Comically Sans

Daring Bakers Challange March 2011 - Meringue Coffee Cake

2011-04-05T15:50:00.001+10:00

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

Now this kind of challenge is right up my alley. I LOVE making bready stuff. There's something about the kneading and how it changes consistency and then it rises and it's like magic and then there's the smell.... *sigh* I could go on and on...

I figured that two massive wheels of this would be too hard to share out to people so I decided to make a wheel with half of it and treat the rest like chelsea buns.

The dough as I put it aside to rise.

The dough once it was risen.

The fillings all ready to go.

Dough rolled out and meringue ready to go.

meringue spread out

Topping in place and rolling started. I went for the traditional chocolate, pecans and cinnamon-sugar.

I can't resist a macro shot and it all looks so pretty!

Dough rolled up.

I rolled my dough onto baking paper and a flexible cutting board.

Ring closed up.

I cut with kitchen scissors.

The finished result. It was flatter than I'd expected and I think it was in about 5 mins too long but it still looks good (I think).

For the chelsea bun versions I cut the log into sections with a knife.

I greased and floured muffin tins and put the segments in in various ways.

The buns after the second rise.

Another gratuitous macro shot.

And this is one of the buns cut in half. Yummo!

And this is a segement from the wheel. The texture, although a little dry (must watch the clock!) was really great and something new for me. I will definitely be trying this recipe again with variations in filling. It was a great hit with everyone who tried it and I have requests for Easter.

The Return to Daring Baking

2011-04-05T15:50:00.000+10:00

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Well I have had quite a while off from Daring Baking- the easiest way to word my hiatus is to say that life got in the way. And when I finally returned, what did I get? Panna Cotta. Oh dear.

I'm vegetarian so have stayed away from anything with gelatine in it and have also bloused out from gelatine substitutes but my pride wouldn't let me take a pass on my first month back the the bakers so I just had to do it and I must say, I think it was a bit of a fail. Don't get me wrong, the flavour was great and the texture was smooth and creamy but, due to insufficient experimentation with galtin substitutes, my panna cotta, although firm, would not hold its own shape. Consequently, I got all snitty and didn't take as good photos as I could have.

The florentine went better but took a bit of experimentation to find just the right amount of time to cook them so they were an relatively even brown and not just brown at the edges (I was worried about them burning) because if they don't brown all the way across the buscuit, all you have a floppy florentines.

So. The panna cottta. I made a vanilla one with a mixed berry gelee and used Xanthan Gum instead of gelatine because I am vegetarian.

This was my great innovative presentation idea which failed abysmally. I put shot glasses inside poaching cups and poured the panna cotta around it. The intention was to pull the shots glasses out once the panna cotta had set and put in the berry gelee. Unfortunately my panna cotta didn't set enough so when I pulled the shot glass out, it all just kinda slopped in on itself. Very demoralising.

And so I pinned all my hopes on the florentines. These turned out to be trickier than I had expected. I'm glad the mixture makes to many because it took me several goes to work out exactly how long they had to cook to set properly. It seems it really is very important that they are brown all the way through but it's a fine line between that and burning. The ones below are an example of my first ones- these aren't cooked enough to set properly.

This is what they had to look like to set properly.

I draped some over a rolling pin to curve them.

Curved Florentines drizzled with dark chocoalte.

Flat versions also covered in dark chocolate. These are amazingly addictive!

Daring Bakers Challange #2- Apple Strudel

2009-06-02T10:27:00.005+10:00

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Okay so I'm so way late with this post that I don't know if it even counts for this month but goddamnit, I made the strudel and I'm gonna blog it. I seriously need to start these challenges earlier in the month though to give myself the time to go to town on them like some other Daring Bakers do. I am put to shame.

As it was, once started, this was rather fun. I did two batches of the pastry as instructed (see below) and my second one was definitely better than the first. After rolling the pastry as thin as I could and doing some gentle pulling it out by stretching it over my forearms, I finished it off by gently tipping the pastry over the edge of the table and let gravity do the work of thinning it out as it hung and I then pulled/rolled it (the tablecloth) back over the table edge. Then I just had to thin the edges out by hand. I thought I had way too much filling for one strudel (maybe my pastry wasn't big enough) and when the pastry came out of the oven, the top layer seemed too solid to me which would seem to indicate that it was too thick but once cooled this didn't seem to be an issue. Since reading this Daring Baker's entry, I think my problem may have partially been not using clarified butter so I'll have to try this again at some point. That said, it did taste good and a large portion of it was inhaled by my flatmate as soon as it came out of the oven.

Another Daring Baker whose challenges I regularly check is Tartlette. Between the stunning photography and innovative twists on challenges, I know I'm going to be torn between awe, inspiration and horrible envy.

Preparation time
Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes

15-20 min to make dough
30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling
20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough
10 min to fill and roll dough
30 min to bake
30 min to cool

Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Tips
- Ingredients are cheap so we would recommend making a double batch of the dough, that way you can practice the pulling and stretching of the dough with the first batch and if it doesn't come out like it should you can use the second batch to give it another try;
- The tablecloth can be cotton or polyster;
- Before pulling and stretching the dough, remove your jewelry from hands and wrists, and wear short-sleeves;
- To make it easier to pull the dough, you can use your hip to secure the dough against the edge of the table;
- Few small holes in the dough is not a problem as the dough will be rolled, making (most of) the holes invisible.

I am Aynia's unventable spleen

2009-05-21T10:55:00.003+10:00

It's a paradox. I have this blog which is a public forum and when something goes wrong, I like the idea that I can vent my spleen into the publicity of cyberspace and someone reads my rant and commiserates or laughs and even if they never comment to let me know, I still know that surely someone out there must have felt that way too. But this is a public forum and as such, one can't really properly vent one's spleen about certain things. Like certain clients one might have. I use two things to gauge my rants- (1) would I say it to their face (2) will it damage my business if this opinion is made public? If I wouldn't say it to their face, I sure as hell shouldn't write it behind their back and ship it off into cyberspace. I may have several hypocritical niggles in my persona but that facet ain't one of them. I guess it's because if someone's pissed off at me, I'd like to think they have the balls to say it to my face instead of mouthing off behind my back. As for (2), well that's just common sense.

But on to happier things, these Passionfruit Melting Moments are next on my baking hitlist. Mmmmmmmmmmm, passionfruit.

One Silly Ball

2009-05-14T06:54:00.002+10:00

I don't know if I've written you guys a list yet of the many things I find funny about Australia. The wildlife rates up there pretty highly. They have birds that sound like monkeys, lizards that sound like birds and several species that look like leftover bits of many other animals all stuck together.

And the Aussies themselves are a constant source of amusement for me. On the whole they're very friendly and I've never met chattier shop people in my life and whereas I find it amusing that they seem to be able to shazza dazza just about anyone's name (and if they can't, they slap an "-o" on the end) but I thought my name was safe.

Apparently I was wrong.

In the absence of being able to 'azza' or 'o' me, at least two Aussies here (and that's two more people than have dared ever before in my life) have decided to shorten me to one sillyball (I've been thinking of BlackAdder recently). It's done so off-the-cuff and unexpectedly that I'm left blinking to myself going, "Did they just call me Aan?!" Because that's what it sounds like when you leave off the rest of my name. And you know what? I don't think I mind.* I never had a nickname growing up, my sister is the only one who has ever got away with shortening my name, so something supposedly as minor as this is rather novel for me. But seriously- only the Aussies mate, only the Aussies would try this.

And since I'm on the topic of Aussies and language, I feel the need to bring up something which really cracks me up and this is their use of the word shit.
That really shits me.
I cracked the shits.
It's shitting me to tears.
The last is my personal favourite and makes me giggle almost as much as when I first heard a Brit say, "It all went tits-up."

*Don't you go getting any ideas though. I'm quite happy with everyone using my name in full. More than quite happy.

Apple glory

2009-04-30T14:56:00.007+10:00

I haven't check up on Mac vs PC ads for ages and oh the hilarity that has ensued this afternoon. Excuse the crap quality of my embedded YouTube vids but I had to share a couple of my favs. Check out the Apple site for the complete archive.

Incidentally, I did not know about that new face recognition software on iPhoto and I actually went, "Holy crap!" out loud when I heard that. That is so cool and so handy. I am in awe.

geek niche

2009-04-30T09:49:00.000+10:00

"Comic Sans walks into a bar, bartender says, 'We don't serve your type.'"

Daring Bakers' Challenge #1- cheesecake

2009-04-28T09:55:00.003+10:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

crust
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

This was my first Daring Bakers Challenge and I wish I had had more time to do something superfancy. There also wasn't any specific occasion to bake for, which in my mind can make choosing the variation an easier job. I therefore decided to stay fairly plain and went citrus. To the basic recipe I added finely grated rind of two lemons and one orange. For the topping I caramelized (kinda) finely sliced orange with some sugar, rum and some lemon juice.

I wanted to do some mini ones so roughly guessed amounts and spread out the base between eight cupcake paper cups and put the rest in a foil-lined small round casserole sigh we had. (I lined it with foil so that I could pull it out of the dish later). Of course the small ones cooked sooner than the large one so I couldn't cool them in the oven. Thank goodness it's warm in Brisbane! Also with this many things in the oven, I couldn't do a proper water bath so just put a pan in the bottom of the oven. It worked a charm- no cracks. This recipe is amazingly forgiving. The larger cheesecake ended up being quite deep so I was worried it wouldn't cook properly in the middle. As soon as it started browning on top, I covered it lightly in foil and that did the trick.

I will without a doubt be making this recipe again. In fact I'm pretty sure it's my new permanent always-use-it-cheesecake-recipe. I really want to try out variations that have been posted by other bakers.

Tea for two. Or more.

2009-04-23T06:47:00.005+10:00

I've seen this mug before and can't remember if I've blogged about it but I'd been talking about the need for a Pantone colour tea cup for ages before I saw this. It's comforting to see someone else saw the need...

No explanation needed really. I do have one objection though, the link to this mug is on the website boystomengifts.com. I BEG YOUR PARDON?!!!! Do only men want cool and quirky office-esque gifts? I know many women who would find this a cool gift. Hmpf.

Oh the number of times this could have saved my bacon! Although I got very proud at being able to hold 4 mugs in one go and not spill a drop or burn my knuckles.

The only problem I can see with this mug is that it will only hold 2 biscuits. Maybe three at a squeeze but they'd have to be thin. Otherwise I think it's simply ingenious. I'd want one, that's for sure.

This isn't really a mug that will make drinking easier in any way but I worked with photographers for a while and as a themed mug, I reckon this is one of the better ones I've seen.

Here is the link to the page where I found these. Follow it to see more interesting designs and also further links to info about the cups, how there were designed, where to buy them etc. I'm just sticking to the pretty pictures for now.

teeny tiny glory

2009-04-22T09:42:00.008+10:00

I'm a huge fan of the miniature and have a fondness for dioramas so when I came across these at cheekymagpie.com, I was lost in love. it's like a diorama in a matchbox but because you can open and close them, they're like little boxes of joy. I'm gonna be buying matches just to make me some of these. Or I could just use this link for a template to make your own matchbox. (HA! Yeah- more like put it on the list of things I want to do in my spare time. I'm afraid it has to come after updating my website, changing this blog design and doing up a coffee table I bought recently. Never mind packing on Friday, fitting in my first Daring Bakers Challenge and moving on Sunday. As well as my normal work. Could I please have 2 more days in the week thanks? I don't think 48 hours is that much to ask.

Both images from www.cheekymagpie.com

Okay so I'm writing this next bit a couple of hours later but I had to add this in. You know how once you see something somewhere you suddenly start to see it everywhere? Well this has turned into my day of matchbox stumbling and I just had to share these other gems with you.

I mean how adorable are these? And they could be adapted for so many things. Little party favours for kids, place settings, mini-pressies for ppl. They're just a really cute way to contain small stuff. Check out inchmark.squarespace.com.

Similarly, this is also another cool use for these things. Check out Little Window Shoppe.

NB- The recipe for the hot cross buns has now been added to that entry. Just click here to jump to it. Enjoy.

ladies bring a bib

2009-04-16T16:09:00.002+10:00

You have to give it to Adidas, their marketing people are geniuses. What I would love to know is if this latest promotion for NZ rugby was devised by women or men. I know where I'd be placing my bets...

On this site, you can pick from five of NZ's best strapping lads and get them to swap shirts. It's hilarious, it's objectifying, it's gratuitous and part of me knows that I should think it's wrong but- it's got slo-mo replay. And that has to be right. I want to work for Adidas advertising, their job must be awesome.

hot cross glory

2009-04-15T12:53:00.009+10:00

I'll admit it, I pleasantly surprised myself this year. I try to make hot cross buns every year and although they do taste good, they have previously been rather, umm.... how does one tactfully put it? Aaah yes, solid. One hot cross bun and you're full. Two hot cross buns and you wouldn't need concrete shoes. But this year- light and fluffy! I was so relieved! I don't know what was different, apart from the recipe, but I'll be sticking with this one from now on just in case that was it.

All packed into their tin ready to bake.

Closeup, it's compulsory by now, you should all know that.

Fresh from the oven, unglazed. They've even brown on the sides! I was stoked.

After the honey glaze, shiny hot cross glory.

Mmmmmmmmmmm.

