Kickapoo Joy Juice - Impromptu Asian Snack Challenge

As uber glamourous fashionista and domestic goddess Faux Fuschia would say, I was Challenging the Paradigm with the Asian Snack Challenge last Wednesday. Not only was it impromptu because of an afternoon uni class and we only expected there to be one more Asian Snack Challenge, but I challenged myself by sourcing ingredients for dinner. And that is how I applied the concept of Challenging the Paradigm to my life. I thought I never would.

We had a bit of time, because at that time of the day there are express trains that don't run to our station, thus a good amount of minutes between trains.

Here is what we saw:

This donkey. He teeters between cute and ugly.

You push a lever and his tongue pops out.

Popcorn.

A money box...

That doubles as a cute pudding holder.


My friend bought a plethora of snacks. None were good. NONE. Even he will vouch for that.


Keripak Singkong. Pizza flavoured cassava chips.

They did NOT taste like Italian pizza, or any pizza for that matter.

Snow pea crisps.

They looked like snow peas but merely paid a homage to the actual snow pea. Really, they were snow peas and a heap of preservatives and other stuff ground down and moulded into snow pea shapes. Probably would have been quicker to snap freeze some snow peas. But I doubt there is an abundance of snow peas to satiate the perceived desire for snow pea chips.

Kickapoo Joy Juice. I love this name. My friend said it was a cross between lime and passiona.

Sweet dried plums. Wow, these were out of this world. And not in a good way. Space junk out of this world.

The experience of eating these was a pretty shitty situation. Even shittier than the situation that could have been with the drunk man on the train asking my name.

The sweet dried plums were the saltiest thing we'd ever tasted. Ever. They should come with a health warning. I believe salt was the ingredient that came before sugar and after plums.

It was a funny Asian Snack Challenge, despite the lack of energy in this blog entry, and we laughed and laughed as usual.

Here was my haul.

For dinner


I bought chicken frying flour, migoreng noodles and tofu.



I made a stirfry with vegies already in my fridge. I coated the tofu with the chicken frying flour. It was as underwhelming as this photo.


And my haul of snacks.
I have not eaten the sweets. I am actually not fond of lollies. Just the cuteness of them.
'This is cute. What is it?' is a line often used on the Asian Snack Challenge.

This is mushroom jerk. It is like beef jerky but mushroom.


This is me with mushroom jerk.

Mushroom jerk is not to be confused with my ex boyfriend.

Yim Yam

Mum was down to stay this weekend and we ate dinner at Yim Yam.

Yim Yam has a wonderful mix of meals from Thailand and Laos heritage. I had never eaten there before, but I have bought takeaway three times – just the red duck curry which is delicious.

Last night was the coldest night I've experienced for a while. Icy! A great night for spicy Asian food.

We shared:

Fish cakes with sweet chili and lemongrass sauce


Steamed chicken wrapped in pandan leaves – the flavour in the chicken was amazing – so sweet.


Roti bread


I had seafood curry cooked in a young coconut. It was packed full of real seafood, none of this frozen plastic seafood extender stuff.


And the novelty of eating from a coconut was fun!

Mum had a very spicy prawn stirfry.

She eats chili in everything and said that these chilis were exceptionally hot.

I also had a thai custard dish. I don't know what it tasted like...bread and butter pudding would be the closest.


The service was great and the prices were cheap.

Even the house wine was nice!

I am wearing a dress thrifted from the lovely Mez. I have about four layers of clothing on due to the cold.

There is a huge artwork on the wall which I love. It is so vibrant. Here is some of it.


I showed Mum the wonders of the Hipstamatic camera iPhone app.






We had lots of laughs. It was a nice, but freezing night!

On why I blog

So I was asked a few questions by a lovely Norwegian called Soul Princess.

I happened to find one of her blogs because I did a search for bloggers who love Silverchair.

Here are her questions. I think they are really pertinent to me, particularly for my upcoming research on the way blogging helps create a sense of identity and community for people with chronic illnesses and disabilities.

How much does your online, and blogging life interact with your real life?
Is it a big part of it?
Is it really separate?
Or is your blog a mechanism to improve your real life or your business?

I have been blogging on and off for around eleven years. It's always been to allow me to write.

