The Days Turn Into Weeks Into Months. Saturdate.

I can't believe it has been 5 months since my last post. I always intend to post something totally mundane as I always do but somehow I can never find the time to break free of the mundane things that I do so I can sit and write. I have been back to work full time since July and there's just not enough hours in the day for everything. It's a 4 am wake-up so I can do 2 hours of work in peace and quiet then from 6 AM it's a rush to get ready, pack lunch, get everyone fed and dressed, daycare drop off, fight the traffic, spend the day at work, fight the traffic to pre-school to pick up son #1 then fight the traffic to daycare to pick up son #2, cook dinner, feed the little people, bathe them, put them to bed, get dinner ready, eat, clean, try to do a little bit more work and before you know it it's 11 PM sometimes later before I go to sleep. And then it starts again. I am the sort of person who doesn't function well under 10 hours of sleep.

Despite all of the above, I thrive being at work.

My last post was about our Anniversary date. Dates are so rare nowadays that I never thought I'd have back to back posts about dates. I don't even remember the last time we had a date other than for our anniversary. It was definitely the time before Children. Last Saturday we went to Momofuku at the Star. I don't know about you but I find casinos very tacky. Momofuku however, did not disappoint. For the $$$$$ that you pay, you expect it not to.

A very pretty dish and painstakingly prepared.

Beef tongue and snail. The tongue was so tasty and tender. I never thought I'd ever eat tongue let alone like it.

We had the non-alcoholic pairing. I really wanted the wine pairing but I knew I'd be totally sloshed after just two glasses and if I'm going to pay that much for food and drinks I'd like to enjoy and remember enjoying it. I tend to not have much recollection of things after only a few glasses. Plus I was wearing 4 inch stilettos.

It was really interesting being seated at the bar surrounding the open kitchen. I was expecting MasterChef style chaos but there was no shouting, nothing went wrong, there was no rushing around, no clanging of pots and pans, nobody was having a meltdown, no mess, no drama. It was very calm, serene even. The chefs barely talked but that's not to say they didn't communicate. Each chef had a station but they all came together to plate up like it was a well-timed choreography and everyone danced their part seamlessly. The only thing that resembled MasterChef was the occasional quietly spoken "Yes, chef." It was quite fascinating to watch. 

Afterwards we walked past Adriano Zumbo's patisserie but didn't buy anything. Then we went up to the casino to have a look. I have never walked into a more depressing looking place. As the escalator was going up I noticed money in the fountain. Sure people throw money into fountains all the time, I have done so myself at the Trevi Fountain (shameless name dropping) but we're not talking 20c coins here. There are notes in the water. You can really sense that this is a place where people come to throw away money. On the main floor people are just glued to the machines like zombies looking absolutely miserable. There were rows upon rows of electronic roulette where everyone bereft of soul just stares blankly at the screen showing the virtual roulette. It wasn't at all like the Las Vegas casinos depicted in movies, nobody was celebrating and there were no heists. Oceans Eleven is very misleading.

I spoke a little earlier of choreography and dancing. Well, On Sunday I was rummaging through my parents' garage in search of a pair of platform shoes (more on that on a later post which will hopefully be sooner than 5 months) when I found a box of my pointe shoes. Naturally, I put them on straight away to inflict pain on my toes.

Sure my legs don't go up to my ears anymore but basically I still got it!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas. High Tea. Happy Second Birthday, Blog!

I put the Christmas tree up last Friday. Here is Bubby attempting to put the star on top of the tree, unsuccessfully. I really didn't realise how tall the tree was when I bought it. I got it from a Christmas warehouse place and it wasn't the biggest tree there so it looked 'small' in comparison. We still haven't finished decorating it but it's only November. I want to take Bubby shopping so he can choose some Christmas tree decorations.

Today, I hosted a High Tea. It's amazing how fancy a sandwich becomes when you take off the crust. The hydrangeas are from the garden.

