Wassup with two rats?

Love the movie!

Love my new healthy eating phase!

Time to combine them...




all I needed was a small aubergine

Originating in the south of France, Ratatouille (hence the lame two rats joke) was initially a poor farmers (peasants) dish utilising the summer vegetables that were at hand.


Courgettes (zucchini)
tomatoes
green and red bell peppers (capsicum)
onions
garlic

Today, aubergine (eggplant) is added to the list.



After making an eggplant lasagne (see here) I had a little aubergine left over so... a poor man's feast was next on the menu.



Humble beginnings...

Lesmond J's Ratatouille

Bon appetit

Wassup with Splashing and Dashing?

My awesome wife has decided to compete in a Triathlon (see here). In the process she has inspired me to give this business a crack!

It started by reading Get Carter: The Hamish Carter Story by Phil Taylor. This was an easy read and an insightful biography that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

I've been putting in a little training:

1. Swimming in the hospital pool in my lunch breaks
2. Jogging around Morningside Park

Now to put this stuff to the test. I had a browse here and thought the splash and dash sounded like a good start. A 300m swim followed by a 3.2 km run.

So after work today (17/1/2011) my wife, 3 kids and myself piled in the car and drove to Onerahi waterfront. On the way we picked up the pre-ordered Takeaways from Stumpy's - who by the way make the most amazing chicken burgers, and arrived in good time.

Usually $10 for non-members they hooked me up with a freebie - Cheers Whangarei Triathlon Club!

After the rest of my family ate dinner (I stole 2 fries and a nibble of my wife's chicken burger) we waited while the Lycra clad members of Whangarei's fitness underworld turned up. I was ready in my bright red 'boardies' that hung past my knees and my wife's swim goggles.

I was 2nd out of the water out of the 8 that were doing the short course (the long being twice as long) and into the transition. Dry feet, socks, shoes, t-shirt - done / off and running.

The run was straight up Cliff St, around the airport and down the super steep Hill St, before meandering along Beach Rd to the Foreshore again. I finished in 20:12 for Swim and run and came in second - Super Stoked!

Thanks to my inspirational wife - can't wait to be the support crew for your 'real' one in April.

YOU CAN DO IT!

Wassup with Camping?

Summer time! Sun, sand , surf, BBQ's, camping!

Hmmm...hey kids? Wanna camp out in the backyard?

YEYAH!

Step 1 - Set up accommodation

BBQ - Sausages for dinner

Mmmm!

Good eh? Yeah.

"Pwaw - Dada!"

Lame games - Funny faces, torch light tag on the tent walls, I spy, Star gazing, make up scary camp stories.

Ahhh - this is the life

Breakfast was Dip-in eggs

Hey - where did you come from?




Camping can be one of those things that the idea is better than the real thing. You may notice there are no photo's of the ants that turn up uninvited to most outdoor dining experiences. None of me burning my finger, nor any of me pleading with the kids to be quiet and go to sleep.

Still...

We came
We camped
We came inside to watch DVD's

Wassup with Abundance!

We live in a land of abundance!

I don't know about you but I don't meet many people that are struggling to put weight on...quite the contrary in fact. Abundance!

So it was one day after I had opened my bucket of locally harvested pipis that I was driving up to my Mum and Dad's place to share the wealth with my seafood loving Dad. I opened the fridge to put the pipis in and saw 3 peices of fresh fish they'd been given by friends. Abundance!

"Do you have any plums on your tree?", my Mum asked.

I have two plum trees and have had precisely 6 plums off them in the last 3 years! Now my Mum and Dad also have two plum trees, one of which actually split under the burden of all it's fruit! Abundance!

On the way to the plum tree we pass my Dad watering his gardens listening to his sounds, just enjoying his... Abundance!

While my two eldest kids enjoyed eating as many plums as they could straight from the tree, I filled a bag to take home. One for the bag, one for me...

When I was finished my Mum had raided Dad's garden and presented me with...an Abundance!

Thanks Mum and Dad! I hope you enjoy the Pipis :)

Plums, Celery, Brocolli, Lettuce, Apple Cucumber, Telegraph Cucumber, Carrots, Capsicum and Lemons!

Wassup wit Bush Walks?

