Ilaeria

Sunday Baking: Milk Bread

2012-01-10T21:16:00.000+10:00

I know it's Tuesday but I did make this bread on Sunday, and I've had several people ask for the recipe after seeing my pic, so here it is! This is converted to a regular recipe from the original Thermomix one in the My Way of Cooking book. WARNING: I made this bread using my Thermomix and the original recipe and am converting it for your convenience as not everyone has a Thermomix. I have NOT tested this version of the recipe! And I have no intention of testing it, as the Thermomix makes life (and bread-making) so much easier. I'll be interested to hear from anyone who does try making it sans Thermomix to see how it works out.

Milk Bread
Makes 1 loaf

300ml milk
50g butter
20g fresh yeast (or 2tsp dried)
60g sugar
550g baker's flour
1/4tsp salt
1 egg, beaten, for glazing

Warm up the milk until it is lukewarm, either in a saucepan or in the microwave, being careful it doesn't overheat and boil or scald. Melt the butter.

Mix warmed milk, melted butter, yeast and sugar in a large bowl and leave to stand for 5 minutes to wake the yeast up and get it starting to work.

Add flour and salt and stir to combine, then turn onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and silky and elastic.

Place the dough in a large, oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about an hour).

Divide the dough into three equal parts and, on a floured surface, roll each into a rope shape. It will take a couple of minutes to roll out each one: be patient and don't be tempted to just stretch it out or you'll ruin the texture of the bread. Let the three ropes rest on the board for 5 minutes - they will shrink back a little.

Join the three ropes at one end, plait them, then join up the other end. Place the plaited bread onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, cover with a tea towel, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about half an hour). While rising, preheat the oven to 180C.

Brush the loaf with the beaten egg and bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing.

I assume you could also make this just in a large loaf tin, but why not try plaiting it? It looks so pretty!

Can't Blog, Dragon-Slaying

2011-12-31T17:33:00.000+10:00

Well, it's certainly been quiet around here lately, hasn't it? The last time there was a lull in like this was when Dragon Age II came out, and astute readers may have noticed that this lull coincides with the release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I'll be honest: this is the first Elder Scrolls game I've really gotten in to, and I love it. 185 hours since 11/11/11 (release) so far, according to Steam. So it's clearly taking up the majority of my spare time, for which I am unashamedly unapologetic. In the mean time, have a variety of Skyrim-themed lolcats and videos!

Skyrim is all about fighting dragons, and the setting is Nordic-themed.

It's also a rather violent game, probably not suitable for young kittens.

All of the NPCs (non-player-characters, the general population of the game, for those of you who don't play games) have random environmental chatter. One of the things a guard can say when you walk past is "I used to be an adventurer like you...Then I took an arrow to the knee."

My current iPhone wallpaper. So cute!

Read more »

OOTD: The Race That Stops The Nation

2011-11-01T18:14:00.000+10:00

Today was Melbourne Cup Day in Australia. This is a public holiday in Victoria and a non-official public holiday for many other places. Our office basically closes for the afternoon and other offices have at least a lunch or something. Most offices have a sweepstakes draw as well. Our office dress code is very casual - jeans, shorts, t-shirts - and so for Melbourne Cup we usually dress up. Even the boys dress up. I bought a couple of dresses from ASOS a few months ago that I haven't worn yet and was planning on wearing one of those, but unfortunately they don't fit properly so I need to get them taken in at the back or something. So I had to switch to my back-up plan.

Dress: Beth Ditto at Evans

Shoes: Hush Puppies

Bracelet: Handmade

Necklace: Store on Mt Tamborine

I love this dress and I've featured it here before. I feel like it has shrunk vertically a little bit - it seems shorter than it was the first time I wore it - but I still think it looks great.

More pics of my accessories after the jump!

OOTD: Scarlet Woman

2011-10-25T19:00:00.001+10:00

A couple of my friends from New Zealand were in Brisbane for the weekend so on Sunday I went up to meet them and we shopped 'til we dropped. I accidentally bought a new skirt from Autograph so I really wanted to wear it today, as you do when you buy new clothes. I also had a pair of tights from my last We Love Colors order that I hadn't worn yet so I figured I would pair them up.

T-shirt: Mr Vintage

Skirt: Autograph

Tights: We Love Colors (Scarlet Red)

Boots: Dr. Martens at Platypus

I'd been looking for a new shorter-length skirt for a while but it was difficult to find one that wasn't too frumpy or had horrendously expensive shipping, so when I spotted this one in Autograph on sale for $20 I knew I had to snap it up. The tights are much, much brighter than they look in the pic: really vivid red. Dave tried to get a couple of pictures of them but they really don't show the brightness:

I've featured this t-shirt before and it's fast become my favourite Mr Vintage t-shirt. I easily wear it once a week. I love the print and it's just a little bit dressier than some of my other t-shirts. I love all my Mr Vintage t-shirts and they are all in high rotation but this one in particular gets worn more than the others.

The skirt is super comfortable - the waist is elasticated at the back, there's no zip or anything - and it wore pretty well. The viscose fabric does have a little tendency to crumple but I thought it did pretty well. The colour goes with pretty much anything. It will get plenty of wear because it will be light and cool in summer and goes well with all my tights for winter. It's nearly too warm for tights here now so I'll have to say farewell to all my We Love Colors tights until next year.

Phoebe

2011-09-29T19:36:00.000+10:00

Today my dog, Phoebe, had surgery to remove a lump on her leg. Phoebe is over 10 years old now and this is her first major health issue so I've been very lucky really.

It started a week and a half ago when I notice a really big lump on her right foreleg. She has a few little fatty lumps so we usually keep a close eye on her various lumps and bumps, and she spends most of her time inside with us so we notice changes quite quickly. But this was a new lump neither of us had seen before and was already about the size of a chicken's egg which was quite frightening. I called the after hours vet and they said that as long as it wasn't bleeding, she was still eating and drinking, and didn't seem to be in pain or bothered by it we could wait until our own vet opened. So I did that and called our regular vet the next day and made an appointment for Monday to have her regular check-up and shots which she was due for anyway, and to check the lump out at the same time.

On Monday I took Phoebe to the vet and saw a different vet than my regular one. She was lovely though and Phoebe was very well-behaved which was good. She checked her over and said her lymph nodes weren't swollen which was a good sign. Then she gave Phoebe her two injections and took a sample from the leg. She checked the sample while I waited and said that it did appear to be cancer and that we should bring her back as soon as possible to remove the lump, to be safe, and that it would cost around $1000. So I booked Phoebe in for surgery for today.

I dropped her off this morning before work and called at 3pm to check that she was okay to come home, then picked her up at 5:30pm. Her leg is bandaged from right up near her body down to her toes. She had another little bandage where the IV had been (which I removed when we got home), and had been given a cute bandanna. She's hobbling around and putting some weight on the leg, kind of hopping every third step or so, and is quite perky. The vet said she may not be interested in dinner, but of course she was! She had something to eat and drink and is now resting.

The vet said that it looks like the lump was a spindle cell tumor which was malignant and quite aggressive. He thinks he got it all but he won't know until the lab reviews it - we should find out on Monday. It was very close to a major vein and some nerves on one side. He had to cut one of the nerves, which apparently just controls surface sensation and shouldn't affect the working of the leg. Because of the size of the lump and its location, there wasn't enough skin to close the hole properly, so there's quite a big open wound and she is going to have a nasty scar. We have to get the bandage changed every couple of days because of the open wound - it will be quite weepy until it closes up. Her general health is really good - they did a blood screen to check her kidney and liver and so on and they are very pleased with her health and weight overall so that should help her to have a swift recovery.

I really hope they did manage to get the whole lump, because if they didn't and it comes back then the options are radiation therapy or removing the leg, neither of which are going to be cheap and both are quite scary. There is a third option, of course - one which one person has already suggested we consider: euthanasia. While I fully support euthanising an animal that is in significant, incurable pain (a decision I have had to make personally on one occasion and have been involved in on several others), I am not going to choose that option simply because it's too expensive to treat her. Phoebe is my daughter. She's been with me longer than anyone and we've been through a lot together. I know she's getting old and one day she won't be with me any more but fingers crossed she has a lot longer to go just yet.

Postcrossing: Russia

2011-08-31T19:00:00.000+10:00

At first glance, when I looked at this postcard I was expecting it to be from Egypt - but no, it's from Russia! I would never have expected to find a monument like this in Russia. Apparently it is in Leningrad.

On the back:

Hi! I see you love baking and this is good, because I love too. I can endlessly is our national dish - the pancakes. "Basketball - not sex, where both win." Good luck and love! Max =)

I didn't realise pancakes were the national dish of Russia! But of course they are not called pancakes - they are called blini. I like the quote too but I'm not sure where it is from.

The stamp is a painting of what I think is the Kremlin.

OOTD: Purple People Eater

2011-08-30T20:24:00.000+10:00

Top & Cardi: Jay Jays

Mini: Torrid

Tights: We Love Colors

(Lavender Plus Size White Striped Tights)

Boots: Dr. Martens at Platypus

I received my latest order of We Love Colors tights last week and was very excited, as usual. I probably won't order any more for a while - it's coming into warmer weather here so I'll probably wait and see if they offer free shipping to Oz/NZ again next year before I buy any more. I hadn't bought the striped tights before and I was a little disappointed when I pulled them out of the bag - the material is different from their nylon/lycra tights and is a bit scratchy, not nice and silky. Then when I was putting them on this morning I was almost worried they were too small - they were quite tight. But once I had them on I fell in love immediately. I'm not sure why, but they just made me feel happy!

I also got lots of compliments from my friends at work, which was nice. All day I kept looking down at my legs and smiling. It was the perfect outfit for my "Monday"!

Postcrossing: USA

2011-08-12T19:00:00.008+10:00

This is my first advertising card, but I don't mind, because it is baking-related! It is from a bakery called The Buttery, in Santa Cruz, California.

On the back:

Greetings from Northern California. We recently went to Santa Cruz and found this nice little restaurant. It all smelled so good.

The stamps are 5 more American Clocks, another stamp from the same "American Design" series showing American Toleware (a painted jug), and one promoting the "Go Green" initiative showing a cartoon man checking the air in his car tyres with the message "maintain tire pressure".

Postcrossing: China

2011-08-11T19:45:00.000+10:00

Pandas! So cute. I remember when Auckland Zoo had pandas visiting, they were so popular.

On the back:

Greetings from China:

I wish you'll like the panda card and these stamps. I like Koala and kangaroo in your country =D Happy Postcrossing!

The stamps are beautiful paintings of Chinese architecture and are just exquisite.

A Dance With Dragons

2011-08-07T16:25:00.000+10:00

This post is going to be totally spoilerific if you haven't read A Dance With Dragons. You have been warned!

I don't really want to do a review but I did want to mention a couple of things, and also get on record my prediction so in 10 years when the series is finally finished I can turn around and say, "Nailed it."

Firstly, the trend of introducing buckets of new POVs and giving them random stylish names instead of just using their own names has continued from A Feast for Crows, which I didn't like. I remember when A Storm of Swords was up and coming, George R. R. Martin released teasers of who would be new POVs and it was exciting trying to figure out who was being introduced. Now, so many people have had a POV it's becoming a little confusing. Also, I don't understand why they can't just have their name. I could let Theon/Reek slide for example as Theon is confused about his name himself...same with Sansa becoming Elayne in aFfC. But Asha? Barristan? Quentyn? Just use their name, for goodness' sake!

Also, while I certainly appreciate that this book's timeline extends beyond the previous one, so the story has advanced, there's still so many holes. We only briefly see Brienne appear, give Jaime a story the we know is certainly not true, then disappear with him in tow. We see nothing at all of Sansa or Littlefinger or the Vale in general. We see nothing of Rickon and Osha and Shaggydog. We get plenty of new characters, including a random woman we've never heard of before declaring she was supposed to marry Brandon Stark (Ned's brother) and that she bears a grudge against the Starks for that not coming to pass. Quentyn Martell appears to carry out his father's decades-long plan, then promptly becomes dragon fodder. It starts becoming difficult to keep track of everyone, especially when each House has a tradition of similar and reused names.

It''s not all bad, don't get me wrong - I still loved the book, although it took me longer to read than I thought it would. I was dragging it out I think, because finishing it meant that I would have another long wait for the next one. I loved Tyrion's chapters, as always. I liked finding out more about what I presume is the Faceless Men, through Arya (although that also left many questions unanswered, and she was another victim of Random Name Changes). Cersei got her comeuppance and seems on the brink of change for the good, although events in the Epilogue could change that.

Anyway, enough blathering, let's get to my prediction. Dany keeps reminiscing on the words of Mirri Maz Duur and thinking that it means she will never have another child. But this is the passage from A Game of Thrones:

"This is not life, for one who was as Drogo was. His life was laughter, and meat roasting over a firepit, and a horse between his legs. His life was an arakh in his hand and his bells ringing in his hair as he rode to meet an enemy. His life was his bloodriders, and me, and the son I was to give him."

Mirri Maz Duur made no reply.

"When will he be as he was?" Dany demanded.

"When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east," said Mirri Maz Duur. "When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. Then he will return, and not before."

Mirri Maz Duur is talking about Drogo returning, not about Dany having another child. Just because three of the conditions seem impossible, that doesn't mean the fourth and fifth are also impossible (note that I'm splitting "When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child" into two separate conditions). And in her final chapter, when she is confused about her "moon blood", it seems that she might be miscarrying. Let's break down the prophecy one condition at a time.

When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east: House Martell is represented by the sun, and in A Dance With Dragons Quentyn Martell is called "the sun's son" by Quaithe. The Martell power is rising in the west, while Quentyn dies in the east. This could be taken to fulfill this part of the prophecy.

When the seas go dry...: In her final chapter, Dany is walking through the Dothraki Sea and thinks to herself that the grass is drying up and dying off due to the change of seasons. The Dothraki Sea drying out could fulfill this part of the prophecy.

...and mountains blow in the wind like leaves: This could be the hill Drogon makes his lair in, turning to ash as he burns it; or the pyramids that Rhaegal and Viserion collapsed and used for their own lairs; or another event I haven't thought of or that hasn't happened yet.

When your womb quickens again...: If Dany is in fact miscarrying in her final chapter, then her womb has quickened and this part of the prophecy has been met.

...and you bear a living child: this part of the prophecy has clearly not been met, unless you count the dragons, which seems unlikely.

So, three or four of the conditions of the prophecy have been met. My prediction, then, is this: Dany will bear a living child, and he will be Drogo reborn. Now I just need to print this out and stick it in one of the books so later on I can refer back to it!

OOTD: Mr Vintage Week: National Parks

2011-08-05T19:26:00.000+10:00

According to the Mr Vintage site, the logo on this National Parks t-shirt was last used in 1987, before the Department of Conservation was created. I like the neutral brown colour and the stylised, retro print. The fabric is also really soft and comfortable.

T-shirt: Mr Vintage

Cardi: Jay Jays

Mini: Torrid

Tights: We Love Colors (Hunter Green)

Boots: Dr. Martens at Platypus

This cardi is the lighter grey twin of the cardi from Wednesday's outfit. I love the colour of these tights, one of my friends pointed out they are quite Christmasy and I might wear them at Christmas with my red Christmas dress. Don't forget the We Love Colors free shipping to NZ and Oz as well, as I mentioned in Wednesday's post linked before. I'm really liking the mini-tights-boots look right now and I think I need some more minis for variety!

Here endeth Mr Vintage week. I do have a few other Mr Vintage t-shirts, including the first one I ever got which was a present from my sister, but I might do another event like this in future, so I need some reserves up my sleeve.

Postcrossing: Spain

2011-08-05T19:15:00.000+10:00

Unfortunately another postcard with very little information about what the picture is of. The sender mentions on the back that is modernism art. Gaudí is presumably Antoni Gaudí, a Spanish architect, and I'm assuming this fountain is from one of his buildings. If you know more, let me know in the comments!

On the back:

Dear Jennifer! Hi! How are you? Fine I hope so! I'm Lluna a Spanish woman who lives in Barcelona city. And here I sent you a pic of our modernism art. Hope you like it. Saludos desde España.

Lluna

My rudimentary Spanish (the benefits of working in a heavily multilingual office!) tells me that the Spanish sign-off means "greetings from Spain".

There are two stamps: one is a stamp commemorating renewable energy and depicting the process of creating geothermal energy in a colourful diagram (yes, really). The other is of an unnamed dude, who looks vaguely familiar but I'm not sure who he is.

