Poo Poo for You

We have been meaning to try toilet training Eleanor for a while now, but with family visiting and holidays planned we just haven't had an appropriately long uninterrupted stretch to try. With the birthday events complete and the house to ourselves again we pressed the advantage and encouraged Nelly to try her potty whenever possible.

Though we weren't particularly disciplined about enforcing potty use over the last month, we've certainly been talking to Eleanor as much as possible to get her used to the idea. A few of her friends at day care use the "koilet" so it's not a foreign concept to her. Even so we were taken by surprise when she proclaimed in the car last week that she'd like a big girl bed, and would do so when she learned to do a poo in the "koilet". 

As an aside she also decided that she'd voluntarily give up her "do dos" (pacifiers) that she uses to go to sleep once she has a big girl bed. We're optimistic but a little skeptical that she'll follow through as she currently requires three dummys and a coterie of trusted stuffed animals to complete her nightly ritual.

Anyway, back to the point of this entry. We had just returned home from lunch with Sheenie and Grand Dad when Eleanor decided that she needed to do a poo. Nothing too exciting as we'd had many false alarms before but we obliged and let her sit in the corridor opposite Daddy who also had business to attend to. Perhaps it was the joy of company or maybe she was just old enough and it was time, but she stayed still long enough to produce a magnificent turd in her white plastic receptacle. Whoops of elation all around and I think more than a little relief.

I'll spare everyone a photo of the actual deed, though rest assured that one was taken for posterity. We celebrated by changing Eleanor into some toddler training nappies and pants... which she promptly wet about half an hour later while watching TV on the carpet. I guess it's a start.

Now we have plans to go shopping for a bed to replace the cot in her room. I wonder if we can still put bars on them to prevent her from coming into our room to wake us up at five in the morning.

Nelly Turns Two

Holy crap where has the time gone. Our baby girl turned two years old this month which is just crazy when I think about it. Maybe if I posted on the blog more I wouldn't feel obligated to start each entry with a whinge about how time is flying by so quickly. Hrm...

Mum, Dad and Mak Long flew out on the Saturday before Nelly's birthday to spend the week with us. Most of the time we had together was spent talking about food, cooking food or eating food so it's no wonder that my pants are feeling a little tighter as a result. Our first task at hand was preparing for the little girl's first party on the 16th with all her friends (and accompanying mums).

We were quite pleased with the result of our cake last year so once again we selected a recipe to attempt from the Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake book (vintage edition mind you). Eleanor helped pick out what she wanted and only changed her mind three times before settling on a rather cute teddy bear cake that didn't look too difficult. The trickiest part was managing the different coloured icing for the mouth and tummy compared to the rest of the cake, which we achieved with the help of plastic cups.

The rest of the icing process was a delicate operation that raised tension between Mummy and Daddy in the kitchen but in the end we pulled together to produce a reasonable facsimile of the bear showcased in the book. Except ours is arguably superior for the use of pink icing and a children's vitamin C tablet sliced in half for a tongue.

The cake went down a treat with the kids though we were left with the better part of a head and shoulder at the end of the day. Normally I'd be happy to have something sweet to snack on in the fridge but with three women shopping for food every day for the week our ice box was packed to capacity.

Being the first to blow the candles out was more challenging than we expected for Eleanor as all her friends wanted to help out. John seemed quite keen to lend a hand as he had lots of practice at his own birthday a couple of weeks before hand. Relighting the candle a few times a allowed our girl a chance to do it herself with minimal assistance from Callista.

John and Sheena drove Mary down as well to see the birthday girl on the day so we took an opportunity to photograph the four generations of girls. Nelly as always was very happy to see her great grandmother though I unfortunately failed to take a single photo with everyone looking at the camera properly. Here's the best of an odd bunch.

Eleanor received a lot of very exciting presents for her birthday but I think one that I found quite special (especially since I helped to assemble it the night before) was her first bicycle, bought by her Ah Kong. I didn't think she'd be keen to wear the safety helmet but she's surprisingly accommodating. We all took great joy in pushing her around the house while she applied the brakes and rang the bell with glee.

