O' Christmas Tree

What can a Christmas tree cookie cutter do? Here're three things:

1) Christmas Tree decorations

Our Christmas tree was looking pathetically underdressed so I decided to hand-make some extra decorations using some green, red and white felt cloth. I bought a pack of kiddie craft glitters, beads and buttons and had some fun with KK and XX pasting the shiny beads onto the felt cut-outs.

This one's decorated by KK.

2) Christmas Card

Trace the shape on felt, sew on a few beads, glue on a glittering string and paste it on a card paper to make a special card!

3) Christmas Cookies

And of course, Christmas cookies! Drizzle some chocolate across the trees, sprinkle some hundreds and thousands and voila! A delicious and edible Christmas treat!

Merry Christmas everyone!

XX is 3!

XX turned 3 years old last week and we celebrated the occasion in a low key manner. No big party at indoor playgrounds like his brother and only a small cake cutting ceremony at home with a few close friends after dinner outside. It has been communicated to the boys that they will take turns having parties each year. So next year, it will be KK's turn to go low-key.

Nevertheless we did something special for the day. We bought our bikes out for the first time and went cycling at the You Yangs Regional Park together with our friend Ken. Well, it was more like "attempted to go cycling". The You Yangs was no East Coast Park and we had no idea about the challenges of mountain biking on natural (and unpaved) terrains.

We finally found the parking place after more than one hour's search, by which time it was time for lunch. After gobbling down some sandwiches, we set off, with flies buzzing annoyingly in our faces, on one of the easiest tracks, or so we thought. Within a kilometre, we met an upslope. It wasn't very steep but halfway up, KK showed signs of exhaustion. He had to stop frequently to rest and drink water. Finally he informed that he couldn't go on anymore. We decided to turn back to the starting point to see if there is another even easier track. At which point, I also got a stomachache and had to use the 'compost toilet' there. It was, as the name implies, a toilet that uses natural decomposition in its treatment of your matters. No water, no sanitation. Regardless, I was very much appreciative of its presence in the wilderness.

Ken and Hubby (with XX behind on his child seat) went a little way more exploring the tracks but KK and I stayed at the carpark. He, too tired to move, while I anticipate another visit to the compost toilet. Our energies have been so focused on the cycling that we forgot all about taking pictures along the way.

Not satisfied with our short-lived cycling efforts, we decided to head for Williamstown beach afterwards. This is like Singapore's East Coast Park, with paved tracks and the sea view. KK did much better here and we finally did some justice to our new wheels. XX of course had no problems either way as he was being ferried all the way on Papa's bike.

I returned home and quickly set about frosting XX's car cake which I had baked and assembled the night before. XX had requested for a "strawberry and car cake", strawberries and cars being two of his favourite things in the world. I did a strawberry cupcake recipe and decided to give him a pink car cake. It was trickier than I thought, getting the cream cheese frosting to turn pink! Despite adding strawberry jam followed by raspberry coulis which I made last minute by cooking raspberries and some sugar, the icing only turned as far as a salmon pink. If I had some red colouring, a drop would have saved all my trouble but unfortunately, I don't.

We had a good and literally big dinner at Lazy Moes restaurant. When we came home, our 2 little guests have arrived to help sing the birthday song. XX seemed to have a much better idea than last year about his special day. He looked happily at his car cake, bounced excitedly up and down when the birthday song was sang for him and coolly blowed the 3 candles one by one. It was his special moment.

We had fun talking with our friends over tea and eating XX's salmon pink car cake with chocolate wheels. And guess what? He ate only the chocolate wheels instead!

(ps- have trouble uploading the photos, will try again later)

Christmas time is here

Christmas is drawing near and my sister asked me in an email how's our Christmas like in Australia. I replied that it's as usual, visiting friends who had invited us to their house, giving presents and children receiving/opening presents. When I had a chance to give it deeper thoughts later, I realised that I hadn't painted her the whole picture.

Sure, it is universal that during Christmas season, the shopping centers (and even some houses) are gaily decorated - Christmas trees, glittering lights, artificial snow flake cutouts and inflatable Santa Clauses. The tradition of presents (or pressies as they call it here) giving helps the toy departments generate their highest sales of the year and keeps the cash register merrily ringing. One can't help but get rolled into the festive mood as year-end party invitations roll in. But as far as Australia's concerned, that's where all the similarity ends.

