Vietnamese moments and reminiscing

Now that the recent holiday is fading into the distance, we've been talking about some of our favourite parts of it.

Mr Fork's aunty volunteers with a group of her friends to cook at a home for the blind on a regular basis. While we were there, we all went along too and helped out in the industrial kitchen. It was a bit of a social occasion with a good cause, and there was lots of chatter in amongst food preparation. While the picture below doesn't reflect scale well, that big paella looking pan in the background was well over a metre wide, and the 'smaller' pot at the front (with the vegetarian option) was half the diameter. There was a lot of food to prep and cook! It was also extremely tasty too. I want my children to grow up knowing that they are fortunate, and that not everyone has the same opportunities they do, and I think seeing how different countries live was an eye opener for them.

One of my children's favourite parts was when they got to feed koi fish with joyous abandon from the top of an (artificial) lily pad. For 60c, we were given a baby bottle full of fish food pellets and when lowered into the water, the koi came swarming. My little girl tells me with good authority that koi fish eating en masse sounds just like the sound of thumb sucking.

My friend's home had her very own breadfruit tree in the yard. The trees can get huge and have a high yield of fruit. I don't really see them much in Australia, but these things enchant me. Looks like they should be sweet and juicy like a mango. In actuality, they taste and cook more like a potato.

The same friend above gifted me a pair of shoes when I commented that hers looked fabulous. I often forget about the sheer generosity of people over there, and I have to be careful to keep gushing praise and comments about pretty things to myself because they are so giving. If I so much as looked at food from a street vendor for too long, I ended up with a serving of it in hand (believe me, when it comes to fresh fruit and sweet treats it's hard to say no!) so I didn't complain too much (although my waistline protested when I came home). Anyway, I recently had a belated mother's day event with some other school mothers on a Sunday afternoon and what better excuse to frock up and wear the most glorious red heels?!

Vietnam, you are just glorious. Full of wonderful food, fabulous people and so much to see and do.  I love the nightlife, the weather (my hair adores the humidity) and just quietly, I also love shoes and you deliver in spades (or heels?!). I love your crazy motorbike traffic, the availability of delicious fresh bahn mi and fruit with chilli, and the smells, sights and scenes we just don't get here. We will definitely be back!

It was a great holiday and a wonderful time spent introducing our children to part of their heritage and relatives we don't get to see every day.

How do you document real life? Food!

Hello there! We survived the kids' first overseas trip, and we're back into the groove of regular, every day life. Our holiday already seems so long ago, so I guess that means it's time to start planning another one? It honestly went better than I'd imagined. The flights were fine - my kids were quite happy to spend hours at a time with uninterrupted screen time, and quite frankly, I also enjoyed being able to catch up on some movies too. The main downside of flying with kids, for me, was that they are too short to close the bathroom door latch on the plane, which meant that every toilet request required that I squish into the tiny bathroom with them... joys of parenthood. 

There are many things I could talk about, describing our holiday. Like, how the kids were amazed at the number of motorbikes over there, and crossing the roads was a case of taking a deep breath, stepping out and hoping that everyone would swerve around. Or, how the kids had to be coaxed onto a bike at first, and then were naturals, hopping on and off easily while joining 5 other people on that same bike. Or, going to the beach and seeing what looked like pirate flags everywhere and finally realising as we left the water itchy after swimming that they were caution flags warning of jellyfish. Or the way my daughter (who speaks no Vietnamese) made friends with a little girl who spoke no English yet they became firm friends and bonded over clothes and that vile baby shark song (YouTube link for you lucky individuals who don't know it by heart).

We spent a lot of time with family over there, doing what Asian families do best of course - eating! It's how I mentally catalog many of my holidays - what I ate, and I think it's a great pictorial representation of a place. When we travel, I like to eat where the locals do, and in Asia, that tends to be street food, hawker style, where the food is fresh, cheap and some of the tastiest I've ever had. So here we go with some highlights!

Pho. A Vietnamese staple, this was from a tiny little store that was so fresh and tasty. Here's my bowl of vegan pho with tofu, faux meats, hoisin sauce and liberal doses of wonderfully spicy chillies on top.

And Mr Fork's meat version, with slivers of rare beef, and his favourite mix of chilli and hoisin sauces for dipping. He said I couldn't honestly document Vietnam and not include authentic meat pho. 6 giant bowls, tea and drinks, with unlimited soup cost us the equivalent of about $12 AUD.

