Food in Perth is great, maddening, exciting and different. Coming from food city that is Melbourne, it's not fair to compare two very different cities. Melbourne has a diverse restaurant culture fed by migrants and larger populations. Perth does somethings so well.
Recommendations
1) Station St Markets - much better selection of fruit and vegetables than any market in Melbourne, including Queen Vic. THough price is questionable. Picked up ciabatta from Lawleys, mum picked up exotic vegetables that are unavailable anywhere in Melbourne such as kaddu and loki.
2) Chilli noodles from IGA. Superb. Imagine noodles, deep fried, coated with chilli powder and tumeric with peanuts and more chilli. Naina loved them. Actually, it has kick started N's penchant for Deepti's chilli tomato pickle. Watching a two year old lick chilli pickle and them make yummy noises is a great way to relax at the end of a long day.
3) Yummy House. Chilli squid/calamari. Green got touched again, but I'd say it was worth it.
4) Cupcakes from Sweet on Cupcake on Waratah Road. Awesomeness, esp chocolate cupcakes.
Avoids
1) Sala Thai in Subiaco. Down hill since last time. Felt like I was eating medicine.
2) Anywhere where we ate fish and chips. D for disappointing.
04 April 2010
03 April 2010
Naina's got a new bed
Obviously its not for sleeping.
And to answer Deepti's question - no she wasn't!
And to answer Deepti's question - no she wasn't!
Random thoughts of Perth
N is better around more people than less. She is intensely social. Whilst still cranky Miss N, she found time to make friends with everyone who entered mum and dad's house, except my dad, who she remained a bit distant from unless it involved the pool, when she was his best friend/pool buddy.
She's an energizer bunny. See video in next post, but her energy for jumping is endless. She's got excellent calves. For jumping running and kicking (us).
N seems to know whenever I am asleep. She becomes some sort of guided missile, determined to wake me by sitting on my head.
Babies are close to indestructible. During aforementioned ice storm, N was jumping on the bed, landed awkwardly, hit her head on a book shelf and got an egg (really, an egg) bump on the back of her head. Intense (seriously intense) crying, howling, whimpering, I was despatched to pharmacy for Panadol and left with a sickening thought, she needs to go to hospital, she's cracked her skull, massive internal bleeding.
Come home, she's asleep, awoken to give aforementioned Panadol, less intense howling, we ring Emergeny who ask a few questions, like is she conscious, moving freely, bleeding. A few minutes of questioning, the nurse asks - ok, what's she doing now - she's smiling and laughing. Right. Ok nice nurse at PMH, we probably won't be bringing her in as she also demanding chilli noodles.
Her vocabulary, especially hindi improved. Her Australian accent is coming to the fore (ask her to say Yay!).
Our apologies to Benita and Andrew and Toby and Shelley and lots of other people. We were car-less for long periods and unable to meet. But we hope all is well.
She's an energizer bunny. See video in next post, but her energy for jumping is endless. She's got excellent calves. For jumping running and kicking (us).
N seems to know whenever I am asleep. She becomes some sort of guided missile, determined to wake me by sitting on my head.
Babies are close to indestructible. During aforementioned ice storm, N was jumping on the bed, landed awkwardly, hit her head on a book shelf and got an egg (really, an egg) bump on the back of her head. Intense (seriously intense) crying, howling, whimpering, I was despatched to pharmacy for Panadol and left with a sickening thought, she needs to go to hospital, she's cracked her skull, massive internal bleeding.
Come home, she's asleep, awoken to give aforementioned Panadol, less intense howling, we ring Emergeny who ask a few questions, like is she conscious, moving freely, bleeding. A few minutes of questioning, the nurse asks - ok, what's she doing now - she's smiling and laughing. Right. Ok nice nurse at PMH, we probably won't be bringing her in as she also demanding chilli noodles.
Her vocabulary, especially hindi improved. Her Australian accent is coming to the fore (ask her to say Yay!).
Our apologies to Benita and Andrew and Toby and Shelley and lots of other people. We were car-less for long periods and unable to meet. But we hope all is well.
Just some random... March 2010
Breaking the dog bowl. Note - we don't have a dog.
Rest break on way to Sorrento. Horsey rides are fun at the moment.
Not even close to the water.
Hail storm in Perth. Quite a frightening storm. Dad's car written off, house leaked in three spots. Nearly every plant in garden shredded. And hail like I've never seen.
Rest break on way to Sorrento. Horsey rides are fun at the moment.
Not even close to the water.
Hail storm in Perth. Quite a frightening storm. Dad's car written off, house leaked in three spots. Nearly every plant in garden shredded. And hail like I've never seen.
Water Water
Naina has a fear of water. She's not been overly exposed to it; apart from baths, occasional trips to Perth and watering the garden. As her last trip to Perth was when she was 9 months old, most memories were long gone.
Prior to Perth, we'd set up a tub outside the bath, bring bucket by bucket, hot and cold water and she'd "chup chup" away, satisfied and happily. Attempting the next obvious step - in the shower with Deepti or in the bath with me was met with resolute behaviour. Crying, whingeing and refusing, under any circumstance (including bribery with toys) to sit in the water. Fail.
So the next step became the next logical in between step. Take the tub, in the bath and fill that with water. Sigh. This was going to take a while.
And any trip to the beach (Sorrento, VIC, Mar 2010), well had predictable results:
Not even close. And didn't get much closer.
Arriving in Perth, this continued. Unfortunately you can't see the celery stick going into the bath with her.
Pleased to say N got over her fears. Albeit slowly. With MUCH encouragement from dada. Here she is attempting to drink the pool. (Naina got wet in the pool whilst clothed several times, hence my commentary).
