Foods Libraries?

Okay so basically it's really time to lose some weight. I am so gross. I have no shape anymore. Well I do, but it is not a good shape. I thought I was fat like a year ago when I was a 12/14 and now I'm a 16. So gross. I don't even enjoy sex as much anymore, becoming all body-conscious and stuff. Sigh.

So I have decided that something must be done. I am joining a gym (one that's close to my house which reduces the risk of using excuses to get out of it) and Reece is keen to lose weight too which makes it easier. I decided I'm not going to buy lunch at work anymore either, and we're going to replace one meal a day (breakfast for me because I am pre-work slack) with a diet shake thingy. So last night we went shopping and bought the shakes (42 shakes for $55 - pretty good) and a bunch of fruit and veges. I made three salads containing salad leaves, bean shoots, mixed crunchy sprouts, snow peas, a few cubes of feta, avocado, sweet corn off the cob (not tinned), cherry tomatoes and capsicum from my garden plus a piece of roasted skinless chicken encrusted with rosemary and garlic. Very very tasty, I was really stoked with how it turned out. Soooo yummy and the salad was massive, enough to fill me up without being unhealthy. Lots of stuff that's good for my disgusting skin too!

Reece and I are going to the beach for a walk this afternoon, take the dog and run around with/after him and stuff, should be sweet.

I will keep you updated.

Mah herbz (the legal kind, of course).

Sooooooo on my third and hopefully final attempt at growing herbs I have finally succeeded. That is until Atlas discovers that there is something I like and cherish and am proud of that he has not destroyed and rectifies the situation.

I planted:

POT 1 (Mediterranean type):
Rosemary (my favourite)
Thyme
Oregano



These require not as much water, better drainage and loooots of sun so they are together in the sunniest spot and I only water them once every 2 days, if that.

POT 2 (Less hardy, more water-loving herbs):
Dill
Sweet Basil
Coriander



POT 3:
"Tiny Tom" cherry tomatoes



When I first got this plant about 3 weeks ago, it was about 10 inches high. It has grown so ridiculously fast and so well, even Reece was shocked and impressed at its tenacity! It now has a teeny, tiny little beginning of a fruit on it *dances with excitement*!

You can also see Lavender in this pic, at the lower edge of the photo.

POT 4:
Garden mint



This one has been the most impressive of all, IMO. It has fucking EXPLODED. I can almost see it growing before my very eyes, and it has the most ENORMOUS leaves. Again this is one that even Reece was mind-boggled over. It started out as these poky little seedlings, soo tiny, maybe like 5cm high and that was 3-4 weeks ago. I have this and the tomatoes in self watering pots because they love lots of water (mint has been known to grow best underneath a dripping tap) and they have just gone off the Richter. I am going to pick some mint and make some mad cocktails at the Harley Club on Friday, I think.

New ink on Friday, but I am almost considering not getting anything done because Shae has screwed us around and we can't go 'til like 3pm instead of 11am which means we won't get back until like 7, knowing how much screwing around Shae does. Argh! I'll see what happens anyway. Soph's is gonna be short and sweet so it won't matter if we don't leave 'til 5 or so I suppose.

Thanks for tolerating this incredibly boring post!

Wings

So, it all started off positively enough with a single wing which I thought went pretty well except for some really bad shading (it looked worse with no shading I assure you).

Exhibit A:


I knew symmetry was hard but fuck, this drawing pissed me off.

As you can see, I gave up.



I know the heart in the middle is pretty basic and lame, but it was really just a central point to draw from and was more interesting than a circle. If I had been able to complete this drawing I was going to try and draw an anatomically correct heart in the middle of the wings.

Too hard.

Not sure what I'm going to try next, might try that one again.

Wheeeee.

The Attempt/s.

Ohhai, I know I haven't posted for ages but I haven't really had much to say. Sorry.
Recently I bought some drawing supplies and decided I'd get back into doing some sketching. It took me about 2 weeks between buying the stuff and getting the courage / effort up to give it a go. I used to draw a lot as a youngster but sort of grew out of it / realised I wasn't any good.

I had a look through some tattoo magazines (since that's sort of what I want to draw) and found some simple designs, first a pair of swallows then a rose.

Sorry for the crappy lighting, cbf getting off the bed to go out into the light:









Want to draw more now. Don't think they turned out toooo badly for my first attempts in years.

More later mabz. Thanks for reading.

Tattoo Epiphany

I was trying to think of how I could make the heart/wings tattoo a bit personal for Dad because I would want him to think I put some thought into it, not just something with Mums and Dad on it that didn't mean anything.

Then it came to me.

I am going to get "My heart beats for you" underneath it - in French.

Dad loves French, he's really passionate about it and he has really done so well learning it and going to France and practicing and making sure he gets it right and making sure he's always improving and challenging himself. In French, the phrase is "Mon coeur bat pour vous" or "Mon couer qu'il bat pour vous" which is "My heart it beats for you"... so I will have to ask someone who is really really good at French - I was thinking of who I could call so I talked to Dad (without giving anything away) and he suggested my old French teacher from school which was a fabulous idea because she is cool and so keen to help. Turns out the translations I had were way off, so she is going to discuss it with her French friends who are staying with her this weekend and get back to me next week. While I was discussing it with her I got all teary almost, so lame, hahaha..

