Baby Led Weaning Tips - Part Two

A while ago, I did a post with some tips on baby led weaning.

I finally got around to writing another post on this.  It's a real learning experience for us all - a wonderful one!  Tabitha is learning about new tastes and textures, and her fine motor coordination is increasing dramatically every day.  She can pick up a few grains of rice in between thumb and forefinger, making it quite easy for her to eat rice now.

I apologise in advance if I have already mentioned any of these on the blog!

• I find I steam or roast a lot of vegetables - every day or two, I prepare a bunch (2 - 4 different veggies, normally, such as roast zucchini, roast pumpkin, steamed carrot and steamed green beans).  She eats some for dinner, some the following day for lunch, and generally some more for dinner.  As long as you refrigerate the cooked food straight away, it's fine - just make sure you reheat it (only once) to piping, steaming hot, then allow to cool to baby-friendly temperature.  To mix things up, try mashing (or pureeing) about half to one cup of mixed vegetables, and using them as a simple filling to some homemade filled pasta.  Just make a small amount of pasta dough, roll out very thinly (one click thinner, on the pasta roller, than regular pasta), then pop little balls of mixture on a sheet of pasta, use a damp finger to moisten around each filling piece, lay another sheet over the top, carefully squeeze out any air bubbles, and cut into ravioli.  These cook really quickly - just a few minutes, maximum.

• Pop a side plate in the freezer while you prepare the family meal - then you can put the baby portion on the icy plate, straight away, and it should cool down sufficiently by the time the meal is dished up and brought to the table.

• Make a simple cheese sauce (just a basic white sauce with a good handful of grated cheese melted through) to mix with vegetables (or pour over them and bake in a hot oven until the top is browned).  This adds calcium, protein and calories to simple vegetables.

• Please do NOT be afraid of fat!  Most vegetables contain fat-soluble (and crucial) vitamins: without some butter, oil or fat, you cannot get the maximum food value out of most vegetables.  Some lovely fresh olive oil, butter or meat fat makes vegetables taste delicious, and allows your baby to absorb more vitamins from her food.  Babies need fat!  So do adults!

• On the topic of fat - I am constantly trying to get more good fats into Tabitha and my diet.  We both seem to trend towards slim, and it's important to keep something 'in reserve' - for her, because babies can loose weight so quickly if they get sick, and for me, because I am still breastfeeding 6 - 8 times a day.  Our diet includes lots of avocado, extra virgin olive oil, nut butter spreads (such as almond, brazil and cashew), sardines, oily fish and, yes, butter and animal fats (great sources of vitamin A).

• Beans are great - so nutritious, and perfect for practicing fine motor skills (and keeping baby occupied for a little while!).  You can buy dried beans to soak and cook, but I just get good canned organic ones - kidney beans, butter beans, edamame (buy frozen), fava beans and cannellini beans.  Rinse them, then either serve cold or heat with some olive oil in a saucepan - toss with some chopped parsley for a little extra colour and flavour.  Corn kernels are also great for fine motor.

• Gnocci is great for BLW!  It cooks in just a minute or two, and you can toss it with all sorts of sauces - pesto from the fridge, tomato passata, some cheese sauce, even just some ricotta and chopped herbs.  It's a great 'emergency' meal - stash some in the freezer - and can be taken, cold, out as a snack or lunch-on-the-go.

• Stewed meats are a real favourite of Tabitha's - so flavourful, and she finds them easy to eat, as they melt in the mouth.  She loves Chicken Provencal, Paprika Chicken, mild Chicken Curry, Beef and Red Wine Stew and Coq au Vin.  So do The Daddy and I, incidentally - everyone's happy!

• Dumplings are one of the ultimate BLW foods - carbohydrates, protein, lots of interesting flavours, all in a neat little easy-to-hold parcel.  I like to think of them as a sort of diminutive, scaled-down version of an adult pastie!  Prawn and sweetcorn, seafood, gyoza, they are all good in Tabitha's eyes.

• Tuna and avocado handrolls are a standard lunch when we're out (I buy them from Sushi Sushi, who I trust).  I cut one in half, and offer her half at a time - she really devours them.  Of course, they are quite messy, with rice sticking everywhere, but they are a simple, quick and nutritious lunch.

