2009 into 2010

I had an email (well, a Facebook message) the other day saying 'Do you still do your blog?' Uhh, not really. Here I am on New Years Eve, pumpkin roasting in the oven (no, that's not a metaphor!) with some time to spare so I thought I'd write a little about 2009, what happened to me, and what I hope for in 2010.

I started my new job, and it has been (mostly) good.
You know, I think a lot of teachers feel like they're faking it most of the time, myself included. I mean, you do the study, you stand up in front of the class, and sometimes the magic happens. Well, the magic happened with my Year 6 class of '09. It was the first class of people I have actually missed during my holidays and most of the year was nothing short of fabulous. I was really lucky to fall on to my feet in a school that I immediately felt familiar with; and even after a difficult selection process, I was welcomed by my new colleagues with open arms.
Most of all, I appreciate being a permanent teacher (finally)! After years of holding out for an Art job (and never seemingly, teaching art), I finally have found a job where we can study Basquiat and Arcimboldo amongst the other subjects, and then go forth and create... at this age the kids enjoy the theory as well as the practice, and for me, that's a little piece of heaven!
I do however, miss my freedom. My school can come across as being too much of a 'tight ship' and sometimes this can be translated as being mistrustful of teachers. Well I'm happy to report I'm at a school where everyone works damn hard, and this is evident in the happy, well balanced students we are helping.

I started my Masters degree, and it was sort of a shock!
I applied to commence my Masters degree in Education in 2009 (well, the first 'part') when I wasn't sure if I would ever get a permanent teaching position. I figured it would help my prospects and keep me busy if I found myself out of work. Well, as it turned out, I got the job AND started the Masters degree in 2009.
It has been hard, I have kicked and screamed and whinged all along the way. I started off getting really bad marks and lost my confidence. I quickly improved but found attending lectures with other teachers annoying, most of all I hated feeling like I had to be competitive. Completing assignments meant locking myself up at night and on weekends for weeks, and this also meant an increased presence on the net ;)
However, good things have come out of it, including some extra paid teaching work at the uni, and it's good to feel like I know what I'm talking about when I'm asked to contribute to professional conversations at work. I will probably take a year's break from half way in 2010, mainly because I am getting married!


In 2009 I got engaged to the one I love!
This is by far the most pleasing and exciting thing that happened to me in 2009! On the 24th of July Mark and I went away for the weekend to Kangaroo Valley. We stayed at a beautiful little cottage called the dairy@cavan and something special happened when we were walking across the Hampden Suspension Bridge, the oldest suspension bridge in Australia, built in 1898 (neat!) It was lovely to see how genuinely happy everybody is for us, and we are very excited about our wedding in Sydney, October 2010!


So, we had an engagement party.
We didn't necessarily want to have an engagement party, but it seemed like an opportune time with new babies recently born, Dad returning from Portugal, and elderly family members wanting to get together. So one Saturday early in November, at approximately 37 degrees celcius, we held a Mexican Barbeque (of course!) for our families.
One of the best things was that my Nana Colgate eventually came along after all, after threatening not to come for about a month (giving very confusing reasons and making me upset). I was also pleased to see my Pop Richards, as the week before he was in hospital having quite a serious operation, so it was a big effort for him to come along and sit in the heat.
We received some wonderful presents! Such as an authentic Norman Lindsay print (a lady with her boobs out!) and expensive kitchenware (my favourite). Engagement presents to start with seem a bit extravagant, so we were touched to receive so much quality stuff!
Besides the bbq, I cooked some awesome enchiladas after poring over cookbooks for months and asking my friend Michelle in the USA what she thought of the recipes. The family couldn't get enough, I could have got away just with having an enchilada party!
We had an adorable cake, this lady up the street from my Dad's place in Menai truly makes the freshest, most delicious buttercake with second-to-none buttercream icing. We had a heart shaped cake studded with smarties, which we ate with ice cream, it definitely was a highlight of my day - and just $40!