She did not drink the whole pool. I think her nappies absorbed what she couldn't drink. And also absorbed what she did drink.
So by the time we left, she was not only bathing sans tub in the morning in the bath, but attempting to swim in the afternoon in the pool, with dada's assistance.
Prior to Perth, we'd set up a tub outside the bath, bring bucket by bucket, hot and cold water and she'd "chup chup" away, satisfied and happily. Attempting the next obvious step - in the shower with Deepti or in the bath with me was met with resolute behaviour. Crying, whingeing and refusing, under any circumstance (including bribery with toys) to sit in the water. Fail.
So the next step became the next logical in between step. Take the tub, in the bath and fill that with water. Sigh. This was going to take a while.
And any trip to the beach (Sorrento, VIC, Mar 2010), well had predictable results:
Not even close. And didn't get much closer.Arriving in Perth, this continued. Unfortunately you can't see the celery stick going into the bath with her.
Pleased to say N got over her fears. Albeit slowly. With MUCH encouragement from dada. Here she is attempting to drink the pool. (Naina got wet in the pool whilst clothed several times, hence my commentary).
She did not drink the whole pool. I think her nappies absorbed what she couldn't drink. And also absorbed what she did drink.
So by the time we left, she was not only bathing sans tub in the morning in the bath, but attempting to swim in the afternoon in the pool, with dada's assistance.
Just some random... February 2010
Babies are good at sleeping in unusual positions.
Holi 2010! Happy Holi everyone!
Holi 2010! Happy Holi everyone!
Perth
Perth was enjoyable. I kind of forget how life is kinder over there compared to Melbourne.
Things in Perth are close to everything else. Walking from the airport to the car, car to the house, house to the shops, house to the city. Perth is close. But then other things are really far away. Trying to get to a David Jones that had kids clothes on sale was nigh on impossible according to google maps. Check it out:
View Larger Map
Viewer note - not the actual path used.
It's frustrating being unable to find a nearby $2 shop when every suburban shopping strip has one in Melbourne. Naina is obsessed with chasing balls around and we could only find tennis balls. To avoid breakage, a search was undertaken to find a shop that sold balls. Two snooty baby stores in Nedlands advised that - no we don't sell those sorts of toys and the nearest $2 shops were in Fremantle or the city. Perhaps no one in Perth buys cheap toys for their kids? Maybe its all designer stuff, for the majority of the kid population? Seriously, the shops in Nedlands wanted $50 for a hat!
Nedlands and Dalkieth must be the most depressing places to raise a child now. There are a few parks, but very few playmates. All the kids must have been at the ski slopes in Switzerland, because we saw none in or around Naina's age. Either that or they've already got jobs as Engineers in the mining and gas industry. I remember growing up in the 80's (man, dude etc) and there were so many kids. If it wasn't kids, it was grandkids. None in mum and dad's street now.
That all said, Perth has some great things that Melbourne just can't match. Synergy Park. A cafe with bigger than texas style play equipment. I chased Naina up one of the play equipment and found myself higher than expected and with a sense of vertigo. The slide down challenged both of us; neither could muster the courage to go down.
Perth also does relaxed. I looked around at the lifestyle - it seems like none of my school friends and just one or two of my uni friends get home at 7pm Monday to Friday (like I do) nor are they on teleconference calls at 6am. Perhaps its the effect of everything being close - nothing is too far away. The distance from my parents house to James and Bronwyn's must be 10 km. 10 km is a thirty to forty minute drive in Melbourne, no matter what time, no matter what day. I reckon it was under 25 minutes in Perth.
So Perth has some great points, but then there are other parts that kind of make me feel glad we're in Melbourne now. If only for shopping and food.
Things in Perth are close to everything else. Walking from the airport to the car, car to the house, house to the shops, house to the city. Perth is close. But then other things are really far away. Trying to get to a David Jones that had kids clothes on sale was nigh on impossible according to google maps. Check it out:
View Larger Map
Viewer note - not the actual path used.
It's frustrating being unable to find a nearby $2 shop when every suburban shopping strip has one in Melbourne. Naina is obsessed with chasing balls around and we could only find tennis balls. To avoid breakage, a search was undertaken to find a shop that sold balls. Two snooty baby stores in Nedlands advised that - no we don't sell those sorts of toys and the nearest $2 shops were in Fremantle or the city. Perhaps no one in Perth buys cheap toys for their kids? Maybe its all designer stuff, for the majority of the kid population? Seriously, the shops in Nedlands wanted $50 for a hat!
Nedlands and Dalkieth must be the most depressing places to raise a child now. There are a few parks, but very few playmates. All the kids must have been at the ski slopes in Switzerland, because we saw none in or around Naina's age. Either that or they've already got jobs as Engineers in the mining and gas industry. I remember growing up in the 80's (man, dude etc) and there were so many kids. If it wasn't kids, it was grandkids. None in mum and dad's street now.
That all said, Perth has some great things that Melbourne just can't match. Synergy Park. A cafe with bigger than texas style play equipment. I chased Naina up one of the play equipment and found myself higher than expected and with a sense of vertigo. The slide down challenged both of us; neither could muster the courage to go down.
Perth also does relaxed. I looked around at the lifestyle - it seems like none of my school friends and just one or two of my uni friends get home at 7pm Monday to Friday (like I do) nor are they on teleconference calls at 6am. Perhaps its the effect of everything being close - nothing is too far away. The distance from my parents house to James and Bronwyn's must be 10 km. 10 km is a thirty to forty minute drive in Melbourne, no matter what time, no matter what day. I reckon it was under 25 minutes in Perth.
So Perth has some great points, but then there are other parts that kind of make me feel glad we're in Melbourne now. If only for shopping and food.
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