The amazing lentil curry

12Mar10

This is my amazing lentil curry that wasn’t the curry I mentioned before. You see what I mean about the curry. I don’t have a photo but I’d like to make it again.

Two cloves of garlic
One onion
One big grated carrot
Two diced tomatoes
400g can of brown lentils (drained and rinsed)
1 cup of peas
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 tsp curry powder
Salt to taste

Sauté garlic and onion until onion is translucent, add carrot, tomatoes and peas and wait until they become soft. Add the lentils. Mix the spices together and add to the mixture, make sure it’s all stirred into the liquid. Add a little bit of water if you have to.

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Quick update

11Mar10

Two weeks into uni I’m having a really good time – and that is despite not (yet) attending a faculty party, pub crawl or ‘booze cruise.’ Yes, for the first time in about two years I was  content to sit at home on a Saturday night and study; to wit, read my fat-ass Contracts textbooks.

This semester my Law subjects are Contracts A and Introduction to Legal Reasoning, and my Arts subjects are Introduction to Contemporary History and Introduction to Sociology. The history one is compulsory for International Studies, but it has been pretty interesting so far, and very educational as it obviously goes into a lot more depth and detail than high school history, and allows for very critical analysis. Most of my lecturers are at least interesting and at most funny, energetic and engaging; even Contracts becomes fun when it’s being taught by a witty, self-deprecating, and friendly speaker. The cases aren’t so bad either, once you start getting the hang of what to look for and the style judges write in.

It has been pretty cool to meet people from so many different places and in so many different faculties.. E.g. one of the other girls in my Peer Mentor group is doing Biomed/Law, which I found kind of intimidating (being the dumb one in the group as I’m an Arts bum). But the mentor I have met is really nice and helpful. I met Melody the other day in ILR, and I went with her to the Family Law Assistance Program for one of our assignments. It’s pretty confronting to sit in on an interview between one of their clients and one of the student lawyers. But it was certainly a fascinating insight into the way law is applied, the intricacies of the legal system, why people get involved in law and the way different people can contribute. I know I’m a nerd, you don’t have to tell me.

Onto other matters: Our house is pretty much set up; Dad gave us some extra furniture the other day so our currently messy (but normally quite neat) lounge looks a little something like this. The superfast internet has also been set up and it’s usually pretty superfast.

Dad also brought the missing screws so we managed to finally piece together the bed, which makes the bedroom look much nicer. The cat has taken up residence on the new armchair, depositing sufficient fur that no one else can ever sit on it again. Our only guest so far since I came back from Japan (more on that later) has been Andrew (apologies for my emo post, Andrew is now at Monash – woot – and only Dani has been stolen by Canberra.. RAWR). I made curry and coconut, cashew and sultana rice which was ridiculously delicious. We’ve been eating more curry than the average Indian family living in rural India, but I like all the herbs and spices. And you can use whatever’s in the fridge, which is helpful.

Japan was good, did a lot of shopping and spent some quality time with my grandparents. Also went to Himeji-jo and Nara and fed deer, who also tried to eat me; my black jacket (bought on the second day in Japan out of necessity in the 2°C temperatures. Lots of fun Will post photos when my Ojichama sends them, but for now, this is someone else’s photo of the deer, and below that the Todaiji, which houses the Daibutsu.

Also got a new phone as I dropped mine a while ago. It still worked (when it felt like it) but I lost the back cover and was holding the battery in with sticky tape, which seemed less than safe. Tofu suggested the Nokia Xpress Music 5800 so this is my new shiny toy, complete with Internet, GPS etc. Haven’t had time to upload songs etc, let alone all my contacts, but it’s nice. It has qwerty but I tend to prefer alphanumeric because I can do that without looking, thus not letting the person I’m meant to be listening know that I am in fact texting entirely irrelevant things.

In other news, I have a job interview on Saturday at a nearby hotel so hopefully that goes well.

Filed under: Australia, Employment, Food, Japan, Life, Travel, University, Work   |  1 Comment

Brownies

04Feb10

Our house is going well so far. The bed frame came today, so we’ve upgraded from a sheet on the floor with one pillow, to a mattress with linen, to a full bed. Unfortunately the eBay person forgot the screws and keys, so we’ll have to wait.. But near enough’s good enough.

