Pain de Beaucaire

I have graduated from Baguettes to Pain de Beaucaire, between the two was a Cibatta. Once again the recipe is from bredcetera.com. Here is Dennis shortly after I told him "No you have to let the loaves cool before you can eat them." As you can tell he is still pleased with the results.

A closeup the bread without the distraction of a 10 year old :)

We Survived the Birthday Party

Dennis turned 10 this week! We had a birthday party at home today--Saturday. Nine boys showed up. It's been raining the whole week and today was no exception. The party had an army theme. Dennis and some friends wore their camouflage clothes and brought their weapons. We had the help of a university student, Jaclyn to plan and run activities.

The first activity was "Marine Field Training"--a timed obstacle course. There were ties for first and second place so we had a run off. Next was "Rescue Mission" with two teams. The smallest boy was the wounded soldier. The rest of the team had to bandage him with an entire roll of toilet paper. Then they had to carry him on a "stretcher" blanket. The boys also enjoyed a classic tug of war. The winning team had to go against Tom. Tom was victorious. Then I got the music going and they played "Hot Grenade" (hot potato).

On to the "Mess Hall" for cake, Oreos, Doritoes, Twisties (cheese curls), popcorn and soda. The Hall was quite messy afterwards. The boys then "Pinned the Medal on the Soldier." Dennis opened his gifts. Lastly parents showed up. I had to take two people home and left Tom and Dennis to vacuum and tidy up.

Dennis enjoyed his new Legos and toy guns. He's playing a couple of new games on his Nintendo DS. Tom has his feet up and I'm about ready to do the same.

Plunger and Laundry

, Introducing our kitchen sink (see photo). It's original to the house which we figure was built around 1970. (That's what's on the water heater which works great.) The lovely sink was draining rather sluggishly and we broke the old wood handled plunger. I went to the hardware store to buy a new one and I walked right past them! I was looking for brown rubber with a wood handle. Here they are black rubber and have a black handle. Later I saw the brown plungers at the $2 store. We are hand washing dishes so the drain is vital to kitchen operations.

The plumbing problem was bigger than a plunger could handle. We were getting some backup in the back yard. The drain routers had to be called in. Now the plunger is stowed away. All good.

Another strange thing I realized recently. The washing machines drain into their own pipe. In our Skokie house, the washing machine drained into the laundry tub. I used to buy these lint traps to go over the hose. I haven't seen anything like them here.

It's been raining for weeks so our clothes are being dried indoors on a clothes airer (or horse, aka rack). The woodburner's heat works wonders and the dehumidifier is doing its job. We'll get around to buying a dryer some day. One would be nice for the bed sheets. Most kiwis rarely use a dryer since they prefer lower power bills!

Danger up north ...

Don't let anyone tell you that life is idyllic down here. There is a little known spider here in New Zealand which can kill an adult male ... The Katipo!

I bring this up for there was a close call recently! I want everyone of you to read this article so you can take appropriate precautions when you are down here.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10644813

Melbourne

I am off to Melbourne for a day of training today on Tuesday. I will be staying two nights as there are no direct flights between Melbourne and Wellington in the evening. And I think more to the point I would like to have some time to explore the city again, it has been over 10 years since my last visit.

Soccer

Dennis had his third soccer game of the season today. He played defense for the first half and offense for the second. It is certainly his best game of the year thus far. In defense he made some great plays, sending the ball back across the line when it came his way. A couple of times he was able to dribble it right up to the net pass to a team mate and then run back into position, he did well.

However as we all know in sports scoring the goal is what is remembered. Dennis scored his first goal of the season in this game. While on offense he was passed the ball dribbled it to the goal and took a shot.

All the parents were cheering for him as it went in the net.

Dennis was a very happy boy this afternoon.