OOTD: Mr Vintage Week: O For Awesome

2011-08-04T19:03:00.000+10:00

This O For Awesome t-shirt probably doesn't make much sense to non-Kiwis, or even a younger generation of Kiwis. It refers to the legendary NZ boxer David Tua's appearance on Wheel of Fortune, when he asked for an "O for Awesome". Over the years, there's been much controversy over whether he was actually asking for an A, or whether he said "Ocean" or "Olsen" or something else...But "O for Awesome" entered the Kiwi lexicon, and there it stayed. I love the bright blue of this shirt - it's a really electric blue and this pic doesn't really do it justice.

T-shirt: Mr Vintage

Jeans: JeansWest

Sneakers: Converse at Platypus

At least I'm standing up straight in this photo. I always stand the same way though. I need to come up with some poses or something. I'm not really a camera lover.

The Converse sneakers make another appearance! They're so comfortable. I'd never had a pair before but I wanted an alternative casual work shoe to my Dr. Martens boots, so I picked these up from the same store I got the boots from. They fit my long, narrow feet perfectly and even though they have quite thin soles, they don't feel flimsy. I think I need another pair!

OOTD: Mr Vintage Week: Tea For Tui

2011-08-03T19:27:00.000+10:00

I saw this t-shirt when it first appeared on the Mr Vintage site a few weeks ago and knew I must have it immediately. It's called Tea For Tui and the print is a beautiful one of a Tui perched in a tree with an old-fashioned tea cup. Tui are native NZ birds and have the most beautiful and unusual call - no two are alike and they are excellent mimics. Their colours are beautifully iridescent and impossible to do justice in a picture, but the print does a pretty good job of showing the sheen on the wings and tail.

T-shirt: Mr Vintage

Cardi: Jay Jays

Mini: Torrid

Leggings: We Love Colors (Rubine)

Boots: Dr. Martens at Platypus

Why can I never stand straight? I realised after I had put this outfit together that I'm channeling the style of my friend Sonja, which is awesome because she is fabulous and quirky. I think I need to get some more minis to wear over leggings.

I picked up two of these hooded cardis at Jay Jays a couple of weeks ago on special (one dark grey, one light grey) and I've barely been out of one or the other since. They go with everything and are super soft and comfortable, and the perfect weight for the mild Gold Coast Winter.

Don't forget We Love Colors still has free shipping to NZ and Oz for orders over $30 until the end of August! Just enter the code WELOVENZAUS at checkout. I saw a few months ago that they had introduced leggings to their range, but looking at the size chart I didn't think they would fit me. Then I read a post from Lesley at Two Whole Cakes (which I now can't find) where she mentioned she had got some, so I decided to give it a shot. I'm so glad I did, because I love them - the fabric is smooth and thick and super-comfortable, the colour is as vivid as their tights, and they feel really high quality. I'm going to order some more before the free shipping runs out!

Postcrossing: Portugal

2011-08-03T19:05:00.000+10:00

My second card from Portugal, and very different from the first. I love the vivid colours of the flowers and the beautiful butterfly. Unfortunately, the card doesn't include any information such as the name of the plant or the butterfly. If you know, please share with me in the comments!

This was also my second card in an envelope, although it didn't come with a big long letter. The message is written on the back of the card as normal.

On the back:

Hi Jennifer! I am Maria and I am from Portugal. I also love to read and learn new things. Here's a quote I particularly like from Shakespeare: "Love all. Trust a few. Do wrong to none." Hope you like it! Oh...And cuddle your fur babies for me! I have 3 dogs and 5 cats - just love them!

Happy postcrossing! Adeus! (Bye!) Maria

5 cats! Wow! I recognised the quote but couldn't place it, so I'm ashamed to admit I had to Google it (and I call myself an English major). It's from All's Well That Ends Well.

The stamp is of a hummingbird and flower and, if my rudimentary Portuguese is correct, seems to be commemorating the International Year of Biodiversity.

OOTD: Mr Vintage Week: Mr Whippy

2011-08-02T19:31:00.000+10:00

I ordered another trio of t-shirts from Mr Vintage last week and they arrived yesterday, so I decided to do a Mr Vintage-themed week of outfits! My normal work outfit is jeans and a t-shirt so I will try to mix it up a little bit, but I thought it would also be interesting to show my regular outfits instead of just the fancy ones.

Today's t-shirt, which you've seen before, features the classic Mr Whippy ice cream truck. We used to get Mr Whippy coming down our little cul-de-sac all the time, and we would always rush out to get an ice cream when we heard the music. It reminds me of my childhood and the t-shirt is on high rotation in my wardrobe.

Also, new hair! It's not quite the colour I was going for, which was more red and less orange, but I'm still happy with the result. It ended up being very close to my Daddy's natural hair colour.

T-shirt: Mr Vintage

Jeans: JeansWest

Sneakers: Converse at Platypus

I look pretty uncomfortable in the photos. I wasn't really feeling it today, but I'm determined to get through my mini-challenge of a t-shirt post a day!

Postcrossing: USA

2011-08-02T19:19:00.000+10:00

I'm not sure why, but for some reason the scan cut out the line that is displayed on the top of the card, which said "I've learned that..."

I adore this card. The quote is beautifully inspirational. It is credited as from Live and Learn and Pass It On by H, Jackson Brown, Jr.

On the back:

"Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts." Charles Dickens

Bonus quote! Another inspirational one. This was exactly what I needed today, and the thing I am loving most about Postcrossing: I can have a terrible day, then come home to a little ray of sunshine in my mailbox.

There are five stamps on the card: the American Clock one I've received a few times now, a butterfly, a red and white star, a Tiffany lamp, and a portrait of George Washington.

New Recipe Monday: Chicken and Chickpea Pilaff

2011-08-01T18:18:00.000+10:00

A little while ago we got iPhones, and one of the first apps I got for mine was the Nigella Quick Collection recipe app. It contains recipes by Nigella Lawson that are quick and easy, ranging from snacks and baking to meals for a group. I've used several recipes out of it so far and they've all been fabulous.

Chicken and Chickpea Pilaff
Serves 6-8

4tsp garlic oil
4 spring onions, finely sliced
12 (900g) chicken thigh fillets, each cut into 4 bite-sized pieces
1tsp ground turmeric
1tsp dried dill
2 1/2C basmati rice
2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3C hot chicken stock
chopped parsley, chives, dill or cilantro (coriander) to garnish, optional

Pour the garlic oil into a wide, heavy-bottomed pan that comes with a lid and put on the heat.

Add the spring onions and stir for a couple of minutes before adding the bite-sized pieces of chicken.

Turn the chicken in the heat, then add the turmeric and dried dill and cook for another couple of minutes.

Add the rice and stir well, so that the chicken and rice are combined, before adding the chickpeas and stock. Give another good stir before bringing to a bubble.

Clamp on the lid, then turn down the heat and leave for 20 minutes, by which time the chicken will be cooked through and the turmeric-tinted, golden-hued rice will have absorbed all the liquid.

Season to taste and fluff up with a fork before serving.

***

I guess chicken thighs are much bigger in Australia, because we bought 12 and it was nearly 2kg, so we only used 6 and had to cut them into 8 pieces to make them bite-sized. We made this in our Chasseur casserole dish. We didn't have any herbs so left off the garnish. This was quick and simple and delicious, and gave us a couple of days worth of leftovers to boot.

Postcrossing: Finland

2011-07-25T19:00:00.011+10:00

The birds on this card are golden eagles. They are so beautiful and majestic. I'm really loving the bird cards I've been receiving.

On the back:

Hello Jennifer!

I'm 18 years old girl from Southern Finland. My favourite quote is from a movie "Millions" and it sounds like this: "Money is just a thing, and things change". It reminds me not to be worried! Happy PC!! Wishes, Laura.

The movie she mentions, Millions, sounds really interesting, so I think I'll have to track it down and watch it. The quote is a good reminder that money isn't everything.

The stamp is of a little raspberry cake, surrounded by raspberries, and is applicable to me as raspberries are my favourite!

The Face of Terror

2011-07-24T19:30:00.000+10:00

(Image via Full Fat Milk)

On Friday, Anders Behring Breivik (the man on the left in the above picture) committed two terrorist attacks in Norway. He planted a bomb in Oslo and then went to an island where a youth camp for the ruling Labor political party was being held, shooting over 80 people before giving himself up. Nearly 100 people dead, in total.

These were acts of terror. But the war on terror has really been the war on other - and other in the West is non-white, non-Christian, non-civilised. A white Christian man from Norway, one of the most civilised countries in the world, surely wouldn't commit an act of terror? He's one lone guy. He's not working in a group. He doesn't represent every blonde Caucasian male.

He must have some motivation other than terror. Never mind that he appears to be behind a 1500-page manifesto full of anti-Muslim sentiment. Never mind that he posted a video along the same lines. He's one of us, he can't be a terrorist!

It turns out that Anders Breivik also happened to enjoy video games. He played World of Warcraft, and Modern Warfare 2, and Dragon Age 2. A-ha! Now that is a story. He's not a terrorist, he's just a gamer influenced by violent games! Because, as everyone knows, violent video games cause people to act violently. This angle was covered by The Australian, and also very strongly pushed in The Post Chronicle (NOTE: Massive spoiler for Dragon Age 2 in that article, and the next paragraph in this post - skip if you don't want the spoiler).

I have no idea what sort of "news" outlet the Post Chronicle is. I'd never heard of them until today, when the story linked above was posted on Twitter. Their reasoning, which is iron-clad, is as follows: Anders Breivik played Dragon Age 2. There is a character in Dragon Age 2 who is also white and blonde and named Anders. The Dragon Age 2 Anders blew up a "political" building (I would say "religious", but this is the Post Chronicle's party). Anders Breivik also blew up a political building. Therefore, Dragon Age 2 is responsible for the Norway attacks! Fantastic investigative journalism there, Post Chronicle.

Look. I'm about the same age as Anders Breivik. I played World of Warcraft for years, and have logged hundreds of hours in Dragon Age 2 - I suspect far more than he has. I never played Modern Warfare 2, but I've played plenty of other violent games. You don't see me going about killing people, do you? There are millions of gamers all over the world. There are over 2 million people online in Steam as I write this, and this is at the lowest point of their activity cycle, as it's the middle of the night in the US. Blaming his love of video games, while overlooking his massive Islamophobia, fundamentalist Christian beliefs, and military training, is simply creating a scapegoat and reinforcing the idea that terrorists are not like us.

But they are. Terrorists are people, just like the rest of us. They might have different religious beliefs, or similar. They might be the a different ethnicity, or the same. They might be from another country, or from our country. They might have opposing political views, or similar. The only thing they share is a desire to incite terror in the hearts of others. I'm a gamer, but I'm no terrorist. The two don't always go hand-in-hand.

Postcrossing: USA

2011-07-24T19:00:00.014+10:00

My second card of the week from the Great Smoky Mountains, and another very beautiful one. I love the ethereal colours, and the interesting facts about the area.

This was the first card I have received that was in an envelope, with a letter included. I've seen quite a few users have specifically requested NOT to receive cards in this way, but I actually quite liked it - he sent me quite a long letter, talking about his university and his hometown, the places he's travelled, things he likes to do, and so on. It was fascinating to me to receive so much detail about a complete stranger. It's also good for people who like to collect stamps, because then you can cut the stamps off the envelope without ruining the lovely postcard. The stamps on this one are another American clock, like my last US postcard, a Kansas stamp showing windmills and the year Kansas entered the Union (1861), and an abstract stamp on the theme of "love" - all very pretty.

Postcrossing: Great Britain

2011-07-23T19:00:00.013+10:00

Puffins! They are such strange-looking birds, to me they always look as if they are about to cry, but they are very cute birds.

On the back:

Hi Jennifer,

One of my most favourite quotes is as follows:

"Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." F. Nietzsche

Scary, isn't it?

Klovsja

I really love this Nietzsche quote too, so it was cool that she included it. The stamp is of a great crested grebe.

Postcrossing: Germany

2011-07-22T19:09:00.000+10:00

It was Postcrossing's 6th birthday last week, and to mark the occasion they allowed all users to send an extra 6 postcards. It seems that an awful lot of people took advantage of this, because on the day that promotion was running their site was very slow. Then today I received FOUR postcards! A veritable torrent! This is the first (and cutest): I'll spread the others over the next few days.

Kittens! Squee! They remind me of Bubbles when she was a kitten. This card is from another child, so once again I won't publish what she wrote, but I will share the quote she shared with me:

Glück ist Liebe. Wer lieben kann, ist glücklich.

The quote is from Herman Hesse, and translates as "Happiness is love. Someone who can love is happy." Thanks to @blauerpunto for the translation!

The sender also put some very cute matryoshka-style stickers on the back of the card in bright colours. The stamp is of a Ballonblume, a type of aster flower.

Postcrossing: USA

2011-07-20T19:00:00.000+10:00

This card is absolutely chock-full of wildlife: I keep finding new animals hidden in the trees. It's so beautiful! The card is also the first one I have received from a child, so for his privacy I'm not going to publish what he wrote on the back. He did ask me to send him a card back, which I thought was sweet. I realised that my Penguin book cover cards might not be the best ones for children, so I ordered the complementary Puffin cook cover post card set today as well, in case I need to send more cards to children in future. I'll have to go and find a card for him tomorrow, perhaps at the post office!

The stamps are also lovely, of the Liberty Bell and an American Design stamp showing an American clock.

I'm still really enjoying Postcrossing. I get genuinely excited about checking my mailbox! I love that there is such a wide range of people involved, from so many places - I'm learning and seeing so much.

Postcrossing: Romania

2011-07-15T19:00:00.019+10:00

The castles on this card are so beautiful. Yet another beautiful, historic European country I would love to visit.

On the back:

Greetings from Romania!

Acestea sunt câteva obiective turistice din tara mea. Sunt castele ale vechior domnitori.

Happy Postcrossing!

Using the wonders of Google Translate, I deciphered the message as follows:

These are some sights in my country. They are the castles of the old rulers.

I was very excited to receive another card written in another language. I stated on my profile that I don't mind if the sender doesn't write in English, and it was fun to work out what they were saying. Because Romanian is a Romance language, some of the words were familiar enough that I could guess a little bit.

The stamps are two beautiful antique jugs.

Postcrossing: Russia

2011-07-14T19:00:00.019+10:00

Saint Petersburg is so flat! The island in the foreground is the Peter and Paul Fortress, the original citadel of Saint Petersburg, and the cathedral is the Peter and Paul Cathedral. According to Wikipedia, the bell tower is over 123m high, and the figure on the top is a gilded angel.

On the back:

Hello, I hope you enjoy view city on postcard.

We are all sitting in the gutter but some people still look at the stars (Wilde Oscar)

For Jennifer

P.S. Nastya from Russia

The Oscar Wilde quote she actually wrote in Russian in Cyrillic script as well, which I loved. This is one of my favourite Oscar Wilde quotes and I think it's awesome that she took a suggestion from my profile page of sharing a quote, and gave it to me in her language.

There are 5 stamps on the postcard: 3 showing the Kremlin, one fox and one hare, all brightly-coloured.

Postcrossing: Portugual

2011-07-13T17:06:00.000+10:00

My first postcard from a dude! I love that, while this is a "city view" card, it's of an ordinary street and shows ordinary people. Quite unusual.

On the back:

Hello Jennifer! There's a typical street of Portugal capital, Lisboa. Cool you are from New Zealand, I always wanted to visit it. I've friends in Christchurch city! I hope you like the postcard! Greetings from Portugal! Joáo

The stamp is of a brightly-coloured circus clown and is very cute.

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 3

2011-07-10T11:40:00.000+10:00

Your Favourite Series

Man, this is a hard one. My favourite genre is fantasy, which lends itself to epic series-spanning stories. The majority of fantasy books are part of a series, or at the very least, part of a shared universe. So it was incredibly difficult for me to choose just one series as my favourite.

In the end, I really had to settle for the Harry Potter series. It's easily my most re-read series on my bookshelf. Each time a new book came out, I devoured it in one sitting in one day. I always re-read the entire series before each new book and each new movie, meaning that the early books I can just about recite from memory.

I love the series because, even though the books are aimed at teenagers, they never patronise or dumb things down. And there are so many tiny details - everything is important, everything is connected. Every time I do a re-read I discover something new. The characters have a depth and relatability that is lacking in many other popular books. Her female characters are strong and independent and have inherent self-worth that is not tied to a male character. Rowling's writing style is tight and not flamboyant, and her ability to coin new words to fit her invented universe is amazing. There are certain scenes throughout the series that never fail to make me weep, and others that never fail to bring a smile to my face.

I admit I was a late convert to Harry Potter. I think it was when Book 3 (Prisoner of Azkaban) came out that a friend finally convinced me to start reading. But from that moment, I was hooked, and I've never looked back.

