Caroline and Josefine's Holiday in Australia - Part 2

Sunday morning, Caroline was much better, so we decided to take one of our long 1-day trips up to lake Eildon as planned. This is a bit of a drive, so the girls brought along their pillows, which allowed them to sleep during the 2 hour drive. On the way to Lake Eildon, we decided to have a morning tea at Beechworth Bakery, as it was Oscar's lunch time. We then had our home-made sandwiches in the car as we continued after the break.

2nd stop was then Lake Eildon at Eildon. It was quite cold and cloudy as we arrived, so we only had a short pit stop for checking out the lake/views before getting back in the car.

Quick lookout over Lake Eildon as it was quite cold (3-4 degrees)

Brrrr, freezing!!

Someone's happy :-) must be all the layers, I don't think Oscar was that cold...

From Lake Eildon, we proceeded towards Bonnie Doon along the scenic route - Skyline Road. This road takes you along Lake Eildon on top of the hills, so you (normally) have magnificent views over the lake and the landscape. As much of the road is gravel road, you probably don't want to go along this route if you have a fancy car...

"Views" along Skyline Road - visibility was quite bad because of low hanging cloud cover and rain :-(

More views along Skyline Road

 

Oscar being a good boy even though he was in his car seat most of the day

Caroline checking out the view through the window, as it was bucketing down at this stage...

On the way down from Skyline Road, getting closer to Bonnie Doon, we saw hundreds of kangaroos - we even had a close call in one of the hard needle swings down the hills when a kangaroo jumped across the road just in front of us as we were coming around the corner! Unfortunately, we were not quick enough to get a picture of this... Here are a few of the kangaroos we saw on the lawns along the way.

Soo many kangaroos :-)

When we reached Bonnie Doon we decided it was time for a break, as Oscar needed his bottle and a nappie change. So the girls relaxed in the car while Oscar was being "serviced".

Oscar getting a nappie change in the back of the car

Fun and games in Bonnie Doon

As we were approaching 5 PM, we then decided to start the long 2 1/2 hour drive home. Unfortunately due to all the driving and not enough water, Josefine started feeling really bad with migraine headache on the way home, and we made it as far as Saltwater Coast Promenade (2 min from home) before Kasper had to pull over so Josefine could get out of the car, as she was very sick.

We got her home to bed and made sure she had her migraine medication along with some banana and water. Luckily she fell asleep quickly as she was feeling really sick.

The rest of us had some take-away which Kasper picked up, and spent the evening with Julia and Sara (Sara had come to stay for 1 night before travelling back to Germany after having traveled around Australia. She also used to be an Au Pair for a family here in Point Cook.)

Josefine woke up after a couple of hours and had a bowl of spaghetti to get her feeling good again.

Monday was a stay-at-home and relax day after our big trip on Sunday. We also sent Julia on her way on her campervan trip around Australia (up the East Coast and back through the Outback) with 2 other Au Pair girlfriends she met here in Melbourne. 

Josefine and I went shopping in the local shopping centre for supplies for the rest of the week until we were going to Thailand. Here she is with some local produce...

Big yummy watermelon!!

Tuesday and Wednesday Kasper was taking Caroline and Josefine on an overnight trip to the Grampians and Great Ocean Road. We agreed it was going to be too much driving and difficult to manage Oscar's schedule, so I stayed home with Oscar for these 2 days.

Unfortunately, winter had really set in in Melbourne at this stage, so the weather was really cold and rainy and not the best for doing sightseeing. 
They left Melbourne around 9 AM and first went to the Grampians. I think they had a plan for a few sights and view points to see, however it was a very wet and misty day, so the views were not that great.

Here are some pictures from Grampians from their trip.

a view point without much of a view but a lot of mist

Trekking through the Grampians on their way to a waterfall

At the waterfall

At the waterfall, you can see the steps leading down here in the background

On the way from Grampians to Port Campbell where they stayed overnight

View of Grampians in cloudy grey weather

From the Grampians, they went down to the coast to Port Campbell where they stayed overnight, so they could get an early start to the Great Ocean Road the next morning.

Wednesday, luckily the weather was a bit better, so they could see the sights and enjoy the trip a bit more.

Here are some pictures from the Great Ocean Road.

