It is time to put my yellow rubber gloves on I thought at 7.30pm last night. I took the cleaning product Ajax and started to clean up like a maniac. The good thing of having a tiny apartment is that the job is done faster!
While I was doing this kind of "stress- relieve exercise", mopping there, brushing here, I thought of this year of 2014, from January until now, September. Why? Because in the Southern hemisphere Spring starts on the first of September, tomorrow, and you know what they say, "Spring - clean", like the New Year's resolutions, a new start.
I decided to clean up not only the clutter we won't take with us to Peru, but also my thoughts and emotions, to let some fresh space in my mind for the next episode ahead of us.
My year began in Spain, as Aurelia, baby Juanan and I were spending Christmas with my family. Short but wonderful visit. Feeling homesick, I came back to Manila and continued with the weekly visits to the hospital for Juanan's multiple casts and a surgery on his foot. Thank goodness we had a restorative break in Australia during Easter (and my first 10 km race!).
After that holiday, May and June went fast but slow at the same time.
Time goes quick when you are busy. Indeed, we were occupied with successive farewells and packing up three years of our lives in boxes. However, when Nick and I had pauses, and I mean dinners, to reflex about our the unsettling present and the uncertainness of our future, a draining feeling of emotional exhaustion invaded us...I remember getting anxious during our last two weeks in Manila. I wished to leave as soon as possible. I fought against this uneasy sensation until the Philippine airlines took off on the 17th of June. And then, I was relieved but sad and regretting my wish.
We came back to Australia in June and had a wonderful holiday with Nick's family in Port Douglas, right up North in this vast country. It was Juanan's first birthday, on the 11th of july, a very cold but sunny day in Canberra, when we started a new chapter: a transitory period of two months before moving again.
During our time in Canberra I have learnt a few lessons. The most significant one on my way through cooking is that I am certain I can cook with less time, no gadgets and no cookbooks.
Saying that, I still like having cookbooks in my kitchen as they are little companions of my culinary adventure. Because of the weight, I didn't bring more than two so I occasionally researched in internet for recipes and I must say, the digital version doesn't give me as much pleasure as having a cookbook in hand. I like open it and see that some of its pages are stained by oil or perhaps by the splash of a bubbling tomato soup, for example. I like to touch the recipe as part of my joy of cooking.
Regarding the gadgets, I have used an aromatic glass candle as a rolling pin and a little lunch box as a cookie cutter, amongst others. However, I do miss my Kitchen Aid to cream the butter with the sugar for the banana bread. I survived without that magic machine but I struggled with a bad knife. A good knife makes your chopping job easier, safer - I almost added a chopped finger to the bolognese last thursday - and with more satisfactory results. The same applies to some soups and winter stews that got burnt in the thin and bad quality pots that the apartment provided us. I wish I had travelled with a heavy cast iron casserole!
For me, cooking is a fantastic way of bringing my own self, but I need to have time to be able to enjoy it. When Nick was travelling for two weeks, it was challenging to make complicated recipes. So I chose simple meals and not necessary plain. They were pretty good, if I say it to myself. And when I felt like having a Spanish omelette or tortilla de patatas, I recurred to "uncle" television to mind the kids. Nothing wrong with that as my goal was to nurture their tummies, right?
The lack of "mummy time" frustrated me during the first week in Canberra because I was used to rely on my nanny in Manila to give me a hand in the house so I could concentrate on the children, and myself. Now, 6 weeks later, I manage my day better. I learnt how to squeeze 10 minutes in between boys' naps or 15 minutes while they are nicely playing, to write my blog, read the Dish magazine or make a delicious pumpkin pasta rotolo for dinner.
I was even happier when I decided to get up earlier than I used to go for a long run. I loved starting the day with the sunrise but especially I liked the fact that I dedicated time for me, even if the rest of the day went wrong, I was fine. A positive energy changes the way you do things, and nobody else will do it for you anyway. Complaining and whinging do not help at all.
My kids have also learnt to play more with their imagination and less with plastic toys. They made a boat for Gabriel's favourite "elephant" from a weet bix cereal box, and a bed for Aurelia's "leon" using a cardboard box that it contained last Friday three superb burgers from the famous Brodburger cafe near our house. A magnificent take away dinner.
Now, I am in the chapter when Cinderella is wearing an inmaculate dress that her Godmothers made for her. She is coming out of the sparkling carriage leaded by white horses...
...and about to knock on palace's door. Peru.
PS: When I finished writing this post and looked over my laptop and asked Nick what he will miss of Australia. I was expecting a profound answer after I had spent some time meditating about 2014 and these two months in Canberra.
- humm...my Vegemite.
Three big jars of Vegemite are already packed
Vegeterian dinner: rotolo of pumpkin with spinach pesto
I didn't have my Anna del Conte Italian cookbook that I frequently use to make pasta at home. So I used the internet an came across with the recipe of "squash & spinach pasta rotolo" from Jamie Oliver http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/squash-spinach-pasta-rotolo
It is very good although I used English spinach (instead of frozen) and I mixed through 3 tablespoons of my homemade basil pesto (after you cook the spinach). It was a nice delicious touch.
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