Beware Craft.

I love craft; currently I'm crocheting granny squares. I get obsessed with a different craft every so often. Sometimes I realise I'm not really into it… scrapbooking, for example. I knew it wasn't for me. In these cases it is crucial to FINISH your project, because if you know you aren't a knitter, and you predict getting bored of knitting, you will have half of something in a bag for all eternity. Best to really crunch through it while you are keen. Unfinished craft items are awful. The joy of creativity has leaked away and all you have is a chore, a piece of clutter, an object of guilt. Beware craft.

Some crafts are prone to long stagnant periods, due to their slowness. I have 2 cross-stitches which have well passed their tenth anniversaries, but I no longer feel guilty about them. Cross-stitch and tapestry were invented before television. While easy, they require attention to detail, the effort of following patterns, and a lot of patience. There are times when this is exactly what you need, i.e. my Mum did several impressive tapestries when she was pregnant and unable to sleep. The important thing with these slow projects is to:

a) choose a timeless design*. Dragons go out of fashion, for example. Although they may come back ironically, so you could play the long game.
b) never stop and put it away when you've made a mistake and gotten frustrated. When you get it out a year later you'll be so cross, and be put off. Unpick it so you can start fresh later.
c) store it carefully. Accept that storage is part of the project and look after it when you aren't working on it.

*This bike picture is what I want one of my cross-stitches to look like when it's finished. I still like it now as much as when I bought it. The other one is teddy bears, and unsurprisingly I have no interest in stitching teddy bears anymore.

Operation: wash.

I watched the forecast all week: the promise of a sunny day on Friday was repeated and confirmed. So on Thursday night, I swung into action. Got as much of my load as would fit into the basket, filled up my little box with washing powder, went out to the laundry, emptied my flatmate's clean load onto the top of the machine, loaded mine up, set the timer to start at 3.30am, and hung it out before work this morning. Tip: If you wash with hot water, your hands don't get cold.

The next opportunity will be Monday and Tuesday next week.

Chocolate hangover.

I'm SURE it exists. I'm sure if I eat chocolate at night, half my face doesn't wake up the next day and I'm lethargic and fuzzy-headed. It's probably the caffeine thing that happens to coffee-drinkers: your body has withdrawals in the morning and you "need" coffee to "wake up". However, where coffee is an acceptable breakfast thing, chocolate isn't.

Learning: no pain, no gain

"Probably the most important thing you need to know is that you can't learn by accident (e.g. when you're asleep). Many psychologists say you can, but they're wrong in my view. When we learn new things, it feels hard and it hurts. Simply reading the lecture notes is easy. In contrast, translating the lecture notes into your own words to explain to your grandma is hard. This tells you that when you translate the notes into your own words, you're learning. So it's easy to tell when your revision is working - you experience pain."

Associate Professor Chris Mitchell, UNSW School of Psychology

[page 18 of Tharunka, Issue 5, Volume 57]

Ode to Jessica.

She is the sort of friend I can off-load all the partially-eaten junk food I bought in a moment of anxiety-filled weakness. I'm talking 3/4 tub of Cookies & Cream ice-cream, 1/2 bar of chocolate, 2/3 packet of Tim Tams, raisins...you get the picture :) However, the Oreos have never made it to her...

Washing powder

I have double standards when it comes to washing powders. For my clothes, towels and sheets, I use the best fragrance-free washing powder for sensitive skin (if I'm being cheap, then the next best option). When it comes to bathmats, handtowels and teatowels, I just get the cheap, but branded, stuff.

My rationale is that clothing, towels and sheets are more likely to affect my skin than bathmats, handtowels and teatowels, which I only touch for a fraction of the time compared with the first lot.

Who knows if it really makes a difference in the end.

Ode to Elsie.

She is the sort of friend I can send this sort of email. Subject line only.

afternoon need lollies

She is like my own private twitter service, and she understands. Even when she hasn't read it yet I feel like she understands.

French phase.

I've enjoyed a few random french songs that have been on movie soundtracks, and in wandering through itunes I found French Songs - 50 Best Tunes Ever for $15.49, and I'm playing it to death. They're old, mellow, piano-filled, quirky. One advantage is I don't know french, so I don't get distracted by the words, so it's ideal background music for me. Another advantage, which I recommend universally, is that EVERYTHING feels more glamourous with old french music. Washing up—glamourous. Putting boots on—glamourous. Cooking pumpkin soup—glamourous.

Teabag technology.

Did you know that you shouldn't squeeze teabags?

I did not know that. I have been enjoying the Dilmah Exceptional teas, Arabian Mint with Honey Tea is really nice, the leaves are big like fish flakes not fine like dust. That is a sign of quality, because teabags were originally invented to use up all the poor quality dust left over from the proper loose leaf tea. And they come in those fancy silk pyramids. I wrote in because I broke a few strings when squeezing them.