My first blog was at Diaryland. I think I let it lapse and now my writing is no longer online, but I have some print outs. I don't think I used my name in it but I did reveal a bit about myself.

One blog was completely anonymous - it was everything I wanted to say to my first love but couldn't. It was a bit dark and 'arty' I guess. I would write short entries that were either to the point or really poetic. There was a lot of lowercase letters and square [parenthesis].

This was one entry:

~ you threatened to change your telephone number.  
i wish i had the means to change the address to my heart.  
...if i had, you wouldn't have been able to enter, steal then break. ~

I don't think 'emo' was a coined phrase in 2000, but this anonymous blog was bordering on emo, minus the straightened, side-swept fringe.

I then had a blog where I just put up my poetry.

This was one of the poems:

Would you kindly care
To dislodge yourself from my mind
After all, it has been a while since
You’ve left the store.
Thank you for your continued custom,
I guess.

There’s really no need to check
My life upon departure-
It’s pretty empty:
Memories have passed their
Used-by-dates.

I would like to purchase
A new set of feelings,
But mismatched memories are
An impulse buy.
Thus, I have overspent my
Ration of thoughts on you
For the day-
I always blow the budget.

I wonder what the going rate is
For a thought-free mind?
Thanks for your continued custom,
I guess.

It's embarrassing reading back over the poems now.

And I had one for my new media subject in the first semester of my Masters degree. It was part personal, part academic. I think this subject confirmed my love for new media.

The blog previous to this one is at Myspace. You need to request me as a friend if you want to read it. It was where I got serious about writing. Some entries are neither here nor there though.

I started this current blog, Tune into Radio Carly in December 2009, and it's taken off far more than I anticipated. I am not sure of my intention when I started it, other than to develop and showcase my writing to a wider audience than Myspace.

It's allowed me to really focus on quality writing, some research and honing my editing skills.

And it's also enabled huge interaction with people I know and strangers alike, which is the bit I like best about blogging.

Which brings me back to Soul Princess's question. How does my blog interact with my life – is it a part of it or is it separate? And is it a mechanism to improve my business or life?

My blog has become a HUGE part of my life. It is not separate to my life like some of my previous ones. It's not just a place where I ramble from topic to topic in one blog entry. (Though my 'For all things irrelevant' tagline may suggest that I do if one does not read on further...) I often wonder, while I am participating in an activity, whether I could blog about it. I might have a conversation with someone and ask them if I can blog about that concept/discussion. It's a place where I can be an advocate for what I believe in. And many times, I just blog because I have something on my mind and I think people may be interested to read about it.

I am very careful with what I publish on this blog – both in terms of the quality of writing, and choice of content. It's a folio of my writing, and also of the type of person I am. I guess I do want this blog to promote myself, particularly my writing. As I wrote once, I have always wanted to write creatively/journalistically outside of my day job, and this blog not only allows me to do that, but allows future employers to see my work (through me submitting it to them, and them seeking me out) and ask me to write for them if I am lucky. And I know that people at my place of day job employment read this. It's a bit like Brand Carly Findlay, isn't it? So I want to present a good, professional online persona without losing my personality (and I think this blog is a hugely accurate reflection of my actual personality).

This blog has afforded so many opportunities already. I was asked to write for DiVine. My writing was a large point of conversation at the short film making workshop. I 'modelled' for Business Chic. I spoke on ABC radio. I am soon going to facilitate a session about the benefits of writing at ChIPS. And my thesis topic is well sorted, ahead of time!

I have met many wonderful people, online and offline through blogging. Lots of people in the ichthyosis community have contacted me to tell me their story, and to say that some of my writing has helped them. What has made me really happy are the responses from the people who never took the time to get to know me better 'in real life' and can now see me as a person through my writing. Some of their responses has been amazing. I have come to better know others I've known in real life too.

Sometimes it feels like I reply to 'fan mail'. Sorry if that is a conceited term, but I do spend a lot of time replying to people through the blog or Facebook or emails.

My confidence has grown tenfold. And I suddenly find my calendar full!

This blog allows me to tell my story on my terms, and in my way. It is a tool to not only share what it's like living with my chronic illness, but to show that I'm more than it. That's why I enjoy blogging.

