Friday 31 January 2014

Women In Madness: A walk through high school Literature

Okey Dokes. So school has officially started. During the last week of the holidays, I finally found myself wanting to get back to school. Surprise surprise. I thought that I had developed a distinct aversion to school and that wouldn't have been good because I still have a whole 3 years of schooling left. What would happen if I had a chip on my shoulder about it for the whole time? So I ended up really enjoying the so called "first day back" instead of crying for mummy. I love my new electives and my new teachers are a lot better than they were last year. But I seem to have found a love for a particular English subject.

My electives are brilliant! Aside from the fact that maths has already started to do my head in, I am in love with my new electives! I'm doing a literature subject called "Women in Madness". It focuses on literature pieces written by women during the last few centuries and the culture that really shaped that sort of literature. I've only recently started reading what they call "The Classics", and I'll admit that it is a challenge getting used to that sort of language. I do find myself having read a whole page, and then realised that I didn't understand a word of it. But I do love the stories, or at least, from what I've heard about them I do. Even the stories behind the stories, the disadvantages that these powerful female writers had struggled through, the gender divided society that shaped the their stories and in turn moulded the world of literature today. 

Did you know, Charlotte Bronte, the author of Jane Eyre, and her sister, like several other female writers of their time, published their works under pseudonyms due to the gender discrimination that ruled during their time? I mean, who in their right minds, during the mid 1800'ds would have thought that the popular "Jane Eyre" written by Currer Bell was in fact written by a struggling female writer? They would have said "Poppy Cocks! A female writer behind our 'Jane Eyre'! Who would have heard of such a thing!" 

I also think it was a really good idea for my teacher to start off with "The Rear Window" 1954 by Alfred Hitchcock starring the one and only Grace Kelly. Oh, She's...oh there are no words. I mean, even Princess Diana strove to be like her! Well they did die in the same tragic way. Car crashes are such a tragedy. 




She is so beautiful. And her acting! My god! She is an amazing actress! My friend caught me out yesterday for unconsciously mirroring her tragic facade. Unfortunately, I have a tragic eyebrow that always ends up slightly higher than the other. It also twitches uncontrollable when asked to perform the most easiest of all tasks: Copying Grace Kelly's heart-rending expression. 

Tuesday 28 January 2014

On being Australian :D



Well, guess what everybody? I am now officially an Australian Citizen. We had our citizenship ceremony last weekend. Does this mean that I can now officially "put the snags on the barbie", wear cork hats, worship the "Murdoch's", and Steve Erwin. Maybe finally, I can go onto ancestry.com and find something about me. Does this mean that I really have to eat Vegemite, create an altar for our BBQ, and get to buy a  kangaroo like the rest of my friends so I can finally ride it to school? :D yayayay. Should I also really invest in a few good pairs of black thongs, short shorts and singlets, oh, and do I realy have to go through the tedious paperwork to enrol  for the annual women's, under 18 croc wresting VIC 2014?

BAHAHAHA bull crap. Firstly, can I say that BBQ rottie taste a whole lot better than charred, black sausages. Also, maybe the cork hats would stop me from getting those 50 shades darker when I step into the sun for 5 minutes. Secondly  I am Hindu. Lord Ganesha and Sri Devi for da win! Ancestry.com has nothin on me buddy, Vegemite with butter with the specific ratio of 1:3 on toast..is acceptable. The BBQ is being well looked after, thank you very much. How else can we make tandoori chicken?  Kangaroos are overrated! Why ride a kangaroo, when I can bring over our family Indian elephant from uncle Siva's place!?


I already spent a few hundred dollars on new salwars and Saree's so maybe I can make those endless pieces of material into a pair of shorts. I don't know if that's morally right or not. And no, unfortunately, I haven't had the years of training for croc wrestling like my fellow peers, sooo I think I just need to stick to the annual coconut pickings of Colombo 2014 all ages.  Or maybe I can join Aunty Shanthi's Laddhu making club. I'm too young for Selvi aunt's marriage community as well. I'd just keep thinking that the men look like Curry*  versions of the guy from Crocodile Dundee.








* Curry is a name given to those of Indian, Sri Lankan or that sort of background. We use it on ourselves with utter pride however, beware, those of you who are not "Currie", then we would be ready to insult you....if cows were not sacred where we come from.


