Keep Calm!

Inspired by Gill’s post the other day, and Kellie’s adorable Valentines cards, I went a’searching for some slogans inspired by the now everywhere you look, in every design blog, in every hipster’s kitchen, emblazoned across thousands of chests, perhaps even there, burned into your retina when you close your eyes, “Keep Calm and Carry On” posters…

For crafty types:

(from)

For children of the 80’s:

(Bill & Ted!!!)

For anyone with a computer:

(from)

For Cyclists:

(from)

Check out this flickr group for even more poster parodies!

(And don’t forget to play along with this week’s My Place and Yours! Have had to be a bit mean & get the red texta out this morning with regards to links, but I’m just about to make me a chai & some vegemite toast so I promise to be the picture of calm (the Bill & Ted picture, if I have to choose) for the rest of the day…!)

My Place And Yours…!

First up, THANK YOU IMMENSLY to each and every one of you who played along last week. I was more than a little bit nervous that it’s first week here would be a big fat flop, but it wasn’t, it was great, and fun, and awesome, so thank you again and I hope you had fun too!

Secondly, Thanks for all your great theme suggestions! They were all so great, in fact, that they will each have their time in the sun, along with their lovely Theme Queens, and I have a nice list of themes to be going on with. I will put out the call for new themes again when my list has dwindled somewhat.

Right, now, enough waffle, you want to know who is this week’s Theme Queen, don’t you?! You want to know which fun theme to race and take your photos of now, don’t you…?!

Well you’ll just have to wait a moment. Thank you. (Hey… you! Scrolling down the page…! Stop! Cheater!)

I wanted to share some of the lovely reads from last week, if I may. Go here for a grand post with lots of reading you might also enjoy and here for a pretty photo (several pretty photos actually, and often).

I also wanted to tell you, and lament the horrible fact, that due to having an extra internet loving houseguest for three weeks, my internet has slooooooooooowed rigggggght dooooooooown…. and it will be so for about a week, so I apologise if I don’t make it around to your place straight away, but I will try to get there as soon as I can!

Right! Onwards and upwards!

The theme this week: Shoes! Picked by Gypsy, this week’s Theme Queen, although she would have us shout “Show us your shoes Imelda!”. Congratulations Gypsy, thank you for a spiffing theme! I hope everyone pops by when you’ve had a chance to scramble & post your contribution… I do like surprises!

(from)

Would I be correct in thinking that we all have at least one pair of shoes? I thought so.

I bet some of us have more than one pair, don’t we? I bet some of us have more than two. Or three. Or fifty?

(from)

Again how you interpret this week’s theme is entirely up to you – show us your shoe collection, show us your favourite pair of shoes, show us your oldest pair of shoes, show us your young’uns first pair of shoes, your highest heels, your dirtiest sneakers, whatever you like!

Gypsy said;

I have a thing for shoes and would love to see some shoe collections, or maybe a fave pair of comfy or glam shoes, or a pair of shoes with a great story about where they were bought/thrifted/worn/inherited.

I am going to have to think on this myself & post my own entry a little later – I’ve already told you about my oldest & my best, my red shoes & my lovely boots! What else is there…?! Luckily I have a whole week to come up with something….! (Well, almost a week… since on Saturday mornings we have that, ahem, garage sailing “issue” it’s probably best if I post this on Friday nights, but the “official” start will still be Saturday. Okay? Okay.)

Let’s play!

* Kids, please wait until you've actually posted your meme contribution to link to your blog & then link to your actually post, not just your main blog address, thank you (as our meme runs all week, if you actually post more than once a week, it could get a bit confusing...). It's a bit annoying when someone, like me, with the slowest internet in the world right now, trys to check out your shoe themed goodness, waits forever for this & that to load & there IS NO shoe themed goodness! Ta! (I have ammended & deleted this morn' (what fun), nothing personal I hope you'll understand, do come back with your link ASAP!)

Why I’m Glad I’m All About The Chai Right Now.