Our living room is basically just the two desks and a bookshelf. Aristarchus has made his bed in the lower shelf of my desk, which is the first place he scuttled off to when we brought him here, as he was miserable and missing our old house. But he’s gained some confidence and seems quite happy. We’re trying to stop him from scratching the mesh by moving him over to his scratching post each time he does it, but he’s not getting the picture so far.

Oliver, Soph and James came over the other day to have a look and they thought it was quite nice. As I said, Oliver and James bought us a fridge so tonight we made them epic brownies. Our first attempt the other night failed. Considered going to Café Frais and commissioning a full tray off Yannick, but then decided to go shopping after gym and buy more ingredients for a different recipe. Doubled the amount and made an epic tray of sugar and saturated fats. By which I mean brownies.

Currently waiting for it to cool so we can cut it and maybe write on it. It was quite a feat.. Especially since I realised we had no measuring cups or spoons and had to make one out of my new mug with the only measurement we had being the water jug..

In other news, joined the Monash gym today.. Was doing weights (abs and arms).. Quite shy around all the azn tanks there, but they mainly stayed in the machines room. Will go tomorrow hopefully, before going to the consulate to put in my passport application.

Don’t know if I mentioned going to do all the enrolment shiz etc so I’m now a Monash student (with an ugly student ID card and an uglier gym card). There’s already homework for Law..

Hope everyone’s enjoying their holiday

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Australia Day BBQ et other food

25Jan10

Jules and Son organised an Australia Day BBQ (I think it’s quite funny that everyone going is Asian, but whatever. We’re all Aussie at heart) so I just made muffins to take tomorrow. We’ll make Greek salad tomorrow morning and other people are bringing other things.. Since Simon and I are the closest we’re meant to go early and shotgun a barbecue. Good luck to us.

So here are my blueberry muffins (when Simon wakes up he’s supposed to make some as well.. He’s competitive like that).

Here is some soba I made weeks ago. It was pretty win. I mixed shredded carrot and spinach with the soba, pushed it to the side and filled the other side with lightly steamed broccolini, bok choy, green beans and fresh coriander.

Here are some dishes that Erdal made for me at Achelya that I meant to post because they were quite cute.

Salad, grilled vegetable skewers on Turkish rice garnished with fried crepe

Garden salad with cucumber, tomato, oranges, fetta, and falafel with garlic sauce

Sauce holder shaped Turkish rice and falafel with garlic sauce and red capsicum, with a garden salad

Filed under: Australia, Food, Just hanging   |  3 Comments

Update

24Jan10

Am just going to rush through this as I need to start packing up some stuff.

Yesss you read right – we have found a house and are moving in this week. Am inordinately excited for a calm, mature and well-bred young lady. The house is in The Hole, but I’m willing to overlook that fact due to its being walking distance to the university, gym and shopping centre, allowing my baby cat to live with us in peace, and last but certainly not least, having Tofu inside.

No furniture included though.

So we’ve been budgeting, buying furniture and appliances (taking as much from our own homes as possible), calling utilities companies, organising deliveries, organising times to pick up keys and sign forms.. Where I would have written everything down with an old-school biro on old-school paper and used an old-school calculator to create and update my budget and to-do list, Tofu created an Excel graph which, while maintaining my old-school outlook, had me in awe. Am easily impressed, but it was really quite clever. He also made it possible for us to update it together despite being about 15 train stations apart, using Google Docs. Or something. We’re quite compatible, considering that he can’t fold clothes or measure pepper (both of which I usually do quite decently), and I can’t use a computer or do maths (both of which he is quite geekily good at. In the nicest way possible).

James suggested that he and Oliver go halfsies for a fridge or washing machine for us, which is super nice. I hope Oliver marries him. I think it’s Will and Grace where someone’s getting married, and the lesbian goes, “I can have that!” “No you can’t.” “Yes I can.” “No you can’t.” “Yes I can. In Holland.” I hope the same-sex marriage bill is approved. I really can’t see any reason why not, even if it’s only through civil ceremony. I told Oliver I felt bad because we couldn’t do anything for them; we can’t even invite them over for dinner because we won’t have enough crockery. Lol. But this might come under the I’ll-buy-you-a-BMW-when-I’m-a-wealthy-lawyer thing.

So yes, I’m quite excited. Feel like an elderly cat lady when I say that I want to have a garden on our little balcony. But I like fresh herbs, and I want to try tomatoes and mushroom and catnip and things, having failed miserably when I was 7 and never tried again.

