Holiday Fatigue

Am feeling the wuv today.  Firstly am up on the Blog This website with a New Member Monday interview (yes, yes, it went up on Monday). And the lovely Sharnia of Chronicles of Sharnia has mentioned me as well.  Cool huh??

Other than these moments of sheer unadulterated wonderfulness, today has been exhausting. Took the screamies on their first train trip ever - in fact it wasn't, but they don't remember the other ones, little goldfish brains.  We hopped off at Milson's Point and had a stroll over the bridge.  Small rebellion at the half-way point - when everyone decided they weren't going any further - and me wondering out loud where exactly they thought they were going to go as we were ON A BRIDGE was not well received - solved it by bribing them all the way to the Observatory Park with fruit tingles.

I'm suffering a severe case of Being Over My Wretched Children this afternoon.  Or let's just call it Holiday Fatigue.  We've got a zoo trip planned for Friday, but I can't face it. The very thought of dragging them around, whining, complaining and generally being cranky, fills me with dread. DREAD I tells ya.  But the alternative, spending the day at home with them bored and nagging is an even worse thought.  Two weeks to go. Fourteen days. Ack.

Tomorrow I am escaping from this house, manuscript in hand, and may or may not return.

sigh.

Now, I have a book recommendation.  Its not often that a recipe book keeps me up reading late at night, in fact not ever.  But this one is something special.  Anyone who has read this blog for a while knows my love of preserving things and making stuff that involves bacterial cultures, yeast, fermenting and so on.  Well, all my dreams came true when I found Preserving the Italian way.

Wonderful wonderful book written by a Melburnian Italian on preserving stuff, making wine, salami, cheese, soap, oh you name it. But what makes the book so special is the authors anecdotes about the recipes, they are hilarious, and written with Italian style heart, humour and ebullience.

So yes, Preserving the Italian Way.  Thumbs up from me.