We'll Weather the Weather

This image comes from GI who has this to say about the weather for the coming days, "Rain, Sun, Rain, Sun. MAKE UP YOUR MIND.

I guess I just have to remind him that we live in Australia now. GI, if you must know ...

Whether the weather be fine

Whether the weather be not

Whether the weather be cold

Whether the weather be hot

We'll weather the weather

Whatever the weather

Whether we like it or not

Union Jack Through the Years

When GI was still a baby, we got some singlets (sandos) for him. These particular singlets grew with him. I think he was wearing some of them until age two or three until we decided to set them aside. These singlets eventually got passed on to RD. Of course by then, these were kind of stretched and thinned out from all the washing and wearing.

When he was about 3 or 4 years old, he got a brand new singlet with the Union Jack on it. It was too big for him at the time but he liked wearing it nonetheless. It was so big that it went below his knees up to his shin and oftentimes one side of the top would drop off his shoulder.

By the time he was nine, the shirt was just the right size for him. Check out this picture taken in March 2003. GI is wearing the singlet in question. (Notice how bright the colors are.)

The year is now 2010 and the singlet has not yet been retired. This picture was taken last week when the weather turned warm and GI wore his Union Jack singlet, now faded and 'slightly' stretched.

I wanted to have him pose with a frisbee but he refused. I think I should have asked him to stand up so everyone can see how big he is now. You would have seen his belly button if he were standing up.

When I see GI in this shirt, I can still imagine my little angel in his oversized singlet going down the stairs the first time he wore the shirt.

Love Macadamias

When we were younger, Father would bring home macadamia nuts from his trips abroad. They were always special treats.

Often, they would come in those distinctive blue cans.

Sometimes, they would be covered with chocolate.
( Oh, yeah! )

I always thought that macadamia nuts only came from Hawaii. How great is it to find out that the macadamia nut is the only plant food native to Australia that is produced and exported in any significant quantity?

No wonder when someone was heading back for the Philippines, Father's only request for pasalubong (present) was macadamia nuts. We were told that he was partial to the dry roasted and salted ones. No problem.... or so I thought. Lo and behold, there were plain ones and there were honey roasted ones, but I couldn't find salted ones.

I found ONE bag of salted macadamia nuts among all the bags of nuts on the display in one of the grocery stores I visited. Naturally I got that so that I had something to send home. I wish I had found more but unfortunately there was none to be found. I could not find any in the many grocery stores I passed by.

I was really hoping to send more macadamia nuts for Father (and Mother and Z) to enjoy so I got them a pack each of plain ones and honey roasted. I hope they liked them. I love the honey roasted ones ... but that is me and my sweet tooth.

I got an extra bag of the plain ones to experiment whether I could honey roast the nuts myself.

Ahhh ... the well laid plans of mice and men ...

... the result of my experiment was not quite comparable to the real thing.

a. I didn't get a nice crunchy coating on the nuts

b. some of the nuts got toasted, instead of just roasted

c. they just didn't taste the same

However, on the positive side, macadamia nuts ARE macadamia nuts. Plus sprinkling them with a mixture of powdered sugar and ground cinnamon AFTER they've been roasted with honey certainly makes them value added nuts.

So in spite the fact that the ones I made paled in comparison to the honey roasted ones they sell in the market and in the stores, they were gobbled up in an instant.

Smile!

SMILE!!!

Special people in your life

whether near or far

will always warm your heart

will always make you smile.

Two for the Price of One

MacGyver got us some squid from the big Asian store at Blacktown.

To our surprise, there was more than just squid in the bag.

We just had the calamares for dinner, not the fish.