The 8th and final movie based on the series opens this week. It really is the end of an era. I'm excited for the movie, but also sad, because it means there is no more Harry Potter. But I'm also glad that Rowling stuck with her plan of 7 books and didn't drag out the series or get bogged down. She had a plan right from the start, and it shows.

Of course, I don't think anyone would be surprised if Rowling writes more books in the universe. She certainly could, if she choose to. But I personally hope she doesn't. I think the story stands on its own. It's a story I hope to one day share with my own children.

Postcrossing: Finland

2011-07-08T17:52:00.000+10:00

How cute is this card? It's so sweet!

On the back:

Hello Jennifer and many wonderful greetings for you from here Finland :) My name's Marika and I'm 29 years old. I'm happily married and have many lovely pets <3 I wish that some day I could travel to NZ or Australia!

The stamps are weirdly shaped, not rectangular - one is a rounded cross and one is a kind of wonky pentagon, which I'd never seen before. I've had a pretty rough day, so getting this card in the mail today when I got home was lovely.

Postcrossing: Taiwan

2011-07-07T19:00:00.001+10:00

Another very wide card. Apparently this lake is called the Big Pond, and it's seasonal - it dries out and fills up periodically with the weather.

On the back:

Greetings from Taiwan, and this is [Postcrossing Card ID]. The postcard pictures a small island near Taiwan, hope you would like it! I have been to NZ once and stayed near Auckland, it is a beautiful place! Take care and enjoy Postcrossing!

The stamps are of fruit and flowers. My boss is from Taiwan, so it was exciting to get a card from her home country!

Postcrossing: Germany

2011-07-06T19:00:00.001+10:00

On the back:

Dear Jennifer, you are the 3rd person I write a card to! I hope to get a card back soon, maybe from the UK, I like London! My name is Lena, I'm 26 and from Germany. I like to bake as well, but at the moment I'm on a diet, so no cake for me! :) It's very rainy at the mom in Germany, I hope the weather at your place is better! Have a nice week, hug, Lena

The stamps are of the Deutsche Post Tower in Bonn, which is apparently a famous skyscraper, and Schloss Bellevue, the official residence of the President of Germany. Her handwriting style is very enthusiastic. I remember waiting for my first card too!

Postcrossing: USA

2011-07-05T19:00:00.001+10:00

This card is actually holographic ("lenticular" is what the sender calls it), so it didn't scan too well. You can just make out the ghost of the second image where the bear has caught the fish. On the back:

Hi Jennifer. I hope you like this lenticular postcard. I love them, especially this one, with the bear munching on a fish. We are on a cruise to Alaska, and having a wonderful time. No bears sighted yet, but I hope if I do, I see the bear before it sees me. Best wishes - Shannah.

She also drew a little smiley face. The stamp is a Christmas-themed one. I love that she is on holiday from another part of the USA but still was keeping up with her Postcrossing!

So far, all 4 of the postcards I have received are from women. Of the 13 I've sent, only 3 have been to men. It seems to be more popular amongst women for some reason, although I'm not sure why.

Postcrossing: France

2011-07-04T19:00:00.001+10:00

This was the first card I received that was specifically something I had mentioned in my Postcrossing profile: I had asked for cards about baking, so this is what I got! I absolutely love it, my clear favourite so far. The pastries are just so French. To eat macarons in Paris is one of my goals in life. I loved the cute, slightly cartoonish feel of the card.

On the back:

Hi!

I hesitated between a book and a pastries card, but as I've been baking several cakes for my kids parties today, here are some pastries! I understand you miss New Zealand, I went there while living in Japan and loved it. We did a lot of hiking (Tongariro, Abel Tasman, Wanaka area, Milford track, Mount Cook area...), it was fabulous!!

Nathalie

I really appreciated that she had read my profile and taken some time to write about things I had said, as well as choosing a card I had asked for. I'm loving receiving any cards, but this one was extra special to me. The stamp is a beautiful abstract painting by Jean Bazaine.

Postcrossing: Belarus

2011-07-03T19:00:00.002+10:00

This was an unusual card in that it's quite wide. It's a shame the information on the back about the pictures is written in Cyrillic script, because I would love to know what this structure is. Some kind of stadium? A train station? I don't really know much about Belarus so it was very interesting to receive a card from there - it prompted me to do some reading.

On the back:

Hello!

My name is Olga. I live in the city of Vitebsk in Belarus. I'm 23 years. I'm a microbiologist. I have two cats Klepa and Pushka.

I love to travel, the next country where I want it to go Australia.

I wish you good luck!

Happy Postcrossing! :)

She put a regular smiley face and also drew a little face. The stamps are gorgeous, they are of hares. If you know what is shown in the picture, feel free to fill me in!

Postcrossing: Germany

2011-07-02T19:06:00.004+10:00

*NOTE: Due to an issue with Blogger not letting me upload pictures, my posts about my postcards have been delayed. This post was originally written on 22 June. I've updated and edited it to make it less confusing.

A few weeks ago I joined Postcrossing. I'd been meaning to do so for ages and just never got around to it. But after I saw the fabulous postcards one of my favourite bloggers, GnomeAngel, was getting from around the world, I finally joined.

I've sent 13 cards so far: one each to Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, and USA; two each to Finland and Taiwan; and three to Germany. I had been buying them individually, the tourist-style ones from post offices and so on, but I decided to buy a box of 100 Penguin book cover postcards from Fishpond that will keep me going for a while!

I've been eagerly checking my mailbox every day for my first postcard, and it finally arrived on my birthday, no less!

On the back:

Hello!

Greetings from my birth- and work town Berlin, the capital of Germany. I live in a suburb, I am married, have an adult daughter, a dog and my profession is midwife. Take care, Helwyne.

She wrote her messsage sideways, which I thought was cute and unusual. The stamp is a picture of a cathedral. I would love to visit Berlin and see the Brandenburg Gate so I was thrilled this was my first card!

P.S. Sorry for all the edits, but I think I finally have this post right now!

Sunday Baking: Fudgy Earl Grey Chocolate Cupcakes

2011-06-19T15:02:00.001+10:00

Earl Grey has long been my favourite tea. I love the delicate flowery taste, and it's perfect with just about anything sweet. So when this recipe appeared in my Tumblr feed, courtesy of gastrogirl again, it sounded just perfect. I'd never thought to put Earl Grey tea in a cake, let alone a chocolate cake, let alone a chocolate cupcake! I spent a week trolling delis, health food shops, and chocolate supply shops looking for lavender extract, but it seemed impossible to find. Finally, I discovered the online baking supply store Baking Pleasures (to Dave's trepidation), and there I found my lavender essence.

The Earl Grey I used is Earl Grey Blue Flower from The Tea Centre. This my favourite Earl Grey tea. It's so beautiful and the flavour is smooth and not overpowering. I was very excited to use it in my cupcakes! You will also need 24 foil cupcake cases - the foil helps to insulate each cupcake and stops them from rising too fast and spreading all over the top of your tins (yes, I'm speaking from experience). Because the surface of the cupcakes is quite delicate, I recommend piping the icing rather than spreading it with a knife.

My recipe is adapted from Semisweetie's recipe, who in turn adapted it from What We're Eating's recipe. My icing recipe is from The Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook, by Jennifer Graham. Enjoy!

Fudgy Earl Grey Chocolate Cupcakes With Lavender Icing
Makes 24

15g Earl Grey tea leaves (about 6tsp/6 bags)
125g butter
1 1/4C plain flour
3/4C cocoa powder
1 1/2C dark brown sugar (packed)
1 1/2tsp baking soda
2 1/2tsp baking powder
1/2tsp salt
3 eggs
2C buttermilk

Decoration:
200g butter, softened
1/2C milk
1tbsp vanilla extract
8C icing sugar, sifted
3drops culinary lavender essence
2drops blue food colouring
1drop red food colouring

Preheat oven to 160C. Line 2 12-hole muffin tins with paper and foil cases.

Grind the tea leaves into a fine powder using a spice mill or coffee grinder, or a mortar and pestle (what I used). Place butter and tea powder in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, until the butter is melted and the tea is infused into the butter. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Stir until evenly combined.

In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs and buttermilk. Add buttermilk mixture and the cooled butter mixture to the dry ingredients. Whisk or beat until just combined - the batter will be slightly lumpy.

Divide the batter evenly between the holes of the muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Cool in tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely before icing. The cakes will be slightly sticky and soft, not dense.

Decoration:
Cream the butter for 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the milk, vanilla extract, and half the sifted icing sugar, and beat for at least 3 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat for a further 3 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy and of a spreadable consistency. Add extra milk if the mixture is too dry, or extra icing sugar if the mixture is too wet. Add the lavender essence and the food colouring and beat until evenly mixed.

Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes in whatever pattern you wish.

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 2

2011-06-17T19:59:00.000+10:00

A Book That You've Read More Than Three Times

I have read a LOT of books more than three times. My favourite books I read over and over, returning to them like old friends. If I picked a book at random from one of my four overflowing bookshelves, chances are it would fall into this category.

In the end, I settled on Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder. I was first given a copy of this book in my first year of university by my boyfriend at the time, whom I met through a shared philosophy class. So Sophie's World, an introduction to Western philosophy, was an appropriate gift.

Whenever I'm feeling confused about my place in the world, or overly jaded and cynical, I read this book. It always reminds me that the most important thing we should do is to cultivate our sense of wonder. The world is an amazing place, truly amazing, and we are amazing too. As noted in the book, we, too, are stardust.

Sunday Baking: Spotty Ginger Buttermilk Cakes

2011-06-13T10:39:00.000+10:00

My friend @agentK is visiting for work this week, so @BiscottiFairy had to do some baking to welcome him to the Gold Coast. On today's agenda was a batch of Spotty Ginger Buttermilk Cakes. Tomorrow will be Apple and Ginger Biscuits. When I chose the two recipes I didn't connect that they both feature ginger. Oh well, I like ginger!

Spotty Ginger Buttermilk Cakes
Makes 9 (but doubled to make 18 fine)
From Classic Cupcakes, in The Australian Women's Weekly collection

You will need: a 12-hole (1/3C) muffin pan; paper cases; an 8cm cookie cutter; and a 2cm cookie cutter.

1/2C firmly packed light brown sugar (I used dark)
1/2C plain (all-purpose) flour
1/2C self-raising flour
1/4tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1tsp ground ginger
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground nutmeg
90g butter, softened
1 egg
1/4C buttermilk
1tbsp golden syrup or treacle (I used treacle)

Decorations:
250g ready-made white icing
yellow food colouring
1/3C apricot jam, warmed and strained (I didn't strain)

Preheat oven to 170C. Line 9 holes of the muffin pan with paper cases.

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl (I sifted the sugar too), add remaining ingredients; beat mixture with electric mixer on low speed until combined. Increase speed to medium; beat until mixture has changed to a paler colour.

Drop 1/4 cups of mixture into paper cases (don't worry about smoothing - they will level as they cook). Bake about 35 minutes. Stand cakes in pan 5 minutes before turning, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool.

Divide ready-made white icing in half. Tint one portion yellow (you only need a few drops), leave remaining portion white. Roll each colour, one at a time, between sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Using 2cm cutter, cut 2cm rounds, quite close together, from both pieces of icing. Place white rounds in the wholes left in the yellow icing, and the yellow rounds in the holes left in the white icing. Re-roll both pieces of icing between sheets of baking paper to ensure the rounds are in place.

Brush cold cakes with a little jam. Using 8cm cutter, cut rounds from each piece of icing; position rounds on cakes.

I couldn't find a tiny 2cm cutter anywhere. I have set of round cutters, but the smallest was 4cm. In the end, I used the base of a piping bag nozzle, which worked just fine. Once I'd rolled out the two sheets of icing, I only had enough to cut about 13 rounds before I had to re-roll the remaining icing - but to keep the spots, I'd have had to painstakingly remove each one and then do the process again. That was far too much work, so I just kneaded all the remaining icing together until it was evenly yellow, and iced the remaining cakes with plain yellow icing.

The cakes were a tiny bit dry and could probably have done with slightly less cooking time. They rose nicely but flatly so I didn't have to worry about levelling them or anything - I could just ice them. If you don't have apricot jam to stick the icing to the cakes you could use another mild flavour (marmalade perhaps), or just make a sugar syrup (which is what the icing packet recommended).

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 1

2011-06-08T22:15:00.000+10:00

The Best Book You Read Last Year

Well, last year was a while ago now, so I had to think long and hard about what I read. In the end, I settled on The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins. The book was given to my by my in-laws for my birthday: I gave them a list of books I wanted and they chose this one.

I'm a bit of a fan of Richard Dawkins. Not a raving fan, but I enjoy his books. He can come across as aggressive, but I can understand his pain: when you are trying to convince people that they are wrong, no matter how many facts you have people are going to push back. No one likes to admit they are wrong. When what is being discussed is something as personal as religion, it can be even more frustrating.

The first book of Dawkins' that I read was The God Delusion. It really opened my eyes, and hatched me from an agnostic to a full-fledged atheist. I've read several more of his books since then. The Greatest Show on Earth was the most recent of his that I've read.

The Greatest Show on Earth discusses why evolution is classed as a "theory", then goes on to describe the evidence for evolution in detail. The book was released in 2009, 200 years after Charles Darwin was born and 150 years after he published On the Origin of Species. There was a flurry of evolution-oriented publishing at this time, but it was Dawkins' book that was most interesting to me. Sometimes Dawkins can be a little obtuse, but he does try to make his books accessible for people with little background in the subject.

While I'm fairly protective of my books, Dawkins is one of the few authors that I happily lend to others, simply because I find his books so influential and I want to share them. I already have this book lined up to lend to someone soon, but if you ask nicely, I might lend it to you when he is done with it!

The 30 Day Book Challenge

2011-06-08T21:52:00.000+10:00

The lovely @missRBit today gave me a link to a 30 Day Book Challenge. I'm not sure where she found it, and it isn't a blog I've read before, but the challenge certainly sounded like it was right up my alley. I'm not going to pressure myself into doing it in 30 days, however - I'd just like to get through the 30 posts!

Here is the list of topics:

Day 1: The Best Book You Read Last Year
Day 2: A Book That You’ve Read More Than Three Times
Day 3: Your Favourite Series
Day 4: Favourite Book Of Your Favourite Series
Day 5: A Book That Makes You Happy
Day 6: A Book That Makes You Sad
Day 7: Most Underrated Book
Day 8: Most Overrated Book
Day 9: A Book You Thought You Wouldn’t Like But Ended Up Loving
Day 10: A Book You Wish You Could Live In
Day 11: A Book From Your Favourite Author
Day 12: A Book That Is Most Like Your Life
Day 13: A Book Whose Main Character Is Most Like You
Day 14: A Book Whose Main Character You Want To Marry
Day 15: The Longest Book You’ve Read
Day 16: The Shortest Book You’ve Read
Day 17: The Book You’re Most Embarrassed To Say You Like
Day 18: Your Favourite Book Turned Into A Movie
Day 19: A Book That Turned You On
Day 20: Favourite Book From Your Childhood
Day 21: The Best Book You Read At School
Day 22: A Book You Wanted To Read For A Long Time But Still Haven’t
Day 23: A Book You Tell People You’ve Read, But Haven’t (Or Haven’t Actually Finished)
Day 24: A Book That You Wish More People Would’ve Read
Day 25: Your Favourite Non-Fiction Book
Day 26: A Book Everyone Hated But You Liked
Day 27: Your Favourite Title
Day 28: The Last Book You Read
Day 29: The Book You’re Currently Reading
Day 30: Your Favourite Book Of All Time

Feel free to join in if you also love your books! Let's get started, shall we?

OOTD: It's Not Easy Being Green

2011-06-07T20:12:00.001+10:00

(The title is a lie, I found it quite easy, but how could I resist a Kermit reference when I'm wearing a green-toned outfit?)

Cardi: Ezibuy

Tank & Mini: Torrid

Tights: We Love Colors (Mint Green)

Boots: Dr. Martens at Platypus

I should also mention that We Love Colors has free shipping to NZ and Oz on all orders over USD$30 until 31 August 2011. Just use the gift code WELOVENZAUS when ordering! I've gone back and updated my previous OOTD posts that featured We Love Colors tights with the colour of each pair, if people are curious.

Another day, another outfit with my Docs. They are, of course, the most-worn shoes in my wardrobe now. I have them mostly worn in - I still wear tape on my heels to guard against blisters but I think I'm nearly at the point where I can stop doing that. Today I didn't even wear socks, just the tape and tights, and my feet held up just fine.