• Toasted sandwiches are brilliant - the melted cheese helps stick everything together, so you can try all sorts of fillings (roast chicken, roast veggies, tuna, corn etc) with cheese.  These are good warm, or cold for a portable lunch.  I cut them into 8 small fingers, generally, for ease of eating when out.

• Savoury scones and muffins (feta and herb, pumpkin, zucchini etc.) are easy to batch-cook and freeze.  Defrost in the microwave or a moderate oven for a quick snack or lunch.

• Make a large batch of chicken stock, and reduce significantly to obtain a concentrated broth.  Freeze in small amounts - you can dilute and use to poach chicken or vegetables, adding flavour and nutrition, or add a little to meatballs, stews, mashed vegetables etc.

• Packets of frozen vegetables are handy for emergencies - I always hated the idea of them, but sometimes, a few bits of frozen beans/babycorn/broccoli are better than no veggies!

Here is a little flashback for y'all - Tabitha's first ever solid food!  You might recall that this was some lovely rare steak and green beans at Luke Mangan's Melbourne restaurant, The Palace.  She found this fascinating, and spent ages examining and tasting her food.  We were so thrilled, I recall The Daddy and I just kept grinning at each other!

Bring a Plate

Normally, I am queen of Bring a Plate.  I spend a week - or more - carefully considering the eaters.  Will some be pregnant?  Vegan?  Will there be children?  Of course, bringing a sweet plate is even easier - whip up a cake, a slice, a batch of biscuits, some fresh muffins, a trifle.

The only time I hate Bring a Plate is when OOPS I forgot!  I have a full day Australian Breastfeeding Association training day tomorrow, and I just noticed we are supposed to bring something to share for lunch.  It's too late at night for me to feel motivated to duck out the the shops. I thought I could grab some sushi on the way, in the morning, to put on a platter - but the workshop starts too early for the shops to be open.

So I have a spare apricot cake from my mad baking yesterday, and I have some chocolate hedgehog in the fridge.  But I know I ought to bring something savoury.

In case you ever get stuck with Bring a Plate at the last minute, here are the ideas I managed to come up with, based on my pantry and fridge, without needing a shopping trip.  I hope one day this helps!

• Eggs are your friend.  Hard boil a whole heap of eggs - either make deviled eggs (cut them in half, scoop out the boiled yolks, mash them all up with some mayonnaise and any/all of the following:  curry powder, dijon or seeded mustard, fresh herbs, cayenne powder);

• Alternitively, mash up the eggs with lots of mayonnaise, salt, pepper and either some curry powder or fresh herbs, and make lots of egg sandwiches.  Cut off the crusts, cut them into triangles, and arrange on a plate.  If you happen to have two types of bread (e.g. wholegrain and white), you can make quite a fancy looking plate of egg sandwiches;

• I happen to keep mini tartlet cases in the cupboard (they are cheaper to buy in bulk, and they keep well in tupperware).  You can caramalise some red onions, and put a little onion, topped with some feta (Persian or otherwise), and a couple of bright green slivered pistachios (again, I always have these in the cupboard) if you have them to hand.  Pop them in an oven for ten minutes to serve;

• I tend to have mini toasts / Melba toasts in a container.  A smear of cream cheese, and a tiny sliver of smoked salmon on each is very delicious.  One small packed of smoked salmon will stretch to a couple of dozen of these;

• Hummus.  If you have a can of chickpeas, pop it in the food processor with 2 cloves of garlic, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1.5 tablespoons tahini, 2 tablespoons of oil and half a teaspoon of salt.  Blast until smooth. Scoop into a bowl, sprinkle with a pinch of cayenne (optional), and pop on a plate with some crackers and cut up carrots;

• Salmon dip - mix well, together, a drained tin of salmon, a package of cream cheese, half a cup of sour cream, a few tablespons of softened butter, a tablespoon of finely chopped onion, some chopped fresh herbs (if you have them), some cayenne to taste, and salt and pepper;

• Savoury scones are an easy one - add a good handful of grated cheese, and some chopped fresh herbs (chives are nice), to a plain scone mixture.

