a fennel success and a fennel disaster

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the nicest compliment i’ve been payed in a good while was as a look of total shock and surprise after describing what i was planning to cook for dinner – “are you good at everything you do”… It was so incredibly sweet in its delivery And rather heartfelt – it really touched me…
Even more so when dinner turned out to be a total disaater… It was a taste.com.au recipe. I really wanted to try working with fennel so i found two different ways…

Because i was watching football (Childress! Why didn’t you challenge Green Bay’s second touchdown – we totally would have won) i decided to make sausage rolls (or snosage rolls as they’re affectionately known in my house) using a roast fennel seed, mustard powder, and dried coriander spice mix in chicken mince. Needless to say, they were delicious once coated in puff pastry and sprinkled with sesame seeds… So they were a hit with my boy and thank goodness or else he would have had sandwiches for dinner…

The next recipe was not a success by any stretch of the imagination… it was meant to be chicken, fennel, and lemon fettuccine
I’m not sure what went wrong but the sauce didn’t create itself – even though there was a can of cream in there… and the chicken mince was all gloopy, the zucchini didn’t really work (that one could be down to my chopping skills, and for a first attempt at fennel… well it was a bit of a disaster…
I managed to get mine down, J ate half and the rest went straight in the freezer hopefully until I’m desperate… It looked like congealed chicken mess…
But J’s cooking tonight – he had a hankering for barbequed burgers last night and i think after my attempt last night he might be more determined for a good dinner.

Productive saturday

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What a productive saturday morning… I uncluttered one wardrobe and went through all my clothes… Threw out 3 trips worth of stuff in the bin – and took 8 bags worth of clothes, bags, and shoes to the salvation army… Feels good…
Cant believe some of the clothes i had been keeping! I had jeans that had so many holes in them they weren’t even covering my arse… On the other hand i found an awesome blue print dress that i forgot i had… It’s very old hollywood cleaning dress…

Of course the only reason i was cleaning my cupboards was so i had somewhere to purmt the box for my dalek… That was my dalek is on full display – love it!

Now if only someone would clean my kitchen for me… I have a new book to read… Karyn Bosnak – 20 times a lady…

On a completely separate note – i cant believe how often i cry during ‘i’d do anything’

album reviews – the avalanches & the shortwave set

Posted on by bekswhoknits

in my ongoing struggle to support my CD buying addiction i’ve turned to writing reviews in exchange for CDWow vouchers…

The Avalanches – Since You’ve Been Gone
I first listened to this album when the hype around ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’ was palpable. It’s a great song on its own but to fully appreciate the thought behind it you need to listen to the album from start to finish.
It takes you on a journey through someone elses world. If i had to compare it to anything, it’s similar to ‘the eels – daisies of the galaxy’ in that it tells you a complete story. But the way it tells you it’s story is what makes it so special, and is one of the reasons why it was recently voted number one album of the 00’s on inthemix.com.

I love to listen to this album from start to finish whilst soaking in the sunshine and just relaxing.
It truly is a wonderful album that can be listened to over and over again…

The Shortwave Set – The Debt Collection
A brilliant debut album from an indie collective. If you’re a fan of Broken Social Scene or The New Pornographers definitely check this out.

Songs like “Is It Any Wonder?” show their poppy catchy side whereas “Better Than Bad” takes a country hook and will keep you singing all day.

They take sampled hooks, tie them with soft vocals, put a bow on them with catchy lyrics and create a listening experience rather than individual songs. A wonderful debut which was followed up by the fantastic Replica Sun Machine.
If you want to hear what came before “No Social” and “Glitches and Bugs” this album will give you the answer you’re looking for…

wasted day…

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Well yesterday was a total write off……

Watched an entire season of blue mountain state… Enjoyed it as well – my boy wasn’t sure i was going to but suspending my disbelief worked…
Its not going to win any major awards but it was dead on for its target market…

