Plums Anyone?

Before we head to Sydney for the Christmas holiday, we attended a Filipino Christmas get together in Grovedale. We learned from Auntie Mary that Uncle Lawrence is inviting us to harvest some plums. These are real plums -- not the ones from Farm Town or Farmville. We did not think twice. Straightaway, we drove to their farm in Barrabool Hills with a few friends.







Che enjoyed climbing the tree, picking the plums and eating the best ones of his harvest.

Kimi ran after the free-range chickens for the first time. He was over the moon with excitement and his laughter was contagious.

This is way better than FarmVille!

NB: Thanks to Maricon and Efren for the photos.

Saturday breakfast 2

This is one of our lazy Saturdays again. We preferred to stay home and Che (for a change) prepared our breakfast. French toast and omelette! Yummy! This is Kimi's plate by the way.

Saturday breakfast

I asked Che to walk along Pakington and have breakfast in one of the cafes as well. He was hesitant. He must be feeling a tad lazy that day so we ended up staying at home. My enthusiasm for a nice, quiet weekend was still high so I proudly announced that I would prepare a cafe-style breakfast for the 3 of us. Nothing really special -- just bacon, sunny-side up, bread and strawberries -- apart from a little bit of presentation, which I don't normally do during our regular meals as I am usually strapped for time. It may not look as mouth watering but the little presentation made a difference to our meal, psychologically.

Kimi was giggling while he ate from his own plate. I am not sure though if it’s because of the presentation, the taste of the bacon or because of the new plate as he has his little bowl during regular meals. Che was contented with the photo opportunity and the sunny side up for his bread. I was happy with what I’ve come up even if it is nothing compared to those in cafes and restaurants. It’s enough that I was able to reminisce the home economics class in high school with Mrs. Maralit and Mrs. Valdez. I remembered I used to bring some of my mom’s cutlery and tableware to class for the food presentation. Once we have set-up our veggie garden for a steady supply of herbs, I plan to garnish and "decorate" our food a bit from time to time to release my usually dormant artistic side and make meals something different again.

Fishy, fishy where are you?

How we spend our free time has really changed over the past two years. The environment including my migration from Manila to Australia has a big factor on that change. We are now into having picnics, strolling at the park and waterfront, and just a few days ago hubby tried his hand in fishing. We were invited by family friends to go to Rippleside Park, which is a further walk from the Western beach and still part of the whole stretch of the Corio Bay. While the boys had gone fishing, the ladies and the kids played and cooked sausages and rissole. It was lots of fun. Kimi loved running on the grass and raising his hands at the same time as if trying to reach the blue sky. He also loved the sand pit in the nearby playground, reminding me to bring a small bucket and a shovel next time.

When the sun started to set, we followed the dads at the jetty. Hubby proudly showed me his first catch ever (and only catch for the day). The fish, a whiting I think, was bigger than I had imagined. Took some photos and went home to feast on his catch. Not bad for hubby's first fishing experience, you think so? Well, let's consider the fact that there were lots of ducks and pelicans at that time.

Spending Weekend

Our house is only a 7 minute-walk from the Geelong waterfront. The walking and biking trail from the Western beach to the Eastern beach spans about 4 kilometres. Actually, it is very convenient to enjoy a walk and the scenery when we do not feel lazy. Last weekend was one of those days. With Kimi around we will definitely have more!


The sun was up and it was not so cold. Yes, a good sign that spring is coming. The grass is green with yellow wild flowers in bloom -- a delight to see along the edge of the walk path. It was very tempting to pick the flowers. In fact, little girls walking past were usually carrying a bunch, happy and contented with what they got.


The walk including pushing Kimi on his pram was not tiring. We only had a leisure walk, nothing heart pumping unlike others who went there to exercise and sweat. Upon reaching downtown, we went straight to Westfield for lunch at a Japanese fastfood and snagged a Sylvester Stallone's Rocky movies collection. I am not a big fan but for $37 for 6 movies, I made hubby smile and reminisced those days I watched action movies with my Tatay and brothers.

It is another quiet weekend full of chuckles and cuddles.



NB: We managed to see the 6 movies in less than 24 hours. :D