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Category: Real Living

#AllBran and Wakame crusted Petuna Ocean Trout

Before the princesses came along, there used to be quite a lot of experimenting go on in the O’Brien kitchen. There was even a bit of competition as to who would be in control of the oven and “who’s meal reigned supreme’’ at the end of the week. And yes, sadly we’re Iron Chef fans.

When Kelloggs submitted a challenge to a host of mummy bloggers to create a dish using its newly released All Bran Fibre Toppers, a spark was reignited in me. Not more so because the carrot dangling from the end of the Fibre Toppers box was a trip to New York to experience BlogHer (one of the world’s biggest blogging events). Now there’s an idea, Fibre Toppers Carrot Cake…

Of course, I wasn’t about to pull out any Iron Chef-style shark fin dishes. And yes, I can hear a chorus of mothers right now saying I shouldn’t knock something before I try it. But shark fin? Really?

However, I did decide two separate studies revealing children don’t eat enough seafood and fibre was enough reason for this Taswegian to pull out the seafood/All Bran card. Just half a cup provides 33% of your daily fibre requirements. Not than No. 2s are an issue around here.

I might not be Tetsuya Wakuda, but I sure know how to create a healthy winner for the O’Brien dinner table. The hungry devils loved the crunch of the All Bran Fibre Toppers and flavour from the herbs and wakame. And just wait till you see what was for dessert.

All Bran and Wakame crusted Petuna Ocean Trout

Ingredients:

2 cups of All Bran Fibre Toppers

1 cup parsley leaves

1 cup basil leaves

Sprig of thyme

5 cloves of garlic

3 sheets of wakame (dried seaweed, washed and chopped)

4 Petuna Ocean Trout portions, skinned and boned (Tasmanian seafood really is quality)

1 egg, beaten

Method:

Wash and dry the herbs with paper towel and combined with the garlic and wakame in a food processor until finely chopped.

Stir in the All Bran Fibre Toppers.

Seal the Ocean trout portions by frying in a very hot non-stick pan. This should take no more than a couple of minutes for both sides. Dip one side of the Ocean trout in the beaten egg and then into the All Bran and Wakame mixture.

Bake the Ocean trout in a moderate to hot oven (200C) with the crust side up for a few minutes.

Serve with vegetables (in our case, some beautiful new potatoes).

PS. You can check out all the recipes submitted for the challenge by searching the #AllBran hashtag on Twitter.

PPS. This has ignited a fire in me and reminded me of my love of Tasmanian food – and good food in general – so I’m starting a Tasmanian food series here.

Do you have any favourite recipes you could incorporate All Bran Fibre Toppers into?

February 25, 2012
Guest Post: Entertaining the idea of pot luck
Handing over the blog today to the lovely Dr Bron Harman. Now this is an idea we should all try.

I HAVE a very extensive group of girlfriends who I have met through my children. I guess this is like most mothers in some respects; that when your children go to school, you meet other mums who have things in common. In my case, it’s a little different in that there are about 50 of us who are friends still, after first meeting 14 years ago. I guess we were lucky that we all stumbled on each other at the same small primary school.
We have stayed in touch even as some of us have moved out of the area and/or changed schools. One of the ways we do this is through a “pot luck”. It has occurred to me that this is a tradition we kind of made up and where the “rules” have evolved over many years, and you have no idea what pot luck is.
Here’s how we do it. Maybe you can, too!