This is not me! (I'm pretty sure it's my teacher Caroline.)
I (then we) discovered yoga.
Yes, we have all heard about how yoga is a life changing experience. Well, I'm so pleased I found the Kings Cross Yoga Centre this year, and have become very disciplined about attending classes (unusual, I know)! I couldn't even touch my toes at the beginning of the year, and now (after stretching) I can rest my hands on the floor. After I had been attending for about 6 months Mark started as well, it has been great for both of us. The best thing is knowing that I will keep going to yoga, it's no longer something I have to force myself to do. I generally have always disliked team sports and fitness, preferring incidental exercise, so it has been wonderful to find something we both enjoy and can commit to wholeheartedly as well.

We both very much feel like adults these days.
It seems I don't mind talking real estate, I worry about my car and think about when I should organise salary sacrifice. I cook the dinner, I turn up on time, get a little buzz from feeling organised, and wake up without hangovers. It's great to support my friends and (try) to be there for my family. We still live in our little flat with great views in Potts Point and often consider sacrificing our house deposit for an overseas trip.
Most of our close friends no longer live in Sydney, and we continually wonder how we'll do it - even though on paper we do pretty well, it seems to buy a place, have children and afford Sydney you must cling to the fringes of the city. We wont be moving anywhere in the near future though, we have a very quiet and pleasant life and our jobs keep us firmly planted right here!

My favourite places to be in 2009...
- Walking down Macleay Street in the afternoon, when the breeze carries the smell of the harbour up the street
- Andrew Boy Charlton Pool
- My lounge, staring out the window out towards the Art Gallery of NSW!
- City of Sydney library at Customs House
- Yoga
- Fratelli Paradiso or Yellow for coffee, if I have a visitor (otherwise it's the plunger at home)
- A Tavola restaurant for something special
- Jimmy Liks for cocktails!
- Newtown or Glebe, largely for reasons of misplaced nostalgia
- Melbourne (only wish I could go more often)
- jezebel.com to feel normal
- passiveaggressivenotes.com or lamebook.com for laughs
- jcrew.com sale page for beautiful clothes (thanks for sending them out Michi!)
- oncewed.com for my type of dream weddings!


My favourite other things of the year...
Well it seems that most of my watching is done on the net these days, how can one possibly wait for a weekly show on free to air television? It got even better towards the end of the year when we hooked up our macbook to the big tv.
2009 was definitely a year for watching the entire (available) series of Mad Men and The Wire, which I enjoyed very much. I'm also watching Seasons 1-3 of Big Love looking forward to Season 4 with gusto! Those who know me well also know I enjoy watching the news and this year I found I was watching SBS world news more often, as well as the 7:30 report and Q&A on the ABC. I'm also a sucker for most cooking shows and design shows such as (anything!) Nigella and Grand Designs.
I'm adoring Ben and Jerrys ice cream's arrival in Australia, along with cooking Pastabilities frozen pumpkin and goats cheese ravioli on the nights we can't be bothered to cook!
I loved the new album from The Crayon Fields this year as well as Monsters of Folk. We don't go to too many gigs at the moment but really enjoyed Joanna Newsom, Rufus Wainright and Sufjan Stevens (all seperately!) at the beginning of '09, rock on!
We are constantly watching films and the main three that come to mind this year were The Savages (but then again, was that 2008?!), Bright Star and Elegy.
Books? I'm constantly reading but it's better that you ask Mark.

And now I am all out of puff. That is all for now, it has been quite a self-indulgent experience, this blog post!

We have had a great year, wishing you all the best for 2010! (another exciting year for us!)

xx

New look

So, I'm not sure if I have been neglecting my blog or if it's just because I'm getting all grown up and I don't feel that I have to broadcast every thought I have!

This blog has largely become more of a place for dumping things I want to look at again and has definitely moved from something of an attempt at being public, to something that I use more simply to please myself.

If you happen to find yourself here, enjoy. I have changed templates this morning and it feels much cleaner to be here. A newly cleaned room with the window open and the curtain fluttering in the sunlight.

