Heldin im Chaos

Meet "The Precious"

Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little for the picture (but not a lot).

While my "official" anniversary gift was the sea vegetables, my "unofficial" extremely generous gift was this beautiful Empire Red Kitchenaid standmixer, henceforth referred to as "The Precious."  

A couple of years ago in The Hague, I snagged a nearly-new magimix food processor for 100 Euro.  Proud of my good deal, I casually called it "The Precious" for a month or two, though my baker's heart longed for the Kitchenaid.  I never had one, you see.  I really really wanted one, but I didn't receive one for a wedding gift and that's the obvious time for such a big purchase.   I've been known to whinge about my lack of Kitchenaid over the years, never actually making the purchase because of the hefty pricetag and the fact that we change voltage rates by moving internationally with abnormal frequency.  Instead, I accepted my dinky hand mixer (it really is) and did my best.  Nothing will deter me from baking!  But oh, The Precious and I...we will make such a team!  

Hubby asked what I could do with The Precious that I hadn't been able to do without it, and for a second or two, I was at a bit of a loss.  In truth, I have come across so many recipes that seemed beyond my reach that I just dismissed them and never looked back.  The joy now is there needs be no dismissal!  And just when I didn't think I could be more excited about The Precious, this morning the postman delivered my Amazon shipment of books containing Peter Reinhart's artisan breads every day, a cookbook I have wanted for almost a year (and haven't been able to find Down Under).  Guess what you see pictured within its pages, assisting in preparation of loaf after gorgeous loaf?  THE PRECIOUS (well, The Precious's seafoam green relative).  It's going to be a carb-loaded winter, my friends!

 

Following the list

Alas, no night out for me!  Hubby kept us both awake last night with vicious man-coughs, and this morning I woke up with his cold.  It's just a cold--nothing more, nothing less--so I'll hope to be 100% soon and enjoy dinner out another time.  Although it would have been nice (very nice, in fact), I don't mind too much.  Yesterday was the actual anniversary, and we enjoyed a wonderful evening together at home.  We didn't do anything particularly special, but we shared a nice bottle of wine and exchanged gifts.  

From year one, we have followed the traditional list of anniversary gifts (mainly because hubby is so hard to gift well) and it has been a lot of fun.  This year was candy or iron.  We agreed candy was too obvious and therefore not an option.  That left us with iron.  I was very pleased to find him a miniature framed art wave made of iron stone and a single gold nugget from the WA goldfields (iron! art!  hooray!).  He handed me a loosely wrapped, very light-weight gift that clearly was contained in some sort of plastic bag that crinkled.  I was most puzzled.  My confusion didn't lift when I opened the wrapping to reveal a package of dried Japanese sea vegetables.  "Um, okay..." I started, but then he jumped in, enthusiastically explaining that we never discussed the form iron must be in, and Japanese sea vegetables have the highest iron content of any food he could find, more than bran flakes or sweet potatoes or...  He went on and on.  The more he explained, the harder I laughed until I had tears and an achy tummy.  I wish I had a video of it, truly.  Ooo, that was good.  

I love this list thing.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Blessings found in the late afternoon

I sit in the late afternoon sunshine, observing the warm golden rays as they light up the green leaves of the jacaranda, the autumn colors on the pear and other small trees in our garden, the streaks of sunlight across the grass…

   

 
 

My girls are playing happily together.  I feel so blessed in their joy with and in each other, the love and friendship they share…and I hope they will have this treasure for always.

 
 

Eventually, they move on to their own games.  

My intrepid explorer discovers the potential of the bird feeders as holders of soil, water, stones…  

 

My conservative manager has turned to baking and food preparation in the cubby house, announcing she will make me water, tea and coffee (and some treats), so I can choose.  She served some grapes to keep me sated as she worked.  Gradually, my collection of dishes grows.

 

Time to eat, and we all move inside to the kitchen, where we will prepare and bake cheese twists together to go with dinner.  

This morning was so full of challenges and frustrations for me, as I was (and have been for a few days now) overtired and they were just kids being kids (wild and crazy and a bit full-on for 6 am).  Sometimes, the business of parenting is all a bit much...but then there are blessings in the late afternoon.  There are blessings in every moment, even the challenging ones.  I am so thankful for all they give me.