Wreck this Journal update

Three new pages:

"Document your dinner" (not quite what the author intended, I'm sure. But I wanted it to work with the left hand page of this which was facing it (the right hand page was used for the Give away your favorite page exercise)
"Press leaves and other found things" (notes can be found here)

"Glue in a photo of yourself you dislike. DEFACE"

Just another manic Monday

For some people it was a public holiday. For me it was work as usual.

There was cooking as well: the first lot of hummus in a while. And a lovely apricot and pecan danish for afternoon tea, made with some of the apricots from the freezer. After an unplanned run to the supermarket for butter. And garlic. Heaven forbid I should run out of garlic!

And it rained. Again. I can hardly remember a time when it wasn't raining around here...

Tonight I plan to work on my portfolio for my printmaking assessment. And do some dishes. Always dishes at the moment. That's one of the nasty side effects of constant cooking!

Today's menu:

Breakfast: Cup of tea. Porridge with craisins, wheatgerm, brown sugar and milk
Lunch: Toast and freshly made hummus. Roma tomatoes.
Afternoon tea: Apricot danish. Cup of tea.
Dinner: Penne pasta with broccoli, red capsicum and smoked salmon. More danish.

Today's purchases:

250g butter: $1.39
1 head garlic: $1.33

Total for today: $2.72

Total for June: $263.21

I think I killed my camera

My most favorite tried-to-replace-it-twice-but-kept-going-back-to-the-original Canon IXUS.

I finally experienced the famed E18 error. There's a vague chance I can bring it back from the dead using all the instructions around the net.

Otherwise I'm in a bind. The IXUS 300 and 500 I bought don't do as good a job with close up work as my original generation IXUS. And as a miniaturist, that's an important consideration. And the 500 seems to be suffering from the dreaded purple screen of death which, hopefully, Canon Australia will fix for free. Once I actually contact them about it...

Sunday stock up

I was about to say "It's been a lovely lazy day" but then I stopped and thought you wouldn't believe me. Especially when I continue on to talk about the grocery shopping, house cleaning, washing and cooking that's been going on round here!

But since I find cooking relaxing and I did spend a large amount of time horizontal on the sofa with a pile of books stacked on the coffee table, in my mind it was a lazy day. Just what I needed after this past week.

I was trying to hold off on the grocery shop until tomorrow but then I ran out of toilet paper:

1 litre organic milk: $2.55
450g bag of frozen corn: $2.39
1 kg bag of carrots: $1.98
3 apples: $1.82
4 onions: $2.05
Half a bunch of celery: $1.44
1 head of brocolli: 61 cents
150g bag of natural almonds: $3.69
25g ground cumin: $1.67
126g smoked salmon: $4.59 (my treat for the week)
6 pack eggs: $3.96
6 pack toilet paper: $3.38
160g bag of baby spinach: $2.98
199g mushrooms: $1.89
250g pack of roma tomatoes: $2.77
1 red capsicum: $1.09
1 green capsicum: 77 cents
1 lemon: $.57
2 bananas: $1.55

Total: $41.75

Today's menu:

Breakfast: Cup of tea. Toasted crumpets with smoked salmon and egg
Lunch: Homemade cream of pumpkin soup and toast
Afternoon tea: Parmesan zucchini muffin. Cup of tea
Dinner: Mexican chilli corn pie. Yoghurt

Total for today: $41.75

Total for June: $260.49

And the best bit is that I have extras of lunch, afternoon tea and dinner stored in the freezer for future use...

Cook from the Cupboard: Saturday update

Another boring day blog-wise.

I spent the day working at my (not quite so lowly paid because I got Saturday rates) casual job at a library across town. Enjoyed it immensely. Managed to only bring home two DVDs that caught my eye to add to the teetering pile of things I need to read or watch before they're due back.

Parking was free. Morning and afternoon tea were courtesy of the stash of goodies on the staff room table. By the end of the day I was buggered (a six day working week will do that to you, especially when it ends with a fairly physically intense job) so was in my PJs and in bed with a pile of reading before dinner.