So my boy was really crook on wednesday night, resulting in not much sleep wednesday night and the need for a sleep in on thursday…
So there was a wasted day… But for a ‘recovering from a wednesday night’ wasted day – it was pretty good…

dinner was probably the highlight of the day…
i adapted a Nigella recipe (http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/cheddar-cheese-risotto-68). i just love the mustard white wine sauce that this creates. i fried some chicken up with the spring onions – and when i added the cheese (mmm how i love cheese) i added some fresh english spinach…
even my non-rice eating boy enjoyed it… particularly as it was served with a delicious piece of steak which he cooked on the barbeque… and eaten in front of the telly watching a replay of the colts / redskins game from Monday (Sunday in the US)…
a good end to a lazy day…
(and my boy is feeling allright now)

summer playlist – a work in progress

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I’m having trouble coming up with my summer playlist this year…

Last year it was easy – I had bought a lot of EPs at gigs, was listening to a lot of community radio, going out a lot to ‘one-song’ bands (you know where you hear one song and want to check out what they have to say but they don’t have an album yet)…

This year I feel like ive been suckered into the commercial world – I’ve been to a lot more ‘big’ ($50+) gigs (them crooked vultures, brand new, dead weather, spoon, silversun pickups, new pornographers, ACDC) add in festivals (southbound, laneway, big day out, soundwave, futuremusic, on the bright side), a few small aussie acts (messhall, whitley, gyroscope, sugar army)… a lot of my CD money has been going on back-catalogueing and matching my digital library to my physical one… (my last 10 CD purchases – The Shins (Chutes Too Narrow) – The Rapture (Out of the Races) – Shortwave Set (Debt Collection) – Sparkleshorse (Vivadixiesubmarinetransmission) – Wavves (Wavves) – The Avalanches (Since I Left You) – The National (National) – Presidents of the United States of America (Presidents of the USA) – Tom Jones (What’s New Pussycat) – AFI (Sing the Sorrow)… there’s nothing there that was released this year… )

Ok so I spent a lot of money on music this year (should I try and remember which band shirts I bought this year?? Hmm… placebo, sspu, them crooked vultures, spoon, future of the left- and of course a stubbie holder from each festival I could) I still regret that they had sold out of Decemberist’s hoodies at BDO…

But I still feel like it was all pretty much commercial music – when I already have the EP, or even recognised the WAM Song of the Year winner, I knew that something had gone wrong this year…

So to get back on track I think it’s time to catalogue the southbound and laneway lineups… and I think from there I’ll get a pretty good summer playlist… also I might listen to the radio a bit more this week…
I think that’ll be a start…

if it turns out i’m not blogging into thin air – any summer playlist suggestions can go in the comments…

HIMYM – Lily Aldrin Style Icon

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http://www.celebstyle.com/tag/Lily+Aldrin

so while i’m waiting for my how i met your mother season 1 – 5 box set to arrive (it will be posted on the 28th and im very impatient) i’ m revisiting one of my style inspirations – lily…

i love her style – and if i could let myself get carried away with a credit card i totally would be in the same situation…

today i’ve paired my charcoal work shorts with a pair of black pixie boots in a lily-inspired combination… one striped sock and one polka dot sock – but they’re both the same shade of pink and black so they totally match… 

now… back to dreaming…

guitar highway rose

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“Some ideas are not born of logic and good sense. They are made of clouds and cobwebs. They sprout from nowhere and feed on excitement, sprinkled with adventure juice and the sweet flavor of the forbidden. The psyche moves from the realms of the ordinary and takes a delicate step towards the territory of the unknown. We know that we shouldn’t and that is exactly why we do.”

 so if i could pick one thing that influenced my writing style the most it would be guitar highway rose by brigid lowry…
actually i think it has probably influenced the narration of my life as well…

 i was asked to read it as a way to keep me busy during class when i had finished all my work and didn’t have anything to do… the fact that it was set in perth – was about a young girl who desperately wanted to get her nose pierced (which i did) who loved lists, doc martins, and lace just had me hooked.

and the narrative style was something that i copied time and time again in the stories that i wrote and the way i internally narrated my own life and experiences…

 i eventually did get my nose pierced – my doc martins were the first thing i bought with my first ever paycheck (well first two paychecks – they were an expensive item), i still never capitilise my i’s (word auto corrects me – my hand writing is never capitalised)… i still run away at every particular moment… it also got me into the doors in a big big way…

this book really shaped who i turned out to be in many ways…