Christmas Pot Luck 2004
- The hostess calls the date. If it is dinner, it is 7pm, if it is lunch it’s 11am. No need to clarify. We all know this. The date is not negotiable. That’s when it is. If it clashes with something in your diary, too bad for you.
- The hostess sends an sms to about ten people. The sms would read something like “Pot luck dinner, Bron’s house, 13 Jan”. No need to write the time. It’s dinner, so turn up around 7pm. No need to write the address. We all know where everyone lives.
- If you receive such an sms, pass it on to five people if you remember to. Because of the informality, you may receive three invites, ten invites, or none. It’s pot luck if you hear about it. Don’t be offended if nobody tells you. It’s nothing personal.
- Do not RSVP. Turn up or don’t. If you don’t go, no need to explain. If you are going, it is usually wise to organise your car pool early, though. Of course, the hostess has no idea who is turning up. Could be five. Could be fifty. It’s pot luck. For the record, we usually have around fifteen to twenty turn up. Once everyone turned up at Kate’s, ha ha. It was packed!
- Paper plates are acceptable, but we want real cutlery.
- Here’s the fun bit. You have to take a plate, without conferring with anyone else (plus take your own drinks). It can be nibbles, main or dessert. You can escape with buying something pre-made once or twice, but then we will notice. And we’re all pretty good cooks, so don’t be lazy. Because we don’t confer, we have no idea what will be on offer. Once we had one nibbles dish, one main and twelve desserts, ha ha. Oh well!
- Children may come to lunch, but not dinner. Husbands may never come to pot luck. Once the girlfriends have served themselves at dinner (always set up buffet style), the hostess’s husband and children may serve themselves. But they eat somewhere else. Not with us.
- At the end of the pot luck, you must take your dish as is. It may have leftovers, it might not. If it has been a pot luck that is well attended, your dish might be virtually untouched. Do not be offended. It is not personal. However, the important thing is that the hostess is not left with a sink full of dishes. We use paper plates, and you take your dish home, as is. She has cutlery to deal with and if she is smart, her husband washes it.
- There’s 50 of us. Someone else do pot luck next time.
And there you have it. An easy stress-free way to enjoy a meal with up to 50 friends. Enjoy!

Dr Bron Harman is a psychology lecturer and researcher. Her research program is on various aspects of parenting and resilience, which she has been studying since 2002. Bron first became interested in the “good mother syndrome” when she had her own children. They are older now, but she is still passionate about “keeping it real” for Australian mums and dads. Bron blogs at The Modern Family.
January 18, 2012
A thrifty way to travel – our Melbourne holiday with kids

WHEN I say thrifty, I’m talking about Thrifty Car Rental, which set us up with the Black Beast during our family holiday to Melbourne last week. They gave us a roomy Ford Falcon XR6 (it was meant to be a Hyundai i45, but I’m starting to get over that), a GPS (which was introduced to some rather colourful language from The Bloke in The Shed), a fuel card (yet we didn’t even use half a tank!) and they took care of my tolls (when asked what tollways we used we just shrugged our shoulders. There are no tollways in Tasmania. In Tassie, we’ll pay you to use our roads).

As part of this post, I thought I’d show you where the Black Beast took us to inspire you on your next Melbourne visit. Digital Parents Conference, anyone?

You’d think this post would start with a lovely family photo of us standing around the Black Beast, right? Well, unfortunately the Beast was a tad camera shy. Or, quite possibly, we forgot to actually take a photo in all the excitement. Instead, here’s a photo I stole from Ford.

And now, here’s what I know about what to do with kids in Melbourne:

Thursday:

At the Melbourne airport we picked up the Black Beast from the Thrify Car Rental desk, completely fitted out with blue child car seats, in what was a no-fuss experience and headed straight for… shopping. We’ve taken in most DFOs and shopping precincts and the relatively new South Wharf DFO has been among the best. In the afternoon we princesses spent some downtime in our perfectly located hotel, Medina Executive South Yarra. The Bloke in The Shed took to the hotel gym. Our two-bedroom unit was incredibly roomy and Ella was chuffed at her BIG bed. We were surprised by how close it was to everything we needed access to, including the Royal Botanic Gardens. We had a picnic dinner with the Claire family, with so much space in the gardens it’s hard not to find a secluded spot for yourself.

