Beetroot Soup

While the rest of the world enjoys their first few moments with dearest Spring, we on the other side of the world are prepped for Autumn. There are only a few ways for beat the chills and one of my favourite involves the use of my taste buds. Food! Did you know that the process of eating is one of the very few activities where we use all our five senses? Tasting, feeling, seeing, smelling and I guess even hearing. Anyway, what better food for the chills than a huge bowl of warm soup?

My mum often uses beetroots in her smoothies but today I decided to make a beetroot base soup with carrot and ginger.

Ginger goes well with a lot of roots, especially when making raw soups in our Vitamix  blender so I decided to see how it went with beetroot. And I was right! The soup tasted surprisingly amazing! My friend also told me to try adding the zest of some oranges and it did just the trick.

Beetroot soup (raw blend Vitamix)
for more raw blend vitamix recipes visit:  http://www.rawblend.com.au/explore-recipes.html

Ingredients:
2 whole beetroots
2 carrots
2 small tomatoes
1/4 capsicum
2 spring onion stalks (onion for the normal method)
half a garlic
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 table spoon apple cider vinegar
half a green apple
1 table spoon ginger
juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon orange zest
3 cups water or vegetable stock

Normal Method

1. roughly chop beetroot, carrots, tomato and capsicum and place in a pot with salt and water or vegetable stock and bring to boil
2. Meanwhile, chop the onion, garlic and ginger
3. on low heat add a table spoon of vegetable or coconut oil and add the onion. 
4. Temper the onion for about 5 minutes then add the garlic, ginger, and orange zest and cook, stirring now and then to prevent the ingredients sticking to the pan and burning, until onions are soft.
5. add the boiled veggies and the stock and the apple cider vinegar and simmer for around 10 minutes or until the vegetable are just soft enough to process through your blender.
6. turn the stove off and let it cool, then transfer to a blender and puree with the apples in batches until mixture is smooth. 

Vitamix method

1. roughly chop the beetroot, carrots, tomato and capsicum and put it into the blender along with the spring onion, garlic, pepper, salt, ginger, orange zest, apple cider vinegar and vegetable stock or water.
2. Turn the Vitamix on and starting from the lowest number turn the dial slowly all the way to the maximum set and then switch the second switch to "high". 
3. leave the blender on for around 2 minutes and then add the apple and lemon. 
4. Blend for a further minute or until steam starts escaping from the jug. 
5. Turn the blender off and serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt. 

Things to do in Winter.

Winter is beginning to settle over us now. It's actually just the start of autumn, but I can feel winter's foreboding presence. It's drifting over us, slowly yet steadily, waiting to completely cover our little heads with its blanket of dark rolling grey clouds while we rush through daily life blissfully unaware of it until bam! Rain, torrent, hail, cold nights, purple toes and forever wet shoe souls. Voila! Before you know it, autumn has passed and winter moves in like the obnoxious older brother that it is.

I never used to like winter very much. It always made me feel as if I was constantly wrapped in a large cold, soggy, wet blanket. However, with the recent breakthrough that I have had with myself, I'm beginning to break through those gloomy patches of negativity and starting to look at things in a different light.  I have learnt that there are certain recreational activities and leisurely pastimes that have been cultivated specifically for the cosy, chilled temperament of wintertime.

Things to do during winter:

1. Eat hearty, homey foods. During the season of downheartedness, and feelings of utter desolation, we come to appreciate the foods that somehow seem to pat our stomachs from the insides, almost as if they were saying "there, there, it's alright!". Thank god for Chilli and pumpkin soup eh?

2. Wrap yourself in the warmest blankets and have a day in. Read a book, watch tv, eat food, write and look through old photo albums.

3. Clean out your fireplace and have a girls night in. Roast some corn, toast some whole meal bread and some cinnamon apples on top to some of your favorite songs.

4. Shop for socks! I have fallen I love with socks. I really have. Whether it's for the cold weather or as a funky accessory, socks are now a girl's best friend.