So on the university thing, I got Arts/Law at Monash (got an offer for International and Global Studies with the option for transfer from Sydney U as well, but I missed out on Law by 0.05. Doesn’t matter as I’d already kind of chosen Monash and Tofu, and was kicking myself for paying the UAC application fee. Am so cheap). For the Arts major I want to do International Studies, and for the minor I’m currently thinking Sociology. However, my first year units are pretty much all compulsory so I think I’ll stick out two years before I decide whether I want to apply for a transfer or not.

In other holiday news, Obachama and Ojichama sent my koseki toho and Oliver filled out my passport form, so hopefully I’ll be going to Japan for about twenty days a little after we move in. It means I’ll miss O Week but Tofu says there’s not much point to it anyway. I want to spend that time before semester starts officially to find a job anyway, if I can’t get one before I leave.

BUT it means I’ll miss Dani and Andrew coming back… And they’re going to frigging Canberra before I’ll come back from Japan. Want to use stronger language but I’m trying to be happy for them. ANU is the best university in Australia.. Butbutbut – am quite heartbroken. No more random dinners.. No more sleeping over on the floor.. No more shisha and apple tea.. No more hanging out on the bed and on the floor.. No more weird youtube videos.. No more break dancing.. No more runs around the lake together.. No more hanging out at State.. No more Chinese restaurants.. No more passing the diary back and forth.. No more midori and soba.. No more claypot rice.. No more lending and borrowing clothes.. No more philosophical discussions in the gym.. No more kittens.. No more Dani and Andrew

Filed under: Animals, Australia, Dance dance, Japan, Life, Melbourne, Money, University, Work   |  1 Comment

L, is for the way you trip the Light fantastic into clubs

14Jan10

Yes, I have turned eighteen. However. I haven’t got my Keypass or Learner’s yet (don’t want to pay, only to fail) so I have no photo ID except my passport, which I don’t want to carry around with me.. Plus I have no one to go clubbing with.. Plus I have pretty much stopped drinking.. Plus I have no shoes to go clubbing in anyway.. So the only exciting thing is getting to change my bank account. It’s a bit tragic. Oh, and going back to E55 and that club (which club? Don’t remember) on William and saying f you, you were right when you kicked me out last time. But I’m eighteen, and the potentiality is all that matters.

Have little else to update, because offers haven’t come out yet.. Don’t want to think about it because I’m not going to get any and I’m going to become a hairdresser, woe is me.. (Nothing against hairdressers, I actually really like most of them.) My backup plan is being a barista for the rest of my life, or, failing that, ODing on some kind of happy herb as a last shout-out to Bob Marley. (Lol at the guy on the bus in Oakleigh with a Bob Marley bag and a basketball. Wanted to gesture at his bag and give him a thumbs-up but Tofu might have killed me.)

Ah, what was I doing in Oakleigh? Looking at a crappy little shack at the back of a nearly-as-bad house in A Hole in The Hole Next to A Hole which is pretty damn Hole-y. Suffice to say that it looked as though the overgrown “garden” was about to drag the half brick, half paper “three-room unit” down into the dusty gravel path to rot with the spider-web covered washing line. Disappointing waste of the immense amount of time and money it takes to travel to the suburbs. Tofu and I are looking at two more apartments on Saturday though, so hopefully that will yield something a little.. cleaner.

Re work – Have quit Achelya. Can told me that he loved me and I was his daughter, Achelya said it was like I’d ‘grown up there,’ which I guess I did, rather, and even Ali bemoaned the restaurant without my competence (not in those words). Gulayse sent a note home with Soph telling me to come visit and not to be a stranger.. along with the tips I left behind. Soph now has my smoky Friday and Saturday night job, which will hopefully keep her out of too much trouble for the time being. Lucky me, I quit my weekend job as I turn eighteen.. Lolol. Work at the cafe is going quite well, I’m enjoying my intimate exploration of the coffee machine (quite sexual) and am getting a miserable little rosetta most of the time, even with skim milk. Have also memorised most of the regular customers’ orders and names. I’ve told Jennifer that I’ll quit sometime early in February, so I can move (hopefully!!) and go to Japan. Two cute guys came in with their resumés so it’s not really a problem, both of them are the same as me – barista, bartender and waitstaff. Thinking of going for the Vittoria silver, although you have to do bronze first.