HOT CROSS BUNS

INGREDIENTS
2x7g packkets granulated yeast
1/4C (55g) caster sugar)
1 1/2C warm milk
4C (600g) plain flour
1t mixed spice (I did 1/4 each of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg as that's what I had)
1/2t cinnamon
60g butter
1 egg
3/4C sultanas (I used a mix of citrus peel and sultanas)

FLOUR PASTE FOR CROSSES
1/2C plain flour
2t caster sugar
1/2C water (I added a bit more)

GLAZE
1T honey, melted with some hot water

METHOD
1- Combine yeast, sugar and milk in a small bowl, cover, stand in warm place about 10 mins until mix is frothy.
2- Sift flour and spices into large bowl. Run in butter. Stir in yeast mixture, egg and sultanas; mix to a soft sticky dough. Cover; stand in warm place about 45 mins or until doubled in size.
3- Grease 23cm square slab cake tin. (Or I just put some baking paper in and don't grease it at all.)
4- Turn dough onto floured surface, knead about 5 mins or until smooth. Divide dough into 16 pieces, knead into balls. Place balls into prepared pan; cover, stand in warm place about 10 mins or until buns have risen to top of pan. (This took longer for me, left them for close to 30 mins.)
5- Meanwhile preheat oven to 200- 220C˚ (I suggest you gauge this depending on your oven. You want it hot but when you put them in, if they look like they're browning too quickly, turn the temp down a bit or put some greaseproof paper over the top them.)
6- Place flour paste for crosses in piping bag fitted with small plain tube, pipe across buns.
7- Bake buns in hot oven about 20 mins or until well browned. Turn buns onto wire rack and brush generously with glaze. I tend to do several coats as it the glaze gets absorbed quite quickly initially.

the cook and the chef

2009-04-08T19:21:00.007+10:00

I'm a sucker for a cooking show and even when they're crap, I seem to find it very hard to look away. Even if I can't stand the presenters (don't get me started on Nigella, I could rant on forever) but in this case, I love the show and the presenters. For those not in Aussie, you will not be familiar with The Cook and the Chef but it's great. And if you check out the website, they have videos you can watch. As a vegetarian, I'm usually hanging out for the desserts for anything I could actually make myself but I still find it fascinating to watch the meaty stuff being cooked. (And I even think that some of it looks good enough to eat!

What caught my eye tonight was Potato Dauphinoise- something I've always been a sucker for but this one is slightly different in that it's cooked in the pot and then put under the grill to brown up. Previously, I've always just put it in the oven from the get-go. I don't know if this method cooks quicker than the traditional method but I'm willing to give it a go. I've put in a screen grab of teh recipe, clicking on the pic will take you to the website.

I will also have to try this recipe for Apple Fool. I lurve just about anything with cooked apple (or indeed apple flavoured or apple scented anything...) and this is a quick and easy dessert (apart from remembering ot make it far enough in advance to chill it) but I really like the way the apple has been flavoured up as it cooked. I tend to add some lemon, some sugar, a bit of cinnamon if appropriate but this version sounds scrummy!

Brisbane Stitch and Craft Show

2009-04-03T08:26:00.003+10:00

Bonsai in Snow by Lara Cameron

YAY!

Ink and Spindle is coming to the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show! I'm so ridiculously excited about it, they have no idea. If they did they'd be scared. I've been in love with their creations for ages now and it's just great to think I'll get to meet them and pick their brains.

In fact I'm really looking forward to the show in general. I'm hoping it'll be a great place to get ideas, find out what the Brisbane craft scene is like and hopefully make some connections. 'Craft' gets such a bad rep these days (tea cozies, knitted doilies and tissue covers) but there is some seriously awesome hand-crafted stuff out there which is, I think, what it's all about. Apart from the fact that it's the path I seem to be headed down myself, I've always liked the idea of the personal touch and I think in today's world, the key is the compromise between having that hand-crafted, personal feel to things but using elements of mass-production and modern technology to make it economically sustainable. I'm hoping the Ink & Spindle seminar on 'A Home Based Craft Business' will help with this.

cool alphabet book

2009-04-03T08:20:00.002+10:00

I'm not even sure where I came across this link initially any more, probably design*sponge (the default for all awesome stuff I seem to come across on the web) but this is awesome and it has totally renewed my obsession (yet another one...) with pop-up books.

In other news, I'm swamped with work for the first time in a long time and although it's great, poor little Aynia Brain is a little unused to it. (Oh woe is me, blah blah woof woof.) So of course now that I have 'real' work, all I can think about is the non-paid stuff I want to do for myself. I have some projects to post and a website I REALLY need to design, I should set myself a deadline...

joining the daring bakers

2009-03-29T19:28:00.010+10:00

I'm going to become a Daring Baker! It's very exciting and also a bit intimidating. I've been following Daring Bakers for over 6 months now- in fact probably closer to a year and finally decided to take the plunge. They have recently launched an awesome new website, the daring kitchen which you should check out but to summarise:

The Daring Bakers: A History
In November 2006, Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice decided to challenge themselves to bake pretzels for the very first time using the same recipe. They each went ahead and posted about it on November 18, 2006.

Having enjoyed that experience tremendously, they decided to try it again the next month, this time choosing to bake biscotti. And to make matters even better, they were joined by a few more food bloggers.

As the months went by, their baking group continued to grow, until it was finally decided that this "little baking group" had to have a name and The Daring Bakers were born!

Today, The Daring Bakers span the world as bakers of all nationalities come together once a month to try something new in the kitchen!

Now I know I like to think I can bake but what will my first challenge be? Will it flop? Will it be awesome? And, almost more importantly, will I be able to take good photos of it? I should seriously look in to doing a food photography course, there's only so much I can do at home with my trusty sony compact and my imagination.

I'm slowly going to start catching up on the backlog I have of baking photography and will put recipes up as well. Pics are all well and good but I'm always gutted if something looks good enough to eat and there's no recipe on how to do it! So for now, I will leave you guys with my latest endeavour, Banana Malteser Muffins. Believe it or not, it's a Weight Watcher's Recipe and it's bloody good!
BANANA MALTESER MUFFINS

Makes 16 muffins

400 g plain white flour
4 tsp baking powder
200 g brown sugar
150 g Mars Maltesers
2 whole whole egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
100 g butter
200 ml milk
2 medium banana, mashed

-Preheat oven to 180°C. Place 16 paper muffin cases into a muffin tray, or line muffin holes with 8 squares of baking paper.
- Sift flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add brown sugar and stir to combine. Reserve 16 Maltesers for decoration and cut the rest in half. Add these to mixing bowl and stir to combine.
-In a jug, combine egg, vanilla essence, melted spread and milk. Stir into dry ingredients with mashed banana until just combined. Do not overmix.
-Spoon into paper cases and transfer to oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until risen and golden. Cool.

NOTES:
1- I only had 8 paper cases and the rest were silicone ones which were smaller so my paper cases were really full and they rose up perfectly and were great so I reckon you could put this over a dozen paper cases and they should be fine.
2- This is their icing recipe:
Beat 200g cream cheese and 2 tsp brown sugar with electric beaters, allowing a couple of minutes for the sugar to dissolve. Spread an equal amount onto each muffin, then place a Malteser on top!
I just about never following icing recipes and in fact was icing some biscuits first and had some icing left over (melted butter, lemon juice, icing sugar) and just took the left over of that and mixed in some Philly lite. (and natural food colouring)

This one's a little blurry but is a nice shot of my kitchen timer beside a muffin. I didn't even see the resemblance until my Mum pointed it out.

but wait, there's more!
As if one baking cahllenge a month weren't enough, I've also signed on to the Daring Cookers and through the complex path that in web surfing, came across sugar high friday which sounds like exactly my kind of thing. But I think before I commit to this one, I need to find some more people to feed. My current audience has mentioned that they will only be able to roll places in the not too distant future...

And if this book can teach me how to make decorations like the one on the left (lifted from Cream Puffs in Venice, well then I MUST get my grubby little oven mitts on a copy. Holy chocolate butterflies!

And this book also looks like another gem. I try not to judge by covers but when it's hard, especially when it comes to cookbooks! (Yup, I've been trawling through Cream Puffs in Venice again. I tend to find a new blog and totally scour through it, like playing a new CD on repeat for about a week. I'm awful like that.)

The thing is- I keep finding all these 'things' that I can do each week or month. I can Daring Bake, I can Daring Cook, I can Sugar High Friday but I haven't even managed to Illustration Friday it yet. I'm shocking. And I'd really like to Paper Cut Month it but now that freelance stuff is taking off (s-l-o-w-l-y but surely it would seem, fingers crossed), time for these things seems even more scare than before. What's that I hear you say? Enough with the excuses Noever, make like Nike and just do it. Indeed. Although it's much more in my style to make like Yoda.*

*"Try not, do, or do not. There is no try." I'm only writing this for the benefit of those who are so culturally deprived as to not be able to guess what I was going on about.

whose litte pony?

2009-03-28T09:01:00.009+10:00

Some of my friends find the coolest things on the internet. I came across this posted link on Facebook this morning and it totally made my day. I love things like this. Totally awesome.

The much-loved children's toy, My Little Pony, has undergone an extraordinary transformation. The new collection sees the ponies mimic a variety of characters from cult films like Batman and Alien.

The creator Mari Kasurinen, who admits she preferred Star Wars dolls to My Little Pony as a child, has been inundated with orders for the quirky toys, which are on sale for a whopping £330 each

I had to put every photo on, they are all just great, I cannot choose a fav, can you? All photos by Mari Kasurinen and check out marikasurinen.com.

Eames envy

2009-03-06T12:27:00.004+10:00

Hello my name is Aynia and I have Eames Envy.

The image above was found on designsponge.

For a very long time I have been deeply. DEEPLY in love with the Eames lounge chair and ottoman. Parents of a friend of mine have a genuine one and I swear it is the most comfortable chair on earth. As soon as I have enough room of my own, I believe that my love may, not so slowly, become an obsession. I want one. Bad. Even if all I can get my grubby little mitts on is a modern-day replication, I want it. Form AND function. *dreamy sigh* Perfection.

And now it seems like every second home interior picture I see has one in it. Even the white ones are growing on me. (But I could never have white, I could never keep it clean.)

that's a wrap

2009-03-05T13:23:00.005+10:00

Do you lend books to friends and want them back but they just keep circulating? Keep track of it! I bet you could even stick these inside DVD covers. If so, this is cute. Very very cute.

In fact the whole site of Kate's Paperie is filled with rather drool-tastic things. I mean holy moley, check out this wrapping paper. How on earth do you use it when both sides are beautiful?! And I am so adding them to my list of places to go when I finally get myself to New York.

There really is something to be said for living in the states. But then if I did I'd be stoney broke, having spent all my money on Etsy or things like this. *sigh*

A freakin' good idea

2009-03-02T08:11:00.007+10:00

Ikea. I love it, I hate it, I hate loving it, I love hating it, oh Ikea.

Whereas one part of my loves the clean, simple lines, another part does NOT like the mass-production factor because suddenly everyone has it and it's not unique anymore. Every house can look have some sleek modernist Scandinavian wanna-be-retro-esque interior. I want to be original. And now, anyone can be.

Given my current obsession with surfaces and patterns, this seems like a site sent from above. But instead I found it on design-undercover. I really must start trawling (ie stumbling) the web again properly to come up with my own material as opposed to finding awesome links on other people's blogs... (And what's more, I have this exact side-table in my bedroom at the moment. Sure, technically it belongs to my parents but that's just pedantry.)

in defense pink

2009-02-23T11:18:00.006+10:00

I am going through an artistic conundrum at the moment. Pink. I like the song, I don't mind the musician but my relationship with the colour has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. From the age of about 4 till about 8, I think my wardrobe must have been well over 50% pink. At least that's how it sits in my memory. I loved it. I had a friend who had a completely pink bedroom and I was completely in love with it. And then somewhere along the line my love didn't just fade, it flipped into outright anti-ness. I remember having a light pink jersey in my early highschool years but it surely must be something like 15 years since I've worn pink and then, it was only in PJs. And now a little bit in a flower in a skirt I own. But still, I've been a pretty pink-free zone for almost half my life now. I can't pin it down but at some point, my anti-ness started to fade.

And in fact now I almost kinda like it. *shudder* Such has been my own personal brainwashing that even writing that feels like I'm airing some dirty little personal secret of which I should be ashamed.

What started as "oh I think some pink might look good in this design" has progressed to "oh I think some pink might look good in this room". I'm actively thinking about bringing the colour back in to my environment. I look at websites of interiors and go, "Oh that's really cute!" instead of wanting to stab my eyes out. It feels a bit wrong.*

So maybe pink has a time and a place. And if you're gonna use it, why not go all-out?**

All images used in this post are from Domino. Clicking on the pic will take you through to the gallery page it's from.

*It should be stated in my defense that in the Land of Aynia, there is a very large difference between "Oh that's really cute!" and "Oh I must do that to my room!" or "Oh I must go out and wear that!" A VERY large difference. I'm not going to be pinking up my bedroom any time soon. Hell no.
**again, not in any room in my house, not in this lifetime. I am, clearly, still coming to grips with pink.

back in the running

2009-02-19T08:34:00.020+10:00

Okay so it's been a while. It's just lucky I'm not one for New Year's resolutions... I do have excuses galore- I just won't share them with you.

I am DIY/craft obsessed at the moment. Not that it seems to be resulting in me actually doing anything as of yet but I bursting with ideas and brim-full with research. Part of it is my OCD organisational self manifesting. I've bought boxes to put things in, now I just need to cover them. I've put my dad's tools into compartments/boxes (but they need shelves) and the next thing weighing on my mind is the books in our house. In NZ, they were in alphabetical order (pretty much) in our study but what with the move and now having books all over the house, there are my books mixed up and with M&D's books with my sister's thrown in as well and they could be in any room of the house. I'm a big fan of alphabetical order but must admit that while scouring the web, I have come across several ideas like this one and I must say, it kind of appeals.

