a week in food - mango salsa goes with (almost) everything

 bird ornament from paper boat press 

- note the hollow stomach!

Sunday - party
Vietnamese Rice paper rolls (vegetarian/gluten free) - I put mango slivers in mine as well - not so Vietnamese in that case
Hummous - with heaps of lemon, garlic and tahini, after some constructive criticism from a Lebanese guy at a party the week before
Nigella's Anglo-Italian trifle - I used raspberries instead of blackberries, the base is panettone and Limoncello
Mango Eton mess (Queensland mess?) Mashed up meringue, fruit and whipped cream. Gluten free!

Monday - family dinner
Cranberry and pistachio nut roast (vegetarian)
Mango salsa (cubes of mango, chopped onion, capsicum, chilli, mint, basil, cucumber, tomato, in lime juice)

Tuesday - drinks party
Panettone stuffing squares

Wednesday - christmas lunch
Turkey and tabbouleh stuffing
Mango salsa
Panettone stuffing squares - including a vegetarian version - without the pancetta and with added veges.

Thursday - recovery day
Leftovers

Friday - lunch with friends
Sweet potato corn bread (after we harvested 6 kilos of sweet potatoes from the vege garden)
Mango salsa
Green salad
Brown rice and red beans with shredded coconut
Leftover turkey and ham
christmas cake

Saturday - bush walk picnic
Egg and greens tart with oatmeal pastry (including greens from the sweet potato vine - 'just like spinach' - and Tuscan kale)
Sour dough wraps with salad and turkey
christmas cake

Sunday - surprise 18th birthday party for son (in a thunderstorm, after a very hot day)
Gourmet sausages in  rolls
Sacher torte (chocolate cake)
Champagne
Gallons of soft drink

Monday - today 
Resume the 5:2 fast...

Not an exhaustive list: this is as close as my memory allows. Happy delicious holidays!

[P.S. Almost reached 10,000 page views. Only 24 to go at the last time I checked, oh, two minutes ago...]

more later

merry chistmas and happy holidays/new year everyone!

Interesting article by Heather Long in the Guardian (thanks S for my subscription!) about what to wish people at this time of year, comparing how it is in the States and the UK. I am guessing Oz is more like UK in this regard...the article  did make me think about what 'celebrate christmas' (my token protest is using lower case) means if you are not actively christian/religious -surely many of us are celebrating christmas today (and for the last few weeks!) without it having any religious significance whatsoever.

For me it is a time to be with, celebrate (and think about absent) family and friends. And to be very grateful for my good fortune to be surrounded by such a wonderful community, to be healthy, and to have some much needed time off work.

In fact I have been very busy doing this, and consequently not blogging, which is the best reason for neglect, and a great justification!. (But I would like to have another 172 page views* by 31st December, if possible...so I'll try to keep posting when time allows)

I am also grateful for reaching the end of my Masters of social work, and excited about what the future may hold...

I hope you all have a wonderful christmas/happy new year/happy holiday and if I haven't caught up with you yet, I hope to in the new year.

Namaste

more later

*to reach 10,000 views by the end of my third year of active blogging.

renovating values and untangling knots: less is more, revisited

untangling knots

'My next task is to whittle down the 13 into a manageable number, say three'.

This was a good thought, about a year ago. Blogs don't read as fluently as books, however, and they appear in reverse order, last post first, so its hard to maintain the thread at times. My original goal from three years ago was to identify and review thirteen values, listed in my last post. This proved to be impossible for me to write about consistently, as I kept getting distracted, much as I do when meditating. So I have now come up with four broader categories of values, derived and consolidated from the original thirteen. (I should  remember to follow my own advice more often.)

Here they are, anyway:

 

• Health - includes physical well being, emotional growth and spiritual health

• Community - includes family, friends, work (therapy) and environment/frugality

• Creativity - includes communication, drawing, sewing and writing/blogging

• Leisure - includes home and garden, fun, movies, books, and travel

That accounts for all thirteen, and then some. So, as in Buddhism, I think four pillars is a good solid number to focus and build on, without getting bogged down and going off track far too often.

more later

the joy of blogging - five years on and reaching ten thousand views!

