Our US adventure...

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Jessie's Birthday

Today is Jessie's 9th Birthday - above is Jessie excited with her "home made" birthday cake. She helped make it on the weekend.

Below are some other pictures of the presents and her cake, even the new Piano in it's new home. We will upload some video of the kids playing when we can - it sounds lovely!

Saturday, March 01, 2008

More evidence that spring is coming...

These have been cut fresh from our garden earlier today - we have more coming up, but the flowers are not showing. Don't they look lovely?!

New addition to the house!

For some time now we have been talking about getting a Piano to allow Cynfor and Jessie to ensure they get the right feel. For several years now they have been practicing on my keyboard that I bought in Hong Kong.

Last night we were invited to a Piano sale at a company which is closing one of its stores. They had many Piano's for sale, we saw a lovely Steinway Grand, which had been rebuilt completely. The original price of the piano would have been around $70,000 new - but it was on sale for $33,000. (It was used, but it sounded fantastic when played.)

We were not interested in buying a grand piano - we don't have enough room in the house for it, so we purchased a smaller upright piano. Below is a picture from the Yamaha web-site, when we have it delivered we will have some pictures of it in the house, and maybe even upload a video of the kids playing it!

Cynfor and Jessie played a lot of piano's to ensure they found the "right one" and obviously Tara and I were conscious of the money side of things. All in all, we got a pretty good deal - we feel. It should be delivered on Wednesday, and we look forward to hearing the kids playing it.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Spring is almost here...

We have found that we have a beautiful Daphne bush in our back yard. Here are some pictures of the flowers - the perfume is terrific, and with a small clipping in a vase in the house - the whole house smells lovely.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Cynfor and Jessie's Flute Recital - February 2008

Below is a video of Jessie and Cynfor performing at their Flute Recital. (Apologies for the spelling error on the title of the video - I did not notice it until it was already on the internet.)

Hope you enjoy!

Friday, February 08, 2008

Happy Chinese New Year!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Snow Day

Drive way

Our House

Our Street.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Welcome 2008!

Well, I was reminded this morning that we had not put an update to the blog since Christmas 2007. I thought that I should at least leave a note so that you did not think that we were being lazy.

It has been a busy few weeks. My parents were here from November 17th until January 5th. We had a great time, obviously not seeing them for over 1 year, meant we had a lot of catching up to do. It also meant that they got to see a little of where we live, and things to do.

Mum wanted a "white Christmas" - which she got. We took her down to Sunriver, which is about 4 hours drive south of Portland, and sits at about 4,500ft elevation. When we arrived a little before Christmas, we were not so sure it would snow, but it did - a little after lunch it started, and it appeared to never stop until near the time we left.

Christmas was obviously great with family, as well as having it the first White Christmas for all of us. We had the traditional "Aussie" Christmas, with roast pork and roast vegetables, plum pudding and custard. Although they were variations, as some of the ingredients here in the USA are slightly different to those we are able to get in Australia - it all tasted great.

New years was spent with friends at their apartment/unit/house. The kids were playing together on the new Nintendo Wii that had been received for Christmas, while the parents stayed out and talked, drank and ate - generally enjoying themselves.

Now things are back to normal, I am back at work, the kids are back and school and mum and dad are back in Australia - after some interesting events with canceled flights, etc. - but all was well, they did make it home safe!

Tomorrow we will have a bit of a "gathering" at our house, we are going to have a few friends (with their families) over to our place for a late lunch, early dinner. (Monday is a holiday here in the USA "Martin Luther King Jr. Day" - so a bit of time to rest after enjoying ourselves. )

We have purchased a $40 TV from "Goodwill" - which is like The Salvation Army. It is for the kids to be able to play their Playstation on. We find now that they are very much into the games on the Playstation, that we don't have much time to be able to watch TV ourselves. This way the kids can play, and we can watch TV - and not have to watch each other. The new TV is upstairs in the "bonus room" - so it is kind of quiet when we are used to the kids being with us here making noise on their games.

Well, I am sure I have rambled enough for now. Hopefully we will share some more pictures with you all soon. Hope everyone is well, and have a great 2008! (Hey that rhymes!)

Friday, December 21, 2007

Merry Christmas!

Being so far away for Christmas, it is difficult to make sure we have passed on our wishes to everyone.

We have sent a few cards out, but now that time appears to have gotten away from us, we have decided that we would like to make sure we get to as many people by posting a Christmas note on our blog.

Tara, Cynfor, Jessie and myself would like to pass our best wishes to you all during this Christmas season, and offer you our wishes for a properous and fun new year.

I know that we have plans to enjoy our time during the festive season, and sure that all of you will also!

We are heading to Central Oregon tomorrow to spend hopefully a WHITE Christmas, with my parents, and us. We should have some lovely pictures to share when we return AFTER December 28th.

We won't have internet access (I am already feeling withdrawal) - so we won't necessarily be in touch with friends and family until we return.

Strawberry Pavlova...

Tara cooked a lovely Pavlova decorated with Strawberries, and Kiwi fruit. She took it to work, and it was devoured in minutes, many people loved it - so we thought we would share the recipe with our friends.

Strawberry Pavlova

4 egg whites
3/4 cup caster sugar (fine bakers sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon vinegar

Topping
1 1/4 cups thick cream
250g strawberries, halved
Note: Although strawberries are common as a toping, other fruits work well, Kiwi, Banana, Mango, or a combination of your favorites. (Berries are often best)

1. Preheat oven to very slow 120C (250F)
2. Place baking paper (parchment) onto a flat baking tray. Using a 20cm (8in) round cake tin as a guide, mark a circle in the center of the prepared tray. (Note: During baking, the Pavlova will spread a little, so make sure you have sufficient space on the tray outside of the 20cm tin marking.)
3. Place egg whites in a DRY small mixing bowl - and using electric beaters (we used our KitchenAid Mixer without issue) beat for 1 minute, or until soft peaks form.
4. Add the caster sugar gradually, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating constantly, until the mixture is thick and glossy and all of the sugar has dissolved.
5. Add vanilla essence and vinegar, beat until combined.
6. Pile the meringue onto your marked circle on the prepared tray.
7. Bake for 1 1/4 hours (or until pale and crisp).
8. DO NOT REMOVE from the oven. Once cooking has completed, simply open the oven door, and let the Pavlova cool inside the oven.
9. After it has cooled, transfer it onto a serving plate.
10. Beat cream until whipped, and spread on top of Pavlova.
11. Decorate with fruit, and it is ready to serve.