Noodles and Pies

The Crave Sydney Food Festival has been on for the month of October with lots of good things going on. Last Wednesday night, against out better judgment, we decided to go to Night Noodle Markets, which was part of the food festival. I say against our better judgment because it was chilly despite people saying it was lovely spring weather and Justin was yanked right out routine again. The Night Noodle Market was held in Hyde Park with lots of different tents featuring Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, Singaporean, Japanese and Indian cuisine and not specifically noodles. It was good to experience more of what Sydneysiders do for fun but dang, was it cold! The food was average, nothing special or extravagant or different  from what you could get at a food court so it turned out to be a bit disappointing. But it was nice for Row and I to get out and do something different.

Row let me sleep in on Saturday morning and he took Justin out to the park to ride his new tricycle. He surprised me with baked goods, quiches and croissants, from the well known Bourke Street Bakery. Row's been reading about "Harry's Pies"  which is apparently quite famous. At lunch time we took a drive out to Woolloomooloo which is only supposed to take about 15-20 mins from where we live but because of awful traffic, it took us 45mins. But the pies did not disappoint! I had a "tiger" which was a beef pie topped with a ring of mashed potato and a ring of mushy peas on top and soaked in gravy....yummmm! I was so hungry I forgot to take a photo of this delicious pie.

Other than these two food outings, the weekend was rather chilled and relaxed as it rained the whole weekend.

17 Months old

Another lovely weekend but with very strange unpredictable weather. This weekend was quite chilled and relaxing. We had Bg and Louise over for dinner so it was a great opportunity to try a new Jamie Oliver recipe and bake a cake. I made Mediterranean lamb for dinner and a lemon meringue for dessert. Now for those who know me, know that I am no domestic goddess and baking is certainly not one of my strong points but since Row bought me a mixer for my birthday, I have had to ensure that it gets used. So far I've made a milk tart because I was just craving one and then I made cheese and bacon muffins and now I tried a lemon meringue. All the goodies turned out alright, quite edible and tasty but the milk tart and lemon meringue needs some more practice...not such good news for our waist lines but oh well. On Saturday we ventured out to Toys R Us as the weather turned icy cold overnight and it was too cold to go to the park. Thanks to Justin's Ah Ma (grandmother) and Ah Ye (grandfather), he is now the proud owner of a brand spanking new, shiny tri-cycle with little tassels hanging from the handlebars. Justin just loves his new wheels! Last night we had a barbie at some friends and Justin had an absolute ball playing with the other kids but it was a very late night....so late that he was "babalass" (similar to being hung over) and today he still woke up at his normal time. We had a very relaxing day today, eating at the Entertainment Quarter because the weather had warmed up and then to the mall to buy some nappies.

Now that Justin is 17 months, we've changed a couple of things and working on new things. I've been transitioning him to 1 nap a day and it's been okay, he has been sleeping for longer than his usual 30 minutes. But we've had to work on putting him down and walking out as he has been crying and crying and screaming at both nap time and bed time. He's still not talking yet but trying very hard to imitate us and he can say some words that I understand but no one else does. His new thing is "No", everything is "No!" Justin, are you still hungry? No! But he'll open his mouth for another spoon of food. Justin do you want to go outside? No! But then he runs to the front door so we can go out. I've started letting him drink out of a proper cup but I make sure he is sitting down and I only put a sip of water inside but he loves the novelty of it and will drink more water than usual. We bought some paints for Justin and he loves it, getting his hands all dirty and creating works of art. Justin was going through a difficult time at day care as he only goes once a week and he missed a week because he was sick so it took him a few weeks to get back into the swing of things but the last 3 weeks he has been so happy. He loves the sand pit and painting and singing and dancing. His teachers love him and think he is so adorable when he blows them kisses before leaving. So at least he's settled back into day care and is totally enjoying it.

Getting better at putting his hat on by himself

Getting better at feeding himself

    

Finger painting

 

 

 

 

 

Justin's new wheels

A day in Manly

Justin and I have been patiently waiting for this weekend. Why? you might be asking. Cos Row is finally finished studying and wrote his exam this past Wednesday. In anticipation of this weekend, we made plans with friends to take Justin and their children to a petting farm with koalas, kangaroos and other Aussie wildlife. But the weather has been rather unpredictable with a few showers and drizzly patches so we opted for somewhere indoor. We decided to go out to the Manly Aquarium which is quite small but nice for the kids. This was Justin's first time to an aquarium and generally, he loves fish. Row has this huge fish tank on his floor at work and Row's taken him there a few times and Justin loves staring at the fish. Even when we go to the supermarket, Justin wants to be taken to the fish section so he can look at the fish. So, we had quite high expectations that this would be a lovely outing for Justin...well....he was enjoying looking at the small fish, standing by the glass and pointing at the fish until a huge turtle swam by. He didn't want to stand by the tank, he wanted to be carried. We carried on walking through the aquarium and into the tunnel where you are "surrounded" by the fish. At first, Justin didn't seem to be bothered but as we walked further into the tunnel, he started becoming clingy and not wanting to even look in the tank, he just wanted out of there. 

It's quite a small aquarium so we were done within the hour which was fine as the weather had turned out quite nice and so we took the children to Manly beach. For lunch we bought fish/ calamari and chips take away and sat on the main boardwalk and then it was back to the beach for a bit before heading home. Row and Justin enjoyed some daddy-son bonding time on the beach, making an octopus and burying Justin's toes under a heap of sand.