Philadelphia Morning Tea and Giveaway!

Even though I have been blogging for four and a half years, this has been the first year that I have become serious about trying to post consistently. My goal was to reach 300 posts by year's end and guess what? This is my 300th post!! I have a little giveaway by way of celebration, but first you have to read on...

Another thing I discovered about blogging this year is that bloggers aren't out there blogging in isolation. There's a real community out there, all interacting and having fun - and PR companies have also recognised this.

Now, everyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE food. So I was very excited when a PR company invited me to a Philadelphia Picnic with Philadelphia's ambassador, Louise Fulton Keats, demonstrating some of its wonderful uses.* Unfortunately, the threat of rain washed away the picnic idea. However, we were very lucky to have Louise open up her own home for the event!

Louise was a wonderful host and we were welcomed with a gorgeous spread of Philadelphia inspired goodies...



Carrot Cupcakes with Lemon Icing and
Fresh Dates stuffed with Cream Cheese



Everything looked so pretty!

Louise generously passed on some of her food knowledge with little tips and tricks we all found handy. Apart from her family background, Louise is also a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu and a qualified childhood nutritionist so she knows her stuff! Then with the help of two lovely young men (sons of Sonia from Life, Love and Hiccups and aspiring Masterchef contestants), she demonstrated how to make her Carrot Cupcakes and Tuna and Carrot Pinwheel Sandwiches - an idea I really loved for my own boys!


Louise Fulton Keats with her delightful book
"My Grandma's Kitchen".
She has a sequel and a toddler's nutrition book
in the pipeline too!



The Tuna and Carrot Pinwheel Sandwiches which I want
to try out with salmon :)

I loved Louise's use of Philadelphia products because everything was simple and delicious - the boys in attendance loved the food and Louise's own gorgeous 2 year old did as well. Being time-poor and having 3 boys of my own who can sometimes be fussy, it was great to get some new lunch and snack ideas!

Distracted by the cooking, eating and socialising, I didn't really get a chance to ask about how Philadelphia products compare nutritionally to other products on the market, although Louise did say they were better. If you are interested, nutritionists Kate Bullen and Sophie McGough did a review of the Philadelphia Cooking Cream which you can read here and it did prove nutritionally better than regular thickened cream, even though it had a higher salt content. I plan to give it a go in a Pasta Boscaiola dish tonight.

Since attending the event, I have made my own version of the carrot cupcakes and topped them with the Philadelphia Cream for Desserts (mixed with a little icing sugar) and I also used the Philadelphia Cream Cheese to make Oreo Cheesecake Balls which served as dessert on Christmas Day. All were very yummy, so yummy in fact that I forgot to take photos!

Now, the day wouldn't be complete without a Cheesecake on the menu and the one Louise served was no ordinary cheesecake...



So very, very yummy!

It was her grandmother's famous Bistro Cheesecake, her grandmother being of course Margaret Fulton! To many of my younger readers this may not mean much, but Margaret Fulton was like the first celebrity chef in this country! There wouldn't be many households that were raised without a Margaret Fulton cookbook of some description in their kitchens!

We were surprised and delighted when we realised that Margaret was there in person. She was absolutely lovely and let us all take photos with her as she chatted to us about different things, including her new knitting hobby. We were also very lucky to have Suzanne Gibbs, Margaret's daughter, in attendance. Suzanne is the Food Editor of BBC Australian Good Food magazine. No doubt she has plenty of food ideas of her own to share! It was quite surreal to say the least to be sitting in Louise Fulton Keats' house, sharing morning tea with the Fulton women!

Sharing a photo with Margaret Fulton.

I was also very excited to be meeting fellow bloggers for the first time in real life! We bloggers kind of get to know each other pretty well by reading each other's blogs so it's kind of weird meeting in the flesh! Happy to say that everyone was as friendly as they appear on their blogs!


Left to Right: Sonia from Life, Love and Hiccups fame, Louise, Christie
from Fig and Cherry, Julie the author of Mama of 2 Boys, myself and my
sister Rosie, surrounded by some of the kids.

A big thank you to my sister as well - I coerced her into driving me there so I wouldn't get hopelessly lost! Louise was very kind to extend the invitation so that she could join us on the day.

* I was invited to this promotional event by Liquid Ideas. I received a cooler bag full of Philadelphia products, as well as the Simply Heaven Volume 2 Philadelphia recipe book from Kraft. I was also lucky enough to be given a copy of Louise's book "My Grandma's Kitchen", which she kindly signed for my boys. All the opinions contained in this blog post are my own.