I have a personal email from Dilmah customer care informing me:

Please note that teabags are not for squeezing, when squeezing the teabag it can bruise the tea leaves, leaving a bitter taste in your cup of tea.

She offered to carry out a further investigation if I send in the teabags, but I'm happy to take her expert word and restrain myself from bruising the tea leaves so cruelly.

Something like this:

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-maitland-107204397

It has 5 bedrooms, so $715,000 divided by 5 is 5 manageable mortgages... do 4 people want to move to Maitland with me? Please please please... It only has 2 bathrooms, but it has EVERYTHING else.

I am a very proud sister.

So one sister is blogging, and the other sister is eat-streeting! I received a postcard from a restaurant in Perth, marking the occasion of the inaugural Perth Eat Street. The report on the back of the card said "reasonably nice italian place, with good ravioli and a nice chicken, avocado and aioli pizza. But there was a hair in the ravioli! Also it was expensive for an Eat Street but I don't know where the cheap food is in Perth. It's very challenging." Brings tears of joy to my eyes.

Walking therapy.

I know I have raved about walking before, but it's just so great I have to keep plugging it.

When I walk, I'm cut off from screens and people and things to do. This means that not only do I process my thoughts (have imaginary conversations, worry about things, appreciate the weather, think of jelssie posts) but I get to process my emotional state as well. Walking home from work is the time when I realise I'm relaxed, or randomly happy, or I'm depressed, or lonely, or stressed. Everything bubbles up, and if I'm happy, I get a moment to wallow and be thankful, and if I'm sad, I'm less likely to just rush on with my life and not notice.

Practically, I wish I didn't have to walk home tonight, because I am underdressed, lulled into a false sense of warmth this morning by a few warm days and my post-jog glow. It's cold and wet out there.

Aussie Aussie Aussie

I nearly cracked up when my Chinese Chinese (i.e. from China) friend emailed me this:

Need your help

"Select stories of two convicts (one male and one female) who came to colonial Australia and demonstrate how each were able to turn their lives around and become founding members of modern Australia."

I think u must have learned about Australian history, could u plz give me the names of the people required by this question ? u don't have to give me their stories, only names will be enough. i would really appreciate that.

I hope I'm not outing myself here, but I think it's universally acknowledged that Australian-born Aussies are deficient in their knowledge of Australian history. My first reaction to the email was, "Poor fella, he thinks I must know stuff cos I was born and educated here!". Sadly, I could NOT think of a convict done good. I could think of non-convicts done good e.g. Macquarie, Governor Arthur Phillip, the people on our currency and other people who've had suburbs named after them.

So tell me fellow Aussie, how is your knowledge of Australian history? Can you think of any convicts done good without resorting to google? I couldn't :P

Blogcitement!

My sister Julia is blogging! I encouraged her to, because she wrote me lots of rather good emails and she has a lot of time on her hands. If you want to read her news (you may have met her, or you may just wonder what it's like moving to a small town on the NSW/QLD border to nanny on a potato/cattle farm for a year… she's living the dream,) go and read it. And be nice to her, she's taking her first baby steps into the world of blogging and is shy. And encourage her to take photos of cows—that's what I really want.

Good music hour

Listen to 2MBS FM between 12 and 1pm. Then switch to 702 AM for James Valentine between 1 and 3pm for good talking.

Musical lunchtime interlude.

Anna reported a piano in the lane behind the op shop. It being a beautiful day, Elsie and I were out for lunch so we stopped off to shoot a music video. It's 40 meg and not that special, the Chopin video didn't work so this is the Missy Higgins video if you like. If my uploading doesn't work, Elsie is a pretty good photographer!

Pianos on the open street are awesome.

Morning Tea.

The Ginger Snap biscuit is perfectly designed to dunk in tea. It is incredibly hard to bite when dry, but when dipped in you cuppa it is strong enough to retain it's chewiness and stability.

In related morning tea news, I do not like my new box of Twinings Chai. Scarbrough Fair has a much nicer taste, and the tag just fell off my Twinings tea bag when I was squeezing it on the spoon.

Finally, Coles has Capilano honey squeezers for half price this week. Honey is much nicer than sugar in most teas, especially chai and peppermint.

Ayam Goreng 99

T'was yummy. Lamb and chicken satay skewers. Green vegies of some sort. Ong choy I think?

Deep-fried chicken, grilled chicken. Breast was dry. Go thigh. Otherwise delicious. Beef rendang. Avocado drink.

Noodles & soup.

KESC 29: Shalom

Next in line is Shalom, another halal indo student-level place. It's got red signage. 6.30 on the 27th May.

Underrated: old information technology

Old technology doesn't get as much hype as the new ones. People are suspicious of the new, so it needs to be discussed, whereas the old is understood and taken for granted, but the lack of discussion of old technology makes it sound redundant compared to the twitters.

Here are my 3 favourite old information technologies.

