January 2012

Some Exciting News

January 30, 2012

I’m really happy to be able to share with you some news today: I have been appointed as Program Manager at the Emerging Writers’ Festival. I’ve written a little more about it over at the EWF blog if you’d like to hear a little more. 2012 is off to a racing start!

Cherry Oat Biscuits

January 28, 2012

I was recently reading the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook and there was a recipe in it for ‘oat and barberry biscuits’. Normally I’d skip past a biscuit recipe, but this one made me stop – foremost because I wondered ‘What on earth is a barberry?’ Then I looked at the ingredients and thought, Yippee! I [...]

What I’m Reading – January 2012

January 26, 2012

(No vlog this month on account of my sore mouth and our internet being drastically shaped. It would take ten weeks to upload any video to YouTube at the moment.) 1. Cat’s Cradle – Alas, unfinished. I think it’s because I loved Slaughterhouse Five so much and this is quite different in tone (even more [...]

When A Seven Year Old Gets Preachy About Blogging – And What I Learned From This

January 24, 2012

Keira was sitting on the lounge reading Surprise! [The more cynical of you might think this is a setup, but it's true.] She was reading a library copy. She prefers those to our own here at home as library ones are virtually guaranteed to have pictures by other children in the back. She likes poring [...]

Well, that was an interesting weekend

January 23, 2012

On Saturday morning I woke up and couldn’t open my mouth. Hold on, that’s not quite true. I could open my jaw so my teeth were about two inches apart, the same as if you put in your thumb in sideways. I’ve been trying to think of funny ways to tell this story, but in [...]

Chicken Ball Noodle Soup

January 20, 2012

This is a recipe modified from Marion Grosby’s Marion: Recipes and stories from a hungry cook (she used pork in hers). Because the kids refused to eat it – more on that later – it fed Adam and me for two nights running. The portion sizes are pretty generous. Ingredients 100g vermicelli noodles 4 garlic cloves, crushed [...]

Profits Promise 2012 – The Starlight Children’s Foundation

January 19, 2012

From the Starlight Children’s Foundation website: Living with illness or injury can cause enormous strain in the lives of children and their families. The pain, loneliness and isolation that sick children feel dominates their lives, and they often miss out on normal experiences that healthy children take for granted. Starlight provides programs integral to the total care of [...]

That Particular Agony of Back To School Shoe Shopping

January 17, 2012

Yesterday, in a move of surprising organisation I’m not normally used to in holiday time, I was able to muster the children together and get them out the door and down to the local shoe shop by 9.10am. Unfortunately, a great many other mothers were even more organised and by the time I arrived I [...]

The Red Dwarf Geek Within Me Is Rejoicing

January 16, 2012

There IS such a thing as chicken marengo! I didn’t know! On the other hand, Adam’s bestowed upon me his best withering look of dismay when I shoved this recipe under his nose. “You’re joking.” “What? I didn’t know it was a thing.” “A ‘thing’? What else would it be?” “I thought marengo was a [...]