Breakfast: Cup of tea. Crumpets and jam, yoghurt.
Morning tea: Biscuit from the staff stash at work
Lunch: Cheese and chow chow sandwich
Afternoon Tea: Biscuit from the stash at work
Dinner: Tuna, spinach and Dolmio on shell pasta with grated parmesan.

Today's purchases: 0

Total spent today: $0

Total for June: $218.74

Cook from the Cupboard: The Friday Freebie edition

Yesterday = Early shift at work. Catch-up with friends. Double feature at ANU Film Group. No photos. No witty commentary. Sorry.

Breakfast: Cup of tea. Muesli and milk
Morning tea: Crackers and cheese. Apple
Lunch: Spinach, lentil and coriander soup from the freezer. Toast. Yoghurt
Afternoon Tea: Banana. Mini Crunchie bar courtesy of the Executive Director of Job #2
Dinner: Chips and aioli, dips and Turkish bread and wine at Tilleys, courtesy of J and Cycling S. I thought it was my birthday celebration but they both declared it was too ordinary (and speedy as I had to be at ANU Film Group for 7:30) to be any such thing. So we'll have to do something else soon...

Today's purchases: Nothing. Weehee!

Total spent today: $0

Total for June: $218.74

I got it!

The link between Confessions of a Shopaholic and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (probably) isn't that the main character in CoaS buys stripy PJs but the fact that both films have main characters who are unable (or refuse) to see the truth of a situation in front of their faces.

Thank you brain for working this out. But we need to talk about this habit you have of waking me at 3am to tell me stuff like this...

Water we going to do about dinner?

Another mad crazy day in a mad crazy week. Life continues as normal chez TSS...

Cook from the Cupboard

Breakfast: Eggs Florentine (without the Hollandaise). Cup of tea
Lunch: Stir fried zucchini and mushrooms on rice
Afternoon Tea: Biscuit and coffee at my boss's house
Dinner: Nibbles at Portrait Gallery Vanity Fair exhibition opening.

Where I was given these:
Arty water! With white lids! And removable labels! I'm a happy girl indeed...

Today's purchases:

2 magazines (on hold at Newsagents): $19.90
1 box of Roses chocolates (for class project): $5.46

Total spent today: $25.36

Total for June: $218.74

Photoshop fun

My first Photoshop class exercise is finished: Self portrait variations using Photoshop filters. All quite straight forward apart from wrestling with the concept of layers and trying to find a range of options that look good togetherTonight we started our second exercise: a self portrait using animal and landscape imagery and textures. It took me 20 minutes to work out how to get the cat cut out and everything on the same document with the help of some frantic googling and trying to stir my poor tired brain into thinking it all through.

This is as far as I got:And I forgot to save the Photoshop file to my memory stick. So I'll have to do something else for the next week. Or start again from scratch at home...

The midweek "my brain hurts" edition

I feel like I've been stuffing so much new information into my head over the past couple of weeks:

A new contract = training

Noumea trip = trying to understand (and be understood in) French. Getting round a new city and learning about the culture and history of it.
Class (we started Photoshop on Monday so my head was filled with things I'd never learnt in all the time I've been using Elements. Magnetic lasso tools! Layers! What handy things they are! Perhaps I can finally stop using Word for a lot of my image work?)

And yesterday=first day at Craft ACT. I was introduced to Windows Vista (which looks suspiciously Mac-like), MYOB Retail Manager, and the joys of DIG radio. I also got to rearrange all the lovely goodies in the shop which was fun but still hurt my brain trying to work out how the pieces would display best.

Tonight is class. Again. I suspect my brain may rebel when I try to stuff still more new information into it...

