Striped T – Mix Apparel, puffer vest – Polo Ralph Lauren via the Premium Outlets in Hawaii.

But wasn’t today’s brisk start the perfect reason to get in touch with your inner North Shore mum?  A puffer vest over your striped top, your hair pulled back in a simultaneously no nonsense yet super glossy and volumed at the crown pony and a pair of dark denim jeans with some late model Nikes on your feet (perhaps the Nikes are more of an Eastern Suburbs reference, again made with love and respect).

There’s nothing like being dressed for day of no nonsense efficiency to set you up for a day of the exact opposite….

Preschooler SSG and I shared the prime alfresco area of our favourite cafe with another mother and preschooler duo.  The four of us spent the morning being each other’s echoes and shadows.  Without even trying.  It just happened.  Loud discussions about the number of marshmallows being allocated to babycinos by the barista on duty, toy trains and cars falling off tables, sudden disinterest in breakfasts chosen with passion only moments earlier, an insatiable need to wander far, far from the table and over to the dog at the table opposite who only wanted a few quiet moments under his daddy’s chair…  If only we hadn’t both worn our stripes and silver trainers.  All that channelling of well groomed efficiency probably put the day’s parenting energy off kilter.

Overlooking the Willow Pond.  It’s only the blue sky and sun that gives it away that we’re in Sydney and not London.  But the resemblance is still strong to me.

After breakfast, we made our way to the Willow Pond at Centennial Park.  Despite living so close to the parklands these days, this is the first time I’ve taken Preschooler SSG to play and explore.  It really is a breathtaking space to roam.  The winding paths that connect the ponds are canopied by stately trees.  It just all makes you want to do a personal best whether it be running, cycling, walking or preschooler wrangling.

The occasion this morning was a play date organised through preschool.  It was lovely to be able to meet a few more parents and put names to people formerly known as ‘X’s mummy or daddy’.

Preschooler SSG took to the park with passion and ran, climbed and pushed boundaries non stop for close to two hours.

I brought orange and date muffins using this recipe from Joy of Baking.

They were actually really good, even though I forgot, yet again, a key ingredient.  This time it was the brown sugar.  Fortunately the dates and my rather sweet navel orange saved the day.  Perhaps if I Instragramed less as I baked…  The muffin batter without the sugar was a little savoury and this actually went down quite well with the children this morning.  They had a light and fluffy texture too.  As you’d expect from a Joy of Baking recipe.

It’s been a day for great recipes from favourite food blogs.  This is what I had for lunch, courtesy of Cookie and Kate.  It’s a Veggie Sushi Bowl.  Made with quite a few shortcuts, I might add.  Which I’d better disclose early.

JP, a regular reader of the blog offered me a few handy tips about cooking with instant rice on my previous post about this and I took heed.

Instead of roasting sheets of nori as detailed in Cookie and Kate’s recipe, I whipped out a packet of these seasoned seaweed sheets and crumbled one packet over my seasoned rice.

Not as elegant as the original but a little easier for those of us who cook in short cuts.

My edamame were sourced from About Life.

The fiddliest prep step for this dish was unshelling the cooked edamame.  But it was a satisfying kind of fiddly.  Just think popping packaging bubbles only healthier.

As were my black sesame seeds.

The Sriracha spiked mayo is crucial to the success of this recipe and the pickled ginger works brilliantly with it.  My final short cut was using half a packet of Avo Fresh.  Didn’t hurt the taste one bit though it doesn’t look that pretty.

I’ll leave you with a kitchen cliffhanger.  I read a recipe for Bircher muesli somewhere on my Facebook feed this week that required the addition of almond meal to the muesli as it soaks overnight.  It’s meant to add a richer taste and texture.  I’ll report back.