Getting pastalicious

For some reason Reuben and Tilly were talking about homemade pasta recently, and I was sufficiently inspired to dig out a recipe, mix some dough and get my pasta machine out of the cupboard.  And the results were really, really good!  I've bought fresh pasta in the supermarket over here, and it's actually not that great - quite rubbery and dense in fact.  But this homemade stuff was, as the Masterchef judges like to say, light and silky!  Here is the master at work:

Hannah's day is more exciting than expected

Here I am all glammed up on Tuesday morning in a baggy hospital gown and charming hairnet and ready for a septoplasty and mega antrostomy

Christmassy jollifications and other goings on

Despite a mini-heatwave leading up to Christmas, Christmas Eve was cold and blustery with diagonal rain most of the day.  The traditional Kiwi Christmas Day BBQ was under threat.  However, the heatwave reasserted itself in time for the big day and hasn't stopped yet:

Here's a run-through of what we've been up to.  WARNING: contains nudity!

Happy Christmas from Godzone!

We've been rather quiet on the blogging front recently - it's been a tad busy as we've been combining end of semester for me, end of term for Reuben and Tilly, the start of the triathlon season for Dave, a sprinkling of birthday parties and sports events and the general mounting excitement over the approach of Christmas and the long summer holidays.

Here's a lovely handmade card by Miss Tilly:

which had this beautiful picture of its creator inside:

And here are some more festive colours for you: no holly and ivy in the garden but I did find these.  Yay for summer!

Meanwhile, Reuben came back from school with a self-penned book called The Magic Turkey, a dramatic tale of how a turkey evades Thanksgiving lunch, on the back of which was this lovely author's bio:

The name's Burdekin, Tilly Burdekin

Discovered this on Tilly's writing pad the other day:

So I want to know: has Tilly been contracted to write the script for the next Bond film?  If so, what happens next, because it sounds gripping!

Or is she just demonstrating an overly cautious approach?  Perhaps her life is actually full of hidden dangers that her parents simply don't appreciate because we've forgotten what it's like to be six. I don't remember it being particularly perilous, but maybe I've blocked out something traumatic.  Hmmm....

What we have been eating recently 4

For a start, some of us have been eating things we weren't supposed to:

I call this the 'well, it's your fault for leaving the chocolate spread jar on the side where I could reach it after dragging the stool across the kitchen and climbing up' expression. Harriet can add it to her croissant stealing expression, I suppose.  As for the rest of us, we've been enjoying a new cake recipe

Harriet shows a range of emotions

What could possibly make Harriet pull a face like this?

Feel the full force of my displeasure, miserable offender