16th of January

It was another day at swimming and another day where Harriet loved her lesson and Ted loved his as well (yay!).  We stayed there until about 1pm and then we were all starving and had to rush off to eat IMMEDIATELY.  Me included.  Harriet suggested Satellite I think, and what a great choice.  It's still one of our favourite cafes, even after changing hands years ago.  I always get super trepidatious when anything or any place I enjoy changes hands - *especially* cafes since we all have such specific needs. 

Ted needs room to roam and not just room; he needs an understanding, non-hovering, totally chilled out staff.  I am completely on top of him (figuratively) and know when he's about to potentially destroy something but I can know that from where I'm sitting and will intervene as necessary. 

Harriet needs something on the menu that she really likes.  She loves the muesli here and sure enough it was what she ordered again.  Ted followed suit and although it had yoghurt I thought what the hell.  It's not super sweet, it's not too small or too large a serve.  This place is Goldilocks.

Me?  To be honest once those two are catered for my needs are small.  I do love how they are very community connected, act as a stop for the Aussie Farmer boxes, have signs in the window about kittens found by people from the cafe - this is the stuff a cafe should be.  However the ultimate in scrambled eggs can be found here, suitably called 'Superman'.  It has dill and mint and fetta and basil.  The top of this plate looks like a herb garden just exploded all over it and goddamn if it is not freaking delicious.

 

I'd like to be able to show you a photo of said egg dish supreme-o but it didn't last that long.  It is the only egg dish to beat me too - see that on the table?  That was my leftovers.  And remember I was starving after swimming with two energetic children for hours.  Harriet polished off her bowl and Ted similarly did really well after coming back to it again and again as is his particular method of eating.

 

Sure it's not Bread and Circus or The Grounds as everyone loves to rave about.  I love the food at B&C as well but seriously, we can't afford to eat there.  We pay enough for all the organic food at home and it leaves us little left to throw around on cafe experiences that are similarly paying organic prices and then on top of that again.  We tried to go to The Grounds (actually we've tried to go about three times) but seriously, if we rock up with two children and are told we have to wait FORTY MINUTES then talk to the hand bucko, there is just no freaking way.

So Satellite it remains.  $38 for three meals, three hot drinks?  Yummy?  Friendly? Pretty awesome.

 Even though it was backtracking, we needed to purchase an EHD for my work, so it was back to Glebe for the Officeworks experience.  Harriet had gone through her school list the other night and she realised she only needed two packets of coloured pencils.  James needed labels for his pickles and Ted?  Well it turns out that Ted did need something.  He needed it so deeply and truly and purely that he didn't even realise it.  It was only upon laying eyes on the shimmering gold cardboard that his heart's desire was realised.  That hard paper was bagged.  A true Golden Ticket!  Could his heart know any bounds?

 

With two parties looming in the next week we also had to stop off at the local toy shop since I was not planning on making anything. January is already incredibly difficult for me.  The children don't go to bed until 8.30ish and that leaves me all of about two hours to edit my daily photos, write up the blog posts and do all of the work I have building up behind me.  Argh!  Not enough time in the day!  Well actually there is heaps of time in the day, it's just that the time is consumed by small children and their needs and keeping the house in a state where I can keep my sanity.

 

While we were in the toy store, Harriet spied the Sylvanian Families car that pulls along the caravan.  You may remember that this piece of gifted luxury didn't come from us but was the loving domain of her grandparents. And the car similarly was not from us but bought by Harriet with her own money, acquired from busking as you may remember. 

 

This is IT.  The Golden Ticket.

 

Harriet was caught up in the excitement of creation, and sat down to draw out the chocolate bar as modelled by Ted's pop-up book version.  I love how she was attentive to the need for decorative swirls on each square.  I made a purple cardboard envelope to hold them all in and pretty much, by the end of this experience, Ted was in ecstasy.  In fact when I placed the entire, finished product in front of him he just sat there looking at it, not touching it.  He raised his left hand and squeezed it into a tight fist, cracked a broad smile and looked over at me without saying a word.  His silence was story enough.

 

 That silence didn't last for long however, because he decided to be 'dead' and then we all had to be amazed and shocked when he moved from being a cadaver to being animate.  I'm guessing he can't wait for Easter.

I was excited whilst at the toy store to be able to buy the children this really funky game called Rapido. It's made from bamboo and has good eco-cred.  The rope was all twisted when we got it out of the box, which meant the balls kept sneaking out, but I've left it out in the hope of keeping the game enclosed a little more.  Ted loved it - it's basically a sustainable version of Hungry Hungry Hippos where you bash the bamboo tube down on the coloured ball you need to complete the pattern on a little bamboo strip.

 

While we were playing we had some friends drop in.  Love that! The older children went out to play a long-lasting potion game,  the younger two played inside and the adults managed to squeeze in a little chat.  Unfortunately, due to our low pantry and a dinner consisting of 'fridge surprise', we were unable to offer the impromptu dinner the children were eager to have.  That's on the cards for next time.