I’ve feel like I’ve been a bit all over the shop this week and barely motivated to do my jobs, but we are fed, we have clean clothes, and the kitchen, toilets and basins are clean enough. Last weekend was full of good things, and this weekend is shaping up to be equally busy. Let’s get down to business …
Dinner at Entrecôte
Friday night we went out to dinner with our friends who we did the Three Capes Walk with. By pure chance, we are flying to Paris on the same day in September, so I picked the Parisian-style brasserie Entrecôte. G and I had dined at their previous venue in Domain Rd, but they have since moved to Greville St in Prahran with a gorgeous, swanky fitout. We drove to the train station, since I can’t walk that far at the moment, then caught the train to Prahran. The restaurant is only a couple of hundred metres from the station. This is truly an elegant night out. The hosts are dressed in evening wear and the service is formal. From my seat I also had a view into the kitchen to watch the many plates of steak tartare going out to the floor. Entrecôte was recently listed as #86 on the World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants, so I really couldn’t go past the Signature Steak Frites for my main. For our entree G and I shared the small bites Brioche au Tartare de Thon, and I followed my main with Tarte Tatin. Everything was excellent. I feel like we shouldn’t wait so long to come back again, but also, there are so many restaurants on my list to try. Conundrums …
On the way home the cops were cruising the streets. I joked when we were standing on the station platform that I’d never felt safer. We had two police cars with officers parked behind us and five police on the platform opposite with a guy in handcuffs. There was a bit of chatter; then the guy was let go with a move-on order.
volunteering at studley parkrun
Saturday morning, I was up bright and early to drive across to Studley Park. Our friend was run director for the Parkrun there last week and needed some volunteers to fill the roster. I was on barcode scanning, which was pretty easy. They have an app that you download onto your phone to scan everyone’s barcode, then at the end, you push a button, and the results are automatically uploaded to the website. BONUS: My first small group leader (leading the group I joined when I was just exploring faith) was running, so we got to catch up a tiny bit. DOUBLE BONUS: After finishing up, we had hot drinks and rocky road courtesy of our friend, the run director.
Sunday afternoon tea with the fam
My sister organised an afternoon tea to get us all together before mum and dad headed off to Queensland for a few months. Everyone except R who is at university in Canberra managed to drop in at some stage in the afternoon—that would be twenty of us. Dad made his sausage rolls, mum made jelly cakes, I made chocolate brownies and there was also chicken sandwiches and a cheese platter. All washed down with good champagne, a very expensive red wine (from dad’s French friend who died this year) and a few other tasty mouthfuls.
Family Dinner
Am I allowed to mention this every week? This week I mention it for just one moment. I was in the kitchen making dinner, the girls were working on the puzzle and G went over to join them. Now, what you must know about G is that he has a certain way of doing puzzles; each piece that he places is accompanied by a self-satisfied brag or flourish, which then starts the rest of us ribbing him. Standing at the the kitchen I was taken by a feeling of … joy, gratitude, peace … all of the above? It was one of those moments that were so small but felt so right. Our adult children like spending time with us. We like spending time with them. That makes me very, very happy and I want to remember to appreciate that everyday.
bonus good things
- Cooking. I used to cook so much. I baked multiple times a week and made our own bread and yoghurt, but I kind of got out of the habit. With the kids out of the house, there isn’t a need to bake like I used to, but this week, I made the brownies for afternoon tea, I got back into my yoghurt making, and I tried to appreciate my time in the kitchen more. I think one of the problems was that with the stress of cooking for a family, I developed a habit of rushing, so this week, when I felt myself rushing, I took a big breath and settled into the task in front of me. It was a good discipline, and I need more of it.
- I’ve been doing a little bit of research for my time in Paris later this year. So many possibilities.
- This was an interesting article on people’s tendency to solve a problem first by adding rather than subtracting. “Overlooking subtraction may mean that people are missing out on opportunities to make their lives more fulfilling, their institutions more effective and their planet more livable,”
- Some walking inspiration: The World’s Five Best New Hikes
- We finished watching The Tattooist of Auschwitz TV series last night. Lali Sokolov, whose memories form the basis for the story, settled not far from us, and the little bayside Melbourne references and bathing box shot at the start were a bonus.
- A really thoughtful article: Is Ethical Shopping Only For Hipsters. How difficult it is to balance competing values, I think everyone is muddling through. Written from a Christian perspective, but anyone who cares about people and the environment would have similar struggles.