1. Radio. I have a digital radio at work, and a bedside clock. I would like 2 bedside clocks, so I can fall asleep with one station and wake up with another. I would like a digital radio at home, too, but they are too expensive. But I listen to a lot more radio than TV, it's how I structure my whole day actually, and it's where I get my news. The only reason I watch the ABC news is for Alan Kohler and his charts. Nothing has replaced radio.

2. Library. I'm not sure why they aren't redundant since the internet, but I go at least once a week, for fiction books, Miss Marple dvds and non-fiction books (recently crochet and european history). I guess on the internet I could browse and hire from a bigger range more conveniently at a reasonably low price, but the library still works for me.

3. The movies. I happily outsource the home theatre system. I like the formality of the session times, the red seating, the automatic lighting. It's the only place to eat pop-corn, although I don't like pop-corn I still think it's a valuable ritual.

I don't have the web at home, and I could live without TV (if I could still watch DVDs of my favourite two shows), and I could be happy without social media, but I would be rudderless without radio...

Salt-free salt

My McCormick's Szechuan Pepper Salt does not contain any salt in its ingredient listing.

Has anyone noticed those 7-11 Slurpee ads at the bus stop? Some have a picture of a pear and lime (implying the slurpee flavour), then in smaller writing at the bottom, there are words to the effect that the actual product does not contain any pear or lime.

As we say in accounting, substance over form i.e. what it actually is over what it proports to be.

And the Szechuan Pepper Salt is very tasty.

How to buy a banana.

In these days of hardship and banana famine, the bendy fruit is a special treat. My frugality normally makes me stop buying things when I don't like the price, but I have bought 3 bananas since they went past $10/kg. I reason that they are one of the few fruits I can easily eat with braces, so I deserve to have one sometimes.

I have paid between $1.60 and $2.60 for a single banana. The trick, I've realised now, is to get a sense of the thickness of the skin. A fibrous, thick-skinned banana is poor value, because you are paying for the weight of the skin. Also, consider the length of the stalk. It is only a minute difference, but it all ads up. But definitely choose a banana that feels thin-skinned.

Boheme.

Tune out now if clothes are boring.

I have a skirt which is a good half dozen years old now; it's brown patterned and in that scrunchy peasant style which was all the fashion back then. I've not got rid of it, because it's a nice skirt, but I haven't worn it much for a couple of years after an incident in which it betrayed my trust.

But it has suddenly because a centrepiece in my wardrobe, worn over leggings and my Aragorn boots for warmth. I can wear any sort of cardigan or coat or scarf, and I look arty. And the beauty of the bohemian style is that the less things match, the better they go together. I can wear the brown skirt with orange, red and bright teal at the same time, all sorts of cheerful colours I normally only wear in small helpings. The joy of randomly putting things on and still having a cohesive "look"! It is perfect for Autumn as well, because of the light layering thing. The only problems I have is that a) I lack pockets and b) I'm dreading putting proper waistbands back on. The longer you wear loose floaty clothes the more torturous a pair of jeans is.

Garbage Ibis.

My teenage friends who now live in Namibia have been back in Aus, and I took a half day off to entertain them while their parents had meetings at CMS office. After lunch we walked to the ferries and caught one to Manly, hanging over the front of the boat we saw a dolphin, at Manly we had a hot chocolate before rushing back for the return ferry. Ferrys are so much fun.

I learnt many things about Namibia, such as they have not much Chinese food, and mostly all the restaurants do steak. They have mint flavoured toothpicks: I reckon there should be flavoured paddle pop sticks inside icecreams so you can lick the ice-cream up without tasting wood. And they pointed at an ibis, which they hadn't seen. I filled them in on how disgusting they are.

But I did have an interesting thought on garbage ibises. If Sydney suffered a severe depression or apocalypse type event, and food was scarce, we could eat ibises. They look about the same size as a chicken, but on taller drumsticks, and although they do fly they are currently pretty bold and slow, so they could be caught and eaten more easily than seagulls and pigeons.

File that away and hope you never have to use it. (Note: Ibises are apparently a protected species.)

Bible: reading/thinking.

You know how you're a bad Christian if your mind wanders off while you are reading the Bible or praying?

I have had an epiphany: This rule must be a construct of our time-poor, outcome-driven society, and I refuse to be guilty any longer!!!

I realised this because I'm now sometimes dipping into the Bible at breakfast and lunch. I normally don't do this because my "quiet time" is mostly done reading out loud, to aid my concentration and comprehension, which you can't do with food in your mouth. What I'm liking about the meal-time dip is that I read a bit, and then my mind wanders, and I don't instantly rouse on myself and try and pull it back to finish the passage. I think it's good to think about random things that reading the bible has stirred up in your mind. It's not a waste of time to follow some trail of pondering on a relationship or life issue or some biblical or doctrinal tangent you don't understand or an imaginary conversation or a memory.

Be liberated from attention-span guilt! The yoke is easy!

