I've got horses...

I've got horses in my tummy!

We were at the 20 week scan today, all's well! Poppy seemed a little more interested than the last time (more detail?)... anyway, we celebrate by going to see Megamind in 3d, so it's a bit of a long day, and late home.. which gives us the chance to watch a little of "Eragon", whilst we eat our supper in front of the TV... Poppy then grabs my mouse and pretends to scan her own tummy, and we pretend that the pictures on the TV are the scan pictures! (my goodness! she's full of trees, witches, swords, rivers, dragons...)

Chocolate, Chocolate...

Chocolate, Chocolate, good for the brain...

and repeat. A song for when one is stirring delicious truffle mix. Can't wait.... must wait....

IS THAT...

IS THAT BBQ'd ?

Poppy was convinced the sausages were BBQ'd tonight... nope, it's just we'd managed to sneak pork sausages under her nose, she usually only touches beef ones...

You can have crow's...

You can have crow's blood for your breakfast Daddy

Poppy's thinking about what we can all have for food to start the day. "toast" for her... I wonder what an avian black pudding would taste like...

Imagine butter...

Imagine butter juice! oh, delicious!

Poppy was seeming to like the idea of a coronary drink / snack tonight, why waste time having a drink, when eating potatoes, when you can do it all in a oner. lovely.

If you eat a drumstick when you are seven...

If you eat a drumstick when you are seven, all your teeth get sucked out

Don't they? (A dentist told me!).. we visited Anstruther today, Gabi dropped off a parcel of Small Stories clobber to "the Lovely Pigeon" pop up craft shop, she's their best seller!... hooray! We bought some lovely things too... (Tommy Perman Postcards for one... he did say he'd send a pack...bah humbug to you sir! I "FOUND" them myself. thuurrrp!).
Anyway, after our wee shopping spree, we had some fish n chips, then a visit to a sweetie shop (how healthy!) Bubalishous! Melody Pops! oh! Drumsticks! we're all kids today.

Can I have some

Can I have some soup please?

"free beer!"... on a -3c night... dear digital cool dudes, c'mon! it's A'Deen in december! I loved the Mighty Meet Up tonight, but I fear I am too old now... there was a time when "free beer" would have me rolling in the snow in a balaclava, miners lamp and snowboarding goggles... but I just want some hot soup now.. boo hoo.

For anyone "digital" and interested in web tech / dev / design... you really should attend the next MightyMeetup. It's free, and you do get more than beer... knowledge! (no soup).

We look like...

We look like ickle babies!

Yes indeed, stuffing cherry tomatoes into your cheeks does indeed make you look like a baby, Poppy. I see they've also wandered off into the dolls house, sitting on the toilet, in the baby chair, rolling down the stairs...

My taste-buds...

My taste-buds are telling me....

Poppy seems to have some friends in her mouth that tell her stuff... stories, decisions and the like... I've seen them, rather large bobbly bits... sounds like ACC.

You just called that carrot...

You just called that carrot a potato!

tonight, we're having tempura with some katsu curry sauce... (nom nom). We've got spring onions, broccoli, aubergine, chicken and (drum roll) - Sweeeeeet potato! There's a slight problem, Poppy say's she doesn't like sweet potato (she always has before!) So.. the plan is, "it's a carrot"... a massive, flat one... nee hee... it works.



an example of sweet potato tempura from http://crescent-foods.com/product_tempura.html - seeing as I failed to take photos of tonight's tea.

You CAN eat Ice cream...

You CAN eat Ice cream in October, in Aberdeen!

We had a delightful surprise phone call, and subsequent meeting with Rich & Kel from Australia, over to see his niece & nephew he's never seen thus far... they've been based in Inverness, and are leaving for London tomorrow - so today was the only chance to see them. Hooked up in the Lemon Tree for a spot of Lunch and Jazz, such a beautiful day, blue skies with billowing white (snow?!) clouds... Perfect for an ice cream at the beach! (It is a barmy 6 degrees!)... nope, if you live in Melbourne, that might as well be Kelvin! he he. We sadly say good buy, after only 3 hours... but it was lovely to catch up in person, safe journey R&K!

I'm wrapping her up...

I'm wrapping her up like a sausage roll!

