I like driving in my car, it's not quite a jaguar.

We borrowed this awesome car toy from Ruby! I can tell that it is going to be a blessing when I need to duck into the loo or want ten minutes of handsfree time to make dinner when Lucy is getting tired. Tonight after practically no sleep all day she played in it so happily.

Mother's Day

For my first Mother's Day I got the best present EVER. A sleep in :) and then Matt made me my favourite breakfast of fried ham and eggs (usually saved for Christmas morning). Lucia is very sleepy today which I think is a combination of the weather (it's turned very cold) and fighting off a dreaded lurgy. I look forward to many Mother's Days of burnt breakfasts, early morning snuggles and crappy gifts from the school mother's day stall, because you can never have too many porcelain heart shaped containers with bad rose transfers on the top.

Gaming it's srs bizness, srsly.

Got to start em early to get a gaming prodigy :)

Cooking: Spiced Orange and Beetroot Relish

Matt and I made a delicious beetroot relish.... the recipe was this one. The only adaption made was we added a teaspoon of salt.

Our community supported agriculture co-op are producing a LOT of beetroots this year, we've had two or three beetroots every week for the last 3 months and that is a lot of beetroots sitting in the fridge. We've made sliced pickled beetroot and beetroot slaw (grated carrot, cheddar and raw beetroot with aged balsamic and unfiltered fruity olive oil YUM).

When we make it next year we might put a bit more spice in (double the amounts listed) but it's sweet earthy sourness (don't I sound like Nigella) is the perfect foil for rich game or salty meats (we had it with some free range ham and it was obscenely good).

Bam Bam :)

Knitting: Armando

This hat is SO fast to knit and it shows up a handpainted varigated yarn so beautifully. It was simple enough to memorise and be able to knit and watch TV and complicated enough not to bore the beejeebus out of you.

It is not however the most masculine design and only a fashion forward gentleman would wear it out and about. After I completed it Matt said that the pattern was a bit fussy :) but anything other than stockingette or plain 2 by 2 ribbing would be fussy as far as he was concerned. Since it's a match for his gaming gloves that I knitted earlier in the month I don't mind it can stay on his computer desk. Since we're coming into winter he's going to need it for those late night killing sprees.

This is the pattern designed by Gina House (Sleepy Eyes Knits). There's a more feminine version called the Amanda as well which I will for sure knit for myself (I may even pinch the Armando occaisionally) and it's knit in Cascade 220 Handpaints.

OTTO = style and substance (my favourite kind of substance)

Today we went to Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander Winery in town to see the OTTO espresso machine being demonstrated.


This machine is no doubt the sexiest stovetop coffee machine on the market and it's SMALL so I will get back a whole lotta bench space when I gleefully throw our sunbeam cafe series coffee machine out a window (trust me after 5 or more years of service that machine is DEAD).

Craig, who was demoing, is proud of his machine and rightly so it makes tasty unctuous espresso like coffee and it's made from high quality materials that will last a lot longer than our last machine did. This is one time that you should listen to the old adage that you get what you pay for (which also holds true for haircare products and shoes).

I know that you might look at this and think it's a bit wanky and expensive, and for sure there will be some people out there who are wanky and will buy it for it's looks rather than it's functionality but you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover this little machine isn't all style and no substance, it makes damn fine coffee! and it's small enough to take camping :)