Not a great photo, but one of my favourite drinks is fresh sugarcane, juiced in front of you, and mixed with fresh lime and sometimes mint. It's about 40c per glass. Surprisingly despite it's delicious sweetness my kids didn't love it, so I got to drink it all myself! My other favourite thing to drink is fresh coconuts, literally chopping a hole in the top and sticking in a straw. They also weren't fans, so I didn't have to share. Haha.

Bahn mi. I so love these things, and posted nearly daily pictures while we were away. There is a vendor just down the road who specialises in vegan bahn mi, making them to order. Stuffed with greens, cucumber, carrot, bamboo, tofu, chilli and sauce, on the freshest baked bread roll. They cost 60c over there, as opposed to an average $6 here, and there is no comparison.

Fresh fruits, with eager toddler hand. So cheap, so good, and so tasty. Here's a selection of some of our favourites - dragonfruit, pineapple, mango, guava and sour apple. In the middle is a dish of chilli salt which is amazing to dip the fruit in for a delicious contrast of tastes.

On the topic of fruit, we took the kids to one of the floating markets, where wares are sold from boats. Vendors will motor up, anchor themselves to your boat and offer samples of the day's offering to try to get you to buy. They have scales on board and you pay by weight. On the below boat are fresh papaya, jackfruit (yum!), durian (yum!), mango and avocado. I took special care to try to eat my body weight in jackfruit and durian over there. I can't get the same quality here, and certainly not the same freshness - I'm looking at you stinky durian! I know it's not to everyone's taste, but I love them, even if Mr Fork avoids me after consumption as he says he can smell the durian for ages *shrug*

Rambutan, sour apple, watermelon and longan.

I ate many variations of this filling salad. Near as I can tell, it's got bamboo, tofu, shredded vegetables, banana flowers, loads of fresh herbs and the dressing has citrus, loads of zingy spices and peanuts. It often came with vegan prawn crackers to use as a sort of salad scoop but often the kids ate those plain and I had the salad minus crackers. I recommend.

Have I said how much I love food? Look at this. It's fresh, colourful and delicious, going down far too easily. This was the vegan portion of a group buffet lunch (aka, all mine!). Clockwise from top right: glutinous rice and sweet potato, ubiquitous chillies, tofu and seasonal vegetable mix, turmeric pancake stuffed with bean sprouts and tofu, spring rolls, iced tea, soup. Not able to fit in the picture: cauliflower vegetable mix and fresh fruit to finish. I can honestly say I walked (rolled!) away from all my meals very happy.

I could go on and on, but maybe just one more. The plumpest, tastiest mushrooms I have had in awhile. Surprisingly (or perhaps not) this was at a seafood restaurant where the rest of the table had crab done in about six different ways. I had this - tasty shiitake mushrooms and ginger with greens, over rice. So simple, so good, and just delicious.

What a long food filled post. It was a wonderful holiday, so much fun, and a delicious way to introduce my children to a new culture. I think 'eat where the locals eat' is definitely the best way to digest a new place (see what I did there?!).

Mama, please look after my bear...

Before we even got pregnant, I'd fallen in love with a friend's baby's Flat Out Bear. It's a bear made from sheepskin and they're so soft and chewable and perfect for little fingers to explore. Mr Fork went out and bought me a big white one which I named Mortimer, and a little one, which he explained would be for our future child.

When Ellie arrived, she was given this bear, and when she was old enough, her daddy told her that story - she just loves her baby bear. They always sleep together, and they're very close. So it was a big deal, when I was packing for a recent Melbourne trip, that Ellie slipped her baby bear into my suitcase, and told me that she was sending her bear along with me so I had something to snuggle with. Of course, she also told me that she would have Mortimer while I was away, thank you very much.

I was appropriately touched. I decided that I would text pictures of baby bear on my work trip back to Mr Fork so that Ellie could see what we were up to. It was a hit! Perhaps my colleagues may never let me live it down that I carried and posed a bear around our office, and I certainly gave the workshop participants something to talk about when I walked in to facilitate and carried a bear up to speak with me... here are a few pictures of what we got up to.

Here we are waiting at the airport.

Posing on the hotel bed, so she knew I was looking after her bear and keeping it company.

What? Oh, just hanging out in the reading chair.

The view from the hotel window in the morning.

Why yes... we do have a swing in our office. I think all offices should have one!

This is the view from our Melbourne office. I'm told it's lovely, except when the F1 car race is on, as it's run quite near, and then it's just noisy and traffic is annoying.

Ellie was quite impressed seeing all that her baby bear got up to and I thought it was a lovely way for her to be involved in my travel, which is otherwise a bit lonely and impersonal. And I got a cute little bear to keep me company. Wins all around!