Friday:

While the Kids Business Bloggers Brunch was only a few blocks from our hotel, the GPS went into a tizz when it tried to take us down a few closed streets. Thankfully, with the temperature reaching 34 degrees, the Black Beast’s air con prevented us from going into a tizz. Once I finally arrived at my Prahran destination, The Bloke in the Shed and the two princesses headed to the air-conditioned Melbourne Museum. While hubby said the children’s area was good, Princess Ella (4) was apparently more interested in the general section. In the afternoon, the Beast lured us to Prahran Market where I fell in love. And I’m not talking about the fact we saw Russell Gilbert. The array of food – and the quality – was too much temptation. It’s not the sort of thing you’d spend a lot of time at, especially with kids, but if you’ve got the ability to cook in your hotel it’s well worth it. That night we dined at a café on Toorak Rd.

Saturday:

We detoured via St Kilda (yay GPS!) to pick up my brother and then headed straight to the Melbourne Zoo. You can read the full review about how much we enjoyed ourselves. That night we over indulged on the yummy delights we’d picked up at the Prahran Market.

Sunday:

Our flight left at 8.30am, so we preprogrammed the airport into the GPS the night before. At the airport carpark, Ella turned to me and said: “Can we take our car home with us, Mum?’’. Sure, why not. I’ll pack it in with our luggage (which had already reached its limit after the Bloggers Brunch goodies). As we headed out of the terminal to board our Qantaslink flight, it felt like all the spoils of our holiday were now behind us. Then we were presented with the above Dash 8. Yes, a pink one. Ella, again, thought the airport had turned it on especially for her. We’re not about to ruin her fun.

What would you recommend we do next time we visit Melbourne?

Linking up Shae from Yay for Home’s Things I Know. Make sure you click to learn what others’ know.

DISCLOSURE: We received a car, GPS and fuel card from Thrifty Car Rental. We received a two-bedroom room at Medina Executive South Yarra at a media rate. All opinions expressed are my own.

November 25, 2011
Monkeying around at the Melbourne Zoo (review)

WHEN it wasn’t raining at the Melbourne Zoo on Saturday, we were drenched from the hot rain dripping off the trees. However, in the words of a corny cadet journalist, it didn’t dampen our spirits. See?

How dashing do I look? Actually, don’t answer that. If I had realised there were kid ponchos, I would have snavelled one of those.

It was then followed by a Bear Grylls parenting moment, when The Bloke in The Shed had to master a dummy chain from the plastic of his fetching blue poncho to stop Li’l Holly from dropping her pacifier onto the ground – and possibly into poo. The animals. Not hers.

The monkeys were a wonderful start to our day, including this little guy who was keen on giving hubby a lip-smacking kiss.

It was all fun and games until he decided to start drinking his own wee. I’ll refrain from showing you that photo.

Princess Ella was taken to the Melbourne Zoo when she was 14 months old – nearly the same age as Li’l Holly now. Of course, Ella has no memory of it, but we vividly recall how much she enjoyed it, making all the different animal noises she’d just started to master. One of the highlights from that trip was the excitement in her eyes when she saw a butterfly land on her Uncle Rick’s shoulder.

We tried to recreate that moment this time but, of course, it didn’t happen. I did manage this pretty photo though.

And a similar shot of Uncle Rick with Li’l Holly.

My brother and Li'l Holly at the Melbourne Zoo

Speaking of déjà vu moments, this was Ella as a tot, cuddling up to her dad as they watched the elephants together.

Ella as a tot making elephant noises

This is about the same spot, watching the elephants again now a few years on.

It’s fair to say, the elephants are still a big hit for the O’Briens, especially that beautiful baby elephant who, just like Holly during a fussy Wonder Week, stuck by her mum like glue.

Sadly, it was at this point the camera battery died. It was my fault for not charging it, but let’s just keep that one between ourselves. Thank goodness for iPhones with HDR though. It allowed us to get Ella’s favourite animal, the giraffe, along with the seal show (truly fabulous), the new mini aquarium area (well, new since we were last there),

witnessing an alpha male moment between two lions (quite chilling)

and Ella’s first ride on the carousel (and about my 10^th).

