Waffles, Cookies, Porridge and Toy Rotation

We've had cherries so big that Tabby needs to eat them in bites, like an apple.  She is very good at spitting out the pip.

Eating cherries and having a cuddle with Daddy:

Believe it or not (and if you live in Melbourne or Sydney, you will certainly believe it), amongst these hot days, we've had a fair number of cold, rainy days too.  I don't mind - I use it as an excuse to cook my cool-weather favourites such as paprika chicken with buttered spaetzle:

And enormous platters of schnitzel with fresh parsley and lemon juice:

I can eat my own weight in schnitzel, no lie.

Cooler days mean porridge - I've been experimenting with Steel Cut Oats.  These have a superior taste, texture and nutritional value to classic rolled oats (I'm leaving out 'instant oats' as I don't consider them worthy of the name porridge).  The problem is, steel cut oats take forever to cook.  I've been told to soak them overnight and then cook for around 30 minutes, stirring semi-regularly, over low heat.  I have not yet managed to have them cooked to my liking in less than an HOUR!

Standing and stirring for a full hour, first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, is not fun.  To say the least.  I am keen to keep trying though - I might try cooking them in a low oven, or soaking for longer.   At any rate, I am perfectly happy with my Carmen's Classic Oats (rolled oats) which take around ten minutes on the stovetop.  So I may well give up on the steel cut oats soon - but they do have a fabulous chewy texture, and they are one of the most filling foods I've ever eaten.

If you're interested in giving them a go, there is loads of information online - I use around 2 parts water to 1 part milk.

Porridge is one of Tabitha's favourite foods - she loves the steel cut version too.

Her cutlery skills are going brilliantly - she can easily manage a bowl of porridge on her own, with no spills.  Even, as below, if I give her a full size spoon (all the small ones were in the dishwasher):

 

I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies for Tabitha's godmother Sophie's birthday.  These are the recipe from the Milk and Cookies Bakery in NYC.  You might remember that I've posted about them before?  They contain oats, blitzed in the food processor to become a coarse flour.  They are brilliant.  Last time I posted the recipe, I mentioned that I was going to try them again with less butter (see post HERE).  I did, and I now bake these with 2/3 of the original butter, or 8 ounces, which is (conveniently) just a fraction under a 250g block of butter.

I've posted the revised recipe below, in more useful metric measurements.

Here is a big pudding basin full of the dough - this cookie dough benefits immensely from a couple of days in the fridge, wrapped well with cling film.  I'd recommend 48 hours, and no less than 24 hours, in the fridge before cooking.  You can also roll balls of this (after the resting period) and freeze them in snap lock bags - you can bake them straight from frozen!

Here is the revised metric recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

220g old-fashioned rolled oats

220g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

225g unsalted butter, at room temperature

200g white sugar

200g brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

In a food processor, blitz the oats until they are finely ground.  Transfer to a mixing bowl, and stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Put the butter in the bowl of a standing mixer, and mix on medium speed for a couple of minutes, until light and creamy (do NOT beat on high speed - the friction generated begins to melt the butter slightly, which affects the absorption of the liquid into the flour.  It's a minor, fussy thing, but trust me)

With the motor running, gradually add the sugars, beating on medium until light and creamy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat to incorporate, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition with a spatula.

Beat in the vanilla, and then slowly beat in the dry mixture and the chocolate chips.

When the mixture is still streaky, remove the mixture and very lightly knead together on a well-floured board (sometimes I do this, sometimes I don't).

Wrap the mixture in clingfilm, or in a bowl with clingfilm pressed over, and keep in the fridge for 24 - 48 hours.

Form the dough into tablespoonful sized balls, and place (5cm or so apart) on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper.

Bake for around 12 minutes, or until lightly browned in the middle.  When you take them from the oven, use the baking paper to immediately remove the cookies onto a wire rack - otherwise they will keep cooking on the hot tray.

Cookies are always a good birthday present.  For Sophie, we added a cute knitting book:

Tabitha was very excited to have a visit from Sophie! 

