June 2009

Monthly Archive

June 29, 2009

surgery tomorrow

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I have surgery scheduled for tomorrow… and I am still sick. And I am now very nervous about this! I went in today for pre admission and told them I have a cough and a touch of asthma as a result and had to wait around 3 1/2 hours to get an answer on what they were going to do. In the end: the decision will be made about surgery by the anesthestist tomorrow morning. you know, after I drink the horrible bowel preparation kit before the surgery. ick.

It should be fine… but now if they dont do it tomorrow I am in a bad spot with work because Im still new…but also, am I healthy enough for the surgery? Its not a major surgery but still….

so I am scared… nervous… and anxious. I hope it all goes OK.

 

June 27, 2009

surgery

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I am having surgery on monday. The time has FINALLY come! I am stresed about it, fearful they wont find anything, scared they will.
 
Most importantly right now: Im worried my being sick will cause it to be cancelled. Theres been a nasty sore throat/cough/chest infection going around and I was lucky enough to have caught it by Monday morning. By Tuesday it was bad and I got sent home from work, stayed home Wednesday, came in Thursday to get things done because, hey Im having a week off for surgery and things need to get done! And by Thursday night I was so exhausted. This morning, i should have stayed home. I know I should have. But, I didnt. Because today there were a lot of things to get done, and when I look at all the things I achieved in a day, it was worth coming in.
 
Except, if Im not better by Monday when I do pre-admission, they might cancel my surgery. Which will cause issues at work. Which will cause me stress. Which will make the hospital mad at me! I know we cant help getting sick, and I did what I could to get better – including visiting the worlds worst doctor because I couldnt get in to see mine – but aside from a lot of R&R this weekend, and hoping like hell the cough clears up, there isnt a thing I can do.
 
I understand hospitals cant cut into you when you are having breathing problems, I get it. So, body of mine, please stop annoying me and get better!
 

June 26, 2009

Buying a house

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So I know I have been moaning on here for a while now about money and I’m so poor and stressed and I want this and that and I have to be patient… well, it turns out, screw patience.

After advise from everyone around us that we should at least see a mortgage broker to see if we can realistically afford a house right now because our parents, his sister, and a few friends thought that it would be cheaper than we thought. So… once the stress with Bens dad died down (hes home from hospital and doing a bit better now) we went off to the broker.

The broker came highly recommended – a few of Bens friends had used him and promised there would be no stress. And there literally was. He put the different options on the table for us – use all your deposit and the first home buyers grant and you can borrow this much and repayments are this much… and told us what it would cost for different levels of deposit and house price. And the surprising thing? It was cheaper than our rent.

Now we arent looking for an expensive place… just a place to suit us for now. This can be a 2 bedroom unit or 3 bedroom (if we get lucky) and if its brand new, we barely have to touch the deposit!

So… we decided to bite the bullet and go for it. There is never going to be a PERFECT time, you will never be debt free, have the full deposit and have plummeting house prices all at the same time, so why wait? Particularly because in Australia waiting another year will literally cost you a free $14k. (The government gives first home buyers money to help pay off the stamp duty.)

Last night we went and saw our broker again to get our pre-approval and while that wont come in for another week or so, we can safely look at houses this weekend and put offers in without being fearful of having no money.

The things I was worried about? My debt and the fact that this is all his deposit… well if we get a place that is relatively cheap, I can still pay off my debt at the same rate we have now AND we barely have to touch his deposit, give or take a few thousand for legal fees and all that. That means he can use that money to pay off his student loans (or HECS as we call them here) or buy something he really wants, or just keep it to accrue interest.

We also made a deal: I take on the buying of decoration for the house and he puts in what he has to of his deposit, eventually itll even out!

This weekend: going to be CRAZY. We could spend all Saturday and all Sunday seeing houses and still have 10 left over. So, we are going to prioritise those in each time slot, look at the new buildings first, and see what else we can do.

Keep your fingers crossed that we find something, love it, put an offer in, have it accepted and its DONE in the next few weeks. Otherwise this will become the house hunting whining blog. Nobody wants to see that!

 

June 24, 2009

No drama queen

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I am not a drama queen. I hate being the centre of attention and am happy to go through life with just my good friends and thats that.