• Of course, depending on what else you have in the house (leftover roast chicken, a chicken breast to poach and shred with mayonnaise and herbs, a couple of zucchinis to make zucchini slice etc.), there are dozens of other easy, lazy things to make without leaving the house.  And if you DO have enough time before the event, it's easy to stop at a Sushi Sushi and buy a dozen handrolls to cut into small pieces on a platter.

Tonight, I am completely exhausted (super busy day).  So I am opting for the very easiest choice - egg sandwiches!  I will also take along the apricot cake and the hedgehog.

Big Baking Day

Big baking day!  Lemon Poppyseed Cake, 60 of Granny Boyd's Biscuits, an Apple Cinnamon Shortcake, an Apricot Shortcake (both shortcakes are basically this recipe, but with stewed apple or poached apricots), and 48 pieces of Chocolate Hedgehog (a batch with milk chocolate topping, and a batch with dark chocolate topping)

It's hard baking with a mobile baby around - our oven, like many people's, is below the bench.  This means that it's a giant, shiny, reflective, scalding hot wall.  Tabitha touched it once while it was preheating, and even the gentle heat was enough to upset her.

The options are:  keep the baby OUT of the kitchen (with a baby gate, or appealing pile of safe toys in the next room.  Or a pile of safe, but 'forbidden' objects, like a few old CDs or a pile of washing); you can also try popping the baby safely wrapped on your back - this works well if the baby is in the right mood.  I would love to have a wall-mounted oven, but they just aren't popular anymore, particularly in the 90cm size.


What I tend to do is this:  For 'interesting' cooking, with lots of chopping and colours, I pop her high on my back, so she can watch the cooking (and maybe learn to cook one day!).  For baking, which involves more visually boring processes like measuring, stiring and creaming, I leave her on the floor with interesting toys (the tupperware draw is good!). 


If she gets bored, I stop what I'm doing and we go play for a bit, then come back to the baking.  So something simple like a Lemon Poppyseed Cake can take a long time!  We measure, then play.  We cream, then play.  We juice and zest, then play.  We prepare the pan, then play.  We make the mixture, pour it into the pan, then into the oven and off we go.

I love this chocolate hedgehog recipe.  It originates from a good family friend, Geof - he is known for his hedgehog, and generally has a tray in the fridge at his house.  He also does a brilliant lemon cordial, as well as a lemon delicious pudding.

Chocolate Hedgehog

In a medium saucepan, melt together 115g butter, 2 tablespoons of cocoa, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of dessicated coconut.  Set aside to cool a little, then add a lightly beaten egg, and stir to combine.

Add one packet of crushed Marie biscuits (you don't need quite a full packet - so feel free to eat two or three of them as you go!).  Stir well.

Press the mixture into a lightly greased sandwich tin (or 20cm x 20cm square tin).  Put in the fridge to cool.  When cool, melt together 150g dark chocolate with 50g butter (you can also use milk chocolate if you have someone in the house who prefers it - but the dark is infinitely better, so I do a batch of each).  Spread this over the top of the hedgehog, and put back in the fridge to set.  When nearly set, you can sprinkle some more dessicated coconut over the top, if you like.

Cut into 4cm squares, and store in the fridge in an airtight tin.  Will easily keep for a few days or so.

Here is my Lemon Poppyseed Cake recipe.  It's based on a Madeira Cake from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess, with the caster sugar topping and dense, moist crumb.  It's quite lemony, and I don't use too many poppyseeds - though of course you add how many you think look right.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.  Grease, flour and line the base of a heavy loaf tin (roughly 22cmx13cmx8cm, I think mine is).

Cream together quite thoroughly 240g softened unsalted butter with 200g caster sugar (I use vanilla caster sugar, as usual).

Add the zest of one lemon (unwaxed organic or off a backyard tree, if you can).

Sift together 210g self raising flour and 90g plain flour, set aside.

Add three eggs to the creamed mixture, one at a time, with a spoonful of the flour with each.

Then, gently but thoroughly, mix through the rest of the flour, then pour in the juice of 1.5 - 2 lemons (depending on the size of the lemons).  Add a couple of tablespoonfuls of poppyseeds, stir through, then spread the mixture into the loaf tin.

