A chef, who'd want to be one?

As I lay in bed at 3.45am last night I had actually written this blog post in my head. However that was 5 hours ago and things in the middle of the night when sleep deprived from continually getting up to settle Jett, always seem much worse. It was a rant. I was pissed. I'm getting over it already though.

Kym's back at work and is doing CRAZY hours. Not crazy like before, but CRAZY CRAZY. Like 7 or 8am until 3am. WTF? There have been a few articles lately in various publications like the Sunday Mail, Courier-Mail, GT, and Brisbane Times, all raving about the architecture, the food, the produce. Yay... However my 'yay' as I lay there last night worrying if he's crashed his car on the way home due to sleeplessness, switching between worry and anger over something that sometimes in my opinion (and much to Kym's horror) is 'only food', had definitely fizzled.

These are lovely parts of cheffing - the stuff that's not always so glamourous, and the stuff that isn't usually portrayed clearly on shows like Masterchef. Like seriously, who in their right mind would want to become a chef? Work anywhere from 60-95 hours, getting paid for maybe 38 of them, in a super stressful, and in Summer time, usually 40+ degree kitchen? Waiting on suppliers who are supposed to bring your food in the morning, and decide to send it in one hour before service time instead. Not me.

And you need a thick skin - having worked in hospitality as a waitress before I've seen chefs pushing around apprentices, throwing plates at them (of course Kym would never do this), another one used to be really hard on one particular apprentice only to turn around and tell people when he wasn't there that he was the 'best apprentice I've ever had and don't want to him leave'!

Neither Jett or my unborn, or for that matter any niece or nephew, is allowed to become a chef. They can learn how to cook, maybe work in hospitality to earn some cash while on their way to something else, but that's as far as it goes. I still think it's important to know how to cook, and to learn about foods, what they are, what they do for us. I certainly don't want him to be like one checkout I had the other day at the supermarket who asked me 'what is this', and I looked up thinking it must have been a 'fancy' vegetable I had purchased - no, it was the common 'zucchini'. Perhaps I should have confused her and said it was a 'courgette'??? he he

It's insane. Only a very select few will ever become great - I know that's harsh, but it's true. Those small percentages are the ones whose hard work pays off. Luckily we're in the latter, but that still doesn't excuse you from working six days a week and only seeing your family on Sunday's (which by that time you are a walking zombie anyway!). Aagh! So needless to say you need to have passion - as Kym told one 'would-be-apprentice' the other day - you can teach speed and knifeskills, but you can't teach passion and that's why I'm giving you a go.

OK I think I'm over it. I know there are a lot of thankless jobs out there, and I have friends and family together who have husbands who also have great jobs which still take them interstate or overseas on a regular basis, and that's hard too. I'm just ranting about the one I live with.

So if one more person asks how's the restaurant going I might explode with a few expletives of my own - giving my lovely husband a run for his money in the language department :p

The times are a changin'

The last few weeks seem to have been filled with lots of changes. With the restaurants set to open in a few weeks, Kym left this morning excited and perhaps a little apprehensive, as he will now be in the kitchen full time, steering a team of I think about 30 or more chefs. I'm thinking I can't write too much about it, in case I upset the PR company... :p (not that they would know I have a blog...he he) But there will be essentially three new ventures opening up - a newly refitted and expanded Urbane (with Sub Urbane underneath to cater for private dining/functions), The Euro and The Laneway. You can read about it here if you're interested.

The past 5 or 6 months have gone fast - although he was always doing things and going places for the restaurant, or working a few shifts here and there to help people out, Jett and I had him mostly at home each night. And usually cooking - yippee! I'm actually ready for him to go back (he he), not because I want him back working 60-90 hour weeks, but because he was getting restless at home and to be honest, I can get back into my little routine with Jett before the next one comes along.

I think Jett is going to take some time to adjust as he's been pretty spoiled having both of us here all the time - you can't exactly explain to a 19 month old what's going on :)

But he too is getting bigger and I'm now really seeing changes in him - he loves playing with his cousins and is super keen to be one of the 'big kids'. He weened himself completely two weeks ago. Which whilst I'm super happy we both lasted this long, it does mean my 'baby' is not really a baby anymore. I know it's silly as I know things aren't really any different and the feeds were so little that they really were only for comfort, but this *tiny* part of me feels less 'needed'. Weird hey? But on the positive side, my breasts get a break for six months before I have to do all this again!!! It's almost like, "hooray, I can have a few drinks - oh that's right, I'm pregnant, no I can't. Maybe in about two more years..." hmmBut I was taken back this week when he woke from his nearly three hour nap and I carried him to the couch for a cuddle and he went back to sleep. Excuse the no makeup in this photo :) It had been so long since he slept on me like this that I just sat back and enjoyed the next half hour - after all in a little over five months he won't be my baby, he'll be a big brother. Exciting and scary changes ahead!!!

I'll leave you with a pic of one of the other changes I'm going to be missing out on more now - Kym's cooking for me. I had been nagging for a couple of months now that I was craving a crab and gruyere souffle, and on Sunday he finally made me one. And it was awesome. The salad of radish, pink lady, and cos was delightful but still not a patch on the souffle. Oh I'm going to miss this!

Eye Spy...shoes!

Oh the shoes of my former life. We had fun. We ate out a lot, we went dancing. You were sometimes carried home when my feet had given up and it hurt too much to walk you up hill to our city apartment. We could still have fun? If only there was a place for us to go that was practical (that takes pregnant chicks and 19 month olds!). But alas, those days for us are few and far between.

