august: basic accounting
september: sewing up a hole on a shirt
october: cleaning and cooking mussels
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
can't believe how long it's been!
i've been pretty negligent with this bad boy the past few months. even forgot to post my monthly skills!
i can't remember which order they were actually in, but sometime in june, i believe, i learned to make and bake damper. july i learned desktop publishing with microsoft suite (should never have happened but desperate times..) and august i learned..about australian politics! not really a skill. sorry. i still have a couple of days left though.
we're going to sydney in two weeks - really excited to see the city, do lots of walking and catch up with some old friends.
this is terrible. i'm on about 6 hours sleep and suffering the pain of chris' 30th birthday dinner of sichuan food and sketchy g&t's.
i'm off for brunch!
i can't remember which order they were actually in, but sometime in june, i believe, i learned to make and bake damper. july i learned desktop publishing with microsoft suite (should never have happened but desperate times..) and august i learned..about australian politics! not really a skill. sorry. i still have a couple of days left though.
we're going to sydney in two weeks - really excited to see the city, do lots of walking and catch up with some old friends.
this is terrible. i'm on about 6 hours sleep and suffering the pain of chris' 30th birthday dinner of sichuan food and sketchy g&t's.
i'm off for brunch!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
from a kitchen on a cool thursday
one of the things i have become most excited about - most involved in - since moving to australia is cooking. i have always enjoyed it but i think this last year in china especially piqued my interest in making things from scratch. in the past it's always been more frozen bits and bobs with nice salads - maybe some homemade burgers or a pasta but nothing beyond that. really it was spending a lot of time with chris and trying out his gorgeous curries, stir-fries and pasta sauces rich with red wine and fresh vegetables.
since arriving on this vast chunk of land i have had quite a bit of time on my hands and have started to create my own repertoire of recipes - things i had never dreamed of trying previously. a few weeks ago i roasted an entire chicken - took out the mucky inside bits and stuffed it with chunks of lemon and olive oil and coated it liberally with sea salt and basil. it was absolutely beautiful, juicy and tender and getting all over our fingers as we just picked at it off the pan. two nights ago was vegetable and lamb moussaka - all rich layers of lamb and fresh tomato, salted eggplant and potato covered with a creamy cheese, yoghurt and egg sauce. there have been other dishes in between and before these - date and vanilla muffins, pastas with home-made roasted red peppers and today a beautiful, fragrant chicken soup with beefy mushrooms, carrots, thai chilli and basmati rice. i wish i'd documented some of these things, the recipes i can't remember now but just have some vague recollection of licking my fingers and saying i should post the recipe on my blog! too little too late unfortunately. (not to say all the recipes have been good, either - there was that gluggy mee goreng with overcooked baby squid, some tasteless sauces and dishes oilier than Tony Abbott.)
while being in oz has been tough in a lot of ways - lack of friends, no family, bouncing around from badly-paid temp jobs - having this stove-top, this oven, this market full of fresh produce - has been a saving grace, something i look forward to when i get home from work. i put my face in a cloud of fragrant steam, close my eyes and can finally relax.
since arriving on this vast chunk of land i have had quite a bit of time on my hands and have started to create my own repertoire of recipes - things i had never dreamed of trying previously. a few weeks ago i roasted an entire chicken - took out the mucky inside bits and stuffed it with chunks of lemon and olive oil and coated it liberally with sea salt and basil. it was absolutely beautiful, juicy and tender and getting all over our fingers as we just picked at it off the pan. two nights ago was vegetable and lamb moussaka - all rich layers of lamb and fresh tomato, salted eggplant and potato covered with a creamy cheese, yoghurt and egg sauce. there have been other dishes in between and before these - date and vanilla muffins, pastas with home-made roasted red peppers and today a beautiful, fragrant chicken soup with beefy mushrooms, carrots, thai chilli and basmati rice. i wish i'd documented some of these things, the recipes i can't remember now but just have some vague recollection of licking my fingers and saying i should post the recipe on my blog! too little too late unfortunately. (not to say all the recipes have been good, either - there was that gluggy mee goreng with overcooked baby squid, some tasteless sauces and dishes oilier than Tony Abbott.)
while being in oz has been tough in a lot of ways - lack of friends, no family, bouncing around from badly-paid temp jobs - having this stove-top, this oven, this market full of fresh produce - has been a saving grace, something i look forward to when i get home from work. i put my face in a cloud of fragrant steam, close my eyes and can finally relax.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
updates
we've moved into the west of melbourne, to a suburb called footscray. when people have heard we were relocating here they've called it all sorts of things from "downtrodden" to "scary" to "i've heard lots of people get mugged at the train station!". encouraging! however, we happen to live in a quiet sort of area, about 10 minutes walk to the main drag and that is where the real value, the real beauty of this scruff, 'working-man's' suburb is.