GIVEAWAY

Now for the fun part! I have a giveaway for my readers. Kraft have kindly given me 5 gift packs consisting of a copy of Simply Heaven Volume 2 (with over 70 sweet and savoury recipes in it) and a Woolworths gift card to the value of $7.00 - which just so happens to be enough to buy two Philadelphia products!

Open to Australian residents only.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post by 5pm EST on Tuesday 10th January 2012. Very easy! I will use random.org to draw 5 winners and will contact you all via email. In the event that I can't contact you, I will redraw the prize.

Just click "Comment" at the end of this post and tell me what you think! Good luck!

LEGO causes an uproar by going all pink and girly!

I'm surprised Lego didn't do this sooner, but here we are...almost in 2012 and Lego has introduced a full line of 23 different products aimed specifically at girls. The new Friends range is centred around the fictional Heartlake City with five doll-like characters and various settings like beauty salons and veterinary clinics. It is aimed at girls aged 6 years and older and each set comes with a back story, catering to what Lego believes girls want. For their part, Lego say the range is based on four years of extensive research, design and testing. It's not the first time Lego has tried to grab a share of the "girl market" but it has never done so in quite this fashion.

As you can see from the pictures above, even the Lego characters have been made more "shapely". Lego says this is because girls see themselves in the pieces, almost like an avatar whereas boys play with them in the "third person" so to speak. As a comparison here are some Lego figures my son took a photo of today:

"So what?" I hear you ask. Well, the release of this range has caused an explosive debate on gender specific toys. Isn't Lego in its original form for everyone? Why do girls need six new brick colours introduced? Why do they have to be categorised as the smart girl or the social girl - why can't they just be allowed to imagine and explore whatever they want to be? 

I have been going around in circles reading articles about the new range along with heated debates in the comments sections of such articles. My first thought was that girls don't need a specifically "girl" range in order to play with Lego. And that is partially correct. In fact, Lego's original advertising way back in 1949 claimed that it was a toy "for girls and for boys". Many girls already play with Lego - the absence of lavender and other pastels hasn't stopped them.

However, from a marketing viewpoint, somewhere along the line, Lego started to market itself as a boys' toy and today is often found in "boys' aisles" of toy shops. This of course assumes that toys are either for girls or boys, which in turn opens up another debate about whether this is intrinsic or learned behaviour. I'm divided on the issue and haven't done enough scientific reading to give an opinion either way. All I know is that I have seen girls who have been specifically shielded from gender specific colours and toys, lean towards those very things when older and vice versa. I think it is more learned behaviour, even when not explicit. Unless a child is living in a bubble, they will pick up what is a "girl colour/boy colour" or what is a "girl's toy/boy's toy" from media and those around them. Somewhere along the line, they are exposed to gender stereotypes.

Having said that, I think society as a whole more readily accepts girls playing with cars and building blocks over boys playing with dolls. I don't know why that is. My boys don't own any dolls or kitchen sets yet they love playing with these toys at pre-school and their cousins' and friends' houses. Thomas' favourite colour is purple and I have no problem with this. I think my boys would love the new Lego range, if only for the new colours and scenarios it would introduce. But will anybody buy them a pink Lego box? Unless they are very open-minded, I doubt it.

Which brings me back to the Lego debate. Interestingly, an article in Bloomberg Businessweek titled "Lego is for Girls" says that girls and boys play equally with Duplo, the larger Lego range aimed at younger children (and the one I prefer because it's not so small!), but once they move past this stage, Lego is seen as a boys' toy. Why? Simply because it has been marketed that way.

I think a girl who loves to build, who loves the freedom of imagination and technical engineering that Lego affords will still love Lego, regardless of what colour it is or what scenes it is presented in. However, girls will be more likely to play with the new sets and parents and other adults will be more likely to buy the new sets because they are pink and girly and fit into the perception of what girls should play with. Whether we like it or not, that's just the way our society is wired. To change the wiring, we would need a lot of people buying 'traditional' Lego for girls and a lot of people buying the Friends Lego for boys. It will happen here and there but not enough to change society's deep seated gender stereotypes.

Whatever one thinks about boys' Lego and girls' Lego, it's a great toy!!! I love watching my boys play with it. It keeps them occupied for hours. It allows their imaginations to run wild and teaches them important skills along the way. So no matter how we get it into children's hands, the important thing is giving them the opportunity to explore.

