She knows

My sister and I are very different but we are very the same.

I know she will understand when I tell her about the issues I’m having in my life.

I tried to have coffee with her yesterday morning to unload, but she wasn’t available prior to my planned trip to IKEA (they had cool coffee tables on sale for $20!!!) Fortunately she suggested a late afternoon Prosecco instead.

I accepted her afternoon Prosecco and raised her a dinner. After heading to Pump class – I couldn’t do my regular 8am class because I needed to see the kids off on their week of skiiing – I took a dish of Ma Po Do Fu to her place, then we sat in her spa and swore a lot while drinking Brown Bros finest.

(Ma Po Do Fu is a Chinese dish of pork mince and tofu. I’ve included the recipe below.)

She was very sympathetic to all my issues. We are totally in sync on EQ vs IQ and how to interact with ex husbands – she just attended the first birthday party of her former husband’s bubby – and reasons people are dicks and how psychopaths are never going to develop empathy and how nice it will be to have a family holiday together, oh and AND she’s even going to investigate economical birthday party catering for me.

I felt much better after sitting in her spa for a few hours.

It was a bit of a tricky weekend. Sydney is very dry and hot at the moment. My allergies don’t like it AT ALL. I felt very not good on Saturday, all snotty and sore eyed and weary. Not the best way to mark my last day with the kids for 10 days.  So no swim at the beach, lots of time on the couch instead, and no Oovie machine within a 10km radius had either Guardians of the Galaxy 2 or Wonder Woman available for rental so we had to watch the latest Pirates of the Caribbean instead.

It. Is. Terrible.

Do. Not. Bother.

The youngest went to bed early it was so bad.

And now they’re off skiing and I’m rattling around in my quiet – apart from the farking yapping dogs – house.

Though I did get some fun stuff at IKEA. I’m very happy with how the family room is looking …

I haven’t had a chance to make over my bedroom yet with new bits and bods, but that will be fun too.

Can you tell these are fake?

And now it’s Monday again.

Like the Boomtown Rats, I don’t like Mondays. They fill me with dread. I always have trouble sleeping on Sunday nights, with Monday hanging over me. I wake up with a start around 4.45am and my heart races.

I think I need a holiday. A few days where there are no responsibilities. Unfortunately that’s not possible right now. Even next week, when I’m going on a family jaunt to Hawks Nest, I need to take a dongle with me to keep things afloat. I’m hiring my awesome intern as a staffer, but she’s finishing off her university course, so it’s not quite the right time to hand her the steering wheel.

So I’ll spend a few hours each day working.

Fortunately, there will still be time for play. My sister and I were both dewy eyed with excitement about climbing Mt Yacabaa and exploring the rock pools and cracking out a few board games.

I may rest the blog though. I need some time off from it, I’ll confirm how much next week.

Anyways, how was your weekend?

RECIPE: MA PO DO FU

500g bean curd (I like silken, but it doesn’t hold it’s shape. If that bothers you, go for firm)

peanut oil

1 tablespoon bottled ginger

2 garlic cloves, crushed

4 spring onions, chopped

4oog minced pork

1 red capsicum, finely diced

1 green capsicum, finely diced

1 cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon of chilli bean sauce (available from Asian speciality stores or well-stocked supermarkets)

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of cornflour

2 teaspoons of sesame oil

METHOD: Heat oil in a wok or heavy-based frying pan. Saute garlic, ginger and spring onions for 1 minute. Add mince and stir-fry, breaking it up until it’s no longer pink. Add capsicum and stir fry for a further minute. Mix stock, chilli bean sauce, tomato paste and soy sauce in a jug together. Pour into the wok, add shitake mushrooms and simmer 5 minutes. Mix cornflour with a little water and stir into the sauce until it boils and thickens. Gently stir in the bean curd and seasame oil. Heat through and serve with rice.

Song of the day: Boomtown Rats “I don’t like Mondays”