Sigh. The Boy was all for sweeping it back up & throwing it in the tin, but I didn’t think so…

My Creative Space…

…is back at Kirsty’s – yay!

Now that is where today’s joy comes to an end… I feel like crying right now folks, I do… *deep breath*

So.

I went to the table to take a photo of what I’ve been up to for today.

So.

I cleared away some of the accumulated mess of the last few days; The Boy’s shirt, some oppy treasures, a picture book or seven… I found the book I had been working from. I found my measuring tape, the marker, a ruler, scissors, newspaper scraps…

But.

The A-Line skirt pattern which I spent ages drafting the other day…?

It is gone.

Why is it, that the first time anybody in this house other than me decides to tidy up anything at all, they throw out something I had been labouring over….?!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

For hopefully more cheerful spaces, you know where to go.

Chai Love

Oh I have gone CRAZY for chai tea lately, absolutely insane… I’ve been ordering it when out & about & guzzling it at home, even in place of my usually necessary morning cup of coffee. Just last night I was drooling over PICTURES of chai lattes with spices sprinkled jauntily on the top.

It. Is. So. Good.

I don’t know what brought on this madness, I just had a hankering out of nowhere & now I’m well & truly hooked. You may be disgusted to learn that I get my chai from happily dunking a teabag… is that sacrilege…?! I have grand plans of making it from scratch, but if you know me or have been hanging around here for any great amount of time, you’ll know I have many grand plans.

You know what I should do? Immerse myself in chai (oh – now THAT’S an idea! I was thinking more ‘surround myself in chai type things’ but a chai bath… oooooooh….). I should make Cathie’s scrummy looking chai cupcakes;

I should print this out & put it up someplace – it’s pretty damn cute & rather funny;

(The above is one reason why Googling random things like chai can be a grand idea… I now have me a wicked new blog with what seems to be a gazillion cartoons to read… Go. Look.)

I should find someone to make me some of these babies;

And I should drink a whole lot more…. mmmmmmm….. chai-a-licious (nudge, nudge Cathie, wink wink…)!

Summer Picnic

Last minute idea, first class location.

 

I’m Not Fat, I’m Just Big Boned….

….and other excuses for being a big heffalump.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of brews--and chips--and salty jatz--
Of cabbages--and thins--
And why the tea is boiling hot--
And whether to have onion rings."

The time has also come for a touch of accountability, and I’m going to rely on you, my friends, to give me a good telling off when (…I was going to say “if”, but it would be pointless really, & it’s perhaps best to start off as honestly as I can….) my resolve begins to slacken.

(All pics are of “Hilda” created by artist Duane Bryers, some from here – I think she’s GORGEOUS, so wanted to use them… believe me, if I looked as good as she does, and had as many crazy adventures, I’d be very happy!)

I’m fat you see. There. I’ve said it. I’m not big boned, I’m not festively plump, I’m not a beefcake, I can’t claim that it’s puppy fat, I don’t believe I retain that many mega-litres of water, I doubt it’s a thyroid problem.

I’m unfit too, which is worse. Not so unfit that walking around gets me puffed, or I have to take a breather half way to the park, but that kind of lazy “I’m not running over there to kick the ball because I don’t WANT to, not because I would start wheezing like an eighty year old with lung disease” unfitness.

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t look upon “exercise” with disdain. I would dread Phys Ed class, walk the entire length of cross country runs, drag my feet up and down the football field slowly while everybody else, uh, played football…. I didn’t mind netball in my extreme youth – as I was tall it seemed I didn’t have to do much in the position of ‘Goal Keeper’ except stand on one foot & hold my arm out in an attempt to block a goal.

As much as I know I don’t like getting puffed & having my chest ache, & as much as I know I enjoy a beer & the probably-should-be-more-occasional occasional batch of fish & chips, I also know that being a l’elephant (…little elephant…) makes me unhappy when I don’t need to be, it makes me a cruddy role model for Le Punk and it holds me back somehow, waters down my self confidence when there isn’t a whole lot there to be watered down in the first place, so something really must be done.

