dec 2007] Books read

Commuting to work 3 days a week gives me a lot of reading time on the train.
Here are some of the books I read in the last 3 months:

A Good Year by Peter Mayle
A novel about a guy who give up a career as an investment banker (? or a lawyer can't remember, a stressful profession with money but no life) to pursue a life as a wine maker. Though there were a couple of twists in the book, the plot was somewhat predictable. I was reading this and thinking that this would be the kind of story that Hollywood liked (with food, wine, love, beautiful people etc and later found it was already made into a film starting Russell Crowe). That's not to say that I didn't enjoy this book (was a little disappointed that I guessed the main twist towards the end of the book). The author is a pretty good story teller. Like those crime novels by Patricia Cornwell, it's easy to read and hard to put down. A light but entertaining novel. Somehow the word 'airport novel' comes to mind. It was a good "train novel" for me.

The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
I enjoyed reading this book. Some books you'll only want to read it once, while as others you might read it again. This is a book I feel I could read it again in a couple of years. There are lots of interesting perspectives and phrases that make you think and you will probably enjoy different parts at different stages of life. It's supposedly a autobiography (of 'Dasiy Goodwell'), but the author cleverly uses letters and accounts by other people to tell the story. I was confused at one stage about whether the story was real. It requires patience reading in some parts. I just finished another one of Carol Shield's books (it's called "Unless"), but "the stone diaries" is her most famous book, and a better read I think.

The Nanny Diaries by Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus
It was an "interesting" book. I finished the first half of the book very quickly but only read probably two thirds of the second half. It was a good read for most parts but some parts of the book aggravated me. I remembered sitting on the train and thinking to myself - I don't need to get annoyed or angry reading a book, it's just a book. So I chose to put the book down and ended up selectively read the rest. In some ways, I dislike this book because I felt it dramatise and stereotype too much. If you are treated by your employer badly again and again but do not do anything about it, and you are not a friend of mine, then I don't really care about it that much. I don't need to be angry at some made-up injustice. I'd rather read a happy book in my spare time than a sad book (unless it's a very good sad book). Maybe the movie is more entertaining and less aggravating?

Olive and Thyme focaccia

I made this bread last week.



Once or twice a month, I would make Jamie Oliver's "Spaghetti with anchovies, dried chilli and pangritata" and I would buy a bunch of Thyme for it. Usually, half of the thyme would be rotten in the fridge and eventually thrown away. When I saw this recipe in a magazine, and thinking about the leftover bunch of Thyme in the fridge, I knew I had to try it. I cheated a little by letting the bread-maker do my kneading for me. It was more solid than the focaccia you eat in a cafe, but we liked it. It was gone in less than 2 days. I love fresh bread. And there will be no more rotten Thyme in the fridge!

X-rays are fun?

("Who says X-rays are fun?)

It started on Sunday. Lara wouldn't stop crying all day. It was a "I'm not well" type of cry. We thought she was teething, because she was also dribbling a lot. She cried even when I held her. I had all my tricks out to distract her and stop her from crying. Anyway, at around 5pm, I suddenly realised she was not using her left arm/hand. It became very obvious when she was holding herself up from a sitting position with one hand. She cried in pain when I touched her lower arm/hand. It didn't look like anything was broken though. I decided not to go to work the following day so I could take her to see a doctor.

I called the doctor's office at 8.30 in the morning, and of course there was nothing available that day. I pleaded with the receptionist to squeeze her in. (After 3 bouts of mastitis, I was pretty good at getting myself an appointment. The reception lady was also very nice). She said the doctor would try to see us at around 10am. We didn't get to see him until 11am. Doctor ordered x-rays of the arms because Lara's left elbow didn't turn very well. It was around 12.30pm before we did the x-rays and nearly 1pm before I had the x-ray films in hand. A short break before we headed back to the doctor's with the films.

To cut the story short, nothing showed up in the x-rays. We were told to go home and come back in a week if things don't improve. Tuesday came and went and Lara wasn't using her hand. I could see a slight improvement though - she would raise the arm just a little sometimes rather than have it hanging behind her. On Wednesday night, she could hold a cup. She's still not putting much weight on it (still use one hand to pull herself up) but we are happy with the progress so far.

