A Drive Up The Road...

How lucky am I?

It is simply another *gorgeous* day in paradise. I went and pumped some petrol in the Subaru and Monet and I headed off north to Port Douglas, a 45 minute drive. Along the very picturesque Captain Cook Highway.

No matter how many times I travel along the road from our home to 'Port', it nearly always takes my breath away. And today was no exception. The road wraps along the coast for most of the way, past palm fringed shores and the most awesome blue Coral Sea. And I live here! It blows me away. And Monet sat quietly in the backseat listening to 'Blur' I had pumping through the stereo and pointing to the water and saying "It's beautiful Mummy". She knows true beauty when she sees it.

Upon first arriving at our destination, I drove to the 'Lookout' and took a few shots of the 4 Mile Beach below...

After parking the car in the main restaurant strip, we went for a wander along the streets. It's nice to be there on a weekday, rather a weekend when the crowds are impossible to walk through and it makes it hard to browse the shops...

We wandered around and made our way to one of my favourite places in Far North Queensland, the 'Point'.

There is something magical about it. SO very pretty and a great place to take photos, especially like a day today when the ocean was so very blue...

Monet likes 'The Point' too, but for a totally different reason.

After a 'play' we went and sat under one of the palm trees and ate our morning teas, which consisted of fresh watermelon, dry biscuits and cheese spread. Rather lovely in fact. It was nice to sit there without dozens of people invading our personal space. Instead there were a few couples scattered around...

Monet played in the playground again before we headed back to the car and made our way home.

And to think it is only a 45 minute drive north from our home.

How lucky am I?

Hiding, Hiding...

To help bribe (yes, I bribe!) Monet out of the bath each night (she'd play in there all night given half a chance), we offer a few games of 'Hide and Seek'. It works a treat.

So we play 3 games, most nights. Lyndon hides first, followed by myself, followed by Miss Monet herself. When doing the 'seeking' we stand with our face at the front door and count loudly to 10 (or to 16 or 18 - depending when Monet wants to stop) and then say "Coming, ready or noooot" and go on our search for the hiding parent. It doesn't take long to seek us out, I mean, we live in a 3 bedroom apartment and there are only limited hiding spots!

Monet is getting awfully good at playing.

She used to run from her hiding spot out to we were once we finished our 'counting' and say "Here I am!!!!!" Not now though. She hides and sits still. I know the day is coming where we won't be able to find her.

You can imagine how great she thought it was the other night when Lyndon had Monet's new shelves pulled out from her bedroom wall, as he had been painting her room.... (see look!)

The three of us were in there, admiring the paint work (Yay!) when I suggested to Monet to stand behind the shelves and pop her head through one of the sections so she'd look like a doll. She did a great job not moving...


...Did you spot her?

Maybe not quite 'Where's Wally', but pretty good all the same.

Orderly Lines

My girl can certainly crack me up at the best of times.

She likes things to be 'orderly'. Everything should have it's place in Monet's books.

Especially when she plays. She lines up everything. Her 'Little People', her books, her 'wheeled items'...



And her dolls.

And don't talk to me about her shoes...

Looks like a shoe shop doesn't it? Can you spot her mini-Birkenstocks. Thank goodness they were only $12 from Target! *heehee* It's actually a wonder those shoes aren't lined up in proper foot order. She must be one of the only little kids I know who put her shoes on correctly every time with out me saying "You're putting the left shoe on the wrong foot!"

Monet can spend hours lining her toys up along the wall. Arranging. Re-arranging. It fills in quite a bit of time here. I must've driven her rather 'batty' with her shoes, clothes, toys, books before she gained independence.

I can only imagine what her wardrobe will look like once she can reach the hanging rail!
*oh dear!*

Last Sunday Morning...

Last Sunday saw the three of us head off out for breakfast, for the first time in ages. We used to always go out on a Sunday morning for breakfast, but then it became a little more convenient (and cheaper) to eat breakfast (usually bacon and eggs) at home.

But sometimes it is nice to go out and have a nice breakfast cooked by someone else.

We went to Holloways Beach (a Cairns Beach suburb) to 'Coolums' which recognises itself as the only restaurant right on the beach up here. And it was lovely.

See?

Even if we did have to wait (and wait...and wait) for our orders to arrive, it was worth the wait. Even if I couldn't eat it all and Lyndon had to help polish it off. (True - I'm not lying!)

From there we drove into Cairns City and visited the lagoon. It has been simply ages since we went for a splash/swim in there (about January I think was the last time) so that was fun! And something different for a Sunday morning.

The water was a little chiller than the water in our 'warm' pool so to say that the lagoon waters were refreshing is a bit of an understatement. Still, the water temperature didn't put us off nor the scores of tourists/locals who were in the lagoon also.

