Month: January 2011

Inside the mind of a novice runner.

*CHIME* Five minutes warm up. Walk
Kim: Ok, here we go.
*CHIME* First interval. RUN.
Kim: Oh crap.
(running)
My shins hurt.
My ankles hurt.
What’s that pain there? Is that my hip? That can’t be good. I wonder how long I’ve been going. FORTY EIGHT SECONDS. OH CRAP. Bloody earphones, never work, hate this song, well I don’t really but it’s making me cranky. Oh look, they’re selling. Wow. Eugh, stupid fast old man runner. Hey, concentrate on your breathing, that’s better. This isn’t too bad. Maybe I’ll go down here today, nah, go up the hill and then a bit further and then back up the other road and down the hill. Oh COME ON, that has to be ten minutes…
*CHIME* Second interval. WALK.
Kim: THANK CHRIST
(one minute later)
*CHIME* Third interval. RUN.
Kim: OH NO WAY, that was NOT a minute. EUGH. Here we go. Actually, I’m not feeling that bad. Oh man I’m tired, maybe I’ll just walk. NO don’t walk, think of how awesome you’ll feel if you do this and don’t give up. YEAH but that hip is really hurting. Well it’s not ‘really’ hurting but it’s kinda sore and FAR OUT I’m sweating like a bastard and how long have been going? TWO MINUTES THIRTY FOUR?!!! NO way. GOD. Maybe I’ll just call it quits today, at least I got out of the house. NO. KEEP GOING. You know how good you’re going to feel once you’re done. KEEP GOING. I need to change my music, getting bored. Oh, there’s that beautiful house. OH WELL, don’t smile at me then you fat cow, I’m RUNNING and I could give you a smile. Pfft…
*CHIME* Fourth interval. WALK.
FAR OUT this is hard. So tired. Maybe I’ll just walk the rest of i…
*CHIME* Fifth interval. RUN.
God I hate that voice. Is that a stitch? Am I getting a stitch already? Goddamnit. Concentrate on you breathing. Deep breaths right into your lungs. Fuck that right calf muscle is sore. Hey, this is actually going ok. I’m feeling GOOD! let’s keep going! maybe I’ll run all the way to the hospital! Look at me, I have form! Look at how springy my step is. Stupid skinny mol, why are you here? Get thee back to Fitness First where you belong. Nice outfit though, wonder if it’s that fancy equipping dollar skins stuff. Probably. Oh this bra was a bad choice. Owww. Oh this won’t end well. Fuck I’m tired. No you’re not you whingy cow, pick up the pace, do a sprint.
*sprints*
*dies*
*contemplates spewing*
*CHIME* Sixth interval. Walk.
Oh thank Christ. Can’t breath. Maybe that was a dumb idea. No, sprints are good, next run will be easier.
*CHIME* seventh interval.Run.
FUCK OFF
*hits pause*
*finally breathing somewhat normally*
ok, the home stretch. Wonder who’s up at home. Oscar definitely. Must put washing on when I get home. Dark load I think. Must ring kindy about Grover’s starting time. Oh damn it, wonder where I put Kasper’s immunization info from the GP, must dig that out. God u hate this song now I mean really, she’s ‘tri’ because she’ll try anything once? PULEESE. DEAR GOD this is the longest TEN minutes if my life. What is that smell? Gross. Oh God, hill. Let’s go. My body is a feather, floating on the breeze, my legs are as light as air, springy like a Gazelle. Gazelle my arse. Fuck that was hard. I’m so hot. Nearly there, nearly there…
*CHIME* eighth interval, cool down.

No wonder I’m medicated.

Today was HARD – everything bothered me – my headphones, the armband, my BODY. But I’m back on track. Mon, Wed and Fri are going to be running mornings and in six weeks I should be running 10kms. Pretty awesome huh.

Onward!

OK, school’s back, here are the rules.

Dear Children,
I know the last six weeks have been bountiful in hot chips and McDonald’s and staying up late and getting up early and fighting with your siblings all day long but now school is back some things are going to change around here.

