Tales from the kitchen
Tag: Sydney
I don't want to get run over by a garbage truck
I don't want to get run over by a garbage truck. My guess is, neither do you. And for this reason, if no other, we need to realise the importance of dinner.
Really.
The other week I was chatting with someone about how daily life happens in her house. She has a son with significant disabilities. In amongst the usual afternoon and evening activities found in a busy household, was dinner. No great surprise there. Except, as this woman explained, her son with disabilities needs to be fed. He is unable to eat his dinner on his own.
I still don't get how...
Parenting's hard, but if I may be bold
There's a lot, 'fore we're parents, we're simply not told.
Like how little juniors, would seem without warning
To wake in the morning and promptly start bawling
There's a lot, 'fore we're parents, we're simply not told.
Like how little juniors, would seem without warning
To wake in the morning and promptly start bawling
And so 'twas our fate, the morn before last
One junior woke up and just gave us a blast
And right in that instant, confirmed all my fears
For an effortless morning, yep- a junior in tears...
One junior woke up and just gave us a blast
And right in that instant, confirmed all my fears
For an effortless morning, yep- a junior in tears...
The force of force
A force is any interaction with an object that, when unopposed, will change the motion of an object. Put another way, forces are the push or pull on an object. Heavy objects require greater force to move them than light objects. In short, you have to push or pull harder to get heavy objects to move.
I am so excited to tell you that we bought you an oven. The oven we had in the big kitchen is still perfectly serviceable. It was just getting a little on the small size for your dinners. The new oven is large. It is also heavy.
The senior recipe tester, being the kind and generous sort that he is, went to collect the new oven for you. For this task we hired a truck with a lifting device to overcome the significant downward force of the oven on the floor of the depot. A forklift lifted the oven into the truck for the senior. Lifting it out of the truck, and into the big kitchen, he had to sort out himself. We called a friend for backup...
If you can't beat 'em, cook with 'em
The virtues of eating meals with your children are long heralded. The benefits, we are told, are untold. Everything from lofty educational attainment to absence of delinquency are certain gains.
What they don't mention is that eating with those significantly younger than you, can be quite unpalatable...
Lifelong learning...
Learning, I've come to realise, occurs in stages. Whenever one starts working with new tools, for instance, there is that stage in which you're stretched until your functional knowledge and proficiency catch up to your skill need. Psychologists call this stage "conscious incompetence": a point at which you have at least recognised a deficit in your understanding or skill.
This week I have made some inroads to stemming my incompetence:
Who cares? Carers Week 2016
The week just gone was National Carers Week in Australia. It's a chance to say thank you to those who provide care in all sorts of ways, and to recognise their valuable work. Informal carers save government in this country over $1BILLION each and every week: over $60billion annually. That's a lot of dollars in anyone's language.
Solving the little problems
Big problems are worthy of big thought. They need time and energy to consider and act on them. Little problems should not be time and energy consuming. These, should just be dealt with: spontaneously and with a modicum of fuss. Those particularly adept at problem solving can think about the big problems while solving the little ones. Simultaneously.
Until the other day I thought I was one of those people.
Here is what I have learned
There are others who write far more eloquently than I about travelling. But, while travelling with three junior recipe testers, here is what I have learned recently:
New tools
I recall writing about new tools at the beginning of last year. It was when we bought our first refrigerated van, and there were just a couple of teething problems. Recently I wrote about our excitement regarding another new tool: a much, MUCH bigger vehicle, in which to fit your dinners so we can get them to your place.
Now, this being the second vehicle, I consider myself an old hand at logistics. I surely would not succumb to the difficulties of last time. Lesson learned from that fiasco: the one when all the veggies ended up in the driveway. No; no such mistakes this time.
Did I mention that the new vehicle is MUCH bigger?
Not a first-class girl after all
The other day I made a shocking discovery. I had always fancied myself as a first-class sort of girl. Someone who would be at home amongst the swank and swarve, the perks that first-class travel brings. Seats that lie flat like a bed, for instance. The ability to move about the cabin at whim.
To my horror, I have realised that I am not at home with those perks. In fact, I'm not sure I ever want to travel first-class again.