Since becoming a stay-at-home-mum I've enjoyed always being able to wear comfy shoes as a day-to-day thing. No need for work heels - woo hoo!

I think I have two favourites that are just rotated between Summer and Winter (I'm pretty boring, always the same brands even when I buy new ones!) - birk's and tiger's. Both are super comfy which earns two thumbs up from me.

Not to say that I don't ever wear heels - but even they are now comfy - my Think! shoes. These are great, you don't feel like there's any heel there and I love the style of them.
So it's not goodbye my lovely strawberries and cream shoes - it's just until we meet again at the next appropriate function (where I won't be standing for long and have access to the car).

All this writing and reading of shoes has given me itchy feet (boom boom) to go and buy some newbies. I'm thinking a new pair of Summer flats are in order - perhaps some more Think! ones or maybe some Naots. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Thanks to Anastasia for picking such a lovely theme - head on over to Cindy's blog for shoe fashion.

Eye Spy... something cuddly

Well surprise surprise, but my something 'cuddly' has to be Jett. (sure I might sometimes alternate the word 'cuddly' for 'clingy' but that's another story :p)

He's been in an awesome mood the past few weeks and is giving everybody (well as long as your mum, dad, grandma, grandad, aunty bec, uncle matt, aunty ann, lee or kate...) lots of hugs and kisses. That's when he's not making dinosaur 'roars' at them :p But if he's giving them out, I'll take a cuddle anytime.

Thanks to Bek for picking this weeks Eye Spy theme - head on over to Cindy's blog for more cuddles with Eye Spy.

Baby steps...

After some serious time off, I'm coming around to the idea of a spot or sewing and perhaps a little blogging. I'm not sure if it was a little burn out, the fact that Kym had been around so much more through the restaurant renos, or the fact that I needed some 'computer timeout' for a little while. Or perhaps the crappy morning sickness I was feeling for a while there... but I'm now 15 weeks and feel like I'm starting to feel motivated! More energy, more time, and ready to start thinking about 'gettin back on the horse so the expression goes.

So this is a small post. Just testing it out. See if it still fits. I'm definitely thinking about it, so for a big procrastinator like me, means I'm half-way there!

So sorry for being a slack ass and not reading all the lovely blogs that used to fill so much of my time - I'll try and be better I promise!!!

Eye Spy & lovely little things

This week's eye spy theme is 'something soothing' and after months of not playing as I've been flat chat (OK and maybe a little lazy too...) I thought I better participate! So currently for me, this is my 'something soothing'. I have been feeling a little 'off' lately and this has worked a treat :) Also hoping my acupuncture in 2 hours will also help - yay! Can't wait for that - plus the hour or so of kid-free time is just an added bonus.

Actually Kym went off bike riding last Sunday morning at Mt Tambo with the words 'I'll be home around 12pm' - so when it got to 2.15pm and he wasn't back and wasn't answering his phone I got worried and called Bec. Luckily Matt had the number of one of the guys who was with them and called for me and passed on the message to 'call your wife ASAP'. Apparently Matt misunderestimated my anger at only an 8.2 on the scale instead of the 10 I was feeling! I went from worried to angry pretty quickly! So after a few terse words he was on his way home - only to get lost and have it take him an hour and a half instead of 40 minutes. He got home at 4pm. I have every intention of being pretty pissed however when he walked in with a few scrapes up his arms, a couple on either side of his face, cut knees, and he couldn't bend his left fingers properly, I found that rather 'soothing' too. *insert evil laugh here* Karma bit him on the arse for making me worry unnecessarily and he fell off his bike - twice. I was even more 'soothed' when I watched the pain on his face as he showered and had to wet all the scrapes... he he. I know, I seem mean, but honestly, every week he comes off and hurts himself and/or breaks something on his bike that needs to be fixed. I think he sometimes forgets he's the primary income earner here!! But he knew better than to expect any sympathy from me and could see the funny side a little :p I wanted to video tape his pain while he showered but he drew the line there!

Anyhoo, back on track, I also had the pleasure of buying myself some very lovely goodies while the EEK sale was on. Check out my lovely brooch I purchased from the talented Rebecca from Edward & Lily - I got this one in olive green and it's just awesome. I also purchased this lovely pendant from Em at Up in Annies Room - I just love it. I just have to keep it away from Jett as he has a tendancy to try and pull it off my neck...Finally, after babysitting my niece for a weekend, Bec brought me this tulip brooch I'd had my eye on from the lovely Chris at Little Chrissy. Cool hey? So I'm feeling rather accesorised again :) Hope some of you managed to snag some goodies during the EEK sale too!! Would love to see them.

xxx

Congratulations Miss Cindy!

Well part one of the Beckybean double giveaway has been drawn using a random number generator (number two it was) and the lovely Cindy from Bugandpop is the winner! Congratulations :) Even though it's going to be making the journey down to chilly Melbourne, I'll be sure to tell it to take a coat (unlike the air-con it's been needing up here in Sunny Brisbane the last few days!) and I'm sure it will be happy in the new home of one of my favourite bloggers. Yay!

Cindy if you want to flick an email to blog@beckybean.com with your address details I'll wrap it up and it will be on its way.

Thanks to everyone for entering and leaving your fabulous comments. Keep your eye on Bec's blog - The Small Stuff - for details on the other winner of this tote - should be up soon I'd say.

xxx