Fatima's hand - one finger for each year of blogging, and my festive door decoration 

- not very christmassy, but that's why it pleases me

I started blogging almost five years ago, on 5th January 2009. This is amazing in itself, as I would have guessed about three years, not five, but my first attempts scared me, and in truth I didn't start blogging 'for real' (on a more or less regular basis) until a bit later.  Actually, I just checked, it was 28th December 2010, so three years is totally accurate! Keeping going, and not running out of 'material' are, in my mind, significant achievements.

Also, I have had 9815 views so far, and I would like to reach ten thousand by the end of the year, if possible. Will probably need to write fairly often for a while, only a couple of weeks to go...wish me luck (and help me out!).

 

Indian-style tree decoration

This is the list of the thirteen individual areas I originally decided to 'work on' as 'self improvement projects' in this blogging adventure. Wow, I was a hard task mistress!!

• family,
• health,
• environment,
• community,
• friendship,
• creativity,
• leisure,
• frugality,
• therapy,
• home,
• emotional growth
• communication
• spirituality

These are all still important areas, or values, and probably would be to most people lucky enough not to be caught up in day to day survival.

These days, my posts are much less intense and goal directed, and probably more reflective and descriptive. But many of the goals I set have become second nature - buying heaps less, and exercising heaps more, for example. Perhaps I can try to revisit them in the next couple of weeks, one value per day...(I usually fail these tough assignments I set myself). 

Plus, I now officially have a Masters of Social Work, having  graduated on 12th December, although I didn't attend the ceremony, but that's another, not very interesting, story.

Owl style felt decoration

Yesterday, I got to cuddle a 4-week old baby (belonging to a colleague who is on maternity leave) and I finished work (in one of the jobs I am currently doing, anyway), for the summer break, but am feeling a bit weird, as I had a job interview last week, and there is a supplementary interview this afternoon for the same position. So, until I know the results, I am unsure about what next year will look like, especially since I have recently returned to this job after being 'absent on social work placement'. This is complicated, because its a clinical role, and I have started working with new clients, who are probably assuming I will be around for the next few months. not to mention my long-suffering and adorable colleagues. Awkward.

 string angel - the best kind!

Last week, S and I went to an After Dark event at the Museum. This was in relation to the excellent and stunningly beautiful exhibition of gold jewellery and other ancient artefacts, rescued from the National Museum in Kabul,  Afghanistan, currently showing at South Bank. 

 

The exhibits were great, there was wine, dancing, and music, (probably not sanctioned by the Taliban) - but they totally ran out of food!! OMG, not a well-planned event. As there is nowhere to find food  nearby on a Friday night, as we discovered: we walked a long way down Grey Street to find a cool Japanese restaurant, but it was a shame to have to leave the event early to eat...and I love middle eastern food, so it was a double shame.

that's all for now, more later

how should we live now?

 escape hatch, QUT bike path

Early this week we went to a talk by Bob Brown, ex-leader of the Green party, at the State Library, as part of the Brisbane Writers Festival. The theme was something like, Intelligence, Stupidity and how Australia got the future it voted for (my interpretation), delivered just an hour after Clive Palmer made his 'maiden' speech in federal parliament.

We are living in interesting times.

And the inevitable question: if we can't save the planet, how should we live now?

Mr Brown's advice: travel, enjoy life, and sleep out under the stars. 

His favourite place? The Tarkine wilderness in Southern Tasmania.

 south bank, brisbane

 under the bridge at south bank, brisbane

 eucalypt forest, Mt Tamborine

 botanic gardens, Brisbane

I always liked Voltaire's ending to Candide: we must cultivate our garden. What else?

On a lighter note, its been almost a movie marathon in the past few weeks. Celebrating the end of studying...the following five movies in six weeks:

1. enough said
2. about time
3. one chance
4. the sister
5. 20 feet from stardom

All well worth the time.

I have a job interview. And I have almost completed my Mental Health Social Worker application.