(Image from Domino)

Ordering by colour? Very cool indeed. You'd have to know your material though, that's for sure. You can't deny that it looks good though. I shall have to think about it...

Now I have many, many things to blog about and several half-written entries so keep your eyes peeled for several posts in a day as I bring things up to date. Also in the works is an updating of my personal website (no link yet, it REALLY needs a revamp). I'm all full of plans and still trying to decide how to organise the various forms of my cyber presense (this blog will be getting a facelift as well) but I just need to make some decisions. Argh!

all together ooky

2008-11-08T02:15:00.006+10:00

I know it's been an absolute age since I blogged and I totally blame it on trying to pack up my 3 1/2 years of life in the UK and move it all over to Oz without my mother knowing. Well she kinda knew but she thought I was arriving 3 weeks later (I surprised her for her birthday) so things were all very covert for a while there plus I was rushed off my feet. This week, apart from hoping to land a job interview, my aim is to bring this blog up to date with the life of me. I'm sure someone out there cares...

But in the meantime, this has been sitting in my drafts. Somehow it came up at work (well my former work) so I had to google the lyrics (for personal edification) to The Addams Family.

The Addams Family

They're creepy and they're kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They're all together ooky,
The Addams Family.

Their house is a museum
Where people come to see 'em
They really are a scream
The Addams Family.

(Neat)
(Sweet)
(Petite)

So get a witches shawl on
A broomstick you can crawl on
We're gonna pay a call on
The Addams Family.

Possibly the best rhyming in history: "see 'em" and "scream". Genius.

floral craziness

2008-11-08T01:48:00.004+10:00

I had never seen this flower before in my life although I was told it was a passion flower and is the flower of the passionfruit vine which you get quite commonly in NZ with the orange passionfruit so it's strange I haven't seen them before. But I have now and my aren't they crazy?

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T21:18:00.003+10:00

I was catching up on a backlog of blogs (in the time I don't have at the moment) and saw a link on The Daily Monster to Monster Go Away Spray. The Daily Monster blogger was, justifiably outraged but I had to check it out:

Monster Go Away Spray

Most children both younger and older will at one time or another be afraid of the boogie man, ghosts, monsters, spirits and even the badly behaved house elf. Monster Go Away Spray was created by a mom to help her children get to bed and go to sleep much easier. Simply spray your child's room, the closet, under the bed and anywhere else monsters hang out. You can do this ritual with your child before bedtime or spray their room ahead of time and let them know the coast is clear. Many children have the gift of being able to see the spirit world, so it is important to never tell your child that what they are afraid of doesn't exist. But together you can asks the spirits to leave and create a safe and peaceful sanctuary. A light spray on their pillow will ensure a peaceful nights sleep. Ingredients are all-natural and include essential oil of French Lavender, Roman Chamomile and Italian Mandarin Orange.

This is definitely one way to deal with kids being scared of the dark and things that go bump in the night but I must admit that when the time comes, I will be able to deal with this issue in a more Pratchett-like fashion. I remember reading, I think it was Hogfather years ago and Susan, the daughter of Death, was nannying some children and two issues got raised.
1- the monsters under the kids beds or hiding in their closets were there as they had been created by the parents. "If you don't brush your teeth before you go to bed to horrible XYZ monster will come to get you."
2- Susan's way of dealing with the monsters was to walk in to the room with a large baseball bat (or discworld equivalent) and smack the &%** out of it. When one of the kids came running out to get her

And should we even start on the Monsters Inc take on things? All I know is that I will definitely be taking the 'stand up for yourself' line of approach and hope that any kids of mine are precocious enough to follow my lead. And I guess even better than the ass-kicking approach would be the Daily Monster/Monsters Inc method.

hanging on by a thread (and some superglue)

2008-10-28T02:18:00.002+10:00

Today the stress has hit the fan. My days left here are numbered and I'm starting to feel it, I'm in my final fortnight of work and, true to the laws of Fate, it's our busiest fortnight in a long time and my boss was off sick today and I myself am fighting off a cold. Usually, burning off stress and clearing my mind isn't a problem. Minor levels of stress can be baked or doodled away but for this kind of variety, I usually hit the gym or, even better, the climbing wall. Unfortunately, having literally hit the climbing wall last week, I am banned from figuratively hitting it for another week. And I miss it, I really really really miss it. Aaah well, I'm sure I can de-stress some other way.

Just call me OneStitch

2008-10-25T00:47:00.006+10:00

I was lead climbing last night on a route with 2 shelf overhangs and peeled off just under the 2nd shelf. I fell and unfortunately it was just the wrong distance and I landed just below the first shelf and although I had my hands up to save my head (not the face!), my knees were just at the wrong height and my left knee clipped the edge of the shelf as I swung underneath. I thought it would just be horribly bruised and I'd need ice but when I pulled up my pants there was this massive gash. My poor belay buddy blamed himself for giving me a crap belay but really, it's just one of those things. 10cm more less and my feet would have been on the wall and 10cm more and my knee would have sailed underneath.

So we headed to Charing Cross Hospital A&E and I was in and out in about an hour which has to be a record. Sadly I only have one stitch and some superglue to show for my efforts and annoyingly I'm out of commission for a week. And taking stairs is a pain in the, well, knee.

And of course I documented it but to keep gore to a minimum, I've done a montage of my latest adventure. Needless to say I have more pics. And excuse my manky thumb (chipped nail polish and I had just been climbing) but I needed something for scale.

I wish I felt like this every day

2008-10-21T02:28:00.000+10:00

Canterbury- UK stylz

2008-10-04T01:18:00.009+10:00

Last weekend I went to Canterbury with my friend and her parents. Despite the pouring rain and occasionally very gusty winds, it was very picturesque.

These bits of graffiti on a local monument just made me laugh. People choose some weird things to scrawl on buildings.

Nightclub?!?!
I'm not sure if I want to know what this sign means...

This picture is almost a family in-joke but I had to put it on. it's a tribute to my sis.

I like the way this dude looks like he's curiously peering out of his alcove.
Ok, is it just me or does this totally look like Wesley in his man-in-black phase from TPB?

Not surprisingly, I have an issue with religion and and the glorification of martyrdom but I'm not going in to it here. (Because it's Friday and because I can't be bothered.)

I think this is where people get baptised/christened? I have two main issues with this structure, the main one being that it isn't centered properly. Is it wrong to find this annoying? If it were my church and I had to look at it on a regular basis. It's not centered AND it's not straight. It'd do my head in.
This is my other problem with the structure. How terrified would you be having this hanging over your head. All I can think of is 'sandwich'...
One of the best aspects of the town were the awesome shop signs.

Friday movies

2008-09-30T23:05:00.004+10:00

And for once something actually about fonts.

What does a font say about the person using it? Lars Willem Veldkampf takes a shot at answering this minutes-old question in a series of images

I'm hoping they're being ironic when it comes to Comic Sans...

Those who have been to see Wall-E will have seen the new short film from Pixar, Presto. If you haven't, go look at it here. It is one of my favs to date, there ppl are ingenious and, in the spirit of Wall-E, no dialogue is necessary.

This is incredible:

The highlight of this is the cats at the beginning:

Not a movie but still amusing:

for the OCD within:

crazy breakdance

lentil trauma

2008-09-30T22:00:00.004+10:00

TRAGEDY HAS STRUCK!!!
This morning I took a lentil concoction out of the freezer, put it in a plastic bag "to be safe" and then put it in my bad to take to work for lunch where I promptly forgot about it. I also put my sketchbook in my bag as I wanted to scan in some black and white stuff I'd done before I coloured it in. I forgot about all of it until I went to get my bag ready for the gym and when I pulled out my lentil bag, I noticed it was dripping. It has somehow got through the plastic bag and emptied an unholy amount of water into my sketchbook which was behind it. I mean they're only doodles but hours of OCD have been poured into them, they are my babies.
It isn't too bad really although some colour or patterns have leaked between layers/pages and there were some near misses- phew- but now my poor battered book smells vaguely of lentil...
So as an emergency first-aid measure, I put paper towels between each page to soak up the liquid and aid recovery (drying out). It is currently sitting on top of my magazine archive and looks more like a ragged pile of paper towels than my dear darling sketchbook.

stress doodling

2008-09-24T19:33:00.004+10:00

It seems that I have swapped stress baking for stress doodling. Around late June, I decided that I needed to start doodling- something creative to get my mind working and my hands used to doing something again without the stress of drawing 'real' stuff. There's no real stress in making patterns but there is a challenge in making them look cool. So I started doodling a little bit in a book/notepad I'd been given as a promo thing from a picture library but I wasn't really doing that much. And then suddenly, it seems to have just taken off. I hadn't even really realised it was 'stress doodling'- I just do it in front of the TV (till very very late...) but the other night, as I sat down with pen and paper, Sean looked at me and said, "Aynia, are you stress doodling?" I looked down at my pad, said "No?", looked up at him, looked down at my pad, which was full of a pretty darn intricate and OCDesque pattern and said, "Oh no. Yes?" I've heard there are studies about how you can do psych analysis-typed stuff on what people doodle and I can well believe it. My doodles vary depending on my mood, both in nature (colour or black&white) and also content (whether they're more picturey or more pattern-based with lots of intricate and repetitive details). Here are some samples-

Some I think are quite crap:

Some are just plain weird:

And others I'm quite happy with:

Avast!

2008-09-19T18:55:00.005+10:00

Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day to ya my filthy bilge rats!

So I had to take a personality test to see what type of pirate I am and this is my result:

You are The Quartermaster
You, me hearty, are a man or woman of action! And what action it is! Gruesome, awful, delightful action. You mete out punishment to friend and foe alike – well, mostly to foe, because your burning inner rage isn’t likely to draw you a whole lot of the former. Still, though you may be what today is called “high maintenance” and in the past was called “bat-shit crazy,” the crew likes to have you around because in a pinch your maniacal combat prowess may be the only thing that saves them from Jack Ketch. When not in a pinch, the rest of the crew will goad you into berserker mode because it’s just kind of fun to watch. So you provide a double service – doling out discipline AND entertainment.
What's Yer Inner Pirate? brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!

I must say, it's a bit accurate really. I know for a fact that many of my friends enjoy winding me up just to see me get on a rant. Hmmm....

And although I know I've bogged this before, here it is again. My Pirate Name

My pirate name is:

Captain Anne Rackham

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

So get out there and shiver some timbers me hearties!

stress baking

2008-09-16T01:27:00.005+10:00

My flatmates were telling me last night about a woman at their work who had recently had a miscarriage and has taken some time off work and has taken up baking. Apparently this is a woman who previously had never even bought a bag of flour because she never baked but she has now worked her way through a whole Delia Smith cookbook. Sarah thought maybe the lady was nesting and was pregnant again but I just shook my head and said, "She's stress baking."

Stress baking is something I have only recently encountered- or more accurately only recently labeled. I've always baked, I love baking. I bake when I have to, when I'm bored, when I want to, any time really. But when I've got a lot on my mind and am feeling a bit stressed out, that's when things really get going. When I suggested that this aforementioned lady might be stress baking and that I do it too, Sean looked at me and said, "Oh my God! You DO!" I still laugh at the memory of them coming in one night and Sean taking one look at a kitchen table filled with biscuits and me standing over the oven and he just said, "Put down the gloves down and step away from the oven!"

I'm not sure exactly what it is about baking that calms me down but my stress baking differs from I'm-bored or I-wanted-to baking in one vital aspect: volume. There is a rhythm to baking for stress. Stress baking for me almost invariably means cookie or muffins- something relatively quick to make and bake because it means as one item is in the oven, you can be preparing the next one and the cycle can just go on until someone pulls you away or you run out of ingredients- I've had to stop before because I ran out of flour. I think baking soothes me for several reasons:
1- I'm doing something which keeps my brain otherwise occupied
2- the smell
3- I'm creating something which always makes me feel good
4- better yet, I'm creating something that will make other people happy because it tastes good so they will like me because I'm cool and make yummy stuff*

And I am not alone. My sister, pre-taking-off-on-adventures has apparently filled up my parents' freezer with baked delights as well as having items farmed out to family and friends. I thought maybe it was genetic but some poking around on the web has proved me wrong. This blog entry and its comments show I am not alone, as does this.

So for those who will live with me in the future know this- I will bake when bored and I will bake because I like to so don't be worried to enter the house to the smell of freshly baked deliciousness. But if you walk in and see a lot of it? Well make sure you try some first and tell me how wonderful it tastes and how amazing I am and then ask what's wrong. ;-)

*anyone notice the list?

Eeeek, it's been a week

2008-09-06T01:22:00.017+10:00

Once again I've been collecting links and hadn't noticed a whole week slipping by. It hasn't been the best week really. Not that anything's gone disastrously (or even moderately) wrong but ever since my tendinitis came back, I've been feeling slightly off form. I don't know if I've been fighting off a cold or what but I've been lacking in energy and motivation for a while now. Then on Wed night I had my Thai massage (I'm a case study for a girl at work who is doing a course) and tree-hugging as it may sound, I think it really cleared out my energy lines because going home from it, I felt much more tension-free and yesterday I went to the gym at lunchtime for the first time this week (and usually I'm an every lunchtime girl) and came away feeling heaps better.

Despite this, I still tried to cancel climbing as I was sure Friday was going to be a sick day and I was intending to scoff copious amounts of popcorn and watch Pride and Prejudice* one more time before I finally ship it away to Oz but my climbing buddy Steve guilted me in to going and thank God because it was one of the best nights I've had in ages. I pushed myself really hard, the shoulder felt almost back to old form and the boys were, as usual, hilarious. I came away with that buzzing feeling of endorphins combined with feeling physically shattered that I thrive on but haven't had in ages. I sincerely hope I can find a similar bunch of nuts to climb with in Brissie. I mean these guys are Australian so clearly their type exists, I just have to hope they haven't all buggered off overseas.