Homophobia in football

And this is the reason we have not progressed with the acceptance and appreciation of diversity that 2010 should hold.

Footballer, Jason Akermanis's opinion piece in today's Herald Sun.

I don't like football. Don't follow it. Don't have a team. Would rather it not be a part of my Melbourne life, but it seems unavoidable.

This opinion piece confirms my belief that footballers should stick to doing what they do best. Kicking balls on the field. Not have media careers unless they are going to offer a constructive and intelligent opinion.

Jason Akermanis believes that gay footballers should remain 'in the closet' because it could be detrimental to the football team. He does not think the football world is ready to accept homosexuality. And he admits to feeling uncomfortable around gay footballers in the change rooms.

'If you thought suicide was bad among young men, it is four to six times higher for people who are attracted to the same sex. It clearly can be a difficult and lonely road, one that hopefully can be made easier.

Now try being the first AFL player to come out. That is too big a burden for any player.'

Not only has Akermanis failed to mention the sources of his sketchy 'facts', but he hasn't made things any easier for gay footballers to come out. Not even when he says that he hopes things can be made easier for them.

I can sort of see his point, though it seems to be located in a really dim lit room full of cliches and testosterone, nudge nudge, wink winks and college jockery. The point I can sort of see is Akermanis's warning to gay footballers not to admit to being gay.

I can only sort of see his point from the perspective that coming out in the type of environment that Akermanis fosters through his narrow minded views would be detrimental to the emotional health and security of said footballers.

He suggests that the coming out of a high profile footballer would make international news and 'could break the fabric of the club'.

If the club had any fabric, it would be supportive and accepting. It shouldn't be a big deal. It shouldn't be an issue for the team. If anything, the team spirit created through support should be encouraging, respectful and promoting of inclusion, no matter sexual orientation.

Workplace diversity is such an important issue. And anti-discrimination is a legal issue. Why should the principles of workplace diversity not apply to a football team? I believe the football team is the footballer's workplace. There is a disparity here. Particularly when there has been a number of cases where footballers have been suspended or sacked from their team, or criminally charged for serious incidents in their private life that have been before the courts.

I have heard of football codes taking part in training programs about how to treat women respectfully. Could there be some sort of training program to tell them that homosexuality is ok and homophobia is not ok?

I imagine it would be so difficult to have to suppress your true self through fear of ramifications. Message to Akermanis and other footballers and the general public who share this view: coming out does not mean that homosexuality will be flaunted or become contagious.

If Akermanis is not given a speaking to by his team and the AFL chiefs about his homophobic attitude in addition to the dressing downs he has already received from community groups and the media - Crikey and Jack Marx have given good rebuttal, then maybe he should spend some time with one of the fantastic homosexuality support groups being run in Melbourne schools.

When I was 20 and living in a small town, I went shopping with my good friend to buy a present for his then boyfriend's 21st birthday. He wanted to buy his boyfriend a ring. I pretended to look for a ring for MY boyfriend, and said that I had my friend there to give his opinion. We often laugh about the whole experience because I didn't get my story straight from the outset, and at one jeweller, the sales assistant asked whether 'my' boyfriend liked silver or gold. I didn't know. 'Silver', my friend blurted out. It was a fun trip, all of our shopping trips were fun, but when I think back, we should't have had to shop under any guise. My friend should have been able to buy a ring for his boyfriend with no judgement or stigma.

In my opinion, when high profile gay people come out, it reduces the stigma surrounding homosexuality and may reassure gay people that it's ok to come out and be themselves. I can think of a number of high profile people who have come out, or have been openly gay since the start of their celebrity status, that have said that it's made a difference to their fans – gay or not. Ruby Rose. Daniel Kowalski. Darren Hayes. Beth Ditto. Adam Lambert.

Akermanis says, 'We have made massive steps in other areas of society and in time I hope the environment changes to a degree where coming out isn't a big deal.'

Well, this opinion piece has just confirmed that the environment will continue to be difficult for gay footballers, and that coming out will remain a big deal, because of the attitude and prejudices conveyed.

Victoria University released a report about homophobia in sport today. You can view a press release with a link to the full report here.