Wednesday 22 January 2014

Holiday Blues

EEEEEEERRRGHHH. School starts next week. Do you know the worst part? Do you know what hideous thing that the teachers have done at our school? They're making us start on a FRIDAY! Who does that!? Who would even think of such a crime! I mean, after Monday and Tuesday even the calender is like "WTF?" hehe get it? Wed, Thur, Friday? BAHAHA okay that one wasn't mine, credit goes to a facebook meme.

Anyway, the point is I think I've got the end-of-holiday-blues. Now for those of you who have never experienced this, this is a feeling of utter melancholy.  Where you feel like you have done absolutely everything there ever was to do in your own home, where all the tv series that you were obsessing over the last few weeks have gone stale, where all your friends are busy and you're the only one not, and where, no matter how bored you are, you simply do not want to go back to school. Ok so I'm exaggerating. But only a tad!



The end of the holidays are coming to an end. And I don't want them to. I never used to be like this! By the end of the long holidays I'm always like "hurry up and finish already!" I've always wanted to get back to school. But all that's there for me is homework and work, and class work, and work in general.

So it's time for a rain check. I'm sure it's not healthy for me to be this flustered about school so much, so I'm going to think of a few positive reasons for going back to school


  1. I get to see my friends again!
  2. I get to meet my new teachers!
  3. I get to start my new electives! Theatre arts and Women and Literature! 
  4. I get to start going into the city again!
  5. I can wear my summer uniform now which means it wil take so much less effort getting ready in the morning
  6. No more ties!
  7. I'll get to start my extra curricular meaning I won't be such a couch potato!
  8. OMG IM GOING TO AFRICA AT THE END OF THIS YEAR * future blog post note
There, with so many exclamation marks, my eyebrows and facial muscles are already starting to hurt, buuut I do feel a bit better about going to school. Soooo yeeaaaa baby!


Thursday 16 January 2014

Our New Vitamix!

Remember that post where I wrote about my amma's smoothies and how I accidentally broke it? Well, my guilt is gone and all is forgotten. Why? Because we bought a VITAMIX! Yay!


A Vitamix


So see, a Vitamix is the God of all kitchen appliances and for foodies like my family (excluding my sister. She's too fussy to be a foody) it has brought with it our calling: to make smoothies, soups, purees and butters and diced vegetables all day long. I am proud to say, that from the start of these school holidays, I have gone from a kitchen disaster, who could very well easily burn and destroy frozen foods in the microwave, to someone who can make gourmet soups and smoothies and juices in minutes. Well, not to boast or anything :P hehe. It's all thanks to this wonderful contraption.

I truly and honestly feel extremely sorry for the neighbours, who may have already purchased noise cancelling headphones this week, because for the last few days The Vitamix has been having a full time job. Breakfast: smoothie, Lunch: Almond but and beetroot jam sandwich, Dinner: soup, snack: Strawberry banana sugarless, no added sweeteners, sorbet. Yup. My life in a minute.

What went into my smoothie the first day we got the machine. You don't actually have to chop the veggies and fruits like this at all, I was just a tinsie bit sceptical about it the first time I used it. But instead of blending for 30 seconds it blended this for 10. so yea..
So the benefit of this blender is that the motor is soooo powerful. You can add a whole apple, banana, celery stick, a peeled lemon, some sort of leaf, a kiwi fruit, add a cup of water and within 30 seconds voila!

So I though I could upload two of my favourite recipes because they are just sooo yummay.

Sweet Potato and pumpkin pie




So I tried this recipe two times, one with our old blender, and one with the Vitamix. With the Vitamix you don't really have to boil the sweet potatoes or the pumpkin, but I like it better that way.

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium sweet potato
  • 1 cup of chopped pumpkin (any would do)
  • 1 teaspoon Cardamon
  • 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • 1 cup Soy milk (or normal, or any other. What ever goes)
  • 1 medium banana

Methods

  • Boil the sweet potatoes and the pumpkin over the stove until half cooked or just soft enough but slightly firm on the inside
 Half cooking some vegetable are better for you because it doesn't destroy some of the really good natural elements found in that veggie, for example vitamins or enzymes that are needed to break down the nutrient from your food. I'm not an expert but I prefer to half cook my veggies.
  • Run the veggies under cold water and store in the freezer for half an hour. 
  • Add the veggies into the blender with the cinnamon, cardamon, soy milk and banana
  • Blend until smooth and adjust taste to your liking and pour into mason jar (you know I love them) or a glass or mug if your boring

You can also add dates and more banana or honey if you wanted. Oh and you can also add chia seeds!