Although, movement was a little challenging for the iPhone.

There were two other creatures we weren’t bargaining on. The first was this little fella:

Can you see the rat? Not sure if he is factored into the price of admission or not. And then this rather jolly creature:

As if Ella’s eyes weren’t already falling out of her head. He may well have outdone seeing a giraffe for her.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day at the Melbourne Zoo, despite the rain. The variety of animals on show is always impressive and the ability to get so close and see how they would interact in their natural environment is quite surreal. We were also thankful for all those viewing platforms in keeping us dry. Our only feedback would be on the bistro meal, which could have been a little heartier for the price. But a minor point in the scheme of the day.

The zoo is one of those wonderful attractions that has no age barrier – from Li’l Holly at age one to the many grandparents wandering around. I highly recommend it for your next visit to Melbourne, especially if you love learning about new animals. And we’ll be back again, for sure.

Cost: Children 4-15 (Saturday, Sunday, public/school holidays) free; Children 4-15 Monday to Friday) $12.60; Children 0-3 free; Adult $25.40. See the Planning Your Visit page for concessions.

Opening hours: 9am-5pm every day of the year.

More information: Visit Melbourne Zoo

Have you visited the Melbourne Zoo or do you have another favourite zoo? What was your highlight?

DISCLOSURE: We received complimentary passes to the Melbourne Zoo and the carousel. However, we did pay for the ponchos! All opinions expressed are my own.

November 21, 2011
Quiet! There’s too much noise – Zhu Zhu children’s picture book

THIS is my little stab at writing a children’s book. I know it still needs a LOT of work. Either that or the bin. It’s based on the adventures of Ella’s two Zhu Zhu pets and. at the moment, it is a well read story here. So I thought I’d share it with you.

This is my final few days as Zhu-Fari’s mummy blogger ambassador and is an opportunity I’ve been very thankful for.

QUIET. THERE’S TOO MUCH NOISE

One day, when the two princesses were at school, there were some strange things happening at home.

Mum was busily doing her work, when suddenly she heard a noise. What could it be?

She peered around the corner to find Zhu Leopard and Zhu Zebra tearing around the lounge room in a loud car. They were going sooo fast, Zhu Zebra’s hair was flapping in the wind. “Quiet,’’ Mum said. “There’s too much noise.’’

Mum headed back to doing her work. Then, a few minutes later, she heard … scratch, scratch, scratch. She peeked into the kitchen to find Zhu Leopard and Zhu Zebra trying to get into Baby Holly’s birthday cake. “Quiet,’’ Mum said. “There’s too much noise.’’

Just as Mum sat back down to her computer, she heard scratch, scratch, scratch AND nibble, nibble, nibble. What was going on? Mum headed to the kitchen again and this time found Zhu Leopard had jumped INTO the cake tin. “Quiet,’’ Mum said. “There’s too much noise.’’

As the sun started to set and Mum was writing her last few tweets (um, we mean work emails), the Zhu-Faris sat up to the window as the sky changed colour. Then… squee, squee, squee. The noisy pair had spotted a tiny bird through the window and wanted to chase it. Mum sighed and then said: “Quiet. There’s too much noise.’’

Mum had had enough. She picked the two Zhu-Faris up, took them into Princess Ella’s room and and tucked them into bed. She then opened a book and read them a quiet bedtime story. The Zhu-Fari’s sat, without making a noise, and listened.

Soon they were fast asleep.

Mum was finally able to sit down and finish her work. But something was wrong. What could it be? “It’s too quiet,’’ Mum said. “There’s not enough noise.’’

***

If you want (and please, don’t feel like I’m twisting your arm), you can download a free copy of the ebook (with proper formatting) to read to your little ones. Just click on the image.