But how?! The easiest way, I am told, is to not eat crap & to exercise. It’s always the exercise that is my undoing. I’ve just not found anything I love. I ride my bike out of necessity, sometimes it’s nice, riding to the park through luscious greenery in the early morning for example, but if that ride were uphill or even had a slight incline, I doubt I’d enjoy it very much at all.

When I was little and we moved from the cold, constant drizzle of Victoria to the hot, arid desert-like top of New South Wales, after fainting immediately with heat stroke, I went to the pool every single day. My hair was white and my limbs were brown & when I look at pictures I realise that I was a regular kid, not the big fat thing I saw myself as… although I WAS bigger. I’ve always been tall, often I was the tallest kid in my class until late secondary, and somehow in my head I equated tall with big & big with fat & as I think anyone with a weight problem will tell you, nothing makes you want to eat a doughnut more than feeling big and fat and alone. Eventually I gave up the pool & took to sitting in my room listening to the radio & hating everyone, but that was probably more of a teenage thing than a fat kid thing, although it didn’t assist the situation.

My mother (..you might want to look away now Mum, if you’re reading…) was big on deep fried meals in my teens, and I would request & be given a massive plate full for dinner. It didn’t help that this meal was often the only thing I would have eaten all day; I would prefer to sleep in longer rather than get up & eat breakfast & make my lunch so I would trot off to school most days with an empty stomach & no little lunchbox filled with neatly cut sandwiches & a juice box. Sometimes I would cage half a sandwich from my friend, but usually I would hang around before dinner, salivating at the smell of deep fried crumbed things sizzling away.

Whoa….! This seems to be getting away from me & I’m not yet out of my teens! There are many more issues, oh yes, & stories, & excuses… but I’ll save them, perhaps to share later, when I’ve had some sort of big fall & I want you to see how it might have happened (…don’t listen though, you mustn’t! Be hard, be strong, tell me off!).

I’ll finish by saying I’m giving it yet another go. The getting healthy bizzo. From NOW.

Will keep you posted.

Pressure

Sometimes, you come across something, while pretending to know what you’re doing in Google Analytics, that makes you wonder.

I don’t know if I’m up to it, to be honest.

Ahoy Matey!

That’s what successful garage sailors scream from the bough of their ship on their return voyage, while defending their bounty from mutinous shipmates.

I almost didn’t go garage sailing today. I was tired, The Boy had the car, we already have enough stuff, I’m trying to pack & purge not buy more, we’re poor… but I ended up going anyway. I had to. It’s a sickness.

I only went to two, we were pretty late when I could resist the sultry siren calls no longer, the first was more like a “potting shed” sale, and was a little too picked over; one glance at the lidless Tupperware on the foldaway card table and I knew we were too late. The second was a Mecca of all that is good about garage sales.

We wandered around the back, Le Punk & I, admiring such treasures as a $10 laminex kitchen table (if I’d had a ute, we would now own 2 laminate kitchen tables and have nowhere to put either) & 70s bar utensils, when we were encouraged to head inside too. The woman that lived in the house was headed to an aged care home & her family were tidying up. I’ve only ever been to one similar sale, in the Blue Mountains, an estate sale where there was stuff stacked upon stuff in a tiny little house, and I was oddly fascinated by the whole thing.

It’s rather strange & a little unsettling to walk into a house, somebody’s home, and be able to buy whatever you see there. Everything had a price sticker, or “Make an offer” scrawled on it in red marker.

In the kitchen I saw a Breville Professional Juicer for $20 & had to have it. It was exactly the same as the juicer The Boy bought me once that I didn’t want at all, but I hadn’t been turned on to the joys of orange, carrot & ginger juice then, so he gave it to his mother after it sat unused in the cupboard for a year or so. To his credit, he wasn’t as annoyed as I thought he’d be when I revealed I’d bought another, probably because I already had a tall glass of delicious fresh juice waiting for him.