When I was a kid I was PAINFULLY shy. (Although as a 2 year old apparently I would sing and dance and be very loud) I would hide behind my mum if people were around that I didnt know, and I was nicknamed Mouse by our family friends because I just wouldnt talk. I struggled to fit in during the first few years of primary school and when I was in Grade 4 my mum had had just about enough! She had one kid (my sister) who wouldnt shut up and dominated everyones attention and another who struggled to say a word. So she sent me off to drama classes at the community centre with a bunch of other loud mouthed kids. I totally did not fit in in that class. My drama teacher would always struggle to get me to participate, and she would have to force me to take on any kind of major role. I was happy to stand in the background. Towards the end of our course, we all had to pair off and learn some lines to do a little scene on the stage for our parents. I was soooo nervous! I did not want to do it, but my mum pushed me to at least try, saying I would be proud of myself if I did it. And so I learnt some very difficult lines – it was a doctor/patient scene. I had to come in and tell the doctor that my stomach hurt, then the doctor asks me what I had eaten that day, and I listed off a bunch of junkfood – so many and so fast that when I finally completed my lines (and got it correct!) that people clapped!

 
I went onto that stage so petrified I thought I was going to throw up, but I came off pretty damn proud of myself. I had done something I didnt want to do, and did it well. And now it was over!

Mum didnt make me go back to the drama class, but I did come out of my shell a little bit after that.

 
I was promptly put back INTO my shell during Year 8 drama class. That year was the worst of my life. I had been put in a class with none of my friends, and all of the naughty kids. (Seriously – the school decided to trial a program where all the naughty kids were put in a class with some of the better behaved kids and hope that the influence would rub off. All that happened? The good kids got bullied, there was one day where the classroom was completely destroyed by a food fight and the teacher had 3 years off on stress leave. She came back when we were in Year 11 and refused to talk to anyone from our year level.)
 
Drama class was my least favourite time of the week. I would be forced to fake scream, act, and dance in this class and I really didnt want to. I didnt have many friends I could stand with and the teacher was very gung ho on drama and couldnt see why others may not enjoy it. Halfway throug the year though, it got worse. A boy had been picking on me and making my life hell all year long and we were put in a group together to work on a mini play. So for a few weeks I put up with his mean taunts and my friend and I tried to just get on with things.
 
One day however, he was soooo mean to me. Anything I did, he said I did it bad. “Is that seriously how you act?” “Whats wrong with you, why cant you act?” and then, he started picking on my looks! I KNOW I was an ugly kid. I had an unfortunate fringe and horrible teeth - teeth that wouldnt get braces until Year 11 because they were too stubborn to move. “You are soooo ugly” he started saying “What is wrong with your teeth? you need braces” It was then that i CRACKED. I screamed at him then started crying and locked myself in the toilets for a very long time. The teacher was freaked out because I just wouldnt leave and I wouldnt stop crying. My insecure 13 year old mind had had enough. I was sick of the bullying, torments and I was sick of being in that class!
 
Finally I came out, and he got in a world of trouble. But I never had to participate in class again if I didnt want to, and they kept him away from me for the rest of the year. He was also never in any of my classes again. From then on though, drama was the stupidest subject ever. I couldn’t see how anyone would like to fake pretend!
 
Years later, I saw that same guy in a nightclub. We said Hi and chatted (he was with a bunch of other guys from my year level). He apologised for what he did to me, that he wasnt trying to be mean to me but that he had liked me and it was the only way to talk to me. I called him an asshole and told him that I accepted his apology, but I certainly wasnt going to forget it! He begged me to, but nope, I said I couldnt forget what was one of the worst experiences of my life. Then, he actually tried to kiss me while we were dancing! I may have been drunk, but sooo not that drunk!
A few days later, he called me, having gotten my number from a mutual friend. He went over the same spiel, then asked me out, saying he was serious about liking me. I said no. I said I was happy that he apologised and could understand he was a different guy now, and that I was glad of it, but I just wasnt interested. And I totally wasnt. I was still very insecure and was dating almost any loser that came along, but I wouldnt even consider going there!
 
He called a few more times, we went over the same thing again and again, and eventually he went away. Today we are facebook friends and he is married, and into running and all sorts of things I have no interest in, so I think I made the right choice there!
 
 
 
 
 

June 21, 2009

Loving Masterchef!

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Masterchef is all the rage here in Australia. Its a bunch of amateur cooks, cooking off against each other to create the best dishes. Its on 6 days a week, and it is awesome. I know it SOUNDS boring, and it certainly started off that way, but trust me, for some strange reason it works. None of the judges are the nasty judge either, they seriously want to help these people explore their passion for cooking, and even though there is bitching and all that amongst the competitors, we dont see any of that. (They just sell their stories afterwards to the papers!) We just see people, learning to cook, loving food, and all these great tips.
 