Cold, but not yet winter

Signs it's cold
- the uggs, doona and scarf are out
- it's harder to get out of the shower in the mornings
- switching from running shorts to 3/4 leggings, and sleeveless to short-sleeves when exercising
- making soup for dinner

Signs it's not yet winter
- heater, beanie and electric blanket are not yet out!

Things that are not actually useful #2: Toblerones. They are impossibly hard to bite. And they taste a bit weird. *Blogger not letting me post body text today. But quite I like the look.

Damn you, successful advertising.

Everywhere I go I see a packet of chips. Lime with cracked pepper, I believe. Not my favourite flavour, I prefer Sweet Chilli or Honey Soy Chicken. But after a week, noticing has turned into craving. I would really have bought some last night, at 8.30 on an empty stomach, if I hadn't fortunately happened to meet an acquaintance at the bus stop at Martin Place who lives in my street… so I leveraged her company into enough willpower to avoid detouring to Coles when I got off the bus. I bet they are doing quantity discounts on those chips, too. EVIL!!!!!

KESC 28: Ayam Goreng 99.

6:30pm this Friday
Ayam Goreng 99
464 Anzac Parade Kingsford NSW 2032

Delicious Indonesian chicken!!

Winter skirts and learning things from books.

I walked to work in a skirt today, and unfortunately this morning was considerably colder than all the other mornings so far. It is officially no longer skirt weather, unless you layer up with stockings and boots, which is a very nice look but rather more effort to put on and destroys the freedom and simplicity of the skirt. A skirt on it's own is easier than any trouser, but a skirt with stockings is harder than any trouser.

As I was pondering the temperature of my legs, I had a flash of inspiration: flannel petticoats. In The Railway Children, one of the first children's adventure books every written, Roberta and Phyllis tear up their red flannel petticoats and make flags to stop a train from crashing. I filed 'flannel petticoats' away in my mind as old-fashioned and ridiculous. But now I want one. Imagine the freedom and ease of the skirt, with the softness and warmth of pyjamas! I shall make one this winter and report on my success.

Here's your opportunity to live with me!

I'm looking for a flatmate. Preferably a mature-minded woman. You know how to contact me for details.

What I'll be doing to celebrate the The Royal Wedding:

Getting on with my life.

A season for everything

I don't know how I used to live without it, but CAJUN SEASONING IS AMAZING! It is the most delicious way to a quick meal.


For example, if I want a quick dinner, I steam vegies in the microwave (two-three minutes max), shake bucketloads of cajun seasoning on a steak and pan-fry (a minute each side if it's a minute steak), serve with mixed beans (for carbs, takes you as long as it does to open a tin) or with bread. EASY! Add some walnuts or olive oil for healthy fats.

Soy fish earrings.

As suggested. Took no time at all to put these together on Saturday morning. I used my tiniest screwdriver to drill through the tails, cut some hooks off some old earrings and pulled open the wire circles enough to put the fish tails through.

They are a little bit heavy to wear, I suspect. They might look good half-filled with liquid. I shall experiment with that later. After I've eaten the soy. I plan on wearing them to the shops to buy sushi for lunch one day.

Tea/Time.

Every blogger will eventually make a chart. I should make a chart about that. Which reminds me, I love that episode of How I Met Your Mother with the charts. I felt like making one today. Maybe I already made one about thongs, optimal comfort being a short window of time between discomfort and breakage of the toe bit. I forget if I ever posted it.

I call this one Tea/Time. The name is a pun! The point where green and red overlap indicates the short minute I have to scull my tea.

KESC 27: Red Hat review

Red Hat Noodles is a Cantonese style Chinese restaurant, apparently. The place was busy with families as well as students. There are fishtanks which they fish dinner out of. We were sitting at the front, which means you play door lotto because of the gale when someone walks through and leaves it open a crack. It is the worst door in Kingsford.

We decided to go fancy and ordered some quail for entree. Tasty. Having been so bold, we were then very conservative with the mains we ordered: Shan Doon Chicken (which was super delicious, could not complain about it at all except the price, but it was a big serving) Shredded Beef (rather aptly described by Matt as 'lolly chicken') and a stir fry veggie thing (the sort with black rubber mushrooms) and I forget anything else.

The food was all very good, by the way there was the usual average-tasting soup for starters but this one had lotus root in it. It came to $16 per person for the 6 of us, which is more than usual because of the quail but also prices were higher than most Chinese dishes in the area. The service was friendly and quick, the main annoyance was the door.

ALAS! ABCafe was closed. We explored the new Bread Top where Kevin bought Durian ice-cream and then retired to Gloria Jean's to share some cake.

Air!

The office air-con has been literally on the blink most of this week. After 20 min or so it stops and the light blinks. I start to feel stuffy and sleepy and get up and push the button to get air out of it again. If we had windows it would be so much easier. It's even the right temperature outside and everything. All that autumnal freshness going to waste.

Things that are not actually useful #1

Soy sauce fishes. I don't make my own sushi. What else are they good for? Why do I keep them?

KESC 27: Red Hat

We're trying again, this Friday at 6.30.

