Thursday, March 25, 2010

More visitors

When we first moved into our house I pestered Union Jack to make me a bird table. I liked the idea of putting seed out every morning and seeing who turned up. There is sometheing special about somebody that drops in for a visit of their own accord, eats whatever is going and then clears off to the next place...

Hang on, what?!

Please remind me of these words when the Hatchlings grow into teenagers - I have a feeling they may adopt a similar policy to our local birdlife.

Anyway, being the adorable creature that he is, Union Jack built me a bird table. It stands proudly in the garden by our deck, and we are visited daily by some colourful characters.

If birds could shout, that is what these two lorikeets do at about 8am every morning if the bird table looks bare. On the left is Sid, and on the right is Wanda.

Sid has anger management issues, but he's working on it. Nowadays he can generally hold it together so long as a cockatoo doesn't show his cheeky face. Much like the Hatchlings, Sid also has issues with sharing.

Wanda is his loyal partner, who used to be a Rolling Stones groupie but has now settled down to a quiet life with Sid. While Sid fluffs his feathers and does the macho thing, Wanda just stares adoringly at him.

Well, it's either adoration or she's dying to tell him to shut up and stop showing off. Maybe she's just waiting for a break in conversation, which is mostly one-way (i.e. Sid's way)...

No, I am pretty sure they adore each other. Sid and Wanda do everything together. And besides, with outfits like that I'm not sure who else would want to hang out with them. Sid and Wanda are such attention seekers!

Jen x

Monday, March 22, 2010

Have ramekins, will cook.

Sometimes it is dangerous to recieve junk mail. As I described in an earlier post, junk mail was almost a mythical creature when I was a child living in a small town where the mail was not delivered.

Junk mail still holds a certain fascination for me, and when I saw a picture of these little guys staring out at me from the pages of a catalogue recently, I knew they had to be mine.

What are they? They're ramekins! They are red, shiny, pretty, pretty ramekins!

What will I use them for? Something yummy in red, shiny, pretty, pretty ramekins! (I.e. I have no idea what I can cook with them yet.)

Do I love them? Yes, from the very first moment I laid eyes on them.

So, what could be better than eight red, shiny, pretty, pretty ramekins?


Eight red, shiny, pretty, pretty ramekins plus a square dish thing to match, of course!

Any ramekin requiring recipe suggestions you'd like to share? Please help me...

Jen x

P.S: It is really quite fun to roll your R's when you say the word 'ramekin' really loud - try it!
RRRRAMEKIN!

P.P.S: Please excuse this ridiculous suggestion if you are sitting at a computer in the middle of your local library, or in your office and your boss is within earshot.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Still Jenny from the Kitchen #4

The Essential Banana Smoothie for One


When my lovely friend Sadie told me yesterday she didn't know how to make a smoothie I made an involuntary and very audible gasp. Surely everyone must have a banana smoothie recipe in their repertoire - you never know when or where you might need it!

Although I think Sadie might be the only person on the planet who ever felt they couldn't make a banana smoothie, I thought I had better offer my favourite banana smoothie recipe to you long suffering followers of this blog. Lord knows you need something to cling to when I get started on the topic of Hatchling No.2's toenails, or the time I fell out with a wallaby.

Here's what you need:

One very ripe banana, some milk (doesn't have to be soy, but I like soy in smoothies), half a teaspoon of honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

By the way, can somebody please remind me to buy more honey? There will be a Hatchling riot if the honey pot runs dry - it can get pretty ugly.

There is also a secret ingredient:

FROZEN BANANA. It gives your smoothie that icy cold deliciousness that is usually only achieved by adding icecream. By all means go the icecream if that's what toots your horn, but frozen banana makes a healthy alternative.

Just use one frozen banana for this smoothie.

I know in a shop you'd see a long row of fancy blenders, each in their very own cone of silence, but I just use this:

Less dishes to wash up can only be a good thing, right?

Okay, so I forgot to take pictures of me throwing a soft ripe banana, a frozen banana and some milk into my cup, so please visualise this happening now. Thanks.

Next drop in some honey.

Then sprinkle some cinnamon over the top. I don't know why I add cinnamon - I think because it is always in recipes for banana cake... Whatever the reason, it adds extra depth to the smoothie's flavour. Mmmmm.

Then all that is left to do is to submerge your stick mixer and buzz it all together.

If you could please spill some on your benchtop it would make me feel a whole lot better. I appreciate your co-operation - thank you so much.

Tip this vat of yumminess into a glass, dust some more cinnamon on the top and then run for the hills so you don't have to share it with anyone!

I sometimes have this for lunch, instead of the standard sandwich that I eat for lunch every other day of my life. There's a joke about that, but I won't try and share it with you right now. Remind me again some other time.
Now go forth and make smoothies!!
Jen x

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Hatchling No.2 - Secrets Revealed

One of Hatchling No.2's most endearing features is his 'blokiness'. Even at two years and four months old he is rugged. Motorbikes, trailers and rubbish trucks are his passion, and he can't get enough of hanging around with the men in his life. Especially Union Jack.

Hatchling No.2 is a Bloke - in a cute little two-year-old way.

Well, when I say he's a bloke - maybe not completely so. He currently has another passion that I didn't mention. A slightly less blokey passion than trailers and motorbikes. It is, um, it's - well...

It's pink glittery nail polish.

While he is keen to have the full nail polish experience (you know, ten fingers and ten toes - all hot pink with glitter), we negotiated down to just his big toes. It is summer. He wears sandals a lot. Union Jack may otherwise have conniptions - he's only just holding it together over the whole-hot-pink-nail-polish-with-glitter affair.

To the unsuspecting eye, Hatchling No.2 is truly a man's man. A robust, noisy, competitive, verbose, wonderful, gorgeous, solid, delightful little creature. My sister Patty has called him the "Besser Block" since he was about 3 weeks old. My other sister, Selma, believes he may be a future Australian rugby star...

Maybe he will feature in "So you think you can dance - 2025 series".

"With modern dance his chosen genre, and pink nail polish his chosen footwear, please welcome to the So You Think You Can Dance Stage - Hatchling No.2!!!"

Between you and me, I think his little pink sparkly toenails are one of the cutest things I've ever seen. He can paint his toenails pink until he is 103 and I may even encourage him to do so! I guess the nail polish obsession will pass...

For me it will be a sad day!

Jen x

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Love Paper Scissors - with love.

In my capacity as The Letterbug, I received something VERY beautiful from a client recently. If you haven't seen it already, check out The Letterbug Blog post I wrote about this special delivery. I am a spoilt little Letterbug!

Also, check out Love Paper Scissors if you are looking for something unique, beautiful and extra special.

Jen x

Thursday, March 4, 2010

While you are waiting...

I know. I know. It is high time I published a new post. I know!

While you are waiting, let's reminisce...

We could go back to the time The Hatchlings and I visited The Coolest Park Ever in the Whole World.
Or the time I indulged in eyelash extensions.
We could check out my offspring, the Aussie Cricket Legends.

Or we could just gaze at Michael Westen, from Burn Notice...

He's just a dude in a suit. Who's really cool, and brave, and smart... and stuff

Errr, those shoulders? Well, they're just muscles, right? It's no big deal.

Nope, I don't fancy him at all. Much. Really.

Please forgive me for my ridiculous obsession with a fictitious television character. But it isn't just me - Union Jack thinks he's pretty awesome too. But the less said about that the better!

Look out for a more sensible post VERY soon.

Jen x