In the hallway there was a huge box of fabric, different kinds separated into little plastic bags & neatly labelled, the box said “Make an offer per bag” so I asked the lady how much she wanted for the whole box, obviously her mother’s modest stash, and she said “Make me an offer”. I had no idea, I was thinking $20 but then I was thinking “No, she won’t take that…” so all I said was “I would but I don’t think it would be enough!”, she looked at the box again & asked “Would $10 be too unreasonable?”.

No.

$10 would be very reasonable. Thank you.

After getting my treasures & The Punk home, I sorted through the fabric (lots of knit & rib, will have to become better acquainted with my overlocker eventually) and did some washing up, all the while thinking “I didn’t look at everything! I was so excited by the fabric I forgot about everything else!”, so, as tragic as I know this sounds, I went back.

Punk stayed with The Boy’s little bro while I dashed over again (I also had to get oranges for juicing… so… like… I’m not THAT bad….) to have another look.

The family were so lovely, asking where Le Punk was & how old she was, the guy outside showed me an ice-cream container full of old rubber & wood mounted stamps. The price tag said $8 but he said he’d give them to me for $2. He said that his brother inside had told him “You’ll never get $8 for those!” so if they asked me I had to say I paid $8, just to prove him right (nobody asked, mores the pity). I also got a recipe book stand/holder (That’s what I’m calling it anywho, but I’m pretty sure it used to hold a bible…) for 20 cents, but latent guilt about my fabric stash steal saw me force $1 upon the sweet lady instead.

 

Experiences like this do nothing to help my addiction.

I am doomed.

My Place And Yours!!

Woohoo!

Here it is!
I hope you’ll play along! (And you might want to get a cup of tea, this is a long one…)

Since this is the first week of My Place And Yours at Punky & Me, I get to choose the theme, nice.

So. Influenced by the bombsite that is my house right now, some packed boxes, some empty boxes and muchos mess, I looked around in desperation for some aspect of my place right now that I didn’t want to hide under the rug (there’s an idea for you, future Theme Queens) and kept drawing blanks.

Usually I love my kitchen, my copious amounts of rarely used cookbooks, my vintage kitchen knick knacks, my teapot collection… but right now…. teapots are packed & the rest is a shameful mess, so that was out.

I gave up & plonked on the bed to get a little further through my book when it hit me…

The theme this week folks is “What I’m Reading”. (I swear I tried to think of something more catchy that meant the same thing but my brain just would nae be in it…)

Books are not made for furniture,
but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.
~ Henry Ward Beecher

At the start of the month there was much talk of resolutions, a common theme I noticed while doing the blog rounds, happy in the knowledge that I wasn’t participating in the negative cycle that lapsed resolutions can become, was ‘Read More’. As much as I am against resolutions, I think that one is worth keeping.

Right now I am reading ‘Me Talk Pretty One Day’ by David Sedaris, it is SO FUNNY. I got it for Christmas from The Boy’s little brother (I shall not be re-gifting, although it sort of already has been… he always reads the books before giving them…!!!), along with another of his books ‘When You Are Engulfed In Flames’ I read that first, although Me Talk Pretty One Day was written first, and loved it.

It made me laugh out loud. I love when a book can do that. Lots of books can amuse you. Lots of books can make you think “…that’s funny!” but it is a little rarer to find a book that has you giggling like a nutter while your other half is trying to sleep.

I’m almost finished the book, I’ve been on a bit of a reading jag lately and have another book in the wings already, waiting for the curtain on this one, but I am enjoying every page, especially the one below, which has given me my new favourite word, and that I shall endeavour to slip into blog conversation at the first opportunity.

What are you reading right now…? Is it a book? A magazine? A blog? What do you wish you were reading? Where do you wish you were reading it? Is it a library book? Was it a gift? Are you enjoying it or persevering?

Your take on this theme can be whatever you want it to be, and I want to see it! You can take a quickie photo without getting up, you can draw a picture (…that gives me an idea… I’d love to see a diorama. Go on. Make a diorama!), you can trek to the library and take covert snaps, whatever, wherever, you’ve got time!

Share your link below, we’ll be playing all week!