Job hunting and dating

I think I understand why it's hard for some guys to ask girls out. It's a lot like applying for a job. You send the company your resume and cover letter. You sell yourself and put yourself out there. Only you don't know if they're going to like you or reject you. It can be tough, but you've got to do it if you want the job. You've got to be in it to win it. You've got to be tough enough to handle rejection and move on.

Amen and Shared Amen.

I'm a bit weirded out by the lack of Amening in my new bible study. I'm used to group prayer times where you pray, say Amen, and others say Amen like an echo. The Shared Amen says "yes, I am with you in that prayer." Without the Shared Amen, I pray, say Amen, and feel like the other group members have been listening respectfully but may or may not be with me. It's just taking turns to pray, not group praying.

I guess maybe it's different depending on culture and shyness and habit. Praying in front of people is pretty nervous stuff. But I think the more Amen love the better. I'm a recent fan of the Mmm mid-prayer, as well. When you pray for something, and someone agrees so much that they can't wait till the end so they need to add a "Mmmm" while you pray, it's very encouraging.

Moneysmart plug

There is a new government website, I saw on TV last night, to inform consumers. It is a confusing world. I know I dread buying phone credit and comparing plans.

In my family I was the spender, but frugality was beaten into me with meager allowances ($1 a week from which I had to put half in the bank and give 10% to church so that only left 40cents to actually spend) followed by meagre fast food pay rates, and family jokes about my spending habits ("fashion victim", which I wasn't). As a result, I am now pretty frugal. Pay cheap rent, don't get a credit card debt, shop the sale racks, never update technology, avoid takeaways… it's hardwired into me now. I have confess I do need to fight to be generous, because it's easy to feed your frugality with greed.

Anyway, I've never been disciplined with actual budgeting, cos it's so fiddly. I did once force myself to live off $400 per month (by instantly transferring out my rent, saving and giving). It didn't last very long. But it was nice in a way.

Moneysmart.gov.au has an excellent excel budget. I like that you can put your different expenses in weekly/monthly/quarterly/annually. Rent is monthly, haircuts are quarterly, don't make me do maths! It's all done for me. I also like that you can see instantly how much something costs over a year. Like eating out once a fortnight or so: the annual total is significant. Good thing we eat in Kingsford! So at least I have a budget to work off now. If I can follow it that would be nice.

Actually—what would be nice would be if you could divide your bank account into dozens of sub-sections, flow your pay into them in designated amounts, and then when you get money out or use your card you choose which pool it comes from: entertainment, clothes, medical, travel etc. When your clothes pool is empty, no more clothes. If you have any left over let it accumulate, or if really good designate another pool to switch it into like holiday saving or appeal giving. I shall write to a bank about that.

Plug for Julia Booth.

Our friend Julia is having some "gigs". Her last show was lovely fun, she played her own contemporary Christian music plus a pop set, with her band of boys. The next concerts will be even better cos she's rounded up a bit of a string section and written some new songs. Should be a fun, relaxed night of live music.

Upper Chapter House, St Andrews Cathedral
7.30pm on 15/16th April
$25

Stages of loss.

1) You see your camera lying around somewhere and think "I'll take that with me on the weekend".
2) The next day you pack for the weekend, and it's apparently not lying around somewhere.
3) You spend a few days waiting for it to turn up, because maybe it's lying around somewhere under something or behind some stuff.
4) You start randomly looking under stuff on obvious horizontal surfaces where things might lie around.
5) By this point it is the next weekend. You tidy up significantly, because if it is lying around it won't escape exposure if you tidy up all the way down to the surface of the furniture.

It's still lost, so I'm currently at this stage. My plan going forward is:

6) You wait a few more days or a week, because you need to build up strength and give it another chance to be found accidentally.
7) You look behind heavy furniture.

You buy a replacement. Lucky always buy cheapest camera.

White not-chocolate.

I'm trying to think of a better name for "white chocolate". It bites like chocolate but it isn't chocolate. I would almost say it has no right to exist at all, except that white chocolate raspberry cheesecake is one of the best desserts in the history of the universe and the future also, so really all of time and space. So it does have some good uses.

Name ideas:

White not-chocolate
White compound
White chompound
Foux white (chocolate)
White notolate

They are all lame. I'm going with the first one, until something better comes up, because at least it speaks of my protest.

Vests.

 Wear a vest.

1. Vests look smart and slightly old-fashioned. Like stockings or tweed.
2. Perfect for light layering weather: warm torso, cool arms—when a shirt is not quite enough but long sleeves are too sweaty or constricting.
3. Makes a nice change from a cardigan.
4. A vest extends the life of an old shirt, as long as the collar* is still nice.
5. Also conceals a multitude of shirt sins: un-ironed, stained, thin, lost button.

Also applies to waistcoats. Patrick Jane The Mentalist wears waistcoats. I think waistcoats are a bit too fancy for everyday wear myself, but I do think they should be more widely worn.

