Tourism at home

I love it when I find new places to explore in Canberra.  We have lived here for almost 27 years, and I'm sure we still haven't seen every tourist attraction in Canberra yet.

Recently we have gone to see different places as a result of the "Units of Study" the girls are engaged in at school.  Last year we went to visit Lanyon Homestead during one of Eliza's units of study. This term Eliza has a unit of study called "Earth's position in space and how it impacts upon living things".  With this in mind, I thought we would go to the Planetarium in Dickson, but I searched in vain on the web for some information about it, and came to the conclusion that it must not exist anymore. During my searches though, I did come across Canberra's Deep Space Communications Complex (CDSCC), so this is where we decided to spend our Sunday.

The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex is also known as Tidbinbilla Tracking Station, and it was opened in 1965. It actually forms part of NASA's Deep Space Network - which also includes a site in California and one in Madrid, Spain (all 120 degrees apart around the world). The Canberra site basically helps NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) by providing two-way radio contact with robotic spacecraft (like the Mars Rovers) and space telescopes, which are exploring our solar system and beyond. So the Canberra Site essentially consists of some massive radio antennae, including the largest one - Deep Space 43 (which is bigger than the one at Parkes - which is now not operational).

The CDSCC is about one hour from our place. Essentially you drive to the Cotter Road (near Weston Creek), and then drive along the Cotter Road until you get to the sign that tells you to turn left into the CDSCC site. The road is a little windy (so the girls were feeling a little green by the time they got there).

So what do you do once you get there?

1. You can have lunch or grab a bite to eat at the Moon Rock Cafe:

They had some really nice burgers (the patties looked and tasted like they were homemade), I had the homemade lasagna, which was tasty. Along with the lunch foods, you can also buy cakes, scones, tea and coffee.

2. You can go into the education centre to check out the displays. Beware! Lots of reading, but some interesting facts to be read about if you read the information plates. The displays include models of the Mars Rover, the Radio Antennae, the planets, space suits, space food and more.

3. You can sit and watch a film which plays on loop - mainly about the Moon and Mars and our findings.

4. You can play on the interactive displays, there are only about three or four of these, but the girls enjoyed playing on these.  LOL - we all lined up to get our pictures taken in the space suit:

5. You can view Deep Space 43, and the other Radio Antennae from a distance:

So all-in-all it was a nice day, worth visiting if your kids that enjoy educational experiences. If they get bored quickly - perhaps I'd rethink a visit, but my girls enjoyed themselves and learnt a couple of interesting things during the day. The only thing I would say is that they would probably benefit from a few more interactive displays - as the ones that were provided were interesting.

On the way home we decided to stop off at Cotter. There is a lovely picnic area there, but our main reason for stopping was to see if we could see the Cotter Dam. The new Cotter Dam project finished last year, and as far as we could see, you can see the dam wall. I'm not sure if you can go near the top of the wall and peek over, and we weren't too keen to do the walking track with Dave not in any condition to walk far at all.

A little further along you can also visit Cassarina Sands (not sure I have spelt it correctly) where I believe you can swim - and it also has picnic spots. We may come back here one day when Dave is better.

Also on the way back towards Weston Creek you can stop in an see the Mount Stromlo Observatory. The site was devastated by the bushfires in 2003, so nowadays I don't think there is much to see, apart from the outside husk of one of the telescopes, and the Scope Cafe and Function Centre. You do get some pretty spectacular views from Mt Stromlo - so we might keep it in mind for a brunch or lunch one day. I believe you can also go on organised walking tours which run on specific dates.

Of course, when they saw this on the side of the Scope building the girls insisted on getting a picture taken (complete with poses of course!).

All in all a lovely day out.

One of Jazz's units of work this year will be on Government, so I can foresee a trip to the New Parliament House in our future some time.

Di :-)

Kitchen Kapers Week 8

Monday

This morning before school I made Jazz and Eliza Blueberry and passionfruit smoothies for breakfast.

