Disco Knitter

Mark and I are going to the Opera in the Domain tonight, and Inigo is having his first ever sleepover with Nanna.

He looked so grown up. Sniff.

Mum made these at Christmas, and I finally got it together to make them at home. My grandfather used to make them for Christmas every year, and it just wouldn’t be Christmas without them, even though he is gone. George was a really, really good cook – he could taste a dish in a restaurant, and then replicate it perfectly at home. Or even improve on it. Though we usually struggled to get him to go to restaurants, because he complained that he could do better himself. He was usually right, but he needed an army of staff to clean up after one of his banquets!

Because of his amazing talent at mimicry and invention, I have no idea if this recipe is stolen or made up, but it is awesome, and you should try it, even if you aren’t mad about radishes. Like me.

Smashed Radishes

1 bunch radishes, washed, tops and tails given to a bunny
1 heaped teaspoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons finely grated ginger – young ginger if you can get it
Soy Sauce to cover

You’ll need a large cleaver to lay flat over the radish so you can bash your fist down to smash the radish. If you’re going to be eating them soon, go for more smashing, if you have a day to marinade, you can get away with less bashing. I usually chop larger radishes in half or quarters before smashing.

Once your radishes have been subdued, put them in a steep sided bowl, and add remaining ingredients. Leave in a warm spot for at least an hour to congregate, or overnight in the fridge.

Eat! Keeps for a few days in the fridge.

When someone invents a waterproof cover so I can read in the bath, I might sell my firstborn to finance one. And so I get some time to read in the bath.

But then again…

When Iggy does something dangerous, I get down to his level, look him in the eye, and ask him, “what’s the most important thing in the world?”. Usually, he answers, “Iggy’s the most important thing in the world”, and I say “that’s right, and I need you to be safe”.

Today, unbidden, he said, “Mama’s the most important thing in the world”.

I will keep him. Definitely.

I can’t filter out the best images yet…

I took these over New Year, in a Thai restaurant in Woy Woy. In the most unlikely places…

Mijal’s comment on the Iggy video reminds me of our flying trip to Newtown to catch up with Mijal and Miya and their adorable 6 month old boy, Marley.

Inigo’s sleep issues continue, and of course he fell asleep in the car, only to be woken up and adored, which rather upset his equilibrium.

And being the evil woman that I am, I took pictures.

Isn’t Marley adorable?

Yes, he drank the entire milkshake.

You know how it goes, you’re chatting with an old friend, and they say something like, “I’ve just enrolled in *circus school”, or some such, and you think, “I’ve always wanted to learn highwire acrobatics”, and so you ask them for the flyer, and then you sit on it until ten minutes after applications close, and then you say, “bugger, I really wanted to do that”.

So, when Miriam mentioned a textile printing course, I naturally thought I’d never get around to it. But somethings got into the water around here, and I seem to be in the mood to get shit done.

I’m enrolled.

In semi related news, Inigo harvested the first strawberry from my his garden today.

I have a new policy for the blog. Bad news has to give way to good. I won’t leave unhappy posts at the top of the blog (unless I am incapable for some reason).

So in that light, here is a post that I hesitated to put up yesterday because I thought it would bore most people senseless. So without further ado, here is a conversation with Inigo, in video.

*The title of this post comes from a text message, sent by a football player to a woman that he had sexually assaulted, the full text of which reads, “Buck up you sad bitch, nobody likes a whinger”.

We took Custard to the specialist today. He had deteriorated since yesterday, and the vet said that he would have a less than 50/50 chance of making it through surgery. He was in a lot of pain, so I had to make a decision on the spot to say goodbye.

Custard survived a lot in his lifetime. As a baby, I took him from a petshop with a nasty abscess. A vet said then that he probably wouldn’t live for more than six months, but he did. Later he had another abscess, which went all through his jaw and into his skull. Again, we didn’t have much hope that he would live for long. But he did, and he had great quality of life, especially in his last years, living with the adoration of his lady love Jasper.

He gave her his last kisses this morning, and 10:30 this morning, we said goodbye for the last time. The vet will do a necropsy, so that we know exactly what he was going through, and we will bury him at home on Thursday.

He would have been 10 on Valentines day.

We took the side off Inigo’s cot on Thursday. This is how I found him sleeping at around 10pm last night.

Today I went to an ABA training meeting and left Inigo at home with Mark. After the meeting, I rang home, and Mark put Inigo on the phone so we could have a chat. He was awesome, answeing my questions and telling me about his day.

Apparently, after I hung up, he proudly stated, I talked to mama on daddys phone.

Adorable.

A fab site with quick video tutorials about all your favourite internet memes. Find out all about three wolf moon shirt, All your base are belong to us, Rickrolling, and Numa Numa (also known as Dragostea D’in Tea, or Nuna Nuna if you are two).

Candide is this years Opera In The Domain.

Any takers?

Yesterday, I made sure I dropped off our old baby capsule and pram (thanks Karen & Chris!) to Christine, as yesterday was her last day of work before going on maternity leave. Sure enough, she started having contractions that night, and Joshua Adam was born at 1am this morning, 3.3kg.

Christine is looking amazing, but I didn’t ask permission to post a picture of her on the blog, just her gorgeous baby

Inigo has a new cousin!

A few weeks ago, when we were just beginning this whole toilet training adventure, I put Inigo in the car for a trip to Spotlight – about 15 minutes in the car. Silly me forgot to get him to wee before we got in the car, forgot to but a terry square under him in the car, and forgot to bring a change of clothes. And when we got there, he was wet. Luckily it was raining that day, and he was in dark coloured clothes, it wasn’t noticeable, so we went into Spotlight regardless (without stopping to pee first).

Of course, while I was waiting to pay, he peed again. In a puddle on the floor, just in front of the counter.

Is is wrong to use your child to mop up urine from the floor of a discount haberdashery store?

Finally home after a blissful holiday up the coast. Normal programming will resume shortly.

To all of you that had a great 2009, here’s to continuing the trend. And for those of you who had a craptaculous 2009, here’s wishing you a wonderful 2010.

We’ve been up at Pearl Beach since Boxing Day, and are just home for a few hours to feed the creatures (others have been doing it on other days!), and to visit an old friend in hospital. We’ll be back and getting into the swing of 2010 on Monday.