Cook from the Cupboard

Breakfast: Porridge with craisins, wheatgerm, brown sugar and milk. Cup of tea

Morning tea: Freshly baked bread and honey

Lunch: A big bowl of lentil, spinach and coriander soup served with toast

Afternoon tea: Passionfruit yoghurt. Tea

Dinner: (will be) Cheese, Chow Chow and spinach sandwich. Apple.

Today's purchases:

4 boxes Whiskettes: $14.00 (I was out of them. They were on special so I stocked up as usual. The discount basically meant 1 box was free. Gotta love free cat food!)
1 bunch coriander: $2.45 (for today's soup and also for a kidney bean chili I plan to make on the weekend)

Total spent today: $16.45

Total for June: $193.38

Need to tome it down a little...

Books (and music) have always been my weakness. I suspect it's a family thing.

From when I first left home at the age of 17 (salary: $6,000 a year, rent: $50 a week) I've had a bad habit of putting new books or records (later CDs) ahead of other discretionary spending.

Including, at times, food.

I was very tempted to not blog today and give some hastily concocted excuse for my silence. But that wouldn't be fair to the spirit of open and honest communication needed during a month where I decided to undertake a Cook from the Cupboard challenge.

So here's today's report:

Breakfast: Fruit toast and homemade apricot and vanilla jam.

It's payday from job #2 (such as it is) which means Accounts Day. I remember that I got a renewal notice for Madison magazine before I left with an offer of a free book. But in the latest mag they're offering two free books and I'd prefer the one that's not mentioned on my subscription renewal notice. So, in true TSS cheeky style I call the subscription line to see if I can swap books and get the one I want. And I come away with the promise that I'll be sent not only the book I want but the other one as well.

If I wanted to do girl maths I could say my $79.95 subscription renewal only cost $20 as I'm getting $59.95 worth of free books. But I won't do that, will I?

Morning tea: Crackers and cheese.

Lunch: It's a tradition I have that the first day of any new job I buy myself lunch. I think it's a tradition I need to overhaul as I seem to be having a lot of first days at the moment (even if this one is a non-job.)

Since I'm in town I head to Sizzle Bento's sushi train. And leave, $14.50 later, a very happy and relaxed girl.

Which is why I don't notice my wallet pulling me across Garema Place until I'm standing outside of Academic Remainders. I manage to stagger out $39.85 later with three books which are definitely within the collection development policy but which I really shouldn't have managed to shoehorn themselves into my budget this week.

And bookwise, I didn't even mention the two magazines that arrived in the post this morning, along with my (fabulous) birthday present (plus extra) from The Parental Units: two more books. Man, I'm bibliographically blissed out and that's not even mentioning the library books I'm trying to get through at the moment! (Now if I could just work out a way to be paid (well) to read for the next 2 years I might just manage to get my reading pile up to date.)

Oh yes: almost forgot about afternoon tea: banana and almonds
And dinner: baked tofu with udon noodles, stir fry veges and satee sauce.

The damage, 2 June 2009 (*cringe*):

Madison subscription: $79.95
Lunch: $14.50
Books: $39.85

Total for today: $134.40

Total for June: $176.93

(There's more of today I'd like to mention: my first day interning at Craft ACT. Discovering that my printmaking portfolio is supposed to be handed in tomorrow when I thought assessment was June 17th. And SMSes from my cruise buddies who are bobbing round in the Pacific on the Dawn Princess: which has 5 reported cases of Swine Flu on board... But I think it's time to go to bed and read. Oddly enough.)

Cooking from the Cupboard: Day One

The day (and month) started with the best of intentions but by afternoon plans had derailed (and not in a cute Tootle frolicking amongst the buttercups way either)

I haven't done a shop since I got back from Noumea so headed over this morning, mainly to restock the fruit and veg:

1 litre organic milk: $2.55
Facial cleanser: $12.84 (I've been using up my travel supplies since November and I'm finally out)
500g cheese: $4.79
150g bag of baby spinach leaves: $3.96
3 Fuji apples: $1.52
746g piece of butternut pumpkin: .59
2 zucchini: $2.06
2 bananas: $1.57
122g mushrooms: $1.15
Total: $31.03

Today's menu:

Breakfast: Porridge with craisins, wheatgerm, brown sugar and milk. Cup of tea.
Morning tea: Cheese and crackers. Apple.
Lunch: Homemade nachos.