I know this is going to sound corny, but when I wear my Docs, I really feel like a different person. I feel stronger, more empowered and confident. I feel like nobody can screw with me and that probably comes across in my posture and attitude. I love my Docs. I'm going to leave you with a song dedicated to Dr. Martens Boots.

New Recipe Monday: Banoffee Cheesecake

2011-06-06T18:10:00.000+10:00

After we bought the MiNDFOOD Christmas issue and scored some delicious recipes out of it, I signed up for their daily recipe email. The recipes seem to be whatever is featured in that month's magazine, and so far I had been a little disappointed - the recipes were, well, a little poncy. But when a recipe for Banoffee Cheesecake landed in my inbox last week, I knew I had to make it, as soon as possible! So we decided to make it this weekend - not for any special reason, just because we could. And it turned out absolutely divine.

Banoffee Cheesecake
From MiNDFOOD

250g packet plain sweet biscuits (such as Nice biscuits)
125g butter, melted and cooled
750g cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4C caster sugar
2tsp vanilla extract
2tbsp plain flour
3 eggs
1 egg yolk, extra
300ml carton sour cream
300ml carton pure cream
125g white chocolate melts
1/2C Caramel Top'n'Fill
2 small bananas, sliced

Grease and line the base of a 22cm springform pan with baking paper. Process biscuits in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Add butter; process until combined. Press mixture over base and sides of prepared pan, finishing 1.5cm from top of pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 160C. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until combined. Add flour; beat to combine. Add eggs, 1 at a time, plus extra yolk; beat after each addition. Stir in the sour cream.

Pour mixture into prepared shell. Place cake pan on baking tray and bake for 50 minutes or until the outer 3cm of cake feels quite firm and the centre is wobbly like custard. Cool in oven with door ajar. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Combine 1/4C cream and chocolate melts in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don't let bowl touch water). Stir until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in caramel. Cover and refrigerate for 25 minutes or until thickened. Spread caramel mixture over cheesecake. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Whip remaining cream and dollop over top of cheesecake. Place slices of banana over cream and serve.

OOTD: Geek Punk

2011-05-15T12:00:00.001+10:00

(This is actually Friday's outfit, but Blogger was down.)

For Christmas I wanted a pair of Dr. Martens boots. I decided that months before Christmas, but Docs are a lot of money. Christmas came and went, and I kept putting off the purchase. About a month ago, I decided to check if the store I was going to buy them from (Platypus Shoes in Robina) would do layby. They did! So I went in and chose my Docs: 1460 Black Worn 8-up boots. I put them on 6-week layby and started paying them off. But the weather here has been getting colder and colder and I really needed a pair of winter shoes. I'd been wearing Dave's Rivers shoes, but I discovered on Thursday that the soles of both shoes had cracked all the way through in two places. So I had to finalise my layby and pick up my Docs a fortnight early!

For their debut I went with a bit of geek punk - skinny black jeans and a geeky t-shirt:

Jeans: JeansWest

Hoodie: Mambo

T-shirt: ThinkGeek

Boots: Dr. Martens at Platypus

The "Worn" collection is supposedly pre-broken-in, so they're supposed to be more comfortable straight out of the box. Now, it's been a very long time since I broke in a pair of Docs, but I'm fairly certain these were just as painful the first day wearing them. The thing with Docs is that, once they're broken in, they're the most comfortable boots you can own...But breaking them in is a pain in, well, the foot! By the end of the day I had a blister on each heel and a ring of bruises above each ankle. But I'll persevere. I know they'll last me a long time.

Let's take a closer look at my t-shirt:

"Schrödinger's Cat" is a thought experiment. For those of you who are Big Bang Theory fans, you'll recognise it from the Season 1 finale (although you probably knew what it was already, you nerd you). For those of you who don't get it, feel free to refer to this helpful summary from ThinkGeek. Nerds rule!

Sunday Baking: Margarita Brownies

2011-05-02T13:36:00.002+10:00

My blog seems to be nothing but recipes recently, huh? Probably because that's mainly what I do with my spare time! A recipe for Extra-Dark Brownies with Sea Salt & Lime popped up in my Tumblr feed courtesy of gastrogirl. I thought to myself, "Sea salt and lime? Why not add tequila and call them Margarita Brownies?" So that's exactly what I did!

Margarita Brownies
Makes 16
Adapted from the kitchn's Extra-Dark Brownies with Sea Salt & Lime

150g unsalted butter
100g Lindt Excellence 70% Cocoa chocolate PLUS
20g Lindt Excellence 85% Cocoa chocolate, broken into squares
1C sugar
3/4C plain flour
1/4C cocoa powder
2 eggs, beaten
1tsp vanilla
1/4tsp salt
1 lime
60g Lindt Excellence 85% Cocoa chocolate, finely chopped
1tbsp tequila
3/4tsp flaky sea salt

Preheat oven to 160C. Line a baking pan with 2 layers of foil, leaving long overhangs, and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Melt the butter and the 100g + 20g chocolate over low heat in a large saucepan, stirring constantly until smooth.

Remove from heat and add sugar, flour, cocoa powder, eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix until combined. Then zest and juice the lime into the saucepan and add the tequila. Mix until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle the flaky sea salt on top.

Bake for 25-35 minutes until the brownies are done - a skewer should come out with some mixture clinging to it but shouldn't be sticky. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before lifting from pan, removing foil and cooling on a wire rack.

***

I found it quite hard to find the unsweetened chocolate the original recipe called for. Because the Lindt Excellence chocolate comes in 100g blocks, I decided the easiest way to get the required chocolate was to buy one block of 70% Cocoa and one block of 85% Cocoa. Each square is 10g. Following my recipe gives you 2 squares of 85% Cocoa to nibble on while you bake!

I added a shotglass of tequila which made the recipe too wet, so I had to add a bit of extra flour. Even 1tbsp might be too much. You can omit the tequila and the recipe should still work out fine. My brownie pan is 12x11in, bigger than the 8in square one suggested in the original recipe. After 20 minutes my brownies seemed cooked but the tequila had risen to the top and was still evaporating off, so I left them for 5 more minutes to let the tequila finish evaporating. They turned out moist and slightly bitter and very rich. Yum!

Why I Will Never Give Up My Books

2011-04-26T11:36:00.000+10:00

I've recently had various friends, colleagues, and acquaintances make comments about how I should get an e-reader, or sell my books, or that I have too many bookshelves and shouldn't need more, or that bookshelves are great for displaying knick-knacks but not much else.

I've been collecting books for a long time - pretty much since I got my first job. I have several books I bought as a teen, but my collection really took off once I stopped flatting and had a whole house to expand into, rather than just a bedroom. We currently have two large bookshelves and two medium bookshelves that house our burgeoning collection, plus two small bookshelves for recipe books and university books. But our bookshelves are overflowing: I want to buy two more large bookshelves at least, and probably a long, low bookshelf to go under the window in our study, although we're still finalising logistics. And this may still not be enough, because most of our bookshelves are stacked two books deep, with more stacks of books on our bedroom floor or various other strategic spots about the house.

I also can't bear to part with books. I don't even sell my university textbooks, as a rule. The only time I will part with a book is if I accidentally buy two, which happens on occasion: browsing a second-hand store, I spot a bargain, can't recall if I have that particular book, and buy it, only to find its twin on the shelf at home. I have a few books of this type that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet - donate them? sell them? trade them? - and so they sit in a pile by the door, because I can't bring myself to get rid of them.

I recently bought a Penguin Classics edition of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Surprisingly, I've never read this book, and I wanted to remedy that. The edition I bought is a hardcover with a slipcover. It's absolutely gorgeous:

The back inside flap of the slipcover included a detachable bookmark with a quote from the book, which you can see peeking out the top in the above picture. I detached it quickly, before I could convince myself that the book would be worth more if I didn't - because that's not why I buy books. I didn't buy this book to sit on a shelf looking beautiful - I bought it to read and love and read again, and damage will be done.

When I carefully removed the slipcover to start reading, I was thrilled - the actual hardcover of the book is a beautiful creamy white. The pages are smooth and heavy and the book smells lovely - the "new parchment" smell that Hermione smells in the Felix Felicis potion. The book was so beautifully presented I could barely bring myself to handle it - but I soon found myself lost in the world of the book.

I don't recall the last time I was so drawn in by the sensual experience of reading, but it reminded me why I love my books so much. A book is so much more than ink and paper - it is a whole world, brimming with possibilities. It is the simple pleasure of curling up in bed with rain beating on your window and a book in your hands. It is the feel of the paper under your fingertips, the pleasure of turning each page and seeing your progress through the book. It is an escape, or knowledge, or a new friend. It is the shared experience, the collaboration between writer and reader and other readers and critics.

Above all, it is a love that only others who share my love of books can truly understand.

Sunday Baking: Raspberry Fudge Brownie

2011-04-23T20:05:00.000+10:00

Yes, it's Saturday, but I'm working tomorrow and I baked this (these? Is it "brownie" or "brownies"?) today. I mentioned it on Twitter and Facebook and everyone seemed jealous of my brownie. So here is the recipe, and a picture, to make you even more jealous!

Raspberry Fudge Brownie
From It's Easier Than You Think, by Jo Seagar

300g butter, cut into cubes
300g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
6 eggs
2C caster sugar
1 1/2C flour
1/2C baking cocoa
2tsp vanilla
1C whole raspberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2C extra chopped chocolate

Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a 25x35cm sponge roll tin with non-stick baking paper.

Gently melt the butter and chocolate together in a large microwave-proof bowl in the microwave, or gently heat over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until blended.

Beat the eggs and caster sugar until pale and creamy, then add the melted butter and chocolate. Sift the flour and cocoa together and add to the mixture with the vanilla. Mix until well combined. Pour into the prepared tin and sprinkle with the raspberries and extra chopped chocolate.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool in the tin and cut into slices when cold. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or freeze.

A tip on the recipe page in the book is to simply use a packet of chocolate melts, which is 375g - take out a handful for the sprinkling and melt the rest. This is what I did. I didn't bother chopping the ones to be sprinkled, I just left them whole - you can see how they retained their button shape in the picture. I used frozen raspberries. I cooked the brownie in my cast 12x11in pan that we got from Dave's parents - easily the most well-used oven pan in our house. My brownie took over an hour to cook - perhaps because it was in a smaller, deeper pan than recommended. I lined with foil instead of baking paper because I think it gives a better result for brownies - crisp and chewy on the edge pieces. I mixed everything up in my Mixmaster, much easier. I made this as a surprise for Dave while he was at work, so unfortunately I had to lick both the beaters by myself. What a shame!

Sunday Baking: Honey Jumbles

2011-04-10T18:12:00.000+10:00

I love baking, as I've mentioned before. Unfortunately, with all the other stuff that's been going on (and DAII) I haven't been doing much of it lately. But this week the lovely @missrbit has been doing some baking of her own and bringing samples to work, so I was inspired to do some today. Dave requested a chocolate apple cake, but I couldn't find a recipe for which I had all the ingredients, so I decided to make Honey Jumbles instead. He got the recipe from a coworker who bought some to work recently - I'm sorry I don't know where it's from originally. These are apparently best made the day before eating, to let the spices develop. You can ice them pink and white with food colouring if you wish (I didn't).

Honey Jumbles
Makes about 40

60g butter
2/3C golden syrup
1 3/4C plain flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp ground ginger
1tsp mixed spice
1/4tsp ground cloves
1tbsp milk
2tbsp plain flour, extra

Icing:
1 egg white
1 1/2C icing sugar
2tsp plain flour
2tsp lemon juice, approx

Melt butter over low heat in medium-sized saucepan, add golden syrup, bring to boil, remove from heat; stand 10 minutes. Add sifted dry ingredients and milk, stir with wooden spoon until smooth, cover, stand at room temperature for 2 hours; mixture will become thicker during this time.

Turn mixture on to surface dusted with the extra flour, knead lightly, working in only enough of this flour until mixture loses its stickiness; divide mixture into four equal pieces to make handling the dough easier.

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Roll one quarter of the mixture into a sausage shape, so that it is 1cm thick; cut into 6cm lengths. Place on lightly greased oven trays about 5cm apart. Round blunt ends of biscuits with floured fingertips, bake 8-10 minutes. Repeat with remaining mixture. Biscuits should be pale golden in colour and quite soft. Cool on trays. Do not overcook or they will become hard and dry.

Pre-heat oven again to 180C. Place egg white in a small basin, gradually stir in sifted icing sugar in about three lots, then sifted flour and enough strained lemon juice to give a thick coating consistency. Spread tops of biscuits evenly with icing, stand on oven trays, return to moderate oven for 2 minutes, or until icing feels firm to touch and has lost its stickiness. Do not move biscuits from the tray until cold.

Game Review: Dragon Age II

2011-04-09T19:47:00.000+10:00

So a few weeks ago the sequel to what is my favourite game ever (so far) was released: Dragon Age II (hereafter referred to as DAII), the sequel to late 2009's Dragon Age: Origins (hereafter referred to as DA:O). There's been mixed reviews of the game (of which this is my favourite - go watch it, it's awesome, although you need sound and the sound isn't safe for work), but the general consensus is that DAII doesn't quite live up to expectations.

I loved DA:O. The story was epic, the characters were awesome, the world was beautiful and rich. I replayed it several times. So, naturally, I was looking forward to DAII. And while I was a smidgen disappointed, I still love the game. I have played it straight through four times now back-to-back and am about halfway through my fifth playthrough, with no intention of stopping any time soon. There's enough variety in the quests, dialogue options, and henchdudes to keep you entertained for quite some time.

The game does have some issues, of course - the biggest (for me) being the reused maps a la Mass Effect 1. Nearly every cave is identical, the only difference being where you come in and what bits are closed off. If they wanted to do this, they could have reduced the effect by not showing the closed off bits on the minimap - but as it stands you can run up to a door that looks like it leads to another part of the cave, only to find the door won't open. The graphics are okay, not great - I have mine on the highest setting available in the shipped game, and it doesn't chug or freeze even with lots of spells going off, but the world doesn't look as amazing as it could. There's a texture pack, but my CrossFired Radeon HD 4770 512MBs don't qualify for the setting to be available even with it installed. At least I haven't had any issues with CrossFireX compatibility. There are also some fairly significant quest bugs, which make some quests uncompleteable and others occur out of order. Some players have also complained of some combat bugs, but I haven't noticed any major ones.

One thing that a lot of reviews have complained about is the lack of a villain or overall goal. With DA:O, the villain and the goal were clear: recruit an army to battle the Darkspawn and defeat the Archdemon. DAII doesn't exactly have a villain, but the goal was clear to me from the start: negotiate your way through the Templar-Mage political maelstrom to become the Champion of Kirkwall (whatever that was). You know you're the Champion, because the game's conceit is that it is a flashback being told by one of your henchdudes (Varric, the mouthy dwarf archer rogue who you unfortunately can't shag). Right from the get-go, you learn that you are the Champion and that the Chantry wants your help for some reason. So, while there's no clearly-stated villain or clearly-defined goal, you still have a pretty good idea of what is going to happen.

On the other hand, there is a fairly serious issue with this. The main tension of Mages vs.Templars is over Blood Magic, a forbidden School of magic that involves blood (obviously), but more importantly, demons. To use Blood Magic, a mage has to make a deal with a demon, which opens the mage up to becoming an abomination: a possessed mage with extraordinary power. However, one of the three specialisations a mage Hawke can learn is (you guessed it) Blood Mage. Which has zero effect on the story or the way your Hawke is treated. You can use Blood Magic in front of (or even on) characters who hate it (like Fenris) and they don't care at all. Which is a little ridiculous to me.

Read more »

New Recipe Monday: Date and Butterscotch Self-Saucing Pudding

2011-04-04T13:29:00.000+10:00

I know, I know. Stop whinging and have another recipe!

Date and Butterscotch Self-Saucing Pudding
Serves 4
From Slow Cooked Favourites, in The Australian Women's Weekly collection

You will need a 4.5L slow cooker.

1C self-raising flour
1/2C firmly-packed brown sugar
20g butter, melted
1/2C milk
1/2C finely chopped dried seedless dates

Caramel sauce:
1/2C firmly-packed brown sugar
1 3/4C boiling water
50g butter

Grease the slow cooker bowl.

Combine the flour, sugar, butter, milk and dates in a medium bowl. Spread mixture into slow cooker bowl.

Make caramel sauce: combine ingredients in medium heatproof jug, stir until sugar is dissolved.

Pour caramel sauce slowly over the back of a spoon onto mixture. Cook, covered, on high about 2 hours or until centre is firm. Remove bowl from slow cooker. Stand 5 minutes before serving.

