So okay, they're really 'beckoning' cats - Maneki-neko, but I see them waving :) Sis gave me the little black and white ones years ago after seeing them in a Japanese specialty shop (they only had the two matching, not the threesome - they're simpler and plainer than many I've seen, but me, I like them all the better for that). White ones are ( Read more... )

The precise medical terminology being bit of a bug/touch of the flu/cold in the head... obviously not serious but left me less than enthused about mental work of any kind :(

So today, I got better, got writing, and got these 1360 words out of it. I've done a couple of these stream-or-writerly-consciousness scribbles before, here and here; this ( Read more... )

Because winter is coming and the goose is getting... cold.

My mother knitted this - the scarf and hat in the picture below - at least twenty years ago for herself (it took her one evening, she was one of those old-style brilliant knitters but the pattern is easy and on big big needles), I inherited it (and the pattern, for that matter :). It's ( Read more... )

The song of Australian magpies.

Yes, the kookaburra is more internationally famous/iconic and yes, I do like it ('tis hard not to smile at the laughing noise... except when it's laughing outside your window at six in the morning!!! And don't get me started on a dawn chorus of cockatoos....) But I'm not alone in prefering the complicated, liquid ( Read more... )

Sweet chilli & coconut chicken.

Speaking as I was of recipes (well, cookbooks...) this is my absolute favourite meal; Sis kindly scribbled it out so I could share it with the people at work, and now... you :) She says it's easy, all I know is it's glorious, so in her own words...

Usual ingredients:( Read more... )

Old cookbooks (and newer, history-themed ones too)

My mother owned the Australian Womens Weekly Cookery in Colour when I was a little girl.

Of course she did. ( Read more... )

MOR Basil And Grape handcream and body butter

Actually I love all the MOR products (the neoli clementine is truly gorgeous) but the basil and grape is probably my favourite at the minute, unusual, almost remote and not too sweet, and uncommonly soothing...

I do like having hand cream next to the computer for long typing sessions, and yes, pretty ( Read more... )

Vegemite

This probably should have been done on Australia Day an' all...

My first trip overseas (okay, the family came over from overseas, but I was all of five at the time) I thought I'd packed everything I needed, and friends, family and my workmates supplied everything they thought I'd need.

(I am not joking, the office made up an 'official' " ( Read more... )

Comfort food

... just like everyone else in the world, yes? They may all be different, but we all have those foods - not necessarily those you'd feed to guests (or anyone else), not even necessarily normal favourites, and not surprisingly very often laced more with nostalgia than epicurean excellence - that we do so reach for when we feel needy.

( Read more... )

I blame* scarfing all the liqueur jujubes** beforehand myself.

Someone kindly alerted me to the fact that the two animated ones on my little Dr Who set were just that bit too big for LJ's rules. Now I use GIMP, which does have a lovely little 'optimise' thingy (sorry about the high tech talk here) for animations, but because my ultra-simple ones ( Read more... )