Swing Time

E's favourite thing to do in a park is playing on the swings with Mum (or Dad!). He will slide down the slippery dip a hundred times, play in the sand pit and crawl through tunnels, but as soon as he sits on our lap for a swing he laughs and laughs. You know that adorable chuckle toddlers have that is so contagious you can't help but laugh along too and feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

Sometimes a 5 minute visit to the playground and time on the swings can be the difference between making it through the day happy, calm and content...or not - and that's just me!

Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. It holds a special place in my heart because Teach and I went for coffee or brunch when we first started courting each other and it has become an honoured meal in our little family. If we decide to break the budget and head out for a meal together, it's always for breakfast!

So it comes as little surpirse that I started salivating over this divine image of Croque-madame while flipping through an old copy of Gourmet Traveller waiting for my coffee yesterday.

The image had me at Yummmm and I very nearly ripped the page from the magazine and ran from the cafe. But I like my local and wish to return, so common sense got the better of me. Now all I can say is thank god for the Inernet because this fabulous recipe is all mine!

I'm so excited to try it out over the weekend and really hope Teach and E like it too. Besides, what more could two boys ask for on a Sunday morning? Eggs, freshed toasted white bread smothered in butter, mustard, loads of cheese and lashings of bechamel sauce. (*Drool. Lick lips. Repeat*)

I'll let you know how it goes. Enjoy. x

You'll Need:

8 slices	crusty white bread, cut 1cm thick
95 gm	(1/3 cup) Dijon mustard, plus extra to serve
4	thick slices leg ham
300 gm	Gruyère, coarsely grated
100 gm	butter, coarsely chopped
4	eggs
Béchamel
60 gm	butter, coarsely chopped
60 gm	plain flour, sieved
250 ml	(1 cup) milk
30 gm	finely grated parmesan
Pinch	finely grated nutmeg

 Now do this:

1	For béchamel, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stir in flour, cook until light golden (1-2 minutes), remove from heat. Meanwhile, heat milk in a separate saucepan over medium-high heat until simmering, then, whisking continuously, gradually add milk to butter mixture. Return to heat, stir until mixture just returns to the boil (3-4 minutes), stir in parmesan and nutmeg, season to taste, cover closely with plastic wrap and set aside until thick and cooled to room temperature.
2	Place four slices of bread on a work surface, spread with mustard, top with ham and Gruyère, sandwich with remaining bread.
3	Preheat grill to high. Melt half the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat until foaming, add sandwiches to pan and cook, turning once, until golden (2-3 minutes each side). Remove from pan, spread tops thickly with béchamel and transfer to a baking tray, then grill until golden (3-4 minutes).
4	Meanwhile, heat remaining butter in a large frying pan and fry eggs to your liking (3-4 minutes for soft yolks). Place an egg on each sandwich and serve hot with extra mustard on the side.

This recipe is from the April 2011 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller.

Things I've Learnt From Mum

Circa 1982

In honour of Mother's Day I'd like to share with you a few things I've learnt from my Mum.

1. Mother Knows Best: Call it intuition, call it super-smart-mummy-powers but I have picked up Mum's amazing ability to see my child's future with fine-tuned pyshic abilities. Mum always had the uncanny knack of being able to tell you what will happen before you do it. She would say, "You're not going to climb the tree because you will fall out and break your arm." I remember being astonished that Mum knew that would happen. "But how do you know that if I'm not allowed to climb the tree in the first place?" I'd say to myself, never back to her, of course. I would undoubtedly attempt to climb the tree while she wasn't watching and usually fall out. She was right, again. Now I use this magic power on E and it has very similar results because Mother knows best!

2. Words of Wisdom - a few of Mum's favourite sayings I've already found myself repeating to E:
"Please think about what you want before you open the fridge."
"You can have Bees Knees On Toast."
"We're going there and back to see how far it is."
"Watching television is a privledge not a right." - Actually this one might've been Dad...

3. Saving Bits and Bobs: I never use to keep rubbish. Oops, sorry I mean bits and bobs like used cardboard boxes, old gift bags or bubblewrap. Now I must keep it ALL. I couldn't possibly throw out the ripped newspaper E has been playing with for 3 days because it will come in really handy if I have to pack a breakable item. And why would I want to replace the old laundry basket with one broken handle and half the wicker fallen out? It might not carry clothes like it use to but E plays in it all the time, besides it's a great way to store all my clothes that haven't been bothered to put themselves on clothes hangers yet. Don't worry I'm not going to be the next star of TV's Horders but I know - just like Mum - that these items will come in very handy one day.

