Randomness and insanity.

It's been rather too quiet around jelssie for some reason. Here is some gap filler:

An underground ping-pong revival has sprung up in New York. All the hip, cool people are playing it. There are even hip, cool ping-pong bars.

I don't like apes in ads. Orangutans are the fashion at the moment. And sometimes they are people dressed up as apes. But I find chimpy faces off-putting. And I don't trust animal smiles. 

Does anyone actually watch Two and a Half Men? If so, is there a more horrifying reflection of our society then the fact that TAAHM is prime time TV?

WSFM has a digital station playing only Billy Joel all month. Awesome. I didn't realise so many songs I know are written by Billy Joel. They have a limited playlist unfortunately but I still get to sing along to Uptown Girl and For the Longest Time every day, there is nothing (musicly speaking) that makes me happier than a doo-wop backing vocal.

Naked salads

I am incorporating more vegetables into my diet. I did not grow up eating Western-style raw vegetable salads, so I can be a bit clueless when it comes to green salads and dressings.

The principles I've stuck to when creating a salad are:

• Choose a variety of colours (pleasing to the eye),
  
• Choose a variety of textures (pleasing to the mouth),
  
• Choose vegies you like and will actually eat, even if it costs a bit more (pleasing to the mouth and mind),
  
• Be game and try something new or different.

You can also get more salad ideas by visiting the food court and seeing what's on offer, or taking note next time someone kindly invites you over for a meal.

Here are two salads I've made recently and I've quite liked them.

Salad 1 (great name huh?)
Baby spinach leaves
Sliced Spanish onion
Sliced yellow capsicum
Orange grape tomatoes

Salad 2 (salsa style)
I had the following ingredients diced finely, and mixed it through my main meal or had it on the side:
Cucumber
Spanish Onion
Orange Capsicum
Egg tomato

My salads are usually naked (i.e. undressed) because I'm not used to eating salads and not used to dressing them. However, I do love my Lee Kum Kee Chiu Chow Chilli Oil (a whiff of that stuff gets my tongue tingling, ready to salivate), so I will sometimes add a small teaspoon to my salad.

Would love to hear your salad/vegie ideas if you've got any.