And that is why, I love it. I guess it is no secret that I love to cook. I certainly would NEVER try out for something like Masterchef, because I know my levels of presentation or creative thinking are anything like theirs, but I still love to try out new recipes and techniques. I find it fun (except for the dishes).
 
Because of the show I want to try to make a souffle. I also got confirmation that even though my flourless chocolate cake failed big time, it wasnt because of how I made it. It has made me see the value in fresh herbs, and using actual lemon zest when it says to. 
 
It has also been fun seeing bens reaction to things like fresh basil. He would ask what is this green thing? I really like it. Then he describes how it tastes and how its sooo good. 

It is fun to share those kinds of things together. Ben loves to eat, I love to cook. And certainly, the fancier the dish I make you, the more you know I care! One of the funniest things is having people over for dinner. Ben cant understand why I ask what they like to eat most…  it is simply because I want to make them something they like! My favourite friends to cook for is a girl I used to work with and her fiance. The fiance loves EVERYTHING I make and it is sooo funny! I knew he loved mexican, so I made him mexican pizza when they came over last and was like “OMG give Kylie the recipe!” and I brought Creme Brule cupcakes to their house once, and he ate like 5 of them, and I left them the leftovers and apparently he ate the rest for breakfast.

 
Im not kidding myself in that my food is great. I have failures all the time and nothing looks great on the plate, but it usually tastes nice, and it just another way I can relax. I sometimes chide myself for not having any “real” hobbies like other people. But I know I simply love to read and to cook and daydream!
 

June 20, 2009

Sweet potato and spinach cannelloni

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Funnily enough, I had never made cannelloni. It always seemed pretty hard to do! Turns out, although it is fiddly, its pretty easy! Just use fresh lasagne sheets and it will all go well.

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Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 350g orange sweet potato, peeled, chopped
  • 400g can butter beans, drained, rinsed
  • 100g baby spinach, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil leaves
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 4 fresh lasagne pasta sheets
  • 500g jar tomato pasta sauce with garlic and onion
  • 1/2 cup grated reduced-fat tasty cheese

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Cook potato in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water for 10 to 12 minutes or until just tender. Drain. Return potato to pan. Mash until smooth.
  2. Place beans in a large bowl. Using a fork, roughly mash. Add spinach, basil, egg yolk and potato. Stir to combine. Cut lasagne sheets in half crossways. Place 1/4 cup potato mixture along 1 long edge of each piece. Roll up to enclose filling. Repeat with remaining potato mixture and lasagne sheets.
  3. Spread half the pasta sauce over the base of a 6cm-deep, 25cm x 35cm (base) ovenproof dish. Arrange filled lasagne, seam side down, on sauce. Top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until lasagne is tender and cheese golden brown. Serve.
Source
Super Food Ideas – July 2008, Page 70
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June 19, 2009

What do you call that love? Rissoles!

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Chicken and vegetable rissoles

 I am not the biggest rissole fan… but they are so simple to make and usually with a bit of gravy, they arent so bad. But these… well these were soooo good! AND they had heaps of vegies in them too!

 

500g chicken breast mince

125g corn kernels

¼ cup grated cheese

2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce

1 medium carrot, grated

2 green onions, finely chopped

100g button mushrooms, grated

1 tablespoon olive oil

Sweet chilli sauce and salad, to serve

 

  1. Combine mince, corn, cheese, sweet chilli sauce, carrot, onion and mushroom in a bowl. Using ¼ cup mixture at a time, roll into 12 rissoles. Place on a plate. Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
  2. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook rissoles, in batches, for 2 minutes each side or until browned. Transfer to prepared tray. Bake for 15 minutes or until cooked through. Serve with sweet chilli sauce and salad

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June 18, 2009

Double choc self saucing pudding

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On a cold winter night there is nothing better than chocolate! The chocolate cravings can be quite strong in me sometimes, and so flicking through my latest food magazine I saw all these great chocolate dessert recipes. Then I saw this one for a chocolate pudding, and it is something that I always thought was a hard recipe to make. I mean, how else does it self sauce itself, that must be a complicated process! How wrong I was! This took no time at all and was so delicous that you just wouldnt know! the only problem? My chocolate cravings were so intense after we finished this off! Must make again!!

