Looking Back On The Past Decade

As the decade of the "noughties" come to an end, it has got me thinking about what the past decade has brought to our lives. It has brought so many great things.

2001 I purchased a house which later became our home. (I say "I" because I wasn't married yet, WE didn't happen until much later). Also... Husband was still studying and he didn't have any money. And you need to, like, have money to buy a house. Also the sheer state of the house scared him so much he thought I was bonkers to want to buy it in the first place. As Dad bidded on my behalf at the Auction, I clearly remember the Auctioneer refer to our home as "the Old Girl". A good marketing technique for a home that was begging to be demolished. Of course, I had other ideas. This house became the home I love after many years renovating and extending it. Thanks Dad. I would also like to thank Dad for warding off any potential bidders of the property. It goes to show that yelling "This house is FULL OF WHITE ANTS!!!" and flexing his crow bar in his hand during the Home Opens is a great tactic to scare the crap out of... well. Anyone really.

So my boyfriend became my fiance and then my Husband in 2003. I was 24. Gosh that seems young. After a small affair as Greek and Italian weddings go, we had a beautiful Catholic Church Wedding. We had the best priest who was accomodating to my requests to "Greek-It-Up-A-Bit"... and later discovered he had been admitted into psychiatric care shortly after. I really hope I wasn't to blame for that. We enjoyed the greatest Party of Our Lives at our reception. Our live band rocked. And luckily everyone danced, which is surprising that anyone could move after the 100 or so courses that were served.

In 2005 I found out I had Coeliac Disease after feeling very unwell for a while. The day also coincided with "Coeliac Awareness Week". Funny that. This was the week RICE became my best friend and I said goodbye to MILO for eternity. (Of which, even after many years, I have still not come to terms with)... and the corporate monkeys at Nestle are still scratching their heads with wonder at why their sales made that massive slump at around the same time.

We honeymooned on Hamilton Island, travelled our way through Europe in 2005 and enjoyed a wonderful holiday with friends in Japan during the same year.

We welcomed Miss 3 in 2006 and Master 1 arrived in 2008. So I think that husband and I have both done extremely well in our new role as parents. You can tell this because we managed to keep them out of trouble and they are still very much alive.

Now we just have to nurture everything that was made possible in the past decade into the following decade.

So let me use this post to wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!

How would you sum up your past 10 years?

Passionate about Gluten Free baking? Much?

Yes it is no secret that I love to eat. And I love to bake Gluten Free. It's not like regular baking... its like. Much harder. And most of the time things do not turn out the first time, it takes a lot of practice to get it right.

I have so many kitchen disasters but for some reason I just keep on doing it. Just a little persistent. I hate to be outsmarted by gluten.

So I will be adding some of my favourite Gluten Free recipes on this blog. So that I can find them. Easily.

So these are my recipes and they work because I make them a lot. If they don't work then you have done something wrong so don't come looking for me ok.

Taryn xxx

Gluten free Chocolate Coconut Bars

I used to make this when I was a teenager and loved it. Thanks to Kathy and Mrs Shelton for passing this recipe back to me as I lost my original copy. After a few trials I have adjusted this to make it gluten free:

100G butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 White Wings gluten free plain flour
1/3 cup White Wings gluten free Self raising flour
1 tbspn gluten free cocoa
1 egg
1 tspn Xantham Gum

Icing
1 cup gluten free icing sugar
1 tbspn gluten free cocoa
1 tspn soft butter
1 tblspn milk

Melt butter. Stir in sugar, coconut, sifted flours, Xantham Gum and cocoa. Add the lightly beaten egg. Spread mixture evenly over base of well greased 28cm x 18cm laminton tin. Bake inmoderate oven 20 minutes or until firm to touch. Spread with icing immediately, stand 10 minutes, sprinkle with extra coconut and cut into bars. Cool in tin.

If you like your bars with the gluten - omit Xantham Gun. Use wheat flour instead of GF flour and increase the amount of butter to 125g.

