Weekend cooking adventures

There's nothing I like better on a weekend than to cook up a storm. And yesterday I had someone to cook for! My Mum!

Here is this weekend's feast. Heaps of leftovers for the working week!

Roast pumpkin, sweet potato and potato soup, with premium chicken stock, organic cream, and celery and carrot.

Here are the vegetables ready for roasting.

And here are the premium products. I am excited about them because usually I just have the supermarket standard.

This is the finished soup.

This is Greek inspired pizza with lamb, cherry tomatoes, pumpkin, eggplant, feta, mozzarella and tzatiziki dip.

The pizza base is from a local deli and was voted the best bought base in Melbourne. It's a great base.

I adore pizzas topped with heaps of veges.

This is trifle from my favourite deli, in the same street as the first deli I mentioned.


When Mum got home to my place last night, I had a surprise set up for her. Some of her favourite music playing on iTunes (Simon and Garfunkle and the Hollies), a glass of wine poured, and her present (a memoir of South African food). And the MacBook displayed the Mother's Day blog entry that I wrote for her. She loved all of it, she was very teary about it. It was nice to spend an early Mother's Day with her.

She bought me some roses.

I love receiving flowers.

This is a pancake I made this morning for lunch. I had it with lime and sugar. I made two, but flipping pancakes is not my skill and the other one ended up looking like scrambled eggs.

And here is tonight's dinner. It was delicious.

It is pot roasted pork chops cooked in ginger beer with sage and onions, mashed potato (also cooked in the pork/ginger beer pot) with a splash of that organic cream, snow peas and spinach. It was delicious to the million.

Happy Mother's Day to my Mum

It's Mother's Day tomorrow, and my Mum is down to stay.

I've cooked her a meal – roast potato, pumpkin and sweet potato soup – complete with premium chicken stock and organic fresh cream; Greek inspired pizza – lamb, pumpkin, eggplant, feta and tzatziki; and home made trifle from my favourite local deli.

I hope she enjoys it as much as I've enjoyed preparing it. And I hope she loves the present I got her.

My Mum is the best mother anyone could wish for. She is patient, funny, generous (especially with her time), a brilliant cook, and she has done so much for me in my life. She spent so much time with me in hospital, even in my adult years. At home, she would comb the skin out of my scalp and do my wet dressings – all without any nursing training. Many nights were spent with me lying on the floor, her 'doing' me hair, which often hurt, but I have great memories of it because we used to make up fairytales together.

Sometimes we have arguments, and sometimes I may seem like I don't appreciate her as much as I should. And we don't ever agree on tidiness. I believe the tidy gene has bypassed me. But we always have a big laugh and I regard her as my best friend.

When I was choosing a card for Mum last week, I saw the cards for grandmothers. It made me think of my own grandmother, Nanny. Nanny passed away on 27 September 2008 at 86 years of age. Mother's Day 2008 was the last time I spoke to Nanny properly. She suffered from mental illness throughout her life – I often found this very difficult to understand. Towards the end of Nanny's life, my Mum (her daughter-in-law) was so good with her. I admire Mum a lot for this, and I hope that when it comes my turn to look after an elderly person in my life, I am just as patient and loving as Mum was with Nanny.

Nanny loved to write letters on pretty stationery, and to eat cake – two characteristics I've inherited from her. When I'd return to my parents' house, I'd often show Nanny the new clothes I'd purchased, and would put on a little fashion parade for her. On Christmas day 2007, we had a bit of a Trinny and Susannah session before going to a party, where Nanny and I gave Mum some advice about how to turn her figure into an hour glass simply by wearing something nipped in at the waist. It is a nice memory I have of her. In honour of Nanny on this Mother's Day, I chose the trifle because that was a favourite of hers.

Here are some of my favourite photos of Mum and I.

Easter 2009

Devenport, Tasmania, 2009

My birthday, 2007

Mum's birthday, 2008 - dancing to the Bee Gees

At Mum and Dad's house, 2007



Happy Mother's Day, Mum. I love you xx

Angus and Julia Stone + Powderfinger concerts!

