My Two Favourite Phrases

Sundays. I LOVE 'EM! I fell asleep last night for a couple of minutes somewhere there between 3am and 4.30am and just as I dozed off, I thought to myself, tomorrow I am going to aim to make lemon curd and fairy wings.

When I finally woke, I remembered those fateful words and actually got around to putting them into action because...wait for it...we had nothing planned for today. Oh yes sirree bob - nothing. Well we had something planned for the evening, but not a scrap of a thing planned for daylight hours. Woot!

Why lemon curd I hear you ask? Well for one, it is delicious. For two, it's scrumptious and for three I love it. Plus there's the little issue of having this huge bag of lemons in our fridge that we need to move and also having over bought on eggs at the markets last week (and we eat quite a few eggs, so for us to overbuy means there is no way we could cram another albumin into our lives; we needed inspiration, a new direction).

So off I typed to taste. I quite like that website, it's not going to startle you with anything new, exciting and inspiring, but it's great for reminding you of classics, ways to use up random amounts of co-op vegies that you didn't choose in the first place and has very reliable steps in how to get through it. So I went there for lemon curd. I read the comments and decided to skip the straining (because I love a strong lemon flavour, I mean, I'm making lemon curd for goodness sake; plus I didn't use zest so no bits to worry about). I even sterilised some jars for the exercise which surprised James no end since I never follow recipes, especially not instructions like sterilising jars which sounds like unnecessary busywork.

I had two very willing helpers for the whole process. Ted cracked a few eggs and loved pouring the yolks in from the shell. Separating eggs is a truly auspicious task when seen through the eyes of a two year old! Harriet loved juicing the lemons and then it was on to the tiresome task of whisking for about 40mins. But the result? Ohmygoodnesssodamngoodit'sbad. YUM! In fact one small jar was eaten before it even made it off the heat.

While we were busy in the kitchen James set to work making the wire frames for the fairy wings. I kind of missed the whole event due to whisking 101 but I'm planning on getting those babies finished in the next couple of days, to which you shall be subjected to fairy photo fury I'm sure.

But what are the two favourite phrases of the title? Well let me tell you now folks. Bernie Hayes and Child Friendly. Oh yes. This afternoon we jumped in the car and braved the cold to watch the children run around like lunatics on Petersham Bowling Club's greens (which didn't seem very respectful to the game of bowls to me, I kept waiting for someone in a white coat to come and rap all of our knuckles). How is it that in the face of single degree temperatures, children can manage to keep seeking out the outdoors, and shedding layer upon layer of clothing in the process?

Ted and Arki played so well together, running around playing with a ball and Ted just seemed to enjoy staging fall downs of varying severity, then cracking up laughing. James and I got to stand around drinking cider, talking to Zoe, Marty, Linda and Daniel, whilst our children had a ball doing something or other. I'm not too sure what it was because they were doing it at great speed far away from us and having a ball doing it. From our vantage point it seemed to involve a complicated process of running...stopping to gain breath...then more running...then having the older children tell the younger ones what to do...them ignoring said instructions...then more running. You know, the usual.

When we moved indoors to watch BHQ, Ted was absolutely enthralled. He sat silently watching two songs of the first band, then went back for more when Bernie came on. He didn't move, just watched intently, then pulled me back to where our things were for some food.

Harriet, on the other hand, was incensed at moving inside. It was way too loud for her (notice the jumper tied around her ears) and she couldn't concentrate on reading her book that she'd brought. (By the way, see those rainbow thermals she's wearing? Oh yes, $2 from yesterday's op shop haul).

So although we would have liked to stay and watch Dog Trumpet, we left. And when we got home James was annoyed, frustrated and hungry. I think the children were too. But me? I was deliciously happy. I made lemon curd! And saw Bernie play! And drank cider! I told you I love Sundays.