I put a sticker the x-ray technician gave us on Lara's arm so we could easily tell which arm was the bad arm. Was x-rays fun? Not really. I'm just glad that Lara is OK now.

p.s. I still don’t know how Lara hurt her hand. The theory is she bruised it when she fell as she is constantly falling and getting up since she started walking. Lara couldn't crawl for a few days (it's hard to crawl with one hand). This little mishap has unexpectedly improved her walking ability!

Zucchini Slice

I first saw this recipe in a ABA (breastfeeding) magazine. It was submitted by Alyssia from the Leeton ABA group. I imagine a lot of mums have to keep an eye on kids while cooking so you want a recipe that is simple and works every time. This is such recipe.

I love this recipe. I have made this over half a dozen times. You don't have to be precise with the ingredients. It takes about 10 minutes to prepare (slightly longer if you are a slow grater like me) and it tastes delicious. It tastes like a quiche -perfect for a satisfying lunch or a light dinner and something Lara can eat as well.

Ingredients:
370g zucchini (I use 3 medium to large zucchinis, it does not need to be precise)
1 large onion
3 rashers bacon (I put in 4 or 5 rashers sometimes depending on what is lying around)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (I use Colby cheese)
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup oil (I use olive oil or canola oil. I tried 1/4 cup oil and it's equally delicious)
5 eggs
salt and pepper to taste (I don't put extra salt just a little pepper)

What to do:
Grate unpeeled zucchini coarsely. Finely chop onion and bacon. Combine zucchini, onion, bacon, cheese, sifted flour, oil, and lightly beaten eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into a well-greased lamington tin (16cmx26cm base). Bake in moderate oven (I use 140-150C) for 30-40 minutes or until browned. cut into small squares. Freezes well. Can be eaten hot or cold. Serves 4-6.


Steaming hot out of the oven.

Lara's activity book

This can probably be loosely classified as "craft".
I spent a couple of nights doing a cover for Lara's activity book for day care.

I did some tidying up the other night and found these stickers that I have kept for the last 20 years (how I loved stickers when I was young!). In the spirit of "using things up", I decided to put some of these stickers on the cover of Lara's activity book. I also did a few simple drawings of animals and objects appeared in Lara's books to fill the blanks.


(Here's the front)


(And back)

It ended up looking quite busy, but I enjoyed this first 'homework'.

Lara is ONE!!

Lara turned one on the weekend. We were too busy to organise a party, only a simple lunch with family was organised. I kept putting off recording Lara's development like I normally do. I wanted to spend as much of my free time playing with her, so other things had to wait. Plus Lara's able to do so many new things, it's hard to keep track of them all.

A few notable things this month:
* She just had her 12-month vaccination. 3 needles this time. She was such a brave girl, didn't even cry when the second needle went in. She has been sleeping more, probably because of the shots.
* Still not sleeping very much at day care. The longest sleep was 1 hour for the whole day, some days only 30 minutes (she does 2 day sleeps at home, at least 3 hours altogether). I guess it takes time for her to adjust to sleeping in a different place. When she is at home, I let her sleep as much as she needs to catch up.
* Was told she loved pasta with tuna and chicken schnitzel at day care. Lara's eating more of the food we eat. I'm looking through cook books and doing dishes that we can all eat.
* Loves yoghurt now that I switched brand (new brand is sweeter).
* Loves all fruit - especially nectarine and grapes.
* Lara's walking well, only slightly wobbly. Able to walk from one end of the room to the other end and can turn corners. She loses her balance more when tired.
* Can turn light switches off and turn door handles.
* Finally able to say "ma-ma".


(Lara in her "Elvis" suit.)

Home-grown veggies

These are cucumbers grown in Sister-in-laws Mum's garden. They are crunchy and delicious. SIL's mum also has her own chooks and the eggs they produce have huge bright orange egg yolks and taste equally delicious.

Parents-in-law have been bringing over tomatoes they grow in their garden. They are very different to those ones you buy in the supermarket. They are picked ripe, rather than gassed to ripen. Even though they have shorter shelf-life but no goodness is sacrificed.