This past week I've bought tickets to two of my favourite bands ever.

Angus and Julia Stone playing on 10 September and Powderfinger playing on 11 September.

It's Powderfinger's last hurrah.

Can't wait!

Before I bought my Powderfinger tickets I was in a conundrum because the show was on the same night as the Angus and Julia Stone gig. But then, they announced a second show the following night which made me very happy.



I've been a fan of Powderfinger for around 11 years now, since I first heard Passenger on Internationalist. This coming concert will be the fifth time I've seen them live. I'll be sad to say goodbye.

I adore so many Powderfinger songs and regard many of them as anthemic - These Days, My Happiness, Baby I've Got You on My Mind, Not My Kind of Scene...

Here is Passenger, live at the ARIAs in 1999.


It will be the seventh time I've seen Angus and Julia. I am going with a friend from work and her family - she is so excited to see them play.

And seeing I haven't yet got my Angus and Julia Stone ticket to show you as it's in the mail, here is a recording of You're the One that I Want live at the Palace Theatre in Melbourne, the show I was at. You can't see much, but I think Julia's breathy voice is gorgeous. I bought the song today on iTunes (it's on the Big Jet Plane EP).


Bring on September!

And the winners are....

An official judge was in the house today to draw the inaugural giveaway on Tune into Radio Carly. My Mum.

She was on her way to judging a gymnastics competition. Here she is in her judging outfit.



And here she is drawing the winners. Note the green smoothie.



The moral of this story is to always make sure dishes are dry before you put them away in the cupboard. Makes for wet entries.

Drumroll...

The winner of the Frankie Mag is Marlo Perry


Polly6034 won the cupcakes!


And The Prickly Pinecone gets the cute brooch.


Because the cupcakes were very popular - thank you for your kind words about my limited scrapbooking skills! - Prickly Pinecone and Marlo Perry will also get a cupcake.

I will be in touch with the winners to get your postal details.

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you everyone for coming to read my blog and entering the giveaway. Look out for another giveaway soon :)

140 characters - can it be taken out of context?

Australian readers may be away of the fallout following the tweets by attendees at the Logies last Sunday, particularly by Wil Anderson and Catherine Deveny.

Interestingly, on Monday I wrote about the conversation about what my responsibility as a writer is, and learning how to filter and respond to readers' comments.

Last night it was announced that Catherine Deveny, freelance newspaper columnist, comedy writer, and comedian, was sacked from her column duties at The Age because of tweeting about the Logies.

The ABC website lists two offending tweets:

"Rove and Tasma look so cute! I hope she doesn't die too," she tweeted about talk star Rove McManus, whose wife Belinda Emmett died of cancer in 2006.

"I so do hope Bindi Irwin gets laid," she also tweeted.

Since the Logies, Deveny has spoken to the media about the meaning of her tweets.

She said that the Bindi Irwin tweet referred to the sexualisation and raunch culture of pre-pubescent girls.

The tweet about Rove was apparently referring to the deep friendship Deveny had with Rove - she didn't want to see him lose another love considering his first wife Belinda Emmett passed away in 2006. She also attempted to justify it by mentioning that she had written for his TV show for five years.

Prior to the Logies, Catherine Deveny has tweeted about her opposition of ANZAC Day, and referred to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as a C-word. Deveny is a regular at tweet-clangers.

Deveny is disappointed she has been sacked by The Age. She believes that The Age do not understand adult humour, nor Twitter. She believes she was merely pushing the boundaries.

I believe that just because Twitter is new media and may be considered to be pushing the boundaries of citizen journalism - providing instant commentary, news and a widespread audience, it shouldn't mean the contents of the tweets should push the boundaries to the extent Deveny did at the Logies.

I am not sure whether she should have been sacked, though I am of the belief that we should represent and situate ourselves very carefully online. You never know who will be reading.