Sprinkle the top generously with caster sugar - a tablespoon or two.

Bake for around 50 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Here are the fruits of my day's labour.  From top to bottom, Lemon Poppyseed, Granny Boyd's Biscuits, Apple Cinnamon Shortcake, Apricot Shortcake, Chocolate Hedgehog.  People often ask me if I eat everything I bake - I do try everything, but with the exception of freshly baked bread and chocolate cake, I am satisfied with a taste.  I have, on occasion, eaten an entire loaf of fresh bread, or an entire chocolate cake, by myself over the course of a day and evening!

Choccy Monster

Scary (but adorable) stuff!

Then The Daddy nibbled all the melted chocolate off her hands, which had her in FITS of laughter!  Cute Overload.

Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Cake

It was The Daddy's birthday on Saturday.  My father babysat Tabitha, while we went out to dinner at Koots.  We had made a booking at Attica, and were really looking forward to it, however Tabitha will no longer take a bottle of expressed milk!  We tried for two weeks - she will drink water out of a bottle, but as soon as there is milk in there, she screams and pushes it away.  So we chose to go somewhere closer to home, so that we would be home in time for her next breastfeed - normally around 10pm.

Koots was lovely, I had St Helens oysters, rare steak frites, creme brulee, and some gorgeous 2001 Bordeaux.  The Daddy had some charcuterie, confit rabbit and something involving coffee crumbles and chocolate semifredo for dessert - along with a couple of different dessert wines!

For his birthday, I had knitted a very long, thick scarf.  5 balls of Zara Chine Italian merino, a nice grey-black blend.  Moss stitch - cast on 39 stitches, onto 4.5mm needles.  1st row, *K1, P1, repeat from * to end of row, finishing with a K1.  Repeat first row until length desired (I used four and a half balls).  Cast off.

I can't take a photo of it, because he has worn it to work!  I will post a photo tomorrow.  I was quite thrilled when he opened it - he said, "oh this is really nice!  But you didn't knit it, did you?"  He thought it looked too polished to be a hand knit!

Along with the scarf, Tabby and I gave him a big box of Koko Black chocolates (ALL flavours he likes, and I do not, so he can enjoy them all without feeling obliged to offer me any!), as well as two wine appreciation classes - one on aging wines, and one on French wines.

The following day, we went to his aunt's house for brunch with his family.  Tabitha thoroughly enjoyed having so many people to play with and cuddle, and happily crawled around under the table eating an English muffin while we all enjoyed brunch.

I made a large, two-layer chocolate birthday cake to take with us:

For the birthday cake, I wanted a classic, rich, light-yet-fudgy, double-layered chocolate cake, covered in frosting.  I turned to Nigella Lawson’s ‘Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake’ from the ‘chocolate cake hall of fame’ chapter in her book Feast.  She describes it as ‘a sort of idealized chocolate cake from a packet’, which I agree with.  It has that fluffy moistness of a packet cake, but with a far better flavour.

In fact, it is really no more difficult to make than a packet cake, since everything is just dumped together in the food processor and blitzed until it’s a smooth (yet incredibly thick) batter.  The frosting is sort of a melt-and-mix affair, also very simple.

Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Birthday Cake

To make the cake, combine in a food processor:  200g plain flour, 200g caster sugar (as usual, I used vanilla caster sugar), 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, 40g best-quality cocoa (I used Valhrona), 175g very soft unsalted butter, 2 large eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 150ml sour cream (I also added a generous pinch of salt).  Blitz until completely smooth (it will still be very thick).

Prepare two round 20cm sandwich tins – grease and flour them, and line the bottoms with baking paper.  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Divide the batter, spreading with a spatula to flatten, between the two tins – I make sure they are evenly divided by weighing them.

Bake for 25 – 35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Let the cakes cool in their tins for ten minutes on the bench, then turn out onto a wire cooling rack.  Remove the paper from their bottoms, and sit, top side up, until they are completely cool.

To make the icing, melt together 75g unsalted butter, 175g top quality dark chocolate, broken into pieces.  Set aside to cool a little.

Sift 300g icing sugar into a bowl.