So far so good, right?

But then I headed off to a 1:30pm meeting. Which turned into an all afternoon thing. And I hadn't taken any afternoon tea with me in the rush to get there. So, $7 later I'd bought some.

Kerching.

Then there was the rush from work back home to pick up stuff for tonight's class and back out again. No time to organise a dinner-time snack. So I spent another $4.50 at the CIT cafe for an egg salad sandwich.

Kerching.

Total spent on unnecessary takeaway food items: $11.50

*sigh*

Me: Now.

I stayed up far to late last night at ANU Film Group last night watching a double feature of The Boat that Rocked and Milk (As a side note: if anyone can explain to me how they decided to make a double feature this Friday out of Confessions of a Shopaholic and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, I'd love to hear from you!)

Which meant a late start to today...

Watching The Boat that Rocked got me thinking about Radio Hauraki and, feeling once again like a newcomer to a strange land, wondering what the history of pirate stations in Australia was...

Today: Lino cuts started: 0. Chunks of plaster painted: 0. Houses sorted and tidied: 1.

And tomorrow's the start of June which is traditionally the month of Fiscal Fasting round here. So I'm wondering. Do I do it again (even though I've kind of been doing it for the past 6 months)? Do I do the light version (aka Cook from the Cupboard)? Or do I live how I normally do now* and just report on that?)

(*Since I discovered I get paid monthly in my new contract...)

Saturday catch-up

I spent today catching up on class stuff.

Transferring the design for my lino cutting exercise (I haven't actually starting the cutting yet): Deciding the weather is wrong for spray painting my wearable art piece. So I hemmed my hanky instead:

Before playing with some ideas for my Wrapped Space Briefwhich included messing with this Picasso pictureto create a possible box for my wearable art piece:There's still a heap more to do but I think I need a break...

Random post-holiday post #5

Long time readers will know I tend to buy odd souvenirs when I travel. I was quite restrained in Noumea, and not just because of the lack of ready credit.

The range of souvenirs available seemed to fit into two camps: brightly coloured tat (sarong or plastic dolphin, anyone?) or Okish stuff which turned out to be made in Indonesia. I did spend the entire trip lusting after ye traditional French school slates whenever I ran into a pile of them at the supermarket or stationery shop. But I talked myself out of purchasing one. Repeatedly.

There was a close call at The Tjibaou Cultural Centre shop where they had some rather nice T shirts. But they only had size XXL left so I was safe.

In the end I returned home with three local CDs, a book called Let me guide you in Noumea (an interesting mix of history and guide) and these:
A carved fridge magnet for my miniatures collection, a well-worn 100 f coin and the sexiest pencil sharpener I've ever seen.
I framed the coin and added it to my Shelf of interesting things. And I suspect the carving may not make it into the dolls house after all...

Wreck this Journal composting update: week five (final)

More leaves less journal

I think we're done.(Week four, week three, weeks two and one and another composter across the ditch)

Random post-holiday post #4

OK, maybe Noumea in close up isn't quite the same as Wellington.

For a start, the architecture is quite different:

(I almost bought a book on New Caledonian houses but spending $40 on a book in French seemed like a slightly silly thing to do so I left it on the shelf)

This is the view from the bus stop for the local blue route bus which goes out to The Tjiboau Cultural Centre. I walked right past it the first time thinking I was in the wrong place...Here's a picture I took of a local restaurant for my cruise buddy Nancy:(No, the woman on the left didn't forget to change out of her nightdress before she left home: that's the national costume.)