 Soup night - this weeks soup was Cauliflower Soup with Spiced Cauliflower.

Tuesday

Jackeroo Pie with Beetroot, Baby Spinach, Lettuce and Feta Salad.

The baby beetroots were in my Fruit and Veg box from Aussie Farmers this week. They were pre-cooked, and in a vacuum sealed bag, they were sweet and delicious. Eliza insisted on getting the Blood Plum Finishing Vinegar at the winery in Murrimbatemen in January, so we use it as a dressing for our salads.... very nice.

This time of the year I normally receive pears in the Fruit and Veg Box from Aussie Farmers. The girls tend not to take them to school as they get bruised before they can eat them during Fruit Break, so they either get eaten after school, used in fresh juice, added to a salad, or made into a dessert. This week I had a few of them, so before getting stuck into my work for the day, I put on a date and pear cake to bake which we had for dessert that night with macadamia and caramel sauce and vanilla ice-cream. I found this recipe on http://www.taste.com.au.

Wednesday

I forgot to get the meat out to defrost for the slow cooker meal I was going to do, but since swimming is now not on until next week it wasn't too big a concern. (some delay with building the toilets apparently, before they open the new swimming centre). We had Chargrilled Pesto Chicken with Apple and Celery Slaw instead.

The salad was very quickly prepared in the food processor using the slicing blade - in went the cabbage, celery and apple. The salad probably took less than five minutes to make including the dressing (buttermilk, lemon juice, garlic and Dijon mustard).

Buttermilk

I occasionally find recipes with buttermilk in them, but can very rarely find it in the supermarket. Jazz and I looked it up one day to see if there was an alternative, and found that you can make your own, so there is really no need to buy it (and therefore waste the portion you don't use).  Simply add a tablespoon of white vinegar (or lemon juice) to a cup of milk, and leave it to thicken slightly (about 10 minutes). You can also substitute yoghurt if you like (it is thicker than buttermilk but has a similar taste).

Thursday

Off to sit another challenge test at CIT to get another exception, so I quickly threw on a Tuna casserole and prepared a tossed salad for the family to eat while I was gone. This was all there was left, which the girls ate on Saturday lunch as leftovers.

Friday

Friday night is family movie night - we watched "The Fifth Element" this week - the girls really enjoyed it. I dont think they have watched a Bruce Willis movie before.  Since it was movie night we have take-away, so we ordered in some Crust Pizza. We got the normal Hawaiian for the girls, and we got Pulled Pork and Slaw for ourselves. It was delicious - and I think it may have pipped the Piri Piri Chicken for our favourite pizza.

Saturday

We met Eduardo, Luciana, Thomas and Sofia at Chang Co Thai Restaurant in Belconnen for dinner. We only just realised they have also opened one in Gungahlin. The food is always nice there. We enjoyed fried tofu, satay chicken sticks and spring rolls for entree. For mains we had Thai Beef Salad, Chicken Panang Curry, Pork and Ginger Stir fry, Chicken Pad Thai, with jasmine and saffron rices. Afterwards we had ice-creams at Cold Rock.

Sunday

Tonight we enjoyed some Cheddar meatloaf for dinner - a Jamie Oliver recipe. Where you make the meatloaf in the centre of a casserole dish. The meatloaf itself has Vintage Cheddar pieces in it - thus the name, Cheddar Meatloaf.  The sauce is made from thinnly sliced capsicums, peeled tomatoes, red chili, balsamic vinegar etc. Served this with steamed vegetables (including a special little bowl of brussel sprouts for Jazz - she is the only one that really likes them!).