Killer Recipe: Cardamom Cake

I made this cake to celebrate my last yoga class of 2009. It was a smashing success! I have only begun baking again recently, but this cake is encouragement enough to keep it up!

Ingredients
* 40g butter, chilled, cubed
* 1/4 cup plain flour
* 1/4 cup demerara sugar (or combination of brown / raw sugar)
* 1 lemon, rind finely grated
* Handful of shredded coconut

Base
* 3 eggs
* 1 cup caster sugar
* 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
* 125g butter, softened
* 300ml carton cream
* 2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
* 1/2 cup flaked almonds

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 7cm deep, 10cm x 21cm (base) loaf pan, allowing a 5cm paper overhang.
2. Rub butter into flour to resemble fine breadcrumbs. Add sugar and lemon rind. Mix well. Set aside.
3. Make base: Beat eggs, sugar and cardamom until combined. Add butter. Process until smooth. Add cream and flour. Mix until combined. Spoon into pan.
4. Sprinkle almonds over cake, pressing in with your fingertips. Sprinkle with lemon rind mixture. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand for 5 minutes in pan. Use baking paper overhang to lift cake onto a wire rack to cool. Slice and serve

Syrup
* 1 1/4 cups water
* 1 cup caster sugar
* Juice of one lemon
* 1 tsp ground cardamom

- Bring water, sugar, cardamom to the boil
- Simmer for 10-20min
- Cool

Enchiladas!

It's enchiladas time, I must not lose this link (and have forgotten my delicious log in, yawn)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-enchiladas-with-roasted-tomatillo-chile-salsa-recipe/index.html

Killer Recipe: French Pastry Hearts

When I was little my mum used to drive to Illawong Bakery and buy me a french pastry heart. Well now I am engaged! and tomorrow I am having a work morning tea to celebrate. I decided to take along a little plate of these, and they are so easy and quite cheap to make.

When I was searching for a recipe I quickly discovered that this is quite a famous little snack in Buffalo, New York. Well, you learn something new every day.

Ingredients:

* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1 tsp. cinnamon
* 1 sheet puff pastry dough, thawed if frozen (I just keep going with a pack of 6)
* 3 Tbsp. butter, melted

Preparation:
Line baking tray with baking paper. Combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl.

Brush pastry sheet with melted butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. You can be very generous with the sugar!

Starting with the longest sides, roll up each side until the rolls meet in the center. Refrigerate dough 5-10 minutes or until dough is firm.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. With a knife, gently cut the pastry roll into 16 slices. Place slices, cut side down, 4cm apart on baking paper. Pinch bottom edge of each slice to form a heart shape. Drizzle hearts with remaining 1 Tbsp. butter and sprinkle with any remaining cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 190 degrees for 10-18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire rack to cool completely; store at room temperature.

Ice and add sprinkles!

I imagined someone asking, What's the big difference between then and now? I knew that it wasn't all the changes, big and small, in Turkey or India or Singapore or Vietnam. It wasn't the computers or the internet or high-speed trains, not fast food or cheap wristwatches or everyone wearing blue jeans. The greatest difference was in me. I had survived the long road that led to the present. I felt lucky, I felt grateful. I didn't want any more than this in travel, clattering through the tunnel; I didn't want another life. I had a book to read, a book to write, and enough solitude. Most of all, someone missed me and was waiting for me, someone I loved. As Murakami had said of his own love affair with Yoko, that was everything.

Paul Theroux, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

Killer Recipe: Spring Vegetable Soup

The other morning Mark woke up and told me he would like vegetable soup for dinner - I wasn't too enthused but on the same day I fell across a recipe and the results were brilliant!

Sure it needs a trip to the green grocer and a food processor but the results taste just like Rosella Spring Vegetable Soup that I so loved in childhood (a compliment!)