(If you’re new to My Place And Yours, Pip’s original post about it is here.)

Housekeeping:

As for next week’s theme… well – what shall it be…?! I loved Pip’s idea of a Theme Queen, I loved visiting ‘The Queen’ and seeing why she chose what she chose, but with disappointed if I couldn’t play along because I just didn’t have something to do with the theme, because playing along is what a meme is all about, and the more the merrier, no?

So, I’m going to be choosing the Themes & the Theme Queens a little differently. We’ll see how it goes at least, if it does nae work then we’ll try something else… we’re resourceful and crafty after all!

If you would like to be next week’s Theme Queen, then all you have to do is play along this week & comment here (in le comments, not the linky box... thanks Tracey... hehe) with what your theme would be. I will choose a theme from your suggestions that I think is fun & inclusive and will announce the Theme Queen in the new meme post on Saturday, which will be a nice surprise for everyone.

Pip said it all here;

Each week we'll have a new theme. The theme will be a place/perspective : out the window, in the top drawer, down the lane, at the post office, in the kitchen, at work, your cafe, under this, behind that, inside the other... whatever. Just a kind of common place or perspective we all will have. I don't want to take the fun out of it by suggesting too many - think about the things we do each day and the places we go, or utilise and go from there!

Sound like a plan? Good’o.

Let’s play!

(..and thank you Pip for this shiny meme, I really do like it a lot & hope it will thrive here!)

Two Birds….

 

….with one stone.

So I have this book. It looks good. It kinda sorta even looks doable. I think it’s going to help me with a couple of things.

Now I don’t know how much notice you take of these things, but a bright orange, retro styled, rather lovely button has appeared in my sidebar, as if by magic. The magic, and the button, is from Isis, and it signals the pledge that I have made to myself, and the ethics I seem to have fallen into, since signing up for Wardrobe Refashion some months ago. I know I didn’t actually refashion very much, or make anything much wearable, but I didn’t BUY anything new either. And since getting out of the habit, I haven’t yet felt the urge to get back into it. In my opinion, if one can make it through the Boxing Day/January sales without buying so much as a singlet, then the clothes buying retail monkey is completely off their back.

Isis created the Ethical Clothing Pledge for herself, but it’s such a grand idea that several other people have joined her, including me. A pledge, to me, is a much more personal decision, which requires much more personal action, than a ‘challenge’. Taking a pledge means that you honestly believe to continue that which you have begun, while taking a challenge means, at least to me “let’s see what happens”.

Here is a copy of the pledge for your consideration:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
T H E _ E T H I C A L _ C L O T H I N G _ P L E D G E

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I pledge to only wear clothing that is one or more of the following:
1. Pre-loved
2. Handmade (preferably by me)
3. Reconstructed
4. Made with ethical / environmentally friendly materials
5. Made by a company with strong ethical policy & workers' rights
* Companies with environmentally friendly practices (such as cutting down on waste/energy/water) get brownie points
* If I get one little inkling of sweatshop labour, I'm outta there!
* Above all though, I think the most important thing is reducing the amount of things we use in the first place. Not purchasing ANOTHER piece of clothing just for the sake of it is the biggest statement we can make.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

My lovely new book is going to assist me in making my very first piece of clothing since taking the pledge, and that first piece of clothing is also going to fulfil the requirement of this challenge. It all seems to fit so nicely & neatly in place, that I may very well mess up the entire thing.

I’m going to try to work slowly through the book, doing each project as it comes & trying hard not to get scared of making new things, which sometimes happens. I have actually realised that the world is not going to end if I mess up some sewing, but some personal fulfilment could very well result out of completing something I didn’t think I could do.

Who knew?!

Photos of Nothing…

Last night I took my camera outside when Punky & I ventured out for a wee play, ready to capture her doing something cute, as usual, but instead I planted myself in one spot & using the rather handy zoom function on my camera, took pictures of nothing.