5. Photograph!! The work looks so much more beautiful through a camera lens. Brighten and beautify your world by taking heaps of photos of the world around you. Flowers, leaves, bark, tree trunks, insects, and animals all look so fresh during winter. Some of my photos, I GOT A NEW CAMERA!!!! Canon EOS 600D. Yay:

6. Discover new warm beverages. Stop with the coffee for a while and try something different. Maybe a heart warming cup of chai, or ginger lemon tea, or English Breakfast, or an earl grey. Try something herbal like chamomile or fix something up yourself because there are literally hundreds of easy recipes out there.  I found this delicious cup of Pear and Cinnamon Almond Milk Recipe by LindaWagner. It's absolutely delicious.

Pear and Cinnamon Almond Milk 

7. Find your happy place. Go for a little walk about in and around your city in search of that perfect place to sit down and have a good read. Maybe a nice, sheltered park bench, a cute book store or a warm cafe with a bubbly atmosphere will be your little "me space". Use this space to think, drink warm beverages, (mine will definitely be a small, soy chai tea), and read your favorite book/magazine/newspaper or write something brilliant or draw a masterpiece.

Maybe you all already do this and I'm just a tad delay now have I wakened to this whole new "wintertime culture" of warm drinks, cosy blankets and hot food. But now I actually can't wait to get started on these things. Socks, hot cup of chai and blankets here I come!

Wedding and whatnots: a walk through cultural traditional attire

This weekend I attended one of my very first weddings which made my Saturday quite an event. I've never really been to a wedding before, whether it be Hindu or Catholic or any other, so you could imagine just how excited I was. Growing up in a predominantly western society, I've always grown up watching English movies, and stories that revolved around the huge white wedding dress, bridesmaids and the "I do's".  Never being the one to watch Tamil or Hindi movies all that much also contributed to the factor that I didn't have much of an idea about traditional Hindu weddings. I had an idea, just not much of one. I knew all about the beautiful sarees, the flowers, the food throwing(part of the rituals), the weird hat wearing, the music and the dancing. But I was completely clueless about certain other things.

For example, what on earth is one supposed to wear? Isn't it just so damn annoying that there is such a fine line between aspects of social norms? I find it so hard to differentiate formal, semi formal and semi casual attire and what event to associate with which. And of course, social convention is always made just that much harder when you have to deal with tonnes of sequined material, pleats, shawls and head jewelry.

As a 15 year old Sri Lanka, I am in possession of a number of half-sarees (full saree's are meant to be worn by those who are slightly older), but they weren't "grand" enough. So amma and I went hunting through our suitcases for an appropriate traditional outfit and under a pile of amma's old sari blouses we found the one and only lehenga choli in my possession.

Trust me, before that day, I had no idea what a lehenga choli was! But I found out soon enough. It was heavy, obtrusive and took a whole hour to wear. But I must admit that sarees, cholies and other traditional garments all seem to have a sort of charm about them. You forget all about your abhorrence towards them as soon as you take a good look in the mirror. Maybe the sari maker wove in some sense and sensibility into your skirt, alongside silver threads and golden beads, or maybe it's the way that I am forced to hold myself in an entirely different manner. One must walk a little taller, a little slower and hold one's head a little higher when wearing a ton of sequined, sparkly material. (Women are restricted and forced to behave in particular ways through so many different methods, including the garments that they wear!). Sorry, I'm getting side tracked. The thing is, I have always felt a heightened maturity and such a strong sense of pride and cultural identity when I step out of the house in a saree, or choli or any other traditional garment. In the most comfortable shoes might I add, because let be honest, no one can see your shoes when your wearing such a long skirt.  In fact, the bride was wearing flip flops under her sari and all I say to that is, well done woman, well done!

I recently asked a few people what the first thing that comes into their minds when they think of Hindu festivals was. And would you believe it, they all said sarees! So let me tell you a little bit about what I know. 

 A half saree, like the one above, is worn by young teenage girls who are around 10-18 years old. Unlike a full sari which usually comes with just a single long piece of material that is to be wrapped all the way around the body, a half sari  comes with a skirt. The wrapping material, (called a dhavani), is shorter that the material used for a full sari because it doesn't need to be wrapped all the way around the waist and pleated. For a haf saree, the material is just tucked into the front of the skirt, taken around the back and brought around the chest and over the shoulders.  Young girls wear half sarees to Indian, Sri Lankan music concerts, dance programs, formal birthday parties and other such cultural events. 