SPRING VEGETABLE SOUP

25g butter
1/2 cup sliced leeks (white part only)
1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup diced sweet potato
1/3 cup diced turnip
4 cups vegetable stock
salt, pepper
1/3 cup frozen corn kernels
1/3 cup diced zucchini
1/3 cup chopped green beans
1 peeled and chopped tomato
1/3 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup parsley, chopped

Melt butter, add leetk, celery, potato and turnip, cook stirring for 5 min.
Add vegetable stock, salt and pepper, bring to boil.
Lower heat and add remaining ingredients, simmer for 5 min.
Top with chopped parsley, serve with bread.

From: Bill Granger: bills SYDNEY FOOD, Murdoch Books 2004.

On the trail of Laura Ingalls Wilder

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/44451872.html

Procrastination

The home of procrastination, I love it.

http://procrastinus.com/

Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Mount Gambier, Kangaroo Island, Adelaide.

Mark and I decided to take a trip. It had been a few years since I had seen my very good friends Ben and Kristyn who live in Mount Gambier, they now have three kids! And Mark is yet to see much of our wonderful country, excepting some boardrooms in a few different cities. So we saddled up, and off we went! Here are some travel notes.

MELBOURNE..
Well many of us know Melbourne pretty, if not very well. This was probably the longest time I have spent there without it blurring into some type of three day hangover, and it was just lovely. Mild and sunny, with many locals out of town for Easter, we wandered around and took in the sights, caught trams, gorged on food, reaffirmed coffee addictions.


Melbourne Street Art.


More Melbourne Street Art.


Balcony Room at Hotel Tolarno

We stayed at Hotel Tolarno in St Kilda, which in itself was good value and an excellent choice. However, we paid a little extra for a balcony room which was largely a bad idea because most of the time it was out of the sunlight (so was a little cold and dark) and the pubs and venues in the area ensured we had one night of disrupted sleep, with the usual noise problems and drunk people cruising up and down the street.




Crazy Acland St Cake Shops! (There are at least 4 like this, and we didn't eat a THING!)

I liked staying in St Kilda because it is out of the Melbourne CBD and gave Mark and I some breathing space, and trams and cabs were always available. Upon arrival we wandered up Acland Street and gaped at the cake shop windows, and back down The Esplanade via Luna Park and the wharf. There were markets and it was warm and sunny, and it was a lovely start to our trip. I will say however, that St Kilda is not quite the same place as I remember from a few years ago and now in spots reminds me more of Oxford St in Sydney. It was a shame to see the arrival of a few 'New York Pizza Slice' food outlets and the like, seemingly at the cost of small boutiques and the more eclectic and colourful stores of the St Kilda I remember.


Scenic Railway at Luna Park. Notice the guy standing up operating the brake!


Kewpie Doll on building, Flinders St.

Other highlights in Melbourne mainly involved food. We ate at Mirka which was a wonderful experience, sitting amongst all the artwork and murals. I really enjoyed my 'Bombe Glacee Pavarotti' which was basically hot raspberry sauce, surrounded by icecream, then meringue. A triumph! We also made our usual trip to Pellegrinis Espresso Bar and visited various bookstores around town including Metropolis Bookshop. Remembering we were in the middle of an Easter weekend, we got quite a lot done!


Me at Pellegrinis, Melbourne.


Mirka Restaurant.


The Paperback Bookshop.


Free push bikes at Little Creatures Alehouse, Melbourne. Mark actually drank a beer here!

GREAT OCEAN ROAD.
So we picked up a hire car and were disappointed that we had no GPS, even after requesting. Boo Thrifty! After a few nervous moments we made it out of town and on the road to Geelong and The Great Ocean Road.


The Great Ocean Road.

I'm not really sure if I should air this view, but the Victorian Government has done a pretty good job of talking up The Great Ocean Road. Sure, parts of it are awesome, but most of it is really no different to driving south from Sydney. The real action doesn't really start until after Apollo Bay, where we stayed at the excellent eco beach YHA Apollo Bay. This part of coast was busy with holiday makers, lots of cute cottages and houses to stay in, and even in the Autumn breeze people were swimming! This coastline is obviously a favourite for Melbournites as it seemed everywhere was booked out, although everything still seemed relatively quiet.

