Twilight Saga - Stephanie Meyer

After seeing the awful Twilight film I felt the need to explore the reason that so many people were into it, the obvious reason was that maybe the books were good? After some Facebook research of my peers I had decided that maybe I should give them a go? I had a long holiday coming up which always calls for some reading, so I went to K Mart to but them and found them on sale for $15 each, sorted...

I started the first one a few days before we left, thinking I would be a few chapters into it and hopefully addicted for our long haul flights... Addicted was right, it was finished in two days (which with a 5 month old was a task in itself)... Then onto the second which I finished at the end of the flight, and the next two in the week that followed... Two weeks, four addictive books... Needless to say I did enjoy them...

The story had all the elements required to keep you reading, good character development, some adventure, romance, and of course, bloodsuckers! The main character, Bella, I found annoying most of the time, just a bit too needy and pathetic, but on some level I could relate, when I was a teenager, my first love consumed me whole just as Edward consumed her... I suppose that all of the bits I found annoying could be excused because this book was written for teenagers, and now I am older, I know better ;)

I was hoping that the books would last my whole holiday and I could review them one by one, but reading them so close together they have just blurred together... The other thing that they inspired me to do was watch the film again, and I must say that its much better if you have read the book, it wasn't as snoozeworthy, even with the bad acting!

Tip: Immunisation

When you are visited by your maternal health nurse they give you all of the info for your local community immunisations... What they don't tell you is that you can go to your GP and have your baby immunised there... We didn't know this for Marley's first immunisation and went along to the community option, we were there for close to two hours, waiting to be served, then waiting for the oral immunisation then waiting for the injections... All the while you are around sniffly kids with your newborn, listening to all of the children cry when they get their needles, its a pretty horrible experience... On the other hand if you book in to be the first appointment of the day at your GP (to lessen exposure to randoms sickness) you are in and out in 15 minutes, without the build up and constant heartbreaking crying of other kids...

Tip: Bibs

If you have a dribbly baby, much like mine, you will find yourself with a store of bibs... I have found that the button up bibs are best as the velcro ones get stuck to other things in the washing machine, sometimes ruining other fabrics... As your baby gets older it is also easier to rip off velcro bibs, while button ups seem to stay on...

Target matenity bra

The Target maternity bra is not super supportive, but super comfy, great for bed (in those early months when you need to sleep with a bra on)… I do love these bras, for at home, wouldn't wear them out as they don't do your boobs any favours... Only downside is they only come in black and white...

Bonds maternity/breastfeeding singlets

Bonds singlets

These come in great colours and are very supportive… The downsides are that they don’t quite keep their shape and run a size too small… Having bought only one size bigger then my pre pregancy size coming out of hospital I had no chance of fitting into the ones I had bought, so maybe get one a couple sizes big for the initial start and then once you have lost some of the weight try the next desired size on? Like the Target ones the bra pops down which gives an amount of exposure but if you are wearing the singlet under a normal top then the top comes up, bra comes down and you cant see anything except what the baby has in its mouth... 8 months on I am still loving these singlets, highly recommend them...

Target breastfeeding singlets

Target singlets

In my experience there were two singlets for breast feeding available from Target, I have two of each...

Version 1
This singlet is just a plain singlet which has the fold down tabs with slits where your nipples can pop out to feed... This is the ultimate in discretion, but there is NO SUPPORT at all! How do they expect women carrying an extra kilo or so in boobs to waltz around with no support? I highly recommend not getting this one!

Version 2
The style of the outside of this singlet is the exact same as the other, but it has a built in bra, the supportive bra bit folds down which does allow an amount of exposure, but I recommend wearing these singlets under your normal top, so the top comes up, the bra come down and there is hardly any skin outside of what the baby needs... It also has the bra clip at the back so you can adjust the size of your bra between the usual three options as you change of the time you feed... I highly recommend this style on par with the bonds maternity singlet...

