Cookbooks

There are lots of things that have gotten me through raising a child: Foxtel, buckets of red wine...only kidding.
No, I'm talking celebrity chefs.
When you're trying to feed a family in a new and interesting way and coax your baby/toddler to eat nutritious food, cookbooks come in quite handy. And I simply could not have survived without 2 particular cooks - Bill Granger and David Herbert.
When it comes to cooking for a family with kids in mind, these guys simply rock. Jamie, Stephanie and Nigella all have their strengths, but I've found their recipies to be too fiddly, too time consuming, too something...
Granger I'm sure you'll have heard of - he of the white pants, open-buttoned shirts and gleaming smile. He has shows on Foxtel and even endorses toothpaste (well, obviously), apart from selling binsquillions of books.
Despite the fact that he is very smiley and drips Sydney, I love Bill's food. His recipes have kept this family fed - from his glorious butterscotch and banana pudding (the BEST dessert ever in the world - go on, I dare you to find one better) to his tomato and zucchini baked risotto. Ari has scoffed down so much of this risotto. It was, for a time, his favourite food - he would even eat it cold when we were out and about.
I also worship at the culinary altar of David Herbert, the man behind The Perfect Cookbook (the best cookbook in the world ever - go on, I dare you to find one better). I know his recipes for beef casserole and bolognese sauce off by heart.
Until recently I didn't know what Herbert looked like - then his toothy grin popped up in The Weekend Australian magazine as its resident food man. As it turns out, he used to be Paul Keating's personal chef. I like the man even more...

Strange Days

If you don't travel on public transport regularly, I swear you are missing out on the most fascinating things, people and sights. I love my twice-weekly trips on the train to work - not the least because I get to read the paper in peace on the way in. Bliss.
Today I saw two things on public transport that were quite odd:
1. An empty passionfruit, sitting on the seat across from me on a train. Who on earth eats a passionfruit on the train?
2. A bus driver who was dressed in his version of Urban Cowboy. He had on his bus driver's uniform of navy blue knitted vest, white shirt and blue trousers. But he had a white bandanna, a black cowboy hat and was chewing on a toothpick.

Why I love Top Gear

Top Gear (Monday nights, 7.30pm, SBS) is the funniest show on TV. And it's a show about cars, something I have only a passing interest in. How is this possible?
Is it because most TV today is crap? Partly. There aren't many great comedies around. In fact, are there ANY good comedies around?
These days the only thing that gives me a real belly laugh are snippets of the Colbert Report on YouTube, Andrew Hansen's whacky songs on the Chaser (I'm still humming his "I need a hammer") and Family Guy.
Okay, so why is Top Gear so great then?
For starters, it's beautifully shot, wittily scripted and the three presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are funny, intelligent and charming. Clarkson's quips are utterly hilarious. And the in-jokes between the three are fantastic.
Apart from last week's "make a car into a boat" challenge, the funniest thing I saw on Top Gear this year was a segment where they invited celebrities to do a lap in their reasonably priced car. A few B-graders turned up, among them Princess Diana's former shag James Hewitt.
Hewitt turned up to the race track, was greeted by the gents, did his lap, hung around and chatted and left. The trouble was, the hosts had absolutely no idea who he was. So his lap time went on the leader board as "Well Spoken Man". I really love this show.

Ear, ear

Ari has a middle-ear infection, but is holding up like a trooper. We've had 2 sleep-interrupted nights and a few short bursts of pure crying misery, but otherwise our lil' lad is holding up well under the circumstances.
We have been incredibly lucky with Ari - he's hardly been sick in his life and he's been to the doctor three times in the past week and has started his very first course of antibiotics.
Ari has pretty much been sick non stop for three weeks - he's had a cold, that led to a virus, that led to an ear infection. Barred from seeing other babies for fear of infecting them, I am starting to feel like somewhat of a social leper.