Here's some Duplo Lego play from today...

What do you think about the new Friends Lego range?

Are you more likely to buy Lego for girls now that it has been introduced?

Did you ever buy Lego for girls in the past?

 Would you buy the new range for a boy?

Christmas Wrap Up

Just thought I would do a quick post as a Christmas wrap up. My blog looks kind of cool viewed on an iPad. Yes, my hubby finally came through with the goods! No jump leads for me this year :) We have been eating non-stop all day, to the point of almost gluttony. We have been up since the crack of dawn because the kids were super excited about Santa. And the kids have been spoilt with too many gifts to count. The priest told us in church that research showed Australians had spent $40 billion on Christmas presents this year. He also said that it would cost $20 billion to provide clean drinking water to all those people in the world who don't have it. A startling revelation and something to ponder. I'm not getting on any moral high horse here. I did give the kids less presents this year but here I am using an iPad and half the family seems to have got one as well! How do we declutter? How do we find true meaning in the everyday if we are surrounded by material things. Someone said to me the other day that they are not into material things. Yet they are wealthy. They drive expensive cars, send their kids to a private school and have the best of everything. Its easy to say you're not into material things when you are surrounded by money. One of my gifts was the Steve Jobs biography. I'm really interested in reading it. From what little I've previously read, he was a self-made man who lived without all the trappings his success allowed him. Truly remarkable in today's society. So all in all another brilliant day -I forgot my camera at home so I didn't get any photos - but also a Christmas of reflection. Merry Christmas to all of you xxx

Playing with my Mind

Background to this story: Apparently, I am a very mean mother sometimes. Downright rude too. I do stuff like say "no" (shock horror!) and the other day I said "no" to playing in the backyard because a) it was wet and b) Sam had dug up part of the yard so in effect, it was wet and muddy. Granted, I may be a party pooper but I wasn't in the mood for 3 boys rolling around in mud. Anyway, Thomas let his feelings be known with crossed arms and grouchy looks. Then we all forgot about it. As we do.

That night I went to bed early (at about 11:30pm), but as so often happens, I was woken at some ridiculous hour of the morning by Samuel calling my name. I got up to bring him to our bed (a whole other post) and as I left my bedroom, I noticed a piece of paper on the floor outside my door. It's not unusual to see things left all over the place in this house, but I could swear there had been nothing there when I went to bed. Once I put Samuel to sleep, I returned him to his bed and again noticed the note. It was directly in front of the door. No, definitely wasn't there when I went to bed.

So I bent down to have a closer look and this is what I saw:

For those who can't decipher child spelling, the last word in the sentence
reads "night".

It was the middle of the night. I was half asleep. Whilst half my brain was saying "impossible" and "the alarm is on", the other half went to a million different places in a split second and my heart skipped a beat!

I raced down the hallway, only to find Thomas peacefully asleep in his bed. I went back to bed as well but I had a restless night. He had rattled me.

When I told him about the note the next morning, he thought it was hilarious. He explained how he had gone into the study the previous afternoon, written the note and then placed it in his bedside drawer. He then described how he was awoken by a nightmare in the middle of the night (obviously before Samuel and I awoke). He lay in bed for a while and then remembered the note. So he quietly got up, retrieved it from his drawer and came and placed it in front of our bedroom door before returning to bed. He took great glee in retelling the story to others as well!

He is six years old. Please God, let him not be so dramatic in his teenage years!

On reflection, my husband quelled my fears by saying Thomas wouldn't have the guts (okay, he may have used another word) to leave the house in the middle of the night. True...I think.
And my sister in-law tells me it's similar to a scene in Toy Story (I admit, I've only seen bits and pieces of all 3 movies even though they play here seemingly 24/7 - and yes, Thomas is obsessed with them)!

What has your child done that gave you a near heart attack?

Santa Photo 2011

When we arrived for Santa photos on a Sunday morning, it was hectic to say the least. A very long queue, a photographer that was seemingly taking forever with every photo, many, many restless children and a conga line of parents trying to entertain them and not lose their minds.

It was a recipe for disaster and as you can probably guess, Samuel was not going to have a bar of sitting patiently in a queue. Sam was also frowning. You probably guessed that as well. So after roaming the shopping centre after Samuel for some time, I eventually sent Sam and Samuel home! I was to call them when we got to the front of the queue.