Once the chocolate has cooled a little, add a tablespoon of golden syrup, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and 125ml sour cream.  Stir to combine, then beat in, very thoroughly, the icing sugar.  Beat until smooth.

Frost the cakes – fill the two layers, then coat the whole lot with a generous amount of frosting.  I added some purple flowers, just like in the book, since I keep icing flowers in the drawer.  I think it would look lovely with some golden balls as well.

It was also The Daddy's younger brother's birthday.  Here is Uncle Paul having a cuddle with Tabby:

I was pleased with the cake.  I would like to try making it as a three-layer cake next time, just for fun!

The Daddy gave Tabby a little taste of cake - she was very excited!  Here she is grinning with cake on her face:

After brunch, we went to my parents' house to have an early dinner with my family, and my godfather and godson.  Steak with mushroom sauce, frites, and lots of little delicious pastries from Laurent.

Ordinarily, my mother would have baked a birthday cake - she is a keen cake baker, like myself - however she has broken her hand!  She fell on Friday evening, breaking two bones.  It is just dreadful, and she will need surgery this week.  She will be okay, and is coping like a trooper.  But her cake-baking days are over for a couple of months, I'd say.

Because One Chocolate Cake is Never Enough (I think I should get a bumper sticker made!), I also baked a large flourless chocolate cake, to keep in a tin for the week, for snacks and after dinner.  Flourless chocolate cake keeps beautifully, and is gorgeous with creme fraiche or cream, and some berries.

The recipe I use is very simple, and I call it 'Dr Jackson's Heart Health Cake', jokingly, since it is incredibly fattening, yet the recipe was given to me by a family friend of ours who is a cardiologist!  I think he is trying to drum up business.

Dr Jackson's Heart Health Cake

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Grease a 20 - 22cm springform tin, and line base with baking paper.  

Melt together 250g good quality dark chocolate, with 250g unsalted butter. Stir well.

Meanwhile, whip 6 eggwhites until stiff peaks form.

Add 2/3 cup of caster sugar (I used vanilla caster sugar) and 1/3 cup of firmly packed brown sugar, along with 100g almond meal, to the melted chocolate.  Stir well.  Add 6 egg yolks, stir well.

Fold in the beaten egg whites carefully but thoroughly.  Pour into the prepared pan, bake for 50 minutes - one hour, or until cooked (it will still be very thick, moist and damp in the middle).

I baked this in the wrong sized tin (long story), so it's a little misshapen and sunken, but it still tastes brilliant.

So, Daylight Savings is over.  It has not been too brutal here, since Tabby normally wakes around 8am, lately, which means 7am in 'new time', which is pretty reasonable.  I am more concerned about the onset of wet winter - I am not a fan of 'exercise' in the organised sense.  I just walk.  With Tabitha's 8.5kg strapped to me in the Ergo or Vatanai, a one hour walk each day is great exercise.  However if it rains, we are stuck inside.  Or we get caught in the rain, like this morning!  Perhaps I will try walking with an umbrella - a large one should cover us both.

Full recovery!

I am pleased to report that Tabitha has made a full recovery from her gastro.  She slept beautifully last night, bed at 7:30pm, out of bed at 8am, feeding at 10, 2 and 6 overnight, as per usual.  She was pleasantly cool all night, with no sign of fever this morning.  Chattering and smiling away, chasing the cats.  And perhaps the best indicator - she just absolutely demolished half a piece of avocado toast, so her appetite is back!

The amount of laundry generated when a baby is sick is incredible - it boggles my mind to imagine the laundry when multiple children in a household are ill.  I did four full loads yesterday, the whole house is covered in muslins and towels and pyjamas.

In other news, Tabitha was given her first pair of Proper Ballet Shoes, by her Great Grandma.  My mother runs a large ballet school, and my grandmother also used to run a ballet school.  I did ballet for years (I was supremely dreadful at ballet, lacking both the focus and the flexibility), and also did adult ballet classes until I became pregnant.  I think it's a lovely activity for little girls, teaching musicality and dance and creative play, and my mother's school is nice and relaxed for the little ones - fun fairy dresses as the ballet uniform, and lots of creative dance in the lessons.