I really enjoyed the drive from Apollo Bay to Port Fairy the most. Of course, this is the area where the Twelve Apostles are and some of the other major natural attractions. I like the more jagged and atmospheric appearance of the area, the rocks and the more powerful oceans. On this part of the coast I was also reminded that fishing is indeed the great unspoken national pastime, and we saw many long jettys jutting out into less gentle seas, whole families of people fishing, and rusty trawlers full of 'pots' for crayfish/lobster fishing.


Mark at the Twelve Apostles.


Somewhere on the road.

There is not too much else to say about The Great Ocean Road unless you are there, or you have been there. It is something that is worthwhile doing, although I would recommend doing it over 3 or 4 days for a more relaxing trip, we missed a few things as we needed to move on towards Mount Gambier. It would be a great place to holiday and this is evident from all of the many people staying there year round. I think it would pay off to have a holiday house on The Great Ocean Road!

MOUNT GAMBIER.
It was awesome pulling up at the petrol station, turning around and seeing Kristyn, Ava, Edie, and Gabe waiting for us! By total accident we had chosen exactly the same place in town to wait and meet up, and our friendship resumed as if we had only seen each other days, instead of years previously!


Alfie the little cat.

Mount Gambier is a town about the same size as Orange or Bathurst in NSW, it is farming and forestry country and the 'welcome to Mount Gambier' sign has a picture of a logging truck on it. Ben and Kristyn have a wonderful home and one hundred head of cattle, chooks, a dog called Chasey and a little cat called Alfie, who I almost took home with me, such a bundle of sweetness!


Alfie and Laura.


Alfie the Hunter.

Ava and Edie made us pictures and showed us how to collect eggs and hold a chicken, Gabe took a few shaky first steps and we visited local Coonawarra Wineries where I bought enough bottles to put my bag overweight at the airport in Adelaide! I picked up a few bargains at local antique shops (an old seed sack is now a pillowcase!)and we heard about the 57 or something snakes that were killed on Ben and Kristyn's farm over the Summer.

This really is a wonderful little corner of the world. Kristyn is a member of a very supportive arts collective called sole sisters; making, exhibiting and selling artworks locally in addition to running a web design business as well as raising three beautiful kids! The earth is golden from limestone and there are beautiful coastal areas nearby like Penola and Robe where I could imagine returning to have a very relaxing and scenic beach break in the future!


Mark at The Big Lobster, somewhere on the road.

KANGAROO ISLAND.
Kangaroo Island is much like The Great Ocean Road, but I enjoyed it much much more. Unless you've been there or are going there hearing all about it would be about as enthusing as watching a prolonged slideshow of your uncle's trip to Hobart in the 1970s. But Kangaroo Island is unique! It's just a shame that we saw so much but often forgot to get our camera out of the car, although Kangaroo Island really is a place of awe and beauty that is best seen with the eye.

Umm, Kangaroo Island is really hard to describe because it's sort of environmentally conscious, and empty of people, and overflowing with nature, with early 1980s kit homes in small towns, tasty seafood and home businesses that like you to 'visit and take the tour!' And tour we did.

We picked up a hire car after catching our ferry over on Sealink, although I'm pretty sure that next time I would fly over to Kingscote. The ferry trip itself was pleasant, but the bus connection from Adelaide to Cape Jervis was tedious and made me quite sick. We stayed at the Penneshaw YHA, which had really comfy beds and was nice and close to the ferry terminal! There were many great little houses to rent, however with only two of us it would have been a waste of money.

We spent a few days driving around the Island (called 'KI'), checking out the sights and local business. Highlights included a visit to Island Pure Sheep Dairy, where we saw Sheep getting milked for cheese, and they all looked so happy and contented, and the cheese was gorgeous to taste and so cheap! We also visited Cliffords's Honey Farm and snapped up lots of gifts, as well as sampling the famous honey ice cream. Kangaroo Island is famous for its Ligurian Bees and it was wonderful to see the whole process in action, I was also happy to pick up a few pure beeswax candles as I love the smell of honey candles and they can be quite expensive here in Sydney...