There has been debate all over the media, from journalists, bloggers and commentors - did she deserve to be sacked, or seeing she was a controversial journalist were these tweets so out of the ordinary? Similarly to the Make A Wish incident with The Chaser, there are questions about whether comedians should be sanitised.

Here are a selection of articles about the Deveny/Logies incident:
The Punch
Crikey
The Australian
A Shiny New Coin

Today Deveny said she stood by her tweets and they have been taken out of context.

I wonder this. How can a tweet, of 140 characters or less, clearly containing one subject and with the hashtag '#Logies' be taken out of context?

A tweet is pretty concise. And with the #Logies hashtag on the end of her tweets, she ensured her tweets were within the Logies feed, or should we say, 'context', on Twitter.

Nope, I see Catherine Deveny's tweets were clearly within the context of 140 characters or less, within the context of the people and subjects she was referring to (because she NAMED THEM!) and clearly within the context of the Logies. Her subject matter was hardly ambiguous.

While she is entitled to her opinion, and was tweeting under her own name, not the name of the newspaper she writes for, and I don't believe in censorship, I believe she has the responsibility to think about the impact of her tweets before she tweets them.

Catherine Deveny is a media representative, regularly creating debate in her Age columns. She currently has 5193 Twitter followers. She knows the power of Twitter and the internet to spread the word.

And she is most probably aware of the way Twitter contextualises tweets so neatly.

A little bit of Japanish - Asian Snack Challenge!

We have three weeks left of the Asian Snack Challenge. Tonight's one was successful.

My friend saw some pocky-like vanilla dipsticks.
'Mmm a vanilla dipstick. That's me', he said.

We saw many interesting things, again. I am more and more drawn to things that look cute, but are unidentifiable - with little English description on the packaging.

These are chip-like snacks with sushi-like images on the packaging. I bet they look nothing like the packaging suggests.

This is green pumpkin juice. After last time's pumpkin seed debacle, my friend was not touching this drink.

This is something with a frog on. I don't know?

This is maybe apple juice? Maybe tomato juice?

These are mini icecream cone looking sweets.

This is a cat that likes pineapple.


We made our choices.


My friend bought these delights. I love his fusion food direction.


Ola! Jack and Jill Piattos and orange sangararia! Ola!

We termed his snack 'A little bit of Japanish'! Japanese crossed with Spanish.

I thought his choices were a little boring at first. After all, he did just pick a packet of potato chips of the shelf without much consideration or commentary. But he reminded me 'I went Japanish'.

Due to me eating a ridiculous amount of junk food before and during uni today, clearly too disgusting to spell out in separate words - onesmallboxofpotatomashies,threekfcdrumsticks,bottleofcoke,lordofthefrieswithcheeseandgravy -I was not up for much food at the Asian Snack Challenge tonight.

I was drawn to the cute, impractical dust collecting toys.

A chicken, as featured in Get that sausage!

This thing here is a duck with a plant stem in its head. The stem moves in the light.

'Flip Flap is a cute flower bud which moves by light. Please grow your Flip Flap in your mind and bloom your own special flower. Please do not give water'.


And some Krispy Kreme-esque chips.


Disappointingly, but predictably, the chips looked and tasted nothing like Krispy Kreme donuts.

They tasted like sweet peanut flavoured popcorn.

I ate three of them, dropped one on the floor, and shared one with Plastic Chicken.


Plastic Chicken both makes a squeak, and has eggs inside its bum. I will need to unwrap the eggs so I can make it lay.


As the train pulled into North Melbourne station, we did a bit of a pantomime with Plastic Chicken, and we were reminded of that other chicken on video incident. Boris the Chicken, a video made by the North Melbourne Football Club. Coincidence?

Here is our pantomime. Much more g-rated.

Plastic Chicken ate a Jack and Jill Piatto and said 'mmmm cheesy, mmm Japanish'.






And just like in all other Asian Snack Challenges, we laughed and laughed.

Taking it all on board...

(Click on photo for source)

I had a conversation today about the responses I receive from my blog entries and DiVine articles.