Despite our four seasons, we are on the wrong side of the equator. So banish any childhood illusions about a snow-filled white winter wonderland and forget any fantasies about singing christmas carols by a warm fireplace or making Frosty the snowman outside your house. I just realised that all our favourite christmas carols ("I'm dreaming of a white christmas...", "In the meadow we can build a snowman...") were created for the people in the Northern Hemisphere and not very suitable down south. Even Santa Claus. The big old man would be suffering heat stroke in his thick beard and fur-lined red suit here. His reindeer is better off replaced with a Toyota 4-wheel drive and a trailer instead of sleigh.


Instead of arriving our hosts' houses in winter boots and wrapped in scarves, people will most likely wear slippers and bring chilled beers. Roast turkey and Christmas ham still feature popularly in the menus but it is more likely that people will do an outdoor BBQ, with sizzling sausages and a cold salad. The Aussies slap on the SPF 30+ sunblocks and head to the beaches and parks during this time of the year for picnics, BBQs and sun tanning.


Since I come from tropical Singapore, I hadn't noticed much difference between my past Christmases and now. But I wonder for people who had come to live in Australia from the northern parts of the world, how would they feel about the absolute difference in Christmas temperature and scenary. Is their Christmas mood affected in any way?


Despite all these, the Aussies for a fact enjoy their Christmas anyway. There might be a total fire ban, it's stinkin hot and there're lots of flies. But who cares. It's the end of the year, school summer holidays has started and what better excuse to have a good time with family and friends. The Aussies have a great sense of humour and to end off, I'll like to share a Fair Dinkum Aussie Christmas song by Bucko & Champs. It's rewritten to the tune of the Australian anthem. For those who know the tune, try singing it.

Australians Let Us Barbecue

Australians let us barbeque for Christmas time is here

A time to stop and rest a bit, and psych up for New Year

On patterned plastic tablecloth we'll eat our pudding up

And drink a Christmas cordial in polystyrene cup

Australians let us barbeque for Christmas time is here

The time we sing that silly song 'Pa Ruppa Pum Pum Pum'

We'll fa la la and ho ho ho, and all that Christmas stuff

We'll crack a gag with Pop and Gran, and chuckle our heads off

Australians let us go for broke in backyards great and small

With Christmas gifts and outdoor chairs, with cricket bat and ball

We'll pass the salad dressing round, we'll eat potato chips

And compliment the hostess on a great French onion dip

With sausages and coleslaw too, then let us barbeque

To all my readers, have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!

Events & Milestones

It's been 2 weeks since my last post and there's plenty to update.

Reading Pleasure

Personally, I have been spending a lot of my time reading. I cannot remember a time since my teenage years when I can afford to sit down to really enjoy a book during working hours and even read late into the night. For many years, the only thing I could find time to read was The Straits Times and in recent years, it wasn't even the printed version. But the other day, I took my book outside, sat on our newly acquired foldable camping chairs and had a good 30 minutes of reading in the sunshine, while XX busied himself piling rocks in the backyard. It was a great feeling.

XX and his improvised garden gloves

All my readings have been books borrowed from the local library. It is interesting to note that we have never made as good a use of libraries as now. I must credit the city council here for stocking up their libraries well. Each library card entitles you up to 20 books and 5 DVDs. We will get the children 10 - 15 books each time we visit the library. Their children's books are mostly hard covered, very recent and in very good condition. The book that caught my eye and started me on my reading spree was "Dance of 17 lives: The incredible true story of Tibet's 17th Karmapa" by Mick Brown. From there, it got me interested in Tibet's history and culture, so my next book was "Seven Years in Tibet" by Heinrich Harrer. I seem to have changed my usual liking for fiction and am discovering that biographies and true stories of real live people can be very educational and intriguing as well. Currently I'm reading about "Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne" by Ben Hills.





Cycling Fun

Look mum! I can balance!

One fine day near the end of November, KK finally learnt to ride a bicycle. Yes, without the trainer wheels! It happened unexpectedly. Sunday, my friend lent us an old bicycle for KK to practice. Monday after school, Hubby coached him in the backyard. Then they went out to the pavement outside our house for more road and one hour later, he reported that KK had gotten it and had cycled to his friend's house nearby. I was surprised. Previously, about 1-2 years ago, we had tried to teach him how to ride but he was quite afraid and later refused to try again. I guess this time he's ready, that's why it didn't take him too long to learn it. The next day, my boy started cycling to school and back. Hubby still accompany him as he may not be too good when crossing the roads. Luckily, his school is within the estate so they are not major junctions.




Arising from KK's cycling ability, Hubby began to seriously consider this a wonderful family hobby and started actively looking around to equip us all with bicycles. Yesterday, we bought 3 new bicycles, for KK, myself and Hubby. He also bought a rack that can hold up to four bikes behind the car and is now in the midst of geting a tow bar fixed to our car. We have the intention of bringing our bicycles to the great outdoors during the weekends for cycling on trails and having picnics.