Plus I'm thinking of making the centre of the piece a real heart instead of a heart symbol, sort of in tribute to mum's profession. Really excited about this idea, it finally feels right like it's coming together just right in a way that is special to me and how I feel about my parents.

Off to Byfield in an hour or so, pretty fucking stoked :D More when I get back.

Exciting news!

Lots of good stuff to report...

Reece got the job at the hospital! He's now telling me that the guy he's working for has offered to pay him $1000 a week. He doesn't get the benefits that he gets working at the hospital though. If he takes the butcher up on his offer I'll be incredibly pissed off, I fought hard to get him that job and it took him so long to get it. Money isn't everything, the quality of work he'll have at the hospital will be so much better.

My payrise was approved! Hurray! So excited. Now to plan it all out so I make the most of it..

Going for a nap. Bai.

Recipes, updates, news.

Things are cruising along, Reece had an interview at the hospital today for a wardsman position which went really well. He has been called in for a second interview tomorrow. A bit of a pain because he's working for a butcher at the moment 6am - 6pm so he has to tell him he has to go to the hospital again but it's okay, the guy is pretty understanding. Hopefully tomorrow they'll give him a start date or at least let him know whether he can expect one. I think he's pretty much got it in the bag but you never do know. They said the other day they might even get him to start on Monday which would be great. He'll pretty much be doing full time for the first couple of weeks while he does training with another person then depending on how hard he works and how receptive he is and generally good at the work, he'll get shifts for the next fortnight. If we could synchronise shifts at least sometimes, that'd be rad. Parking is a nightmare.

I made some rad things over the last little while, thought I'd share them with you. A couple are vegetarian 'cause I had my vegetarian friend over for dinner one night. I made her Garlic and Bean soup which contained chicken stock so I had to substitute vegetable stock which I could not find anywhere (nice one Fran, public holiday) so I made my own and it goes a little something like this...

Ingredients:
2 carrots
2 medium-large potatoes
4 cloves of garlic (I used like 8 )
1 large onion
2 stalks of celery
Half a sweet potato
3 sprigs fresh rosemary (I used bulk more than this but I love rosemary)
4 - 5 bay leaves
3 tsp salt

Method:
Cut all veges up into equal-ish pieces (the smaller the pieces, the quicker the flavour is released - I made my pieces around 2 cubic cm+). Put in large, heavy-based saucepan or slow-cooker. Put bay leaves and rosemary in and use your hands to toss it all together. Cover with water (about 2-3 cm above the veges). Add 3 tsp of salt. Bring to boil, cover with lid and simmer for 2 hours. Drain veges and use for something if you want.. soup? Store liquid (stock) in small containers in the freezer or use it straightaway. Smelled amazing while cooking.

Garlic & Bean Soup

Ingredients:
3 bulbs (that's right, bulbs) garlic
Olive oil
Salt
1 large onion, sliced thinly
1 large sliced carrot
2 stalks celery, sliced
**Whatever other veges you want, really**
30g butter
2 cups chicken stock (I used veg stock above)
400g can of butter beans or really any beans like cannelini would prob work too

Method:
Get bulbs of garlic and cut the 'sprouty' bit off. Pour as much olive oil as they can take in them and grind lots of salt on top. Roast for about 20 - 25 mins. Saute onion, carrot, celery, plus any other veges butter or that nut substitute stuff that vegans use. Add stock (you might need more I think I did). Cook gently until it's all soft and squishy. Get your garlic bulbs and squeeze the tender flesh out of each clove (make sure no garlic skin gets in the soup it's gross) and put this into the mixture as well as a 400g can of beans. Chuck it all in a food processor and blend until smooth. Serve with garlic bread or whatever you feel like.

French Onion Soup

Ingredients:
60g butter, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 (1kg) brown onions, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour
4 cups beef stock

Cheesy bread
12 baguette bread slices, each 1.5cm thick
olive oil cooking spray
1 bulb garlic
Olive oil
Salt
40g butter
1 cup grated Swiss cheese

Method:
Heat butter and oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium-low heat until sizzling. Add onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, uncovered, stirring often, for 45 to 50 minutes or until onions are very soft. Stir in sugar and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until onions caramelise.
Add flour to saucepan and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add stock and 2 cups water. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes to allow flavours to combine.

Cheesy Bread: Prehead oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Chop the stalky bit off the garlic and pour lots of olive oil and salt in. Roast in oven for about 20 mins until tender. Squeeze all the flesh out of the cloves (takes ages to cool down I warn you right now that stuff is hot) and mix with butter which has been softened in the microwave. Smoosh it all together until it's a buttery, smooth consistency. Using a knife, spread some of the mixture on both sides of each piece of baguette and return to oven for 10-15 mins, turning once. Take out, sprinkle cheese on each side, back in the oven for 5 mins or until cheese melts.

Serve soup with baguette slices floating on top.


SO there you have it, my highlight recipes from the last couple of weeks.

I should find out at the end of this week whether or not I'm getting around a $300/ftnt payrise. I will tell you something with all certainty: I fucking deserve it. If I don't get it, I will be looking for an AO4 position elsewhere in the hospital. Fuck that noise.

Anyway, gotta go put Reece's stuff in the dryer then finally go to bed.

Ni night.