Enjoying the view of Great Ocean Road near Port Campbell

London Bridge with huge waves

Caroline enjoying the view at London Bridge

Limestone detail

The girls enjoying the view and huge waves

Josefine in Loch Ard Gorge (standing a bit too close as seconds later she was running from a big wave)

Loch Ard Gorge - Beautiful even in cloudy, rainy weather

Josefine in Loch Ard Gorge

Caroline in Loch Ard Gorge trying to shelter from the rain and cold wind.

Luckily not too many snakes around in winter :-)

The Twelve Apostles

The girls at the twelve apostles

View of the rugged coast along the Great Ocean Road, on the way back to Melbourne.

After lunch, they made a last stop at Kennet River Koala Walk where they saw a few koalas and lots of cockatoos and parrots. It was especially good fun to feed the parrots!

friendly cockatoo says hello

give me some seeds!

friendly parrots

This is fun! Trying to take a picture while feeding the parrot

Argh, it's on my head!

Obviously this one loves to sit up a bit higher

self-serve parrot from the bag in Caroline's hand :-)

hello!

Argh, stop flapping in my face!

Caroline is popular with 3 parrots at once

Happy to feed everyone :-)

Koala in the eucalyptus tree 

Views of winding Great Ocean Road towards Geelong

After this last stop, it was time to head back to Point Cook and join Oscar and Yasmin again :-)

Eggplant and Lentil Stacks

This is a very tasty and easy healthy dinner option, served with either lamb, beef or chicken!

Served here with BBQ eye fillet steak :-p

Ingredients

• 2 large eggplants, cut crossways into 1.5cm slices
• olive oil spray
• 2 cans brown lentils, rinsed, drained
• 4 spring onions, ends trimmed, thinly sliced
• 110g (1/2 cup) semi-dried tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (or balsamic vinegar)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup chopped flat leave parsley
• 60g baby rocket or baby spinach
• 120g feta cheese, chopped into small dice. 

Preparation

1. Heat a large frying pan (or your BBQ hotplate) over medium-high heat. Spray the eggplant with olive oil spray, add to the pan and cook for 4-5 min each side or until tender and golden. 
2. Place the lentils, spring onions, tomatoes and parsley in a bowl. Drizzle over vinegar and olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Toss to combine
3. Place rocket or spinach leaves on the plate. Top with 2-3 eggplant slices, hereafter lentil mixture. Repeat layers. Top with feta cheese and enjoy!

Bamya with Chicken

This recipe is an old family recipe handed down from my grandmother to my mum and from my mum to me. It is one of my favourite Cypriot / Mediterranean dishes and for me it is comfort food of the highest caliber.

It uses an ingredient, okra, which is not seen very often in western style food, but it is a widely used vegetable in Middle Eastern/African and Asian (and Cajun style) cooking.

Okra, these ones came out of the freezer - frozen from fresh. The top have been trimmed off these ones.

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, coarsely chopped
6 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
4 Chicken thigh fillets (skin off), cut into 3 x 3 cm pieces (large chunks)
500 - 750 g okra (fresh or frozen)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 - 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock (you can use a stock cube)
1 tsp ground cumin
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cup basmati rice (400 ml)
salt & pepper

Preparation
(for the rice)

1. Add 3 cups of water (800 ml) to a pot and bring to boil.
2. Season with salt
3. When water is boiling, pour in rice and stir once. Put lid firmly on, reduce heat to lowest possible and cook for 12 min. Leave the lid on during entire cook, no peaking.
4. When the 12 minutes is up, check if there is still any water in the pot, if yes cook for a further 2 min, if dry, turn off heat and leave rice to steam under the lid until served.

Preparation for Bamya

1. chop onions, garlic and chicken thigh fillets
2. trim top of okra to remove the stem-like part of the vegetable
3. heat olive oil in a wok or big pot
4. add onions & garlic with a little salt and fry for 2-3 minutes
5. add chicken pieces and brown on all sides
6. add cumin, diced tomato, tomato paste and stock, stir and bring to the boil
7. once boiling, add okra, juice of lemon and salt & pepper to taste
8. simmer for 25-30 min
9. taste and season to taste again if needed
10. serve steaming hot on top of rice

Enjoy!

Okra has just been added to the pot.

Bamya has been stewing for 25-30 minutes and is ready. Notice how the sauce has thickened up as well.

