Miss Bimbo

I don't know if any of you came across this via news.com.au . You'd think a website called Miss Bimbo would be something to do with porn, but no it's an online game where you try to become the biggest bimbo. It's kinda cute, and obviously aimed at young girls as it has that paper doll feel about it.

I was intrigued after reading about it, and of course news.com.au being the obliging little monkeys they are had the website url at the bottom of the article. I had to laugh at this false sense of outrage the article had about 'encouraging young girls to get boob jobs', as this was something you can do to your bimbo in the game. Quite honestly I think it was just one of those 'today tonight' style advertisements. After all it worked on me!

Things to do before you're 30

It occurs to me that I have just over a year before I am 30. It also sets me to ponder, what are all the things I wanted to do before I am 30, and how will I fit the remainder of those things in the next year?

But I can't think of anything pressing that I haven't gotten around to doing. Besides which what happens when you turn 30? They remove your 'fun' gene, and you're forever boring?

Millionaires

I was just reading about the 'socialite millionairess' who got done under the new hoon laws for speeding and it made me wonder about the status of being called a millionaire.

So at what point are you a millionaire? If you own a house worth a million dollars are you a millionaire? Or do you need to have a million dollars just hanging about at the bank?

If a million dollar property would do it, then it seems to me being a millionaire doesn't really mean much these days. With the price of housing in Perth right now, I reckon there would be heaps of millionaires. I recently saw my childhood home in Mosman Park sell for over a million dollars. So if my parents haden't needed to sell it to pay off some business debt, would they be millionaires?

Weird.

Mushroom Pate

Today I made mushroom Pate, and it is amazing! I've wanted to have a go at making this for some time, and have been milling the recipe around in my head for a bit. There is a particular flavour that I was wanting to achieve, a certain garlicy meatiness, a savoury hit to the taste buds.

So this morning I plucked my made up recipe from my head and gave it a go. I'm pleased to say that it tasted exactly as I had hoped, if not better! It was savoury and salty and garlicy and meaty and DELICIOUS!

Here is what went into it:
-button mushrooms
-garlic
-thyme
-olive oil
-(fake) chicken stock cube
-red wine
-Irish whisky
-soy milk
-plain flour
-vegan Worcestershire sauce

We just ate some when it's still warm on toast...soooooo good!

I can be such a bitch

I used to work with this guy at IAG called Mitch. We always had a laugh, I was mean to him, he loved it.

Recently Jane passed on my new e-mail address to him so he could say hi, here is what transpired:

Mitch: What the hell, Jane came over to my desk and was like 'Dude, Melinda misses talking to you so you better send her an email', and I was like, 'but I don't have it'.

Me: Haha, I know you cried on my last day, it's OK, I know you're sensitive. It's OK to feel Micth, it's OK to feel!!!!!

Mitch: My sensitivity was lost long ago, have you forgotten already?

Me: How are things with you, Jane fittin' in OK?

Mitch: Yeah Jane's cool, she likes to have a laugh but she can't give me sh*t as good as you, so I'm a bit disappointed. I thought you would of left some kind of guide for her to follow on giving me crap.

Me: Well anytime you need someone to take you down a peg just e-mail me something lame about your daily life (but don't cry me a f$cking river, 'cause I know it's all lame), and I'll do my best to make you hate yourself, K?

Mitch: I miss you

Take each day as it comes

That's what I've been trying to teach myself.

I always find I'm waiting for that next thing, that next moment, the next life milestone. It seems as soon as I reach what I've been waiting for I'm not paying attention to it anymore and am looking to the horizon again.

So today at lunch time I went for a walk and made a really big effort to be there in that moment. I tried to make the connection that in that hour, the time was mine, that I didn't have to be anywhere than where I wanted to be. It was so pretty outside, walking past lovely old houses and lovingly kept gardens.

On return to the office, I have decided to just focus on today. What can I achieve today? With the knowledge that I do have, what can I do? And so I plan on doing my best at what I can. Rather than feeling stressed and worried that I haven't managed to learn it all at once. Instead of looking forward to the day I can do it all ( many months from now) I'll focus on doing the piece of work in front of me to the best of my ability, and possibly learning something new along the way. Try as I might I am not super woman, and have been a little too hard on myself the last few weeks.

So what am I enjoying about this moment now?

*I can access blogger at work
*I have the radio on and a nice song is playing
*I'm in air-conditiony comfort
*I have a loving partner to go home too
*I have a delicious coffee on my desk
*I can smell someones yummy perfume
*My co-workers are pleasant people

Lots to enjoy about now! I'm going to go enjoy the feeling of achievement from getting a piece of challenging work done now! :)

[Scrubs] - Bastard coated bastards

Em's last comment reminded me of this :)

Penny drop

When I was a little girl, I always knew I'd get married, buy a house and have kids one day, and in that exact order. It was something I was as sure of as the sun rising and setting.

I've never had a problem with people having children when they aren't married, or people not being totally 'settled' with the white picket fence etc before they had kids, but I always thought I would be. It's something I've held onto for a long time, and to be honest if I hadn't let this idea go 'waiting for the planets to align' I'd be holding myself back and waiting forever to get on with my life.

