School holidays have started in a relaxed flop of wet weather, sleep ins & snarky boredom. Lucky I made that goddamn list because so far I have needed it. Well, 1 week down, 7 weeks to go.
Wet weather always drives me to bake, so I made some biscuits.
- Cream 125g of butter with 1 & a quarter cup of brown sugar.
- Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence & 1 egg, beat well.
- Stir in 1 & a half cups of plain flour, half a teaspoon of baking powder & a pinch of salt.
- Roll into balls, & press balls into flaked almonds. If you run out, press them into cachous & call them 'Starry night biscuits'.
- Bake at 180 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
We hauled out some board games, so The Gentleman could show off his freaky flexibility. We also played Popping Penguins, which is a rip off of Trouble; & my childhood favourite, Mastermind. It was fun watching The Gentleman grasp the joy of Mastermind, took me back. Way, way, way back.
Monkey Boy had his Christmas concert, where apparently they all sang & danced. All I saw was the green corduroy back of some annoying dumb arse standing up to dance with her grand daughter in the front row, while people around me huffed & puffed in annoyance (OK me too). I did manage to get this snap of Monkey Boy with Santa. Yes, I know that looks like my son is wearing a dressing gown in the middle of the day, that's because he is. I have no say over what any of my children wear, none at all. As long as they are wearing clothes, I normally just go with it.
Santa was Ho Ho-ing from room to room to give all the kiddos a present. I love Santa & so do my children, but I have never taken them to sit on his knee. Call me Scrooge but we spend all year telling our kids about stranger danger, & then at Christmas, we say 'How exciting! Go sit on that strange man's lap!' You can see Monkey Boy looks a trifle non plussed. Not too sure about the look in this Santa's eye...
They loved this Santa though. Parental Back Flip Alert! The council sends this Santa around every Christmas season to hand out lollies to children who skip & shriek & chase him down the road. While the mums & dads stand around thinking how wonderful, myself included. I guess there is no knee sitting to get uncomfortable about.
Teenage Daughter has been experimenting with pen ink, because she is 'thinking of getting a real one'. Not seen - the large & beautiful octopus wrapping around her entire thigh. Bloody hell.
We managed to get a few mums to the Friday Park, but it was a subdued affair. Still, we managed to guzzle wine & the kids managed to go tribal in their weekly crab hunt, so it was all good.
This is the bream Mr BC caught last week, after it came out of the oven smothered in lemon & butter. It was delicious, & probably about 40cm long, so quite substantial. There is nothing better than super fresh seafood, which tastes especially wonderful if you or someone you know has caught it (Finally, after many attempts & 'one that got away' stories...)
Can you imagine what Mr BC is thinking looking at these fish on a recent visit to the aquarium?
Where is my bloody fishing rod??