By far the highlight of Kangaroo Island is the wildlife. On the first night Mark and I went up to the pub for food and on the way back were greeted by penguins! There are penguin tours around the area but you don't really need to be taken around to find them, they are just running around on the foreshore, making their funny honking sounds!

We drove to Seal Bay and watched Sea Lions (many, many Sealions) on the beach, which was so interesting we lost all track of time. Seal pups suckled their mums and Bulls chased Cows around the beach, as well as lazing around and diving through the surf. There was also a skeleton of a Humpback Whale on the beach which was pretty cool to see, I think if I lived on Kangaroo Island I'd like to work at Seal Bay!

We also visited the New Zealand Fur Seals down at 'Admirals Arch' where they played by the water and were generally very smelly. We also stopped by 'The Remarkables' which is a series of strange volcanic rock that poke directly out of the coastline. Enough said, you'll have to see it for yourself!


NZ Fur Seals at Admirals Arch. I have no idea why we don't actually have any photos of The Admirals Arch itself!


Laura at Lighthouse on Kangaroo Island.


Laura.


Laura at The Remarkables.

You can learn more about Kangaroo Island overall here. I would genuinely recommend a trip to Kangaroo Island, although I think a five day trip is more appropriate than the three we spent there. There are many walks around the island we had to skip as we did not have time, which would have been a good break from all the eating we did! I'd also recommend that you hire a 4WD, we almost flipped our car on a dirt road and although everyday cars are 'fine' I think a 4WD would offer more peace of mind and comfort on the many dirt roads around the island.


Mark at The Remarkables.

ADELAIDE.
Adelaide, no need to be so self conscious! It seemed that wherever we went people were apologising for the fact we were visiting their city, which surely would be so boring and inadequate compared to Sydney! Sure, Adelaide is no more than a two day city, but it has a wonderful set of shops on one end of Rundle Street, including a great boutique called Bauhaus which had a great collection of Mexican homewares (sorry, no website!)

We stayed at the very nice Clarion Hotel Soho which was on the 'right side' of town, very quiet, with lovely louvered windows that gave us an uninterrupted sunset and fresh air. It was by far the best hotel we stayed in on our entire trip, and at least $100 cheaper than their equivalents in Melbourne or Sydney. If only we had stayed a little longer, it was so relaxing!


Room at Clarion Hotel Soho, Adelaide.

I also had the pleasure of visiting the restaurant of Simon Bryant, the Chef from the TV Show 'The Cook and The Chef.' His restaurant is called 'The Brasserie' and is the mid range restaurant at The Hilton Hotel Adelaide. I was disappointed that Simon was 'in and out of the restaurant' that night because of a cold, but I sensed he wasn't there, oh well. The food however was delectable, with Mark eating one of the best servings of king george whiting and chips I have ever seen! If I were an Adelaide local, I would be visiting The Brasserie often.


Beehive Corner, Adelaide.

While on the subject of Adelaide food, one must visit the Chinatown cafe for a meal. I stumbled upon this restaurant while waiting for the bus to Kangaroo Island, and had some of the best Asian greens and rice I have ever eaten anywhere! Definitely food for the soul, this place was hustling with customers during lunch when I returned with Mark for more food. I'm sure locals are all about this place, but don't make a trip to Adelaide without visiting Chinatown Cafe!!

The Art Gallery of South Australia was also a lovely surprise, with a eclectic collection of colonial and Australian Modernist works, it felt as if my HSC Art Textbook had come to life! A great gallery store with plenty of art postcards made Mark happy, and I loved seeing early Margaret Prestons and Arthur Streetons come to life, complimented by some serious colonial furniture and quirky silver on display. Like I said, nothing to feel embarassed about Adelaide, you certainly hold your own!