After changing out of our cozzies, we went for a wander around the Marina, something we hadn't done for a while either. We had wanted to walk around near the now completed Harbour Lights, which Lyndon helped to 'construct'. Ever since moving to Cairns the boardwalk in front of Harbour Lights had been all boarded up so it was nice to be able to 'see' the building as a whole, with a few restaurants on the walkway. It looks really good...

We spent the remainder of the day being lazy at home, which was okay, as we had been out and about early on in the day.

And that was our Sunday.

What are your plans for this Sunday?

La..la..laaa.....

Guess whose daughter sang the best AND the loudest at Playgroup today??

Yep, mine.

Usually a little reserved when it comes to 'sing-along' time, Monet today sang in a fine voice!

I wasn't the only one who sat shocked as the other parents looked over at me with raised eyebrows and grins.

*lovely*

Food, Weather and Family...

Lyndon's parents picked a corker of a week to come up and visit last week. The weather was showing itself off in this part of the world with 32 degree heat with blue cloudless skies. *lovely*

Since they left on Saturday the weather has been overcast and blowy. Except yesterday morning. Yesterday morning was very nice.

Lyndon, Monet and I went to Palm Cove early Friday evening to visit Lyndon's parents at their hotel room here. It was very nice and very comfortable. We enjoyed a drink each on the balcony before heading off to one of Palm Cove's many restaurants for dinner.

The view from Mark and Marianne's hotel room...

We settled upon one called 'Bella-something-a-rather'. Even though I can't exactly remember the name of the place I can say that it was top bloody nosh. The wine went down smoothly, the food was so delicious (I had a lemon and lime infused chicken breast, sitting on a bowl of pumpkin risotto with a coconut cream sauce on top - yum!), the dessert was scrummy and to top it off, the house cocktail was tantalising. And the company? Wonderful. I am sure that the 5 of us can agree that it was a top night out.

Mark and Marianne left at Saturday lunch time, back dwon to country Victoria, back to their home... It was nice to see them both up here and I am glad that the weather was great for them. I am sure they had a lovely time away.

Saying goodbye was easy as Marianne is back to join us for another week in less than 7 weeks time, which will be rather good fun.

Have you been out for a 'lovely' dinner lately?

Busy Baking Bee...

I was a busy little bee in the kitchen yesterday. I had the 'in-laws' who are holidaying up the road, at Palm Cove, over for dinner. And you know that I enjoy baking/cooking and it is always nice to prepare a food for others.

My FIL, Mark, is an electrician so last weekend after they had arrived, he put some new lights in my kitchen...

...and lights over the BBQ area outside.

It is nice to be able to see what you are cooking both indoors and out.

For dinner I spent the day preparing a few salads, including the delightful (yes, delightful!) Moroccan Salad, and even made some fresh baguettes. Yes, I was busy.

And we finished off with a slice of the delicious Strawberries and Cream Meringue Cake, which I had never made before but will definitely be baking again because it is divine!!! Just by looking at this photo I am tempted to go and get another slice from the fridge.

Oww...I love a good meal. And I enjoy preparing them. Most of the time anyway!! *heehee*

Strawberries and Cream Meringue Cake

I was a little unsure how this would turn out but I need not have worried. It was delicious - just like out of a cafe display case. Pretty posh and very yummy.

The recipe calls for 'golden caster sugar', I just used ordinary caster sugar so the cake turned out a little paler than the piccie they had in the book...

*Taken from BBC Books 'Good Food Magazine 101 Tempting Desserts' published 2006* - a UK mini cookbook

Ingredients
-for the cake-
100g butter, at room temperature
plus extra for greasing
100g golden caster sugar
1 large egg, plus 2 egg yolks (keep the whites for the meringue)
85g self-raising flour
25g shelled pistachios, finely ground
2 tbs milk

-for the meringue-
2 large egg whites
100g golden caster sugar

-for the topping-
284ml carton double cream, softly whipped
200g strawberries hulled, sliced or left whole

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan forced. For the cake, butter and lime the bottom of a 20cm/8in round, loose bottomed sandwich tin with greaseproof paper. Beat the butter and sugar together for 3-4 minutes until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg and egg yolks. Gently stir in the flour and ground nuts alternately with the milk. Spoon into the tin and level it smooth.

Make the meringue. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Whisk in the sugar, a couple of spoonfuls at a time, until smooth and glossy. Spoon into the tin and spread it. Bake for 45 minutes until the meringue feels crisp.

Leave in the tin to cool, then loosen the edges with a knife and remove. Peel off the paper and leave until cold. Spoon the cream over the meringue, then the strawberries.

Serves 8