I wanna take a ride on your biscuit stick! Are you wooed yet? - Asian Snack Challenge

The Asian Snack Challenge was well deserved tonight. It was interrupted last week by some small event called The State Budget. And I delivered a presentation to my class tonight. My friend and I earned tonight's Snacks. Plus, I have a new iPhone that I can use to take bad and blurry photographs. And to celebrate, this is a mammoth blog entry.

Key observations (without pictures) of the Asian Snack Challenge tonight:
- squawking plastic chickens have sold by the dozen since the last blog entry about the Asian Snack Challenge. It is clear that people who have read this blog have coveted a plastic chicken.
- giant lollypops were excessive.
- there is simply too much Pocky.

Enjoy some pictures and other observations before I begin the commentary:

This is cute. A can that looks like a fruit with a face on it.

I have a distate for thin milk at the best of times.

Can I get a body like that? I shudder to think what's in the ingredients, even though it is the only product in store that has an accurate title.

Peacock biscuits. Are they blue and green?

When you eat these you will receive instant beauty.

'She was working in a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens,
'Til her boyfriend kicked her out in one of those crushing scenes.
What was she to do? Where was she to go? She was out on her fanny...
So over the bridge from Flushing to the Sheffield's door.
She was there to sell make-up, but the father saw more.
Fran as the Nanny She had style! She had flair! She was there.
That's how she became the Nanny!'

Alcoholic Asian Snack?

This drink has 'sweat' in its title. Apparently it replenishes moisture lost through exercise. Phew! It's not actual sweat!

Attention Uni Students: 40 packets of MiGoreng for $14.99! Would you like Pocky with that?

Romantic snacks




We had an audience as we photographed our haul tonight. Our Asian Snack Challenge was impinging on the ability of commuters to sit down. Impinging was a concept we learned in last semester's class. Now we can apply it!


My friend had Munchy's mini cheese. The size of the biscuit is not to scale with the picture on the packet. They were quite nice. A bit like the Arnott's Country Cheese biscuits sandwiched with some fake cheese filling.

He also had Pocky. Dark chocolate on biscuit stick. I love how literal the descriptions are.

I kept singing the Lady Gaga song Love Game but made a parody out of the Pocky situation.

'Let's have some fun, this beat is sick
I wanna take a ride on your biscuit stick'.

I know. I am ashamed I know the words and tune to a Gaga song enough to make a parody out of it.

Still, we laughed and laughed.

It was a family night tonight. Not on account of the participants of the Asian Snack Challenge, but the theme of my components of the Challenge. And to team with the theme, it was economical. $10.39 for four substantial snacks. Family friendly. With that budget, I am ready to provide for a family.

I bought a crushed strawberry drink.

It was actually delicious. Really.

There was this. Product title gold. Beer Mate.

Beer Mate is like crispy seaweed, only flimsier. Also tastes like fish food.


Apparently, you can enjoy Beer Mate anytime anywhere!

Translation of blurry image:
'Enjoy with beer
Enjoy on TV watching
Enjoy on picnic
Dietary snack for women'

Hahahaha. I assume the women don't drink beer, they just live on this Beer Mate. Sexist much?

We decided it is called Beer, Mate. 'Get on that Beer, Mate'.

And another product title gold. Wife Cake.



Like on most nights of the Asian Snack Challenge, I found the packets difficult to open. I could not open the Wife Cakes, and nor could my friend.
'Do you have a knife?' he asked me.
'Nope'.

'You must be the only one in Melbourne not to carry a knife on you'.

I opened and ate my Wife Cake at home. Wow. Wife Cakes are something else. Like a savoury biscuit filled with something spicy, something fishy and something sweet. The front of the packet says Spicy Salted Shrimp flavour.

I can't quite get my tastebuds around it.

The ingredients are unidentifiable without Googling. Tepung Gandum, Tepung Nutmeg, Gula, Minyak Masak, Garam, Bikian and Telur. If I was doing the MasterChef taste challenge for the ingredients of Wife Cake, I would fail. Dismally.

I also bought Hello Kitty marshmallow cones. Because they looked cute.


They came in strawberry, melon and orange flavour. They were like eating a bucket of sugar. I ate one.


Inside the Hello Kitty marshmallow cone packet, there was a bookmark.

'Yay! It's a bookmark. Oh good, something practical'.