And that was our trip to Victoria and South Australia. Nine Days in total, two hire cars, one speeding ticket, one misplaced NSW driver's licence, a few kilos heavier, two loaded credit cards and two happy faces. I think you should try this trip.

Why it's good to have a sick day. (sometimes.)

Last week I was sick with something mild but I kept going in to work.

Being a teacher, this mostly goes unnoticed as the people around you are mostly kids and they do not really know how to see much beyond their own noses.

Anyway, I ended up FATIGUED! I kept asking myself "is something wrong?" and I was even worried I was becoming depressed, I thought I might need to see a nutritionist because I was all out of energy! And then I realised I just needed a day off.

And this is why it's wonderful. I:

- organised to get my blinds and kitchen sink fixed
- went for a run, and there was hardly anybody else running
- watched the sky turn the colour of a latte
- hung out my window and watched some road rage as a (rather hot) looking workman used his own crane to load gravel into Paul Keating's backyard
- moisturised
- got a quote to get my cream lounge cleaned, then booked
- found out the details of my health insurance and changed my address with them (haven't heard from them for 18 months)
- took a piece of my birthday cake down to my building manager
- ate a piece of birthday cake myself, with a properly brewed pot of tea
- booked a table at Jimmy Liks for dinner with my friend Kat
- got my fringe trimmed
- had my car washed
- walked around my local shops and bought some groceries
- watched screaming kids climb the mast of The Young Endeavor from my window

All before yoga and dinner!

But then in the afternoon I felt sick again, and almost vomited in the hair dresser. Yeah, I am still sorta sick. The more I rush the more giddy I feel. Mild ear infection!

I must admit that I still haven't done my ironing though. Sigh.

Killer Recipe - Lasagne

I had my birthday celebration today and I cooked a very successful lasagne!
This recipe is 1970s all over, the more everyday your ingredients are, the better! So dried herbs are fine, I also use low fat cheese and milk, just so the lasagne is not so rich, I must admit this seems to work.

Here is the recipe:-

lasagne noodles
parmesan cheese
cream

MEAT SAUCE
1 tablespoon oil
500g mince (I use heartsmart)
2 x cans tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

CHEESE SAUCE
60g butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
salt, pepper
125g grated cheese
handful parmesan

- Heat oil in pan, cook mince until brown, pour off excess fat.
- Add rest of ingredients, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 60min

- To make cheese sauce melt butter in saucemapn, stir in flour, cook for 1min, gradually add milk until sauce boils and thickens, stir in cheeses.

- Layer in pan - noodles, meat, cheese sauce. Finish with a layer of noodles. Add parmesan cheese on top.

- Bake in moderate oven for 25min, spoon cream on top then cook for a further 10-15min. Yummy!

From Australian Women's Weekly Cooking Class Cookbook, 1992.

"When I was young I admired intelligent people, as I grow older I admire kind people." --Abraham Heschel "Kindness and patience with others is the ultimate sophistication."

Anatomy is Awesome!

I've been exercising more steadily for about three months now. I ain't no Olympic Athlete, but for pretty much the first time in my life I'm enjoying myself and am beginning to see small changes and results.

I run up around Mrs Macquaries Chair a few times a week, I have begun meeting Mark at the Andrew Boy Charlton Pool to do a few laps, and I am considering a return to yoga.

A pretty big turn around if I do say so myself! (Think back to 2 years ago when I smoked a pack a day and ideal snack was Sao with butter, maybe honey too ;) or 5 years ago when... oh let's not look back that far, I may have been skinny but there were definitely problems)

Anyway, so I'm learning lots, but of course along the way I have had a few pains, mainly in my legs. Some stretching has helped, but sometimes it's hard to describe where the pain is, to ask how I should stretch!

And then I found this awesome website. Go forth and experience anatomy for yourself!

http://www.gwc.maricopa.edu/class/bio201/muscle/leg1.htm

And some stretches to help cure the problem: http://myname.physiotherapist.net.au/exercises.htm

Oh, and it's my Soleus that hurts :)

Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come. --Chinese proverb