The blog turned 2 on the 21st of November. I have been meaning to write an entry but have been too busy. I meant to update the blog layout and finally add an About Me but that will have to wait. All I can say is the blog has once again been living up to its name.

What's Your Excuse?

This photo has created a bit of a furore on Facebook.

I can see why it pissed off a lot of people, the slogan is just a bit inflammatory. But I don't think she could have put anything down that would not be taken negatively. She has some pretty good advice on her blog here. Good for her, I say. As Britney Spears says, if you want a hot body and look good in a bikini, you better work b**ch.

So what's my excuse?

This,

this,

this,

this,

this,

this,

this,

this,

this,

this,

this,

this,

this, 

and this.

Do I feel guilty? Not really. I'd rather have eaten them than not. Anyway, I'm just waiting for my abdominal separation to close itself then I can start really working out. I heard it can take months and months to fix itself. 

Banana Split and Bubby's First Babycino

I started the day really well by opting for healthier options.

Breakfast: Roast chicken sub with all the salad options (minus the onion, yuck), okay with ranch sauce but still better than McDonald's.

Lunch: Salmon sushi and seaweed salad

And then it's downhill from there. 

I had a craving for a banana split.

Bubby enjoyed his first babycino.

Like, really enjoyed it.

Like, a lot.

Can't get enough.

He also sampled the banana split and tried to drink the chocolate lick on the side.

Banana split and mocha which is best drank from a hug mug. I love Max Brenner.

I actually felt quite sick afterwards from the sugar overload. I better get started on that exercise regime I've been thinking about.

Kitchen (Mis)Adventure - Car Cake Catastrophe

As far as kitchen misadventures go this one is an epic failure of Titanic proportions. Bubby and I were supposed to bake a chocolate car cake for hubby's birthday. I've talked it up for days and he was excited to make an Uncle Topolino cake for daddy.

This is Uncle Topolino for those of you who have never seen Cars 2 or don't have a boy.

Now you're probably wondering how can you possibly get a ready-mix cake wrong, right? Well, lets start from the very beginning, the very best place to start. (Sound of Music fan much?) First we begin with cake mix, water, oil and eggs. Mix with an electric mixer for a few minutes, pour in a cake tin and pop in a pre-heated oven. Check, check, check.

We then left it to do it's thing and that's when things went wrong.

The silicone cake mould collapsed and the cake mix spilled. Luckily, I decided to check how it was going after about 5 minutes. I was able to somewhat salvage it.

Not looking promising.

The rest of the cake.

The important thing is Bubby still think it looks like Uncle Topolino.

If Uncle Topolino fell into a ditch. A ditch the size of a canyon.

Kitchen (Mis)Adventure - Beef. Red Wine and Roast Vegetable Pie

This is frozen meal with a difference. One of hubby's colleagues had some ready made dinners delivered for us. It's from a company called Dinner Ladies. Their website is pretty funny.

Frozen state.

In the oven.

Halfway there.

Big chunks of flavorsome, very tender juicy beef and vege.

Nothing really went wrong in the making of this dinner and all I had to do was crack and whisk an egg and turn on the oven, I think we'll be coming back for more.

Kitchen (Mis)Adventure - Breakfast Anytime.

When I was pregnant I craved a big breakfast of eggs, toast, sautéed mushroom, tomatoes and spinach. It would seem I still crave it. I don't have time to cook in the morning during the week so I today I had it for lunch. I've decided to cut down on dairy in case it's what's causing Chububby to have wind pains so instead of using full cream milk for my scrambled eggs I used soy milk.

I'm not sure soy milk is the way to go. It made the scrambled egg sweet. It wasn't bad but it's not the same. It's also not as fluffy and looked weird.

I was in such a hurry to eat that I forgot the smoked salmon until I've finished the lot.

I still have a bit of dairy in the form of butter and dessert. I said I was cutting down on dairy not eliminating it.