But as for those links I've been filing away:

I'm not the only bigsmall fiend out there!

You all need to check out these amazing doodles. I can't put in a pic as it's a flash page but they're colourful and fun.

I have a fascination with the miniature. I don't know exactly why but I think it's amazing when people make small things, I love macro photography (which is making the small look huge), maybe it the attention to detail.

Crazy metal sculptures

I know this may walk the fine line of garden kitsch for some people but I have a deep love for fantasy and if nothing else, there sculptures are amazing works of art and imagination.

And this one just appealed to my quirky sense of humour.

Another cool add, another cool doodle.

*the BBC mini-series version. There is only one Mr. Darcy and that is Colin Firth. Don't get me started.

random Friday thoughts

2008-08-29T18:48:00.009+10:00

signs of the times
I missed out on the Cookie Monster becoming politically correct, or more to the point, health conscious. I see how and why he was made to change- role model for children, etc etc but I think it's taking it a bit far. This is a hilarious 'interview' between Cookie and Stephen Colbert.

makes me want to vom
Potted meat, pickled pork rind, fermented soy beans, fungus-infected corn kernels, EEEEEW! I can't believe that people eat this stuff, let alone that one man is crazy enough to try it all. I'm sure as hell not putting up any pics.

skeletal art

Ever wonder what bugs bunny's skeleton would look like? Or other cartoon characters for that matter? Well here is your answer.

link-tastic Tuesday

2008-08-29T02:39:00.010+10:00

I've been collecting a veritable smorgasbord of links over the past week or so as I've been stumbling and now that the list has reached almost epic proportions, I've decided it's time to just cut to the chase and blog 'em. Clicking on the images should take you through to the websites.

discworld geek it up

I love geeks, just lovelovelove them.

How amazingly cool are these wooden toys? They're Japanese. I want one. Hell, I want them all.

lego imitates art

I'm very into my doodling at the moment. I'm finding it a great way to switch off my brain when I need a break, it gets the hands moving again and stretches my creative muscles. I like these doodles. Also, for those who haven't noticed that I've updated my links and recommended blogs, check out doodlage. It's fly.

This made me smile:

As did this:

As did these:

And there's plenty more where that came from...

the picture says it all

2008-08-28T23:13:00.001+10:00

list-a-mundo

2008-08-22T22:11:00.002+10:00

I know I have things in common with my friends, hell I wouldn't be friends with them if we had nothing in common but sometimes the points of commonality surprise me. Like a fondness for lists. I'm all about the list. Over the past year or so I have been fighting it a bit- given my OCD tendencies, I figured some living-life-on-the-edge and sans-list would be good for my spontaneity and on the whole I've lived relatively list-free but now my days in the UK are numbered and I have a lot of things to do so it's all about the list now.

Having returned to 90% full list-ability, I am becoming more aware of fellow list writers around me. Take my boss for instance. If I thought I was all about the list, I have nothing on her. In full-blown times of lots-to-do, this woman has sub-lists. And geek that I am, I don't mock, oh no, I'm in awe.

My sister, her friend, and I will be spending a week traveling around Venice and Rome later this year and I found out totally by accident that Amy-san is also (in retrospect I shouldn't be surprised) all about the list. As is my sister. It's glorious. We may just go list-tastic in Italy.

I have also spent some time this morning catching up on blogs I haven't read in ages and upon skimming Hong Kong Ham I found a tonne of them. You could call it bullet-pointing but the spirit of the list is still there. And as Hamish wrote Um, what do I usually do in these situations? Write a list of favourite things, of course.. Again, there should be no surprise here, I worked with the guy for a year.

I have no real idea why this commonality of pro-list-ness makes me feel comforted but it does. Maybe it's because:
1- I like having something in common with ppl.
2- If other ppl write lists, maybe my list writing isn't OCD*
3- Being organised is good

*I'm starting to think that I mention my OCD tendencies a bit too much on this blog. Some people might think I have a fo' real problem. I don't. I'm normal. Really. Plus I figure if I can fight it, then it isn't a real problem.

the stuff Fridays are made of

2008-08-22T18:01:00.002+10:00

I checked my Dad's blog this morning and the entry, Young man stabbed in 'potato peeler game' was all that I could possibly have asked for for a Friday morning. I was laughing out loud (I have a rather warped sense of humour). He's got the full thing on his blog, check it out.

cupcakes on the brain

2008-08-19T21:14:00.014+10:00

some people have waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands.....

This guy has geekishly embellished lots of Mr. PotatoHeads in various sci-fi/comic/fantasy themes. I'm not gonna bother to ask why but if you want to check out a slide show of them all, just click here.

made for me?
At the moment it seems like I don't even have to search for cupcake-related items, they just find me. Click on the images for links to the Etsy pages.

I know these aren't cupcakes but they're just so gosh-darn cute.

also cool...

This skirt is cute. And she has several variations on these theme, all charming. I may appropriate this idea....

procrastination

2008-08-18T19:51:00.002+10:00

I'm not entirely sure why it's taking me so long to get my portfolio together. It's about half-way done and the bit that isn't done is the one that involves actually having to narrow down choices of layouts from my time at DIVE (as well as dredging up various marketing bits and pieces that I've done) and maybe that's the bit that's putting me off. So to avoid this but to still feel like I'm doing something, I've pretty much nailed my packing. I've sorted stuff into ship it/keep it/chuck it and this morning I called up the shipping company, put down a deposit and ordered boxes. So one major headache is practically finished. Now I just need to deal with the portfolio. Oh, I remember now- it's not just as simple as making a PDF of my portfolio, ideally I need to update my website HEADACHE and make a hard-copy version as well. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! I imagine I'll be in at work on my bank holiday Monday doing it. I keep bribing myself with the prospect of how much better I'll feel once it's out of the way.

Olympic Fever

2008-08-16T02:50:00.002+10:00

How on earth does anyone get any work done with the Olympic on? HOW?!

I have the day off work today. My plan was to sort out stuff in my room to give me an idea of volume and what I need to ship, what I'm keeping until I stay and what goes to friends or charity. Well I did some in the morning, went out and got some groceries, came back and doodled for quite a while (but I consider this productive as it's creative) and then made the mistake of turning on the tele. I was going to watch one of my rental DVDs that had arrived but I saw that the Olympics was on. I haven't caught any of it prior to this. Partially, I was staying away because I remember my tendency to get hooked on it and boy oh boy was I right. I came in at the end of the women's whatever-horrible-distance-run and was actually crying when the lady won. Since then I have spent the last almost 2 hours watching weight lifting, diving prelims, gymnastic and now table tennis. I can't seem to stop myself taking part- I yell at the weight lifters (they're totally listening to me and not their coaches), I hold my breath with the divers and gymnasts- I'm there.

So, unfortunately, is my room. I woudl like to feel by the end of today that I know roughly how much of what I will be keeping/taking/chucking. I may just have to turn off the tele and walk away....

Fort Du Guesclin

2008-08-14T01:33:00.005+10:00

So I guess you guys would like to see some pictures from my weekend on an island fort huh? It looked an awful lot like NZ to me and made me a bit I'm-missing-home-ish. But here are the pics:

mocha cupcakes

2008-08-13T18:50:00.002+10:00

And this one I did make.

INGREDIENTS
2tbsp instant coffee powder
85g butter
85g cater sugar
1tbsp clear honey
200ml water
225g plain flour
2tbsp cocoa powder
1tsp baking soda
3tbsp milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

• preheat oven to 180˚C (I put them on 160˚C for my gas oven). Put 20 small paper baking cases in 2 bun trays.

• put coffee powder, butter, sugar, honey and water in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring until sugar has dissloved. Bring to boil, then reduce hear and simmer for 5 mins. Pour into a large heatproof dish and leave to cool.

• when mixture has cooled, sift in flour and cocoa powder. Dossolve the baking soda in the milk, then add to teh mixture with teh egg and beat together until smooth. Spoon mixture into paper cases.

• bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 15-20 mins (I only needed 10 mins in my fan oven!) until well risen and firm to touch. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

To top these, they recommend whipped cream but I used a chocolate icing from a different recipe:

ICING:
85g butter, softened
175g icing sugar
25g dark choccie, melted

Put butter in a bowl and beat until fluffy. Sift in the icing sugar and beat together until smooth. Add melted chocolate and beat together until well mixed. (I had to add a little bit of water as well to get it to a consistency that was good to drop onto the cupcakes but I did that right at the end.) I then grated some white chocolate and sprinkled that on top.

obsession

2008-08-12T01:17:00.004+10:00

*
Those who know me well enough will be well aware of my slight propensity for OCD. Those who know me well enough will also be polite enough to stop laughing at that potentially mild understatement. Well right now my obsessive gaze has turned to that which I had previously scorned- the cupcake.

I can't seem to help myself, I mean they're amazing- it's a mini cake and there is SO much potential for art and beauty and you don't have to commit to the size of a whole cake and can have so many variations in one batch. I'm hooked. So in my spare time, instead of updating my portfolio (must crack on with that, I have started, really I have), I'm scouting the web for cupcake images to get inspiration. The contents of the cupcake are pretty much 2nd priority for me, my obsession is the decoration. And it seems I am not the only one out there. For that matter I'm not the biggest cupcake freak by any stretch of the imagination. There are some total and utter cupcake fruitloops out there. I was looking into the difference between cupcakes and muffins and came across this blog. There is a full blown debate in the comments here about what makes a cupcake or a muffin. I was nearly crying from laughter at one point. Among the more impassioned comments were:

Fuck you. If you put frosting on a muffin it becomes a cupcake. Why is that so fucking difficult. No matter what a frosted muffin is a cupcake. But an unfrosted cupcake, becomes cake.

HILARIOUS! I did however find the answer to please me and put my mind at rest:

Muffins are regularly frosted in Australia, and can be either sweet or savoury, however, they are still muffins.

Generally muffins are larger than cupcakes and will always have a more bread like texture.

The difference is in the making process.

As muffins are not beaten, but rather, ingredients are gently 'folded' during the making, the gluten strand of the flour does not break down and they have a more bread like texture.

Cupcakes are made with a cake mix, beaten until smooth and the gluten strand is ripped to pieces, so you get a smoother crumblier texture.

Either can be dry or moist, frosted or not, big or small.

But generally cupcakes are sweeter, frosted and a great quick bite size treat, making them very popular with children.

And if you want to see a tonne of cupcake pics, check this out.

And on a non-cupcake note, just as I seem to have a knack for finding random pictures of things and weird websites, my father seems to have a knack for weird news stories. His latest post is a mine field of things from interesting to downright surreal. Check it out.

*Again, not cupcakes made by moi.

food art

2008-08-06T21:45:00.003+10:00

I'm off to Brittany tomorrow so won't be blogging for a few days but I'll leave you guys with this.

You can find more here or if you want something more science geeky, there are also some earthy ones. Awesome.

bar raising

2008-08-06T01:30:00.003+10:00

DISCLAIMER: I DID NOT MAKE THIS CUPCAKE.

Well not yet anyway. But superübermega cool an idea is this. I am going to have to try it, or at least something very similar. I'm wondering if I can utilise this idea to make other types of flowers. Like maybe cutting out pink ice cream wafers and using pink icing to make something like a gerbera or a daisy. And how about just using giant Pebbles/Smarties with black icing to make larger ladybugs? Sooooooooooo many possibilities. I'm away this weekend but I think my Banker (Aug 23-25) may be spent in the kitchen getting creative. I can't wait!

smorgasbord

2008-08-05T22:01:00.010+10:00

I have all these drafts kicking around so have decided to tidy up and shove them all together in one entry so it's a bit of a mixed bag for this entry folks. Or, to make it seem more intentional, a little something for everyone.

beaker sings ode to joy
I always had a soft spot for Beaker, I'm not exactly sure why. I think maybe it's the whole speechless and easily frazzled thing. He's so cute when he panics!

This t-shirt design is just cool. Aaah good old subversive-ism.

Geek bling!

So awesome. I'm all about celebrating the inner geek and this stuff even looks pretty.

Ever since coming to the UK and being exposed to a record number of tea drinkers, (many who want a cup at the same time and all have slightly different preferences), I have maintained that they should specify their tea colour in a Pantone manner to ensure accuracy. (I work in publishing, Pantone geek jokes are acceptable.) So when I came across this blog entry, I was pleased to see that I wasn't the only OCD ideas man out there.

This is one of the coolest (I'm using that word a lot this entry.... Hmmmm.....) websites I've come across in a while. Each section has a unique way of merging into the next and it's incredibly well thought out as well as being funny and creative. Can you find all five secrets? I have but can't activate one. Pooey.

And this? Well this I stumbled across and thought it was both sad and cool.

And last but not least, a pic of moi. My friend had a birthday at the Rollerdisco at the weekend. About 10 of us headed along together and everyone embraced the kitsch-arama 70's/80's dress-up spirit. It was enormous fun and being back on rollerskates (I was quite the rollerskater in my youth)was enormous fun. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the dress-up as well. I haven't used that much hairspray in, well, forever. Apart from maybe dance recitals, those were all about the hairspray.

