Jenson Carter Williams

My friends, Ali and Carter, welcomed their baby Jenson Carter Williams into the world on Monday 26th October 2009.

Paul and I didn't want to disturb the new family, so we waited very patiently for a good time to visit. That time was yesterday. We finally got to meet Jenson, although he wasn't nearly as excited about meeting us as we were about meeting him. Haha!

We brought some Red Hill cheese and nibbles for lunch and a bottle of champagne to toast Jenson's safe arrival and sat outside in the lovely weather and chatted, ate and drank, while baby Jenson slept through it all. I also brought practically a year's supply of frozen lasagne for Ali and Carter from a big cook up I had last weekend. I hoped that they didn't think I thought they were incompetent and that it would give them more time together as a family. Fingers crossed!

My camera came along too and I did the paparazzi thing. One day he'll be big enough to run away from the camera, but until then, he's gonna have to put up with my lens in his face.

So here are the pics...

Sleeping peacefully

In Mum's arms

In Dad's arms

Back to Mum

From whinging to sleeping peacefully in 0.3 seconds

For Posterity

On Mum's knee

"I'm not in this photo am I?!"

So you can probably tell from the photos that I think he's pretty cute. It was great to see Ali and Carter again and it was a really fun afternoon. I look forward to spending more time like that together in the future. Lets hope the weather doesn't get too hot too fast so it's not completely unbearable to catch the train in the middle of the day!!

Home Made Toasted Museli

I don't like fruit in museli. Therefore my choices are limited. So one day I decided I'd try my hand at making it for myself. I thought that it might be cheaper too, but alas I was mistaken. It's about on par with one of the nice fruit free brands, but not the cheaper stuff.

So here's my recipe. I eat it in the morning with yoghurt and sometimes fresh fruit. This amount usually lasts us about 3 weeks.

Ingredients
250g slivered almonds
200g pepitas
200g sunflower seeds
200g hazelnuts
200g walnuts
900g rolled oats
250g honey
100g flaxseed oil
500g processed wheat bran (kind of looks like all bran)

Directions

Preheat oven to 200. Toast nuts and seeds until golden (approx 15 minutes stirring once).

Mix honey and flazseed oil in a large bowl. Add oats and toss until coated. Toast for 10 minutes then stir and toast for another 5-10 minutes until golden.

Allow nuts, seeds and oat mix to cool. Mix all toasted ingredients with wheat bran in a large container.

Beer, Wine and Cheese at Red Hill

Last Sunday we went for a road trip with Stefania, Matt and Giorgia. The day started off pretty foggy. We couldn't even see the city from Richmond Station.

We had lunch at Red Hill Brewery and tasted their beers.

The beers were really great. My favourite was the Golden Ale and Paul's was the Scotch Ale. Although I had the Temptation (8% beer) with lunch - it was recommended to go with the salmon! Not my fault it happened to be the most alcoholic on tap! Haha!!

After the brewery we went to Red Hill Winery. The view from there was lovely and the gardens were pretty.

Giorgia was especially keen on the fountain and pond.

We went to Red Hill Cheese next. They have an awesome selection of cheeses from cow, goat and sheep milk ranging from mild to bitey, hard to soft and everything in between. We had 2 tasting plates there to finish off the day and we went home with a lot of cheese. :)

On the way home, we stopped off at Arthur's seat look out. It was still pretty overcast, so we couldn't see very far, unfortunately. Paul actually held Giorgia today. I think he might be getting clucky. Giorgia's charms are pretty hard to resist though!

As Promised...

Pictures from my birthday :)

Casey on the smoker's chair

I just don't get tired of taking photos of Giorgia

Stefania and Alla, neither of whom wanted to pose for the camera.

Su May and Nic looking stylish as usual


Do you think Darren feels left out sitting next to those boobs? I mean, girls Haha!

I'm not sure if Carter has made Giorgia swoon or if she's so bored by his chivalry, she's fallen asleep.

Megan, Ali and Megan. I still can't believe that Ali was looking so good and so tolerant of all of us drunkards, 2 days before she gave birth to baby Jenson!

I did some modelling for Megs and this is proof that I did start out the evening in shoes, even if the night ended in thongs. ;)

Megan, Ali and me


Jess, Matt and Kristina

Paul, Matt and Carter

Megan posing and dancing in her new dress