Berries Picking







Bicycle hunting aside, we have been occupying our weekends going berries picking. The next weekend after our Bacchus Marsh outing, we drove 1.5 hours to Dandenong Ranges. Our original plan was cherry picking, but we found the entrance fee of $7 per person into the orchard too ridiculous. Last minute, we drove to Chappies farm (21 Parker Rd, Silvan) and found they had raspberries and blackberries for picking. It was our first time picking raspberries. In fact, it was our first time seeing the raspberries growing on trees. Most of the time, we see raspberries in plastic boxes or frozen in boxes, but now they're as fresh as can be. To pluck them, you gently hold the fruit between your fingers and pull. If they're ripe, they'll come off easily, leaving the stem and the core on the tree. Raspberries are incredibly fragile and almost as soon as they leave the tree, they start to degenerate (if that's the right word). Thus most of the time, the raspberries you see in supermarkets looks smashed and not at all fresh. I froze all my raspberries separately as soon as I reached home and only defrost how many I need every time.

Clowning around in a gigantic fruit basket




The next day, we went again to Bacchus Marsh, this time with some friends, to get more strawberries and try our luck at cherry picking again. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't so good and after the strawberries picking, just as we were about to go into the cherries orchard, it started drizzling. We decided to adjourn for lunch but by the time we returned to the orchard again, they had no more cherries left. KK was extremely disappointed.

Surrounded by raspberries

This weekend, we set off again, for the third time, to the cherries orchard at Bacchus Marsh. The weather was good but the orchard didn't have much cherries as the earlier rain had destroyed much of the crop. Nevertheless, knowing how disappointed KK will be if we walked away unsuccessful again, I insisted on going in to try our luck. It was indeed true that much of the cherries on the trees were half rotten. We tried very hard and could only collect about 200-300 grams. A Singaporean lady I met there told me they got a harvest of 6 kilos the last time they came. Regardless, this little adventure of peeping our heads into the cherry trees and novelty of plucking your own cherries was enough to satisfy KK.




Baking

With so much to do, sewing, blogging and baking took a backseat. However, I still managed to make a few batches of cupcakes. Thanks to the book "Tempt" by Betty Saw, which my friend lent me, I followed 3 of her recipes to much success. The chocolate cupcakes were a hit with the boys in my family. They were moist ,soft and chocolatey. And unlike western cupcakes, you don't need to pile on a topping of supersweet icing sugar to make them yummy. The other good thing about her recipes is the portions are quite small, churning out about 8 - 10 large cupcakes each batch. Though cupcakes can be frozen, there isn't such a neccesity cos they don't last for more than 2 days.

Chocolate Cupcakes topped with chocolate ganache and fresh handpicked strawberries and raspberries

I also baked some mini apple pies yesterday. The recipe was a tried and tested one but the mini tart presentation was something new for me. It was lots of work actually, making the shortcrust biscuit base, pressing out each disc for the tart base and then cutting thin strips of puff pastry to make a netted cover. Not to mention coring and cutting the apples and cooking them partially. Still the results were worth it. They look quite presentable and taste good too.

School


The latest thing to update is, XX officially started going to playschool today at a nearby child care center. It's only once a week and for half a day initially. I don't actually need the child care facility, though a few hours of personal time once a week is nice, and I'm not expecting the child care to teach him anything I haven't already taught. I'm just hoping that XX will get used to the idea of going to school, of being around people other than his immediate family and to be independent. It's a growing up process that every kid goes through and with compulsory kindergarten when he turns 4, I think it's time for him to move on to this stage. I had talked to him about school recently, to prep him and get him psychologically ready. He seemed very eager and showed no signs of protest, even when I told him that mummy will not be around. So how did he fare?





This morning, a mini-tantrum errupted that threatened to assasinate our attempts to create a happy, positive mood before going to school. Luckily, I managed to get him distracted and the 'crisis' did not escalate. He happily carried his Snoopy backpack and walked into the center. He hung his bag on a hook provided for him and goes into the room. One of our friends worked there and she immediately got XX to play with some dinosaurs. I know he will be in good hands. We said goodbye and left. No reaction from him. Everything so far so good. Hubby and I went home for breakfast and then went to K-mart to shop for our bicycle helmets. As we were about to walk into another shop, Hubby's phone rang. One hour after we had left XX at the child care center, we had to go back and bring him back. He had been crying to go home. When we got to see him, he was being carried by our friend and still sobbing. Nonetheless, we praised him for that one hour and hopefully he'll do better next week.