WARNING: this may be offensive to the religious people out there

2008-08-01T20:59:00.003+10:00

My friends over here are great ones for forwarded emails of the fluffy variety that are potentially chain letter-esque. I haven't yet gathered up the heart to tell them that I HATE this kind of crap. 10 things that make a great friend, 25 ways to bring warmth and light to someone's day. Blah blah woof woof hatehatehatehatehate. Especially as most of these supposedly altruistic emails usually end in something like, "Forward this to your 10 closest friends, including the person who sent this to you so they will know they are loved and appreciated." Or some such bullshit. It really grates on my nerves. Can you tell?

I also have some friends who are whatever degree of 'religious'. Now this is not an issue amongst us although I highly suspect they might have some issue with existentialism and I don't abuse them when one of these forwarded spam pieces of crap has religious overtones or ends in 'God Bless'. I understand the spirit in which it was sent so that's fine. But this morning I got one which nearly made me go on a rant:

CELL PHONE vs. BIBLE

I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to Kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we travelled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?
This is something to make you go..hmm. Where is my Bible?
Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.
Makes you stop and think "where are my priorities?"
NO REJECTED calls!
NO FLAT BATTERY!!!!
NO "pls call me's" coz He will call on you ALL THE TIME!!!!
P.S. DO WHAT YOU THINK GOD WOULD WANT YOU TO DO WITH THIS E-MAIL.

I'm sorry but WTF?!? Let's ignore my standard grammatical Nazi issues with liberal usage of block caps and exclamation marks. My instant reaction? I'll tell you exactly what God can do with this email.... But it's not God's fault that someone wrote this unbelievably stupid (and is it just me or potentially Evangelically toned message? I mean "we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill" WTF? Is anyone else laughing?) message and that someone else forwarded it on under the mistaken impression that I might appreciate it.

And if perchance the person who sent this message to me reads this (and the likelihood is VERY LOW) well I'm very sorry for not having the spine to say all this to your face. But I'm sure God will forgive me.

Not right....

2008-07-25T00:36:00.003+10:00

Sometimes you come across really bizarre stories in the news but this one takes the cake. It's about the third annual Festival of the Guinea Pig in Huacho, Peru. Yup, Festival of the Guinea Pig. They dress them up (more pics here ), have a little fashion show, and then they eat them. Weirded out man. Just totally weirded out.

Land ahoy!

2008-07-24T19:41:00.003+10:00

So I got an email from a friend asking if I wanted to go to Brittany for a long weekend and this picture was attached. So of course I had to write back and say, "Fo' real? Is that where we'll be staying?!!?" Coz if so, how does a girl say no?

Budget is tight at the moment, this is true, but the picture sold me and how can you turn down the chance to stay at an old fort on an island? Well on my way home last night I was talking myself out of it but when I checked my email that evening, I was informed that the island is located near Saint-Malo which used to be an old pirate haven. An old pirate haven. Which veryvery firmly sealed the deal. Could we get any closer to Aynia Heaven?
1- island
2- ocean
3- boats
4- PIRATE HAVEN
5- old medieval fortified city
6- "one of the highest concentration of sea food restaurants in Europe"
In fact I may never come back...

Now I just have to convince my friends that when we visit Saint-Malo, it will be compulsory to talk like pirates......

Arts and Crafts Aynia-stylz

2008-07-23T01:38:00.005+10:00

Sunday was Cake Sunday (again) but due to the request of the person whose turn it was to choose the baked goods, it turned out to be another Cupcake Sunday. I don't know what my objection to cupcakes is. I guess it's because I hear cupcake and I think fairycake which in the UK seems to mean any cupcake but to me is some sponge-esque thing (translates in Aynia Taste-bud Speak to blaaaaaaaaaaaaaah tastes like nothing) with some sweet butter icing and maybe the butterfly wing thing on top and most likely hundreds and thousands. So it looks cute but tastes like sugary nothing BORINGNESS.

But my friends seem to love cupcakes so I'm branching out and finding exciting recipies and so far, so good. Of course I end up 'doing an Aynia' on most of them. Like the recipe for coconut cherry cupcakes? Well I hate those maraschino cherries so decided cranberries would do instead and if you're having cranberries, you might as well throw in some white chocolate. And I can say, unequivocally, that my Coconut, Cranberry and White chocolate Cupcakes were a roaring success. The coconut made them reminiscent of macaroons which are yumyum yummy.

I also decided that it was time to embrace the spirit of the cupcake and went decoration crazy. And then I went macro-documentation crazy. Look at my works of art:

Hours of fun! The girls even had a go at decorating a few themselves when they came over. Fun for all the family, whatever the age.

the harsh yoke of reality

2008-07-21T19:27:00.007+10:00

So I've gallivanted, I've holiday-bonanza-ed, I have worn of the jandal, sweltered in the heat, swum with the fishies, been on the boat and now my fling of carefree tomfoolery is at an end and it's time to knuckle down again. I got back from Egypt last Sunday and gave myself a week of token gesture exercise and eating what I want and having my room still be a bomb site (haven't quite entirely remedied that one yet...) but I have told myself that one week of post-holiday wallowing is enough and now it's back to reality. I started with a run this morning which went much easier than expected which leads me to believe that my body was, quite simply, in shock, and it is only tomorrow when I try to do the same thing that it will, with quiet indignation, refuse to cooperate. Or, because it's more my style, sabotage me in some subtle way.

Egypt (this latest jaunt was to Sharm, or more accurately Naama Bay) was great. It was 37degrees most of the time and the water was usually 28 but as long as I was on the boat and in the shade or in the water, the temperature wasn't so bad. Coming back to a muggy 26 in London actually feels almost as bad. Being by the water and on a boat (Hello, my name is Aynia and I'm addicted to boats) did its usual job of reaffirming my decision to head back down south. The decision feels right and I know it's what I want to do but as the time looms closer (and it is looming folks), I find that what I'm really going to miss is my people. If I could take my friends and associated social groups back with me, life would be perfect. The sad thing about leaving Egypt this time is that people would say, "See you next time!" and I'd be replying with a plaintive wail of distress, "No you won't! I'm moving to Australia!" I've been to Camel (the hotel/dive club I stayed at) three times now, it's where I learned to dive and in a way it feels like a home away from home. There are people there who I catch up with each time, people I look forward to seeing and I may only see them every 8 months or so but still, the thought of never seeing them again (or at least not for years and years and years- I would like to dive in Egypt again at some point) is very sad.

But I still don't regret my decision. In fact I was having one of those hypothetical, "If we won Lotto" discussions with my Mum at the weekend and I realised that even if I was suddenly filthy rich, I still wouldn't stay here any longer, I'd still be headed home for Christmas. I'd be back here for a long holiday in very short order, yes, but I'd still be headed to where the sun shines for longer and I can have quality Mum and Dad hugs on-tap. So I'm coming to grips with the conundrum of know-I-need-to-leave-in fact-I-WANT-to-leave vs want-to-take-my-possé-with-me.

For those who care about actual diving things, this trip was a reasonable success for me. I went in July as it's meant to be the season for 'big stuff' and I think I had a reasonable degree of success. We did countless jumps into the blue and swimming into the blue in search of schooling hammerheads but had to luck at all on that front. In fact by my last day I was starting to think that the reef shark I'd seen on my first day was nothing but a tease. And then I hit last-day-luck. Whilst kitting up for our last dive, a whale shark decided to come and visit so we promptly ditched the tanks, slapped on snorkel gear and jumped in. You've never seen people kit up so quickly... I was told that it was only a baby, about 2.5m long but it was my first and, as far as I'm concerned, pretty amazing. (Except of course now I was to see bigger ones and closer up.) And then on the last dive we went in search of sharks and found 2 of them, white tipped reef sharks (again) but still bloody awesome. They were a fair way off, at the drop-off of one of the reefs but still, I saw them, they were cool and it was the perfect way to finish a dive trip.

But now my holiday bonanza is over and done with and I shall pretty much being staying put in London until it's time to head south. With three holidays in such quick succession, my room slightly resembles a bomb site. There have been many things that there seemed no point in packing away because I'd just be pulling them out again in a week or so. But not now. Oh no. Now is the time to pack away the sunscreen, insect repellent, ratty straw cowboy-styled sunhat, miscellaneous toiletries and holiday paraphernalia. I have to remember all my gym kit, put away the tent and diving kit and get on with life as it is. What's that? Shut up with my self-indulgent and mildly melodramatic whining? How rude! Totally justified but still, a girl's gotta be allowed to wallow for a while. So I guess this is where I remind myself that last week was my one allowed Week of Wallowing and Excessive Cheese Consumption. All that is now over and so here ends my little violin solo...

subtle as a brick to the head

2008-07-04T00:44:00.004+10:00

I've been stumbling again and in my travels came across this website (which is really truly awesome if you're interested in propaganda posters/art)which had this image on it:

I mean dude, that's not even a little bit subtle, is it? I'm fascinated my propoganda posters. You'd think they'd go for something subliminal but really, they're about as blatant as they can be. Or at least this one is.

I'm also fascinated by the posters promoting safe sex during the war. I mean it makes things sounds really dire. Were they really losing such huge percentages of soldiers to STDs that they felt they had to advertise?

And please tell me I'm not the only one who saw this and thought, "Darth Vader!?!". Maybe Lucas was inspired by this poster.

Coz that's how we roll...

2008-06-30T19:27:00.007+10:00

This past weekend I had my second ever outdoor climbing adventure in the UK and I can say without a doubt that this one went a lot better than the previous one. I was a lot more confident on the wall and wasn't really scared by the outdoor aspect as much although there were times when I was very aware that my brain was compartmentalising in order to keep me sane. You simply have to not think about the fact that you're 15m up a piece of rock with some shitty little hold and whole hill falling away beneath you.

Possibly my favourite sequence of photos are these two of Steve. Before is an oh-so-typical "aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh, where's the hold?!" and the after is the "aaaah, there's the hold" look of joy.

Despite being a girl who does like her amenities, I coped very well with no shower all weekend and having to run off and pee behind bushes (a tricky thing to do when you're camping in a paddock). We had brilliant weather and it was great to get out of London and do something with my weekend. I think we'll be cramming in a fair few more trips before the summer is out.

slumming it

2008-06-27T19:20:00.003+10:00

So this weekend I'm going climbing and camping. I was quite excited about the whole thing when I heard the word 'camping'. I have fond memories of family camping trips when I was growing up and was looking forward to sitting around a fire making damper, toasting marshmallows and singing anything but Kumbaya. I know some people don't like camping but as long as I'm warm and dry, it's all good. Except for one thing- I also like to be clean and non-sweaty/stinky and I found out that we are not staying at a camping ground, we are staying in a field in the middle of nowhere with only a port-a-loo (and you know that's gonna be scary) for amenities. I must admit that the lack of running water took a slight bit of shine off my rose-tinted camping glasses but I can pack baby wipes and, as my friend Kerri pointed out, we'll be near the ocean, we can always just run in to clean off. And then be all salty.... Aaah well, it's all fun and games really. I just had to laugh at myself because I really want to be Little Miss Outdoors, I really do. I love nature (just not bugs) and I like being outside (mostly) and I like being active (as a general rule) but when it comes down to the crunch, I'm afraid that I think I'm quite fond of my mod-cons, top of the list being good cooking facilities and a nice bathroom. I'm almost ashamed of myself.

Where's Wally?

2008-06-25T21:25:00.002+10:00

I'm internationally famous!

I was sent to Gran Canaria for work as they were having a photo competition there and I got snapped by the press when we were in the submarine looking at the divers on their warm-up test day. Can you see me?

Gran Canaria was gorgeous. I feel slightly bad that I saw nothing of the island and spent all of my time in Peurto Morgan where the competition was but once you've woken up, had breakfast, gone for a dive, come back and had a late lunch, well it's 3pm which isn't really the time to be heading out in the blazing heat. It makes much more sense to grab a book, have a read, hop in the ocean when it gets too hot, come out to dry off, hop back in when it gets too hot, come out and have an icecream, hop back in the water... I think you all get the idea. I had an absolutely brilliant time. The Spanish people are so lovely and I think there is some genetic component in me that starts pumping out endorphins as soon as it sees marinas packed with boats.

I'll post some more pics later...

we're all muppets

2008-06-03T20:03:00.004+10:00

One of my friends posted this picture on Facebook and managed to tag just about everyone in the pic from our group of friends. The two grumpy old men are their flat's landlord(s). Some are remarkably apt and seeing it, I haven't laughed so long in a very long time.

So who am I? Well I must admit that I had to google it as I didn't know the name but had some vague recollection of a suitably insane character and it turns out that Phil couldn't have labeled me more aptly if he tried. I am Lew Zealand, renouned for my boomerang fish act. Yeah, you heard me, boomerang fish.

And since I'm off to Egypt tomorrow for a week of sun, sand and fishies, this entry will have to tide you over. Peace out. Oh yeah- and it's my birthday on the 10th so send some love my way. ;-)

new kit glory

2008-06-02T23:32:00.003+10:00

My new BCD and boots arrived today and as my sister might say- oh lordy lordy, they are beautiful. Sure, this is mainly because they are new and they are mine but still... And they match my wetsuit, oh the colour-coordinated glory. I am going to be buoyant as all hell but I will be looking goooooooooooood. Actually, to be perfectly honest, I might, just possibly, be looking just a little bit new-matching-bit-geeky (and not in a good-geeky way) but I'm sure I'll get over that. In fact everything will be new except for my fins and reg. Hmm.... I think I shall ask for a nice first intro dive to test them all out.

game on

2008-05-30T18:46:00.003+10:00

I don't think I mentioned our flat's mouse adventure about a month ago. A little guy (I'm assuming, I called him Stuart anyway, I mean what else you are going to call a mouse?) appeared in our living room/kitchen (it's open-plan) and it took me and Sean about half an hour to get him out. Well we put him outside and I foolishly thought that that was the end of it. Little did I know...

