Special Moments: The Origin of Pillows

I loved it when A was a couple of weeks old, he would use my bare breast as a pillow after feeding.

Broccoli Soup

I must admit, I'm a big Gordon Ramsay fan. I discovered him in the UK Nightmare Kitchen series during my marathon nursing sessions with A. I watched him make this soup on youtube and couldn't believe how easy it is. It is a great summer soup full of flavour.

Who knew broccoli soup could be so simple and delicious!

Ingredients:
Head of Broccoli
2 liters water
salt and pepper to taste.

Chop one head of broccoli into florets.
Bring pot of water to boil.
Place in rapidly boiling water. Add salt, close lid. Let it cook for 4:00-4:30min.
Place florets in blender, add salt and pepper to taste.
Add about 2 ladles (about a cup) of the water the broccoli was boiled in.
Blend until smooth.

See Ramsay make the recipe here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvc8Au4YO60

Special Moments: The Look of Love

We were driving somewhere and I was sitting in the back seat with A. I was a long day so I was looking at him, smiling and singing "You are my sunshine" (his favourite song). He was looking back at me smiling with a look of love in his eyes.

My Garden

I'm a total noob when it comes to gardening. When we moved to our house 3 years ago it was the first time I would have a garden. Sadly the only plants I could identify were the roses (and the lawn LOL). Yes, I had to learn from scratch! The garden was also very neglected and required a lot of work. It was neglected again when I became pregnant.

Now I hope to work on the garden during nap times. I plan on bringing in more indigenous plants since I figure they will be easier to care for and won't require so much watering. I also hope to start a herb garden.

I can actually identify a few plants now!

Front garden:
Delicious Monster
Aztec Grass
Mondo Grass
Agapanthus (white)
Wild Iris
Jasmine
Strelizia
Wild Garlic
Cat's Tail
Hibiscus
Hydrangea
Beetroot

The back garden has two flower beds. One in front of the house, the other is near the boundry wall.
In front of the house I have:
a pond:
yesterday-today-tomorrow
Stinkwood
Cannas
Irises
Lavender
Roses
Gardenia


By the boundry wall I have:
Karee Tree
Bouganvillias
Agapanthas
Clivias
Bamboo
Arum Lilies
Mondo Grass
Clivias

Savoury Chickpea Salad

This is a tweaked recipe from the Home, December 2010 magazine. A great vegetarian salad.

Ingredients
1 red onion finely chopped
2 tbl olive oil
2 cans chickpeas
200g baby tomatoes, halved
1/2 cucumber, cut into cubes
large handful of Italian parsley chopped

Vinaigrette
120ml olive oil
50ml white wine vinegar
1 tsp mustard
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp honey

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas under cold water.
2. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and saute the onion until soft and glossy. Add the chickpeas and stir through. Set aside to cool.
3. Prepare the vinaigrette by mixing all the ingredients.
4. Place the chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber and parsley in a salad bowl.
5. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad. Mix through, cover the salad and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Special Moments: My Reward

This realisation cape probably when A was 1-2 weeks old. I was cradling and starring at my newborn in awe. I realised that for all the obstacles or hardships I had to overcome, for all the times someone made me feel inferior in any way, basically any bad thing that has happened to me, he is my reward.

I had to overcome and go through these things to get to that moment; to hold my sweet baby boy and it was all worth it to have this sweet reward.

Special Moments: 2nd Day of A's Life

I remember sitting on the side of the hospital bed A's head in my one hand, his bottom in the other. staring into his sleepy face and being totally mesmerized. He then proceeded to make a big poop, this woke him up. He opened his eyes and started to look around. I will never forget the look on his face of puzzlement of where he was, it was definitely different to where he was 2 days ago.