Gluten free Mediterranean Tuna and Rice Pie

Thanks to Nicola for making this for us all one night for dinner. It is from the www.taste.com.au website.

* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 brown onion, chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, crushed
* 1 cup basmati or jasmine rice, rinsed
* 1 3/4 cups chicken stock
* 425g can tuna in oil, drained, flaked
* 1/2 cup (125g) sun-dried tomatoes, drained, finely chopped
* 200g baby bocconcini cheese, drained, roughly chopped
* 50g parmesan cheese, finely grated
* 100g baby spinach leaves, shredded
* 3 eggs, lightly beaten

Method

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for 7 to 8 minutes or until onion is soft. Increase heat to high and add rice. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in stock. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stand, covered, for 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease and line base of a 6cm deep, 20cm (base) springform pan. Add tuna, tomato, bocconcini, parmesan, spinach and egg to cooled rice mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Mix until well combined.
3. Press rice mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until set and crisp around the edges. Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen pie.
4. Cut pie into wedges and serve warm.

I like to mix it up a bit and replace the tuna with chicken and zucchini

Gluten Free Banana Bread

Got this recipe from www.taste.com.au and adjusted it to make it gluten free.

* Melted low-fat dairy spread, to grease
* 265g (1 3/4 cups) White Wings gluten free self-raising flour
* 40g (1/4 cup) White Wings gluten free plain flour
* 1 tspn Xantham Gum
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* 140g (2/3 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
* 125ml (1/2 cup) skim milk
* 2 eggs, lightly whisked
* 50g butter, melted, cooled
* 2 overripe medium bananas, mashed

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush an 11 x 21cm (base measurement) loaf pan with melted dairy spread to lightly grease. Line the base and 2 opposite sides with non-stick baking paper, allowing it to overhang.
2. Sift the combined flours, Xantham Gum and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre. Place the milk, eggs, melted butter and banana in a medium bowl, and stir until well combined. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into slices to serve.

To make this recipe with the gluten, omit the Xantham gum and use normal wheat included flours.

Easy Gluten-free Macaroons

A big thankyou goes to my friend Flick for sharing this Women's Weekly recipe with me. They are so easy, I make them all the time.
1 cup (125g) almond meal
½ cup (110g) caster sugar
1 egg white
¼ cup (40g) blanched almonds
Gluten Free icing sugar mixture

NOTE: This recipe makes about 22 macaroons and can be made a week ahead. Store in an airtight container.

METHOD
Preheat oven to moderately slow (160°C). Line two baking trays with baking paper.
Combine the almond meal and sugar in a medium bowl. Stir in combined essence and egg white; mix well.
Roll two level teaspoons of mixture into balls, place 3cm apart on prepared trays. Place one almond on top of each macaroon and flatten slightly. Dust lightly with sifted icing sugar.
Bake in moderately slow oven for about 10 minutes or until browned lightly. Stand for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool.
Suitable to freeze. Not suitable to microwave.

My Plee to End the Constant Stream of Parenting Research... Please?

Yes there is a lot of research out there that gets done about parenting. You know the sort. It drives me bonkers.

They do research into the most mindless of things. Like childcare, childhood obesity, breastfeeding. You name it, they have researched it. And usually, the findings of this research are so GOD DAMN OBVIOUS you would wonder why it would ever need to be researched in the first place. Like, kids are more likely to be obese if they eat less home cooked meals. Seriously. You needed to research that? I just would have thought that was just BLOODY COMMON SENSE. Who is paying for this shite!?

But wait. That sound you hear is my head imploding.

Let me give you an example. Kids in Childcare are more violent that those that do not go to childcare. That was the result of a study that was done recently that I heard on the news. *Cringe*. Honestly.

Parenting is a very hard task. One of the hardest things that an individual will do is parent a child. Parents do their best for their kids.