Thursday this week looks like

After a long weekend and therefore a rushed start to the week, Thursday in our household this week looks a bit like:

1. Exhaustion. As soon as we got back from holidays, Mr Fork had to go away for work overnight. I grudgingly wished him a safe flight and told him to enjoy his sleep. Know what he said? He told me it wasn't going to be relaxing at all, because he had to take clients out for drinks and dinner and socialising. OH THE POOR MAN. My heart bleeds for how hard he had it. Meanwhile, I was up all night ping ponging between Ellie and Jimmy. This is after the 8 hour drive home where Jimmy had screamed constantly for the last 200km. Mr Fork is home again now, but I remain in a fuzzy sleep deficit. I should catch up oh... in about 5 years or so I'd say! :)

2. Hangry. Jimmy showed signs of wanting to seriously start on solids while we were away. So I let him. I'm a strong proponent of baby led weaning, so I just handed him some of what I was having and left him to it (and fended off the grandparents who kept wanting to give him vegemite, honey, lamb shanks and other 'goodies' as first foods). I filled him up with mama milk first and then let him play with the food - best I can say is he went at it like a rabid piranha. Here he is grabbing at a sourdough crust with gusto!

3. Nostalgic. Though I complained about driving 600km+ each way with two small children, I really am more than a little in love with the journey. When I was younger, we used to drive quite a distance to see my grandparents all the time, so it's a trip down memory lane for me, and I hope the beginning of many wonderful road trip memories for my children too. Also, this sunburnt country of ours is pretty spectacular, with its sweeping plains, mountain range, droughts and sweeping rains - and rainbows! I should add that these photos were all taken within about a half hour of each other!

How does your week look?

Tips for traveling with children

Are you heading away for the long weekend? Let's be honest, travelling with children can be a bit like trying to wrestle a live chicken into a hessian bag (ever had to do that? It's hard!). Whether they're your kids or someone else's, there's a bit more to it than bunging a Playschool CD into the player and stopping for constant snack and potty breaks. I remember driving my parents insane on our regular driving holidays, and I'm not looking forward to the day my children do that to me!

Here are my top six travelling with children tips:

1. Take your Time

Small humans don't run to the same schedule that bigger humans do. Toddlers in particular love to explore and we all know that babies are unpredictable and love to throw a schedule out the window. So you'll cope better if, from the outset, you factor in lots of faffing, tantrums, toilet breaks and just general extra preparation time into your travel. That six hour drive you used to do? Yeah, get ready for it to take nine now.

2. Book Ahead

Really this one is a bit of a no brainer. It applies to everything - accommodation, entertainment, travel, transfers... everything. As an adult it's ok to not have a hotel in mind and just take whatever you can get. That's not going to fly with children in tow. Especially if you need special considerations, like a travel cot. Or, if you're flying, certain expectations about where you'll be sitting and a bassinet seat. It'll save your sanity if you know exactly where you need to be, when, and what you can expect. So make those bookings! Which means, if you were planning a last minute escape this weekend... well, you best get right on that!!

3. Pack Snacks and Entertainment

Have a collection of toys to be handed out regularly. Ideally, these should be things that have a bit of novelty, so not toys that they already play with every day. I like to pack things like colouring books and crayons, stickers, board books and the like. Also, don't give them everything all at once. Ration that entertainment out, otherwise you'll be stuck with constant laments of "I'm bored!" and "Are we there yet?"

Pack snacks. There is totally something to be said for ordering food when out, but what if that food isn't suitable? Or isn't served at the right time? Pack a few things that you know your kids will eat and that travel relatively well without special conditions and temperatures. Think sultanas, sandwiches, muffins (like my apple and oatmeal muffins) fruit, crackers and cheese. Really resist the urge to feed them too many sugary things... do you really want to be stuck with a small child who has consumed their own body weight in sugar and has nowhere else to go? Exactly.

4. Let the children know what to expect

Children really do understand more than we give them credit for. Explain to them what is going to be happening and what they can expect so it's not a complete shock for them. It's hard enough as an adult to fall asleep in a new bed, imagine how hard it would be for a small child! Tell them what to expect so that you can remind them of the conversation when things are happening, and they have time to get excited and think about all the new things that will happen.

5. Everybody does not need their own bag 

Pro tip. Don't let everyone have their own unique bag. There is nothing worse than getting to your destination and realising you are short a piece of luggage. Of course, that would probably be the bag that has the special toys required for sleeping, the nappies and all the other essentials. At least if you have an outfit and bare essentials spread across the bags, it probably won't be too bad a disaster. 