*Vest over a t-shirt is also a look I'm quite fond of at the moment. More soft and comfy than a collared shirt, and it's more urban than old-fashioned. I'd like to see it being worn. I'm trying to start the trend.

Sydney: an anti-rant.

Apart from the fact that the last NSW gov was a ship of fools, I think there is a lot of unwarranted negativity about Sydney which no government will be able to fix. Transport plans and so on will not materially change the stuff people don't like. Sydney is a city. Cities are congested, crowded, and expensive. What you want is the rest of Australia!

Sydneysiders do a lot of wishful thinking. If you are choosing to stay, shut up and enjoy it. As someone who can't afford to buy but is fortunate to rent close to work, I can highly recommend not having a mortgage or a commute: it does save quite a lot of worry, once you click with a landlord and a flatmate. I have a long list of likes about Sydney (cities are convenient, social and have cheap asian food), but when I am finally fed up with living here I won't moan and wish, I'll LEAVE.

Garlic.

As many of you know (since I may have blogged this already), I believe in the healthful powers of raw garlic (and cooked garlic—although is is not as potent it is very much more delicious). The best way to eat raw garlic is to chop it up fine and drink it with mouthfuls of water so that it doesn't burn your tongue or create garlic breath. It goes straight down and kills the baddies. Just yesterday I heard a news story about garlic even preventing arthritis!

I've remembered a snippet from my childhood: robot shaped chewable garlic tablets for kids. They were delicious, like lollies. I was a sickly child (God blessed me with large and germ-receptive tonsils) so I got one to take to school each day. While other 7-year-olds had packets of twisties and meuslie bars, I had 2 westons oatmeal biscuits and a garlic tablet. Doesn't this explain a lot.

Good things about voting (other than democracy):

Cake stalls.
Sausage sizzles.

Underrated: Old TV.

The set top box has led to the rediscovery of some quality TV, at least for nostalgia's sake. And I'm not talking about Gilligan's Island. That show is for stupids. I keep discovering BBC treasures like Pie in the Sky, Jonathan Creek, and especially The Good Life. I AM Tom and Barbara! I love the way they dress in gumboots, old jeans, green jumpers, and how they cut their own hair, and they have such a fun repartee it's sometimes hard to remember that they must have a script, and Penelope Keith and the guy from Yes Minister are so droll. It's like a friendly hug in TV form.

Today I was a slob.

That's all. I blame the damp: the weather and the chaos of my slowly flooding kitchen. I am wearing my oldest sneakers, cos they might get wet in the rain. I tried to make my hair last another day before washing it and that never works on humid days, NEVER DO IT AGAIN, and I have a slight toothpaste stain on my black top, which I have tried twice to wash out with cold water and hand soap and only succeeded in feeling even more damp. Then I was photographed, just to test the camera for a photo of my boss (who looked glamorous), and I got to see myself all wacky-haired and shadowy eye-bags.

Tomorrow I will be so smart, clean and fluffy dry.

KESC 26: Ratu Sari Review

This is a very popular Indo restaurant, a little bit upmarket from the rest of Anzac Pde, and famously spicy. It was very quiet at first because we were so early.

5 challengers eventually found the right restaurant and eventually got the right number of seats for our group. We ordered their specialty beef rendang, very yummy, and the one with the lettuce and egg and satay, some chicken with Bali sauce which was hot hot hot, an eggplant dish and some salad and crackers. It was all nice. I was surprisingly full after it, it didn't look like a lot but I guess big chunks of meat fill you up more than cunningly sliced stir fry meat.

It was $18 each, so that's more expensive than average, but I guess the food and service is more consistently good than the el cheapos around it. It's a safer option than Indo Rasa, which is a little cheaper but they ran out of Rendang when I was last there, which is disappointing. The place was full by the time we left (at 7.30pm) and it was less of a student crowd and more of a "night out" crowd than the cheapos.

We were all happy with the food, service and atmosphere, and I'd give it a 3.5 our of 5, it was a bit on the hot side and a bit on the pricy side and the air-con was a bit strong so I was worrying about the food getting cold. Kevin took photos on his phone, if he sends them we'll post them.

Bus roulette.

It being a wet day, I opted for the bus. I tucked a book under my arm as I left the house. The 400 timetable is always an emotional roller-coaster, because it is such a long route. This morning, the 8.09 didn't come. The 8.13 didn't come. The 8.17 came, but it was an old bus, and I don't like old buses, they are leaky and steamy and also it was standing room only, so I let it go. This was a bit silly under the circumstances, but I wanted to sit and read my book on the bus, and I was prepared to sit at the rainy bus stop for as long as it took. The 8.23 didn't come. The 8.31 came with the 8.23, and they were both new, and I got the seat at the front and read my book for 10 minutes! In the end, I got to work no quicker and only slightly dryer than if I had walked.

Yes, I know there is a thing for texting I could have used.

KESC: Change of venue!!