Serve with basmati or parboiled rice - YUM!

Oscar's Dinner Talk - 11 months old

This will be a short post, as I just wanted to post a little video of Oscar who is now 11 months old having dinner. This is the typical dinner conversation we have!

Caroline and Josefine's Holiday in Australia -Part 1

It has been a busy couple of months, as we have had family visit from Denmark and also been overseas on holidays. 

We had really been looking forward to our two eldest nieces, Caroline and Josefine, coming down to visit us, and they arrived in early July in the beginning of their school holiday. 

We had a few longer day trips planned, but also had day trips into Melbourne on the itinerary. They arrived Thursday 9th July in the morning, and as we thought, after breakfast, they went to bed to catch some zzzz. I then woke them up in the afternoon, while there was still some sun out, and we all went for a walk around the local area so that they could get some fresh air and sunshine to turn their clock around to Melbourne time.

Friday, Kasper still had to go to work, so all the girls (including Julia) and Oscar then planned a trip to Melbourne to see QVM (Queen Victoria Market) and do some other shopping in Melbourne. 

After a quick cafe pit stop for Oscar's breakfast, we went on to explore Queen Victoria Markets. The market stalls were the most popular and we spent quite a bit of time browsing all kinds of things. We then proceeded into the food area of the market and first had a look at all the fresh fruit and vegetable produce before we went into the deli hall and the meat hall. The girls were gobsmacked at all the massive cuts of meat and large fish everywhere. At one entrance, a fishmonger were doing chargrilled octopus, and Caroline was game enough to try a piece with me (Yasmin). YUM. 

Cafe breakfast for Oscar, and coffees and hot chocolate for the rest of us!

When we were done exploring QVM, we then proceeded to Melbourne Central shopping centre in Melbourne City. We also had a nice lunch here, as it had become lunch time. 

Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, where we had lunch

After some browsing in some of all the stores, we then took the tram back towards docklands, and got off at Etihad Stadium, so the girls could see where we were going to the footy later in the week. 

We walked along the water on dockland pier back to Harbourtown Shopping Centre, where we again went browsing/shopping, and ended up at the coffee club for another hot chocolate before the drive home in peak-hour traffic!

On Saturday, unfortunately Caroline's cold had taken a turn for the worse, so she stayed under her doona all day on the couch getting familiar with James Bond :-)

While Yasmin and Oscar stayed home with Caroline, Kasper, Josefine and Julia went for a walk in Werribee Gorge. I even think they did a bit of "rock climbing". Some pictures below from their trip.

Smart girl brought an umbrella

"off road" rock climbing

Tour Guide "Bear Grylls" :-D

Kasper and Josefine

Julia and Josefine

5 red parrots

Fun in the Jolly Jumper

In the last couple of weeks, Oscar has started moving around a bit more - he is now rolling by himself from his back to his tummy and from his tummy to his back. He uses this technique to roll closer to toys that are out of reach. And when on his tummy he kicks around his little legs in order to try to move forward, so we are excitedly waiting to see when he will start crawling...

He also likes to stand up, so he can look around a bit more. One of his favourite things to do is go in the Jolly Jumper and walk/jump around on his little feet and look at his surroundings. Here is a video of Oscar in the Jolly Jumper:

Last weekend Kasper was on daddy duty during the afternoon, and I heard this out of control laughing coming from Oscar's room, so went in with the video camera to check out what they were doing... sometimes it really is the simple things that keeps Oscar amused :-) Enjoy!

Best Ever Coleslaw Dressing

Last week we tried a different type of coleslaw - as you do when you have leftover cabbage originally used for a Minestrone Soup to use for something else... This coleslaw is called a green coleslaw and is made with savoy cabbage. However, it is really the dressing which is amazing, and I'm sure I'll use this fantastic dressing in the future for all types of coleslaw!

The recipe is for 4 people

1/4 savoy cabbage, finely shredded
3 celery stalks, leaves reserved, stalks finely chopped
1 Lebanese cucumber (or 1/2 a cucumber), halved lengthwise, thinly sliced

Dressing
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 lemons, juiced
1 tablespoon sugar (white)
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp whole egg mayonnaise

Put all dressing ingredients in a container with lid, close tightly and shake all ingredients together. Pour over coleslaw ingredients and mix through.

Sorry, forgot to take a picture :-(