More cherry eating in the back yard:

Vampire baby, dripping with crimson cherry juice:

I've chatted to lots of people about toy rotation lately.  I think it's an excellent idea, however, in practice, I tend to keep a small collection of 'favourite' toys out, and rotate the books and smaller toys weekly.  Below is the group of favourite toys, which get tucked neatly into the corner of the living room, beside the bookshelf.  This group includes:  the ride-on Wheely Bug pig, a tea set, a set of 100 wooden blocks, a set of alphabet plastic 'Peek-a-Blocks', a spinning top, a pull-along cat, a box of cardboard Maisy Mouse stacking blocks, and a hammer-ball wooden toy (which I enjoy nearly as much as Tabby for some reason!)

Next to this collection, in the bookshelf, I keep a pull-out basket full of smaller toys, which I do rotate (I keep the others in a large drawer elsewhere).  For example, this week, there is felt playfood, finger puppets, some felt animals and a fun 'bullfrog book' which is part book, part hand-puppet.

I rotate the picture books every few days - partially for my own sanity.  Tabitha has around 80 picture books and board books (we are lucky to get lots of great hand-me-ons from my sister and cousins), but there are around a dozen favourites, and there is only so many times I can read 'I Went Walking' without getting bored!

Here is today's collection of books - each will be read several times before the day is through:

One area where I cannot, and would not, rotate toys is in Tabitha's cot.  She is quite attached to her collection of 'sleep toys', which includes a soft lambswool 'Flat Out Bear', an organic wool lamb, a Steiner baby doll, and two plastic soft-body babies:

I've had a waffle iron for over 6 years, but in all that time, have never managed to cook a waffle I was really thrilled with.  After much reading and experimenting, I have come up with the Ultimate Waffle Recipe!

It's crispy, full of flavour and, to my tastes, the best home waffle I've had.  If you have a waffle iron (I recommend - you can pick up my great Breville one for less than $40 I think), I recommend giving this recipe a go.

Crisp Buttermilk Waffles

200g plain flour

60g cornflour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1.5 cups buttermilk

½ cup milk

180ml canola oil

2 large eggs, separated

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius.

Mix the flour, cornflour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl.

Combine the buttermilk, milk, and oil in a measuring jug, then lightly whisk in the egg yolks.  Set aside.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Add the sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.

Fold through the whipped egg whites, gently with a large metal spoon or spatula, until just combined.

Pour the batter onto the hot waffle iron (around half a cup per waffle) and cook until the waffle is crisp and golden - with this recipe, if you try and lift the lid before it's cooked, it will pull apart.  So if the lid doesn't lift easily, the waffle probably isn't done yet.  You might need to experiment with the heat dial on your iron - I set mine to a little hotter than medium.

As you cook the waffles, sit them on the oven rack, in a single layer, to keep them warm and crisp (do not stack).  Once they are cooked, serve straight away!

You can freeze extra cooked waffles, and re-heat them in the toaster for a quick morning waffle hit.

We like to serve these with plenty of maple syrup, and either double cream or ice cream.

Dinner, Children's Literature and Doll Blankets

At this time of year, there are so many Christmas catch-ups, parties, dinners and the like, that on nights when we do not have some sort of eating occasion to attend or host, I try and cook something more snacky than substantial.  Tonight, I made oversized pumpkin scones (recipe HERE, I cut them into rounds about the size of an English muffin), split open, filled with Gruyere cheese, incredibly smokey Fernleigh Farms free range ham, and lots of my beloved Beerenberg green tomato pickles, then popped back into the oven to melt together:

Afterwards, we had more pumpkin scones with butter and plenty of golden syrup.  Pumpkin scones are good at any time of day.

My friend had a baby - I bought the baby a gorgeous little knitted sock monkey, but for her toddler girl (Tabitha's age), I crocheted a doll-sized blanket.  Everyone says you ought to take a small gift for the older sibling/s, so they don't feel left out, and I thought a special blankie for her baby dolls would be just about right:

Sock monkey on top, blanket on the bottom:

I mentioned months and months ago that I quite enjoy ironing Tabitha's little clothes - they are so cute, and don't take more than a minute per item, being so small.  It's like ironing dolls' clothes:

I've been re-reading many of my childhood favourite books lately - I don't know why, but it's suddenly all I feel like reading (children's fiction and books on backyard chook keeping, in preparation for getting some lovely Pekin Bantams next year).  In the past few weeks alone, I have re-read:

• The Railway Children
• Charlotte's Web (every time I read it, I enjoy it more)
• Stuart Little
• Famous Five books 1-4 (#3, Five Run Away Together, is one of my favourites, because of all the food)
• Little House in the Big Woods (my favourite of the Little House series)
• Mary Poppins (far better than the film, in my opinion)
• Malory Towers books 1-6
• Ballet Shoes (my sister's red toy Poodle, Posy, is named after one of the protagonists)
• Seven Little Australians
• What Katy Did

That is a lot of books to read in a few weeks, but that is part of the appeal - you can easily finish off a Famous Five book, or the like, in a day.  This can be very satisfying when your days are so fractured, chasing after a toddler - a couple of hours during nap, a few hours in the evening, and you have the satisfaction of having finished a whole book.

Pinky McKay

Do you know about Pinky McKay?  She is the author of some of my favourite parenting books - if you know someone who is expecting, or has a newborn, a Pinky book is such a beautiful, loving gift.  HERE is a list of Pinky's top tips for helping babies to sleep, well worth a gander.

Tabitha and I went along to the launch of Pinky's latest book, Parenting by Heart.  Pinky spoke for a bit about how important it is for mothers to always listen to their own instincts, and to their babies.  I read three of Pinky's books while I was pregnant, and I felt so prepared for the baby, knowing that as long as I always made decisions out of love, I would never make the 'wrong' parenting decision.

100 Ways to Calm the Crying is a brilliant book - particularly when pregnant, it is such a reassuring read.  It is highly empowering to feel that, no matter what, you will be able to soothe and calm your newborn.  Loads of the tips and techniques from this book are part of our everyday routine, and were particularly useful in the early weeks (newborns do tend to have spells in the evening of Just Crying, no matter what - my midwife constantly reassured me that this was perfectly normal, and at least by utalising some of Pinky's techniques, I felt vaguely useful!)

Sleeping Like a Baby is another winner.  This book helped us learn to 'read' Tabitha's cues, and learn to respond to her.   HERE is an excerpt from this book.

Parenting by Heart, the latest of her books, is a re-release of a previous version.  It has been updated and extended, and is now pretty much a 'how to' manual for the first year of a baby's life.  Parenting by Heart, along with a subscription to the Australian Breastfeeding Association, are my baby shower presents of choice!

I cannot recommend Pinky's books highly enough - everyone I know who has read any of her work raves about her.

Here is a photo of Tabitha and I with Pinky McKay.  'Scuse the cheesy smile:

Favourite Food Books

There are dozens and dozens of 'favourite' recipe books that I have on my bookshelf which I would consider well-known, owned by most of the food-obsessed.  For example, to list a few:

• Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion and The Garden Companion - the first, I read cover-to-cover when I was first given it, 7 years ago, and I now open it at least weekly, looking for reassurance of a basic muffin recipe, guidance on choosing a suitable fish for a curry, or simply to curl up and read about offal.
  
• Japanese Cooking A Simple Art* - an incredibly comprehensive, beautifully written and straightforward guide to Japanese cuisine, including tools and ingredients, theory behind meal composition and hundreds of recipes.
  
• Martha Stewart's Baking Companion - such pretty photographs!  An inspiring read whenever I feel like baking something ambitious, and a useful checkpoint for classic recipes.
  
• Nigella Lawson's How To Eat - I literally taught myself to cook using this book!  I was given it when I was around 20, and read it cover-to-cover at least three times during the first year I owned it.  It is probably the most battered, food-splattered and 'loved' book I own.  I learnt to cook brilliant roast chicken, pastry, custard, roasts, soups, stocks, as well as loads of great lunch and dinner menus.
  
• David Thompson's Thai Food (try and find the original pink fabric cover, so lovely) - David Thompson's knowledge of Thai food, from ingredients to recipes to history to customs, is legendary, and whenever I feel like cooking Thai, this is the first place I check.  It is also (in its original edition) one of the prettiest books on my shelves.
  
• Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook  - I was given this by my Godfather, whom I adore.  I have eaten at the Les Halles restaurant in New York, and the meal was extraordinarily good.  Nothing fancy - a rustic terrine, steak Bearnaise with frites, and a creme brulee - but one of the most memorable food experiences I've had.  The book reads like Bourdain speaks - that is, rough, direct and incredibly funny.  Worth reading even if you don't want to cook any of the recipes!
  
• Secrets of the Red Lantern - such a beautiful and haunting book.  The enticing and authentic Vietnamese recipes and interspersed with the bittersweet true story of the authors' family's journey from communist Vietnam to Australia, via refugee camps, leaking boats and a number of small business ventures.

The above are standards on any 'top cookbooks' list.  But now I hope to share some less well-known books, and maybe someone will discover a new favourite...

• Soul Food and Brown Sugar - the venerable Joyce White is arguably the Queen of Soul Food.  Her two hardcover books comprise of recipes collected from black churchgoers around North America, each with a little story about the contributor and their home church.  The recipes are well-tested, and are, on the whole, not shy of fat or butter.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Joyce for my thesis on American food and its relationship with community - she is so passionate, witty and warm, and listening to her talk would make even the most disciplined dieter yearn for chicken'n'dumplings, smothered chicken-fried steaks, spicy simmered greens and sky-high layer cakes covered in ethereal sugary frostings.
  
• Hungry Monkey- written by the laugh-out-loud funny Matthew Amster-Burton (restaurant critic and former rock journalist), Hungry Monkey comes with a ringing endorsement from Anthony Bourdain.  Subtitled 'a food-loving father's quest to raise an adventurous eater', this book (part recipe book, part memoir) chronicles Amster-Burton's life as a stay-at-home dad to little daughter Iris.  Their main common interest is food and cooking, and through the ages 0 - 4, Hungry Monkey shares hilarious anecdotes, tips and recipes for parents - and anyone else who enjoys food, really!  I initially stumbled across this book at the library, and devoured it in two days before running to purchase it online in hardcover.  I have since read it twice more.
  
• Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer - This is another book that I discovered by chance at the library, and instantly fell in love with.  For anyone who enjoyed losing themselves in books like Famous Five, Milly Molly Mandy and Paddington, this book is an absolute treasure.  Author Jane Brocket has created and refined recipes for so many literary favourites, from sticky marmalade buns to dense and fruity cherry cake to homemade lemonade for a picnic to treacle-laden rice pudding.  Each recipe begins with an introduction, describing the book and context from which it is taken.  The entire book is a joyously nostalgic journey - and best of all, the recipes are brilliant, I have yet to try one that isn't fabulous.
  
• Ladies, A Plate - given to me as a wedding present by two of my mother's lovely friends, both from New Zealand, this is a compilation of home recipes from women around New Zealand (recipes dating from between 1920 - 1970 on the whole).  The title comes from days of yore, when invitations to social events would conclude with the phrase, "ladies, a plate" meaning that women were expected to bring a plate of something homemade, sweet or savoury, to share.  My most frequently used recipes from this book are the date loaf, the Afghan biscuits and the chocolate Highlanders.
  
• Laura Calder's French Food at Home - this is 'home cooking', French-style.  Healthy, fresh ingredients, not too many of them, simple cooking instructions and lots of small dishes.  Canapes, entrees, salads, mains, light desserts - few are even vaguely demanding, most are perfect for after-work dinners or relaxed weekend lunches.  Some of the recipes I love from this book include salmon poached gently in olive oil;  'Housewife Chicken', a one-pan meal; chicken cooked in carrot juice (brilliant!); flounder cooked in parsley; and the most treasured recipe I have found, her instructions for scrambling eggs over low, low heat for close to 20 minutes - words cannot describe how good this is! There are no pictures whatsoever, which normally disapoints me in cookbooks, however Calder's writing is so evocative that I don't miss the photos, and still feel great motivation to try new dishes.  As a bonus, there are plenty of little notes and tips, for example on boning a bird or 'nice and useful things to know about souffles'.
  