My mother's good friend also runs a ballet school, and is trying to persuade me to send Tabitha to her school for lessons instead!  I foresee two ballet classes a week, perhaps.

Tabby's Great Grandma bought a pair of nice Bloch leather ballet shoes in the smallest size they come in - so once they fit Tabitha, she can start ballet!  She also has a pair of cute Bloch glittery pink fabric ballet shoes, which my parents gave to her as a baptism gift.  These fit her now, and she wears them a lot.

Now that our younger cat, Possum, is one year old, he is finally calming down.  Instead of bouncing off the walls all morning from dawn, he trotted into our bed this morning at 6am and curled up in my arms, purring, until 8am.  I am thrilled - kittens are gorgeous but frustrating at times!

Here is my lovely squish-face baby, with and sans flash.  His true colour is somewhere in the middle:

Sick baby, tired parents!

Poor Tabitha is ill.  She has some sort of virus.  Nothing too serious, thankfully, but a raging fever and general listlessness and cranky-pants attitude.  She's thrown up just a couple of times, and the doctor says she'll be fine, but might be out of sorts for a few more days.

She's coping like a trooper, but is wanting to feed all night - and I mean ALL NIGHT!  Last night, and the night before, I managed maybe four or five 30-minute sleeps.  Apart from that, I was sitting up feeding her (she didn't want to feed lying down - oh no, that would be too easy!).  She wanted to sleep kneeling against my stomach, face down on the breast, arms wrapped up in my hair.  It was an awkward position for both of us to sleep in, but it kept her happy.  So I am feeling supremely tired and foggy.  I feel sorry for The Daddy, who has to go to work after being up much of the night as well.

Thankfully, on Thursday afternoons, Tabitha's wonderful Godmother Sophie takes care of her for a few hours, so I can have some time.  So I was able to run away while she had her afternoon nap, and get a haircut (by Nicolas at the fabulous Conrad Mace).  It felt brilliant to sit down and let someone wash and fix my hair while I had a cup of tea.  It was actually the first thing I'd had to 'eat' all day, apart from a crumpet at 8am!

After my hair, I went and sat by the river near our house.  There is a spectacularly pretty bend in the river, with a park bench and some glorious native trees, right near our house.  In Summer, we eat picnic dinners at this spot a lot.  Actually, we had some of our wedding photos taken there:

 

I sat on the bench and watched the late afternoon sun sparkle on the river, watched the school rowers training, and knitted away by myself for an hour.  Refreshing.  Now I feel able to tackle tonight's sleepless hours...

Leave of Absence

Oops!  Sorry, I've been a bad blogger for the last week.  I have had a lot going on (nothing bad!) and could not manage to sit down at the laptop.

Tabitha and I went out walking yesterday afternoon, and found a tiny, sweet, fluffy little baby Ringtail Possum on the road in the sun.  It very nearly got squished by a car!  I scooped it up in Tabby's little woolen beanie, and carried it home carefully (Tabitha was completely taken with the fluffy baby, and kept desperately reaching out, while strapped to my front in the Ergo, trying to grab it!  It was a tricky walk home.).  We called Wildlife Victoria, who were lovely and most grateful.  They instructed us to keep it in the beanie, in a dark box, with some native flowers and / or roses, until the evening.  Then I had to go and take it to a local wildlife carer, in Richmond.  She gave the baby milk in a dropper, and it drank loads.  She said it was very dehydrated, and wouldn't have survived if we didn't pick it up.  Poor baby!  She said it will be just fine, though, and within a couple of days she will re-release it into a tree near where we found it, hoping that its mumma will come and find it (if not, it is just old enough to manage on its own).

Here it is tucked away in its dark box.  Look at that cute little tail!

The Wildlife carer said that I could take a photo (with no flash).  The baby was SO soft!

Over the last couple of weeks, we've done two Yum Cha sessions.  As I've said before, Yum Cha is just perfect for BLW babies - on Sunday, we went with two other couples and their babies (around Tabitha's age), who are both also BLW babies!  The three babies happily devoured lots of dumplings and buns, then some fruit salad, while the adults enjoyed a leisurely lunch.  Barely a day goes by that I am not deeply thankful for BLW - over the past week, I have enjoyed five meals out, and each time, Tabitha happily sat and fed herself, enjoying a range of food (rare steak, dumplings, sushi, French toast and vegetable curry) while I enjoyed my own meals.