Eep! My mistake. I said Red Hat was the next restaurant but it's actually Ratu Sari Indonesian Restaurant. 470 Anzac Parade, Kingsford NSW 2032. See you there tomorrow 6:15pm.

Giant lightbulb.

I found a giant lightbulb on Belambi beach on the weekend, took it home and accidentally dropped it on my driveway. It made a nice tinkly smash. Lightbulbs are amazing, I was told they have a slight vacuum in them to stop them oxidising. I don't know what that means, but I'm sure it's amazing, and they look amazing. It'll be sad to lose the classic incandescent bulb to the energy saver ones. They are not amazing that I know of.

The main amazing giant lightbulb, however, is the metaphor for realising something. Last night at singing I learned that men and women can sing the same note, ie C, and it sounds deeper for the man but is NOT ACTUALLY AN OCTAVE DEEPER, as I had always (in my own simple logic) thought. It's the same C! The lower pitch is an illusion. WOW! I had to do some googling today to make sure, because it sounded so amazing.

Now, I've done sound mixing, I know you can turn the lower and higher frequency up and down to make people sound like Barry White, but you aren't retuning their voice lower… the frequency strength is different to the pitch, so it's like men have a boost in the lower frequencies in their voices. It's all so obvious, and I've never ever got it before in my 20 years of music. This is mind-blowing for me! And at the same time, I don't know how I didn't know it.

Wonderful, there is already a label here for 'lightbulb moments'.

Dental Value.

Back when I was getting my jaw splinted and x-rayed and quoted for orthodontics one of the biggest stresses was making decisions about money. Decisions are hard anyway, but I hate spending big amounts and there is no way to know if one treatment will be better than another. $8000 for this or $7000 for that? What do I know?! When I got the quote for the oral surgeon to remove 3 wisdom teeth for $1600, + more $ if I wanted a general anesthetic, I literally sat down and cried on the street behind Coles. Actually having the teeth pulled was less traumatic than the financial decision. Wisdom came much later, when I was reflecting on it to Elsie. Who didn't have the same struggle as I did, so it was one of those times when you preach to yourself via a listening friend.

"In the end, dentistry is one of those areas you can't ever be satisfied about the price, it is always expensive. You just have to be satisfied with some peace of mind about your dental work. You will forget about spending the money in 12 months time, but if something goes wrong you could be in for long term problems and more money as well, so don't worry about the money as long as you are comfortable about the dentistry."

Probably also applies to expenses relating to cars and tradesmen.

KESC this Friday night at Red Hat Noodle

This is the restaurant Georgina has eaten at either 60+ or 110+ times (I couldn't remember the exact figure). I ate there quite a bit in my undergrad days too. I suspect we will order shan dong chicken and salt & pepper squid/calamari, judging by our previous orders at the past Chinese restaurants. And probably sweet & sour pork...haw haw haw!

6:15pm <- Note the earlier start time!
Friday 18 March
Red Hat Noodle Restaurant (Chinese)
466 Anzac Parade
Kingsford 2032

We are doing the earlier start time so we can go to UNSW Astronomy Outreach Public Viewing Night afterwards :) Something a little different from super fudge brownie ice-cream ABCafe.

Come see the stars with UNSW Astronomy Outreach at our FREE public telescope night!

Date: Friday 18th March, 2011
Venue: Physics Lawn [map]
Time: 7:45 pm - 9 pm
Objects of interest: the full Moon, Orion Nebula, Jewel Box open cluster

Please note, in the event of heavy cloud and/or rain the viewing activity will unfortunately be cancelled.

This event is suitable for all ages.

Wild TV.

When I watched The man from Snowy River I lamented the lack of any gritty outback dramas today. The farmers are all wooing their harems (hateful FWAwife) when they should be galloping and shooting and solving crime and stuff.

Have I heard right? That woman who died on Rafters told Adam Hills she is going to be in a show LIKE THAT! The name isn't promising, Wild Boys or something. But at least it's not a suburban/police/doctor show. Hallelujah!

"Wild Boys will combine horses, gold, bushrangers, power and corruption - all set against the backdrop of an 1850s penal system."

Unfortunately Daniel MacPherson is in it. I don't hate the guy, but he is just so… suburban/police/doctor. He hosts talent shows. Why don't they just cast the Bondi Vet as well to be really sure.

I shall certainly be watching with interest.

Shoemaking.

I had a FANTASTIC IDEA YESTERDAY. I am going to make a pair of shoes. Possibly using this pattern, but it would be fun to design my own and problem solve through it, like with my thong-and-tshirt-lined gumboots. Sticking jeans to thong bases, for example. Great minds think alike and I found this knitting pattern for thong slippers.  Or this would be an interesting craft, so I'll keep an eye out in op shops for old woolly jumpers.

In terms of usability, they are just to wear at work really. I walk to work in expensive joggers and I don't want to waste the jog value by wearing them under my desk. Also not professional to look at. Whereas home made thong slippers would be just so cool.