1. Absolutely NO xBox on weekdays.
2. Absolutely NO TV in the mornings.
3. Little fellas, get your ears around this new reality because it’s gonna hurt. You will be in your bedroom by 7pm. There will be stories and songs until 7.30pm. And then, THEN you will go to sleep. In your own bed. On your own. Suck it up sunshine.
4. Big fellas, well, big fellas, bed is still at 8pm. Seeing as Oscar is picked up by the school bus at 6:50am I see this being no drama for him whatsoever. Felix, you can get your stomp on but this is how it is.

And now, for me.
1. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are running mornings. That is up at 5am and out the door. NO EXCUSES.
2. You must be up at 6am otherwise. You know anything later only results in mayhem and tears. Deal with.

For Chef and me.
1. From school home time and work home arrival it is Team Berry Time. That means no laptop time, no Twitter, no anything except each other and the kids. It’s all hands on deck, it’s meals, it’s stories, it’s bathing, it’s homework, it’s ugly but it’s all over at 8pm.

You have been warned.

Love,
Mum.

Onward!

back to school – the good, the early and the need for a bottomless bank account

So, six weeks of summer school holidays are drawing to a close. Six weeks. Two thirds of a school term. Four boys. Christmas. Humidity. Heat.

Yes, that is a recipe for me to up my meds but this year, I don’t know, I’m full of anticipation, excitement and well, enthusiasm for the year ahead. I can not recall EVER feeling that way about a year ahead. No really. Normally it’s resignation, foreboding and grim determination. I am making sure I really enjoy this feeling, relishing it even for I know how quickly it can all go south.

And yes, last summer holidays were spent with me yelling at the children and the children being generally vile. These holidays had us tripping off to the beach at a moment’s notice, trips to the movies, spontaneous holidays at my Dad’s place, various catch-ups with friends and while there was quite the hiccup over Christmas and days when the children have done my head in and moments when I have desperately needed time out, I can confidently say these holidays have flown.

And so here we are.

Felix is back at school on Monday.

Oscar goes Tuesday, more on that in a moment.

Jasper goes up to school on Monday morning for his kindergarten assessment and then starts at 10am on Thursday.

Grover starts pre-school on Thursday (he’ll go two days a week Thurs-Fri this year, three days next year and then school in 2013).

I just had a phone call from one Mrs J – Oscar’s bus driver. He will be picked up and dropped off every day from school by Mrs J who tells me she’s been doing this for 21 years. About the best way to sum of Mrs J is to think of Patty or Selma, throw in the phrase she used: a short pencil is better than a long memory and there you have it. I imagine Mrs J has quite the fag habit from dealing with these kids for more than 20 years and is probably fairly partial to a stiff scotch at the end of each day.  Bless her.

But there is, of course, a catch when sponging off the tax payers for a government bus service. Oscar will get picked up each morning at … 6:50am. We’ve no idea when he’ll get dropped home as he is the first pick up in the morning and the last drop-off in the afternoon so I’m guessing he may be home before nightfall. Just.

Now this may have some parents moaning and groaning about how long a day that is for poor little Johnny/Clarabel but not us! A) Oscar is STOKED it’s a bus (14 seater apparently), B) Finally Oscar’s penchant for getting up at 5am will pay handsome dividends and C) it makes my mornings and indeed afternoons a HELL of a lot easier. Point C) is bad isn’t it. That I’m happy to have my kid out of the house so I can deal with the other three. But folks. You’ve gotta cut me some slack. Getting Oscar ready is a nightmare at the best of times. Having to have him ready super early – basically before everyone else is even awake – is ideal. No distractions, no hyper-stimulation, just get ready, have breaky, go and wait out the front. Awesome.

Of course, back to school also means highway robbery a trip to the shoe shop. Last year Felix wore through four yes FOUR pairs of cheap sneakers (aka joggers, trainers, runners) and Oscar went through two pairs. I decided this year to fork out the expense for the, well, more expensive ones in the vein hope they will withstand the daily assault my children seem to inflict on them.