I kind of like them. I liked that I had to look around for things to photograph, look at things differently, because of my self imposed (lazy) rule of having to sit on my butt…

Storybook Drawers

Since soon (SOON!) we shall be moving & going from “copious amounts of built in wardrobes” to “…..”, we have had to find some drawers & things for holding our clothes. Well, Punky’s at the very least, because if I’m honest, MY clothes spend more time languishing on the floor than anywhere else.

These drawers cost me $8 at the oppy.

 

I used two old kid’s storybooks for the main part, carefully selecting the best pages of course, and yellow enamel paint for the drawers. These photos were taken before “the incident” which has left one of the drawers rather disfigured – it will need fixing but can wait until it really, really, really gets on my nerves. (*sigh* I’ll fix it today…)

What do we think?

Bright & funky for a little Punky?!

The Squeaky Wheel…

(from) 

…gets the meme!

I was asking, politely, while informing Lovely Pip of the illness currently rampant in the Punky house (whinging, yes), when we might hear who is to inherit her My Place And Yours meme, that she decided to set free at the end of last year….

Well, it seems, just for the asking, it is mine! It shall be here, at Punky & Me! Isn’t that neat?!

Unfortunately, the news wasn’t so miraculous as to cure me, but it has certainly pepped me up some.

So stay tuned folks, My Place And Yours shall be up & running again soon, in this, it’s new home!

I guess a "congratulations" is in order....

You know, I'm glad I posted my red circle bubble bag thing on here, it really does go to show that one blogger's trash is another blogger's treasure...! I was rather surprised to find several people wanting the bag which I had cast off so unceremoniously - so much so that I went back & looked at it from several different angles, wondering if I'd overlooked some grand feature, or downplayed it's majesty...

Lucky for you Amy, I came up with nada.

Email me your address my sweet, you are now the proud recipient of my very first re-gifted gift! (That's right folks, in all my years of receiving cruddy presents, this is the first time I've actually been brave enough to offload something!)

Pay It Forward

I know, I know, I am super late to the party, last to arrive at the fair, shutting the gate when the horse has bolted etc, etc, etc.

I can hear you wailing “But VIC! Where have you BEEN?!”

I can see you sitting smugly at your computer (…yes I can! You thought you were safe in that snugee…?!), safe in the knowledge that you’ve posted out and received your Pay It Forward giftees yonks ago.

Well….. pfft!

I thought I HAD missed the Pay It Forward blog boat, I really, really did! I thought that everybody that had any desire to participate had already done so & got it out of their system. I thought my Pay It Forward desire would be forever unfulfilled… until last night, after some random blog hopping. Since I’ve been sick I’ve not been doing much of anything EXCEPT blog hopping & feeling sorry for myself, and it’s been quite lovely actually, finding new blogs & inspiration, but it was almost a miracle to happen across a real, live Pay If Forward post… just waiting for me…!

For those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about, I think I love you. Read on.

Pay It Forward is a meme that has been doing the rounds for some time, spreading the bloggy love so to speak.

How it works;

• I will make a little sumpin sumpin for the first 3 people who comment here who would like to play along.

• I have 365 days in which to complete this endeavour (..perfect!)

• What it will be & when it will arrive is an absolute surprise! Marvellous!

The small print;

Well, it IS called ‘Pay It Forward’ for a reason. You, friend, must do as I have done & post a similar blog entry yourself, hence Paying the handmade bloggy goodness forward & keeping the meme, & the fun, going.

Want to join in? You know you do. C’mon! You’ve got A YEAR! To make whatever you want! Three whatever you wants! And you’ll get handmade goodness from moi, if I do say so myself.

Even you, yes you, snugee wearers. You can go around again. I don’t mind.

Big thanks to Jade Holi for letting me have some Pay It Forward fun!

Re-Gifting.

I received this bag for Christmas from The Boy’s Mother, his Dad & brother brought it down with them on their recent visit, & I didn’t even realise until the day after the presents were opened that I’d got it – Punky had gotten to unwrap it & it was immediately lost in a sea of scrunched up Christmas paper.

It is a combination of wooden beads, woven nylon & red pleather. It has large circles attached that I imagine would flap about in the breeze if it were to ever leave the house.

