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January 1st, 2010
 | 12:31 pm - Happy New Year!
It's been about 6 months since my last LJ entry .. and strangely enough I haven't really missed writing. But I've come on from time-to-time and read through other people's blogs and have decided I'm really not quite ready to let it go completely yet! In fact, I think I have missed the writing.. I think I'm just telling myself I haven't!
So here I am .. it's lunch time on the first day of the New Year and the new decade even! There's a pile of dishes in the sink awaiting my attention and an even taller washing pile. But they can wait!
Have another few days of work which is nice. Plans for that time include a bit of a clean-up from the Christmas period, a bike ride down by the beach, and perhaps a little baking.
Hubby bought me Adobe Photoshop Elements for Christmas so I also have plans to see if I can begin to make sense of some of that. And then there's the digital photos that need to be sorted, disks of photos to be burnt for family members, more photos to be uploaded to the photo frame - I'll have no trouble filling in the 3 or so days I have left I don't think.
Next break will be the Australia Day long-weekend at the end of January, which is not really a long-weekend, but as I've arranged to take the Monday off work I'll have a nice 4-day weekend available. Our plan is to go camping with friends again, and that will be lots of fun! I love camping, it's been part of my life since I was a youngster and I do miss it a little. We used to pack our bags each Thursday night, go to work on Friday and head away for the weekend straight from work on Friday. We used to camp wherever, cook whenever, walk to wherever, swim in some gorgeous beach-side and riverside places, and stay up late chatting and drinking around a campfire - they really were good days! We have a good tent and there's so many awesome places to go even here in my home State of Victoria .. I really should do it more often!
Travel is a part of my life and I'm looking forward to new travel possibilities in 2010 as well. I don't know that we'll have any great adventures to the other side of the world this year, but there's a possibility of a couple of work trips to SE Asia, and hubby and I are planning a few weekend get-aways and I will look forward to those occasions! My life of being a global nomad for work has ended, but I think the nomad in me lives on and is very happy to spend holidays travelling, and even enjoys those interstate and international work trips!
My Uncle wrote in my Christmas card "let's aim for less hospital admissions in the new year", and that too will be my aim for this year! Between hubby and myself we ended up in the emergency department 4 times during 2010 and I'd like to think that this can be reduced drastically! Here's to a healthier 2010 - if that's all the new year brought, then I would be very happy!
OK, so these dishes and washing are not going to do themselves .. I probably need to get a move along!
Happy New Year everyone - looking forward to all the possibilities that the New Year may hold!!
Current Location: Melbourne
Current Mood:  cheerful
Current Music: iTunes shuffle
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June 15th, 2009
 | 11:18 am - In the mood for purging!
Just back from overseas .. and have decided it's time to purge! Cleaning up the desk, cleaning up the computer, getting rid of things I don't use anymore (recycling where possible).
Suspect my LJ is also going to go - those of you who have Facebook can catch me there. I get online with that so much more often than here.
Now all I need to do is try to remember how to create a PDF version of my entries here .... for a keepsake!
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March 18th, 2009
 | 08:14 pm - Food musings
One of the few New Years' Resolutions that I made this year, was a promise to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2) ruzza that I would endeavour to cook one new dish each week, either for lunch on a weekend when we were both home or for our evening dinner.
This resolution came about for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I get somewhat bored when I cook the same things over and over again, and while stir fries are a relatively new thing to Ruzza they certainly aren't to me, and without fantastically new and exciting vegetables or new inspirations for tantalising sauces to bring out the flavour in the stir fry, I find that too many of them in a short period of time really doesn't inspire me. The second was because over the years I've built up a lovely collection of good cookbooks through gifts from friends and family that really aren't used to their fullest potential (see exhibit A below):
Over the last few weeks I've been recovering from surgery and so my dear Mum came to visit for a fortnight and helped with the cooking, cleaning etc. until I was strong enough to be able to do some things for myself (bless her heart!) In that time I think we had a MONTH full of new dishes, but since she has now returned to her home State I've decided to get back on-board with the resolution and keep that going - so far I haven't missed a week since New Year (well, apart from the week I was in hospital, that doesn't count!)