OOTD: I Can Has Cheezburger?

2011-03-29T21:47:00.000+10:00

While I don't browse I Can Has Cheezburger as avidly as I used to, a few weeks ago I was killing time on the site when I saw the LOLMart t-shirt of the day was Cleocatra. This t-shirt combined four of my favourite things: red t-shirts, cats, ancient history, and general geekiness. So of course I had to buy it. Finally, a month later it arrived, as awesome as I expected!

The fabric is nice and soft but also thick, not flimsy. The length is perfect. The size is generous - I got the womens XL and it's more than ample. Super happy!

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for some other clothes I ordered around the same time. More info after the jump!

Read more »

New Recipe Monday: Cheesy Baked Pasta

2011-03-21T17:47:00.000+10:00

My blog has been awfully quiet of late, hasn't it? There's a post in the works about why (hint: it involves an elf named Fenris), but in the mean time, have a recipe!

Cheesy Baked Pasta
Serves 4-6, with leftovers
Adapted from 200 Really Easy Recipes, a Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook, by Louise Pickford

You will need a really big frying pan (we use as a wok-style pan), a large baking dish (such as a lasagne dish), and a big pot for cooking pasta.

500g dried pasta (penne or similar)
125g bacon, diced
1 onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
300ml double cream
2 handfuls button mushrooms, quartered
250g grated mozzarella cheese
100g grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 190C. Spray the baking dish with non-stick baking spray.

Cook the pasta, following packet directions, until al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, fry the bacon in the frying pan for 3-4 minutes until browned. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook gently for 5 minutes until soft.

Return the bacon to the pan with the onion and garlic and add the pasta, mushrooms, and cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Heat through for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the mozzarella cheese, remove from heat and stir until the cheese has melted.

Spoon the pasta mixture into the baking dish. Sprinkle with the parmesan and bake for 30-45 minutes, until browned and cooked through.

New Recipe Monday: Maple-glazed Meatloaf

2011-02-21T19:33:00.000+10:00

As I've mentioned before, I collect cookbooks. So I've been sporadically trying to force Dave and I to try at least one new recipe each week, to make the best use of them. From now on, I'll be sharing that recipe here. This week's recipe comes from the Jo Seagar cookbook my parents gave us for Christmas - It's Easier Than You Think. Jo Seagar is a well-known Kiwi chef and all of the recipes in this book sound delicious and look really easy.

Maple-Glazed Meatloaf
Serves 4-6, with leftovers

500g beef mince
500g sausage meat
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion finely chopped
1tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme
1tbsp finely chopped parsley
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground coriander
2tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4C barbecue sauce
1 egg lightly beaten
salt and pepper
1/4C maple syrup
1/4C tomato sauce

Preheat the oven to 180C. Coat a 10x20x7cm loaf tin with baking spray.

Place all the ingredients, except the maple syrup and tomato sauce, in a large mixing bowl. Mix well until thoroughly combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir the maple syrup and tomato sauce together in a bowl until blended, and set aside.

Place the meat mixture in the prepared tin and press down well. Brush with half the maple-syrup glaze.

Bake for 30 minutes, then brush with the remaining glaze. Bake a further 20-30 minutes until the loaf is cooked through. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out.

Serve sliced, with mashed potatoes and a green salad or vegetables.

***

We used dried thyme, and couldn't find fresh parsley so got a tube of pre-chopped parsley instead. We also use, real, pure Canadian maple syrup (not imitation), because it really does taste way better and well justifies the much higher price tag, in my opinion. The recipe doesn't need a lot of extra salt - the sauces are salty enough. It's also quite moist and probably can be drained a little when you take it out to glaze it halfway through cooking. After resting for 10 minutes, ours shrank quite a bit. It was still really good and definitely a keeper of a recipe!

On Long-Term Coupledom

2011-02-21T13:36:00.000+10:00

I am a the kitchen bench, baking ninjabread. Dave is standing at the sink, washing dishes. He has his feet planted wide apart. He says, "My back is killing me. At least standing heroically helps." I move up behind him, mimicking his wide-apart stance and declaim in a loud, theatrical voice, "Ohhhhh, to be, or not to be!" He rolls his eyes as I crack up laughing.

Love

2011-02-11T08:59:00.000+10:00

Leaves are falling. I watch
Out the window as leaves from the grape
Vines make drifts in the courtyard.
Eternity without you is always winter.

Housekeeping: New Blog!

2011-01-31T18:37:00.000+10:00

For those who missed it on Facebook and Twitter, I've created a new blog. I wanted to separate out my endo and fertility-related posts to their own place, because I understand some people might not want to read them for whatever reason. I also want to try to connect a bit more with the endo community. My new blog is quite personal and talks about periods and fertility and surgery and that kind of thing, so don't head over there if you don't want, I understand. It's more therapy for me than anything else.

Hereafter, I won't be discussing my medical condition on this blog. So, if you do want to read about it, you'll have to head over to the new one!

Farmboy Heroes; or, Why we need more Bruce Waynes and less Peter Parkers

2011-01-20T20:55:00.000+10:00

Even though I read a lot, and have mentioned before that enjoying reading is one of my defining characteristics, I don't actually discuss it that much here. I'm not sure why. Partly it's because I don't want to commit to telling you what I'm reading all the time because then if I have a slump it gets boring (this is also why I don't have a separate reading blog). Partly it's because I find reading quite personal and figure y'all (I've been reading too many USian blogs!) just wouldn't be that interested. But I did want to discuss something that's been on my mind a lot recently, thanks to what I'm reading at the moment.

I read a lot of fantasy: it's the main genre I read. I started reading fantasy when I was about 18, with David Eddings. Shortly after I started getting into the genre, I was flicking through a magazine when I saw an ad for A Clash of Kings, by George R. R. Martin. It was billed as the second book in a trilogy to rival The Lord of the Rings (yes, I know it's just one book and not a trilogy), and I thought it sounded good. So I went out and bought the first book, A Game of Thrones. I looked forward to what I thought was the concluding book in the "trilogy", A Storm of Swords, and devoured it when it came out. When I got to the end, I thought, "Hang on a minute! This can't possibly be the end of the trilogy!" (long-term fantasy readers are probably laughing at me about now). I got online and discovered the series, A Song of Ice and Fire, had been expanded to four books. The books started coming more slowly. The series got expanded again. As it stands now, there are four books out, with seven planned.

Please understand that I'm not criticising Mr Martin. I love his work and his characters and am happy to wait as long as it takes to get the complete series. This is all a round-about lead-up to why it took me so long to read The Sword of Truth series, by Terry Goodkind, and The Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan. Here's the thing: many people think that you can't call yourself a fantasy fan if you haven't read these two series. But I was so heartbroken after discovering a series I loved and then finding it wasn't finished that I didn't want to start two other series that were still in production. So I delayed reading The Sword of Truth until the publication date for the final book was announced. With The Wheel of Time...

I first tried reading this series in between A Song of Ice and Fire novels. I didn't even finish the first chapter of The Eye of the World. I found it so very boring. After that, I kept using the excuse that I would wait until Jordan had finished the whole thing. Unfortunately, Robert Jordan died in 2007 with the series still incomplete. At that point, I thought I may as well read it, seeing as the series was surely done for. I got halfway through book nine, Winter's Heart, before I got bored again, got distracted by something else, and gave up. However, another author (Brandon Sanderson) has taken up the series from Jordan and has written two more books. With one more to come in the next year, I figured it was time to start the series again.

(My memory for books is annoying: I can remember just enough that as I re-read, I remember things just before they happen...but not enough to just pick up the next book in the series if it's been a couple of years since the last one (this is why I have re-read the Harry Potter series so many times - the only reason, really!). So I really did have to go back to the start of the series and start all over again.)

Lots of things annoy me about the Wheel of Time series - unnecessary detail, too much repetition, poor character development, lack of strong female characters, clichéd dialogue...But I do enjoy the story. One of my biggest problems is that I simply don't care about the characters. They're not developed, they're not sympathetic, they're just caricatures. I can't love a series that doesn't make me cry - this is why I love Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire and struggle with The Sword of Truth and The Wheel of Time.

Anyway, the biggest issue I have with The Wheel of Time is that I'm simply sick of farmboy heroes. They're a fantasy staple, and crop up everywhere. Let me define what I mean: a farmboy hero is of the unlikely hero variety. He (heroes are almost invariably "he", but that's a whole other blog post) is usually from a small, sleepy village. He grew up on a farm. He never thought he was anyone special, or did anything remarkable, or had outlandish hopes and dreams. He probably never travelled far from his village, or met anyone who had (except for one strange old man who everyone thinks is "crazy" - again, a whole other blog post...). And then the story begins. There's plenty of examples: Bilbo and Frodo from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; Garion from The Belgariad and The Malloreon; Richard from The Sword of Truth...And Rand, from The Wheel of Time.

NOTE: Spoilers to follow...

Rand meets all of the above farmboy hero criteria. When we first meet him, he's trudging through the forest with his father from his isolated farmstead home to the closest little sleepy village. By the end of just the second book in the series, he's become an amazing swordsman (he was already an amazing archer), and been declared the Dragon Reborn, the prophesied hero who is going to fight the big evil guy and save the world. Part of the explanation for this amazing transformation is that, as the Dragon Reborn, he has magically inherited some of the skills of the first Dragon (who lived a long time ago). I can kind of buy that, I suppose. But all his childhood friends also magically become super-skilled in various fields - two other boys, and two girls, from the same sleepy village. This is where the explanation, to me, breaks down - without going into too much detail, basically, Rand is so strong and so important that people around him become strong and important also (well, the boys do - the girls less so, and only through their relation to the boys (I just realised this, and this is tied into the "lack of strong female characters" mentioned above)).

My point ("finally," I hear you all breathe, with a sigh of relief) is that this happens all the time. The hero can't be a hero if he's just a farmboy! So he has to get super-powers somehow, and the explanation is often flimsy. Bilbo and Frodo not so much, but the others mentioned above all certainly do. Even Harry Potter does! This supposedly makes the hero more of a relatable everyman, but really all it does is make him less believable, I think. Sometimes, this can be pulled off, but usually, it creates plot-holes and makes it hard for the reader to keep up their suspension of disbelief. A hero that starts out a hero, or already has hero training, like Sparhawk (another David Eddings character) or Jaime (from A Song of Ice and Fire), is more realistic to me. Most heroes of this variety also have a bit of a badboy streak, which certainly helps with their appeal.

To relate this to characters that more of my readers might understand...This is why we need more Bruce Waynes and less Peter Parkers.

Disaster Preparation

2011-01-11T23:03:00.000+10:00

Considering that I live in a pretty disastrous country and tend to freak out whenever I'm not in control, the fact that I don't have any kind of disaster kit seems pretty out of character. I guess I was always in denial about the dangers.

The thing is, Southeast Queensland is a fairly high-risk area: storms, floods, bushfires, and tsunamis are all a very real risk of living here. I'm far enough inland that a tsunami shouldn't be a problem for my home, but everything else is certainly a possibility.

Some of you are probably aware that there is severe flooding in several parts of Australia at the moment, particularly in Southeast Queensland. The ABC site has an emergency page up now. The Gold Coast is still considered fairly safe, but, well, Toowoomba didn't get any warning at all. If the Hinze Dam overflows or breaks or something, we're close enough to the Nerang River that we would almost definitely be flooded. As it is, we have a stormwater drain that runs through the park directly behind our house. We're up on a rise, but we've seen it fairly far up the rise before, and it's certainly possible (however unlikely) that it could reach our house.

Here is a photo of the park this morning:

This is looking directly over our back fence (just visible across the bottom of the picture). The slope down to the stormwater is actually quite a bit steeper than it appears in this pic. I would say we're a good 2 metres above the water level in this picture.

More photos and discussion after the jump!

Read more »

OOTD: Sunshine Safari

2011-01-04T20:22:00.000+10:00

The weather here on the Gold Coast has cleared up enough that we're getting entire days with no rain! Unfortunately that means it's also quite hot and humid. But at least I can wear cute shoes and shorts without worrying about the rain!

I'd been looking for some more shorts that are nice enough for me to wear to work for a while, because it really is too hot to wear jeans, but I can't wear skirts every day because it's too uncomfortable. My friend, the always-fabulous Fat Heffalump, directed me to the Autograph sale, so I dropped in there when I was in Robina on Monday. I snaffled 2 pairs of shorts for work, 1 pair of more casual shorts, 1 pair of board shorts, and a long crinkle skirt for $50 total! I was very happy.

Today I decided to go for an all neutral colour palette which reminded me a bit of safari colours:

Cami: Torrid

Shorts: Autograph

Clogs: Wittner

Oh, would you look at that? It seems I bought another pair of clogs from Wittner! I saw these on the lovely Fashion Hayley and wanted them so bad. But I restrained myself until I could get them super-cheap, then snapped them up!

Pretty cute, huh?

New Year's ReVolution

2011-01-01T09:33:00.000+10:00

So last night I was going to post a 2010 wrap-up like plenty of other bloggers. But I decided not to, for two reasons: 1) I didn't want to participate in the cliché; and 2) I want to focus on the future, not dwell on the past. So, no 2010 wrap-up for me.

I'm also not making a New Year's Resolution, exactly. This time of year, so many people talk about how "bad" they were over Christmas, how they "overindulged", and thus, there is a proliferation of New Year's Resolutions to lose weight. This is, to me, harmful and wrong, and reinforces the weight-loss culture we are all exposed to every day. There is not a single study that proves that long-term weightloss is possible and sustainable in ANY form for a significant number of people. The majority of people who do lose weight gain it all back and more, and this weight-cycling is harmful in many ways.

So, instead of a New Year's Resolution that's impossible to keep, I'm participating in the New Year's ReVolution. You can see the resource page here, and the Facebook Event page here. As usual, Fat Heffalump also has a fabulous post about this topic. Even if you don't buy in to the whole Health at Every Size (HAES) philosophy, the message I hope everyone takes away from this is to love yourselves and your bodies, because you are deserving of that love.

Each day in January, I will be trying to do something from each of these categories:

Joyful movement: moving my body for the joy, the pleasure of it, instead of treating it as a chore
Intuitive eating: listening to what my body wants and eating accordingly - taking note of my hunger and satiety signals
Self-care: taking a few moments to do something for myself each day
Self-esteem: boosting my self-esteem through my thoughts and actions
Connecting with others: taking time to interact with and really connect with other people, through a smile or a conversation

I'm hoping that if I can do these things each day through January, they will become habits and second nature. Some of these things I do already, on most days, others need a lot more work.

I want to stress that the point of this exercise is health - physical, mental, spiritual - and not weightloss. I don't weigh myself any more and really don't care what my weight is and whether it goes up or down. I know that is a radical concept to many people, but it's true - I have no idea how much I weigh right now and don't care.

Have you set yourself a weightloss-related New Year's Resolution? Imagine letting go of all that stress, and just loving yourself. What have you got to lose?

Christmas Recipes

2010-12-26T12:52:00.000+10:00

I've had a couple of requests for recipes we use for Christmas, so this post is going to be fairly long and full of recipes! Some of them are metric and some are Imperial measurements, because Dave got quite a few recipes from a US exchange student and various other US sources.

CHRISTMAS CAKE
We make this Christmas Cake every year and it is always popular. It is very dense and rich and alcoholic! We make ours about 6 weeks before Christmas.

Quantities suitable for 6" square tin. Double for 9" round (bake 5.5 hours), triple for 10" square (bake 6.25 hours).

6oz butter 1/2tsp mixed spice
6oz dark brown sugar 1/2tsp cinnamon
1tbsp black treacle 6oz currants
2tsp Gravox 6oz raisins
2 eggs 12oz sultanas
2tsp brandy 2oz candied peel
6oz plain flour 2oz glace cherries
sherry, rum or whisky 2oz chopped almonds
(for soaking and pouring) grated rind of 1 lemon

Mix currants, raisins, sultanas, candied peel, and glace cherries together in a bowl and soak in the alcohol of your choice overnight. Pre-heat oven to 135C/275F/very slow. Cream butter, sugar & treacle. Add eggs and brandy. Beat all together. Sift dry ingredients. Add fruit and dry ingredients alternately to butter mixture. Stir well. Transfer to tin lined with brown paper or baking paper. Bake 4 hours (or as noted above). Flip from tin and pour more alcohol over the bottom, then replace in the still-lined tin. When completely cold (24 hours) pour more alcohol over the top and wrap in glad wrap and foil. Store in an airtight container in a dark, cool place for at least a month before eating.

More recipes after the jump!