Now when a study comes out and says that are you really helping anyone? No. Are you helping parents? No. Are you giving them some tools in which to make them a better parent? No. You are Parent Bashing. It just isn't helping anyone.

Now here is something that is always being battered out by the media. Breast feeding is healthier for babies. No derr. Of course it is. If it wasn't, God would have all endeared us with tins of baby formula and these would grow next to the baby in the womb and we would like give birth to it. And the Tommee Tippee bottles would pop out along with the placenta. Sorry. I hope you have finished your dinner.

I would like a study to be done into the EFFECTS OF BLOODY USELESS PARENTING RESEARCH..... ON PARENTS. That would be an interesting study which I am sure would highlight that they are NOT WELCOME because now, we just AREN'T LISTENING TO YOU ANYMORE. Let the parents do their job. Ok?

How about the powers that be research important things that parents can take on board. Like.

1. How to do your grocery shopping without having to placate your screaming kids.
2. Suggestions on how we can get them to eat more vegetables.
3. How to take long road trips with two kids without any of them whinging.
4. How to go to the toilet without being followed.
5. How to just have a cup of tea without everyone crawling over us, or me in particular.

Stuff like that would help me. Would it help you?

Did You Have a Good Christmas?

Well I think it a bit unfair to not cover the Day That Was. And might I add that I am mighty glad it is all over.

I write this entry as the kids entertain themselves in their new Clubhouse. That cost so much it could quite possibly house and feed a homeless person for a year (or two). Yes, Clubhouse I hear you ask? It's the new name for a cubby if you are not with new lingo. A cubby is called a clubhouse thanks to the show for kids: "Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse" of which my daughter is a HUGE FAN. *Cringe*. Now let me firstly say that I am hoping that the aforementioned "Clubhouse" provides HOURS AND HOURS of entertainment for kids so that they don't whinge. I have visions of me leisurely sitting on the deck with a Cosmopolitan in hand, reading a book, while they play and need no interference from their mother. A big part of this vision is the image of them Playing-Together-Nicely. Perhaps I am dreaming. Time will tell.

We started the day opening presents at Mum's and then lugged all the presents home. I had no idea where to put them. So I just put them away. In a room. To deal with later. Then the we had my in-laws and family over for a light lunch. Nothing fancy at all really this year *lie*.

Cocktails, Entree: Garlic Prawns and Smoked Salmon on Potato Rosti. Mains - Turkey, Ham, salad, roast potatoes, roast pumpkin, gravy. Dessert - Vanilla Panacotta, Chocolate Mousse and Pavlova.

And what a day it was. The kids really did eat NOTHING BUT CHOCOLATE ALL DAY. My new phrase for the CHOCOLATE BONANZA that was Christmas Day became:

"When it's all gone it's all gone".

Which means in translation simply
Eat it all please. When it's finished there ain't going to be anymore. This way you isolate doolally kids on a sugar rush to one day only. Call it pain minimilisation.

But wait, I forgot to mention something. Of course the kids did love the "Clubhouse". But were only interested in it once they had consumed the Santa chocolates that must have accidentally fallen through a hole in Santa's pocket. Husband and I find the kids sitting in the floor of the middle of clubhouse minutes later surrounded by chocolate foil wrappers and brown chocolately faces.

So I got spoilt this year. 1 x shirt. A new Moon shirt. A ROBERT PATTINSON DIARY. Gift Cards galore, Scrapbooking stuff. Necklace, Cookbook, Knickers, socks, PJ's, Perfume. Cookbook and Silicone bakeware. And the biggest surprise was the BRAND NEW DELONGHI FULLY AUTOMATIC COFFEE MACHINE. From my Parents-In-Law. See it pays to be a good daughter in law.

And Husband and I clean up and we wonder why we are the silly ones that nominated ourselves to have it at our place this year and Christmas day ends like it does every Christmas.

We vow never to do it again.