 

Ingredients

75g butter, chopped
2/3 cup milk

1 ¼ cups caster sugar

1 cup self raising flour

¾ cup cocoa powder

100g white chocolate, roughly chopped

1 ½ cup boiling water

Whipped cream and cocoa powder to serve

 

  1. Preheat oven to 180C or 160C Fan forced. Lightly grease an 8 cup capacity oven proof dish
  2. Place butter, milk and ¾ cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until butter has melted. Sift flour and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder into a heatproof bowl. Make a well in centre. Add butter mixture. Stir to combine. Spread into prepared dish. Press white chocolate into mixture. Place dish on baking tray.
  3. Sift remaining cocoa powder over mixture. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Pour boiling water over the back of a large metal spoon, over mixture. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until top has set. Stand for 5 minutes. Dust with cocoa, serve with cream.

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June 17, 2009

Sausage hotpot

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It is so cold out these days, that when I sit down to pick my recipes for the week, I look only for recipes that invite warm! If it uses the oven – even better! That heats the kitchen!

Sausage hotpot is seriously simple, and surprisingly yummy! I thought it would be a bit bland, but it has a flavour punch! I think this hinges on the stock you use – so pick a good one!

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 500g beef and cracked pepper sausages (see note)
  • 2 brown onions, halved, sliced
  • 1 red capsicum, cut into thick strips
  • 2 cups jasmine rice, rinsed
  • 400g can diced tomatoes
  • 2 1/2 cups chicken stock

Method

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sausages. Cook, turning often, for 5 minutes or until browned. Remove sausages to a board. Thickly slice.
  2. Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining oil, onions and capsicum to pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes or until soft. Add rice, tomatoes, stock and sausages. Stir to combine. Bring to the boil.
  3. Cover pan and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Set aside, covered, for 15 minutes (this allows rice to complete cooking). Season with salt and pepper. Spoon hotpot into serving bowls. Serve.

Source

Super Food Ideas – November 2006, Page 64

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June 14, 2009

where you going…

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“Our research shows students who know what they want to do after VCE are more motivated and perform better, the 60 per cent who don’t know are less motivated.”
 
I am writing an article for the newsletter on exam study techniques and that quote just really resonated with me. At school I was not a smart one by any stretch of the imagination. I was lazy with my studies (still am!) and worked fast to get rid of my homework as quickly as possible.

But in Year 11 that kind of changed. All of a sudden I was getting A’s. I had gone from an average of C’s to B’s. My poor mother, unaware of how my results had changed, had tried to motivate me with money. $20 for every A! I was practically laughing all the way to the bank on that! She got my report card and was so shocked by the results and the amount of money she would have to pay me, that we compromised and I got $50 and a new outfit for a party.

 
I am not really sure what the catalyst was… except at the end of Year 10 I had found the course I wanted to do in a guide book with the score I needed to achieve to get in: 81.1.
 
I wouldn’t say Year 11 and 12 was easy for me… I did struggle, but dropping all maths and science really helped. I concentrated on literature, aiming to win the subject prize for that year (and I totally did!) and english, history, geography, and of course IT. I still havent forgiven the IT teacher for convincing the entire class that they were failing the subject and refusing to give out grades “because they were so bad”. Turned out to be my best subject – and many study hours went into that that could have gone elsewhere!
 
I also utilised my skills as a people reader and worked out how to get the most out of my teachers. For example, in Religion we had to just argue our case strongly and an A would come along. In English, my Year 12 teacher liked all the naughty people for some reason, so I just had to make her mad. Literature required a bit of extra reading so that you could reference something a bit different… so while I am not a smarty at all, I used what I had to make the most of it.
 
And thankfully, the results came out and I received an 81.45 – putting me clearly into my course! WOO! My mum also lost another bet on that one… if I received over 80 she would pay for my flight to Bali as an end of year celebration. HA HA HA!
 
That result put me in the top 20 students of the state – only just though. And also, much to my engineer cousins annoyance, meant I had the highest score of any one of my 18 cousins. Suddenly, I was the smart one. And that has a WHOLE lot of pressure with it to succeed!

We had to see the career counsellor after we got our results… floored by my results he told me that I should become a teacher. Because we need teachers. I was like “Dude… I got an 81.45, no way am I being a teacher! You only need 65 to do that.” He couldnt quite understand that… he floated computer technology by me, I also dismissed that… I knew what I was going to do. That focus on my goal had gotten me that far, why would I change it now.

 
Sometimes in life, you have to trust your instincts. Find something that interests you – even if it is ever so slightly – aim to get there and dont care what your parents or teachers think.
 

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