We discussed what I do with the comments.

- Do I respond to every comment?

- Do I need to justify my opinion once I write it?

- Do I need to write a disclaimer that this is my opinion only and I have no control over how my opinion may affect someone's life?

- How do I respond to critical comments? Do I need to respond to them?

- Is a comment critical if it is just someone else's opinion?

I put a lot of pride and time into writing content for communication products at work. But those words represent the organisation I work for. Even though they are my words, and I lovingly crafted and edited them, they are often not a reflection of how I am feeling. The content I write is mostly made up of facts and quotes. Sometimes I flinch when I get negative feedback, but I've learned not to take it personally. I don't know how this has come about over time - maybe it's good mentoring or just good practice in writing, and the sheer volume of communication products I distribute. I file the feedback, and modify future communication products to reflect what people are asking for.

But I can say it is easier to know what to 'do' with the feedback I get from my professional communication compared to my personal opinions through writing.

I put a lot of thought, and pride, into my personal writing. Unlike my professional writing, I don't know who my audience may be. The internet is so far reaching.

In my personal writing, I hope to educate and offer some perspective based on my own experiences. But I also want to have some fun and make people laugh. I hope I achieve that.

I can 'file' the feedback from my personal opinions. Sometimes I go back and look at it to see that people have appreciated, enjoyed, laughed at and empathised with my opinion. But it's not like I can change my opinion to suit my readers. Of course, there are things I choose not to write about. Some opinions are better left unsaid, or said between close friends, away from the public sphere. To avoid the danger of me becoming branded 'that writer who offended the world with her opinion'.

Sometimes I take lots on board. I mean this in terms of projects, and also the pressures of self success. It's nice to be told I've done a great job. I think the desire for validation is a human trait, and not a bad one. And I know that debate and other opinions are not always criticism. I can take things personally.

But the more I write and have my writing become more public, the more I wonder what to do with the responses I receive. Is there an onus on me to... oh I Can't even finish this sentence as I am thinking of so many things that there may be an onus on me for!

How do writers learn to archive readers' comments and know which ones to respond to, which ones to leave alone, and which ones to look back fondly on throughout life?

Edit: interesting comment from Neil Mitchell today, following the Catherine Deveney tweeting about the Logies fallout.

3AW's Neil Mitchell described the comments as pointless and bitter.

"(They are) vulgar, sick stuf. It's a sign of a person who doesn't get it, who doesn't get the basic standards of decency, doesn't get humour and doesn't get responsibility.

"When you publish you have a responsibility, she's published and she should be damned."

Another article published on DiVine

Today my third article for DiVine was published.

You can view it at the DiVine website.

It's about the challenges I face with being questioned about my appearance.

Thanks for reading!

I was also contacted today to give an interview to a local newspaper about why I contribute to DiVine. Will keep you updated.

Tune into Radio Carly's first giveaway!

To celebrate Tune into Radio Carly nearing on 30,000 clicks, and the opportunities that have come about because of this blog, and to thank you readers, I am holding my first giveaway! Three lucky readers will win a prize!

I have handmade some gift cards with some of the beautiful paper I used in my bookmaking subject. They are little cupcakes that come in a cute envelope.


And this is from the Kids in Berlin store in North Melbourne - it is a brooch designed and made by Australian design company Lab Three O Five. It is made from wood that has been laser cut.

I adore brooches and this is definitely something I would wear.

The one I have for you has a little tail.

Finally, I have the latest edition of Frankie Magazine.

This is a gorgeous Australian magazine that features cute crafty accessories and Australian fashion labels, plus intelligent articles.

To enter, please leave a comment on this post by 5pm Friday 7 May. You can comment as an anonymous poster if you like, but please leave your name so I know who to mention/contact if you are the lucky winner.

Winners will be notified on Saturday 8 May on this blog!

Good luck!

I love giving presents :)

PS: Don't forget to check out the Tune into Radio Carly FaceBook page!