6. Stick to a routine

I know from experience that my children are at their best when I roughly follow their daily routine. They need to sleep at a certain time and eat at a certain time to be cheerful. So keep that in mind when you're planning a getaway - the most enjoyable holiday might be one that's closer to home instead of taking a long haul trip away.

Organisation is really the key. Make sure your bags are packed early, and pack the car in advance. Pick the right time to travel - if your kids are good sleepers, it might work better to travel overnight so they sleep for most of the journey. Alternatively, it might be best to get an early start... work around nap times so that you don't have tired and cranky little complainers.

Want some more travel tips? See this series by Lifestyles of the Modern Mum:

• Travelling with baby - the flight
• Travelling with baby - packing
• Travelling with baby - the passport picture

What are your sanity saving tips for travelling with children?

The one in which I post some randomness

Life has been busy lately. It's actually been a whole lot of busy with a little bit of life thrown in. Sometimes things are just like that right? I do admit I long for a bit of excitement when things are slow, but then I wish things would just relax a bit when life moves too fast. Can't win!

I had to go to Sydney for work for a few nights, so Mr Fork and Ellie were left to fend for themselves. In a fit of mama guilt just before leaving, I baked her a another batch of apple and cinnamon wacky cakes and made sure Mr Fork had enough meals available so they wouldn't starve. I needn't have bothered; they were well able to fend for themselves.

This was my hotel room view while I was away. Nice right?

Night view

Morning view

Unfortunately, I sleep terribly in hotel beds, so despite a nice cushy mattress and mounds of pillows to myself I didn't really rest well at all. Which didn't really bode well for my teaching style while I was there, as I fear I took my tired and grumpy out on people who didn't deserve it.

However! It was nice to have some time away and even nicer to come home to cuddles from my little family, who obligingly fetched me from the airport.

So now, life is settling back into our routine, I have a home day to spend with my sweet Ellie today. We are going to a water park for morning tea and to play with friends, then we will have lunch, nap and have afternoon tea somewhere nice.

I'm looking forward to having some weekend time to bake and restock the freezer for those times when we need to eat and I just don't have the energy to cook anything.

What sort of things do you make at those occasions?

Beach getaway

Over the recent long weekend, Mr Fork had a boys' night scheduled, so instead of staying home alone, I decided to take Ellie on a road trip up the coast to visit my aunt for a few nights.

It was really lovely for Mr Fork to have some man time, but I think I was the real winner getting a happy, snuggly toddler all to myself. We shared a room there, so in the mornings, she would wake and I would lift her into bed with me for some quiet snuggles (and to allow everyone else to get a little more sleep before loud toddler shrieks of joy rocked the house!).

We went to the beach and explored. Although a real water baby in the pool, Ellie was not too impressed with the waves and much preferred the sensation of sand on her toes I think.

We explored local markets and my aunt bought Ellie a gorgeous little sundress.

There was also lots of food consumed (and not just by Ellie!). Tapas and wine was had.

Farm fresh figs.

I think Ellie could get used to a holiday lifestyle, with soy babycinos (I discovered she's not so good with cow milk babycinos!) and almond croissants for breakfast!

How did you spend the long weekend?

Bunny baby

This is a post to say sorry I've been MIA lately. We went away over the long weekend and have had a lot of firsts happen recently.

Ellie turned six months old so we celebrated the occasion with a round of needles and her first plane trip. She was not the best baby ever on the plane. I think it's karmic retribution for those times as a corporate flyer when I'd shoot glares at parents travelling with children. Now I'm the one with the screaming child. I was so afraid of getting glares from people that every time the poor thing opened her mouth I tried to shove in a breast. Or a bottle. Or her Sophie. Or a finger full of teething gel, just so it'd look like I was trying. Frankly we're lucky she didn't explode she must have been so full! Travelling with babies is a challenge all by itself.

It was Ellie's first Easter.

Despite my stern warning to her grandparents that we weren't going to get her anything so don't show us up, my request clearly fell on deaf ears. But just look at that face with her Easter loot!

It was Ellie's first time at the beach. I don't have any pictures of her on the actual sand on my camera, but here she is ready to head out.

She loved crunching her toes in the sand and squealed gleefully when the waves hit her. We also had a pool so she swam every day, sometimes multiple times a day, and despite my best efforts slathering on baby sunscreen she got a little tanned (I can tell because the inside of her neck rolls is still milky white!).

Ellie tried honey and Vegemite for the first time. Strangely she seemed to prefer the Vegemite, or it could just be that her grandpa's fingers were good to chew on for itchy gums.

There was plenty of food consumed over the Easter weekend, plenty of relaxing done and plenty of family cuddles had.

What did everyone else do over Easter? Any firsts for you?