Last weekend we had some interstate friends over, and we had a great BBQ which was really good. We decided we really should do this more often, and to inspire us to do just that, we decided to move the BBQ from the garage where it was currently located to the back verandah, which is just outside the laundry and within very easy access of the kitchen. So tonight we had our first mid-week BBQ which I believe qualifies as this weeks' new dish (maybe not so inspirational in terms of using recipe books, but definately a new thing to have mid-week)!
And here is the pictorial evidence:
Nice clean BBQ to start the meal off
(I'm from the school that says you have to clean the BBQ after each use; I know others diagree but that's how I like it best)
Everything on the platter ready to cook
we have some tomato and onion sausages; potato slices; pumpkin chips; onions; zucchini; tomato and mushrooms
(I was also trying to use up some veggies that we had left-over in the fridge)
It's also all about how you lay it out on my BBQ
neat and tidy is my preferred option
Almost cooked - smelling delightful!
Yep definately looking cooked
look at those beautiful sausages by our local butcher, top quality!
Ruzza got home just as the cooking was finishing up - perfect timing!
Dont' think there were any complaints to the household's culinary department this evening
clean plates prove it went down pretty nicely indeed!
Tonight's meal also got me thinking about a comment that was made in jest over the BBQ with friends on Saturday, and that was a woman's place was inside making salads while the guys looked after the BBQ. Now the person that said it was certainly just speaking in jest, but it did get me thinking about these little things that are 'the norm' in terms of household duties, and I realise that we just don't quite fit those stereotypes. I have done much more BBQ'ing in my life than Ruzza and my Grandfather was probably the best teacher (if one needs a BBQ teacher) that I have ever had.
It also got me thinking of how much I have enjoyed spending time at home and having the freedom and the time to come up with something a bit more creative. Normally Ruzza and I travel together and reach home anywhere between 6.00pm - 6.30pm on a week night, which means if you want to eat at any sort of reasonable hour before going to bed you really need to have at least thought about what you're going to cook; and have defrosted the meat or at least pre-purchased it; and have planned to have something which doesn't take too long to cook. It's been nice to have virtually unlimited time in terms of meal preparation this past week. Could almost get used to this stay-at-home lifestyle - if only it paid as well as a working wife!
Well, that's my little inspirational musing for this evening .. time to think of what I could dredge up for tomorrow night's culinary adventure! I'm still off-work until Monday, so while I am still taking the resting and recovering thing seriously, I have ample time for thinking about what inspiring food preparation I might be able to muster up (or as my friend Katie calls it when I do these type of posts - "food porn" - hehe).
Current Mood:  energetic
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March 17th, 2009
 | 10:49 am - Death Anniversaries
When I lived in the Philippines, death anniversaries were a big thing. People would sometimes have the day off work to go and visit the graves of their loved ones; people would travel from other parts of the country to be with those who were going to the graves; and it would usually always involve big family get-togethers.
Today is the first death anniversary of my Grandfather, a truly amazing man who along with my Auntie Susan are two people that I can say that I do honestly miss.
This is the little link to what I wrote last year- doesn't seem much for someone that was such an influence in my life, but all fairly accurate:- http://kafechick.livejournal.com/82061.html
Today I am not planning to visit his grave as I am interstate; nor shall I be in the company of any other family members who are also all interstate. But I shall think about all the fond memories that I have of him, which should keep me pretty busy!
Donald John Collins was a man worth honouring, and a person I still (and probably always will) deeply respect.
Current Mood:  reflective
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February 22nd, 2009
 | 10:51 pm
There are some times in my life, when I have absolutely not a doubt that I am from my family. What I mean by that is some things that I do, that all my family members do, which leaves absolutely no doubt to any by-standers, that we are all from the one "pod".
My love of raspberries is just one of those things (something which ruzza just hasn't quite adapted to yet). There is noone in our family who doesn't like them, and probably even more than that - who doesn't go out of their way to get them, on an "as often as you can" basis.
The other thing that remains in common amonst us, is what we sometimes do to them (if there's enough left after picking - we tend to eat just as many as we pick if we're getting them fresh from the vines).