Joining in with Kate Says Stuff’s Thankful Thursday. Find out what others are thankful for by clicking the link.

DISCLOSURE: I am a Zhu-Fari mummy blogger ambassador.

October 27, 2011
The Wonder Week: Wake me when it’s over
Baby Holly during a sunny period.

WITH so much interest in The Wonder Weeks, I thought I’d continue posting as Baby Holly passes through each fussy period. Besides, it’s so easy to write about a Wonder Week when you’re in the midst of a sunny period. Yes, I’m SUPER thankful for that.

To be frank, the last Wonder Week – Wonder Week 46 – was, well … let’s just say I gained a further three grey hairs. So forgive me if I didn’t feel like posting about it at the time. You may well have seen quite a bit of colourful language going on if I had. Just call me Joan Rivers, minus the facelift.

The three Cs – cranky, clingy and crying – were out in force. We went through some major separation anxiety, which didn’t help her start to childcare. Try leaving the room when she’s stapled to your leg. Things have settled down now. Again, thankful for that.

Week 46 is all about The World of Sequences. It’s about how things fit and belong together. For example, they know the spoon has to go in the bowl and then into their mouth. Instead, it tends to catapult from the spoon to the wall for a new Weetbix wallpaper finish.

The seventh developmental stage is called The World of Sequences. And no, that’s not the stuff you put around the ruffles on your fuschia-coloured skirt. Following it, Baby Holly is now:
- Pointing at what she wants and is babbling more than ever. More words are emerging, including “sister’’ and “Mum’’ (yay!).
- Is able to take the spoon from my hand and place it in her mouth. She has been able to feed herself finger food for some time now.
- Fills bath containers with water and then pours them out. Or throws them at her sister, which ends in tears – always.
- Learning to stack her ring stacker and can see her processing how to stack blocks.
- Becoming more game when walking from one piece of furniture to the next and letting go more often as she begins to learn to stand unassisted.
- When giving her a horsey ride on my foot, she bends her knees, aiming to jump higher off the floor.
- Tries to climb steps – and everything else. Heaven help us!
- Participates more in peek-a-boo and gets excited when playing hide-and-seek with her sister.
- Imitates a lot of what I do, including brushing her teeth and hair. If only she had some hair.
- Blows hot food before eating it. Picture it: it’s cute. Add to that her newfound love of big pash kisses.
- Claps her hands at the end of songs, when we say “yay’’ to anything and when others clap.
Here’s what we’re doing to help her development during Wonder Week 46:
- Getting her to watch (and help) with household chores. She stands up at the dishwasher while I unpack it, helps put the ironed clothes away (OK, so she throws them across the room) and watches me make the bed.
- Encourage her to use a spoon (despite how utterly messy it is).
- Naming objects, such as body parts (especially when dressing) and objects. She’s already mastered quite a few. It’s always followed by hand clapping.
- Singing movement songs, including Incy Wincy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle (she loves twinkling her fingers) and Pat-a-cake (she now claps her hands – in fact, she claps her hands at everything).
- Hide an object under another object (box, material etc) and get her to find it. She also likes lift-the-flap books and plain old peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek.
- Toys have included Ella’s rocking horse, balls, stacking blocks and rings and animal picture books (especially lift-the-flap books where she can lift the flap herself).
At the end of this Wonder Week, we feel like she’s now able to communicate with us easier. I feel like she’s really turning into a toddler. Although, I’m not sure I’m ready for that.

I’ve already posted about Week 26, provided a copy of the Wonder Week chart, reviewed the book and had author Frans Plooij guest post. There’s more about the new expanded version of the book on the official Wonder Week site. But to learn more about the Wonder Weeks themselves, buy the book on Book Depistory OR on Amazon.

What are your tips for dealing with a cranky, crying and clingy baby?

Please note, some of the above are affiliate links. I only support those products and services which I have full trust in.
September 22, 2011