Read more »

Big50 Day 50: Christmas

2010-12-25T09:22:00.000+10:00

As an Atheist, I obviously don't celebrate Christmas for the religious aspect of it, but even when I was a kid, that was never what Christmas was about to my family. Christmas to me is about family, and Summer, and road trips, and collective cooking at my parents' beach house. It's about rain (nearly always rains on Christmas Day, and today is no exception!), and the sound of a tent zip opening in the early morning stillness, and about sharing and giving gifts.

This is my fifth year in a row that I haven't been home for Christmas ("home" being NZ, obviously). I told Dave that no matter what, we are going to NZ for Christmas next year! I've already booked my annual leave with work. I normally get quite Grinchy at Christmas, because it reminds me that I'm not home. But I also find that Christmas can bring out the worst, as well as the best, in people. Pushing, shoving, rude, abusive people flood the streets and the shops. People go crazy with Christmas lights. This year, there's been reindeer horns and red noses on every second car. There's extra shop people everywhere, blaring out specials on portable microphones and speakers, or aggressively shoving pamphlets into your hands. But there's also random acts of kindness, and a collective effort to go the extra mile.

I hope you have a wonderful, stress-free Christmas, if you celebrate it, and if you celebrate a different holiday, I hope you enjoy that (or have already enjoyed that).

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series, which is now finally over!

Big50 Day 49: Home

2010-12-24T19:50:00.000+10:00

'Nuff said.

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 44-48: Senses

2010-12-24T19:49:00.000+10:00

Because I got so far behind, I'm going to cheat a little and combine my 5 separate "Senses" posts into one!

Touch
The soft spot behind Jeddah's ears. The roughness of Bubbles' tongue. Silk against my skin. Egyptian cotton sheets. Dave's head after I've shaved his hair. A mohair blanket.

Smell
Freshly-brewed tea. Raspberries. Christmas fruit cake. Roast dinner. Grass after rain. Coconut. Bacon and eggs. A new book.

Taste
Smooth, rich chocolate mousse. Lemon meringue pie. Nana's rice pudding. Gruyère cheese. A crunchy Granny Smith apple. Feijoas off my parents' tree. Lychees.

Hearing
A baby crying. Jeddah meowing. A tent zip opening on a clear Summer morning. The Storm by Jim Steinman. Phoebe yelping in her sleep. My Daddy's electric razor in the morning.

Sight
A beautiful fantasy painting, like by Boris Vallejo. Ron Mueck's sculptures. A full moon. Kawakawa Bay, from the hill above. The Desert Road. Wisteria vines. Jacaranda trees. Kowhai trees. Pohutukawa trees. A book.

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 43: Grandmothers

2010-12-23T21:51:00.000+10:00

I've already spoken about my Nanas on a couple of occasions. They were and are inspirational women, and I can't say much more on the topic other than that I miss very much my Nana D, who died earlier this year, and my Nana W, who I don't get to see nearly as often as I'd like. Unfortunately, it's difficult for her to travel, and she wasn't able to make it to our wedding.

I wanted to write something about Dave's Gran, but I haven't gotten a copy of the eulogy his Uncle gave at her funeral in October. I will say that she was a pioneering, opinionated, inspirational woman. She worked with Aboriginal people and was involved in the Baha'i church and loved writing letters to her grandchildren. We had a lovely holiday with her when we went cruising on the Murray River with Dave's Mum and my parents, and she also came up from Adelaide for our wedding earlier this year.

I wouldn't be who I am today without the influence of these three women, especially my own two Nanas, and most especially Nana D, who looked after my sister and I so much when we were children. We went to her house every day after school, and clearly some of her characteristics have rubbed off on me. I love and miss my Nanas very much and am already counting the days to Christmas 2011 when I'll be in NZ and able to catch up with Nana W.

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 42: Collections

2010-12-23T07:26:00.000+10:00

I get my magpie-like collecting and hoarding tendencies from my Daddy. He has rather a lot of fishing rods (although he would scoff at the idea he collects them), and a lovely collection of vintage pocketwatches. Considering his collection has been amassed almost entirely through TradeMe (NZ's answer to eBay), he's managed to pick up some beautiful watches and some really good bargains. He'll happily talk for hours about his watches, showing you the mechanisms and waxing lyrical over their functional beauty.

But this post isn't about his collections, it's about mine! One thing I collect, although this is currently on hold due to a lack of suitable display options, is dragon figurines. I have a pretty nice collection that is currently bubble-wrapped and sitting in a box in the spare wardrobe. When I have space for a china cabinet, I will start this collection again.

We have a very modest collection of antique books that was recently boosted by inheriting some from Dave's grandmother. In particular, I like collecting old Shakespeare editions. I picked up a fairly good condition vintage complete works in an op shop for $3 that is worth quite a bit more than that. This is another collection that I'm slowly building up.

Another thing I collect is cook books. I have one whole bookshelf specifically for cook books. It's kind of inaccessible at the moment so I tend to stick to just 2 or 3 that I have out and handy, one being my copy of the Edmonds cook book that sits in nearly every Kiwi household kitchen. I can't resist picking up cook books when I see them on sale. Dave has tried to ban me from buying any more but that hasn't worked out too well! Oooh, vintage Edmonds cook books! Hmmm.

What do you like collecting?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

On the Julian Assange Rape Charges

2010-12-22T22:57:00.002+10:00

Trigger warning for this post and all posts I link to here for discussions of rape and rape apologism.

So. I'm not going to write a blog post about this whole thing, because several people have said what I want to say far better than I could. What I want to do here is a bit of a link round-up, a "signal boost" if you will, to make sure my friends and family and other readers at least spend a few moments thinking about this stuff.

What I am going to say, first of all, is that in the very early days of the Assange accusations, I did retweet some stuff on Twitter that I didn't really think through, and I did make some comments and have some discussions with my husband that were in public places and may have been overheard. If I somehow upset you, or triggered you, or angered you, I'm sorry. I'm more informed now. I hope that you all take time to read these links, and become more informed too.

First up, if you somehow have no idea what I'm talking about, here is a Washington Post article describing the charges against Julian Assange, why they are controversial, and a little bit about who he is. Here are the charges, as described in the article:

The allegations against Assange are rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion. He's accused of pinning one woman's arms and using his body weight to hold her down during one alleged assault, and of raping a woman while she was sleeping. In both cases, according to the allegations, Assange did not use a condom. But the controversy seems to center on the fact that both encounters started off consensually.

Now for the link round-up (these are all from my Google Reader feed and thus are heavy on Fat Acceptance and Australian voices):

Talking about rape and who hears you: Kate Harding did this post about some of the things people are saying, and Elizabeth at Spilt Milk wrote this one about who hears you when you say these things:

...[W]hen what we hear time and time again is some version of apologism or some perpetuation of a rape myth like sluts can’t be raped or women always cry rape or nice men aren’t rapists then all we do is make the noise of rape culture louder and the voices of victims and survivors ever more silent.

Several prominent figures in the USA have spoken in support of Assange and disparagingly of the claims, including Michael Moore and Naomi Wolf. Kate Harding wrote about Michael Moore and the Twitter hashtag #Mooreandme, and added a follow-up a few days later. Brian at Red No. 3 posted on the same topic from a male perspective. Viv at Hoyden About Town wrote reblogged an open letter from another blogger (Harriet J at Fugitivus) to other prominent feminists to challenge Naomi Wolf.
Two of my favourite bloggers wrote incredibly brave posts about their own rape experiences, and I thank them for sharing and for giving me permission to link them here: Fat Heffalump and The Rotund.
Finally, Elizabeth at Spilt Milk wrote a post about where she stands on WikiLeaks and the Assange accusations, which is pretty much exactly my stance.

Phew. I know that's a lot of links, but I really hope you guys take the time to read them. At the very least, I hope I've gotten you thinking about rape and rape scenarios and who hears you when you talk about rape.

Big50 Day 41: Crafts

2010-12-22T22:06:00.000+10:00

I usually think of myself as not a particularly creative person, because I can't paint or draw or sculpt or anything like that. But that's not really being very fair to myself. I enjoy doing creative things that have guidelines, like cross-stitch from patterns and baking from recipes. I'll happily adapt those guidelines to suit myself, but if you were to ask me, for example, to create a meal out of a bench full of assorted ingredients, I'd be totally lost.

I've recently been on a bit of a sewing kick. I made the ring pillow we used for our wedding, and am halfway through making a maxi dress. Speaking of the wedding...We also made our own centrepieces to go with our sand ceremony and our colour scheme. Here's me with one on the day we were assembling them:

I used to make a lot of my own paper with a paper recycling kit, and turn it into cards and that kind of thing. I've spent the last few evenings baking so that I can give gifts to my coworkers for Christmas. I just enjoy giving home-made gifts. The act of creating something, anything, is immensely satisfying to me. I guess I just don't give myself enough credit for my personal brand of creativity!

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 40: My Spiritual Home

2010-12-22T21:49:00.000+10:00

I've mentioned several times now that I consider Wellington my spiritual home, but have never really defined that. So that is what this post is going to be about.

I was born and raised in Papakura, a town in South Auckland, which officially became a city in my last year of primary school. Unfortunately, it's now been assimilated into the Auckland Super-City, which is pretty crap. I represented my school at the city incorporation ceremony and was so proud to be a part of such an important event. So it's sad that the ceremony is now meaningless.

Anyway, Auckland is a very big city and is the main entry hub into the country. Most flights from outside of the South Pacific go through Auckland, and so it's where most tourists are introduced to the country. That's a shame, because Auckland is a pretty soulless city, and is far from representing the beautiful, wild country that I love. There's also a pretty strong rivalry between Auckland and the rest of the country. The rest of the country has a slur (JAFA) for people from Auckland, and Aucklanders have a reputation for thinking that NZ "stops at the Bombay Hills" (a range of hills south of Auckland). Non-Aucklanders also think that Auckland sucks up more than its fair share of national resources. To top it all off, a lot of non-New Zealanders think Auckland is the capital!

While most of my family is in Auckland, and I miss them desperately, it's Wellington I really miss. Wellington is a small, compact, picturesque city, with a lot of green space and a lot of old architecture. As the capital, it is the political hub and knowledge base of the country - but it's also the cultural hub: the national ballet and symphony orchestra are based there, and it has several theatres. I really miss the ballet and the theatre! Wellington also has a strong cafe culture.

When I moved from Auckland to Wellington, I just immediately felt at home. The style and culture and size of the city all suit me and my preferred lifestyle. It's Wellington I long for, and Wellington we will eventually settle in (it's still closer than Oz, Mum!). Of course, it doesn't help that I've recently made several new friends who are all in Wellington!

Where is your spiritual home? Is it the same as your current home, or where you were born? Have you ever lived in a different city?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 39: Grandfathers

2010-12-21T22:08:00.000+10:00

Sadly, neither of my grandfathers are alive. My father's father (Granddad) died shortly before my 5th birthday, and my mother's father (Poppa) died in 2006.

Because I was so young when Granddad died, I don't remember much of him. I remember he was very tall (as were/are his five sons), but I don't remember him talking much, or being particularly affectionate. My Daddy says that he had Alzheimer's, and as it progressed he got quite aggressive, so I suppose our contact was limited. I do remember that we weren't allowed to go to the funeral, because Mum didn't think we were old enough to understand. Clearly, I was, because I was upset I couldn't go!

Poppa was very different to Granddad. He was very involved in our lives and very affectionate. Poppa was a bit of a joker and loved playing with his grandchildren and later, his great-grandchildren. He played lawn bowls and tenpin bowls and was active in his local Cossie Club*. He loved fishing and being at my parents' beach house. Poppa died a couple of days before ANZAC Day 2006. Sadly, I wasn't able to be in NZ at the end. I saw him at Christmas 2005, when he was still fairly spry. He had cancer. My whole family banded together to support him and Nana, doing renovations to their house, staying at the Hospice he was in, and helping to look after him. At his funeral, there were so many people the chapel couldn't hold us all - there were people spilling out onto the lawn, even though it had been raining. There were a lot of great-grandchildren there too. I was very proud to be one of the casket bearers and able to be involved. Afterwards, as the hearse drove from the chapel, all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren lined the little road with helium balloons, and let go of the balloons as he was driven past. It was a really sweet tribute and got everyone involved, and was a way for the little ones to understand about "letting go".

Even though I didn't know my Granddad very well, I still miss him. I miss both my grandfathers very much. I teared up while I was writing this. I be my Mum cries when she reads it. I'm sorry I made you cry, Mum.

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

* I was trying to find a link to give you non-NZers about Cossie Clubs but I can't find anything generic. They seem to be a uniquely NZ thing. They're kind of like RSLs or RSAs, or, I don't know what the US equivalent would be...Think of a community centre that is mainly for older people and serves pub food and alcohol and you have a general idea.

Big50 Day 38: On Being Underestimated

2010-12-21T21:38:00.000+10:00

I'm underestimated in all sorts of ways. While I have a lot of privilege in some respects, there are other things I'm at a disadvantage for, such as being a woman and being fat. I'm very intelligent and have a lot of general knowledge, and have worked in a lot of different jobs and environments and have a wide range of interests. I have one bachelor's degree, am currently doing another, and plan on going on to post-grad.

However, I work in a job that is considered "unskilled" - I'm in Customer Service. Never mind that Customer Service is quite a small part of my role, and shrinking - I'm in the Customer Service team, and that's that. I find that some people - colleagues, customers, acquaintances - assume that because I'm a fat woman in an "unskilled" job, I'm therefore not particularly intelligent.

This really annoys me, because I'm quite aware of my intelligence. You could say (and it would be fair, and it's something that I know I should work on) that I'm quite arrogant about it. So I find it personally insulting when people assume I'm clueless. Which is silly - the person on the other end of the phone doesn't know me. If they want to treat me like I'm an idiot, that's their problem, not mine.

Of course, there are some situations where I can use this to my advantage. I can pleasantly surprise people when I understand what they are trying to explain with minimum explanation, for example. But mostly it's just kind of annoying.

The moral of the story is this: if you don't know someone, then don't make assumptions. This is, of course, something I need to practice more too.

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 37: Phobias

2010-12-21T08:52:00.000+10:00

So. Phobias. I know there's an actual psychological definition, and that the word is over-used, and I should probably use fears, so I apologise to anyone who takes issue with me saying "phobia" instead of "fear"...But I'm going with phobia, because I do feel these things irrationally. This post may also be triggery if you have any phobias.

My biggest irrational phobia is of drains. That's so irrational it's not even on the Phobia List. This stems from two Stephen King influences. The first is obviously IT, a novel about an evil clown that comes up out of drains. There's also a short story (I can't remember the name) about a guy who finds a finger coming up out of his drain and the finger gets longer and has more and more joints...Ugh, I just shivered and now I'm going to have trouble taking a shower. I really, really hate taking a shower in a shower stall that has the drain in the middle of the floor (as ours does), and try to avoid standing over it as much as possible. I'll randomly get hit with this phobia when I'm cleaning my teeth or whatever and suddenly have to get away from the sink as quickly as I can.

Another irrational phobia, also courtesy of Stephen King, is of my wardrobe door being open. This one is from Cujo. Most people remember that novel as being about a rabid dog that traps a kid and his mother in their car, miles from anywhere...But I remember the kid also saw the dog as a monster in his wardrobe, and thus, I can't sleep with my wardrobe door being open. Or even be in the room if it's left open after being used. When I started writing this paragraph, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure the wardrobe in our computer room was closed!

A more common phobia I have is agoraphobia - fear of being in crowded spaces. I've had panic attacks from this. It usually manifests when I'm in an unfamiliar crowd, like at a concert or something, but I can also be hit with it when I'm at the supermarket or mall, even if it's not a particularly crowded day. If I'm already stressed and my mental defenses are down, just a regular supermarket trip can make me very jumpy. I think this comes down to a lack of control over the situation.

My final phobia would I guess be a form of claustrophobia (confined spaces), but it's a bit more specific - I can't stand anything being over my face or close to my face. It's very difficult for me to have someone else do my makeup, for example. If I'm getting a haircut, the hairdresser can't put my hair over my face or I freak out. I can't sleep with my covers over my head. I don't even like having water on my face - it's the first thing I dry when I get out of the shower. I'm not sure where this phobia comes from.

If you feel comfortable doing so, share your fears and phobias in the comments!

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 36: Fashion

2010-12-20T18:20:00.000+10:00

I blogged about fashion several months ago. Since then, I've bought everything on that wishlist! I don't really have a wishlist right now, except that I really need a couple of pairs of shorts I can wear to work. Otherwise I'm pretty set.

I've bought a lot of shoes over the last few months. Shoes have become my new obsession, specifically, red shoes. I have several pairs now, and recently bought more. I love my red shoes!

