First homemade pasta (last year!)

I accidently found this in a draft form today. I never got around to post it maybe because it was unfinished. Or maybe I was waiting for a second attempt from Husband. Without seeing this, I almost forgot it ever happened. Anyway here it is unmodified. Ummm.... I feel like pasta tonight!

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After the delicious pizzas he made the other night, Husband woke up the following morning and claimed that he wanted to do homemade pasta for dinner. "The cook and the chef" on ABC TV the night before had handmade pasta (with truffles by the way), and it didn't look too hard so it inspired Husband even more.


We don't have a pasta machine so everything, including rolling out the pastry, was done by hand. Husband also made a bacon, mushroom cabonara sauce.

In some strange sort of coincidence, the day Husband made the first-ever handmade pasta was also the day Parvoroti died. We were enjoying the pasta with a glass of red when we heard the news on TV.

Home for 2 weeks

I am/will be home looking after Lara for 2 weeks. Yes you guessed it, Lara is not well again. Mother-in-law offered to babysit for a couple of days next week so I can do some work.

Lara had a temperature from Monday night. I thought it to be the swimming class we went to that morning. But doctor diagnosed it to be a throat infection and said Lara would have caught it a few days earlier. She's on antibiotics again (her third course of antibiotics in three months!). This antibiotics (Abbocillin V) needs to be given four times a day (as supposed to Amoxil 3 times only), on empty stomach for 10 days. I'm constantly looking at the clock planning when to give food and antibiotics. Medicine seems to be working. Lara's not too bad at the moment - not happy only after waking up from a day sleep. The throat infection does put her off food.

As an example, for breakfast, she had two bites from a toast and didn't want it (I finished it off). I tried some cereal next, no luck either (so I ate that again). She spat the banana out, didn't even like watermelon. Lunch and dinner was a repeat of breakfast. So that was our day, trying and spiting different food out. I ended up finishing most of the uneaten food! She did have some instant noodles at the end. I realised I should have given her softer food because of her sore throat. The day goes faster than when I am at work, but very little to show for at the end of the day.

Husband, Parents-in-law and I all have a running nose and sore throat now. This cold was definitely worse than the last one we had. We are building up our patience and our skills to deal with cold/infection while Lara continues to build up her immune system.

[Jan -June 2007] Books & movies

Books I read some time ago:
The robber bride by Margaret Atwood.
Longitude by Dava Sobel (just finished)

Movies (DVD) we watched some time ago:
Evening
The night listener (Husband watched it and didn't like it)
No reservation (nothing special)
Potters (enjoyable)

Movies (DVD) we watched recently:
The Jane Austen Book Club
I am Legend (I only watched parts of it. Good but very bleak Husband says)

The robber bride by Margaret Atwood
This is my first book of Margaret Atwood. I enjoyed it. The story is about a woman called Zenia, her relationships with 3 female friends, who all had bad encounters with her and wished her dead at one time or another. The story is divided into three parts. The first part or a prologue was set at a cafe, where Zenia was seen by the 3 friends who attended her funeral a few years before (This part was outlined at the back cover, so I'm not giving the plot away). I was curious to find out what happened, and why everyone hated her. The second part was broken into different sections, where the stories of how each friend knew Zenia 20 years ago were told. This part was the longest and the most interesting. The story then jumped back to the present, the cafe scene to conclude. Margaret Atwood is a very competent writer. I rather she doesn't play with words so much. If I have to pick anything, the ending is a little weak. I'm interested to read more of Atwood's books.

Longitude by Dava Sobel
A very well-written book. The author writes beautifully and she makes a dull history lesson appears quite interesting. It did take me some time to read this book I have to admit, history being one of my worst subjects in school. Many of the facts and people mentioned in the book also sounded interesting. It will be good to read it in depth and go over the parts I don't get later. It'll also be a fun book to read with Lara when she's a little older. It really touched me to read about people devoting their whole lives to a single cause (for example, observing the movements of the moon for 40 years) that they believe in. It's sad to read about how human weakness (or conflict of interests) sometimes make us go backwards (we are our own worst enemies sometimes!). This is a very uplifting book. It makes me realise how small and insignificant we are in the whole scheme of things but every little effort makes a difference.

I didn't enjoy "Evening" the movie. I think the director is trying too hard and over complicate the story. Clair Danes was good but Toni Collette's character is totally unconvincing. Not recommended.
"The Jane Austen Book Club" is great. A definite chick movie but even Husband enjoyed it. I realised I have actually read the book (about 3-4 years ago) half an hour into the movie. The book didn't make any impact (otherwise I would remember I read it), the movie did though. All parts are well-acted and I love the chemistry between Jocelyn (Maria Bello) and Grigg (Hugh Dancy-looks super cute in the movie!). I will be buying the dvd to keep with my other favorite chick movies:)

Lara's cot quilt

My mother-in-law bought some nice material last year to do a cot quilt for Lara. She put the whole thing together very quickly then handed it to me to hand-quilted the top. I started in November before the hot of summer and I remembered thinking yeah easy I'll surely have it completed well before winter is here.