I have a lot of leftovers tonight. The Snacks just weren't that great. I just wasn't that into them. My friend said I can serve them to potential suitors.

He suggested Wife Cakes are ideal for potential suitors. Never mind the taste.

I disagree.Potential suitors will be relying on my good looks alone to be wooed. Wife cakes just won't do it for them.

Beer, Mate is ideal to ply the potential suitor. It will also need to be combined with my good looks, because quite frankly, what potential suitor enjoys fish food?

See picture below for example of my Beer, Mate combined with my good looks.

Are you wooed yet?

And Hot Kid is the result of the potential suitor!


Next week is our last Asian Snack Challenge. Because it is our last class of uni EVER! Well, there is the small project known as the thesis to do, but no more uni classes. My leftovers from tonight will probably get me through the thesis, actually. I will be sad to end the Challenge.

Before I leave you, let me tell you, the Asian Snack Challenge has been commissioned for bigger and better things outside of this blog.

I know.
I didn't think there was a bigger or better thing than this blog.

But alas! Look out for the Asian Snack Challenge going global. I am serious.

My friend and I predict it will be featured on CNBC Asia soon. Stay tuned.

Another DiVine article!

I had another article published today.

This one is about the way going to work has improved me life.

You can read it on the DiVine website here.

Thanks for reading :)

Short film making

I spent two full days this weekend with ten fantastic people making a short film. The theme of the film was 'What is it like living in your body'.

Film maker Genevieve Bailey worked with community arts group Wild at Heart to explore the concept of body image for people with a disability. Our stories were told through the short film.

We worked together discussing what we would like the film to portray, discussed the stories we each wanted to tell, and how we would use symbols to represent us as individuals away from our disability.

It was an amazing experience.

Without giving too much away, my part of the film focused on my passions - listening to music and writing. It was so much fun to skip down Errol Street with my hands in my pockets listening to my iPod!

The film will be released in schools and online and in film festivals in the near future. I will let you know when it's online for viewing.

Aside from the serious (but fun) discussion about body image and recording audio and visual material, we had a hoot using PhotoBooth on my MacBook.



I met inspiring, articulate and creative people – some of these people have never had a chance to have their voice heard. Hearing their stories and spending 14 hours with them opened my eyes to the difficulties they face in their lives, but also their intelligence and achievements.

It made me feel lucky to have the freedom of use of my body that some of them don't have. But I feel luckiest to have been able to meet these people and to share our experiences and to explore a different way of telling my story.

(Back: Gen, Carly Albert, Jenny, Joseph;
Front: Beth, Elvira, Tash)

Blogging without make up.

So there is a little initiative today called bloggers without makeup. Jodie Ansted from Mummy Mayhem had the idea for this initiative, and it's really taken off.

Jodie said 'It feels right to do this, and I'm so glad there are so many who want to get involved. What a great example we will be to our kids, and also to young girls who think they have to look like a magazine cover all the time. (You DON'T ladies! You are gorgeous as you are!)'.

Some of my blogging friends (that's you Bern, Caf and Taryn) have posted photos of themselves without makeup and why they believe in the cause. Aren't they beautiful?!

Right now I am blogging without makeup. I always do ;)

I can't wear much makeup. I have some bronzer, but when my skin gets dry, the bronzer makes it look like a crocodile skin handbag. A cheap crocodile skin handbag because once my skin starts peeling, bronzed skin flakes off.

I sometimes wear nailpolish. I hate taking the stuff off. And about once a year I will wear lipstick.

As for makeup on others - yeah, when it's minimal it can look nice, but my belief is to be yourself. Why hide your inner and outer beauty with makeup so thick you need a trowel to apply and remove it?

I like to look good - I take pride in what I wear, but I despise vanity. I believe it's time consuming, annoying and shallow.

It agitates me to see girls fixing their makeup in public, worried that a stray hair or smudged eyeliner may ruin their day. Get some perspective. Why should women feel pressured to wear makeup to change the way they look? When did we forget about inner beauty? Natural beauty?

I hear some of you wonder what the point of me taking part in this initiative seeing I can't wear makeup.

Well! Today I am sharing one of my favourite photos of myself with you. I love the closeup shot, the way the black and white takes the severity of my skin away, and the way my smile lights up. It was taken by my lovely friend Jo Ginn.


