A Gingerbread Family

Caution: Naked Gingerbread Women Ahead

I've had many blog entries in mind today. Each one of them writing themselves in my mind differently depending on my mood at the time. Believe me when I say they were largely variations and a tediously melancholy theme.

Not sure why this is. Think I just started the day badly. Not sure how though.

My lousy mood aside the day has been a lovely one full of things to be happy about.

For one my birthday present from my folks arrived just after midday in a courier van. A sleek black set of JBL Onstage II speakers. The remote control hasn't left me yet.

In an attempt to break Grumpus' hold on me I started to bake. After all any girl who's feeling down loves a good snacking session on something sweet and I do love my baking! Plus I got to try out the lovely new baking tray that we bought on the weekend.

Current Cookie Count:
- 16 raspberry jam drops
- 12 wildberry jam drops
- 28 chocolate "jam" drops
- a gingerbread family

After the delicious chicken & mushroom risotto that Gene cooked we sat around the table and decorated the gingerbread people that I'd baked earlier.



It was a wonderful way to spend time with my family. It's not something that I get to do everyday even though we're all living in the same house at the moment. We all have our own rhythms and routines and often spend our time doing our own thing but tonight we sat around the table, grabbing the various tubes of icing and made our own little family of gingerbread folk and that was the best part of the day.

I've spent a bit of time with my parents over the weekend. Driving up to Sassafras for another visit to Tea Leaves for yet another tea buying spree (this time for Dad who is now the happy owner of 500g of ceylon pekoe and 100g orange pekoe tea). Then gorging ourselves on the delicious Yarra Valley icecream (this is starting to sound like an ad for Mount Dandenong isn't it?). It was a great way to spend some time with my folks before returning to our normal routines.

So even though I'm feeling a out of sorts today I'm content in the knowledge that things will improve again and making a gingerbread family with my family was the best way to cheer me up.

Heaven in a Tea Cup

Today the knitting and crochet was put aside for a trip to the beach. Due to the inclement and wonderful Melbourne weather though, Nick and I decided to head to Mount Dandenong instead and take in the views of the forest and city skyline.

The drive was pleasant as it usually is when you're surrounded by big old forests. Not to mention the quaint little tea houses and pubs that all claim to be the best in the region.

We ended up heading to the Sky High Observatory point at the top of Mount Dandenong and were surprised at the entry fee (admittedly only $4 per car) as it had been free for as long as we'd remembered. So we wandered about and visited Igor the Giant's chair, Percy Possum's house and saw the Sky High Maze under construction (grand opening next week). It was a great view of the city though, as good as I remembered. In fact the only thing that made it better was the rain clouds sweeping across the city at the time. We played spot the building which was easier for Eureka Tower than the Menzies building but we found them both.

After walking through the English garden we headed back down to Olinda for lunch at the pie/pastie shop. Beef and burgandy is a wonderful thing in a pie. The lemongrass tea I had was great too although perhaps not the best accompaniment to the pie.

As we were heading home through Sassafras we found the tea shop next to Miss Marple's tea room that I'd remembered from when I went up there with my folks in high school. Naturally we had to stop.

It was heavenly. We spent a lot of time in there. There were many teas to be smelled and teapots to marvel at. After careful deliberation I narrowed my purchases down to a warm and friendly 4-cup filter, blood red, teapot by London Pottery and 4 blends of tea. So far I've only sampled my French Earl Grey, which is like a girly version of earl grey, and the after-dinner tea. I also got the Refresh and Relax blends for the days when I need a little pick me up or some mild sedation. They also had a cafe latte tea which smelled pretty damn good too... Nick said I should have asked for a job there.

So you can all rest easily now. My teapot hunt is over for now and I have plenty of lovely teas to get me through the next little while.

I'm sure that as time passes I'm just growing into my inner granny. I'll be eighty and still knitting, crocheting and drinking tea but I'm okay with that. There are worse ways to go!