In recent weeks, Tabby's dexterity has really improved - she can pick up and eat fairly small things, like sultanas, half grapes, small tortellini, small clumps of rice etc, and seems to enjoy the challenge, preferring small pieces over larger things like toast.

While it's not good to give babies and children lots of dried fruit, as it is very high in sugar, it is perfectly okay as a treat.  One of Tabitha's favorite treats is dried banana, which I buy from a nut shop.  It is good for keeping her entertained!

Tonight, I made a pasta bake for dinner.  I think that lots of people in Australia grew up eating pasta bake, and it is a fairly common 'childhood meal'.  Well, not for me!  I had never tried a pasta bake until my early 20s.  We were vegetarian when I was small, and I think that our family foods were fairly unconventional.  Perhaps because of this, I don't turn my nose up at simple meals like pasta bake - I love them!  The Daddy looked wary when he heard what dinner was - he said his memories of pasta bake were monochrome, gluggy meals.  But we both thought this one was very nice.  It was great for Tabitha to eat, too, with large chunks of tuna, penne pieces, and decent sized pieces of capsicum.  I served it with a side of steamed broccoli for all of us.  It is a fairly economical meal - this made four massive servings, and cost well under $20.

Tuna Pasta Bake

350g penne pasta (you could use other short shapes)

425g tin of Sirena tuna in olive oil, drained

1 brown onion, diced

1 red capsicum, in 2cm x 1cm pieces

40g butter

40g plain flour

400ml full cream milk

Most of a tin of diced tomatoes (maybe 3/4)

1 cup peas

Salt and pepper

A cup of grated tasty cheese

1/3 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Cook the pasta to al dente, drain and keep warm.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium/high heat.  Saute the onion for a few minutes, then add the capsicum, and continue to cook until onion soft and translucent.

Add the flour, and stir for a minute to cook the flour.  Add the milk, bit by bit, stirring well each addition, to ensure there are no lumps.  Stir over heat for a few minutes until the sauce thickens.

Add the peas, tomoatoes, and season well with salt and pepper.  Add the pasta, stir well.

Add the tuna, stirring it through gently but thoroughly.  You ideally want to keep some large-ish chunks of tuna whole.  Taste again for seasoning.

Pour the lot into a very large baking dish / casserole dish, sprinkle both cheeses over the top, and bake for 25 minutes or until the top is lightly browned.

Tabitha has become quite cheeky when getting ready for bed!  Here she is running away from us while we changed her nappy - she'd much rather cuddle her teddy:

Here she is trying to climb out the window!  She knows the cats are out there:

Only 5 weeks until we leave for our month in the US.  Exciting!

Tabitha's tricks and 50s magazines

Have I mentioned that Tabitha and our youngest cat, Possum, are Best Buddies?  They practically wear BFF necklaces!  I know, it's very strange to have a cat that tolerates, let alone enjoys, a baby.  Luckily for us, Possum is no ordinary cat.  When we are being unkind, we say that he is 'a few sardines short of a tin'.  But the truth is, while he is a supremely stupid and uncoordinated cat (walking into walls, falling off the couch, that sort of thing), he is kind and gentle and endlessly patient.  He's barely one year old, a chocolate Burmese, and he's actually very small for an adult cat.

He always goes to stand a foot or so in front of Tabitha, then waits for her to lunge and throw herself onto his back.  He then lies there (purring!!!) while she lays on TOP of him, pulling his fur, squeezing his ears, and chewing his fur.  For ages, we worried for him, thinking he would get hurt, but every time we helped him escape, he just stood in front of Tabby again, waiting for her to pounce.  So we have decided that he actually enjoys these maulings.  Perhaps he lacks a pain gene.  Along with his missing balance genes and IQ points.  Anyway, we love him dearly, and are incredibly grateful to have a cat with whom Tabitha can play and cuddle.  The older cat stays away from her!