When I was young my sister and I would roam the local bush between Otaika and Morningside in Whangarei. Making huts (albeit badly), tying grass across tracks (mantraps) to trip people up, and generally having adventures. Good times.

Today while Mum and bubba were out I packed my backpack and the kids (6 and 4) and I went for an adventure in my old stomping ground.

Backpack...check! Teddies...check!

On our way...

Brief history lesson...

...then off into the bush.

I had brought 3 plastic shopping bags to collect pine cones as we roamed through the bush. As we filled each one we would stash it beside the track cunningly camouflaged under brush and leaves. Miss 6 came up with the idea of leaving a sign in the middle of the track so we would know where to find them on the way back...so smart...so proud :)

The first of many...

We left the safety of the path and went bush! "Come on kids, follow me!" Sure...Dad must know where he is going :)

Look Dad we found a hut!

We may have been scratched and tired but on our adventure we found huts, nests and learned all about 'cutty grass'. We ate our snacks of homemade cookies (thanks Grandma and Miss 6 for making them), apples, almonds, chippies and carrots.

Are we lost Dad?

Never fear faithful children Daddy has a sense of direction honed over many years of...yeah we're lost :(

Oh well...charge! If in doubt straight line it to the sound of traffic. Yay! Back on the path and off to pick up our shash of pine cones.

3 bags full! One for the...nah all 3 for next years fire starters :)

With myself loaded up like a pack mule we walked the long way back home, via the 'lolly shop' and had nice cool ice-blocks.

Very proud of my brave, strong and very fit kids! Looking forward to our next adventure!

Wassup wit skills?

It's been a while since I blogged. Not that I have any astounding revelations after my period of absence or anything. I guess I am and will always be...random.

So launching in with a random statement... It's funny what people are good at.

At school, I was never the fastest, the strongest or the best at any sport. I was average to above average at most things...but never the best. Most of us remember the fastest runners at our schools or the brainiest dux types.

Napoleon Dynamite tells us that girls only like guys with skills...bow hunting, computer hacking etc. So with a little encouragement from his mate Pedro, Napoleon decides to draw the girl of his dreams a portrait (his best skill).




I especially like the shading. Apparently he spent 3 hours shading one of the eyes...skills!

So on a vaguely related topic, I was at Oceans Beach, Whangarei, a wee while back and was snapping away on my camera. Despite the cold the kids enjoyed playing in the water.





Then my Mum who is cultivating her artistic skills decided to paint them...





It's not finished yet but... mean skills ma! Bags putting on our wall when it's done :)

Wassup wit Prayer?

George Muller( September 27, 1805 – March 10, 1898) was a man who made a great positive difference to the lives of many. He is well-known for providing an education to the many children that were blessed to be under his care. He was actually accused of raising the poor above their natural station in life. How dare he :)

He established 117 schools which offered Christian education to over 120,000 children, many of them being orphans. He housed these children and fed them at considerable expense, but never went into debt. He never asked anyone for money, except God that is...how? He prayed.

Good on ya George. He probably came from well to do parents and had a trust fund which furnished his philanthropic activities I hear you say. Not quite. George was quite a wayward youth. A thief, a liar and a gambler. So what turned this rogue into a faith filled evangelist and director of many orphanages? An invitation.

"Hey George, you wanna come to a prayer meeting with me?"
"Ok"

As a consequence George made the decision to ask God to forgive him of his sins and bless him wherever he went . The rest as they say is history. A faith born in a prayer meeting was filled with...Prayer. George prayed and fully expected an answer.

• No food - pray - knock on door - baskets of left over baked goods from a baker.
• No money - pray - knock on door - cha ching $$$
• Heavy fog hindering boat journey - pray - fog lifts, captain of boat becomes a Christian.

George kept a ledger with dates the prayer was prayed, and dates the prayer was answered. The story is that on his death he had a huge list of prayers with everyone of them answered! Wow!

My 6 year old daughter came home and excitedly said,"God answered my prayer!"

What did she pray for you ask?

A wiggly tooth.

And God being God, gave her exceedingly abundantly above all she could ever hope for or dream of...3 wiggly teeth all at once!

I pulled the first, and the second followed the next morning whilst biting into an apple. The third is still hanging in there.

"Look Dad I've got a window"

"Here's my toof"

Thanks for encouraging my daughter to pray God. Has anyone else had any answered prayers lately?