Carly and Kristy's Mexican fiesta

Firstly, I must apologise for any typos I may make, or silliness. I found half a bottle of red wine that Mum had left behind (I'll buy you a new bottle, Mum, I promise!) and I am a Moscato drinker which has very little alcohol, so this red wine is having quite an affect on me!

I was lucky enough for my friend Kristy to be spending the work week in Melbourne. So we went out for dinner again on Thursday. It was a hoot. Especially when I went to the toilets and the sensor light switched off and made it so dark that I was unable to see anything and worried that someone had actually switched the light off in readiness to kill me. Then I realised that if I couldn't even do up my fly in such darkness, the murderer probably wouldn't have been able to kill me.

I digress.

We went to Taco Bills. It was the smallest Taco Bills ever. And hidden away. We were very surprised. My super spiky high heels weren't conducive to walking up and down the three flights of stairs, particularly after the carafe of Mexican punch (non alcoholic red cordial) we had consumed. It was economical at $6.95 to get a litre, though felt just as detrimental as if we'd drunk a litre of real punch. Hyperactive!

I love the contrast of the limes with the bright red punch.

I said to Kristy, 'I don't know if we can drink a litre of that stuff.'
She replied, 'Yeah, we were a bit ambitious.'

But we drank it all!

We ate the following:

Beef rolled up in corn tortillas. I didn't say this at the time, but they sort of looked like Schmackos, but didn't taste like them. Once when I was a kid I ate a dog biscuit, and also some fish food. So I can vouch that our first course at Taco Bills tasted much better than Schmackos. Unless Schmackos have changed their recipe.


Nachos. It was melted cheese deliciousness. Watch out arteries! Kristy let me eat all the guacamole too! She is too lovely!


Chicken burritos with rice and beans. We probably didn't need this course because we were SO FULL, but we powered on. Because there are starving children in third world countries, I felt the need to eat the whole burrito.


Kristy had the creme caramel. She said it was nice. I had a small bite but I don't like caramel. Sometimes I feel I am the only one in the world not to like caramel.


I had half of this chocolate mousse. I didn't eat any of the cream - I believe it was cream from a can. The mousse was yummy.


And this is how fabulous we looked, combined with some of the funny things we said (I typed them into my iPhone for future use - well they were funny at the time! I guess you had to be there....):


Kristy: 'she's got a Mexican hat!. She is serious about her Mexican!' (We tried to get ourselves a hat, but our Mexican punch didn't qualify for a free one!)


Carly: 'I could eat a whole litre of melted cheese...hold on, how would you measure melted cheese? Kilos or litres?' (We decided litres.)


Kristy: 'Id expect smut from Channel 10, but Channel 7 is so CONSERVATIVE!' (This ended our conversation about all the raunchy sex scenes we've seen on TV lately.)


Kristy: 'Did she forget her pants? Everyone that reads your blog will think I am the meanest girl in the world.' (For the record, Kristy is not mean, she was merely reacting to a girl that should have been wearing pants underneath her dress that was more like a tee shirt.)


Carly: 'Are you wearing jeans?'
Kristy: 'Yep.'
Carly: 'Same. I'm gonna undo my top button when we get in the car.'
Kristy: 'Same.'

So it was a wonderful night. I went to bed feeling like a whale covered in melted cheese. Kristy is awesome!

(PS: no jeans buttons were undone in the car).

(PPS: Visit the new Tune into Radio Carly FaceBook page and 'like' it!)

Tune into Radio Carly FaceBook page!

So in the art of procrastination (I am equivalent to Van Gogh as a procrastinator!) I set up a FaceBook page for this blog.

You can view, and 'like' it here - Tune into Radio Carly FaceBook page.

I don't know how to install the plug-in for this blog. Can someone please help me? Thank you :)

There is not much on the FaceBook page yet, but I hope that it will be a way for you to interact more - leave a message for me - maybe suggest some topics I could cover in this blog.

Ok, so right after I tweak the page, I will pay full attention to my uni texts.

Thanks for liking!