I'm enjoying finding new places I can buy stylish clothes. I have a huge list of websites now. I'm slowly cleaning out my old stuff and bringing in new stuff. I still can't go past a cute tee and a pair of jeans, but I like experimenting with other looks too!

What's your personal style?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 35: Fathers

2010-12-20T18:12:00.000+10:00

As I've mentioned before, I would say I'm a Daddy's Girl, for sure. The fact that I still call him Daddy should demonstrate that! My Daddy was always very protective of me. None of my boyfriends ever measured up. My clothes were too revealing. I should aim higher. What it all came down to really, however, was that he wanted what was best for me. I think he's realised recently that what I think is best for me may not always be what he does, but that this is not always bad. He's become more accepting of my choices - and finally approved of my relationships. He gets on well with my husband, which I'm so grateful for.

My father-in-law is a botanist whose work takes him to some pretty remote places, including Antarctica - he's been there several times. He grew up on a winery and has a lot of very interesting stories. He's also an excellent artist - his botanical drawings are beautifully detailed and graceful.

I'm very lucky that I have such a good relationship with both my parents, as well as my in-laws. I know that's highly unusual!

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 34: Blogging

2010-12-20T18:02:00.000+10:00

Another "what were you thinking?" blog topic. I wrote about this already.

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 33: Webcomics

2010-12-17T08:16:00.000+10:00

Several years ago now, my friend in the US introduced me to my first webcomic - Penny Arcade. I love Gabe's artwork and Tycho's scathing wit. Even though I'm only a casual gamer (I only own one console, a Wii, gasp!), I still love reading about games - but the comic isn't really about games. It's about two dudes who really, really love games. They also run one of my favourite charities - Child's Play.

Penny Arcade led me to PVPOnline, which is kind of like a rival gaming webcomic. Both comics frequently mention the other. PVP has more of an ensemble cast, so it has a more diverse range of storylines, but it's also at its heart a comic about two guys (Cole and Brent) who really love games.

Back when I played World of Warcraft (did I mention that I'm happy I've kicked that habit?), another friend introduced me to Looking For Group, which is basically an ongoing graphic novel. It draws heavily on WoW and other MMORPGs as well as regular RPGs, but also fantasy novels (especially Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series) and miscellaneous pop culture. I love the warlock, Richard. For Pony!

LFG led me to another comic by the same pair of Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza, Least I Could Do (NSFW, more often than not). This one is about a guy called Rayne who is cute and uh, well-endowed, a total ladies' man, but also a colossal nerd.

I've read xkcd on and off over the years, like most nerds, but am currently in the process of reading the archives. xkcd is, well, it's kind of hard to explain, so I'll use the explanation on the site: "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language." It has stick figures. If you're a nerd, you're probably already reading it, and if you're not, you probably won't get it (I don't get half of it!).

Someone I follow on Twitter (alas, I've forgotten who it was now), posted a Dinosaur Comics strip and I checked it out. I was pleasantly surprised to find that a comic that uses exactly the same artwork in nearly every strip could have such a wide range of storylines. I'm still working my way through the archive (there's a lot!).

A blogger I read (also alas, I've forgotten who it was now), posted a Two Lumps strip about Thanksgiving shortly before Thanksgiving, and I was amazed I had never come across it before. A webcomic about two cats, kind of like a cat version of Pinky and the Brain? I read my way through the archives over a few days and now am a loyal follower. My next two cats will be called Eben and Snooch!

Two Lumps led me to Cleopatra in Spaaaace!, a webcomic about, well, Cleopatra in space...It takes a young Cleopatra and writes a comic about what she would be like if she'd been born thousands of years later. It's another one like LFG - essentially an ongoing graphic novel.

So there you have it. The 8 webcomics I follow currently. I'm sure there's plenty more out there that are excellent. If you have a recommendation, let me know!

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 32: Poetry

2010-12-17T07:53:00.000+10:00

This year I did a Creative Writing paper for my Communication degree. It had a Poetry component, which I thought I was going to hate, but actually really enjoyed. I've posted several of my poems on this blog, and recently submitted two of them to Takahē magazine in New Zealand on the suggestion of my tutor. I haven't heard back yet, but even if they don't publish either of them, the fact that my tutor thought I should at least try is very exciting! One of the poems also makes me eligible to apply for a prize from my University, which I need to organise before March next year. I'm also doing a paper solely on poetry in Semester 2 next year!

I haven't read a huge amount of poetry, but am starting to read a bit more, although I have read (and studied) quite a lot of Shakespeare. A new Aussie blogger I discovered recently, Mim, did a post on poetry a little while ago and I will be using her to find more poetry to read! I'm also going to start buying my nieces poetry instead of regular books (although their Christmas presents are already bought, sadly) and will definitely introduce my own children to poetry when the time comes!

What sort of poetry do you like?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 31: Boobs

2010-12-16T08:23:00.000+10:00

Boobs. They're everywhere. It seems that you can't have an ad or a music video without boobs being front and centre these days. They say sex sells, but what they really mean is boobs.

I'm quite proud of my boobs. I mention them on Twitter fairly often. I wear clothes that show them off. I inherited a Rack of Doom from my mother, and her mother before her...Many of my cousins and aunts are well-endowed, boob-wise. I recently placed an order with ThinkGeek for some t-shirts, and it was a toss-up between the "Huge Tracts of Land" shirt (if you don't get it, you haven't been watching enough Monty Python) and the "Schrödinger's Cat" shirt. I bought the latter, but it was a tough call. I'll get the Huge Tracts of Land one next time!

The thing about boobs is that they're just a normal part of the body. Plenty of people have them. And plenty of people who don't are obsessed with them. Why? What's so fascinating about boobs?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 30: Friends

2010-12-16T08:15:00.000+10:00

I've never really been a person with a huge circle of friends, and for most of my life, I've had more guy friends than girl friends. In primary school, I had one good friend, and when we were getting ready to transition to intermediate I was worried we wouldn't be in the same class. My teacher assured me that we would be - but when we started school, we weren't. Unfortunately I lost that friend. But I made several new ones.

One of these friends, Helen, I mentioned yesterday. We were best friends from intermediate right through to the end of high school. Sure, we had fights (mostly over boys), but we always bounced back. We both had a slightly kooky way of viewing the world that others just didn't get. We had two other friends, Kim and Kelly, and several boy friends as well (boy friends, not boyfriends, although we both dated several of them at various times). When we got to high school, we made another friend, Shiloh. She moved in across the road from me, and I'll never forget the first day of high school, when she approached me and said, "Hi! I'm Shiloh, I live across the road from you, do you want to be my friend?" And so she joined our circle. Shiloh could have easily ended up with the cool crowd - she was pretty and outgoing and did Drama, not Music, but her location across the street from me cemented her in our group.

Most of us stayed friends up to the end of high school, and then some through the first year of university. Then I moved to a different city, and lost contact with pretty much everyone. I made some new friends, but it was never the same. Then I moved to another city, then another...I lost some friends and gained others, and then regained old friends through Facebook.

These days, most of my friends are from work, although I do have some old friends, and some friends I've met online that I've never met in person (and still others that I have). I still find it hard to make friends - I can be quite outspoken and sometimes forget that people don't always appreciate that - but I feel comfortable in the circles I'm in right now.

Geez, I thought this post was going to be hard, but it's a pretty long one! How do you make friends?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 29: Art

2010-12-14T19:59:00.000+10:00

While I find art interesting, and dated a couple of artists when I was younger, I don't have any great skill myself. I would love to be able to paint or draw, but alas, my talents lie in other areas.

Currently we don't have a lot of art work up in our house, although we are slowly remedying that. I have two original works done just for me (from the aforementioned artist boyfriends) that both need to be reframed before I can hang them. Our pride and joy, art-wise, is the painting we received as a wedding gift from my best friend from high school (Helen) and her partner (Hayley).

Isn't she amazing? Hayley, who has a website here, painted this for us herself. Helen asked my sister for suggestions for what we might like and Angela immediately said "Dragons!". Little did she know that our wedding cake was also dragon-themed! So, obviously, we were thrilled with this painting.

We also recently inherited some art from David's grandmother, including an Indonesian batik and an original painting which we still need to get valued and reframed. Our collection is slowly growing. We both have quite different tastes, so I think that our collection will end up being quite eclectic!

What art do you like?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 28: Body Image

2010-12-14T08:24:00.000+10:00

I've talked about body image a few times before, this post being the most comprehensive. I'm in a pretty good place with my body image right now. So today I'm going to talk about your body image*.

Yes, you. How do you feel about your body? Do you love it? Do you hate it? Think about what your body does for you every day. If you're alive, your body is working hard to keep you that way. There may be some things that don't work as well as they should, or perhaps work too well; there may be some things your body does that you're not happy with. Your body is complex, and for you to be here at all is nothing short of amazing.

So why complain to your body about how it looks? Why lose sleep over the outer shell? You may be fat or thin, tall or short; you may have a visible disability, or people may judge you based on the colour of your skin. But believe me, you're going to get enough negativity from everyone else. After receiving so much negativity from others, your body still soldiers on. Don't you think it deserves a bit of respect from you?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

*Note: I've tried to keep this post as privilege-free as possible, but as a privileged person, that can be difficult. I'm sorry if I unwittingly offend. If I do, please let me know!

Big50 Day 27: High School

2010-12-13T13:58:00.000+10:00

I'm not sure why I scheduled both a "High School" post and a "My 16-year-old Self" post. So, in the interests of catching up (which will take 2 posts a day to catch up by Christmas Eve), I'm skipping this one. Go read the My 16-year-old Self post instead :)

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 26: Trivia

2010-12-13T13:10:00.000+10:00

I collect Trivia. I have several books of trivia, such as Guinness World Records books, books about urban legends, general knowledge books, that kind of thing. I soak up minor snippets of information like a sponge. Whenever I encounter something I don't know much about, I look it up on Wikipedia. I'm pretty good at Trivial Pursuit, but useless at anything that requires me to remember a date!

I really enjoy learning new things, and trivia is one of the things I enjoy the most. It's fun to be able to remember strange facts about people and places. Whenever I go somewhere new, I always read as much as I can about that place, including finding out minor details.

One thing I really love is urban legends. Snopes is one of my favourite websites. I'm sceptical of a lot of what I read or hear, and always check Snopes if something seems off. I'm really annoying with chain emails and Facebook memes. People seem to hate it when I point them at the Snopes entry on things that they forward me, no matter how politely I do it. I just want people to think more critically of things they see or read! Just because someone says it on the news, that doesn't mean it's true. Critical thinking is a crucial skill.

I seem to have gone off-topic. That's what you get when I write a blog post when I'm sleepy!

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

OOTD: Christmas Drinks!

2010-12-11T22:22:00.000+10:00

Friday night was our company Christmas drinks. We started at Central and then, when the bar tab ran out, moved across the road to Picture. Picture is owned by an ex-coworker and her husband and we wanted to check it out! It's absolutely gorgeous, if you're on the Gold Coast you should definitely pay them a visit.

The decoration is amazing. They have fabulous booths which are usually really expensive to book, but they were pretty quiet so we managed to score one for free. When the group of us turned up, mostly drunk (not me, I was driving!) and slurring about how we knew the owners, the duty manager must have thought we were having them on. We managed to convince them we were genuine somehow, and they let us all in, even some of the boys that weren't really dressed nicely enough.

I decided that, as it was Christmas, I should accessorise in Christmas colours. What better than my Fat necklace and my Wittner clogs?

Dress: Beth Ditto at Evans

Necklace: Definatalie

Belt: City Chic

Clogs: Wittner

When I was planning the outfit, I decided that what it really needed to tie it all together was a red belt. So I went out and bought this ruffled one from City Chic. I don't usually wear belts. I don't even remember the last time I bought one (until I bought this one). I own 3 (including this one), two of which came free with other things. But I think the dress with the red accessories looks great! It was dressy enough to wear out, but not too dressy that I didn't feel too overdressed at work - I was going to the drinks straight from work and didn't want the hassle of getting changed!

We've had a couple of weeks of rain, but we had one gorgeous day in the middle of it all yesterday, which was great! I got a sunny OOTD post for a change, and I didn't have to walk in the rain while we were out in Surfers.

I really, really love this dress, and these shoes, and this necklace. To have them all together in one outfit is fabulous!

Big50 Day 25: Daydreaming

2010-12-08T20:20:00.000+10:00

I daydream a lot. I have a fairly active imagination, and daydreaming is a way to channel that. I daydream about my future, about people I know, about fictional characters, about random strangers...I compose stories, poetry, and blog posts...Anything to keep my mind occupied!

I daydream when I'm driving to and from work, or watching TV, or lying in bed trying to get to sleep (although I suppose that's nightdreaming, not daydreaming, hmmm). I find daydreaming helps time pass faster and is a really good way to switch my brain off and help me sleep. I think it's just part of my nature to over-analyse and dwell. Daydreaming keeps my mind focused on positive, mundane things, and stops me from brooding.

I'm not going to describe my daydreams, because that's too personal! Do you daydream?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 24: Games

2010-12-07T20:28:00.000+10:00

I love my computer games. I've played games since I had my Commodore 64 when I was a kid. I went through a phase where I was a World of Warcraft addict, although luckily, I seem to have kicked that habit for good. I usually play strategy games like Civ, or RPGs like Diablo, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age, or Mass Effect. I have a whole drawer full of computer games, and need to keep my PC fairly up-to-date to handle my games.

My current main occupation is Civ 5. I've played most Civ versions, and find this one to be as addictive as ever. Civ has the "just one more turn" factor - you think, "I'm just going to finish this Wonder", or "I'm just going to kill off this city", and then suddenly it's 2am! The latest version has the added benefit of Steam achievements. I can't believe I just gave you guys that link...

I also love love love Dragon Age. BioWare do fabulous games, and Dragon Age is definitely my favorite game so far. I'm secretly (not so secretly, rather) in love with Alistair. I think I've mentioned this before. The sequel is out in March, and I am very excited about that.

I'm certainly not a hard-core gamer, but I do enjoy my games, and I enjoy webcomics related to games (like Penny Arcade, PVP Online, and LFG).

Apart from computer games, I also enjoy board games, although we don't really have anyone to play with at the moment. We have several games in the cupboard that I wish we could play more. I also played Dungeons & Dragons and World of Darkness (both play-by-post and tabletop)for a while, but simply ran out of spare time to enjoy them properly. I still have a big bag of dice though!

Do you play any games?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 23: Sports

2010-12-07T20:08:00.000+10:00

Sports are an integratal part of NZ (and Oz) society. It's impossible to completely avoid coverage of sports, even if you have no interest in them. So it's lucky I have plenty of interest!

I played netball as a child, like plenty of New Zealand girls, and played indoor netball as an adult. My father plays cricket - he's a wicketkeeper. His employer has a big cricket tournament each year at a different city in NZ. My grandfather (his father) apparently also played cricket. Dad likes joking that Granddad played cricket at the MCG - which is technically true: he played for Marton at the Marton Cricket Ground - but obviously misleading! My other grandfather played lawn bowls and tenpin bowls. You certainly couldn't call me sporty, but I do enjoy playing various sports.

Of course, I also watch a lot of sports. Rugby (Union, of course!) and cricket are my favourites, but I'll also happily watch soccer or rugby league, and can now watch an Aussie Rules game and have a vague idea what's going on. When I moved to Wellington and discovered my spiritual home, I immediately switched my allegiance from the Counties-Manukau rugby teams to the Wellington ones! I'm a big Hurricanes fan, and also support the Lions (NZ rugby domestic) and Phoenix (soccer, the NZ team in the Australian A-League).

There's quite a lot of rivalry between NZ and Australia when it comes to sports. NZ is usually better than Australia at rugby union, but generally the Aussies have the upper hand in everything else. However, we did win the rugby league this year, to the disgust of the boys at work. In NZ, you can get t-shirts that read "I support two teams: the All Blacks, and anyone playing Australia". I'm not quite that one-eyed, but things can occasionally get a bit heated in our household when NZ and Australia are playing each other!

The boys in the IT and Marketing departments run a weekly Betting Club, which I also participate in (as the only girl and also only Customer Service). I usually do alright, even though this is my tactic for picking bets, depending on the sports on offer each week:

Pick a Wellington team
If none available, pick a NZ team
If none available, pick a Gold Coast team
If none available, pick a team Dave supports (although I've been forbidden from picking Liverpool this year due to their unreliability)
If none available, pick a team with a cool name (this is also my tactic for picking my horse)

Not very scientific, hmm? What sports do you play or follow?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

OOTD: Clogs!

