Living the dream baby!

Chocolate & Raspberry tart made a few weeks back - so so rich but so so good!

For years I've had people say to me 'you're so lucky being married to a chef!'. What, being married to someone who works 70-90 hours a week and is too tired on his days off to cook? Spending 5 or more nights by yourself every week. Really, you want that?

Eating out all the time rather than staying in and cooking. I guess that part wasn't too bad. Or having your own personal food critic??? Just kidding. Kym wouldn't dare criticize my food or anyone else's in my family (not if he knows what's good for him!!!). No of course not, but that statement used to bug me a little. I also seemed to be married to one of the few chefs who DOESNT like cooking fabbo meals on his days off. Lucky me :( So many friends who were also with chefs used to talk about the meals they'd cook up on their days off. Lucky them! I've always said Kym seems to enjoy 'creating' new menus and food ideas than he did actually cooking them. The 'ideas ' man so to speak!

No, it's not all bad. There's been trips to Hamilton Island, Melbourne, Sydney, dinners, and lots of other perks. Free food, free alcohol. 'Special treatment' at other restaurants. And I've gotten used to my own little routine and watching my favourite TV shows and never having to share the remote!!!

Where am I going with this? Well since having Jett things started to change. I was too busy feeding Jett to worry about cooking meals so on his days off Kym started doing our cooking. Yay! But things have really changed since the restaurant closed for reno's. Now we really are getting gourmet meals for dinner. And I'm itching for someone to tell me how lucky I am being married to a chef as now I can honestly say 'yes it's great I know!!!'.

Last night was snapper pie (this was devine, if anyone wants the recipe let me know!), the night before was stir fried flathead fillets with ginger, garlic and greens, and well the night before was take out at Bec's place, but you get my drift. I'm not sure how Jett and I will cope when he goes back to work at the end of the year. Jett's already being very spoiled with his meals - I mean, how many babies have tried and liked truffles before they are 18 months old?

Anyway, this was just a little self indulgent post to say 'yay for me!' and achknowledge how lucky I am. People so often focus on the negative aspects of their life and I don't want to be one of those people :)

Thanks for reading :).

Warm fuzzies anyone?

Pic of my flowers from mother's day

I was feeling a little jealous and perhaps slightly jaded (boom boom!) yesterday as we drove Kym out to the airport so he could go to Sydney for the night to attend the Vogue E&T Good Produce Awards (he was a state judge). He was going to get a full day looking around some of Sydney's best restaurants, check out some of the bars, attend the awards, then get a FULL NIGHT'S sleep with no little man to wake him up... (see where the jealous part really kicks in?)
I was cheered up though when the postie arrived when I got back from our drive and had this little guy waiting for me. He is one of the many cool things Hayley from RERead sells in her Etsy store. And I won him! Yay! Thanks Hayley!

Hayley, another BrisStyle talent, awesomely (is that a word???) gives away a little item each week on her totally cool blog so it's worth checking it out (if not for the freebie but for the always amusing and often crazy things she writes about!). It's definitely one of my favourite blogs to read :) And for all the hopeless romantics out there, read this post and help bring two lovers together by supporting Hayley's shop!!

I should say I was also cheered to speak to Kym this morning and hear that he still woke a few times through the night (partly out of habit and partly because he would wake to noises and think they could have been Jett!). I'm ashamed to say that did make me feel a little better to know he didn't sleep awesomely :P
Another BrisStylin' girl, Eliza from Elven Hair is also hosting a giveaway on her blog - go check it out! She is also currently having a sale on some items in her Elven Hair Etsy shop to raise funds for her furbaby's (thanks Helen, I stole this one from you!) veterinary operation which happened yesterday. I hear the operation went well and wish Gem a speedy recovery.

OK, only two more hours until I get to go and pick Kym up from the airport - I should probably make a token 'tidy up' effort and get off this machine that I sometimes feel consumes my day. Perhaps I need to go find an Internet Addiction Anonymous rehab centre? I wonder if one even exists... if it doesn't already I suspect there will be a need for one in the not too distant future...:P

I'll finish with a few pics of my mother's day with our extended family. Perfect day. Beautiful flowers and a massage voucher, followed by an awesome sunny day in the park, breakfast BBQ with sparkling wine, bike ride, yummy morning tea, afternoon nap, another bike ride, lamb roast with one of cellar red wines from NZ, massage and then early to bed :D Couldn't ask for anymore than that! Hope all you other mother's had a great day too.

It's the answer to everything

Well, just to prove my point about our love of all things salty, Kym had a cooking demonstration in the Queen Street mall on Wednesday for the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide. When the story was written up on their website and he was asked the 'secret of his spectacular flavours', Kym simply replied "salt." He he. You can also check out the article here if you feel so inclined.

It's funny as it's also the answer when he's asked the same question 'why doesn't my food taste as good as this when I cook it at home?' Reply: 'you need to add more salt...'

I guess people will now understand why I cook all Jett's pureed foods rather than let Kym do it. Somehow I think he really doesn't need the salt in his diet just yet :P

But I am proud to say that Kym's public speaking is definitely improving over the years. He's becoming more confident and less mumbly (is that even a word???)- something my sister pointed out just yesterday when I was telling her the demo went well. He was even like that when speaking in front of all my family at our regular gatherings let alone the general public! For a person who only knows one language (English), sometimes you'd swear it wasn't his first!

Oh hang on! Sorry my mistake, he does know how to swear in many languages. A lovely skill he has picked up from his time in kitchens. Perhaps there are a few similarities between Kym and Gordon Ramsey besides the fact they are both chefs - they share the same language skills :P