Now I don’t want to sound ungrateful, it was nice of her to send it, and it IS red, but I will not use it, not now, not ever.

Would you like it? If you would, just let me know in the comments. If, by this time tomorrow, nobody wants it, it shall be on it’s way to the oppy. If, by this time tomorrow, more than one of you wants it, names shall be taken & thrown into said bag in the interest of fair re-gifting & one “lucky” person shall be the new owner.

I honestly don’t know whether she would laugh or be offended if she knew I were offering up her gift on the internet, but to be on the safe side, we’ll just keep it to ourselves, shall we?

Did you get any “gifts” that you are considering shuffling on to a new home already…?

Craft Hope For Haiti

Craft Hope for Haiti was brought to my attention earlier today by the lovely, big hearted Jodie, and the equally lovely & big hearted Nic.

If you're going to craft, I can think of no better reason than to craft for a cause, & a more deserving cause right now is impossible to find.

The devastation & heartbreak looms large in Haiti, it is spilling out into the rest of the world with pictures and news stories, making us all stop, making us all think, feel & hope. We hope that the survivors can be helped. We hope that more survivors will be found. We hope that there is something, anything, we can do to help...

We can help, a little, you and I, just by making something for Craft Hope to sell in their Etsy store, by buying something that has been donated or by donating cash directly to one of the aid organisations helping on the ground;

Doctors Without Borders

Australian Red Cross

Oxfam Australia

World Vision Austalia

UNICEF

I made one of my button bracelets this afternoon & have emailed it off to the good folks at Craft Hope, hopefully it will be in the store in a day or so, but the response from Crafters has been huge & the organisers seem to be run off their feet posting listings constantly, so I won't be the least bit surprised if it takes a wee bit longer.

Wordless Weekend

Poor Le Punk is all snuffles & sneezes & coughs & watery eyes... thanks to me no less, so I am feeling suitably guilty while still sick myself & pampering her to the utmost.

We have a new DVD to watch, juice to drink & fruit to eat, all while snuggled up on the couch; that however makes for not much of interest going on over here in the Punky house, so I thought I'd share a little picture & excuse myself from posting properly for a couple of days....

Hope everyone has a lovely relaxing weekend.

Crispy Tofu

“Mmmmmmmmmmm, tofu – not as bad as you think!” What do you think of that for a nifty catchphrase?! Inspire you to start using a bit more of the bland, oddly textured white mush in your cooking…? No?

I remember my first ever real encounter with tofu. It was in Year 7 Design & Technology class. We mad “Tofu Salad” which consisted of ‘marinating’ some tofu cubes in soy sauce & throwing them into a salad. I don’t think I need to tell you that that was not tasty. I realised then why the other girls gave Dawn from the Babysitters club a hard time about eating it, and why labelling a tub of ice-cream in the freezer as tofu really would keep scavengers away.

I don’t think I even tried it again until I decided to become vegetarian, it was much better in stir fries, or as fluffy little tofu puffs from the Asian grocer, but when I became vegan (I am beyond lapsed at the moment, sadly, I am an ethical eating waste ground right now..), tofu really came into it’s own. You can make EVERYTHING with tofu. “Cheese” sauce for lasagne, chocolate cream pie, chocolate mousse, quiche…. but the thing I keep making, and that The Boy is actually glad I make, is Crispy Tofu.

I always talk myself out of making this dish, for two reasons, it requires a clean kitchen from the get go, and it makes a lot of mess. That means I have to clean the kitchen twice in one day. Somewhat of a deal breaker right there.

But, when conditions are favourable, when the moon is right & the wind is blowing to the east, I make this & wonder why I don’t do it more often.

Crispy Tofu

Ingredients:

1 block of extra firm, or firm, tofu

Egg replacer, made up from the instructions on the packet to make 2 eggs (I have tried with real egg… it didn’t work out so well for me so I stick with this)

Cornflour – lots of it

Oil for frying, I use extra light olive oil, but I use that for everything

Instructions:

Drain your tofu & cut it so that you have small cubes, approximately 1.5 to 2 cm large – it doesn’t really matter how big or small you make your cubes, within reason, but be sure that they are cubes, they will be easier to fry.