My High School Reunion is Next Year

Yes folks my High School Reunion is next year, I should know because I am organising it. The people I went to school with don't look anything like the peeps in High School Musical. We are MUCH OLDER.

If you know anything about my blog (and me personally) you know that I am always THE ORGANISER. In fact, look up ORGANISER in the dictionary and what you will find is a little lady with curly hair under it. That's me. The very definition of the word. If I do not organise this reunion, who will? The answer here is. NOBODY.

I have been a busy little Taryn doing Facebook and Google searches on people I remember and people I do not remember from High School. I have a trusty manual to help me on my way. Hello Yearbook. My trusty friend. I have had many a success and many a failure. Lucky for me I still have 10 months to find everyone, well... as many people I can find anyway. I am not superwoman. I will admit to that willingly.

It will also be 15 years since our graduation. And we have never had a reunion within that time so finding everyone is going to be Very Damn Hard. Fancy that FIFTEEN YEARS. Feeling old. Much? Seriously where did that time go.

Looking through our yearbook is like walking through the halls of Mt Lawley Senior High School. There are the cool kids. The dorky kids. The sweet kids and those that would quite simply, end up in jail.

I find myself yelling "Dang, I found blah blah so-and-so" to my husband and he nods appreciatively because we both went to the SAME SCHOOL TOGETHER. In the same year. Lucky me. He knows what I am blabbering about and tries on most occasions to recall who that person was. But mostly he doesn't remember.

With every ping of success in finding a new person - I get a little thrill inside of me. Yes. This shit is becoming addictive.

And while I consider an alternative career path as a Private Investigator, I think that the Mount Lawley Senior High School Class of 95 really are lucky to have me. ***

*** These personal "big ups" are to inspire me to organise the best reunion the world has ever seen. In saying this I will continue to provide these gratuitous words of encouragement to myself as I find it motivating.

In the meantime, if you find Angela Lochrie - can you tell her I would very much like to know what hole she has buried herself in.

Seems my husband is not letting up

You may remember some of my previous blog posts about my husband's quest to be the new He-Man. You can read about those under HUSBAND in the SIDEBAR (having problems getting the link to work ok!!). This blog post is about that too, just to update you all on the situation at my place and to put the whole issue to bed because I seem to have done a lot of whinging about it.

Well folks, as the subject of this post suggests - yes, he is not letting up. He is still pursuing his desire to have a great bod and be healthy and all that. Now ladies before you go "eewwwk I hate those muscly men with their fake tan and their bulbous muscles popping out everywhere", DON'T. Because it's not going to get THAT BAD (I hope). Well that is what he tells me anyway. He just wants to look good.

If you haven't noticed, I am just trying it hard to well... adjust... to certain things that have changed around here to support his new goals. And it looks like I better adjust quickly because he is not giving up. Once husband sets his mind to something he is unstoppable. He has the willpower of um..... something with a lot of willpower. He is also very competitive which pushes him along too.

Item One
All the stuff sitting in the kitchen cupboard. There are a lot of containers and they are all huge. If we emptied the bucket that contains the protein we could loose Mr 1.5 for a very long time.

Item Two
I have a stick blender. I have grown to love it over a number of years now. It pureed stuff for the kids when they were babies. It attaches to another thing and chops veges. It's very handy. Now it's broken. Over worked. From making too many shakes. I want to cry. I loved my stick blender.

Item Three
He wakes up at 5.30am every day to go to the gym. I inevitably wake too. I try to get to bed but no luck. It also wakes the little boy. I want to cry.

Item Four
We go to bed at 8.30pm! I stayed up longer when I was a kid! We are both so exhausted from 5.30am wakes ups we just can't stay away from sleep.

Item Five
And then there are the "food rules". It goes something like this. No carbs for dinner. No man made carbs (at all). Looks like it's steak and salad for dinner for the rest of our lifetime. Tasty.