The day after her birthday was reserved for a family trip out to Alma Park Zoo. We had been talking about the zoo for months before hand but wanted to save the experience to share with Mum, Dad and Mak Long when they were out. The zoo was pretty well looked after but we were assaulted by swarms of mosquitoes that must have just hatched after the downpour the night before. Nelly was quite severely attacked but that didn't seem to bother her that much and she liked looking at the animals.

The following day was actually Mak Long's birthday so we decided to hit the road again and head down to the Gold Coast for some fish and chips. The weather was absolutely brilliant and we had a really nice day driving up and down the coast with a few stops to walk on the sand and gobble down an ice-cream.

The last event we had planned was another party on Saturday to celebrate the two birthday girls for the week. In a rather self serving gesture I suggested to Mum and Mak Long that we cook up a Malaysian inspired feast for the family to share, which they generously agreed to do. Alison helped cook (and will hopefully continue to cook) a smorgasbord of malay dishes including; beef rendang, pulut kuning, nasi lemak and large helpings of sambal. Absolutely divine so we all indulged and left very little for left overs.

It was a really short trip for Eleanor to see her Nenek but I think she had a great time seeing everyone out here. I'd hope that we can try and make it back to Malaysia soon as I really have a hankering for some more nasi lemak now. I think Nelly would happily brave the flight over to get a chance to eat as well as she did that week again.

We have had to re-structure her toy area and buy a new box to cater for the influx of presents for Eleanor. Some would say she's starting to get a little spoilt. I'd say she's worth it.

On Our Own with Scallop Pies

I'm sure the three people that read this blog are a little weary of hearing me gush about Eleanor. How fortunate then that this post is about our trip to Tasmania, sans progeny courtesy of two very generous and loving grandparents. We have just spent a whole week away from our daughter and have had a great time exploring the southern region of the apple isle, sampling pretty much every gastronomic delight we came across.

We found a lovely self contained apartment on airbnb which just a walk away from Salamanca and Battery Point. The place was newly renovated, comfortably furnished and boasted a spectacular view of the water and their garden. Our hosts were great and helpfully pointed us in the direction of nearby spots of interest, particularly those of the culinary kind.

On our first day out with the car (which I thankfully didn't crash this trip) we drove down to Bruny Island to embark on a boat cruise south to see the magnificent rock formations and local wild life. Some of the sea caves that we saw on the tour were amazing though I think the trademark moment that the guides prepare for is a "thread the needle" manoeuvre between Monument Rock and the cliff side. Kinda impressive what you can do with four jet motors on a small boat.

Aside from interesting geology we were also treated to a close up view of a seal colony. The stench downwind was eye watering though we were told to consider ourselves fortunate that we weren't facing a group during mating season. Apparently that bouquet can be smelled for miles and miles, which is apparently also an attraction for sharks.

The other highlight of the tour was when the guides dropped a submarine mounted camera into the water to show us some of the fish under the boat. It was one of the calmest days of the year so the water was pristine and clear. We were expecting Tasmania to be fairly cold but the day we were on Bruny was actually the hottest of our stay at 30 degrees, so I think more than a few people were tempted to dive in and swim in the sea. 

Our second day of driving had us heading north towards the little town of Ross, which is just south of Launceston. It was a great road to drive on with large dry plains on either side, which was quite different landscape to what we saw on Bruny Island the previous day. On the way we stopped in at Oatlands and checked out the Callington Mill, which if I remember the brochure correctly is one of the oldest working stone mills in the southern hemisphere. Not being a baker myself I can't speak for the flour that is produced but the sourdough loaf we bought from the bakery next to it was certainly yummy.

I must confess that our drive up to Ross wasn't entirely for the scenery. I can't quite remember where I heard about it initially, but I've been fascinated by the Tasmanian scallop pie for many years. Assuming that my love for baked crust and mollusks would be an easy and delicious match, I was quite insistent that we find a specimen of this seafood pastry during our holiday. Ross just happened to be the home of the Tasmanian Scallop Pie Company, so we thought it would be a fairly safe place to find a decent representation of the dish.

In fact, through the course of one week I ended up eating no less than five scallop pies from various bakeries and restaurants. This included both curried as well as creamy varieties and while I enjoyed all of them, there was only one venue where I had to go back for seconds. Let's just say that the drive to Ross was worth it.