There are some pretty cool homemade shoes out there on the internet. Using old car tyres as soles and stuff. Some of them look really well made and frankly a lot of shop footware is not all that supportive or hard wearing for the money you spend. If anyone else wants to have a go too I'd be interested in the results! I'm not going to buy a last or do a course, I'm just going to glue junk together and experiment.

KESC 25: Ying Something Review.

Pork ribs in Beijing Sauce

Yong Jing + 10 people: 2 new people and 1 brave man with 9 ladies. We ordered 7 dishes between 10 of us, plus spring rolls. We had the favourites Shan Tong chicken, Salt and pepper squid, Beef with black pepper, Pork ribs (in Beijing Sauce) and also a few different things, mushrooms with greens, shredded pancake stir-fry and combination noodle.

Shredded Pancake

The Shan Tong was generous, but ungarnished, and while the sauce was quite interesting it wasn't the tasty garlicy sour soy I like the best, and there wasn't much sauce. The sauce on the ribs was very nice we agreed, and the plum sauce with the spring rolls was also a little bit different and very nice. The squid, both in the combination and the salt and pepper, was probably the softest squid we have had so far. Not rubbery at all. The shredded pancake dish was savoury and very yummy too. Just about everything asians do with pancakes is delicious, I've noticed. So the food was all in all very good, and the place was full and noisy with students.

The service was super quick, they brought water too. But they didn't clear away plates as we finished. The interior was pretty nice, I don't remember but it wasn't gross like the cheap places usually are, and the menus were full colour pictures and laminated.

Shan Tong

Speaking of cheap, the meal came to $9.60 each, which is tremendously affordable, obviously partly because we ordered 7 for 10 which is on the tight end of the dish to diner ratio. But we ate enough. And had room for ice-cream.

4.25/5, or 5/5 if you are just going for the S&P squid.

Breakfast serves are not big enough.

Single sachets of porridge are a handy breakfast to keep at work so that if I go straight to work from a swim or something I can eat brekky at my desk. Convenient and a bit fancy. But my normal breakfast is a bowl 2/3 or more full of oats and other dense low GI things, and these fancy porridge sachets are only about a quarter of a cup of quick oats with some dried apple and powdered flavouring.  THAT IS NOT A MEAL! It's like having a small fries for dinner. Not a meal! Even worse at breakfast because it's the most omportant meal of the day. I just made up that word Omportant. It means all important. And cereal sellers KNOW they are mocking me, because in the ads they have big full bowls of hearty steaming porridge and similar big amounts of Just Right and multiple Weet Bix. But when they sell me a single serve it is like starvation rations. Arrgh. rage.

Sample twitter.

I'm not giving jelssie as much love these days. I need to lower the bar a bit to get back in the swing. So I'm posting today's experiment in twitter. I do actually have a twitter, jess_is_ but have never tweeted anything. Seems pointless, since my only internet access is at work, and I all do at work is work and eat and think of jelssie posts (which take up more than 140 characters). To prove it, this is an offline day of tweeting.

8.50 - I see icing sugar crumbs from friday on my desk. I want turkish delight. [this prompted a facebook status]
9.25 - I wonder where I can find chord chart for For All The Saints by Indelible Grace.
9.30 - Just as well I'm checking this FA. Centre column lines too tall in places.
9.50 - Morning tea! Water and a nice bit of cracker barrel sharp cheddar cheese.
10.02 - Don't really need chords, do I. It sounds easy.
10.36 - Eating 8 almonds. Have finished all the work that was on desk, tidied desk.
12.49 - Most disappointing tin of tuna ever. Watery puree thai green curry, with khaki peas in it.
2.29 - I think it would be awesome for Matthias Media to have a tea lady with a trolley to bring me snacks. [this I facebooked]
3.34 - Hope: finding a forum thread on my exact same InDesign problem. Despair: nobody has a solution.
3.36 - I am unusually hungry today. Must be stomach missing all the good food from the weekend. Or my slightly faster walk to work.
5.12 - I read today that pumpkin is high GI. Next time I make soup I'm adding in ground chickpeas. Will put chickpeas in to soak tonight.

The best one is probably Tin Of Tuna Review.

Fortuitous error

Is there a phrase or word that describes a good discovery when you make a mistake?

Case in point: I was after genmaicha (green tea with roasted brown rice), but I bought sencha (green tea) by mistake. Boo hiss :( But I drank some sencha and discovered it was quite nice. I probably wouldn't have bought it otherwise. Fortuitous error.

I still want my genmaicha though!

Making life easier.

Ring pull tins. Best packaging invention ever, although I'm always nervous about using them without breaking them. Second is the pop-lid Moccona jar. Third is the the 2 litre cordial bottle with a handle you can fit your fingers in placed low down for comfortable centre of gravity. Cottees were amply rewarded by sales growth when they developed that, while the competition still had ouchy little handles up near the lid. Why don't they do that with milk bottles, I wonder.