Fifteen Restaurant Melbourne

Fifteen Restaurant Melbourne
http://www.fifteen.net/restaurants/fifteenmelbourne/Pages/default.aspx
Basement, 115-117 Collins St(Enter via George Pde)Melbourne, Victoria
Reservations:1300 799 415

It has become a bit of a tradition to come here for Marks birthday, for a few reasons... One is its nice to treat ourselves to a beautiful meal... Two, they do a lovely vegetarian option, and seeing as though Mark is a vegetarian that helps... Three, all profits go towards helping more young people get into the program...

A nice space, we were seated in the less cosy area this time, unfortunately the wood seats aren't comfortable enough for a two hour meal, they really should keep this seating for the express customers and give the more comfy seats to those eating the 6 course degustation menu...The service is always spectacular, it hasn't yet disappointed... Strangely they have changed the pricing structure so that the vegetarians price is the same as the meat eaters price which seems a bit rich to me, but more profits for the kids I guess?!? The cheese board went from being full the first time, to 5 or so cheeses last time down to one cheese this time... It does make sense as I'm sure everyone is always too full to eat it, but its a noticeable drop in cheese there!

Overall I did enjoy my meal and I am assured that Mark enjoyed his, though I was a little disappointed in a couple of the courses, we will be back next year!


Starter:
Cheese rice and tomato in a batter covered in salt with aioli - one of the best parts of the meal!!!



1st course vegetarian option:
Bread salad - there wasn't a vegetarian option on the menu for this course, we thought it might have been a bit of an afterthought...



1st course meat option:
Porchetta ‘di testa’ with Fifteens pickled vegetables
This was probably my least favourite course, not hot on uncooked meats...


2nd course:
Ribollita: a thick Tuscan bread soup with cavalo nero, cannellini beans and lashings of Oliveria's Fifteen olive oil

This was a hearty soup, but it lacked seasoning and really felt like something I could easily whip up at home...




3rd course vegetarian option:
Rotolo of baby spinach, baked ricotta, sliced mushrooms, marjoram and lemon with nutty brown butter, crispy sage and Parmigiano Reggiano





3rd Course meat option:
Tagliatelle with a rich beef shin ragout, rosemary and orange gremolata and Parmigiano Reggiano
The tagliatelle was lovely, the star of the show was the beef which melted in my mouth...



4th course meat option:
Slow roasted, crispy Berkshire pork belly with oozy parmesan polenta, jus and salsa verdi
This was by far the most outstanding pork belly I have ever had, not too fatty, the pork tore away and melted in my mouth, the crackle was perfect, the polenta complimented it all, just freaking divine!!!



4th course vegetarian option:
‘Torte di verdure mista’: ricotta and mixed seasonal vegetables in a rustic pastry case with crème fraiche and pangrattato




Orange sorbet to refresh the palate before dessert



5th course:
Orange and vanilla frangipani tart with mascarpone
On its own the tar was lovely, a little heavy but with the mascarpone it lightened it up, a delightful dessert!



6th course:
Goats cheese and fig chutney
It was supposed to be farmhouse cheddar but they were out of it
I was far too full to try this but Mark said that the strong cheese was good...

Whip It

Whip It was on my list to see immediately after going to check out the Victorian Roller Derby League a few months ago... Was a brilliant night, and if I was ten years younger maybe something I would want to do... In any case the film was great, a big like Bring It On with fishnet stockings... Not much, but a bit... Great performance by Ellen Page, and most of the cast, a good job on Drews first directing job... The story felt a bit off track at times, sometimes it didn't quite gel, but was still entertaining and I didn't check my watch once in around 2 hours...

Funny People

Went to this film with one expectation - to laugh - and spent the first half of the movie laughing... The second half of the movie was good, but almost a different film to the first, it was humorous, but a bit more character focused... I didn't mind that too much but it did make it feel a bit longer then it needed to be... In any case I definitely think that if you are into Judd Apatows films this one shouldn't be missed!