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.