• The Moosewood Cookbook - my parents were vegetarian when I was born (close to vegan, really), and my father even worked part-time at Soul Foods, which is something of an institution in Melbourne and was one of the first Vegetarian cafes.  The Moosewood Cookbook I own was their copy, and is well-loved.  A true celebration of all things hippy, the recipes are all hand-written, the pages covered in beautiful illustrations and swirls.  First published in 1977, it has since been revised, and I'm sure the new version is lovely too.  Even if you never cook 'vegetarian food', there are so many wonderful dips, salads, sides and vegetable dishes in the Moosewood.  The recipes cover a range of styles including recipes either taken from or inspired by the cuisines of Japan, Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Russia, America, Switzerland, Hungary, the Ukraine, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Balkans, Macedonia and others.  There are loads of really interesting (yet still simple) recipes, FAB desserts, and honestly, the pages are so beautiful that it's worth buying the book to read and admire.
  
• The Oxford Companion to Food - this is a reference book, not a recipe book, but for anyone who enjoys food, it's great to have on the bookshelf.  I often grab it to check something simple (for example, where Carob comes from) and find myself curled up with the oversized book, an hour later, immersed in a world of obscure mushrooms, the origins of bread, traditional cereal grains, or the history of African cooking.  It's also wonderful to have on hand to settle disputes, if you are nerdy enough to get into arguments over such things as to what dish the word 'Kugel' originally described.
  
• Bubby's Homemade Pies -I have a lot of pie books, and while I consider Ken Haedrich to be the expert on pies, Ron Silver ('Bubby') opened one of my favourite places to eat in New York, Bubby's, and this book, with its gorgeous cover, heavy-weight pages and elegant illustrations, is a real treasure.  Bubby's uses mostly organic, local ingredients, and makes everything from scratch, and this slow-food ethos is reflected in the book.  Recipes include, for example, a pear pie with caramel sauce and creme fraiche, a ginger-honey apple pie, home-made 'pop tarts', a goat-cheese pie with pomegranate molasses, as well as indulgent classics such as blueberry-peach pie, Southern-style fruit cobblers, sour-cherry lattice pie, pecan pie and chicken pot-pies with homemade stock, as well as recipes for things like marshmallows, candied pecans, ice creams and curds.  PS - go to the Bubby's website and check out the menus.  If you're anything like me, they will make you want to get on a plane right now to go eat some breakfast in NYC!
  
• James Lileks Gastroanomalies and The Gallery of Regrettable Food - Lileks collects hilarious, disturbing photographs of 'cuisine' from the 1950s and 1960s, annotating them with his own witty remarks.  The sort of books that leave you howling with laughter, tears rolling down your face...  for example, he laments the travesty of black-and-white newspaper food photography, with one image captioned 'meat or ice-cream?  Can you tell?'.  Take a sneak peak here, 

One last word - Booko.  I know everyone raves about Book Depository ('cheep cheep' prices and free delivery worldwide!) but you must use Booko.  It is an Australian site which scans the whole internet, in real time, and gives you a foolproof summary, in Australian dollars, of the total price (including shipping) of any book, collected from dozens of websites including Book Depository, Amazon, Readings etc.

*A funny story about my copy of Japanese Cooking - A Simple Art.  Years ago, in roughly 1985, I was a little girl and my father was studying psychology at university.  A classmate of his by the name of Roza Pakin lent him her copy of this book - she wrote her name and home phone number in the front cover.  It was a new book, and being such a large hardcover, would have been very expensive.  Anyway, Roza stopped turning up to lectures, and at the end of the semester, dad called her number (no answer) and even tried going to her house (she'd since moved).  So dad kept the book - but he was always so tortured about not being able to return it (and with the name glaring at him every time it was opened) that he could never bring himself to use it!  Dad is the sort of guy who drives 30 minutes out of his way to return money if a shop accidentally gives him $20 extra change, you see.  So a couple of years ago, he passed it on to me.  I adore it, and use it loads.  But if anyone knows the whereabouts of Roza Pakin, I will happily return it.  Maybe ;)

Toys

When I was pregnant, I kept falling in love with really beautiful, simple, classic and often Waldorf-style toys.  My mother kept telling me that even though I liked these toys, the baby would prefer colourful, garish and loud toys, whether I liked it or not!  I would pick up some stunning pastel blocks, and mum would laugh and point to a pile of brightly coloured plastic rings.

