Snap Snap
Sometimes it’s fun rediscovering an old app you haven’t used for a while; I busted out Hipstamatic this afternoon while the boys were playing rugger at the club. I love the John S lens and Ina’s 1969 film combo!
Month: March 2012
PLAY | Q&A with Dr Paula Barrett
The Milo facebook page hosted Australian academic Dr Paula Barrett this afternoon for a live chat about playtime and how important it is for our kids. The hour just flew by as eager mums were keen to chat with Paula who specializes in childhood anxiety …
Sunday; Sustainable Coastlines | Workshops on the Waterfront
Ethan doesn’t know it yet but he has been enrolled in an art workshop on Sunday! Yay!
He will bitch and moan until a) he finds out he gets to make a marine animal, win! and b) we can go to the fish market afterwards and c) Sustainable Coastlines makes mama very happy – everyone wins!
I am so excited about this, come hang with us, we are registered for the 11am Trash to Art session.
Creating colourful artworks from waste. Participants will be guided in the construction of a marine animal from brightly coloured rubbish collected during coastal clean-ups, either on a pre designed ‘flat’ template, or a three dimensional mini sculpture to take home. Creative input will be encouraged, so children can make whatever they choose with the provided materials.
Register here
Public Service Announcement | Dyson Vacs
Who knew. Dyson Very-Spendy Vacs have a filter! Two even! And, they have to be cleaned every six months. Well, today is your birthday little Dyson Vac and because you are amazing {and somewhat ornery and shut your power off this arvo!} I called customer …
Play | What it means to us
When I was asked to be involved with the fantastic Milo Play Movement I was awesomely stoked {and quietly confident, play, meh, we play ALL the time}. We play rugby, we play touch, we play trombone, we surf and skateboard, Ethan swims every week, we …
Cook, Eat | Peach Pie Recipe
Thanks to the lovely local grocer I have a boat load of Golden Queen peaches to deal to. Like 7kgs worth and no jars to make jam. But hell , one cannot say no to such a bounty of fruit for under two bucks!
So instead of jam I made dessert. I stumbled upon a most amaze recipe at www.canadianliving.com and threw it all in the oven.
So good! Definitely give this one a go if you find yourself endowed with millions of peaches. I had some broken pastry sheets to use up so I pressed those into my deep casserole dish to make a jumbo pie.
I didn’t quite have enough pastry for the lid of my second pie so I topped it with crumble mix instead. A hybrid of sorts!
Ingredients
- 1 pastry for 9-inch (23cm)
- 5 cups (1.25 L) peeled and sliced peaches
- 3/4 cup (175 mL) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon juice
- 2 tbsp (30 mL) chopped candied ginger (I left this out)
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) butter
- Milk or cream
- 1 sprinkle granulated sugar
Preparation
Line 9-inch (23 cm) pie plate with pastry.
In large bowl, combine peaches, sugar, flour, lemon juice and candied ginger. Fill pastry shell with peach mixture; dot filling with butter.
Moisten edges of bottom crust. Cover with top crust. Trim and flute edges. Cut steam vents. Brush top with milk or cream; sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar.
Bake in 425°F (220°C) in bottom third of oven for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350°F (180°C) and bake for 35 to 45 minutes longer or until peaches are tender, filling thickened and crust golden.
From Paisley Jade | Things I’m Loving
I am loving a weekend that finally felt a little bit like a weekend. We took Saturday off, so to speak, and cruised around Auckland, doing a bit of shopping, eating, exploring, gelato and the boys hit up a new skate park. It was lovely. …
PLAY | Boy v Wild. Mixing the old with new
By accident, we came upon this idea of mixing the new technology we love with the old-fashioned play we miss. By combining something a child is passionate about {in Ethan’s case bugs/animals/wild/dirt etc} with a little YouTube inspiration, taking cues from suitable role models and fashioning them into outside play in your own yard is easy!
We {read: ME} are big fans of Bear Grylls. We love his wild ways, we have taken careful note of scree-running techniques and applied them to our day to day lives haha! But really, we have run down one scree mountain slope on the Tongariro Crossing and it was AWESOME because Bear taught us how to do it in our living room!
So, naturally when the Man v Wild episode filmed in NZ aired on discovery last week Dave and I were stoked. He ate a Weta people!
The next day Dave was showing Ethan the episode on YouTube, the effect was instantaneous. MOVE OVER ROBSON GREEN, there’s a new hero in town. I just knew what was about to happen so I waited, with camera in hand of course.
Playing Bear Grylls kept E amused for hours, he fashioned a knife out of wood and sharpened it into a lovely vicious shape on a rock. He explored various habitats {sandpit, garden, woodpile, rocks} and catalogued his finds. He whispered commentary the whole darn time {I learnt so much in my eavesdropping!}. He got dirty-filthy, ATE SLATERS!!! {I was not aware of this until he insisted I smell his breath}, achieved his ultimate back-yard catch and release – a skink – and slept like a log. My work here is done.