And so that's how we got this photo...

It's a Christmas miracle! They're all smiling!!! First ever Santa photo as a brother team! Granted, Samuel may have been about to burst into tears...but I'll take it as a smile. Good work Ms Photographer!

And a lovely Santa to boot I might add. Love when the real Santa shows up with his real beard and says things like "you're not allowed to get up and open your presents until Mum is up" and "don't fight"...I convinced them he must have seen them fighting earlier that morning :)

Aaahh, my little munchkins, love you to bits xxx

The Bestest Reindeer Food Ever!

As a special project to raise money for St Vincent de Paul, the Year 6 grade at school made and sold reindeer food (great idea)! Unfortunately, Thomas tried to buy some a couple of times but missed out - the first time he accidentally dropped his $2 in the bin. He was disappointed to have missed out so I promised we would make some.

The traditional recipe calls for rolled oats and coloured sugar, however we came up with our own fun recipe. Oats and sugar would have been over in one minute (and a lot less messy I now realise).

First we gathered up everything we needed: a few small bowls, spoons, measuring cups, Kellogs Rice Bubbles, sugar, dessicated coconut, red and green food colouring, a plastic bag and a pretty Christmas gift bag.

Then we measured out about 1/2 cup of Kellogs Rice Bubbles and placed them in a small bowl. We didn't have a mortar and pestle so instead we had lots of fun squishing the Rice Bubbles up with our fingers...

...until we had a (mostly) fine dust.

After this, we added about a 1/4 cup of caster sugar. It wasn't really needed, but in case the reindeer have a sweet tooth, we've got it covered!

The following part caused a bit of excitement - believe me, it doesn't take much. We measured out a little coconut that each of them poured into their own little dish. We then added a couple of drops of red food colouring to one and a couple of drops of green food colouring to the other and used the spoons to mix each up, until the coconut was fully coloured.

These red and green mixtures were then poured into the larger bowl containing the crushed Rice Bubbles and sugar, so that everything could be combined.



And hey, presto! We have super magical reindeer food! We could have added glitter but really, did we want to risk poisoning a reindeer and ruining Christmas for everyone? I think not.

The only thing left to do was to place it in a plastic bag and then into a pretty Christmas gift bag, to await sprinkling on the front lawn on Christmas Eve! We are sure Rudolph and the other reindeer will love this yummy treat!

So what treats are you leaving out for Santa and his reindeer?

Rudolph

Sam has gone to his one hundredth Christmas party tonight. Okay, maybe not one hundredth but pretty close. Being in the building industry, he gets invited to a lot of lunches and Christmas parties at this time of year. And he makes an effort to go to all of them. I was actually supposed to go with him but decided to stay home with the kiddies, partly because I wasn't feeling all that crash hot but mainly because Samuel is still unwell. He's congested, has a runny nose and just wants cuddles <3

So whilst Sam is out enjoying a feast, I served the boys 2 minute noodles - gosh, I hope certain chefs aren't reading this! They'd be horrified! But it's okay - after I blew my chances of a "mother of the year" award, I quickly regained form by *sound drum roll* doing craft with them!! The boys love craft but it tends to get pushed aside a lot by me because I'm so busy...but not tonight. Tonight I let them do craft. Nothing major mind you. It's so simple anyone can do it!

A bit of tracing and cutting.

A bit more tracing and cutting.

 

Some gluing.



A little more gluing.



Some drawing and colouring in.



Add a scrunched up red tissue paper nose...and you have Rudolph!!

Pretty easy! If you want the full set of instructions, you can find them here. Happy crafting!

Christmas Torture

I really, really, really love Christmas! It's my favourite time of the year. I wrote a little about my love for it here. But this year has been so crazy, so busy and so damn expensive that a little of my Christmas enthusiasm has washed away. I'm trying desperately to get it back...because it just doesn't feel right to not be all merry and festive in December. Mind you, Sydney's weather isn't helping! How do they do it it the Northern Hemisphere? Miserable weather equals miserable people.


Okay, so I'm trying hard to regain the feeling of Christmas. Our Christmas outdoor lights finally went up this past weekend and that certainly brightened the mood a bit. I finally found time to start Christmas shopping. I did it mostly online, thereby escaping the crowds, long queues and sore feet that I experienced last night. The packages have started to roll in and I'm thankful for my large wardrobe because it is perfect for stashing all the gifts. I think once I start to wrap, I'll get really excited. Having said that, I won't be able to put anything under the tree because Samuel will no doubt attack it.