Last Friday night I heard a scratching noise inside the wall under my window and thought, "Hmm.... I bet that's Stuart." so I got up, thumped on the wall and said, "I'm trying to sleep here!" and the noise stopped. On Saturday, I came home, laden with groceries and as I stepped into the living room, this little furry bundle came streaking out from under the sofa and made a mad dash to squeeze himself under the washing machine. I couldn't help it, I literally did scream like a girl. Well more of a short, sharp shriek but it was far girlier than most noises I make and had me yelling, "Oh for the love of God! Stuart! You can't live here!"

Now killing Stuart is not an option. As far as I'm concerned, it's not his fault that our house is warm and dry and has potentially unlimited food sources but the reality is that we cannot live together. If nothing else, I'm very possessive about my food and I suspect it's not entirely hygienic. So I bought 2 very expensive sonic rodent repellent things which you plug in to the wall and are meant to emit a sound that humans can't here but is bad for rodents. I also got 2 humane catch-them-alive traps. And for a while everything seemed okay until last night I came home from climbing, walked into the kitchen and turned on the light and ZOOM Stuart legs it out from under the washing machine and dashes up into some hole i never knew existed underneath our cupboards. In fact I thought he had disappeared into thin air so I dropped to the ground and had my face pressed against the floor trying to find him when I see two little paws appear over an edge and a little nose stick its way out and start sniffing. It would seem that me post-climbing was far too easy to smell as he retreated.

He's just way too cute though, I'm an incurable softy but cute will not save him. This has now become a battle of the wits. Clearly these sonic things aren't worth sh*t so it's game-on with the live traps. Where can I place them to catch him best? What does he want to eat? Dried apricots seems a no-go and so far choccie hasn't worked so I think I'm going to have to go for the cheesey cliché.

However the day he makes it up to the cupboard above the extractor fan and starts in on my baking ingredients it will be game over. Nobody messes with my baking ingredients.

inspired

2008-05-28T20:45:00.005+10:00

I can't help it. I had to share this picture with you all, mainly because it makes me think of Calvin and Hobbes and the ones where Calvin acts like a dinosaur and pulls ridiculous faces. Admittedly, boosting brightness and contrast and sharpening things in photoshop helped but the result is, I think, very Calvin. I haven't been able to find the exact picture to compare but I think you guys will get the idea:

One of the many things I'm looking forward to when I get to Oz is having my Calvin and Hobbes collection with me once more. It's genius.

Handbag Friday

2008-05-23T21:13:00.003+10:00

I've already commented on the danger of looking at handbags on Etsy but I have a long holiday weekend coming up and I'm thinking I should sew for a day. Hit opshops on Saturday, sew on Sunday, it could be great. SO of course I headed to Etsy for inspiration and now all I want to do is list things that my friends should get me for my birthday. You may notice a theme in pretty things that catch my eye, I totally blame my father for my obsession with owl designs which has somehow extended to a general avian theme...

The other bags are cool but I want these two, the one above and the one below, BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. They are gorgeous. What is it about a nice handbag that gives it the ability to make the world a better place? Like a good pair of shoes really.

Right. I have to stop now. Enjoy the weekend folks.

grumble, bitch, moan and wallow

2008-05-21T22:14:00.002+10:00

Maybe it's the word wallow that brings to mind this kids' book which my sister and I loved while we were growing up, Piggy in the Puddle. And in fact just thinking about it and googling it and I've found some of the lines. The rhyming is pure, simple, ridiculous genius and is going a long way to lightening my foul mood (which I'm swimming in at the moment until my fingers go all pruney). So I shall share some of these wonderful rhymes with you all before I proceed to bore you to tears as I vent.

See the piggy
See the puddle
See the muddy little puddle
See the piggy in the middle
Of the muddy little puddle
See her dawdle, see her diddle
In the muddy, muddy middle
See her waddle, plump and little
In the very merry middle.

and other gems such as "squishy-squashy, mooshy-squooshy, oofy-poofy nope".

And now to rant: the comedy of errors that was my morning can really be summed up as such: read till 1am so slept in and ran late, missed train by 2mins, next train delayed by 15mins, very late to work, phone ran out of money so couldn't tell anyone, weather which looked sunny when I left home has turned windy and overcast so I'm FREEZING in my skirt and jandals and don't have a proper jacket to keep me warm after climbing (or on the way to climbing). All I have is a piss-weeny cardi) and my gmail still isn't working properly and I don't feel I can justify taking lunch off for the gym as I was so late and want to run away at 5pm to climb and in general I am in a Foul Mood. Being cold really doesn't help. I'd change in to my 3/4 pants I have for climbing but they're all chalky and scodey from Mon night. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even the thought that I'm getting another press trip- Gran Canaria this time (June 19-24 so really soon) isn't cheering me up. Fester fester fester. Rot rot rot.

ripped off

2008-05-16T01:36:00.002+10:00

Through my blog explorations, I came across this website. Now I think this stuff is pretty cool and I was really chuffed that it was based in Oz so I went to their site to check prices and OMG some very bad language started coming out of my mouth. That is once I'd finished with squeaking indignantly at an almost supersonic level. (I have that horrible feminine tendency to go quite high pitched when excited.) Now price equivalents between countries can be tricky. I've found in my time here that some things are the equivalent once you do the converting whereas some things are the same price without, ie somethings I'd pay £30 for here and pay $75 back home OR something I'd pay £30 for here I'd pay $30 for back home. But these canvas prices nearly stopped my heart at how expensive they are in Aussie. Over here, you can get a 100cm square canvas for around £130* (AUS$269) but the same thing in Aussie, from my quick scan of the internet, could cost me AUS$495 (£190) which is RIDICULOUS. As I calmed down a bit and hunted around a bit more I found www.ntdgraphics.com.au who seem to have prices similar to the UK but still, I cannot believe the price that some companies charge for this. I may well end up printing things here before I head south and save myself the headache...

*although one of the girls at work said she got one about that size for £80 somewhere.

Valencia

2008-05-15T20:53:00.007+10:00

Well this trip was by no means what I had expected at all and in some ways was disappointing but it was salvageable. It bucketed down 90% of the time but we had one sunny afternoon where we got a city tour and I got to see some truly insane architecture.

This is their new Palau or art centre. I could write essays on this building. Essay upon essay upon essay, and actually enjoy it. The whole complex is simply insane and amazing and I was grinning like an idiot as I walked around it. My one regret is that I didn't go inside any of the buildings and didn't get up close and personal with the Palau. The arching item over the top is meant to be a feather and appears completely unsupported from almost every angle.

I'm easing you guys into this but you can start to see how this place has a very sci-fi feel. These buildings are fantastic mix between robotic/ alien/ and natural forms.
I'm sure this guy is a dormant autobot whose name would be Ladybug. Or maybe Beetle.

I cannot remember the name of the artist but this reminds me so much of black and white drawings that my Dad has in a book of sci-fi/futuristic architecture. I can't believe that someone did drawings as proposals for this design and people looked and it and went, "What the hey, let's do it!"
And this is where Futurama meets Gaudi.
Gaudi. Gaudi. Gaudi.*

This row of what looked to me like giant urinals was easily 20m long and they are easily 2 high and all mosaicked. Holy shattered tiles Batman, that's a lot of mosaic.
See? Urinal.

There wasn't much graffiti in Valencia, which surprised me given how much I'd seen in Barcelona but I found what I could.

These signs in a park made me laugh. I'm still trying to figure out what some of them mean....

This made me think that it should have been a door knocker in Labyrinth.
*But of course not really Gaudi.

smells like home

2008-05-15T00:56:00.006+10:00

Right. Wales. I'm running behind with blogging (Valencia is next) so will do my picture caption trick. I can say this though, despite having some of my worst hayfever, it was a great weekend. It looks freakishly like NZ but being out and about and in fresh air again was simply delicious.

Here is me enjoying fresh air and green fields. Mmmm..... smells like home.
Looks like home too. Tussock and sheep, who'd've thought?

The compulsory bigsmall.We took a pretty decent walk around some waterfalls. I can't remember heir names or locations and considering that the Welsh seem to have some kind of almost religious objection to vowels, I couldn't pronounce it even if I could remember it.

We went to visit a castle (again with the lack of name remembering) and there was this staircase which went down into the ground for ages and was totally pitch black (Antony had a head torch and I went all MacGyver with using the infrared light focus from my camera to light my way) and we go through all this dark, dank tunnel to find what? This:
This is a cool Priory whose name I cannot remember but I shall never forget it because this is where I turned into a circus freak. Since I have no shame and I really did look like a freak, I had to share the pic with you guys. It was totally strange. My eye started to itch, then got all hot and I ran to the bathroom to take out my contacts to find that my eye was nearly swelled shut. This was about lunchtime on the Monday so I spent the rest of the trip without my contacts and hiding behind my sunnies. I went to the doctor the next day who was, surprise surprise, not very helpful but gave me some drops, told me to keep up my hayfever pills- even though they were quite clearly having no effect at all that weekend and sent me on my way.
Tintern Abbey. The one place name I can remember.

please God let it be sunny

2008-05-02T19:12:00.003+10:00

This weekend is a Bank Holiday Weekend so Monday is a day off so instead of going to Amsterdam as originally planned, 5 of us are driving to Brecon Beacon in Wales and hiring a cottage.

The weather could well turn out to be totally pants but I'm really hoping for some sunshine so that I can go for long scenic walks. And if not, well our cottage has red leather seats, a fire and we are stocking up on tea, books, boardgames and booze so fun shall be had no matter what the weather. I am however re-waterproofing my hiking boots tonight. I'm also taking a half day off work so that I can go to the library to stock up on books and bake muffins so we have weekend treats.

Ole! Andale! Ariba!!!

2008-05-02T19:03:00.003+10:00

I have (finally) managed to score a free press trip from work. From May 8-11 I shall be riding the gravy train all the way to Valencia. Initially I was excited because it was a free trip to Spain, then I was excited because I get a free day diving over there, then I was excited because of the amazing places we will be taken to eat but right now, I'm just excited to see the building. Yep, my architectural geek has asserted itself and I'm gagging to get stuck in with my camera because the complex where the exhibition is taking place looks AMAZING. Check this out for cool pics of the place. I am drooling.

Oh yeah, and another highlight? One of the people I've had to contact is, in good Spanish fashion, called Jesus. Those who know me well will be able to hear my cackle of glee as I compose emails starting, "Hi Jesus" or ending "thanks Jesus". Aah it's brilliant.

I have also now got my own brand spanking new wetsuit. It is so pretty. Or at least as pretty as you can expect a wetsuit to be... It arrived at the office yesterday so of course I had to try it on to make sure it fit and boy oh boy was that a nasty sweaty experience. Those things are HOT and getting in to them is a struggle at the best of times but still, it had to be done. I, of course, look nothing like the lady in the picture but still, is pretty, ja?

some things are so sick I just can't get my mind around them...

2008-04-28T20:45:00.001+10:00

news.bbc.co.uk

actual design post for a change

2008-04-18T19:51:00.004+10:00

I had some down time the other week and decided to put it to good use and explore Illustrator some more. I can do what I need to do in it but I thought I'd look up some tutorials to liven things up a bit. I need to do this for Photoshop as well but one thing became very clear with my creative side-trip, I'm a vector girl. I knew this already but Illustrator is just awesome. Like geek-central awesome.

I saw some tutorials that looked interesting on this site.

First off I decided to try this tutorial because I've been pretty sure that you should be able to fit text within any given shape using Illustrator but I didn't even know how to being looking for it in the help. So when I saw this tutorial I was Geek Level 41.37* enthusiastic. Once I'd skimmed the tutorial and found out what I needed to know, I decided to just do my own thing to explore the tools.

Here are some basic things:

But this is almost my pride and joy. I've made my own optical illusion and totally by accident. Which was is the text curving and is it just me or does it look like it gets wider at one end? It doesn't, I know it because I put grid lines in to check, thinking I'd slipped with the old mouse.

Using the envelope distort tutorial, I reckon anyone can make up stuff like this but if there are any questions, I'll endeavour to remember how I did it. ;-)

Then I decided to make some bamboo.

*The scale goes up to 42. We're talking geek scale here people, was there any other number to choose?

go go go

2008-04-17T21:07:00.003+10:00

I've had to hit the ground running this week, what with work suddenly streaming in and my boss being away. But I'm not complaining, nope, I've actually been loving it. It's been a while since I've made to stretch my creative multi-tasking skills like this and it's been good. I'll be ready for the weekend though...

Things have been happening in The Life of Aynia.

1- My pocket knife arrived. I don't know if you've been keeping abreast with Lyndon's comments but apparently you can take a blade up to 6cm long on airplanes in NZ and I notice that this came in to place about a year after the twits took mine off me when I went up to Akl. With all the security paranoia here in the UK, I will get no such luck although my largest blade on my new toy is exactly 6cm long.

Knives of any length, composition or description (except for plastic or round bladed butter knives), swords, machetes, and items commonly used in martial arts competitions such as throwing stars.

Pooheads. Still, knifey had arrived and he is cool and I am happy. There has already been much using of the scissors.

2- WE GOT A NEW OVEN! I will not recount my reaction in detail and bore you all with a bow-by-blow account of my paroxysms of delight but suffice it to say that it has a light, a fan and 2 shelves, things which my previous crapola oven did not. I'm still getting used to the fan things but as this involves many experiments in baking, nobody seems to be complaining.

3- My climbing shoes have a hole in the toe! This is traumatic indeed and involves me sending them away to get re-soled. Last night I had to hire shoes and it was a fairly traumatic experience. They're cheapy shoes and I feel like the soles have no traction at all which I know is bollocks but it's psychological so I don't feel happy standing on things. SO fingers crossed my babies are returned to me soon, all rejuvenated and ready to scramble up walls.

holy crap batman!