We're at Claypots again today, you know, like every weekend (so it feels)... We're working away, and suddenly there's two faces appear at the window! It's George and Melissa (Our Neighbour and his daughter), Poppy is so happy! someone to play with at Claypots! A first! We show Dod around, and head upstairs, only to find Poppy wrapping Melissa up in blankets... I didn't know this was Bate's Motel meets Balamory!

Aunty Chloe, can you read....

Aunty Chloe, can you read some Charlie and the Chocolate factory with us?

Chloe's up for a wee break, Poppy is very excited. An afternoon of swapping sylvanian families stories and other toys pulled from the loft. We make three delicious pizzas, and end up reading Poppy two chapters (the chewing gum section!)... Chloe dips her toes into reading kids books aloud... to an intent and intense listening Poppy... We think she did well!

I can eat my peas...

I can eat my peas faster than ... Omnnom nah yum scoff ...

it's not good to race your food, but it is fun to get a kid to eat their peas by challenging them to see who can eat a spoonfull fastest, and go slow on purpose ... Hehe

do you want some moondrills...

do you want some moondrills and moonslices with mooncheese?

POppy loves mushrooms (uncooked), but has a thing about them being in sauces... so, tonight... the moon takes an excavation with spiral pasta, exposing edam cheese and sliced mushrooms in a tomato sauce..bingo! (We're watching ET on DVD too, so "the moon man" would approve. Thanks Charlie and Lola.

Oh look, there's children over there...

Oh look, there's children over there, can we chop them up and have them for breakfast?

Oh yes indeed, there are actually two doozies today, hard to choose... the other cannibalistic dinger from our delightful 4 year old was (when eating noodles at dinner time)..."is there any baby skin in these daddy?"... Now, I think the watching of the BFG and Poppy's penchant for baddies might have culminated in these quotes... I am slightly settled by Gabi's assurance that "Real psychos keep that stuff to themselves"... fewee!

I love my...

I love my edamame beans!

first visit to the Aberdeen wagamama. Delicious, but boy oh boy, what a wait. Seem the staff are still getting to grips with everything. 10 min wait to get seated (heaps of seats free) ages for our order to get taken, staggered service of food ( after being told that a veggie katsu was chicken katsu... Trust me, we know!) so - delicious, but perhaps a wee bit of time is needed for them to hone their service ... I'm not usually picky when it comes to service, but I'm so used to wagamama being so efficient and seemless my expectations were tainted.

If you swallow macaroni down the wrong pipe...

If you swallow macaroni down the wrong pipe, don't worry Poppy, you can still breathe if it goes in long ways.

this was preceded with "ooh! I've swallowed a macaroni down the wrong pipe!" after noming into a nice macaroni pie from the bakers, on our way to Claypots today. I think this works for any hollow food stuffs... the downside? your breath then smells of said food stuff for 4 days, until the food turns into CO2. Or a burp.... which is smelly CO2.

I think she dislodged it with some moshing, so that's OK.

Ooh! My sandwich has...

Ooh! My sandwich has blood, guts, eyes and... And... Dust in it!

grimmmmm! There's a mix of horror, realism, Hugh fernley whittingstall and Phillip Pullman in Poppy's odd observation about her salmon sandwich today... Worried? Me?.... Call the poooooliiiiiceeeee... A rubber nipple salesman once heard.

They're coming out the ground...

They're coming out the ground like tatties!

It's the lowest tide of the month today (in Ord, Skye) - and the coral island is even more accessible, but we see a sand spit being exposed, with hundreds of "spooties" scooting water into the air. I start digging (a futile exercise in getting a razor clam from above)... but, I start to uncover heaps of clams - amazing sized clams, the size of Poppy's fist... I'm scooping sand siddeways, and found three razor clams this way! Needless to say, I pigged out, and took about 2kgs of Clams (hardly a dent in the 3 small patches I dug up)... what a score! So, I've put them in a bucket of clean sea water, and they are happily spitting out the grit... I did snaffle a few for tea, a smidge gritty, but boy oh boy were they tasty.



garlic, onions, chilli, olive oil, S&P, oregano, tomato puree, pasata, spaghetti, a hillock of free clams from Ord. NOM NOM.