To illustrate this example, we have fresh raspberries (I froze these ones and defrosted them because I had to bring them back from interstate last weekend):
Add a little icecream or yoghurt (preferably ice cream), and they turn into "raspberry mush"
Probably NOT what one should be eating at 10.57pm at night, but nonetheless totally enjoyable.
Even have a picture of my little neice eating raspberries like this when she was only about 8 months old - it so runs in our family!
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: chipper
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February 11th, 2009
| 06:32 pm - More from the "koala series" of photographs ...
Here some more shots of some koalas during the last 2 weeks of Melbourne's terribly hot weather - some are taken directly from the area where the fires have been.
Koalas are definately not normally tame in any way - they are not as cute, cuddly and gorgeous as they appear - they have very sharp claws and would certainly not normally be this comfortable so close to humans - usually they run up the nearest tree (which in this case could well have been the problem, lack of eucalypt trees after the fires).
Having said that, these photos are so cute!!
Current Location: Home
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February 10th, 2009
| 10:56 pm - Sometimes photos speak for themselves
The weeks' events here in Melbourne have been nothing less than tragic and horrific. Yet out of all the tragedy - one volunteer stops to help the wildlife at one of the fire sites.
I am completely in awe of those who are tirelessly working towards helping those who have been affected by the fires here in Victoria, they are worth their weight in gold!
The death toll has reached 181 people, with a possibility of up to 300 people being found dead.
My biggest struggle is accepting that most of the fires in Victoria were deliberately lit - I struggle to think of how on earth you deal with the offenders who have done this. On one hand they are obviously nothing short of ill to not think of the consequences of their actions, yet on one hand I believe they deserve to be punished to the full extent of the law + some more.
But for now, I am one of the lucky ones and while I am indeed thankful for that, I still somehow don't feel like celebrating that.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/10/2487517.htm?section=australia
Current Mood:  sad
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February 7th, 2009
 | 05:04 pm - Too hot for comfort!
I am an ex global nomad. I have lived in countries where the mercury was used to being high day after day, and where the humidity was enough to drive anyone feral!
Yet today in Melbourne, it has reached an all-time high (ie the hottest temperature since they started to record temperatures for this City over 150 years ago). It hit 46.4 degrees celcius (that's 118F for those who deal in farenheit) at 4.04pm and it is still hovering around that now, an hour later.
We have aircon inside the house - which is a bit of a luxury and makes things bearable inside. But how is one supposed to come and go from the house when it is that hot I ask?
Thankfully it looks likely that tomorrow will be much cooler - unlike last week when we had 5 days in a row of hot weather.
Right now I feel like I just want to melt!! What is happening to our crazy world? Time to lament the days of being able to hose each other down outside in the name of cooling down - water restrictions have put an end to that. I'm sure life used to be "cooler" when I was younger!!
On the upside .. today I bought a cute little Kodak digital photo frame and am loving the trips down memory lane flashing up in front of me as I sit here at the desk. I've decided I like digital photography - a lot!!
Current Mood:  hot
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January 14th, 2009
| 10:58 pm - The things I do
Upon leaving work tonight, I thought "ahhh, a nice quiet night at home awaits me" and I began to think of what I might do after cooking dinner.
Little did I know what an industrious night it was going to be. First sign that it wasn't going to be as quiet as I thought - the local greengrocer was selling a 10kg box of apricots for $5.00. Who could walk past that I ask?
Second sign, the plums picked two days ago were beginning to over-ripen, hence some attention to their health and well-being was needed.
The end result of the evenings' work is below! What a busy little "squirrel" I have been!!
Angelina Plum Jam
Apricot Jam
The time I should have been thinking of perhaps heading to bed .. rather than starting a jam-making frenzy!?
Current Location: Home
Current Mood: energetic
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January 5th, 2009
 | 11:29 am - Amusement
Two entries in 2 days - woohoo!
Saw this on my friend Leon's blog over the weekend and really, really liked it.
Sometimes the simple things in life are the most amusing!!
Current Location: Work
Current Mood: cheerful
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