Debearding Dinner

Because today was more winter than summer, with intermittent rain and temperatures not above 17 deg (50's Fahrenheit?), we ate mussels with frites for dinner. It was my first stab at mussels and they turned out might fine.  There was some question as the stringy clumps of 'beard' came off with a small, white, slimy thing attached if I was debearing the mussels correctly. It seems to have worked. For these little gems of deliciousness, I was thankful two-fold: 1) They are brilliantly easy and 2) They were down-right delectable.

Think leeks, thyme, bay simmered in cider with a dab of wholegrain mustard. It's a River Cottage recipe, and as always, didn't fail to deliver.

(Pardon the food photography, I was WAY to lazy to break out the camera, so these are courtesy of MacBoyfriend's iPhone....I have a pic of the frites, but they don't look very photogenic...).

Today

Now we're up to speed. This one is pretty straightforward.

There was bacon and eggs this morning (with the best crispy bacon in Sydney, still no Nueske's though...), lamb and couscous this afternoon and venison with kale and veggies this evening: I am thankful MacBoyfriend did the dishes this evening.

Yesterday....

Unfortunately this is gonna be short and sweet, no photos...and well, it's kinda lame, I get that.

But yesterday I was thankful for the neighbours. We planned a picnic in the park to celebrate the holidays together before everyone gets too busy. It was glorious weather, delicious food (including my very first leg of lamb), and plenty of entertaining conversation. As one of the kids said, 'the lunch went on all afternoon.' Actually, it went on all afternoon and all night. We had lots of leftovers, so after a few hours of siesta, congregated in the evening to finish them off.

Oops....

So, dear readers, I slipped.

To be fair, I was THINKING about what I should be thankful for, just not blogging about it. Cést la vie and bygone-be-bygones...I'll make it up.

On Friday, I was thankful for my bed. It was a long day at working with lots of talking, and ended with an hour session at the gym where some of the stress was punched out. So here it is, with dirty clothes and all...

Tiny Little Joys

Happy First Day of Summer Southern Hemisphere!

Even after a delightful day at work creating a vision for 2012, playing a few games and having lotsa laughs (mostly over funny noises and faces), nothing 'thankful' popped out at me. Poor MacBoyfriend has been home all day not feeling well and was jones-ing to get out by the time I got home. A short spin around the local park and we were talking about the respective children of my two cousins, four-soon-to-be-five in total. Only three days after Thanksgiving, the Major Bacon Family added Baby #2 to their brood, and the Rhymes-With-Pickle Family are expecting Baby #3 (A GIRL!!). Major Bacon Family are living in Germany at the moment and I haven't spent as much time with their clan, but I have no doubt they are just as adorable.

We were lucky enough to spend a week with the Rhymes-With-Pickle Family in Costa Rica at the wedding of Cousin #3, Potato. Their two boys kept us busy in the pool. They were learning to swin and found great delight in nothing more than asking either a) 'can we go underwater together' or b) 'can I see you go underwater'? They were a bit shy of MacBoyfriend (with the deep Voice Like a Whale Song and all) but after they saw him swim a length of the pool without coming up for air, he was golden.

We had a number of fantastic moments with the boys: Boy #2 eating about 10 times his weight in rice and beans, and shouting for 'ricenbeans' in the pool. Boy #1 swimming underwater on his own. Boy #2 so desperate to swim as well as his brother he refuses floats, and the suggestion that we tie him up with a swimming noodle. 'Don't tie me up,' direct quote.

The best was trying to explain to them where MacBoyfriend and I are living, resorting to using Finding Nemo in absence of a globe. Boy #2, after some thought, asked 'do you know Dori?' It doesn't get much better than that.

So, I am hoping she doesn't mind, but here are a picture (or three) of two incredibly precious little boys that I am so thankful to have known better this year. Here's to hoping they are don't bonk their sister on the head TOO hard....

                                  Always at the ready in their little matching outfits!!



Boy #1 always thoughtful and considerate....                                          Boy #2, hard to put down....