Which is great news, because ironically it's now that I'm back in Brisbane doing research for this blog post that I've discovered that the Tasmanian Scallop Pie Company has retail outlets across the country. In fact the city with the most retail outlets is... Brisbane. Go figure.

The other exciting discovery we made was buying two wheels from the Bruny Island Cheese Company. We ended up eating them both for dinner at the apartment one night, along with Tasmanian smoked salmon, salami, apples from a farm that we passed and that sourdough we bought at the bakery in Oatland. Both cheeses were fantastic washed rinds and I thought they were quite different from what we usually pick up at cheeseries. The vine leaf wrapped Oen on the right is quite popular and had a lot of flavour, while the smaller wheel on the left was a sheep and cow milk blend that had a slightly more subtle body to it. Absolutely delicious and horrendously smelly.

Third day on the road was a long and windy drive through the Huon valley, south west of Hobart. Didn't see as many interesting stops to eat at early in the morning but that was alright as we were rushing to get to the Tahune air walk. It would have been hard to come back from Tasmania without at least doing one hike through the wonderful nature trails on offer. This wasn't exactly a rugged trek by any means but we did have fun walking below and above the giant trees in the forest.

The drive and trek didn't actually take as long as we thought it would so we ended up exploring a little more of the Huon area by heading south to the charming town of Cygnet. Lots of art galleries but we were most impressed by the Red Velvet Lounge where we stopped for lunch. By far the best food we had seen that day and very friendly waiters.

After stuffing ourselves silly on the hand cut fries and ox tongue sandwiches we drove along the coast to Peppermint Bay, stopping to pick some wild blackberries from the side of the road. Seems like we came to Tasmania at the wrong season for fruit picking and all of the cherry farms were closed so it was nice to have a chance to experience a little foraging.

We couldn't dally long however as we were in a rush to get back to Hobart and try our luck on a Friday night at Garagistes, a small and popular restaurant that doesn't take bookings. Due to us arriving minutes after the doors were opened we managed to score a table and had a fantastic meal there. We knew that the food would be special and we both noted with approval that they had a collection of Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine on their book shelf. The dishes certainly didn't disappoint.

In fact we had quite a few nice dinners out in Hobart, most of which were selected through Urbanspoon recommendations. The other standout that we would heartily recommend that people try is Ethos. Excellent food that has been sourced from local producers and cooked in a simple and honest manner. A great contrast to Garagistes with their more modernist slant.

The next day of driving involved heading east towards Port Arthur and the Tasman peninsula. On the way we dropped into Barilla Bay to get a platter of oysters. Sure do like seafood in Tasmania.

The drive down to Port Arthur was a little gloomier than the previous days on account of the rain. It was drizzling fairly heavily by the time we got to the Port Arthur entrance and it was a little later in the afternoon than we thought so we decided to forgo the convict trail for a few more stops along the coast line. Glad we did as there were some gorgeous rock formations that we could see from lookouts. This was the "Devil's Kithen", a large sea cave where the ceiling had collapsed to reveal an archway to the sea.

On our final day of driving we set out to the north west up the Derwent river to see how far we could get. Maybe it was just fatigue from driving or a lack of interesting things to see around that side but we stopped at the Salmon Ponds to have a quick look around before driving back towards the city.

We weren't sure if we would make it into MONA (the museum of old and new art) but since we didn't have much else on our itinerary for the afternoon we decided to pay the entrance fee and check it out. I wasn't sure what I'd think of the material given that some of the exhibits were quite alternative, though in the end I had a really good time. Shame that the layout of the building is deliberately disorienting which didn't sit well with Alison and the iPhone handouts they distributed didn't work half the time. I found quite a few of the collections to be very interesting if somewhat confrontational, though I must admit that the number of orifices was actually lower than what I expected.

After MONA we opted for one last driving adventure and took the rental car up to the lookout on Mount Wellington. Due to the cloud there wasn't a lot that we could see (understatement of the year) but at least we can say that we've been there.

So after all that we're back here in Brisbane again. Alison is up in Toowoomba tonight and will be bringing Eleanor home tomorrow so that I can be a Daddy again. It was nice to have a week as a couple but nothing quite beats having our little family back together.