My wish is for everyone to love the skin you're in. If I can do it, you can too :)

Radio Carly further featured on Business Chic!

So a couple of weeks back you may remember I mentioned meeting the lovely Cheryl from the Business Chic blog for a bit of a photoshoot. I went to the Alexi Freeman store in GPO Melbourne.

Well, Cheryl has done another blog entry featuring some other fabulous fashionistas (and fashionmisters) and me!

You can check our her blog entry here! You will need to scroll down the page to see me.

Thanks Cheryl for featuring me - so proud to be a part of your blog!

The power of one - a public thank you

It's difficult to know the impact you have on someone else in this world.

People can say thank you, or smile in appreciation.

But in general, you don't often find out the emotional impact you have on someone else, particularly someone you don't know very well.

Of course, just by being nice and helpful, you can make someone's day. I once bought a sandwich and lemonade for a man I see regularly at the hospital and he told me it made his week.

And after ChIPS camps, we receive books called 'warm fuzzies' that are made up of messages from both young people and staff on the camp. Reading the messages is very moving, and on each bus trip home I am teary knowing how I've helped someone else on camp. I often look through my warm fuzzies on bad days.

A bit over a week ago I received an email that overwhelmed me to the point of tears. I was at dinner with Kristy when the email came through.

It's interesting because I have always been amazed at the people who take the time to comment on my blog, often offering compliments. The majority of comments make me smile, and it is nice knowing that I might be helping some of my readers in a small way.

The email I received was written with such emotional openness and honesty. It's not often that we see people reveal these emotions to us. Maybe that's why it was so overwhelming to me, because many people keep their feelings to themselves.

It was from a friend who I haven't seen in many years. I don't actually know him that well. Like most of the friends I haven't seen for many years, we are back in touch because of FaceBook.

The email was titled 'You're awesome'.

My friend showed absolute courage in writing this email to me.

He told me about his struggles in life. Serious struggles that I can't imagine how he copes with. Sometimes he doesn't cope. Out of respect to him, I am not going to detail his struggles here (I have sought his permission to write this blog entry).

After he shared this with me, I cried. It saddened me to know what he's been through.

I then read on further.

'Today, I got onto Facebook and saw your smiling face.
You are the person I admire the most. Not my favourite rock stars or sports personalities. YOU.
99% of the time I see your posts they are very constructive and mostly of some joy.
I wish I had the courage that you have.

I wish you everything Carly. You are the most beautiful person I have ever met.
When I see the pics of you smiling, it makes me smile.

Thankyou.'

Wow.

I set out writing this blog entry intending to end it with some sort of moral I've learnt. But even today, reading my friend's words again, I am at a loss to articulate how I feel.

Here's a bit of my reply.

'I am so sorry for the troubles you have had. You've been through some huge things and I admire the courage of your honesty tonight. You put things in perspective for me - that so many people have demons and life is a struggle for lots of people, so be kind to everyone you meet.

Your message confirms that who I am did mean something to someone from back in those school days. And while I know it's been about 20 years since then, it makes me happy to think that maybe I had an impact on someone back then, for them to want to know me now.

I didn't realise that I could truly have such an impact on someone like I have done for you. You said that you admire me out of anyone. That is ... I can't explain how it makes me feel. It's overwhelming, but almost a privilege. I didn't know I had the power to make anyone feel that way. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It takes a lot of courage to say what you just did tonight.'

While I somehow improved his life a little, until then unbeknown to me, my friend has also made my world a better place.

Esty purchases

Esty is amazing! I love buying unique accessories, and for this, Etsy is gold!

Here are some recent purchases.

MacBook decal from CraftyGalDecals



I have been wanting to personalise my MacBook for a while now and I was really impressed with how it looks.

This necklace from Earring Nation


Earring Nation stocks some really pretty, whimsical jewellery - not your every day. Just my thing. It has not arrived yet, but already I am itching to wear it.

And finally, to satiate my love of brooches, this bunny brooch from Rulitos81


Rulitos81 is the daughter of a colleague. When the parcel arrived, it was wrapped so beautifully and came with a little gloss printed personalised card and a fridge magnet.

I highly recommend you checking out these sellers.