Being stubborn, I persisted and bought lots of simple toys.  They look gorgeous in her nursery (we call it that even though she sleeps in our room), and she likes to chew on some of them, but overall she does prefer the hideous colourful Lamaze-style toys.  Que sera, sera.  I just make sure that I choose good quality colourful toys, without BPA and generally from Europe.  These toys are generally a little more expensive, but I feel more confident that they are free of scary things like lead paint, and the quality is brilliant so I know they will last for a long time.  And we both love Sophie the Giraffe - what is it about this simple toy that all babies love so much?!

Some of the pretty toys that her Mummy likes:

The sort of toys that Tabitha prefers - this one makes a jaunty barn-dance style musical outburst when you touch the hand pads.  This elicits peals of hysterical laughter from Tabby:

 

My mother bought Tabby a lovely wooden colourful fish that moves around when you hold it.  It is a perfect mix of classic wooden, and colourful baby-friendly.  Tabitha likes it - but she prefers a hot pink plastic cup from Ikea that mum also had lying around.  Ahhh babies!

 

Speaking of toys - isn't my sister's toy poodle Posy beautiful?  She is a little exuberant, being only two years old, but is very sweet.  She weighs less than 2.5kg.  I had a little black toy poodle, Alice, for nearly 18 years.  She passed in April, two years ago.  In fact, she passed the day that Posy was born, which is a massive coincidence.  Alice was the most beautiful soul I've known.  I might talk more about her one day.  Anyway, here is Posy:

While I had the camera out at mum and dad's, I snapped a photo of my mother's Limoges tea set.  I adore the pretty colours, like a pile of jewels.  I wish these lived in my house!

 Look!  Tabitha can sit up now!  She will sit up and hold a toy and generally freak out with excitement until she gets so excited that she wriggles too much and falls over:

She is also nearly crawling.  For a few days she's been up on her hands and knees, rocking, and now she can take one or two 'steps' of crawling forward.  Won't be long now - uh oh!

 One of Tabitha's other new favourite things to do is to wave around a colourful, noisy maraca, and then giggle when Possum (our youngest cat) bats his paw at it.  It keeps both of them happy for quite a while!

My current favourite places to buy toys are:

• Jasper Junior - really the best toy store in Melbourne, in my opinion.  Located in a few places including Royal Arcade and Chadstone, stocks the most beautiful stuffed toys, wooden toys, wind-up and tin toys, little cars, art sets, hand puppets, costumes, dollhouses, and so much more.
• Parenthood - there are two locations, both near my house, so I often pop into Parenthood if I need a gift.  It has a great range of books and toys for ages 3 - 10 in particular.  Also really lovely Christening / birthday / new baby cards.
• Windmill - primarily educational toys, this store supplies a lot of kindergartens and schools.  Lots of large wooden items like play kitchens, balance bikes, puzzles, art supplies and lots more.
• Honeybee - this is such a beautiful little shop.  I always feel very peaceful and happy when I walk in.  They have incredible wooden sets of Noah's arks, castles, dollhouses etc., lots of Waldorf and Steiner toys, art supplies, great European baby toys and teethers, music etc.
• Readings - although a book store, I definitely consider books to be toys, and Readings is really one of the best book stores around.

Last Minute Christmas. And Bowling.

It's just crazy how I always do SO much preparation for Christmas in advance, believing that I have all my shopping and organising done by late November, yet I am always running to and from Chadstone, Camberwell and South Yarra in the days leading up to Christmas!

On Tuesday I had the assistance of my lovely cousin Juliette, visiting from Tasmania - she helped me lug pumpkins and large boxes of waxy potatoes and tins of duck fat and 48 eggs (lots of custard to be made!) etc. all over Camberwell market.  Naturally, I treated her to lunch!

On Wednesday, I jumped onto Twitter and noticed that I had won an ice-cream Christmas pudding from Trampoline!  So I had to go back to Camberwell and collect that - it is a beauty.  Large and made of pudding-flavoured chunky ice cream, topped with a cute slather of white chocolate.  It is also taking up a large amount of precious space in the freezer!