What else? Christmas craft? Haven't got to that yet but the boys have been begging to do some so I must really make time for that! Oh, and I made an effort to decorate my blog header (see above). What do you think?


Christmas cards? Sorry, no can do this year. So if you have been wondering why you haven't received a card from me this year, it's because I haven't made any! Usually I am torturing the children in November to get a half decent shot that I can construct a card with by early December. Over 100 of these cards go out each year...but this year, zilch! I would have had to add more as well because we've made so many new friends through Thomas' school! I just didn't have the time and wouldn't have had the money to do what I have previously done. Everyone must be in the same boat because we've only received one card this year - all the others are from the boys' school friends!


Speaking of Christmas cards, I was looking back at the Christmas photo shoots from the past few years and I had to laugh at all the photos that didn't make the cut! Although I try to choose the best photo/s for the cards (boys smiling, looking at camera etc) so that people we don't see often can get an idea of how much they have grown, it really is the rejected photos that are the best! The annual Christmas photo shoot is a task and a half, and I had neither the time nor inclination to put myself through it this year, but here are some past memories for your viewing pleasure...

2008

2 little rascals that just didn't want their photo taken... 



Boys, please look at the camera and keep your eyes open.

 

An attempt at a cute cuddles shot. Daniel is not impressed.

 

I think Daniel is over it!

 

The finished product - which must have been completed on a different day,
since I notice Daniel is wearing a different shirt! I also gave up on the
group shot!



2009

Even with help from my mum and sister, the 2009 shoot brought new challenges because now we had 3 children to photograph, and only one could be kept still!



I could have used this one, but I really wanted them all looking at camera.



This is what I got when I asked Thomas and Daniel to give their baby
brother a kiss. Poor Samuel...



Rumbling every two minutes didn't help...



In the end, I couldn't decide on just one photo...



2010

Last year's photo shoot was a stressful nightmare because not only did we have 3 children to contend with, but now they all couldn't keep still!



I can't stop giggling...



I just want to take silly photos
(always the clown)

 

I don't want any photos! Let me go and take this
stupid hat off me!



I was happy with the end product, but admittedly
I had to Photoshop someone! Can you guess who?





I feel so terrible looking back at the one above of Samuel...but they did look cute in the end. They'll thank me for the Christmas memories one day...right?

Whilst we are on the topic of Christmas torture, I also don't know why we torture our children with Santa photos (except that they'll provide great pics for their 21st! Take note Leanne - put this year's photo in a safe place!). I've long given up on Santa photos. I took one of all of them for their first Christmas - and luckily for me they were all babies at the time. But since then, I've attempted and abandoned ship! And last year I didn't even try. Thomas and Daniel would like one this year, but I know what Samuel would do!! Poor Santa wouldn't have a beard left and might cop a few injuries! I wonder if Santas are insured for injuries caused by terrified children?



From Awkward Family Photos...poor Claire!



Do you have any Christmas torture stories to share?

The Boys & Mack the Truck!

All 3 boys LOVE the Cars movies and all the merchandise that goes with it (I think we own half of it)! So I was very excited to spot my friend Loren's Facebook update recently that included a picture of Mack the Truck parked outside a truck dealership at Chipping Norton in Sydney. Her husband had snapped it while driving past.

We knew the boys would love seeing the life-size replica so we planned to drive past it on our way to a party a few Sundays ago. We didn't tell the boys where we were going, just in case it wasn't there. As we approached, Sam and I started saying things like "Yep, it's here! I can see it!" and the three little people in the back were all eyes and ears and craning necks to see what the fuss was about.

The looks on their faces when they spotted Mack was priceless! They were soooo excited! It was a little disappointing that we couldn't get right up close as the truck was parked behind a locked fence but it was still awesome to see. Even I was excited! Unfortunately, Mack's "eyes" had blown down with the wind, making him look a little less complete. The kids spotted the missing eyes straight away and started questioning whether he was the 'real' Mack, but by the end of our visit I think they were convinced.

The truck was here as part of a national tour. People attending big events like the V8 Supercars at Homebush would have seen Mack opened up, revealing a host of gaming activities for everyone to enjoy. I think it's a fabulous idea and great that people could see it for free, although I think a little more information could have been provided about Mack's stops to enable families to plan a visit.

Here are some pics from our brief stop...

Which movie character would you or your kids be super excited to see?