This is a full sari. It consists of one long piece of draping material, an underskirt (not to be seen from the outside), and a blouse. The material is to be pleated at the front, and tucked into the underskirt just below your belly button, then wrapped all the way around your body, across your chest, and over your shoulders. You can either pin the material at your shoulders or leave it hanging down and draped across your arm, like the woman in the image above. Women usually wear sarees to almost all traditional or cultural gathering. For a traditional formal events such as weddings,wear a sari with more sequins and glitter. If it sparkles enough, you are all good. Try going for Twilight vampires in the sun. If you are slightly older, wear a nice silk saree, also known as a Puttu saree. For less formal events, wear something a bit less glittery and slightly more fun. Try going for Twilight vampires, half in the sun.

Puttu Sari

This is a lehenga choli. Now, I had no idea what this was until very recently due to the fact that Sri Lankan Hindus don't usually wear Lehenga Cholies. When we do, we wear them to weddings and receptions. They are almost like a half saree, except the shawl can be worn in any way. It can be draped across the front, left to dangle over a single shoulder, or draped around both shoulders and held in
each arm. Below are the different Choli styles.

Well that's all I know. That's all I'll tell. That's all you'll hear. I hope you found some of that interesting and useful. Even if it wasn't, well at least you learnt something new today :) 

Top Of the Town Organics

Okey dokes. Guess what everyone? I had my very first  Legal Studies SAC this week! A SAC, for those of you who do not know, is like a unit test for the subjects that you take for your CE.  I am still trying to understand the nature of Legal Studies and it's exams and assessments. I feel like I've boarded a massive learning curve to try and figure out the whole system and how best to prepare for it, especially being  a year 10 taking on a year 11 subject. I was being such a stress and I guess it's in my nature, but I'm going to have to change that if I am to survive years 11 and 12.  I guess it's all about preparation. But how best to prepare is my biggest question. I really hope I didn't completely flop the test though...

After a whole week of hard work, staying up late, marathon writing sessions and all, I decided not to do anything at all school related for the whole weekend. That didn't end up working because I realised I was behind on my maths homework, and I hadn't touched my French book in a week. Oh wells. But, what I did end up doing was catching up on all the things I wanted to do, including heading down to an organic food shop that I had always wanted to check out.

Organic food stores are popping up all over the place here in Melbourne. I think it's great that there is such a large network of people who are so interested in providing real, wholesome, local and organic produce here in order to  spread the "real food" revolution. Let me tell you, it's spreading like wildfire and people are catching on fast!

I've never been to an organic food shop only markets and such so I made appa take me to the closest to us, Top Of The Town Organics. The store wasn't very well organised but I think that added to the excitement of this new experience. I find a sort of satisfaction from rummaging around and digging up all sorts of brilliant things. Hemp cream, activated nuts, boxes and boxes of organic tea, coconut butter, frozen cashew ice cream hmmmm..., not to mention the veggies. They were so beautiful and shiny and massive! I don't think I've ever seen garlic with such purple skin before! (Yes, ladies and gentlemen, garlic is supposed to have a sort of purple/white skin, not completely white because that means it's gone through a bleaching process). Going with appa was a bit of a mistake. He's really sceptical about organics and kept questioning the poor lady about whether her shop was "certified" or not. I just felt like hitting him across the head with the nearest zucchini. I refrained, don't worry, but only because I didn't think that such  large, green, shiny zucchini deserve to be used as a weapon.

I bought a small packet of Himalayan salt, raw almonds, a large box of blueberries, kale, spring onion and exactly five large medjool dates. On the spur of the moment, after hearing the price, I only decided to buy five dates but it was only when I arrived home and ate one did I realise that I was an idiot for not buying the whole box! They were so juicy and absolutely succulent. I have a MASSIVE soft spot for dates, to the point where I don't even think it's normal. Same goes for the blueberries. Appa and I ate half the box in the car, and it was such a large box too! They blueberries looks so cute and pretty, all covered in tiny flakes of ice, cosied up next to each other, I just wanted to eat them all up!

I really want to go back there again, (and buy the whole box of dates) and try some of the other cool things I saw, like that cashew ice cream, and the huge zucchini that I saw, and perhaps I will go around during the holidays and visit some of the other food stores near my place. 

