Mental Note To Ones Self

...it is a good idea to avoid Bunnings Hardware on Easter Saturday in Cairns.

Cairns has a population of over 125,000 and only has one LARGE hardware store (Bunnings). I think every man and his dog were there this morning. And every woman and child whilst I think of it.

We arrived at 9:45am to a nearly full car park. When we left 20 minutes later you would have been lucky to find a park. Urgh. Don't you hate that.

At least we knew what we were after and weren't wandering the aisles aimlessly. We wanted a paint roller on a long handle, a paint dish and some plastic sheet covers. Maybe you could guess what we will be up to this afternoon....

At least we didn't have to line up to buy the paint there (there were a few in the line waiting for their paints to be made up). We had liked the paint samples from the Bristol Paint store, further down the road....where no one else was (they were all at Bunnings of course!)

Stay tuned to see our results...

Hush, My Banana-Cake-Eating-Babe

Eating Mummy's Banana Sour Cream Cake with Cream Cheese Icing (view recipe here), after a swim in the pool, can have this affect on you...Now, can I have a big Awwwww from you all please? *grin*

(By the way, those cushions she was lying her head on, usually have covers. I was washing them, okay?)

Banana Sour Cream Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

The original recipe had a chocolate frosting, but I have omitted the chocolate and added extra icing sugar... Yummy. A delicious and easy recipe without the use of nuts (how come most banana cake recipes have nuts in them??)

*Taken from Australian Women's Weekly's 'Cakes & Slices Cookbook'*

Ingredients
125g butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 ripe bananas)
1/3 cup sour cream
2 cups self-raising flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

-for frosting-
125g packet cream cheese
30g butter
2 cups icing sugar (you may need more)

Method
Grease a deep 20cm round cake tin, line base with paper; grease paper.

Cream butter, essence and sugar in a small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy, add eggs one at a time; beat until combined. Stir in half the banana with half the sour cream and half the sifted dry ingredients, then stir in the remaining banana, sour cream and dry ingredients. Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake in a moderate oven for about 1 1/4 hours. Stand 5 minutes before turning on to wire rack to cool. Spread cold cake with frosting.

Frosting
Beat cream cheese and butter in small bowl with electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat in the sifted icing sugar. Beat until thick.

Keeping Time: 2 days

Kitchen Appliances (part II)

I'm in love with a few things in my kitchen today.

First thing. My new measuring cup. (Thanks Marianne!)

Can you see how clever it is? You can read it from the side AND the top. I love that.

My Mixmaster. How easy is one of these things to operate to mix ingredients? And lastly, my dishwasher.Do I have to explain why? I love the fact that now when I bake, it doesn't matter how many utensils, bowls, cups etc., I use, because I don't have to wash them.

I'm in love with those items today.

How about you?

Sometimes I Don't Mind Early Mornings

We've been waking up here pretty early, the last few mornings. Lyndon is usually out of the house by 6am (like always) and Monet and I both tend to get up between the hours of 7 and 8.

But not this week.

Monday and Tuesday morning it was 6:30am.

Today was just after 6am.

I don't really mind that much, being up at that hour. I used to start work at 6am (so I was up at 5am) for many years, so as I said, I don't really mind that much.

Especially when you are greeted to the day with this view out of my kitchen window...

...and this view off our back balcony... (I love these birds! - I hope you can spot him)
Ahh...ain't life grand? (but still hoping Monet rises a little later tomorrow! *fingers crossed*)

What time do you usually get out of bed?

A Post About Take Away Food

We feel as if we have hit the jackpot at our new home. In the group of shops up the road is a 'Kebab/Fish'n'Chip' shop, a 'Thai' takeaway and a 'Pizza joint'. We've tasted all three and all three are very delicious! No regrets. No awful pizza, no terrible thai, nor no soggy chips...
How delicious do they look? We had some the other night and trust me, they taste better than they look!!!

In Cairns City we had a lousy choice of good takeaway food. We had to drive to a 'fish'n'chip' shop and were always disappoointed with some aspect of the food. Our local Thai place was nice though and there was a good pizza joint down the road but it was really pricey.

We love good (inexpensive) takeaway that is within walking distance of our home.

Do you like take away food? If so, what?

Where Does She Get Her Beanbag Style From?

Sometimes Monet seriously makes me laugh...

Look at what I spied last night when she was in her room...
Yep, that's her, in her pj's, sitting on her Dora Beanbag (thanks for that Nanna) reading 'The Biscuit Bear' (thanks for that Auntie Kimbofo). After a 'trying' afternoon with her (you have no idea!), it was good of her to give me a big belly laugh... *big SMILE*

Higher Ground

It's not everyday that you receive a Tsunami Warning. Yes, you read right. A Tsunami Warning. It has been a long time since I have felt so scared. A. Long. Time.

The Solomon Islands had a 8.1 earth quake just before 7am (our time) this morning. An hour later, via the television they said that a Tsunami warning was apparent for the North East part of Australia. My part of the world. My section of paradise. Low lying, near the coast. *danger, danger*

Not knowing what to do and being told via the tv that people in these areas were to immediately vacate and get to higher ground I rang Lyndon. To be honest with you, I was kinda besides myself. "Come into my work, if you can", Lyndon told me. I grabbed Monet, Pickles and Heidi (her beloved teddy and doll) and the nappy bag which I hastily packed. The road into Lyndon's work (about a 20 minute drive south) was (unusually) busy.

Lyndon works on a building construction site in the City, so my car was safely parked on the 4th level and we waited in an (empty) apartment with the remaining workers. (After the initial warning, at least 150 workers on the site disappeared home!) And we waited. And waited. At least the view was pretty spectacular...

Monet spent the time waiting eating a Dry Biscuit...

The warning had said that it was going to hit Cooktown (about 150k's north of Cairns) at 9:30am and Cairns 20 minutes later. 9:50am passed. 10:00am passed. The warning was cancelled. I have never been so relieved.

This was the first time that Queensland, let alone the Eastern side of Australia had ever received a warning of an apparent Tsunami. I hope it is the first and the last.

Beaches from north of here, all the way down to Sydney were closed (the warning actually went right down to the most southern of Australian states, Tasmania!) and the rest of today had a creepy kind of feeling to it. Schools were closed for the day in Cairns and most shops didn't open their doors until after midday.

So our first year anniversary of living in Cairns was marked with a Tsunami warning. When Lyndon first moved up here, two weeks before Monet and I, Cyclone Larry hit. I hate to think what will happen this time next year. You must stay tuned for that!!!