Japan – Oliver asked Naomi Obachama to send my koseki toho so I’ll be able to take it to the embassy and get my passport and trip my way off to Japan. Expect to spend most of my time demanding that Obaachama allow me to do the housework and shopping. And shivering. And not calling Tofu (don’t want a repeat of Sophie’s long-distance phone marathons with Erhan).

Have caught up with Sean recently; we went to St Kilda beach with Jin and Jun (yes, they are a couple) and discussed his love life. Jun and I both lectured him that he needs balance and he needs to be his own person etc etc. Was quite amusing. I’m a repeat offender in terms of forgetting to call Nasu, though, although he was motorcycling his way around Australia for quite some time. Hopefully will catch up with him and Eugene soon.

Have been trying to gym, although I tend to come back from work exhausted from the hardcore lunch crowd, helping in the kitchen and churning out coffees (by which of course I mean whipping up a silky smooth cream and artistically creating a pattern with the perfectly-heated milk and espresso with 6.312938472mm thick crema 25 give or take 2 second pour etc etc). Am trying to eat healthy.. E.g Capsicum stuffed with cous-cous, soy sausages, lots and lots of edamame, fruit, healthy bread or oats for breakfast, yada yada. Not working, am still fat.

Swear I had interesting things to talk about but they seem to have been wisped away with the >40° days we’ve been having. Sizzle sizzle out.

Filed under: Australia, Beach, Food, Health, Japan, Life, Melbourne, Travel, University, Work   |  4 Comments

More importantly, my cat

16Dec09

Had my baby kitty neutered today. Oliver and Simon both expressed sympathy, the former wincing every time I mentioned the word “testicle.” Oliver drove us to the vet in Prahran for an 8am appointment, the nice vet outlined what would happen and what choices I had, and I left him there. Cruel. Aristarchus was not appreciative of being forbidden food for 11 hours, bundled into his carrier (though he quite liked it when I first showed him), taken in a lift and driven for fifteen minutes. The vet was like, “Say goodbye to Mummy!” He looked away and I’m like, “We’re not speaking to Mummy right now..”

Guiltily went to the beach with Simon, and came home in the afternoon so Oliver could drive me to pick him up. I called ahead to make sure that he was ready to be picked up and everything, and they go, “Yes, Aristarchus has been sedated, castrated, vaccinated, micro-chipped..” Guilty feeling intensified. Picked up my poor baby, paid (not bad for the number of things they did for him, including pre-surgery blood testing, clipping his nails and giving him worming tablets), and drove him home.

He rolled around on the floor for a while, picking at his bandage (which was quite adorable, I wish I’d taken a photo before he pulled it off ), then lazed around as we stroked him into kitty massage heaven. Have since been transporting him between sunshine and shade, supplying him with cool water in a teacup so he doesn’t have to get up, and trying to make him eat a little.

Never suspecting castration in his kitty future..

Filed under: Animals, Health   |  9 Comments

ENTER

16Dec09

Yes, The Day has come and gone. Had to get up early for work and was meant to leave at 7.. Ran back upstairs to wake Sophie up. She said later that because she was still bleary from sleep and thought that the text read 99.95 and that’s why she screamed and hugged me, and she only realised as I was leaving that the third 9 wasn’t quite there.

Oliver’s SMS reaction was also quite nice. “Eeeeeeee congratulations! I’m so proud of you! Are you happy? You’re sure to get into everything!”

Talked to some (ex-)Grammar kids as well and they all did pretty amazingly, including a 99.95 from Grammar, which is pretty fawesome for a rural school.

Our year kind of epic failed in terms of averages but fts, so proud of everyone surviving let alone doing so well . Know this despite going to the beach instead of final assembly.

So.. My ENTER was above the 2008 clearly-ins for Combined Law at Monash (98.15) and UNSW (99.3), but 0.05 below USyd’s, although Oliver said that wouldn’t matter. Am now just waiting for offers in January and then I guess I have to make La Big Fat Decision. Have so far constructed a table (in true Mac.Rob style) comparing the three as there isn’t really anywhere else I want to go. In terms of rankings, it goes Sydney, Monash, then UNSW.. But Sydney and UNSW have a lot of options that don’t seem to be available at Monash, although I really should ask. The website is fair shit, and Monash’s “clinical law” at community legal services in Oakleigh and Springvale pale in comparison with Sydney’s Social Justice programme, which includes Refugee Advice and Casework Services, and UNSW’s summer clerkship and graduate employment opportunities. Yeahhhhhhhh so I’m being judgmental instead of positive. Still, all of them have pretty cool exchange opportunities. And it’s expensive as to live in Sydney.