MBSR course finishes this week. Homework: do something that is a small step towards a positive change.

Are we brave enough for this?

And something a bit challenging: having a party!

more later.

the Yin and Yang of study: How mindfulness and combat helped me get through social work

meditation cushion

I made this cushion as a prototype, and stuffed it with two old pillows - still a bit soggy so think it needs to be smaller and more compact.  I have trouble getting my knees lower than my hips (when sitting on the ground).

I heard a program on RN the other day about an article disputing the 'validity' of yin and yang and Traditional Chinese Medicine, suggesting it was all an invention of Chairman Mao, trying to 'sell' Chinese culture to the West.. These kind of debates are always tricky, and the point about it for me was that it made me think about how the idea of opposites is very appealing. And in fact the calmness, stability and balance we crave is possibly a reaction to the craziness we live in much of the time. 

Speaking of which, this Blogger Dashboard is becoming quite unstable, flickery and annoying, and if it continues for much longer I will have to break up with it and move to Word Press or something more user friendly.

So I am also reflecting on what helped me get through a two year Masters program in Social Work, finally and totally finished last Friday with an anxious 8-minute rave about why we are ready to be social workers. We are? Sort of...

And I believe that in the last challenging semester in particular, a combination of mindfulness practice and intense exercise (body combat and spin classes) helped me get through. And of course, although they seem like opposites, they aren't really. They are both body based, and provided a welcome relief from so much thinking, thinking, thinking.

I acknowledged in the MBSR class last night, that I have a slight fear of what will happen if I stop thinking completely (which is a goal of meditation, in so far as meditation can have goal), to which the teacher responded with Decartes' 'I think therefore I am' - taking me back to my first year of undergraduate study on the philosophy of the Enlightenment: I don't particularly like this concept, but I acknowledge it is so often an experiential reality.

 

Perhaps this is the antidote I am searching for - Drawing your Life - looking forward to  doing this now I have some time - in theory at least. 

 triple Z building, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane - a good sort of craziness?

the owl and the pussycat went to sea...in a beautiful pea-green jetski - more craziness

 limited palette

 
rain - finally, we got some

Yes I admit, drawing also helped me get through. It provided a good way to process difficult experiences, and to move beyond thoughts. Studying social work has made me more convinced than ever of the value of art therapy. As an emotional outlet, cultural expression, and mindfulness tool. 

But mainly I am relieved its all over. Some days I never thought I'd get there (here). Phew.

more later.

21 bad habits: noticing the 'not so good'

Rabbits to illustrate Habits

Thanks to my friend Phil, for inadvertently suggesting this blog topic, by commenting on how I had such 'healthy habits'...feeling a bit of a goody-goody. Well, sorry to disillusion you but I also have some unhealthy ones. Here is a 'short' list:

1. Losing my temper - this happened only yesterday, after finding out I had no money in the account I normally withdraw cash from.
2. Watching TV indiscriminately - well, within reason, I draw the line at most commercial TV - but sometimes, that is all I am capable of. Doesn't usually take long before I am asleep in front of it, most nights. Which kind of proves its pointlessness.
3. Speaking of which, insomnia. Don't get me started. Once started, its a hard one to break. The MBSR is helping, as is no longer being on placement.
4. Drinking alcohol.
5. Drinking coffee.
6. Ignoring the dog, or telling her off for whingeing (she's a staffy, and they are known for it, so hardly her fault - its genetic!). 
7. Complaining in general. At the end of yoga class, we get to pick a card with some sort of 'advice'. Well, I've picked the same card: 'Give up the need to complain'  - on at least two occasions. The universe has spoken.
8. Picking at my cuticles, urgh.
9. Not rinsing the dishes after washing up. I am trying to work on this one. 
10. Generally, not cleaning the house often enough.
11. Being untidy, especially in a creative episode. Pins, threads, crayons, paper, books, scattered to all corners of the house.
12. Not ringing people unless I have to.
13. Not finishing cups of tea. I am also working on this one.
14. Overthinking. Just starting to realise how common this one is. The unavoidable bad habit of the human race.
15. Shopping. Usually I am quite good at not doing this unless I have to - but sometimes I get on a roll. I went to Officeworks for printer ink and came back with star shaped candles, pens, erasers, silver star shapes, printed sticky tape, and christmas wrapping paper. Oh, and printer ink. A classic example. And yes, they were mostly on special. But anyway.
16. Then coming home and ordering books online, (not from an independent bookshop). 
17. Cooking variations of the same meal, too often. Usually involves garlic, onion, tomato, canellini beans, some meat, and whatever else is in the fridge.
18. Eating chocolate. And sugar.
19. And meat. 
20. And gluten (could be provoking my osteo-arthritis)
21. Generating lists of negative self-talk...