2008-04-12T01:46:00.003+10:00

My friend sent me an email with these images in it and the more I look at them, the more ill it makes me feel...

According to the email:

In Zimbabwe, Africa, you will find the magnificent Victoria Falls at a height of 128m. The location is known as 'The Devil's Swimming Pool'.
During the months of September and December, people can swim as close as possible to the edge of the falls without falling over!
These falls are becoming well known amongst the 'radical tourist' industry as more and more people search for the ultimate experience.
Would you dare?

Umm... NO THANKS! I'm not going that near an edge, let alone a wet, slippery, rocky edge, without a rope tied around me.

Investigating this further took me to YouTube. As one of the guy's at work said, it's like watching Darwinism in action...

you have to love Kiwis...

2008-04-08T19:20:00.000+10:00

SNOW!

2008-04-08T01:25:00.004+10:00

This was the view from my window when I woke up yesterday morning. Lovely as it was to have snow, it was a bit weird for this time of year. One of my friends equated it to having snow in NZ in October which is pretty close really... A bunch of us were meeting for breakfast so afterwards we had to go to the park for compulsory snow fights and snowman building. Or in our case, because we were very cold by the end, a very little snow lady...

Áine, Aynia, potato, potato

2008-04-07T20:40:00.002+10:00

I've grown up knowing that my name was found in a fairy tale book and that I was named after the Irish Fairy Queen of Ulster but I can't believe that I haven't done proper research in to the origins of my namesake before this but I'm quite interested in it now. I'll let you all know what other interesting tidbits I come up with.

From Wikipedia:

In Irish mythology, Áine (pronounced "awnya" in Connacht Irish and "enya" in Ulster Irish) is a goddess of love, growth, and cattle, also perhaps associated with the sun. She is the daughter of Egobail, and sister of Aillen and/or Fennen. In some of the tales that mention her, she is the wife of Gearoid Iarla. In other tales, rather than having a consensual marriage, he raped her, and she exacted her revenge by either changing him into a goose, killing him, or both. In yet other versions of her myth, she is the wife or daughter of the sea god Manannán mac Lir. The feast of Midsummer Night was held in her honor. In County Limerick, she is remembered in more recent times as a "fairy queen".

I have to say, that sounds a little mild for my kind of style but suitably quirky. Rape me and I'll turn you goose then kill you. Be warned. Having a feast held in my honour sounds right down my alley really.

done

2008-04-05T01:17:00.003+10:00

I went for the 'climber' in the end. It has more features, it's cheaper, I might as well. I'm fine with having a semi-bulky set of keys so it's done. I had help, I have to admit, I had drawn out on a piece of paper the two sizes and laid my keys beside them and then asked my boss for her opinion. She was without a doubt in the more-bang-for-your buck camp, or maybe it was the bottle opener that swayed her... ;-) And I've gone for classic red, you can't argue with classic and as a bonus, the red will make my knife go faster. (Don't ask.)

tough decisions

2008-04-05T00:02:00.010+10:00

On my way to Egypt, I had my swiss army knife taken off me at the airport because, for the first time in 4 years, I forgot to put my keys in my suitcase and my pocketknife lives on my keyring. As makes sense. (By which I mean having it on my keyring makes sense. Forgetting to put it in my suitcase is just plain stupid.) So now I need a new one but cannot for the life of me choose exactly what I want. I have a list of things my knife must have and things it'd be nice if it did have and no knife seems to have everything on it.
must have
scissors (I use these the most)
tweezers and toothpick
knife blade
would be nice if it did have
can opener
bottle opener
corkscrew (spot a theme here)
nail file

But instead my choices are:

rambler
Length: 58mm
Layers: 2
Features: 9
* Thin Blade
* Nail file
* Bottle Opener
* Magnetic Philips screwdriver
* Wire stripper
* Flat blade screwdriver
* Keyring
* Tweezers
* Toothpick
* Scissors
Bottle opener good, scissors good but I'd really like a can opener and I know from experience that the blade on this one is pissy and small. I like a solid knife.

minichamp
Length: 58mm
Layers: 3
Features: 11
* Thin Blade
* Nail file
* Nail cleaner
* Cuticle Pusher
* Flat Blade Screwdriver
* Ruler
* Letter Opener
* Emergency Blade
* Orange Peeler & Scraper
* Bottle Opener
* Magnetic Philips screwdriver
* Wire stripper
* Keyring
* Ballpoint Pen
* Tweezers
* Toothpick
* Scissors
This one has more stuff but really more of the things I want and again, pissy little blade.

executive
Length: 74mm
Layers: 2
Features: 7
* Large Blade
* Small Blade
* Nail file
* Nail cleaner
* Flat Blade Screwdriver
* Orange Peeler
* Keyring
* Tweezers
* Scissors
This is the one I had and, in all honestly, will probably be the one I get again. I'd just really like if they'd put a bottle opener or can opener (in fact the two can double up) on there instead of the stupid orange peeler. I mean WTF?! The larger blade is okay though.

sportsman
Length: 84mm
Layers: 2
Features: 8
* Large Blade
* Corkscrew
* Can Opener
* Small Screwdriver
* Bottle Opener
* Large Screwdriver
* Wire Stripper
* Reamer & Puncher
* Nail File & Cleaner (short)
* Keyring
* Tweezers
* Toothpick
Here we are moving into what they call the 'large knives'. This looks like it has it all except WHERE'RE MY BLOODY SCISSORS?!!! Dickheads.

climber
Length: 91mm
Layers: 3
Features: 11
* Large Blade
* Small Blade
* Corkscrew
* Can Opener
* Small Screwdriver
* Bottle Opener
* Large Screwdriver
* Wire Stripper
* Reamer, Puncher & Sewing Eye
* Hook
* Scissors
* Keyring
* Tweezers
* Toothpick
Really, this one seems to have it all (except the nail file which I can cope without) except it's just too big to go on my keyring (I'm starting to feel like a MacGyver version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears...) and would totally doiminate things. I think there's an irony that my almost perfect knife is called the 'climber'...

So what's a girl to do? The climber is cheaper than executive which I just don't understand, even though it's nearly 2cm longer and a layer deeper. ARGH! Help! I just can't choose!

once upon a time...

2008-04-04T19:47:00.002+10:00

My friend sent me this:

haikus are easy
but some times they don't make sense
refrigerator

It made me smile because there was a time when I was doing jujitsu that me and the only other girl there were making up haiku, usually on our 'conditioning' evenings, where we were quite often the only consistent attendees. I mean what else is a girl to do to distract herself and she tries to do chin-ups and tricep dips...? And all these years later, a training buddy sees a haiku and thinks of me. I cannot ask for more. ;-)

I want I want I want I want I want I want I want

2008-04-02T23:42:00.003+10:00

Is this not an object of beauty?! I want it bad. But I also think I could make something similar if I put my mind to it and then I'd love it a gazillion times more than this glorious thing because I'd made it myself.

I'm also in love with this owl fabric. Cute, funky and just generally hilarious. I have decided that the Etsy Shop is a dangerous place and I'm lucky that I don't live in the States as at the moment, international shipping costs are a pretty good deterrent.

vexed and puzzled

2008-04-01T22:23:00.003+10:00

After talking to my Dad at the weekend about my verdict on Jumper the movie, I found I had a hankering to read the book again. Partially because it's a good book but mainly to get rid of the movie stuff in my head and reaffirm characters and events as first seen in my mind's eye. So naturally I head along to ye olde trust local library but it wasn't there. Not phased (because it's a small library and it's easy enough to interloan between different branches in my borough) I hopped on to the catalogue only to find that it wasn't there. As in they don't have it. I consider this a crime in itself but it just gets down right weird when you find out that they do have Reflex, the sequel. I think you will join me in saying, "WTF?!" Now I'm annoyed because I want to read it, and in typical fashion, now that I can't get it I really want to read it but I don't want to buy it because Dad has a copy in Oz so it would be like doubling up. So annoying.

I will, at this point, direct you to one of my Dad's blog entries which kinda relates to all this in that it's about reading. If I were to brutally sum up, I'd say it's about how your environment effects what you read and personally I think it's a pretty interesting thing to think about. Why do we read what we read? Sure, partially it's personal but saying that it's influenced by how we were brought up and what books our parents like and what mood were were in or what stage we were at in our life when we came across a book is indeed a major factor. I know that my sci-fi/fantasy predilection arose because my Dad just so happened to be the one who seemed to recommend books to me and it's taken off from there. I don't know why the sci-fi/fantasy genre isn't more popular really because when you're a kid, it's all vivid imagination and fairy tales so surely it's easy to slip in to that genre. Sure, it seems that there are more of that genre around for younger children these days (Harry Potter, Spiderwick, Lemony Snickett, even maybe His Dark Materials) but I don't remember ever having a shortage of it growing up although the only 'young adults' sci-fi/fantasy I can think of right now is Diana Wynne Jones... As far as I'm concerned, Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, David Eddings.. they're all more heading towards teenage reading as opposed to hitting kids around 8-12 when they should be reading for themselves but need something maybe not so heavy. Actually I can't believe I'm writing that because I know that I at least was an exception to this rule. I'd read The Chronicles of Shannara by the time I was 9* and probably the first two series of David Eddings'. Once I got in to reading there was pretty much no stopping me. By age 10 I had read most fantasy books my friends only seemed to be coming across in highschool. That sounds like I'm bragging which is totally not the case, just probably a combo of 'habituation' and my own OCD personality. Ooh Jane Yolen was also good and I only came across Anne McCaffrey in my first year of highschool. But I digress. A point I wanted to raise in relation to this is that due to Harry Potter's popularity, more children are (apparently) now looking towards other books in the fantasy genre and this probably wouldn't have happened before.

Another case of people influencing you to genres you may never have looked at before is (and here I have the good grace to hang my head in shame) the romance genre. In my 2nd year at uni, one of my flatmates discovered Joanna Lindsay and before we knew it, the three of us were cycling them around the flat. I can't remember my first Mills and Boon but I think it was when I was staying at a friend's place when we were housesitting for her parents. Her Dad reads M&B but she had never previously touched them, being of the opinion (rightfully) that they were literary trash. Well one night I had run out of books so and glancing along the shelf saw a M&B. Having already started the slippery slope down the romance 'novel' path, I picked one up out of curiosity. When my friend saw me reading it I got no end of hassle and I didn't really bother to defend myself apart from saying that they were light and fluffy and more than slightly laugh-at-them funny. And because of me, a few months later, my friend confessed to having gotten hooked. Another case of circumstance and people leading someone on to a genre they would never have glanced at twice.

And when you think about it, it happens all the time really. We read books that people recommend, even if they're not what we might normally read because we know the person and respect their opinion so are willing to 'give it a go'.

And that's all I have time for now. Ciao.

*I have clear memories of huddling up in the middle of my parents large bed. (Their bed because my sister was probably asleep and because they were probably watching tv and I like reading in quiet but also because their bed because it's comforting and to be honest, some parts of those Shannara books scared 8yr old me shitless. Didn't stop me though...)

Dahab

2008-04-01T01:25:00.002+10:00

This is just going to be a glorified photo caption post because DIVE's on deadline but I wanted to get some piccies up for people to see. I'll write properly about my trip later... This pic is me at the top of the very large steep hill behind my hotel.

This is the view of Dahab from the top of the aforementioned hill.

I fell in love with these disused street lamps.

Taken in Dahab looking towards the mountains. I am totally, utterly and insanely in love the these mountains. They're such amazing shapes and just suddenly jut out of the flat desert and they look brilliant at sunrise and sunset.

The view from my hotel room every morning. So beautiful. No wonder I woke up in a good mood every day. God I miss the sea.

More arty shots, this one is on my balcony looking to the left.

And that's it for today. Ciao.

I'm gonna get you little fishy...

2008-03-19T20:06:00.002+10:00

Up until yesterday, it didn't really feel like I had a holiday coming up, it didn't feel real but it definitely is now. I hope to have some last-minute dive kit arriving, I've got my travel insurance, have had the pre-holiday de-hairing, have looked up bus and train times to get me to the airport and have just been given the office dive computer to christen. It's so new and shiny and hasn't been in the water yet and that more than anything else has made me think YAY! I'M GOING ON HOLIDAY TOMORROW!!!

braver than me

2008-03-18T22:08:00.003+10:00

What's your first reaction when you see this image? I had several competing for first place:
1- Halloween candy in March? (it's the font and colour of it)
2- scary!
3- yick!
But some people are made of stauncher stuff than I am. Marie reviewed this candy with such dedication that I had to laugh. I wouldn't have gone near it with a 10ft barge pole.

biting the bullet

2008-03-12T03:21:00.007+10:00

So after a week or more of sporadic 'aches'* in my ears and with my dive trip looming (I LEAVE ON THURSDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I finally decided to cowboy up and go to the doctor. I decided that I would ask for ear drops, as a preventative if nothing else and that at least would calm my paranoid internal mutterings. So I get there and the lady at the desk is friendly and the doctor when he calls me in sounds friendly and doesn't look at old and doddery as I'd built him up to be in my memory (I saw him for the one and only time before this just over a year ago) so, thinking I'd blown this whoel thing out of proportion, I sat down and explained the situation. He looked in my ear, said it looked clean, any aches were probably from internal pressure and I should take sudofed to get rid of that and drops were a last resort (the unspoken part was that he wouldn't prescribe them until it got worse). I double checked that any achey stuff would only be from congestion, he said yes, apparently my ear looks good and sent me on my way. No weighing or general questions about my health, no blood pressure, nada. I guess I'm just used to the personal touch of my doctor who has treated me for the past 10 years or more and doesn't have a gazillion patients. So I bought sudofed on the way to work, have popped a pill and it better bloody well work. (I have a moderate degree of faith.)

olé¡

A couple of weekends ago I accompanied a friend to an 'm' party. I went as a Mexican (having all the paraphernalia left over from Kerry's and my Mexican party all that time ago). I've put this picture up because, artistically, I'm fascinated by how much more flattering B&W can be (especially when you boost up the contrast) than colour... I mean seriously, dude, I look so much better in B&W.

alternative humour

I can't remember where exactly I found this image (it was somewhere on my stumbles) but I had to put it in because it makes me laugh. Cute and funny but somehow a little bit sad as well.