University of Sydney Law School

I have also asked advice from other people. So far, Dylan is a “Stay in Melbourne if you don’t like the city of Sydney” (which I don’t really), Susan is a “Let’s discuss this over coffee,” Simon is a “Just leave already,” Sophie is a “It doesn’t matter, you’re moving out anyway yeah?”, and Dad is a “Sydney.. Hmm.. Melbourne.. Hmm..”

Am going to spend all this time stressing out and receive some kind of karmic slap across the head when I don’t get any offers.

Filed under: Australia, Beach, Life, Melbourne, Money, School, Sydney, Travel, University   |  2 Comments

Uvver fings

08Dec09

Had a final night out with Jamie the Saturday before last, as he left for the country last weekend. Went to Jerry’s place, walked to Chinatown to get drinks and hung out for a few hours trying to wake Wo Ni up, eating baklava and chatting with Jerry, who is so sweet and innocent, though I suspect there is a darker side to him. [Glancing at Wo Ni's unconscious form] “Tsk tsk. No no. I should not say. Because he is an older. But that man. He is an animal.” Jamie’s good with international students, although he frequently spends his time with them teaching them incorrect – sorry, non-standard – English (“What! But my English teacher said it was right!”), getting them drunk and telling them how “easy” white girls are.

Went to Hary’s the other day to help him with his eight assignments that he’d left to the day before they were due. His house is pretty awesome. They’re pretty much renting a disused factory, the offices of which have been converted to rooms. Suspect that such an arrangement is a sight better than most international students have, it being clean and airy and quite close to the station. Was mildly surprised when Rajia’s wife got up and hugged me, thanking me for coming to their home, but otherwise had fun lying on the carpet and learning how to poach lamb brains and how appetisers should be arranged and served.

Fun, that is, except for waiting for Hary at Footscray Station. Within five minutes of my arrival, I’d been given the once-over and leered at by an Arabic guy, cheerfully told by one woman to keep my mouth shut or flies would come in, as two had for her because she kept talking, and yelled at by another woman that I was a white cunt and she was going to fuck me up. Felt I should plead my asian-ness. Turned my iPod up and prayed for Hary to htfu. When he did come, he wanted to go to the supermarket to get drinks and snacks for our study sesh. Jumped at all the large gangster types yelling at each other, felt paranoid that my bag would be stolen any second, and winced at Hary’s good-humoured tale of the four black guys who came up to him after work one night and asked if he was Indian, allowing him to leave only after he offered to show them proof that he’s Nepalese. Was relieved to make it to the next suburb, which was a sight more peaceful. Suspect that, like Sunshine and Deer Park, Footscray is only for those somewhat tougher than me.

Filed under: Just hanging, Life, Melbourne, Travel   |  2 Comments

Work

08Dec09

Am still working at Achelya and have also started working at a little café behind Victoria University in the city. It’s called Café Frais and it’s very nice; small, but cosy, clean and very friendly.

The owner, Michael is nice and very professional; the thing I really liked was that either he knows all his customers or he makes an effort to make them feel welcome and familiar. Yannick, the chef, is Mauritian and hilarious. He’s always jumping around saying crazy things and being simultaneously demented and cool. He calls everyone, including Hary and Michael, Baba, baby, beautiful or princess, as in, “Talk to me, baby.” “What’s wrong, princess?” Speaks French, has worked as a chef on a ship, and is into trance and dance. Pretty cool.

The food is pretty awesome.. Fresh, healthy, and usually organic I think. The coffee is Italian and the tea is T2.

Traaaaagically I don’t think I’ll be working there for long, and it will either be because I move far far away, otherwise known as Clayton, or because it’s not busy enough for me to get many shifts (aside from making coffee, delivering catering to the nearby offices and schools, and cleaning up, there’s not much to do).

The other thing is a big restaurant near South Melbourne beach, where Hary occasionally does cleaning for a friend for 15 an hour. Am going there tomorrow morning with him for a few hours.

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