Jasper got proper school shoes (as opposed to reinforced fuck-off stitched black sneakers to look like school shoes for Felix) and Oscar. Well. Oscar has two options:

1. To wear his AFOs (plastic leg splints which cover 2/3 of his lower legs and feet, aka superlegs) with cheap black sneakers from target and swelter all day (when his body does not process or withstand over-heating) or

2. To wear outrageously expensive highly supportive black Brooks sneakers.

For the last four years – ever since he’s had his superlegs – I have gone with option 1. So this year I went bugger it and went with option 2. Post surgery was the main reason – but also that he’s now in highschool and I want him to feel good about himself, not hot and about to pass out.

There are a few minor issues here – Oscar is now a men’s size 8 1/2 and Felix, at age 10? Felix is a men’s 9 1/2. You know what that means? You know, adult shoe size = adult shoe prices.

I’ll be raiding the kids’ money boxes for milk and bread money scrounging down the back of the lounge for loose change in the corner weeping.

Australia Day 2011

Old friends, good food, champagne and this:

It was so freaking hot we ended up over at the beach at around 4pm, then a dinner of lunch leftovers and bed.

Good times.

Menu:

Lamb backstrap simply marinated with some olive oil, salt, pepper, seeded mustard and rosemary then seared on the bbq.

Couscous salad with mint, coriander, tomato, cucumber and shallots, dressed in a dijon viniagrette

The Saigon salad.

Snags

Fresh bread

Best pav ever, topped with fresh strawberries and blueberries and a fresh strawberry sauce. DIVINE.

Saigon chicken and cabbage salad

OH DUDES, I saw this in the latest Australian Gourmet Traveller and had to break my magazine embargo and buy it, just to make it. Well, this and the coconut cake on the front cover which looks divine*.

I made it – I even made the dressing the way it says, with mortar and pestle (rather than bunging it all in the food processor) and OH.MY.GOODNESS. Eleanorfromthecommentbox and I had scoffed two bowls of it before we even got to the official eating location of the back verandah. It was a fitting dish for feeding her family (or parts thereof) too.

So, as we stare down the barrel to some horrendously hot weather, this is the total solution. For those of you in snow, well, just make it regardless.

Saigon chicken and cabbage salad

Australian Gourmet Traveller, January 2011

  • 500g chicken breasts (original recipe uses chicken thighs)
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1 long red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp finely grated ginger
  • 1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 1/4 each white and red cabbage, thinly sliced on a mandolin
  • 3 carrots, julienned
  • 1/4 cup (firmly packed) each mint, coriander, Thai basil and Vietnamese mint
  • 1 bunch chives, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup roast peanuts, coarsely chopped
  • 12 canned quail eggs (I didn’t use these-canned eggs? Skeevy)

Chilli and lime dressing

  • 5 long red chillies, coarsely chopped
  • 3 coriander roots, scraped
  • 1 golden shallot, finely chopped
  • 1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 ripe Roma tomato, coarsely chopped
  • 50g caster sugar
  • Juice of 2 limes, or to taste
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce, or to taste
  1. Preheat the oven to 200C
  2. Combine the chicken with the honey, chilli, ginger and garlic in a baking dish. Season to taste and cover with foil and roast until chicken is cooked (about 12-15 minutes). Remove foil and cool to room temperature, then coarsely shred the chicken and set aside.
  3. For the dressing, pound the chilli, coriander root, shallot and garlic in a mortar and pestle then add the tomato and pound to combine.
  4. Add 25ml water and remaining ingredients, adjust seasoning to taste and set aside. The dressing should be sweet, salty, hot and sour.
  5. Combine the cabbage, carrot and herbs in a bowl, add chicken, drizzle over a little dressing and toss to combine. Add more dressing to taste, scatter with peanuts (and quail eggs if you wish) and serve.

So good. So very very good.

* But get this, the whole section on coconut has you MAKING your own coconut milk or cream by buying FREAKING coconuts. I mean, COME ON.