some randomness

Hi there

You know, sometimes this blog has a theme linking the pics, telling a story, letting you into a part of my crazy life (like Ricky Martin, I am living la vida loca).

Not this one. Nuh huh. Below are just some pics. Of me. Doing stuff. Cos I can.

Check it out:

I am into my train set. The orange thing in my hand is a little man. I am putting him on the tracks. I will then run over him. Life can be tough in Train Land.

In the garden with Dad. We dug a hole. We then put Little Jess in there. This is a plant apparently, not a person. Cos digging holes in the backyard and putting people in them is wrong and Daddy says I can't tell anyone about that.

Aaron had a birthday. I think he turned two, because that is how many candles he had on his cake. I decorated it with lollies. Sadly, mum didn't buy any lollies that look like Princesses.

Water is fun. You can tip it on the ground and splash it all around. Check out my cool elephant watering can. Bet you want one too. Maybe for Christmas if you are lucky.

Our special guests choose to stay at Campsie-Upon-Cook, the premier accommodation in the Moore St area. And they get to stay on blow-up mattresses. And the next morning, I get to lie on it, even when there is no air in it.

Ice cream. Really. Name something better.

I like sushi and sashimi. Actually, I like rice and the orange stuff, Dad called it roe but there was no boat going down any streams, so I think he was just making it up. I am like Daniel-san on the chopsticks as well.

Hooray! Mum has finally worked out how to download pics off her phone. This is me with my Mexican fiesta trike. Turns out I can totally peddle this baby like a big boy. Soon, I will be driving a car.

And lastly, the hairdresser. Now, apparently what happens is Mum pays some girl to sit me in a chair and give me toys to play with while she attacks my hair with scissors. And the toy? Just me or does this look like a mug shot of someone who would hold up a bank?

And there you have it.

Until you have it next time,

Harper

Invaders from the South

Hey again

More blogging good times... The other week, we had visitors - Greggy, Ali and Siddy came up from Melbourne. We hung out, as you do.

Greg let it be known that when he is in town, he is the boss.

Siddy let it be known that he is now the one who fixes things.

Greggy can't help himself - he demands a tidy yard. So my car, trike and truck were lined up against the wall and told to behave.

I had to reclaim the honour of the family, so at dinner, I kicked Siddy's backside in an eating contest. Take that Esposito!

Then the next day, Siddy totally spanked me in an ice cream eating competition. But, you know, I like to savour ice cream, not guzzle it. So I won, cos the contest was actually who can take the longest to eat ice cream. Double take that Esposito!

Mummy and Alice were being silly. Poor Monty didn't know what all the fuss was about. He just wished someone sensible would hold him for a photo.

Then Dad had a go and was completely useless as well.

Then, Siddy upstages everyone with his new look. He calls it 'Fire and Ice'. It totally wowed everyone.
We had to talk about this and the new look I am working on, which I can't reveal yet. But when I do, everything will change. I'm going to call it 'Luke Warm Water'...

Sharing a bath is fun. I am not sure Siddy agreed at first. Maybe it was the bubble-beard he was wearing.

But he got into it when we started playing with my toys and I showed him my ace bubble sidies.

Then it was family photo time. Apparently. I so wasn't ready and therefore made it a painful experience. 'Luke Warm Water' is not ready, I kept saying. No one cared.

Then Dad trapped me and we got this pic. Can you spot the dinosaur?

What a beaut visit. I am so looking forward to tearing Hobart apart come Christmas. With three young kids - me, Siddy and Poppy - on the rampage, it will be a Chrissy to remember. Only 3.5 months to go.

Cheers
Harper

fashion week rolls round again ....

Hi everyone

Sorry for the delay in blogs, you know, it's taken a while to recover from the end of the AFL season. Even fans need a Mad Monday or two...man, you should have seen how many lollies I put away. It really was madness.

Anyway, the people have been calling for this for years, so, now, with no further ado - the fashions of Harper Maxwell Perrett.

And yes, the HMP line of fashion will be available from a KMart near you.

First look - the flanny. When teamed with the traditional white singlet, it is never not hot.

Direct from Campsie is the latest fashion - putting stickers in your ears. Number 9 or 6 ... whatever, it's a sticker. I heart stickers. You can change this up by sticking them in your belly button.

Sometimes you have to consult with others in the field, to make sure your ideas are fresh. I met with Monty and we shared a few ideas from our portfolios.

Wearing a baby is so hot right now. Mine doesn't wee, poo or cry. How awesome is that?

You might call this a tea cosy, or maybe a beanie. I call it a 'bosy'. My bosy is awesome. All the cool kids will be wearing this soon. You watch.

Beads never go out of fashion. For spring, I say green beads.

Beads are hot when matched with ear rings. Red especially.

So there you are people, your fashion pointers for Spring 09.

If this doesn't make you cool, you will never, ever be cool.

Chow
Harper

I like my rice bubbles with truffle oil

Hi there

Welcome to a new phase in my life - Harper the food critic. Inspired by that dapper Matt Preston on Masterchef, my life's work now is to seek out good food and eat it.

Like Mr Preston, I am a hard taskmaster. I insist on the best. There must be hundreds of hundreds and thousands of thousands on a biscuit. Any less, and it is rubbish.