Oh - and Possum also enjoys fetching items from around the house, and bringing them to Tabitha, dropping them in her lap or in front of her - mostly small cat toys, which are a choking hazard!  So I am always taking them away.  But it is really gorgeous, the way he brings toys to her with such an earnest expression on his squishy little face.

Here they are having a cuddle this morning:

My little sister taught Tabby to 'high five' a couple of weeks ago.  Now she does it non-stop!  She initiates them herself - I'll be sitting in the living room, and she crawls over with one hand outstretched, smiling, waiting for me to high five her.  Then she giggles.  It is a very endearing new trick.  Except she loves to do it all through her meals, so I have to high five her greasy hands, covered in sardines or pesto or mashed up banana!

Here is Tabitha waiting for a high five during lunch.  She is eating a date scone.  There is some raw mushroom caught in her neckline:

 I love vintage magazines - primarily American women's magazines from the 1940s - 1960s.  I mostly buy them on eBay.  They are expensive (generally $20 - $30 delivered, for the good ones), however they are SO much thicker and more text-rich than modern magazines, so they take ages to read.  Plus I spend hours pouring over the ads!  I don't really buy regular (modern) magazines, so these are my 'trash reading'.

This is one of my favourites from my collection.  It is Ladies Home Journal from March 1955.  It cost 35c.

This is an advertisement for air travel - can you believe how they are sitting?!  This would be so lovely if you were travelling with friends or family.  Not so much if you were stuck dining with grumpy strangers.  Look at the curtains, the spacious table!

These magazines have loads of ads for canned and convenience ingredients, generally with a questionable 'recipe':

Yes, even the old magazines are filled with ads for face creams promising to remove wrinkles and years - no breakthrough ingredients, no Pitera or white tea or snake venom, just emulsified oils.  So it seems the claims are always the same, regardless of scientific advances!

Here is half of a double-page advertisement for that scary American yellow cheese, brought to you by the American Dairy Association.  Lots of lovely recipes involving frankfurters and chopped pickles.

I adore the fashions - this coat makes my heart sing!

I would be so thrilled to wear an outfit like this tomorrow.  I am a particular fan of white gloves (this is why Season One of Bewitched is my favourite - Samantha always wears white gloves when she leaves the house!):

The mothers in the advertisements are all SO young.  Their faces look like teenagers.  But their hair adds a few years to their look, generally!  I may be a boring traditionalist but I adore all the pretty photographs of mothers tending to their chubby, smiling babies:

The lingerie ads are a real highlight - gosh the underwear was a little scary back then!  The pointy bras fascinate me.  You can see that this ad hails from an age when having a 'Gay Time' meant something different to what it does today:

Dish Hands are a common concern in these magazines - thankfully, there is always the perfect cream available to cure them.

Twin beds anyone? I must say, though, I am loving that plant arrangement in the middle, so modern.  Is that a lamb at the bottom, or a poodle?  I can't tell!

I would love some gay sparking tiles!  They sound like a lot of fun...

This era really took its silverware seriously:

An age when every woman aspired to own a mink coat.  I cannot think of a modern alternative?  There doesn't seem to be any universal status item that is currently on the wish list of most women.

Gee whiz, that panty girdle DOES look comfortable!  I must say, though, for 5+ years of my life, I wore suspenders (proper 4- or 6-clip ones from Secrets in Lace or What Katie Did, not flimsy fashion ones) and nylon or silk stockings almost every day.  I hate pantyhose.

I can't decide whether these little kids are incredibly sweet or a little creepy:

This is the start of a brilliant article written by a 'manly' 50s dad, who actually enjoys caring for his son - even *gasp* changing nappies and chatting to his baby, despite endless mocking and derision from his friends.  It's actually quite a bittersweet article, as he struggles to justify why he chooses to care for his baby, rather than leaving the 'women's work' to his wife.  It makes me glad that we live in an age when men are actually considered to be equal parents.  I spoke to a man once, whose children were born in the late 50s, who recalled being yelled at by a nurse in hospital for trying to bathe his baby - apparently men weren't to be left alone with their babies lest they break them!

I am always on the hunt for a 'new' vintage magazine.  I used to also collect vintage hats and dresses, however I got rid of a lot of them when we were cleaning out before the arrival of the baby.  Hopefully they found new loving homes!