How has your week been? Have you had a small moment of joy, completeness, peace lately? Do you enjoy cooking? Do you find yourself rushing through tasks instead of savouring them?
Comments
14 responses to “Good things friday”
I enjoy cooking most days. Of course, it’s nice to have a meal made for you, but I really love the process of cooking, especially when there is time to really enjoy it (and not rush through it).
It made me smile that little moment of joy that you felt when you realized that your adult children loves spending time with you. I think this can’t be taken for granted.
Yes, to being able to cook and not rush throguh it. It can be quite relaxing if there’s time to do it.
“Our adult children like spending time with us. We like spending time with them. That makes me very, very happy and I want to remember to appreciate that everyday.” This is so precious. It made my heart happy. And it makes me wonder if my parents are thinking the same. I know my dad is very happy and thankful for all the time I spend with him this year.
I am not very much enjoying to cook. Mainly it’s a chore for me. Everyone in a while I like to try something new and look forward to cooking but I am always scared it’s not tasty to the husband. Luckily last night I enjoyed cooking and he loved it. I made homemade enchiladas.
And I was wondering if I should start baking bread again. I used to do this a lot over a decade ago. I even posted some recipes on the blog back then.
My week was a bit exhausting and at the same time filled with happy moments.
Tobia, I’m sure your dad has been so happy to have your support through all his operations and yes, I’m sure your parents feel the same way about having time with you. I hope you get some rest this week.
Your dinner out sounds amazing! And how fun that you are going to Paris! That is my favorite city of all the places I have been. I’ve gone there 3 times and would go back again in a heart beat. We are on a grand pause from big trips like that, though, until our kids are older.
The moment with your kids at home working on a puzzle with your husband = parent goals! That is what I hope for many years from now. I live about 3 hours from my parents so we don’t have a lot of impromptu kind of gatherings but we do see them quite a bit in the summer since they live on a lake and I especially love our vacation at their place in August when it’s usually just my family visiting. It’s more cozy and enjoyable especially for an introvert like me. We will be there in July for the 4th but we have a huge gathering with my dad’s side and I honestly kind of hate it because it is just sooo many people. Like 50? But it is nice to see so many people at once. I am kind of glad to have the excuse of tending to my kids to get away from the noise at times, though…
We took each of our children to Europe when they were in year 11. Our eldest to Italy, our middle to France and our son to Germany (except his was once he finished school because of the pandemic). On our trip to France we spent about 6 nights in Paris and I’m keen to go back.
My siblings and I all have good relationships with our parents. We vacation with my parents down at their house by the beach and it’s been such a bonus in our kids lives. Time with cousins and grandparents is priceless. My eldest in particular loves to spend time with her grandparents and is actually up in Noosa at the moment spending a week with them. This is the second year she’s used some of her annual leave to holiday with them.
I can’t wait to follow along with your trip to Paris. What a wonderful city.
That moment with the puzzle and family all together is lovely. It’s easy to forget to take note of things like this; even from the picture the whole setting looks wonderful. A family bonded together over the job of creating art together!
We spent 6 nights there with our daughter in 2018 and I’m keen to go back and spend some more time there.
I read the Tattooist of Auschwitz but didn’t realize it was made into a show. I remember thinking the book was quite good.
I love puzzles! I love that your family is so into it!
The TV show is new, and just came out on Stan here in Australia. I haven’t read the book so I can’t compare the two.
Oh I love your description of that moment of bliss while your family was puzzling around you. I find myself cherishing those small moments and marveling at how they happen at the smallest, most insignificant times. It really is the little moments, isn’t it?
Your send off of your parents sounds like such a fun, full experience! I hope they feel very loved as they head off to Queensland.
I agree, the little moments are the stuff of life.
Just went to Paris this past spring, and can’t wait to get back, plus add on time in FRANCE in general, not just Paris.
My four year old keeps asking to go back there! Me: “gladly!!”
The article on adding/subtracting reminds me of an episode from the Hidden Brain show on exactly that- when we subtract, we make things easier, instead of constantly adding ideas. https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/do-less/
We spent some time in the south of France with our daughter and it was stunning. Nice is beautiful and we caught a train out to the pre-Alps to do a hike. Cassis stunning, the Carmargue was wild, and we stayed in a little village in the hills about an hour from Avignon for a few days.