The idea of growing our own vegetables appeals to me. At this stage though, there are just too many things on my plate to start another project. I don't have a green thumb, I have killed plants like mint that everyone say grow like weeds. I don't particularly enjoy weeding either. But I am considering giving herbs another go. After we put in a new back door, install the handles we bought and put more things lying around into boxes, this can be little my pet project.

Balinese Duck

For Lara's birthday lunch, we cooked the usual meat - a chicken, some pork and half a leg of lamb in the Weber. In addition, we also baked a duck. The inspiration came from the "Food Safari" program on TV the other night. I found a "Braised Balinese Duck" recipe in my Ken Hom cookbook that resembled the dish we saw on TV, there was no excuse not giving it a try!


(Husband marinating the duck)

It was relatively painless gathering the ingredients - ducks was booked and picked up from the local butcher, the other ingredients from our local Chinese grocery store and supermarket. I ended up doing a couple of trips because I kept forgetting one or two things on the list.

Husband made a spice paste in the food processor as per instructions the night before. Prawn paste, lemon grass, chilies, garlic, ginger, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and ground turmeric were some of the ingredients used. The paste was simmered over low heat before rubbing it generously over the duck. You can apply the paste before cooking as the recipe says but we wrapped the duck in the marinade overnight because it was easier this way.


(It tasted nicer than it looked!)

There was a lot of lovely juice in the foil after cooking. The meat was tender and very aromatic. We could probably process the paste longer and smoother next time so there is no stringy bits. It was quite a popular dish. It was fun trying something different!

Second meal out alone

Continuing from last post, on Lara's first day at daycare, Husband and I went out to lunch. Nothing fancy, just a simple meal at a local Thai place. We both had Pad Thai noodles. I think this was our second meal out by ourselves after Lara was born. We were able to eat leisurely, something we almost forgot how sometimes.

I had better Pad Thai before, but it was good just to eat and not fussing over another person. We did talk about Lara in day care and how we balance life and work, but we also planned to enjoy more meals in other restaurants we've wanted to go for some time. Borrowing from the famous credit card ads - Pad Thai noodles, 12 dollars, peace and quite while eating, priceless!

First day at day care

Yesterday was Lara's first day at day care. She had a shorter first day - I dropped her off at 9.30am and picked her up at 4.30pm. I resisted the urge to call to find out how she was all day and busied myself so time actually went surprisingly fast.

Lara was playing by herself in the corner when I arrived. And when she saw me, she was so happy that she crawled very fast towards me with a huge smile on her face. It turned out that she only slept for 25 minutes in the pram (she wouldn't sleep in the cot, so one of the teachers pushed her in the pram to sleep). She was very tired when she got home - she slept from 5.30pm -7pm (I had to wake her up) and went to bed for the night before 8.30pm (and didn't get up until 8.30 the next morning!). I was also glad to hear that she could hold her own - her teacher said she grabbed a toy back from another kid who took it from her (Cynical Husband thinks maybe all teachers say that to parents so they don't worry so much). She also had her first painting on the wall (the teachers must have done most of it!)

In her communication book, Lara's teacher wrote:

" Lara had a wonderful first day. She played on the mat outdoors with the spinning tops and she shared a see-saw ride with Zane. She seemed to settle in quite comfortably with us and the other children."

My little girl is growing up so fast!!

New year, new diary.

It sounds strange but I always feel very excited buying new stationary. I still remembered getting pencils sharpened and new pencil cases and notebooks ready for the start of school and how excited I was. These days, I get the same excitement from buying a diary. I like my diary compact enough that it fits in my handbag, but also has enough space to record appointments and to-do lists.



2007 was no doubt a memorable year for us with the arrival of Lara. She brought many "firsts" to our lives. 2007 was also a sabbatical year for us - we took time off and just enjoyed life. I am very grateful for how things turned out in 2007 and looking forward to all that 2008 brings. We have more work commitments in 2008 and life will be very busy. I hope I'm more organised when working so there is enough time to pause, think and ponder about life and other things.

The Happiness Project, a blog I read regularly, has some good tips on making and keeping your New Year resolutions. Developing good habits, try more recipes and be with nature more are the 'themes' of my resolutions. I'm still working through the details.

Hope everyone has a healthy, safe, fun and fulfilling 2008!