School Lunches

Sometimes I struggle with what to prepare for school lunches. Jazz has been having chicken salad sandwiches lately, but wanted a change.  Sometimes she has some really interesting advertisements at the beginning of the Minecraft Youtube videos she watches, and I caught one which had this great idea in it - presented by Julie Goodwin (Master Chef).  Cut the crust off a couple of slices of bread, add your topping/s, roll them up, cut in half and thread onto a skewer, put in a clip-lock baggie, and lunch is done. Jazz really enjoyed them (now if only Eliza was as easy to please!). This one was made with sliced turkey and cranberry sauce.

Happy Eating
Di :-)

Kitchen Kapers Week 7

Wow - Week 7 already!

Monday

This week is our first week of new routines, with me starting study this week.  This means that Monday nights are spent in front of the computer from 6:15 to 9pm, attending online lectures.  Monday will therefore be "soup" night, and also one of Dave's fasting days, as normally soup falls into the  less than 600 calorie category (as long as he doesn't have too much bread to go with it.)

This week I made Chicken and Herb Meatball Soup. The recipe is here. Dave forgot to take a picture, so I found the recipe on taste.com.au as well as the picture. I probably got the recipe out of the taste.com.au magazine (I have a cutting of it in a book I have pasted recipes I want to try from magazines).

Tuesday

Tuesday was sausage sandwiches at the sausage sizzle at the girl's school, as that was Parent Information Night.  After we had eaten our sausages, I attended the sessions, while Dave walked the girls home via the shops to get an ice-cream!

Wednesday

Wednesday will now be swimming nights - but they don't start until next week.  This week I thought I would start with the new routine of cooking a slow-cooked meal, which would be ready by the time we get home from swimming (I think this will be about 7:30pm this term). So this week I slow-cooked a Corned Silverside (2 carrots, 1 onion, silverside, 4 bay leaves, small handful of peppercorns, six cloves, a tablespoon of brown sugar and cider vinegar thrown in the slow cooker on low all day), which I served with a quick white sauce made by mixing together cream and seeded mustard (and then microwaving it). Steamed vegetables to accompany (and mashed potatoes of course!).

Thursday

Pizza night as Di has to go and do a challenge test to get an exemption for her course.

Friday

Dave's first EPIC Friday for the year, so all the girls went off to Pizza Night at Jeff and Fiona's. Fiona had bought special cupcakes from Jazz Apple cupcakes for arvo tea. They were delicious.

Saturday

A delayed valentine's dinner with Julie and Les at Tusmo Café and Bar in Forde. Lovely little Café/Restaurant. Staff were friendly and service was good. Food was great too.

Sunday

Sunday morning I made some delicious juice with the excess fruit in the fruit basket, which ended up being apple, orange, nectarine, pear and peach juice. It was really good. I used my new food processor with the maxi juice attachment to make it, as well as the citrus juicer attachment.

Sunday night we had Baked Risotto with Zucchini, Ricotta, and chargrilled capsicum.

Til next week.
Di :-)

Kitchen Kapers Week 6

Monday

A fasting day for Dave , so a salad was the order of the day. I made a Thai Beef Salad with Noodles, but added some of the Shiso which I got from the food market in Sydney on Saturday.  I made Dave and ours with the chili, but left the chili out of the girls salad!

Tuesday

Back to school on Tuesday, I had to drop the girls off at Jeff and Ona's so that I could go and enrol in CIT that afternoon, and wasn't sure what time I would be finished - so Pizza from Dominios was dinner!

Wednesday

Wednesday I also had to go back to CIT to hand in the enrollment form so I needed to make something that could be fed to the family while I was gone, and that I could have when I got back - so I made a Potato, Leek and Chicken Soup (I used a pre-cooked BBQ chicken for this recipe).

Thursday

For the first time I received Kale in the Fruit and Veg Box from Aussie Farmers this week. Kale is a member of the cabbage family, tastes like mild cabbage, it has large ruffled leaves, has a fairly course texture and is deep green in colour (I believe you can also get purple kale).

So with Kale on hand I found a Pumpkin, chorizo and kale frittata recipe in an older Delicious magazine.  It was delicious, and I served it with a simple Lettuce, Cucumber, Pear and Parmesan salad.