*I say 'aches' because I'm in a near hypochondriacal (it may not be a real word but it should be) state so any twitch of anything in my ear becomes an 'ache'.

grumble grumble

2008-03-10T20:31:00.001+10:00

Stupid blogger is playing up and won't let me upload pics, without which there is no point in me blogging. Boo hiss I say, booooooooo.

font nazi time

2008-03-06T02:31:00.004+10:00

One of the guys at work forwarded me this email the other morning and as soon as I opened the email I started laughing and this is why:

Well you won't be working for any magazine of mine buddy, I can tell you that. What kind of a designer sends an email around asking for work that is formatted in comic sans?! It means one of two things:
1) comic sans is the default font he has set his email to
2) he made an effort and chose to format his text with that font
And in fact option 1 means he made the conscious choice to set satan's font as the default which is an UNFORGIVABLE offense.

no imagination*

2008-03-05T22:49:00.002+10:00

My flatmate was very excited the other day because he got Vista for his computer. When I asked him, not very delicately, why the f*ck he had gone and done a thing like that, he said because it was better than XP. I said, "Really?" We all agree his computer is shit. It's slow, it's temperamental, it's a PC. But I am the first person to point out that it's probably not the poor little computer's fault but rather the stupid operating system it has to run. What computer stands a chance?

So Sean had disappeared off to his room to geek it up with his new satanic operating system and I was telling Sarah that it was meant to be 4˚C the next day so we'd need to bundle up and she said, "Oh we know already. Sean has a new toy on his computer which tells him the weather." At this point I lost it, "It's called a widget and they nicked it from Apple because they have no f*cking original ideas of their own!" That sentence reads fairly calmly** but my voice was raised and my arms were waving in the air. One might almost have described me as irate...

*this should be making people think of The Italian Job, the American remake.
**and may in fact have contained quite a few more liberal smatterings of the 'f' word, I get a bit worked up when it comes to the lack of imagination of the staff of Microsoft

sorting it out...

2008-03-04T02:04:00.004+10:00

Yesterday I realised that in just over 2 weeks I will be in Dahab on my yoga diving course. This means I will be diving which means I will be underwater which means that I will need my sinuses to be fully functioning and not in their current snot-clogged state. This meant sitting down with myself and giving my body a little talking-to. I explained that it may have been sulking over the past couple of weeks (although God only knows why, I've been very nice to it- I feed it regularly and take it for walks and everything...) and whereas the whole feeling of stuff shifting around in my head when I wake up in the mornings and filling up my sinuses to the stage where I can't breathe and eat at the same time may have been all very haha funny in the beginning, the joke is now over. I'm giving my body one week (and that's pretty indulgent as it is) to shape up and I want to feel those sinuses whistle clean and ready to smoothly equalise by the time I hit the water. I have fish to see and places to swim.

Not to appear totally insensitive, I have promised loads of vitamin C enriched yummy fruity drinks and even some non-perscription medication but if it doesn't shape up, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take it to the doctor and as I explained to myself, neither of us want to do that. He'll probably prescribe 4 different drugs that we don't really need and tempt us with the hope of taking our blood pressure only to let us down. Oh yeah, and that sore throat that's been sleeping on the couch for the past fortnight? He has to go too.

mountains and molehills

2008-02-27T20:25:00.007+10:00

I don't tend to get sick that often so when I do, I do it in style- which is just fine. There are however the times that I get common-garden-under-the-weather, like I am now. Combine my general unaccustomedness of B-Grade unwell with my paranoia about the English health system and you have the perfect recipe for Aynia the Hypochondriac. Yesterday, just as I was leaving work, I noticed that my throat was getting sore again and then I got a twinge in my ear and in the 20 mins it took to get me to the supermarket on my way home, I had myself diagnosed with an ear infection and possible tonsillitis. I drank not one, not two, but four hot lemon, honey and ginger drinks last night which is usually a fool-proof way to cut a sore throat off at the pass but not this one, oh no. I woke up at 5am and my throat felt swollen and sore and my body was achey and I started to think of all the other things that could be wrong with me. And then just before I was leaving the house this morning I felt a twinge in my right shoulder which seems like the same place it hurt before when I had tendinitis which I really don't want because that had me out of action for about a month and my climbing's going so well at the moment that I'd be gutted if I couldn't climb.

I'm falling to pieces* (ear infection, tonsillitis and my arm is about to drop off) and worse yet, I may have to the NHS. shudder Call me crazy but I just don't put any faith in my doctor who I've met once and is a little old man who didn't really talk to me at all apart from to read over the form I filled in to register with him. I think he took my blood pressure but that might be my imagination. ..

*remember these are the ramblings of a sleep-deprived hypochondriac. I'm sure if I OD on vitamin C all will come right.

bag love

2008-02-23T01:33:00.003+10:00

I have a weakness for handbags, I'll admit it. I came over to the UK with 2 and now have a small suitcase full. I know some won't be making it across the world with me at the end of the year but that doesn't mean the choosing will be easy.

I came across these bags which I have fallen for big time. They've totally inspired me to go searching through op shops for oddball material and to sit down and sew me some creations. I think they're the schizzle.

The picture on the right is the inside of the image on the right. Wow! I would happily have that as a normal bag, let alone the inside. I wonder if it's reversible...

These photos are great. I think taking time to show detail proves that you've taken time to create something and think about the finer points of its design.

just coz I think it's cool

2008-02-22T03:05:00.003+10:00

I wish...

2008-02-22T02:30:00.004+10:00

that I could draw like this:

I came across this guy's site and his illustrations just blow me away. I'm a sucker for a good sketch at the best of times and will usually choose them over a painting and of course I have a weakness for fantasy subject matter. I'm just amazed that someone has such an awesome imagination that they can think this kind of thing up and 'noodle it out' while in a book store. And jealous. Very jealous.

something for the eyes

2008-02-22T01:45:00.003+10:00

Usually gems like this would be saved for a Friday as they're Friday-suitable hilarity but I've decided to post them now and besides, for my southern hemisphere readership, it will be Friday by the time you read this anyway.

Mary Poppins - Ruined By Andy.F

OK GO
From the genius minds that brought you the treadmill video

Enjoy!

London, it's as easy as A, B, C...

2008-02-19T22:55:00.009+10:00

My friend Sue has devised (appropriated/adapted) a scheme by which we will do more interesting things and see more interesting stuff in and around London this year- the Alphabet Weekend. On a chosen weekend we will, in order, choose three letters (or maybe 4 if we're ambitious) of the alphabet and do an activity or see a sight that starts with that letter. We started this weekend just past and did Abby Road, Borough Market and China Town.

BOROUGH MARKET
We actually started our outing at Borough Market as it worked smoother transport-wise. I love Borough Market. It's all the cool food. Witness at my look of cheese joy:

And here is me giving some bread what really looks like a glad-eye:

There is only so much of Sue and her camera that two girls can handle.

ABBY ROAD

We only had three of us but we did our best to recreate the walk... I wore by flare jeans especially and do believe I have the best walking action. Even if I do say so myself.

Sue also decided that we need to make the shape of the appropriate letter at each site using our bodies. I think we're gonna take a bit of practice... This was an initial attempt at an 'A'. I swear I thought my leg was higher but it really looks like I'm kicking Rose in the groin*

The 'B' was our first attempt at any letter creation and it took us a while to work out what we wanted to do...

CHINA TOWN
Me and Sue making a 'C' at the Gate to China Town.

At the time, I thought I was trying to make a backwards 'C'. It seems I really have to work on what I think I'm doing with my body and what is happening in reality. Still a funny photo though.

And in closing
Totally unrelated to Alphabet Weekends but vaguely related to London is this Shakespeare Insult Kit that I found on the web. I have too many favourites to name but I particularly like the sound of:
paunchy pox-marked pignut
fawning flap-mouthed flirt-gill
vain common-kissing canker-blossom

Some names I had to look up the definition for because they ended up to be nothing like what I may have guessed:
hugger-mugger
fustilarian A low fellow; a stinkard; a scoundrel
mammet An idol; a puppet; a doll
flirt-gill A woman of light behavior; a gill-flirt.

Bawdy, churlish, paunchy, saucy, surly- all great words to say. I love the way you can roll them around your mouth. Not on his list but equally satisfying are pillock and bollocks.

*I promise no Rose was harmed in the making of these images.

Look Mum, I'm on TV!

2008-02-18T21:06:00.007+10:00

Well, kinda. Sadly I have no link to something where ppl can view what I think may be my accumulative 3 seconds of fame but I was on TV.

My friend Sue, got tickets to Dancing on Ice, courtesy of her yoga buddy who does makeup for the show. It was my first live-studio-audience experience and it was really interesting as well as great fun but being an audience is hard work, let me tell you. Stand up, cheer, clap, sit down, stand up cheer, sit down, cheer, cheer CLAP CLAP CLAP tell you can't feel your hands and then make even more noise. Sue and I are going to tape the rerun of the show and fast forward through the skating bits and just watch the audience shots so we can see ourselves. hee hee.

This is a shot of the set before anything started, needless to say, we weren't allowed to take pics at all so even this was a sneaky one.

And, we had a celebrity moment, not that we knew it was one at the time. We were at the bar and Sue was behind me when the guy beside me turned around with his drinks and said to Sue, who must have been standing where his girlfriend had been previously, "Hey Babe, can you just take these back" and Sue said, "Ok." and he double-checked, and went, "OH! Sorry! I totally thought you were someone else! I was about to lean in for a kiss and everything." So we all had a little laugh and later on we ended up standing near him and his friends and all these people kept coming up asking for his autograph and to get photos taken with him and we were like, "OMG! We were talking to a celebrity, he put his arm around Sue, he's famous and we had no idea." Typical. Just so you all know, this was our celeb, he's on Hollyoaks, one of the UK's soap operas.

On another note, you should all read this entry of A Dress A Day. I was actually giggling out loud, I haven't laughed that much at a blog entry in a very long time.

they still all looked like a plate of Hot Mistake with a side of Mental Deficient

Read it.

best laid plans........

2008-02-18T19:53:00.002+10:00

So clearly I was too vocal about geeking it up on Fri night because Fate must have heard me and threw a spanner in the works. I had just settled with my Chinese and was about to press play on the DVD when the door opened and Jane's friend, who had been looking after the place before me and was meant to be away that night, came in. Turns out there was a mixup in communications so I finished my Chinese, had a glass of wine and a chat and then trotted off home. Not exactly the Friday night I had planned but oh well...

Friday

2008-02-15T22:35:00.004+10:00

Marie's blog is great for random quizzes and are the perfect thing for a Friday. This week's quiz is What File Extension Are You?

When you work with amateurs it can get quite ugly

Hahahahahaha. If they only knew..............

slice of heaven

2008-02-15T21:05:00.002+10:00

Tonight I'm back out at Jane's looking after the kitty-cats and, sad though some might think it, I'm really looking forward to my night in. There's a Chinese takeaway I love 10mins down the road from her place and my rental DVD that arrived yesterday is 3:10 to Yuma so I have a pretty near perfect Aynia Night In: crazy cats, Chinese and a western. Heaven!

chocolate chocolate chocolate

2008-02-14T19:49:00.006+10:00

I have to congratulate the people at BBC Good Food for their impeccable timing in sending out their e-newsletters. They usually arrive around lunchtime or about 5pm as I'm getting ready to home and it just starts me drooling. This morning I was welcomed by 'Romantic Meals in Minutes'.

If you haven't booked that romantic restaurant or hand-selected your scallops for Valentine's Day it's probably too late. Fear not - you can still make a special meal in minutes with easy-to-get ingredients that won't blow the budget.

Ba humbug to all that but at the bottom of the newsletter was a link to chocolate pudding recipes. Be warned: if you're going to check out that link and you like choccie, strap on a bib and tie yourself down because you will be drooling non-stop and then running to the supermarket to start making everything on the list. A few of my favourites I must share with you though:

Gateaux au chocolat chaud
I think the picture says it all. All that melted gooey choccie inside.... Mmmmm.................

Marbled honeycomb & chocolate mousse pots

I think these just sound and look interesting although I can't quite figure out if it's meant to be a hot or cold desert as it sounds like it'd be more luke-warm than anything else...

Chocolate Soufflé

I love the idea of doing these in mugs, it just seems like a really cute idea. Plus I've never made a soufflé before because they sound temperamental so I think it's time I rose to the challenge.

God only knows where I'm going to find all the people to eat all this stuff. I have already threatened my Mum that when I get to Oz, I won't look for a job, I'll just settle down in their kitchen and bake 24/7. But even with family friends and relatives, I don't think they know enough people to consume all my creative endeavours... And if I give them to my newly acquired diving and climbing buddies it'll look like I'm trying to buy friends. Which would totally be true as I have no qualm about using food as bribery but I don't like it to appear that way... ;-)