Creamy Gazpacho with Chickpeas


Well I'm not sure if you can really call gazpacho because I don't use stale bread. You could of course sub in the bread instead of the chickpeas

Ingredients:


  • two tomatoes, blanched to rid of the skin. I like to keep the skin. 
  • 2 red bell pepper
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 onion
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 stalk spring onion
  • 1 cup boiled chickpeas
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tbs Red-wine vinegar
  • Sweet chili sauce (add to your liking) around a table spoon. 
  • Chili flakes (add to your liking. Come on, I'm Sri Lanka) probably 1/2 a tbs
Method

  • Add everything into you blender and whizzz
Depending on what blender you have, dice and shop appropriately

  • You can chill or eat hawt

Chilled Cucumber soup




Ingredients
  • 4 cucumbers, diced
  • 1 stalk of celery chopped
  • 1 cup frozen veggies (defrosted)
  • 1 cup vegetable stock
  • 2 1/2 cups of water
  • Mustard seeds
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • Ground pepper
Method
  • At stock, water and frozen veggies into pot and simmer on medium heat
  • In a pan add olive oil, onion, garlic and celery, mustard seeds and cumin (This part is scary, and noisy)
  • Saute for 5 minutes. Add a litlte water to stop the ingredient from clumping or sticking to the bottom of the pan
  • Add the ingredients from the pan, along with the cucumber into the stock and increase heat
  • Bring to boil and reduce heat. Simmer until cucumbers are soft
  • Let it cool slightly before adding into blender
  • Add lemon and pepper and blend until smooth
  • Chill for 3-4 hours and serve. 


Monday 13 January 2014

The city

I have fallen in love. I'm in soo deep, that even if you could give me a JAG from up there, I still wouldn't be able to climb back out of this infatuation. I plan to move in with my one true love as soon as I'm old enough.
Oh the city *sigh* It's hard to explain my love for the city and why it makes me want to run back to it every opportunity I get. Its a certain atmosphere, a slight electric excitement that's held within the particles of the city air. 





Maybe its the weird and the wacky, the dingy thingy-ma-bobs and crazy hipsters and people of all shapes and sizes, the surroundings, the sounds, the music. It sort of...follows you. Actually it stalks you but it never grow tired of you, nor do you ever really get annoyed of its constant presence.




These were a new addition to the city. These little pianos were dotted around everywhere and anyone could come and play it. This guy was playing "Ain't no Mountain High Enough" And  that is my personal theme song....sooo I had to snap him










You can find these bike stations all over the city. You pay a few dollars and you can ride it where ever you want and return it back to the station. 

I know in movies and everything New York is the it city. The city with the buzz, the glory the glamour. Nah ah my friends. Melbourne. Melbourne is the city to be. New York, I am sorry to say, is far too overrated. Its a little too big for me...too glamorous...to dangerous let not forget. I guess I'm still suburban at heart, because I don't cope very well with anything waay too over the top. But Melbourne inner city has the perfect balance of everything I reckon. I know we don't have the Eiffel tower or the Statue of liberty, but we have the Eureka tower. I know we don't have Broadway, but we do have the Princess Theater, we have buskers doing all sorts of things from a man playing the Erhu to random little pianos scattered everywhere. We don't have Central Park, but we have the Royal Botanical Gardens and Southbank and Southwarf, not to mention Melbourne's renowned lain-ways and alley that are definitely not as creepy and dark and dank as the ones in movies. 

This guy plays every where. The instrument is called an Erhu
I don't know what this was called but it was so beautiful



The reason for this post is that on Sunday, mum, my lil sis and some close friends headed into the city and it was a gorgeous day. I took my camera along with me buut, I'm still getting used to it so my photography wasn't at its best hehe. I'm an amateur when it comes to photography, but what I love so much about it is that you can really capture the truth of something, its rugged nature, the roughness, the beauty, the colour, all in the way that they are. I know some people like to take photos because of the beauty of the image, but some of my photos aren't pretty at all, but I love the photo anyway because it 
really captures a certain theme. 



Oh I love him soo much! I see him everywhere, so I thought, I'd snap two photos of him! His wife is just as good too!


Flinders St Station
 It ended there, at the station, where we took the train home after a long day of walking and snapping and eating and squabbling. My feet have terrible blisters. And I would love to show you pictures of them, but unfortunately, my camera is charging at the moment :P hehehehe























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