Friday

Unfortunately the family had to suffer through some more Pizza!  This time it was because the girls and I got home later than expected, and we wanted to get family movie night started!

Saturday

I made up for the pizza on Friday night with a meal of:

- Salt and herb crusted eye fillet steak with pepper sauce ( we buy our eye fillet from Costco - they are nice and thick, unlike the steak you buy in the normal supermarket ).
- Pan-fried potato, eschallot and kale ( and I still have some kale left to use on something else ).
- honeyed carrot

Followed by Salted caramel parfait. Now this one was made from a packet which Dave spotted in the supermarket, and it wasn't too bad. However, the salted caramel sauce which you were meant to drizzle over the top, was a bit too gluggy for drizzling!

Sunday

On Sunday we decided to go to Canberra's Multicultural festival, and sample some food from the food stalls. We decided to share a few things, so that we could try a few different things. First off we had a baked pretzel, followed by some dishes from the Ethiopian stall - two of the dishes were spicy like Indian food, and the yellow dish was made from split peas and was quite mild.

Not far from the Ethiopian stall Eliza spotted the Belgium Waffles:

The Tibetan stall was a big hit with the girls. We tried some beef and some vegetarian MoMos with some soy sauce:

On a little further we visited the Hungarian stand where we thought we would try the fried bread. It was served with a sour cream sauce which tasted like it had garlic in it. It was also served with grated cheese. Both Dave and I liked this one - it's not very healthy though!

Eliza could not resist getting some mango and chocolate icecream in a pineapple, with strawberry topping and sprinkles on top (I know - it doesn't really mix)! Best part was, that you get to eat the fresh pineapple after you have eaten the icecream off the top.

Dave and Jazz could not resist the chips on a stick. It's basically a curly potato fried and topped with different flavoured salts. Dave and I saw these for the first time in Tokyo of all places!

Sunday night I decided to cook a pasta dish - I was tired from walking around in the heat at the Multi-cultural festival.  I made a Orecchiette with hot smoked salmon, peas and beurre blanc sauce. I thought it was pretty yummy!

Well, that's our food week in review.
See you next time.
Di :-)

January Project Life

One of my goals this year was to do another year of Project Life. I bought enough supplies from work before they sold to do a couple more years of Project Life.

This year I have made a couple of minor changes. The first is the layout of the Cover Page which now contains a collage of pictures from the month, as well as a list of the things we have done, places we have been, achievements and so forth. The second change is the layout of the Calendar Page, where I have decided not to add any small pictures (as there are enough on the Cover Page), so I have used small embellishments instead.  The final change is the addition of a page each month - basically a food page, a summary of what we have eaten and cooked for the month. This is one reason why I have been doing the "Kitchen Kapers" blog posts - so that I can remember when I come to do these pages at the end of the month.  I thought it would be interesting to focus on this aspect of our everyday life this year. Perhaps next year, I will focus on a completely different aspect of our everyday lives.

So enough said, here are January's pages.

Eliza's "Big Day Out" was during the second week of January. I thought rather than doing a traditional scrapbooking page, that it was much easier to do a pocket page of the things we did on her day. The flip side of this page has Jasmin's "Big Day Out" on it, which was during Week 3 of January. Dave and I are yet to have our "Big Day Outs", but I think we will wait until Dave is better and able to enjoy a whole day out!

For Week 5 I decided on two pages, just so I could give the Tomato festival lunch that I had with my friend Michelle in Sydney, the space it needed.

Here are the two new food pages.  One thing I have found is that there are not a lot of food embellishments for scrapbooking pages, so I decided to create a couple of my own. The chicken is actually an oil painting, the tomato I created with a pen and paint dauber.



For this second page I painted a basil leaf with oil paints, the chilli was pen and paint dauber, and the tomato was a little oil painting.

So that concludes January's Project Life layouts.

Di :-)