walking down paisley, barkly, or hopkins st you will see the most vast range of ethnic backgrounds, a cacophony of languages pouring through and best of all, a range of restaurants to back them up. there is every kind of dining experience to be found here, all extremely cheap, too. however there seems to be a heavy concentration of vietnamese, chinese, indian and african eateries. i think we've had pho and rice vermicelli bo la lat just about every day for the past week! it's exciting to see all these little places with their variety of exotic foods and the people that fill them.
the other beautiful thing about footscray is the market. it's massive, filled with fresh produce, meat, seafood and everything else under the sun for great prices. we've yet to do a weekly shop there (unfortunately a coles is pretty close by) but i'm looking forward to giving the market the attention it deserves.
all in all footscray has been a good experience thus far. our apartment is lovely and is starting to feel like home, as is the area we're living in. thumbs up!
walking down paisley, barkly, or hopkins st you will see the most vast range of ethnic backgrounds, a cacophony of languages pouring through and best of all, a range of restaurants to back them up. there is every kind of dining experience to be found here, all extremely cheap, too. however there seems to be a heavy concentration of vietnamese, chinese, indian and african eateries. i think we've had pho and rice vermicelli bo la lat just about every day for the past week! it's exciting to see all these little places with their variety of exotic foods and the people that fill them.
the other beautiful thing about footscray is the market. it's massive, filled with fresh produce, meat, seafood and everything else under the sun for great prices. we've yet to do a weekly shop there (unfortunately a coles is pretty close by) but i'm looking forward to giving the market the attention it deserves.
all in all footscray has been a good experience thus far. our apartment is lovely and is starting to feel like home, as is the area we're living in. thumbs up!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
a-skill-a-month
so my new years resso was a new skill per month -
january: snowshoeing
february: baking muffins
so far so good!
settled in here in melbourne. looking for apartment (have temporary abode until end of march) and job, currently, but things are looking up. australia is hot, dry, and beautiful.
january: snowshoeing
february: baking muffins
so far so good!
settled in here in melbourne. looking for apartment (have temporary abode until end of march) and job, currently, but things are looking up. australia is hot, dry, and beautiful.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
new years revolutions
a lot has happened since my last blog post, including three separate trips to beijing, nanjing, and guangxi province, numerous parties, new friends, bike trips, and many other adventures. however the biggest news has to be my leaving china mid-december - i am currently back home in canada, nursing a tea and warming my toes. the boyfriend and i were more than happy to finish up our teaching jobs in hangzhou, and being here for christmas and new years has been a wonderful gift. we are getting ready to leave in about a week from now, bound for australia! we will be settling in melbourne, doing grown up things like having real jobs, paying taxes, and hunting down an apartment. scary, but i'm excited. i'm ready to explore a new country and all that comes with it.
i made some resolutions this year, the usual of course being to lose 15 lbs, but i've also vowed to learn a new skill every month, be it baking bread or snowshoeing (the latter of which i will actually do tomorrow!). i want this year to be fresh, full of promise and new experiences. when i left for china around this time last year, i had a list of things i wanted to accomplish in my time there, and i'm happy to say that i crossed most of them off. this year is the same. i want to be in a pipe band again, to volunteer in my community, to find a job that i truly love.. i want to take a course on web design, be a loving, considerate friend and girlfriend, and put 100% into anything i do. hopefully, that also includes this blog. i want to learn to cook a leg of lamb and catch a fish, i want to take lots of photos and do lots of cycling, be strong and smart and fearless. so here i go.
i made some resolutions this year, the usual of course being to lose 15 lbs, but i've also vowed to learn a new skill every month, be it baking bread or snowshoeing (the latter of which i will actually do tomorrow!). i want this year to be fresh, full of promise and new experiences. when i left for china around this time last year, i had a list of things i wanted to accomplish in my time there, and i'm happy to say that i crossed most of them off. this year is the same. i want to be in a pipe band again, to volunteer in my community, to find a job that i truly love.. i want to take a course on web design, be a loving, considerate friend and girlfriend, and put 100% into anything i do. hopefully, that also includes this blog. i want to learn to cook a leg of lamb and catch a fish, i want to take lots of photos and do lots of cycling, be strong and smart and fearless. so here i go.
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