The Opressed Majority

I recently came across a very interesting French short film, The Oppressed Majority created by director Elenore Pourriat. The film features a middle aged man Pierre, father to a young child and husband, and his struggles as a male in a world where females are the ones who hold the dominant power. Pierre lives in a world of jogging, bare chested women, highly ranked female police officers, Muslim men who must shave and wear head scarves, male child care workers, a world where masculism is now an actual thing! In Pierre's world, the roles in society are reversed where it is now the average male experiencing the things that we, as women have experienced ever since the very beginning of well - "mankind".

We see Pierre taking his child off to a child minder, a task usually performed by a female in our society. As Pierre approaches the door of the nursery, he is greeted by a Muslim man wearing a head scarf. Pierre comments on the man's new head gear and the way that he has been made to shave his facial hair. "Be a man!" Pierre exclaims. It was quiet fascinating, hearing the thought of a man needing to take charge of his manhood, in the way that we as women tell each other to make use of our own Independence, in such seriousness.  A man is hardly ever encouraged to take charge of his manhood. Male dominance in today's society is generally asserted. 

However, the next bit was quite interesting, and if you do not look for it, it's quite easy to miss.  As Pierre rides back home, the camera pans in such a way that it accentuates his figure. It pans down his legs as he pedals, and the whole scene is in slow motion, expressing his sexuality. Now, if Pierre was a woman, this whole scene would have felt normal. In fact, I hardly think I would have noticed what the director did. But as Pierre was a male, something about the scene seemed odd and quite offensive.

I think, taking the issue of sexism, and using a film camera to capture the irony is a genius idea, as it expressed the theme of voyeurism quite well. 

For those of you who do not know, voyeurism comes from the French word "voyeur" which means "one who looks". Voyeurism is when someone gains sexual pleasure from watching intimate sexual behaviour. In my English Lit class, we recently learnt about this theory in relation to feminism. In general society, a man is the active subject, or the one doing an action, such as looking, and a female almost always plays a passive role. She is to be looked at. A man does the looking, whereas the women does the "being". The camera lens can be seen as the male eye. When we watch a movie, the filmography is almost always going to view things from the male perspective. The next time you watch a film, try to notice the way that a woman's face is usually framed with her bust, and a males face, quite plainly shoved into our faces, without the romantics that the woman's face has. 

Elenore Pouriat played with this concept by reversing the role of a camera lens. Accentuating Pierre's neck, his legs as he rides, and the little bit of bare chest that can be seen as he takes of the top button of his shirt, in the way that a woman may pull down her shirt, or hike up her skirt. 

So in the film, Pierre is sexually assaulted by a group of vulgar, violent women. He is then taken to a police station where he is questioned by a female officer, and taken to hospital where he meets his wife, who simply just "couldn't make out if work". Now where have we heard that before?

The film ends with he wife callously stating that it was all his fault. What with those corduroy pants!? Like...no wonder you got raped bro. Undone top shirt button! Ergh! You were just asking for it weren't you? We then see her  walking into the dark empty street by herself without a care in the world, with poor Pierre left on his own. A male seen in a state of vulnerability, and women seen with self assured confidence and asserted power. The subtle things that we, only as women notice in our daily life stand out so much more in this film. As the roles are reversed, our brain is made to shift from its automatic state of "oh I'm so used to this that I'm just going to ignore it" to - "hang on, something is not right".

Elenore Pouriat is a genius. A true genius. At times I found myself smirking at the irony, the wife's callous disregard for Pierre's well being, the ignorance, the sexual abuse. The film really makes us think, it really makes us realise that this society in in a dire need for change. 

The Music of People

A person's taste in music is quite a fascinating thing. A person's playlist is a small little link as to what goes on inside them. But another fascinating thing is the fact that I don't like showing just anyone my music.  I hate, detest, despise, showing people my playlists. I think it stems from the fact that I get very emotional about my songs and why I like them or why I don't like specific other songs. I have my own sort of utopian world stored up in gigs on my phone and on my computer. At times, it's difficult for me to come to terms with somebody entering it, seeing it, judging it and commenting on something that is very well my own. Well, I'm sure Alice didn't  want anyone discovering her own little Wonderland! Mary hardly wanted anyone to find her Secret Garden. I know its a bit petty of me but I just can't help it.

