Tag: The Life of Lara

It’s all here. Adventures in extreme knitting, the house of poop, and suburban permaculture. You may also find rants about politics, ecology, humanitarianism, responsible living, toe floss, and other topics not covered here. Expect profanity and irreverence. You have been warned.

Cooking legend

After posting the other day that I hardly use the stove anymore, I did use it yesterday for something that made me feel very clever…

Egg and Garlic Chive Pot-sticker Dumplings

IMG_0799.jpg

IMG_0800.jpg

5 eggs
1 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce
bunch garlic chives
teaspoon cornflour plus more for preventing sticking

Crack eggs into a bowl and mix with oyster sauce. Cook in a frypan like scrambled eggs (they don’t need to be cooked through). Mix together with chopped chives and cornflour.

Put a teaspoon of mixture in a dumpling wrapper (the white ones, not the yellow ones), moisten edges and crimp together. Nobody really cares if it’s perfect!

When you run out of filling or wrappers, put them in a frypan with a splash of peanut oil and ¼ cup water. Crank up the heat and put a lid on. The dumplings will steam until the water evaporates, and then the bottoms will crisp up nicely.

I served mine with chinese red dumpling vinegar (I have no idea what this is really called), but that isn’t really necessary – they are entirely delicious without sauce!

Recipe adapted/stolen from http://www.mijorecipes.com/appetizers/crispy-chinese-dumplings/.

Ferdinand!

A couple of months ago, Mark and I attended a thermomix demo. I was curious about the machine, it chops, it stirs, and it cooks – and it costs about $2,000!

I went to find out more, and was very impressed. I wanted one, but couldn’t see a way of justifying the expense. Mark disagreed – he helped me to rationalise it, and a few weeks later we ordered one.

So Ferdinand took up residence here a few months ago, and we haven’t regretted the decision. Even considering the cost, it’s been worth it. I’ve given away the food processor, and only used the stove about twice since he came. I’ve made risottos, vegetarian sausage rolls, soups, casseroles, sorbet, ice cream (creme anglaise, frozen, then blended with strawberries), steamed veggies, polenta, fruit juices, pancakes with pear and strawberry sauce, pizza dough (the only thing that isn’t as good as my original recipe!), béchamel sauce, “chocolate” date balls (Inigo LOVES these – dates and cocoa with a bit of coconut, he thinks it’s chocolate), apricot iron booster balls, Moroccan tomato soup, home made preservative free veggie stock etc, etc.

It’s been great, and since a few friends are also interested in finding out more about the machine, I am having a demo on saturday – let me know if you’d like to come!

a crappy mood

66% for my research report. I’ll live through it, but it will make it very hard to get an HD for PSYC102. Do I need an HD? I rang Macquarie to talk about transferring (to avoid residential schools in Armidale next year), and I have to apply through UAC, which means a pile of paperwork, and a very impersonal and bureaucratic process. Which may get me absolutely nowhere.

Squish is going to preschool next year, and trying to work out which one has been difficult. Apparently all the good parents work this shit out years in advance, but I am a bit remedial in leaving it until October of the year before to start looking.

So if I switch to Macquarie, I’ll want him in a preschool that is closer to there, and if I stay at UNE it won’t matter. So I am tying myself in knots trying to make the best decision for my favourite kid, and 66% just makes me feel defeated.

Yes, yes, I know that 66% isn’t a great big stamp across my forehead that says “FAILURE”, but everything else is (relatively) easy for me, so this is forcing me to come to terms with the fact that I am going to have to really work hard to become competent at academic writing. It’s not something that comes easily to most people, so I shouldn’t feel like crap that my assignment came back covered in negative comments.

Ted and I took Squish to a new music class today. There were twin girls there. Thank FSM they weren’t boys. And that they were a little older than A&A should be now. Seeing twins is always a sharp pain, a glimpse is a shopping centre usually sends me in the opposite direction, but today I couldn’t run.

Sometimes, I can live through it. Just breathe, and pretend that I am coping, that life is ok. But there are other days, like today, when it’s just too hard.

Putting myself out there

A few weeks ago, at a local rainbow picnic day, a photographer came up to my friends and I to ask if they could take a picture of us for an anti homophobia campaign. I’d seen the website publicised, and immediately said yes. Zenia came up with our punchy message, and we shared our vegetarian picnic with the poor staring inner city vegetarian hipsters who had come to work without a picnic – they were glad of an alternative to charred mammal flesh.

And here we are.

We’re all people, people! Unfortunately they got Squish’s name wrong, but I hope they will fix it soon.

Then, Australian Marriage Equality contacted me to ask me if I was interested in travelling to Canberra for a full day of meetings with politicians about same sex marriage. Would I? You bet.

Next Tuesday (if Mark gets his leave approved), we’re travelling to Canberra. And on Wednesday, I’ll spend most of the day in meetings with politicians.

And in an entirely unrelated note, people keep asking what we are planning for November. I don’t feel up to doing anything amazing to commemorate my boys on the anniversary of their birth, or the anniversary of Archie’s death. Last year I lost a friend because my grief didn’t follow her guidelines, this year, I am just going to do what feels right at the time.

I am very fortunate to be officiating at a wedding on the 6th, so on Saturday we might go to the cemetery, on Sunday we’ll be focussing on the love that Archimedes and Aubrey brought into our lives. Then going to a rocking wedding 🙂

_________________________________________

UPDATE – they fixed the spelling of Inigo’s name, so the link changed. Fixed now, thanks Meg!

If you’re interested in schools

read this.

An American journalist and his wife sent their three kids to school in Russia. A very moving piece, and doubly interesting because of the migrant and refugee kids in Australia who turn up on the first day of school here without speaking (or understanding) a word of English.

Mark and I are still struggling with our decision to send the Squish to the local public school. But articles like this make it seem like a good outcome is possible.