2010-12-03T20:25:00.001+10:00

I can't think of a witty title for this post because I'm just too focused on my new red clogs from Wittner!

Are they fabulous or what? They're surprisingly comfortable and are taller than they look. Clogs started coming into fashion (and season) a couple of months ago and I've been keeping my eye out for a red pair for ages. I finally decided on these Wittner ones because they are lined and have rubber on the sole. I put them on layby a couple of weeks ago, and then picked them up yesterday when they went on sale!

Cami & Mini: Torrid

Necklace: Definatalie

Clogs: Wittner

What better to team with red shoes than my red Fat necklace? I've mentioned before how much I love red shoes and I am super-happy with the latest addition to my collection! They can be dressed up or down and worn with just about anything. I predict many, many wears. Love!

Big50 Day 22: Tea

2010-12-02T21:05:00.000+10:00

I've always been more of a tea person than a coffee person. I think that's because my Daddy drinks tea. I used to have mine like him - with 2 sugars - but I've managed to cut back to one now. I have a very specific way of making my tea if it's with a tea bag - I put the milk in first, then the hot water, and I always leave the spoon in the cup and drink it with the spoon there, stirring it as I go. Dave flat-out refuses to make my tea how I want it (milk first) - but he never forgets the spoon!

Recently I've started drinking more loose-leaf tea. I finally got around to visiting the Tea Centre store in Robina and bought some Formosa Choice Oolong and a little tin and strainer to keep at work. The Oolong is delicious with a little squeeze of mild-flavoured honey and no milk. I have a little tea ceremony and it helps me de-stress.

For home, we bought the Ceylon Ruhuna, which is nice and strong, just how Dave likes his tea. Today I also bought a little tin of Earl Grey Blue Flower for work (Dave doesn't like Earl Grey) which smells absolutely divine. I love visiting the Tea Centre, I just want to smell all their teas!

My friend @missrbit is heading home to India for a holiday next week and has promised to bring me back some Darjeeling tea, which I'm really looking forward to. It was the only condition on which I would allow her to desert me for a month!

I guess I'm becoming a bit of a tea snob. We're planning on putting up a shelf in our kitchen to keep our growing collection of tea on! I strongly believe that most problems can be solved with a cup of tea and a homemade biscuit.

What's your favourite sort of tea?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 21: Mothers

2010-12-01T22:47:00.000+10:00

Looking back over my blog, I seem to have mentioned my Mum quite a lot. As I've said before, the older I get, the more I appreciate my Mum and the influence she's had on me.

I also know a lot of mothers. I'm at the age now where a lot of people I know have had children, so I have several friends who are mothers. And of course, as you all know, I want to be a mother myself more than anything else.

I'm lucky that I have such a good relationship with my Mum and my mother-in-law. Many people don't have a mother, or have a bad relationship with their mother.

What's the biggest influence your mother has had on your life?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 20: Thanksgiving

2010-12-01T22:35:00.000+10:00

So this was supposed to be on Thanksgiving, obviously. I should probably stop reminding you guys that I'm so far behind, huh?

One of the people I follow on Twitter, @VoiceInRecovery, does a daily hashtag tweet where she asks people what they are grateful for. I always try to think of at least one every day. Some days are easier than others. My gratefuls range from minor things (like a nice cup of tea) to big things (like the incredible community in my home country of New Zealand).

In Australia and New Zealand we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, obviously, as it's a US holiday. However, due to the pervasive nature of US culture, it's impossible to avoid Thanksgiving. Even if we don't celebrate the holiday itself, it's still a good time to think about what we are thankful for.

So, here are things I'm thankful for, in no particular order:

My family
My husband
My husband's family
My fur babies
My friends
My ablebodiedness
My home
My car
My job

I could go on and on. Once I start thinking about what I'm thankful for, the list becomes endless. I really am incredibly lucky.

What are you thankful for?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 19: Tattoos

2010-11-26T21:23:00.000+10:00

I currently have two tattoos, but I have plans for at least 3 more. Here are my current ones:

The tattoo on my back is the first one I got. I scoured books and magazines and the internet for nearly a year before I found this design on some random webpage of uncredited Pagan symbols, and I knew it was what I wanted straight away. I've never seen another like it. When I showed it to my tattoo artist (the fabulous Dave Stevens at Electric Ink) and told him where I wanted it, he told me that I'd chosen pretty much the most painful tattoo I could for my first!

The main symbol is a pentacle. Clockwise from top-left, the smaller symbols are as follows:

A six-pointed star, generally recognised as the Star of David
Aum, which is a sacred syllable in several Indian religions
Yin yang, a Chinese symbol that represents how opposing forces interact
A triskele, an ancient Celtic symbol
A sun cross, a prehistoric symbol that can be found all over Europe

As you can see, the symbols come from many cultures and religions. Without sounding too much like a stupid privileged white person, I tentatively interpret my tattoo to represent balance, harmony, wholeness, and the sacred nature of all things. I absolutely love it. My only regret is that it's not somewhere I can see easily, because I could certainly do with a reminder of those things every day!

When my first one was done, my tattoo artist asked me what I was getting next. "Nothing," I said. He laughed and gave me a knowing look and said, "You'll be back." He was right - I was back about 12 months later for my armband!

I knew I wanted an armband tattoo, but I wanted one a little bit different from everyone else. I chose this design from a book of Celtic tattoo designs I had. Sadly, the book doesn't say where it is from, but of the examples were from illuminated Bible manuscripts. It's a bit hard to tell from the picture, but the tattoo is interlocking dogs in alternating red and green. I chose the dogs because I love animals, and my tattoo artist helped with the colours - I knew I wanted colour rather than black like my previous tattoo, and he suggested the red and green as being traditional Celtic colours.

My remaining plans are: a small silver fern on the inside of my right wrist, a phoenix on my right shoulder (I'm hoping to cover my huge scar from removing my birthmark but apparently you shouldn't tattoo over a scar so need to think about that), and a quote, probably from Shakespeare, around my left ankle. Then I'll have to come up with some more.

I'm reluctant to try another tattoo artist because Dave at Electric Ink did such a fantastic job, but I am getting really desperate for a new tattoo, and making a special trip to Levin just for a tattoo pilgrimage seems a bit extreme!

Do you have any tattoos?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 18: Simple Pleasures

2010-11-26T20:38:00.000+10:00

Man, I am so far behind!

I'm finding it very hard to blog about simple pleasures today because I haven't had a very pleasurable few days, but never mind. In no particular order...

Lying in bed while it's raining outside and reading a good book
Crisp clean sheets
Baths (oh how I miss having a bath!)
Cuddling with my fur babies
Beautiful underwear
The feel of silk against my skin
Hugs
A baby on my hip
Bubble Tea

That will do for now. What's your favourite simple pleasure?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 17: Meat Loaf

2010-11-24T08:28:00.000+10:00

Oh man, I am so far behind, and I started out so well! I have to catch up, and fast, because I have posts planned for certain days!

So today I'm going to talk to you all about Meat Loaf. Not the food, as I hope at least some of you have guessed, but the musician. I fell in love with Meat Loaf after finding his Bat Out of Hell record in a box of my parents' old vinyl. I even wrote a poem about that discovery. Here was this man - this fat, messy, hairy man - who still had this amazing power through his voice. I loved his music - the epicness of it, the emotion of it, the poetry. It was the start of a life-long love of Meat Loaf.

A few years after that, a boyfriend found out about my love of Meat Loaf, and when I bought my first stereo, he gave me two CDs as a gift. One was U2's Rattle and Hum (because he was trying to introduce me to them, and I instantly became a convert). The other was Jim Steinman's Bad For Good. Chris explained that Jim Steinman has written most of Meat Loaf's hits, and in fact Meat Loaf has recorded several of the songs off Bad For Good. He was introducing me to the world behind the star, and I loved it. I've even been known to recognise Jim Steinman compositions when I hear them, like Céline Dion's version of It's All Coming Back to Me Now. He has such a distinctive style. I still have both CDs on high rotation.

I'm ashamed to admit that I just realised I still haven't bought Bat Out of Hell III. I will need to remedy that next time I'm in JB HiFi!

Right before I moved to Australia, Meat Loaf was touring. I went to his concert in Auckland. It was amazing, being able to actually see him perform on stage. He made a joke about the little poem at the start of Hot Summer Night, and Bat Out of Hell sent chills down my spine (as it always does). My only regret is that I didn't have anyone there with me to enjoy it. It's the only time I've been to a concert alone, but it was worth it!

Meat Loaf showed me that music is always better if there's real, powerful emotion behind it. Jim Steinman showed me that a carefully crafted song will always stand the test of time. Who was your first musical love?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 16: Comfort Food

2010-11-22T18:23:00.000+10:00

I've already talked about chocolate and baking, so it should be clear to you by now that I really love my food! In fact, I just added a new category for "Food" to this blog. As I write this, I have my second Christmas Pudding of the season boiling in a pot on the stove, and a batch of choc-marmalade-walnut biscotti cooling on the rack.

Comfort food means many things to me. When I'm sick, I want my Nana's poached eggs and lemon honey drink. My favourite dessert was her rice pudding, which my Daddy does an excellent imitation of. When I'm home, I want Mum's bacon and eggs and mushrooms for breakfast.

Sausages with onion gravy and mash is my favourite meal to cook when I'm craving something comforting. We get some really good quality sausages and make a slow-cooked onion gravy with this recipe. It really is worth the hour of cooking, it's just perfect.

I guess what all my comfort food choices have in common are that they are traditional, home-cooked meals. There really is nothing like home cooking for comfort!

What's your favourite comfort food?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 15: Celebrity Crush

2010-11-22T17:55:00.000+10:00

I'm a couple of days behind for various uninteresting reasons, sorry loyal readers!

Today I'm going to tell you about my celebrity crush, or rather, crushes, because there are a couple I want to mention. My oldest and most enduring crush is on Keanu Reeves. I used to have several posters of him on my bedroom walls as a teenager. He gets slammed for being a crappy actor, but he starred in one of the biggest movies of the 90s, and who can imagine anyone other than Keanu as Neo? There's just something about him...I loved him in the Bill and Ted movies, that was where it started for me I think. His artless, wide-eyed character just appealed to me when I was in high school. He'll always be my first celebrity crush!

Another crush I have is on Alan Rickman, or more specifically, his voice. He has a gorgeous, smooth, sexy voice that commands attention. I love it! He's amazing as Snape in the Harry Potter movies and I can hardly wait to see him in the final two-part movie. I'm not going to put any spoilers here, but I think Alan Rickman is going to carry off Snape in the final movies of the franchise perfectly.

Who's your biggest celebrity crush?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 14: Children

2010-11-19T21:30:00.000+10:00

You know what? I'm going to skip today. You all know how much I want children. I don't think I need to say any more.

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 13: My First Job

2010-11-18T22:05:00.000+10:00

I got my first job when I was 15. They had a noticeboard up at school, and there was an ad for a petrol station very close to my place. When I went home and told my Daddy, it turned out one of his buddies from the drag strip was the owner. So he came along with me, had a chat to Wayne (the boss) and I got the job.

I loved it. The work was just physical enough that I felt active, and was much more interesting than flipping burgers or packing groceries. I got to meet cute guys with nice cars, and I learned a lot about cars while I was working there. I was given responsibility and not talked down to (by my boss at least) even though I was a girl in a man's world. Weekend mornings in the summer we were so busy I hardly had time to turn around, but mid-week evenings were quiet enough that I could read the magazines while I waited for customers.

It wasn't all sunshine and bunnies though. We never got held up while I was working there, thank goodness, but we did have several drive-offs, or people would leave valuables for their petrol and never came back. We had one guy come in and leave 4 brand-new tyres as payment for his tank of petrol. He had several more in the back seat of the car. Wayne smelled a rat and ran his number plate. It turned out the car (and the tyres) were stolen from a dealership, and our security video helped to catch him. Another time, a lady came up to the counter where I was serving while the guy she was with pumped his petrol outside. He was yelling at her to come back out, and she was yelling back that she wanted to buy smokes. When she got to the counter, she leaned over and said urgently to me, "please help me, he's kidnapped my baby, he has a machete under his seat." I knew that it wasn't some kind of joke - she was terrified. I poked my head out the back where Wayne was and repeated what she'd told me, and he casually leaned over and hit the emergency stop on the pumps, then, while his wife called the cops, Wayne ambled out to the guy like nothing was amiss and told him we were having a problem with the pumps and he had to wait. He stood and chatted to the guy, reassuring him that the pumps would be back up in no time, right up until the cops pulled up. Sure enough, there was a machete under his seat. It turned out they were an estranged couple and he'd tracked her down and taken off with her and the kid. Who knows what his plans were?

We also had an incident where one of my coworkers was stealing from the till. She was very careful to do it only when she was working with me. I'm not sure if she was aware that my family was friends with Wayne and that I was the least likely person there to be stealing from them, but she was certainly trying to frame me. Wayne was sure that it wasn't me, but he had to get proof, so they marked some bills in our float one day and asked both of us to turn out our wallets when they were missing. Of course, they were in her wallet, not mine. Wayne was devastated and it was shortly after that incident that they sold up and I got a new boss.

The petrol station was also where I started smoking. Most of my coworkers smoked so I picked up the habit from them. I was never a really heavy smoker, and have been completely smoke-free for nearly 7 years now, but that doesn't stop me getting cravings still, especially when I'm stressed.

What was your first job?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 12: Learning

2010-11-17T20:15:00.001+10:00

I've always enjoyed learning new things. I read non-fiction for fun. I'm in the middle of my second bachelor's degree. I enjoy learning new skills for work, and how things work, and what makes people tick. I soak up knowledge like a sponge, so I'm good at Trivial Pursuit! The one thing I have trouble with is dates and numbers. I was always really bad at history subjects because I could never remember all the dates things happened, which is a shame, because I really enjoy learning about history.

Learning, for me, is a lifelong process. My Mum is also studying at the moment, and was doing night classes through most of my childhood. She also loves learning, and passed that on to my sister and I. My Daddy is more a practical learner - he likes to know how things work and why things happen. My sister is currently doing her PhD.

Because I enjoy learning, I also enjoy teaching - but only teaching people who want to learn. I don't understand people who are happy in their little rut, not learning, and find it difficult to relate to them. At one point I was planning on teaching high school, and still have a vague idea that I might continue with my higher education and eventually teach at university level, but I'm not sure about that. I still don't really know "what I want to be when I grow up". I want to learn about everything! I always struggle to choose my papers for my university studies because they all sound so interesting!

Today I learned several new things for work. What have you learned today?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

Big50 Day 11: Chocolate

2010-11-16T20:25:00.000+10:00

Ah, chocolate. I have a sweet tooth, I'll admit that freely. I get it from my Daddy, who always has to have chocolate in the fridge. One of the things my Naturopath and Acupuncturist said I had to cut was chocolate, because it heats me up, apparently. I've cut my chocolate consumption right down, but I still have a little bit every few days.

My favourite chocolate is Whittakers Dark Ghana. It's so rich, you can only have a few squares at a time. And they're a New Zealand brand, so that's an added bonus! It can sometimes be hard to find all their varieties here, and when they bring out a new flavour in New Zealand it can take a while for it to cross the Tasman, but I can generally find the Dark Ghana fairly easily. Whittakers are also supporters of Fair Trade, and don't use palm oil or genetically modified ingredients in any of their products, so they're a good choice!

I also have a huge weakness for Guylian Seashells. The hazelnut praline in the centre is just divine. Guylian Seashells are my preferred chocolate bribe, in case you ever need me to do you a favour!

Chocolate is very much an emotionally comforting food for me. I crave it when I'm hormonal, or emotional. Chocolate is also great to share! Most people won't say no to chocolate. What's your favourite chocolate flavour?

This post is part of my Big50 blogging challenge series.

OOTD: Black and White and Red All Over

2010-11-16T20:05:00.001+10:00

Question: What's black and white and red all over?

Answer: A sunburned penguin. Or a bashful zebra. Or a skunk swimming in strawberry jam. Or a newspaper (wait, that's read all over). Or...Me, in my OOTD!

Tank: SUPRÉ

Skirt: Big W

Shoes: Rubi Shoes

Necklace: Definatalie

Glasses: Oroton at OPSM

Another OOTD with my favourite red shoes! I planned this outfit ages ago and was just waiting for my necklace to arrive, which it did on Friday. The neckace is by one of my favourite body image bloggers, who is also a designer. I missed out on this necklace twice before I snagged one in her last pre-order. I think she's planning another pre-order soon. I also have new glasses, finally. My old ones were getting pretty ratty and I wanted a new look.

I love this necklace! Natalie's work really is amazing, check her out!