Winter boredom

While our reservoirs and water storages look a lot healthier this year, the winter months have been a shock to the system. Last year, it was cold, but the number of rainy days that prevented Ari and I going outside I could count on one hand.
I know we need the rain and all, but it really does make it hard to entertain a lively 2.5yo when you are stuck inside all the time.
YOU try coming up with an activity for a toddler 7 days a week when it's pouring bloody rain. I have already run out of ideas: we regularly go to an indoor playground, the Melbourne Museum and Northland Shopping Centre (yes, I know, it's a bit naff, but hey, there's a Toys R Us that offers a little rainy day diversion).
I have tried the local library's reading sessions for kids, but Ari honestly (I kid you not) prefers to run up and down the ramp, play with the shelves and jump in the beanbags than sit and listen to a book. Plus there's usually about 5000 kids and their parents there, so there's never enough room anyway.

The model 2.5yo

To say Ari has been a tad fussy of late would be a serious understatement. Mr Particular was starting to drive us crazy until we received a letter in the mail from our Maternal and Child Health Nurse saying it was time for him to come in for his 2.5yo weigh-in.
Accompanying the note was a leaflet titled "Two and a Half Years". It reads:
"This is an age about which parents may need warning because so much that the child now does naturally, almost inevitably, is directly contrary to what his or her parents would like....Parents often say that they can't do a thing with a child of this age."
Basically, it reads like a perfect descriptor of Ari's behaviour and personality at the moment. So, bacially, I have a textbook 2.5yo on my hands.
Among its many insights:
1. 2.5yolds are rigid and inflexible: Damn right, they are! Ari has little routines and will not be swayed by them to, say, get dressed or put on a clean nappy.
2. They must give the orders. If they decide "mummy do", daddy cannot be accepted as a substitute. If they decide "me do it myself", then no one is allowed to help them.
This one is particularly rigid with Ari - not a day goes by without at least one frantic "my do it! my do it!".
3. It is an age of opposite extremes. Children of this age shuttle back and forth between two extremes, trying to include both in their decision - "I will, I won't." "I want it, I don't want it."
This one drives me spare some days. Ari will declare he wants a drink of milk, or a piece of chicken at dinner, then 2 seconds later, look at you as if you were crazy to even give it to him.
Needless to say, this glorious piece of yellow paper has become our solace - it's perfectly normal to have a crazy toddler.

Radio, radio

There are many ways to survive being a stay at home parent. Not really being the scrapbooking type, I personally couldn't get through the day without radio.
My listening is usually blissful grabs at various points of the day, because, as you may have guessed by now, no parent of a 2yo could possibly sit around all day and listen to the wireless. Unless you are fabulously rich and quite frankly if that's the case, you should be tripping around St Tropez, not curled up next to 774.
When the alarm goes off, it's Ross and John on 3AW breakfast until Ari wakes up - and then I strain to hear the Rumour File through Ari's morning warblings. I used to be a committed Breakfasters listener (on 3RRR), but the likes of Tony Wilson, John Safran and even Angus Sampson couldn't compete with Ross and John in the end. I know it's probably not very cool, but no other show sets me up for the day quite like Ross and John.
Then it's pretty much a no go zone until lunchtime and the glorious Get This on (gulp) Triple M. Tony Martin and Ed Kavalee are hilarious - believe me, it's worth sitting through the terrible music of Triple M for the wonderful repartee of Tony and Ed.
I usually manage only about a half-hour of the show, while Ari eats his lunch, and it always gives me a laugh. I couldn't stop banging on to everyone I know about their hilarious "Caperil" - where they encouraged listeners to wear capes for the month of April.
Now if only I could find something for the "afternoon nap" and "cooking dinner" listening timeslots, I'd be set.

Ari, Ari, quite contrary

It seems the Terrible Twos have descended upon us at last. It was inevitable, I guess, that the odd tantrum and naughty bit of behaviour should creep into our lives, but I've been trying to deal with it for the best part of two weeks now and it's quite a change.
Let me start by saying that our Junior Chop has not suddenly become some crazed terror of a child. Far from it. But he's starting to test us in little ways, that sometimes results in feet stamping, tantrums and the occasional wailing crying mess.

Another change has been a strange contrary turn of phrase, eg:
Ari: What's that?
Me: That's a crane.
Ari: That's not a crane, that's a truck!
Me: Oh, a truck is it?
Ari: No, not a truck! A crane!

And so on.

I have no idea what's going through his little noggin' when he has these strange conversations, but I'm sure it's all normal and part of figuring out the world. Or maybe he's just devised a superb way of frustrating his parents.