I'm 29 this year, and so the biological clock has started to tick, I'm genuinely thinking of starting the baby making within the next year or two. I have no desire to be 40 and pushing out my first baby, I couldn't think of anything worse!

So last night Tony and I were talking, and it really hit me (thanks to Tony being so sensible) that it doesn't matter what financial position were are in, where we live, if we're married or not, if we want children we should just do it! I think despite not being married, we made a life long commitment to each other a long time ago, and neither of us are going anywhere.

I am scared out of my mind about the whole birth thing, yet the desire for a Tony Jr. or Mini Milly is just too strong to worry about it too much. When I was a teenager, I thought maybe by the time I have kids they might have some way you can grow a baby in a test tube. Unfortunately not! I doubt it has changed much at all since my Mum had me! I figure if women go back and do it time and time again, it must all be worth it.

Em: synchronise watches!

Yum

I think I'm going to have to start writing some of this stuff down. I wonder if I could put out a vegan cook book? Other than nachos, I don't think I've ever made the same thing twice since going vegan. I've had such variety in my diet it's unbelievable, and just when I think there are no more weird and wonderful additions to my diet, I find more!

Latest cool vegan find: Red Coral Rice. I believe it's from Thailand originally, I stumbled across it at Peaches fruit and veg shop in South Freo. It's that really cool big fruit and veg place on Hampton Rd that has a massive organic section. So basically, it's just a rice that has a rusty red colour to it.

Last night I used the last of my homemade seitan. I am amazed how well it lasted. You just keep it refrigerated in the liquid and it last for ages! I guess having no animal products in it, it means there is less likelihood of bacteria etc getting into it and turning it rancid.

So I made spring rolls with the seitan. Back when I was a meat eater I made spring rolls of cabbage and pork mainly. But last nights recipe had seitan, tvp, snow pea sprouts, capsicum, mushrooms, carrot grated, lots of fresh ginger and garlic and various Asian sauces like ketchap manis and sweet chili.

Once I'd finished rolling them all up, I had no choice but to deep fry them. Our oven has crapped itself (again!!), so I could only use the stove top. I didn't have a lot of oil so I had to use the last of my gorgeously fragrant coconut oil. It added the most magnificent coconut flavour to the rolls!

Also I made sweet and sour sauce. It is the most easy thing to make. Just white vinegar, tomato sauce, sugar (quite a lot), and then either corn flour or arrowroot (gluten free) to thicken it. You just heat it up till it thickens, and voila!

Tony and I both ate WAY too many spring rolls they were so good!

Why I can't sleep

Do you ever worry that life is going to pass you by? That one day you'll wake up old and have achieved very little in your life?

I've never been one who believes in destiny, I've always thought you make your own future. So if we have no preordained future, what if you never figure it out, the meaning of your life. What if you never take any chances and you always do what you must, not what you want. I'm trying not to be a slave to my possessions, but it's one step forward and two steps back.

I'm plagued by dreams of a life filled with a passion for what I do, or who I am. But I don't know what that is. I hope I don't work it out too late.

Note to self

Harden the fuck up

The New Job

So I am a total wreck after my first week. I feel like a fish out of water, floundering and gasping for air. My new boss thinks that I somehow know how to do my job without ever actually training me, or showing me how to do ANYTHING. He's obviously a busy man, but I can't learn trough ESP I'm sorry, I need to be shown first! I feel like I've been lead to my desk and then basically abandoned. I'm smart, I pick stuff up fast, but I'm not a miracle worker.

positives with new job:
-Better pay
-Free parking
-Small firm so everyone know everyone
-I get to study in work time
-A very social work place

negatives
-The place is a bit of a boys club
-How can I learn if not one has time to teach me?
-It's further to drive to get to work

I hope week two is better, atleast I get paid next week, that might make it more bareable! :)

Vegan Video

An entertaining take on the vegan argument.

Saintly Seitan

Today I moved up to vegan belt green! I made my own home made seitan. Seitan is essentially a meat substitute made from wheat gluten. Gluten is the protein component of the wheat, and this is why it's a handy meat substitute. I think it was invented by the Chinese.

So your basic seitan ingredients are:
-wheat gluten flour
-vegie stock
-soy sauce
-nutritional yeast
-garlic
-water

That's about it ingredients wise. You make a kind of dough with the gluten flour, and then it's cut into pieces and boiled for an hour in stock.

So once I'd done that, I cut some small pieces, coated them in breadcrumbs and shallow fried them. They were soooo good! Almost like 'fake' chicken nuggets really. So the recipe I used was from the fabulous vegan cook book 'Veganomicon'

So even if you aren't a vegetarian or a vegan I can highly recommend it as a very cheap replacement for meat. You need about an hour and a half to make it, but it makes a lot, which keeps well in the broth. Oh and you can buy wheat gluten flour from Kakullas sisters, you can probably buy it at Coles too I would say.