I know that we all have our own tastes in virtually everything. Pie, scarves, shoes, painting, photography, music. They are all things that can be categorised by taste into tiny subsets of a whole.  There are several reasons why we listen to a particular piece of music, why raspberry pie tastes better the blueberry pie, why Plimsolls are more comfortable than Doc Martens. Why we listen to a particular song is something that depends on a type of person. A whole variety of factors play into why a particular song stands out to me. I know of others who listen to the song because of the drums, or the guitars, or the synths or the particular producer of a song. Our taste in music is like the wide array of colours on an artist's pallet. And just the same, perhaps it's only a tiny difference in pigmentation that makes the colour stand out from the rest.

But because we listen to music for our emotional wellbeing, it's easy to see why we are all so emotional and so defensive about the songs we listen to. Well, actually maybe it's just me.  When someone asks me "what type of music do you listen to?" I have never, ever, at any stage of being asked that question, told them what specific genre I listen to. I merely say "Pffft, good songs!"  I also have a habit of never ever playing my music at parties, or showing them to anybody else unless they have shown me theirs first. I'll show you mine if you show me yours!

Music is a beautiful thing. A song is an artwork. We often overlook the "art" in it by calling it an "arrangement" or a piece of "work". Music of today is rarely expressed as an artwork. But it is. And I should be celebrating the artwork shouldn't I? I should be sharing my music, letting other people know that that the sounds that I listen to exist! I guess, instead of looking at it as ones own secret, I should look at it like an attribute to myself. From now on, I'm going to try and wear it like a badge, a proud identity.

Children and the Oh-so-powerful force of Nature

A fresh drop of cold water lands on the soft, supple, unmarked palms of her hands, and trickles down, tracing a fresh wet path down and around her wrists.

              

She giggles.

She then wraps her cold, plump fingers around mine and guides the edges of my chipped, dirty nails along the window pane. I smile at her childish wonder. The furrowing of her dark, softly shaped eyebrows as she experiences this wholly new wonder, gives a slight lift to my own grin. How can we, as grown children, grow bored of something that this child finds so mesmerising? She is lost within this world of discovery, feeling the gentle tickle of a raindrop as it falls through her fingers, smelling the sickly sweet air as it rains.

She pauses for a few minutes, simply observing the light drizzle and the way it blurs the surroundings. I think to myself, "ahh, she is finally bored". But no.  Unlike us, she does not wait for something to happen. She makes it happen.

She jumps. She jumps from the top step of our porch into the puddle below, squealing with extraordinary delight as the water sprays in every direction. Startled, I catch myself trying to run after my sister so that I could bring her back under the shelter of our porch roof. But I don't. And I'm glad I didn't. Instead I watch her from a distance. Though I am shivering in my pj's, feeling tired and muggy, dying to get back to my homework, I am still mesmerised by the childish joy that was taking place before  me.

Now why didn't I go out into the rain and bring my sister back? Why didn't I take her in and dry her off so that she wouldn't get sick? Why did resist the primal urge to bring her back?

Because the play, the exploration, the joy,  are all part of a child's curious nature. Young children are at the very early stages of their life and there is just so much for them to learn. They feel things so they can lean. They smell things so that they can learn. They see colours and taste flavours that will in turn, allow them to gain more of an understand about the world around us. To learn. And where best to lean? Nature. 

In such a technologically advanced society, we often forget the benefits that a connection with nature has with children. While many children are plomped in front of a television, or made to play on the Ipad, or with store bought toys, there are other children who are placed in a far more stimulating environment. The natural environment increases physical activity, cognition, engagement and creative play. Experiences such as these; the rain, the soil, the snow, the sun, the exploration of the world around us, moulds a child's brain. It creates links and bridges, and patterns within their minds and in turn, motor skills, social skills, emotional awareness and so many other skills that are vital to a child's development. 

So there. My sister was wearing a raincoat and warm clothes. She was safe within the walls of our fence and so I had no worry. Her childish enjoyment was so amusing, I just couldn't stop her.  My mum, as a social worker, had always enforced these concepts to me. Even now, it stills pains me to see a kid being yelled at for rolling in the dirt, or for having messy hair, or for staying out in the rain. It's all part of their daily experiences that help them learn more and more about the world around them. And most importantly, they are learning for themselves rather than having information shoved down their tiny throats. So please, next time your kid, your sister your brother, ends up coming back into the house with dirt on their shirts and hands covered in grass stains, just say "Well done! That's the muddiest I've ever seen you!" before you tell them not to get the tiles dirty.