Local graffiti I spotted on the walk up to The Tjiboau Cultural Centre :

And a local snail who seemed mad keen on following me:I always wondered why on earth French people would bother eating snails.But it would appear French snails are bigger than common garden Aussie or Kiwi snails. Which got me thinking: is this a native New Caledonian snail or did the French import snails from home to populate their gardens?

The cockroaches are massive, too. One kept running after me at great speed in a CD shop. I wanted to take a photo but I was worried that a) the owner (of the CD store, not the cockroach) would be insulted and b) if I didn't keep a close eye on the cockroach, it would run up my leg.

And, finally, here's a statue of a very important historical figure. Or maybe it's an ad for a local supplier of soft drinks...

Random post-holiday post #3

If you're going to Noumea on holiday it's a very good idea to make sure your credit card has a pin number. Otherwise you could, just possibly, arrive at the Youth Hostel on your first night, hand over your (nice empty) credit card and be told it doesn't work.

In this situation it's useful to have another credit card on you, even if you know it's pretty much full. Hand it over anyway and, if you're lucky, it'll be accepted. And you'll be using cash for the rest of your stay.

Not that I'm telling you this from experience, necessarily. Just saying... (as they say).

*Ahem*.

My birthday lunch, 2009:
Prepackaged couscous salad from the supermarket at the port. Approximately AU$3.11 and actually rather good.Especially as it was eaten here: I thought I'd have something special for dinner but the supermarket was closed when I got back to town in the afternoon. And so were all the restaurants in town. The corner shop just down from the hostel was open for a couple of hours in the evening so I bought some chocolate biscuits there in lieu of the french pastries I'd planned. They only had New Zealand chocolate biscuits. Of course.

Oh and the slap up birthday lunch with the boys planned for the 27th? It never happened as their ship dropped Noumea from its itinerary...

Random post-holiday post #2

Why did no one tell me that Noumea looks just like Wellington (NZ)?(View from my balcony)(from the top of the drive looking away from the centre of town)(and on the walk down into town)

Random post-holiday post #1

You may have been practicing your French before you left home.

You may be secretly pleased when people greet you in French as you think it might just possibly mean you look like a local (or French).

You may even be able to make yourself understood (albeit in a rather halting way) and feel almost smug.

But it's guaranteed that the reply you receive in quickly spoken French will be incomprehensible to you.

An example:

I say "Excuse me, where is the women's toilet?" (A fairly basic French question, learnt in third form or thereabouts)

The reply (as far as I can make out after they gave up trying to make themselves understood and escorted me there with much pointing)? "The women's toilet is closed for renovations. You'll need to use the disabled toilet but there's someone in there at the moment..."

Another example:

I've just trekked up the hill to the hostel on my first full day after a visit to le supermarché. It's about 23 degrees and muggy after the morning's rain so I change into my jandals to try and cool down before heading into the cool room to get some stuff out of my locker for dinner. While I'm waiting for someone else to finish up so I can get to my stuff this cute French chap (dressed in a lovely thick handknitted jumper) points at my feet and lets out a string of French that goes completely over my head.

Did he just tell me to move out of the way because there's a big hairy spider about to bite my foot?

Is he telling me it's against the rules to wear jandals into the cool room?

Perhaps he's admiring my choice of (black and white spotted) jandals and asking where he can get his own?

Or is he telling me I must be insane to wear such skimpy footwear into the cool room and don't I know my feet will get frostbite and fall off and I'll be forever stuck on the top of the hill?

Then again, he might have declared that I'm the woman of his dreams based on my choice of footwear and would I marry him?

I'll never know...

I got very good at using what was to become a stock phrase during my stay:

"Sorry, I understand the "Bonjour Madame, but after that..." accompanied by a Gallic shrug of the shoulders and that little pfft noise they seem to make and that I somehow picked up.

In my head was a whole other matter. I spent six days wandering round town speaking French to myself. I was impressively fluent as long as I didn't wander far too from the territory of "I'm hot/ cold/ happy/ hungry/ thirsty/ tired" or "I don't like that/ I love this/ I want to go here/ eat this/ see that."