Well ... I just finished it (thank god it's still winter!) and it's on Lara's cot! Even though Lara's too young to stay underneath it, it should at least provide some warmth in those cold winter mornings.

[1y 5m] Climbing

Lara is nearly 18 months! Highlights this months:

* Know what she wants - cried in protest when I broke a biscuit into half and gave her the smaller one - she wanted the bigger half!

* Used the word "more" for every situation. The easiest one to figure out is when she points to her empty food bowl and says "more". When she holds her hands up and says "more", this could mean either her hands are dirty (she wants them wiped) or she wants water to drink. "More" sometimes also means blanket, go out and read a book or other object she wants me to get.

* Really into climbing. Climbs on chairs, boxes, coughes and high chair. Lara can climb the barrier we put up in front of the kitchen entrance quicker than I can turn around.

* Fussy with food at the beginning of the month. Eats better after I reduced her formula feed. I think I simply gave her too much milk that she was too full for anything else.
* Able to feed herself and get most of the food (80%?) into her mouth (yeah!).
* Hold a spoon (& scribble) with either hand with equal competence. No preference with either hand.

* Everything round (including our lemons and oranges in the garden) is an "apple". Lara says "cars" (pointing to one), "sit " (sounds more like 'shit') and really tries to copy things we say. "da da" is the guy in "Play School", the author of one of her story books and a few other people on TV.

* Kisses, feeds and pats her "baby".


* Favorite cartoon is "In the night garden" (not my favorite).
* Favorite fruits are mandarin and oranges. Loves watermelon too. Prefers a youghurt dip I made on bread rather than vegemite on toast. Wants to drink everything we drink (white wine, tea, yukult and fresh carrot/celery/cabbabe juice)

* Likes to take tissues out of tissue box.
* Scream in delight when she sees animals/birds on TV.
* Loves and tries to sing "Ba Ba Black Sheep"
* Covers her mouth when others are coughting. (we taught her to cover her mouth when she coughs).

* Obviously loves to clean (see below)

Beautiful quilts at 2008 Craft show

I spent a enjoyable day at the Craft show in Darling Harbour with Gabs today. We started at 10am and by 3pm, we were both exhausted! I didn't really buy anything nor did I want to buy anything - I've got enough unfinished craft projects to do! I just felt like a day out to see what was there and hopefully get inspired. It is one of my resolutions to make my own patchwork quilt(s) one day. Hopefully I'm getting closer to that goal.

This is one of my favorite quilts at the show. Looks like the judges liked it too.


This quilt was made by a 7-year old. It also won a prize in the junior quilter category. What a clever seven year old!! This picture encouraged me to make a start soon.


I like the colour of this one, a clever design too.


This looked stunning from afar. I think I should start with a simple square one that doesn't require complicated maneuvers of a sawing machine. I actually saw a quilt at the show that could be my first project. I didn't buy the kit ($150) as it would only fit on top of a single bed. Am I being too ambitious to want to do a quilt for our king-size bed as a first quilt project?

Night cooking

In order to have a decent meal at night, I resorted to a lot of night cooking. I would start cooking after we had dinner for the following night. So far this works well for dishes like stews, pasta sauces etc that require a long cooking time.

I have also stocked the fridge with bread rolls and garlic bread. More soups next week?

Lara's new trick

I don't remember how it first started, but the night Lara found out what she could do, she went around this little 'circuit' many times! Where did she get her energy from after a long day at day care?

This behaviour is now strongly discouraged as it usually ends up in crying - Lara fell or slipped and hurt herself in some way. Besides, we don't really want her doing this while we are not looking. The little side table will have to go soon!

Appreciate life

Life is hectic at least 3 mornings a week when I get Lara ready for daycare (a great deal of patience is required to try to feed breakfast quickly to a kid who is not particularly interested in eating at that hour), and myself ready for work. I honestly don't have time or don't even remember to brush my hair some mornings.

The half-an-hour drive to work is my "me-time" when I think about the day ahead and contemplate life. I was particularly busy, and there were work problems I didn't know how to solve yet. I reminded myself that it is my JOB to solve these problems - if things are always OK, I would not be required at work. However, it didn't do a lot to help me feel less stressed.

One day two weeks ago, while I was thinking about things in the car, I caught myself wishing that time would pass faster and all my little work problems would go away. Then it suddenly hit me. THIS IS LIFE!! Good or bad, I only live this life once! I shouldn’t "wish my life away". I should appreciate life and all it has to offer!! Be grateful that I'm doing exactly what I wanted working 3 days a week!

This feels especially true, two weeks later, after hearing some sad news about a friend's current health situation. It was very sad and unfortunate that this had to happen at all. But looking from a different angle, it was also very lucky that the problem was discovered now rather than later. I have you in my thoughts and hope you get better soon PY.

p.s. I found when I had "gratitude" in my heart, all the little work problems seemed less important and somehow they were all solved magically as the day progressed.