Surprising how quickly I created this list, or maybe not, considering #14. Homework this week for MBSR is noticing our 'not so good' experiences, as a way of increasing awareness of how we tend to avoid emotional pain.  So perhaps this is somehow helpful. At least I can feel good about doing my homework.

more later

grateful # 7 & 8

In which I continue my gratitude journal as part of my Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course.

Monday

1. My last nocturnal mural painting session with the marvellous Gordon Hookey and the Kangaroo Crew at FDS (placement). Supported by pizza and damper, and some curious kangaroos, waiting outside in the car park for us, who clearly knew Gordon was there...

 

2. If I could choose a totem animal, today it would be a hedgehog. Just saying.

3. Almost there, just 8 minutes to go (which won't happen for another 10 days...). Then I will be able to graduate. Yay.

4. An extra one, because the house exterior got cleaned today. Even better, not by me. By professionals.

Tuesday

1. Interesting how busy I got, once I stopped working at my placement. How did that happen? So good to have time to reflect, in MBSR group tonight. 

2. My QUT grocery bag - 21 months later, it is all still a bit surreal!

3. Speaking of groceries, my youngest got his first job today, and is following in his older brother's footsteps, by becoming a fresh food person. He is apparently having more success than either of his parents at getting work at the moment...ha ha

more later...

Grateful #5 & 6

Yesterday (Sat)

1. Body pump and body balance (counts as one choice) - missed them last week, good to be back knocking out those lunge-jumps (is that even a word?).

2. About Time - a movie which starts out being about men trying to fix everything via time travel, and ends up being about mindfulness and values...its also partly set in Cornwall, and today was Dad's birthday...

3. Dinner - flathead with beetroot risotto - partly cooked by me, partly by S. Delicious!

Today (Sunday)

1. Cycling early this morning on the Brisbane city river loop. Beautiful day.

2. Excellent coffee on the Goodwill bridge, during cycle, thanks Brendan!

3. Mending stuff - jumpers, shorts, pyjamas - always puts me in a good mood! (much easier to fix than stuff that requires time travel)...

more later

grateful #3 & 4

Thursday 31st

 

1. Drawing

2. 'Cows are good listeners', Mary Rose O'Reilly

3. Time: in the 'now'

Friday1st November

1. basket of art materials - so inviting!

2. Jacaranda flowers and leaves

3. Skull keyring for Day of the Dead, which I believe is today.

I usually set myself up to fail these challenges, but I am trying to write 3 things I am grateful for here every day. This week's MBSR homework...I think! I have done this on my I-phone before, but lost it all when the phone broke. For those of you with a functional I-phone, its called 365 grateful, or project 365, or something similar.

Anyway, whether its doomed to fail or not (and after all, this is an exercise in positive psychology) it has to be worth a try.

I have started talking to people, slowly, about Open Table, which I may have mentioned in my last post.  I want one here, in Brisbane! And I'm hoping it can happen, with some networking and effort.

more later

Gratitude day #2

1. Today I am grateful for a better night's sleep. Image comes from here...

2. And for my gourmet vege box, from food connect...

3. And for the idea of Open Table, namely sharing surplus food in the local community, first seen in Frankie magazine, which I would love to see happen in Brisbane. (Perhaps I have to be the change I want to see...).

Two posts in one evening = totally unsustainable!

more later