Set yourself up so that you have in front of you; small bowl with “egg” mix, larger bowl or plate covered in a mountain of cornflour, and a large plate with a sprinkle of cornflour.

I like to use one hand to drop small batches of tofu into the egg mix (about four or five cubes at a time, depending on the size of the small bowl) & then move them into the bowl of cornflour, and the other hand to coat them in cornflour, & I recommend this method to you or you’ll have big cluggy gloves of cornflour on before you know it.

Thoroughly coat the cubes in cornflour, rain cornflour down upon them, roll them about, whatever you wish, just make sure they’re well covered, then move to the plate, ensuring they are separated or you’ll end up with a big sticky mess there too.

Once all your cubes are coated, heat about a centimetre of oil in a large frying pan & add your cubes, cook on a medium to high heat, turning frequently (I just shake the pan at random intervals). The tofu will start to brown up nicely, but keep cooking until the cubes actually start to rattle around, hard, in your pan (unlike me the first time, thinking if I made them too hard they’d be yeechy, I ended up with soggy tofu cubes…), that’s how you know they’re good & crispy!

Set aside & add to your stir fry or whatever you like.

 

Mmmmmmmmmmmm tofu.

Two funny things that cheered my up this sniffley, snuffley eve....

Ah. I luffs you internets.
You make me laugh.

Just thought I'd share two things that brightened my afternoon, you may have already seen one, or both, or none!

The first, and my favourite, brought to me by the lovely Lisa on Crafty Mamas;

Write 'Where is Chuck Norris?' into Google & click 'I feel lucky'. I have stuff to say about this but I don't want to ruin it...! Run & do it now. NOW!

The second is doing the facebook rounds - you may have seen some weird status updates today because of it, as I did, but I didn't know what the heck was going on until Yvy shared the goss on Crafty Mamas also....

Pick the month you were born:

January-------I kicked

February------I loved

March----------I karate chopped

April------------I licked

May------------I jumped on

June-----------I smelled

July------------I did the Macarena With

August--------I had lunch with

September----I danced with

October-------I sang to

November-----I yelled at

December-----I ran over

Pick the day (number) you were born on:

1-------a birdbath

2-------a monster

3-------a phone

4-------a fork

5-------a snowman

6-------a gangster

7-------my mobile phone

8-------my dog

9-------my best friends' boyfriend

10-------my neighbour

11-------my science teacher

12-------a banana

13-------a fireman

14-------a stuffed animal

15-------a goat

16-------a pickle

17-------your mom

18-------a spoon

19------- a smurf

20-------a baseball bat

21-------a ninja

22-------Chuck Norris

23-------a noodle

24-------a squirrel

25-------a football player

26-------my sister

27-------my brother

28-------an iPod

29-------a surfer

30-------a homeless guy

31-------a llama

What is the last number of the year you were born:

1--------- In my car

2 --------- On your car

3 --------- In a hole

4 --------- Under your bed

5 --------- Riding a Motorcycle

6 --------- sliding down a hill

7 --------- in an elevator

8---------- at the dinner table

9 -------- In line at the bank

0 -------- in your bathroom

Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:

White---------because I'm cool like that

Black---------because that's how I roll.

Pink-----------because I'm NOT crazy.

Red-----------because the voices told me to.

Blue-----------because I'm sexy and I do what I want

Green---------because I think I need some serious help.

Purple---------because I'm AWESOME!

Gray----------because Big Bird said to and he's my leader.

Yellow---------because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars

Orange--------because my family thinks I'm stupid anyway.

Brown---------because I can.

Other----------because I'm a Ninja!

None----------because I can't control myself!

Piece them together and post a comment.

So mine is I danced with my neighbour in my car because that's how I roll. Not that exciting...!

I wish I were born on the 19th of June, 1987, and was wearing a brown shirt.....