4. Brain Power: When Mum tried to call out to my brothers or me she'd go through all our names before she found the one that fit. On the spur of the moment she couldn't recall that 'tiny' detail -  I still quite often get called my Aunts name by accident. But ask Mum to tell you about a time in her childhood or for details around a family holiday and she will recount every fact with Stephen Hawking-style precision. Magically, it seems since becoming a Mum I have developed this ability myself. Just yesterday I knew I had a small box packed away in the back of the linen cupboard which I'd left there months earlier (another advantage of saving bits and bobs - see above). But, do you think I could remember E's birthday when I needed to fill out government forms in the afternoon? My brain popped back into action eventually but that little scenario made me abundantly aware that my memory is looking very Mumzy.

5. Family Comes First: I may poke fun and I may have a laugh, but Mum knows she is my guarding light. I know for a fact that her family comes first and she would move mountains for us - if we asked. Mum shows me everyday, even when seperated by thousands of kilometres, that she is here for me and my family too. Her love and support has seen me through many dark days and I can honestly say that I wouldn't be half the Mum I am today (or hope to be) if she wasn't in my life and demonstrated what it is to love fearcely. Unquestioningly.

I am forever grateful to you, my darling Mum, for being my Mum and loving me the way you do each and everyday - even when I'm a little shit! I hope I can be half as amazing to E as you are for me.

Happy Mother's Day. xx

The Games We Play

Is the hand brake off?

Peekaboo is E's favourite game at the moment. He knows to sit behind the curtains in the living room and wait until Teach or I start calling out for him. We play it up of course and call out the required, "Where is he?" until you hear him giggle. He chuckles so much his little legs lift off the ground because he thinks he's the smartest little person for fooling Mummy and Daddy (well, he's right!), then as if by magic he appears again with a smile as wide as a see-saw. Gotcha!

We all know entertaining a toddler can be tiresome, but somedays there's nothing I love more than crawling under fun-size tables (my polite way of saying small), playing trucks and peekaboo 1,000 times because his heart-warming laugh and hugs of appreciation are not worth swapping for all the Tea in China. 

E's other must-play games with Mum and Dad are singing and dancing to Justine Clarke (a CD I will buy every new Mum from now on as it has saved us A LOT), climbing over cushions on the floor piled up like a mountain and rolling off, pushing his Tonka trucks across the room, spinning the wheels on said trucks, rolling a bouncy ball back and forth and generally playing with anything that makes a noise.

You name it - or hear it - and we've got it but cars, trucks and trains are his never-fail pick of the bunch everytime. He even makes a Brrrrrrrrrrrrrroom noise like a car engine when he flips the pages of his books about cars and trucks...he loves them that much! :)

But we're now slowly coming to a stage where he's seeking more. So I'd love to know, what games do you like playing with your little one? Got any tips for home-made games for that 1 to 2 year old age group?

I'm very keen to hear how other Mums and Dads play, learn and grow with their Bubbas.

Creative Inspiration: My new home office

Many moons ago I shared with you my dream of creating a home office space. I was yearning for a little spot I could call my own, to sit at and write, spend countless hours on the Internet and escape to when I needed a little R&R.

Obviously, in an ideal world with no financial limits, my personal space/office would be fabulously grand with plush armchairs for reading, a library, artwork and few of my favourite photos....Ok, and an espresso machine! An office similar to these celebrity spaces wouldn't get turned down.

But I was lucky to find a cute desk for under $90 from Officeworks, printed off several phrases and vibrant images from the web to start my inspiration wall, then  I added personal bits and pieces to the area for pizzazz. 

And here you have it. I'm tucked into the corner of our bedroom as we live in a townhouse and currently all available space is full of E's toys, besides I wanted to get away from the television and communal rooms. She's very simple but has the beginnings of something special, don't you think?

Pen holder, scented candle and Tiffany. Swoon...

Inspirational phrases, bright images off the web and Vincent Van Gogh artwork

A Guardian Angel from my Aunt and my most prized photo of Mum and I circa 1982

My trusty filing system and a pile of magazines open on must-read features for creative inspiration

It's from:
Scented candle is from Crabtree & Evelyn.
Inspirational phrases are from Women in Business.
Colourful images are from two great blogs Absolutely Beautiful Things and Table Tonic.
Vincent Van Gogh's La Nuit Etoilee Saint-Remy 1889 was purchased at a market stall in Paris.
Guardian Angel is from Willow Tree.
Desk is from Officeworks. Note: I don't believe mine is still available but this is a similar version.

Buddhism for Mothers and Me

Confession: Allowing myself time out from being 'Mum' is something I struggle with.

This realisation delightfully hit me up side the head recently when I tried to enjoy lunch with two of my closest friends. We only had one hour to summarise and share news from the previous month over toasted sandwiches and flat whites, but I felt like I couldn't even achieve that. 

While I fed myself with one hand, I cleaned up spilled drinks, picked up toy cars and generally juggled E with the other. No matter how hard I tried to concentrate on the conversation and spend time with my friends I couldn't relax.