And there's more....
Then there are extra dishes - which I will go with because we do have a dishwasher. Big weights residing in the garage. Physio appointments to manage because he hurt his back. Core exercises to do (because he hurt his back). LOADS of washing from all the gym clothes.

I could quite possibly go on and on. But I won't. Because husband is probably seething. He hates negativity. Or something.

But there are a few things that I have omitted. He looks a bit like Jacob in New Moon. Well as close as he can get, he is not 17 ok!? He looks great. He can lift heavy things with ease. I find this helpful.

That's it! No more complaining! It's the new status quo. The problems I have are all mine now. Husband. You win.

Yuletide Anxiety

This time of the year always makes my heart pump a little bit faster. I suffer from Christmas Anxiety and it starts THE MINUTE that the Christmas decorations are put up in stores.

The anxiety I am experiencing is due to a very large list. Of things to do. Before the 25th December. And a lot of it involves shopping. With kids. Which in turns makes me anxious. See? A vicious circle.

There are so many presents to buy it makes my head explode. Kris Kringle presents, presents for husbands, friends, kids, mums, dads, brothers, sisters, god daughters, god sons, godmothers, godfathers (mine and the kids). All this equates to about 20 presents and a large Mastercard statement at the end of the month.

I do not enjoy Christmas. It gives me a headache. The tree needs to go up. But before it goes UP, it needs to come DOWN to where it hides in the garage. This is not an easy task because some silly person (me) decides whence upon a time to buy the biggest one she could find. And then it needs decorating. The kids want to help but all they do is break small glass baubles in their efforts and cut their feet. Hello Vacuum Cleaner. My friend.

There are Christmas cards to write and post.

There are a lot of people around. Shopping, at the supermarket. People are busy organising themselves. It seems some people only come out at Christmas time.

There is a lot of cooking to be done. Which means a lot of supermarket shopping. Blerr. And then the house needs to be tidy because family are coming over to eat.

All this equates to A LOT OF THINGS TO DO.

And then its over. One day and its finished. It took the previous 24 days to prepare for the event and then WHAM. It's over. Thank Christ (really). Can't wait.

When Mum's go out at Night

I went out on Friday night with my Mother's Group. I like to call them "My Saviours" because without them or rather, without their presence in my life I surely would have dug a very large hole and hidden in it for a very long time.

There are 9 Mums. We all met when we all had one newborn each. Now, 3 years later there are now 17 kids between us and 2 more on the way. It's chaos when we all get together so when we go out without them (the kids that is) it is pretty bloody fantastic. Because we can have a conversation. And talk. And go to the toilet without being followed. And eat dinner without cutting it into very small pieces for small people to taste. You get the idea.

Anna and I are planning a big night. We catch the bus to the Queens (a pub) Yes! The bus! What a clever idea. One Cosmopolitan and then one Mojito. I get chatted up at the bar by a Pensioner. Look at me. Oh yeah this girl has still got it.

"You've got a nice smile. Love".
"Oh yeah thanks".
"Are you a nurse?" he says
"ummm. Not to my knowledge"
"What do you for a living then" he asks
"I am a Mum of two"

He runs away. Don't blame him.

Two cocktails under our belts and then we are off to meet the others for dinner - Renee, Thelma and Clare.

We drink and we laugh and it's so great and I feel just so bloody grateful to have all these lovely people in my life. We chuckle and snort. We accidentally spill Semillon Sauvignon Blanc onto ourselves (well I did anyway). No one noticed. I smile and pretend I am not sitting in puddle of very cold booze.

We are drunk (well me and Anna are). We smile. We are free. We flirt with the waiters. One of them is hot. Or is he cute? The debate continues. Then there is a French waiter who attends to us. I am drooling.

We all part. Anna and I head back to the Queens for two more cocktails. We would have stayed for more if we had not gotten kicked out at closing time. We take a taxi home and wake with terrible hangovers the next day.

Thank god it's a Saturday and my husband is home to attend to the kids. I need a coffee.

I love my mums. Cheers to you all.x