Also on Wednesday I did lots of last-minute shopping at Chadstone - extra wrapping paper and ribbons, forgotten gifts, 12 vanilla beans at Simon Johnson (again, that bloody custard), more duck fat etc.  Then back to Camberwell (third time in two days) for Gold Class vouchers.

Last night I gift wrapped to near breaking point.  40+ gifts, all wrapped and ribboned.  I think I have done permanent damage to my back from bending over the coffee table!  But gosh they do look pretty.  Will post photos when I get a moment.

This morning I went BACK to Chadstone!  Met my mother and sister for breakfast at Capitol Kitchen, leaving Tabitha at home with The Daddy.  Was quite luxurious being able to enjoy a leisurely, hot coffee - I normally refrain from hot beverages as Tabitha is a Grabby Baby and lunges at anything on the table to pull over herself.  Then helped my mother pick out lots of beautiful gifts at Tiffany & Co (do click on the Australian website and have a look at the beautiful Christmas campaign, with the most beautiful family and little girl in a stunning grey coat).  So many pretty sparkly things!  Saw a lovely 'Manhattan' themed plate that I plan on buying for Tabitha when we are in NYC in May.  While at Tiffany, I suddenly realised that my 'T' alphabet pendant necklace which I bought at Tiffany in 2004 in NYC, which I adore however never wear because it is silver, can of course be passed on to Tabitha!  That is one advantage to sharing the first initial of our names - this DISadvantage is that I have noticed people mix us up a lot, calling myself Tabitha and the baby Talia.  I don't mind, Tabitha is a lovely name.

For lunch, The Daddy, Tabitha and I went and met two of our favourite friends, Ruby and Sarah, for pre-Christmas drinks and BOWLING.  We went to Strike on Chapel Street.  I am a dreadful bowler - I think that the girls thought I was being dramatic, until they watched gutter-ball after gutter-ball!  Strike was loud and fun and we all had loads of fun dancing around with giggly Tabitha - she thoroughly enjoyed our silliness.

Here is Tabitha with The Daddy:

Here are our scary shoes:

Here is Tabitha being loved to bits:

 Here is an indication of how dismal I am at bowling:

Here is bowling PRO Ruby teaching Tabitha about bowling technique.  Tabitha weighs less than the ball!

Here is The Daddy threatening to bowl Tabitha:

Here is Tabitha trying out her bowling skills:

Here is manic and over-excited Tabitha with Auntie Ruby and Auntie Sarah:

Nawwww so cute:

Once again, Tabitha is being 'bowled'!  PS - hey Ruby, would you like to swap legs with me?!

Came home after all that and had a nice quiet afternoon playing and singing with Tabitha.  Marred by one small incident - I was dusting and marveling at how quietly and contentedly she was playing on the rug, until I looked closer and noticed that she had IN HER MOUTH one of the cats' manky little chewed up fur mouse toys!  Both cats were sitting watching closely, wanting their mouse back but not daring to get too close to the Grabby Baby.  Ewwww.  I gagged a little and fished the mouse out.  Yuk.

In more cheerful edible news, I discovered today that Tabitha adores avocado!  It has been the best reaction to any food so far - we shared some toast with avocado, and as soon as she tasted the fruit, her whole face lit up and she turned to me with a grin.  She then proceeded to suck the bejesus out of three fingers of toast, getting every last bit of avocado off, and eating some of the toast as well.  No vomiting!  She then tried to get all the smeared avocado off her hands.  And the table.  With her tongue.  Very, very cute.  I am absolutely thrilled, because I adore avocado - and I have even bought her a special book called The Avocado Baby for Christmas, which I had as a baby myself (because I too loved avocado!)  I was really impressed also with how well she manipulated the toast fingers - her dexterity has progressed so much, it is incredible to behold at 6 months.  She can really effectively pick up a piece of toast, turn it up the right way, and hold it to her mouth while she eats.  I am so proud!

Tomorrow we have my Aunt Annette and Uncle Keenan (which makes them sound terribly old - they aren't really, they are my mother's half-sister and half-brother, and are my age) coming for a proper Christmas lunch, along with my father, mother, sister and cousin Juliette.  Will be wonderful!