But I am more than just a critic, I am very capable in the kitchen as well. Inspired by Gary and that Greek guy who says 'Straya' instead of 'Australia', I have been running Masterclasses for mum. The first one - how to make the perfect pie.

Make your filling. I quite chicken and leek. Once you have put your cooled filling in ramikins, you put pasty over the top. Now, you should run a strip about 1 cm wide around the rim. This will help the lid stick.

See? Easy.

Then bake them for about 20 mins at about 180 degrees. Here's a very important tip - eggwash on the lids will really crisp them up and give them a nice colour.

Mum then plated up the pie. I put my red cravat on and tasted. The filling was morish, the chicken cooked perfectly, the leek comes through, mum really got some taste in there, good strong flavours. The pastry was excellent, I wanted to go back for seconds. A very good job.

Next Masterclass...pasta. You need some pots, some water, some pasta and a spoon.

Or an Aldi kitchen set. Then you cook the pasta until it is al dente. Easy.

I am not the only judge - my colleagues Ava and Immy are also on hand to taste the food. Here, Ava and I are sampling a modern high tea - sausage rolls with sauce. A classic when done well. The sausage mince needs to be seasoned well and not too fatty. The key to sausage rolls is in the rolling - a nice consistent tube of meat on the pastry, which is rolled over carefully with the join on the bottom. Like the pies above, a little egg wash will give them a seductive colour.

Later, Immi and I had a degustation menu to taste. We started with a twist on the legendary Anzac biscuit, the Anzac Slice. It was very good - moist but not sloppy and you could really taste the golden syrup coming through. Then it was crisp sliced Pink Lady apple with sun-dried sultana grapes from the Sunraysia district. This combination of textures really works well together.

I forgot my cravat on this day, so you can see my double chin. Lucky us foodies don't mind showing a bit of blubber - it's part and parcel of the game.

With my new calling, I have certainly put the pressure on mum to step up. This beautifully plated pear and rocket salad accompanied a simple mid-week dinner. In the past, we'd be lucky to see some random lettuce leaves thrown together and splashed with some commercial disaster of a dressing. I am happy to report those days are gone.

I encourage everyone to cook for me. I promise to be a fair and consistent judge, and to smear a fair bit of what you give me on my face, on my clothing and even in my hair.

Bon appetite
Harper

Um, I didn't ask for competition...

Hi fans

As you all know, I have a new baby brother called Monty. He is pretty ace. Obviously not as cute as me but man, pretty damn close. Almost a tie I reckon.

So here are some pics of me, and and just a couple of him, and I will let you decide. Of course, if you say him, I won't speak to you again.

Just saying.

Here's what I have been up to:

It's been raining here. While Dad moans about the grass being wrecked, I think it splashing is ace fun. Harden the firetruck up old man, I say.

When I go to a fancy dress and the theme is 'come dressed in your favourite outfit', well, there is only one choice - go dressed as a plumber. Mum wouldn't let me show off a bit of bum crack though, which is a shame. I am sure Uncle Tommy is all about the bum crack.

So cute. Monty is not bad either.

Some days it's all a bit rough and you gotta just have a cry. Ideally, your mum wouldn't take a photo of it, but there you go.

Some days I just get the iPod out and rock. I quite like the Kings of Leon and the other day got right into The Cult. I also quite like Justine Clarke, but don't tell anyone.

The bath - my other sanctuary, where I can play with bubbles, drink the water and, er, do other things with at least some privacy. Well, none actually as mum or dad is always watching and some nights, mum has that camera out again.

My career as an aeronautical engineer is coming along. This plane is actually safer than a Qantas jet.

I am taking my big brother role seriously. Here's me checking to make sure Monty is still asleep. Good, he is, now more attention for me.

And I do still like to grab some zzzzzs on the couch from time to time. I have been busy cooking up something for you all...that's coming soon.

I have spotted Monty mucking around on the computer while I have been busy doing other stuff...I think he is up to something. He better not be starting his own blog. Man, there is enough competition already.

Yes Sid, I am talking about you bro.

Till next time
Harper

Two two, check one two

Why hello there

Forgive me if I sound a little older, but I am now two years old, so it's only natural that I shall start to sound more grown up.

I celebrated my birthday over three days - Thursday with some ladies, Friday with mum and dad and Saturday with special guests. Wanna see? Sure you do.

Thursday - I am hanging with my posse of sweet ladies, Laura, Olivia, Grace and Chloe. There was cake.

As it turns out, I quite like cake.

Friday - all these presents magically turned up. Mum and dad gave me some building blocks, which are pretty ace.

Auntie Kara sent me a card with felt animals on it - a few hours were well spent playing with that.

That night, we went out for dinner. Mum and dad took me to Venice. For real. It looked a bit like Croydon Park to me, and the pizza tasted a lot like Rene's. What a coincidence.

Saturday - all good days can start like this. Here I am, my first beater to lick.

The cake mum made was very very grouse. It had butterflies and real life bits of the front hedge on it. And candles. Two of them.

It was these candles I would blow out in the company of Gillian and Aaron, Ava and little Audrey and their parents Kate and Stuart as well as Imogen, who brought her folks Natasha and Garrett along as well.

And I am still singing 'happy birthday' even now. Next year, my birthday goes for a week...

Hip hip hooray
Harper