(no subject)

*Yawn* *Stretch*

Today I was awake by noon, and found a text from _audhumla_ asking if I was home and if she could pick up her mail (mc_shamo had been collecting it while she and ragedc were in Vietnam). _audhumla_ and I ended up on a joint trip first to the op-shop to drop things off (and she agreed that is does feel really good and cleansing getting rid of things!) then to Aldi for groceries. It was fun, and great to hang out.

Speaking of op-shops and recycled clothes places, can any of my Melbourne friends reccommend a place to take really good vintage stuff? I have a bunch of things from when I was about 18 that no longer fit, but I'd hate for them to go to a common or garden Vinnies where they will sell them for $3 (no kidding- that is what one of the dresses cost me, and it's a Jean Paul Gautier). I don't particularly care about making money off the clothes, I'd just like to make sure they go somewhere where they'll be appreciated.

When I got back from Aldi I started dinner. I was very proud of this dinner because it worked quite well, so I will record it for posterity here. First I put a tablespoon of bush tomato infused olive oil into a saucepan with a teaspoon of crushed garlic. Once sizziling I added 500gms of lean beef. Once beef was browned I added a can of diced tomatoes and about a teaspoon each of powdered cinnamon, cloves and basil, and half a teaspoon of chilli powder. Last I stirred in a few nuggets of frozen spinach and let that melt, then put the lot in the fridge to cool down.

While the meat was cooling I grated a large handful of tasty cheese and a large handful of parmesan and added this to about 200ml of cooking cream and a dash of milk, then I added about a teaspoon of lemon rind to the mix as well.

Once the meat was cool I got out a deep baking tray, sprayed it with oil, cut up a sweet potatoe into 1cm rounds and spread them on the bottom. I then scattered sliced mushrooms and oregano to make another layer, I ended up with 1 layer sweet potato, three layers mushrooms, two of meat, two of the cheesy sauce, one of eggplant and one of capsicum, then topped the tray with any leftover veggies (mainly sweet potato and eggplant). Just before I left the house in the evening I put it in the oven any turned it to about 160 C for two hours.

I also poured a bottle of wine into the slow cooker, turned it to "Warm" (which is not actually meant to be a cooking temperature, it just keeps already cooked stuff warm) halved an orange, studded it with cloves and bunged it in along with some cinnamon sticks and star anise. I then melted half a jar of honey in the microwave and pured that in too. I left it on "Warm" for about four hours and it came out great.

Before dinner mc_shamo, cows_might_fly, clappamungus and myself all went dancing again. This week we learned the Charleston, which was awesome fun, and I think a little easier than the Lindy Hop. I've noticed a definite lift in my mood after dancing class, so thing they will become part of my strategy to defeat the winter blues.

cows_might_fly and clappamungus came over for dinner after dancing and seemed to enjoy my concoction, then mc_shamo and I cudddled on the couch and discussed travel plans before I had to leave for work, and here I am!

A good day in all, here's hoping for a quiet night!

Household organisation update

Spare wardrobe tackled on weekend with the help of mc_shamo. HUUUUGE packing box taken to op shop, almost as huge pile again of stuff divided between recyclable and non-recyclables and placed in the correct outside bins. The wardrobe took about two hours with two of us, pretty insane.

Now the only things hanging in there are our wedding clothes, an old coat of my mother's I can't bear to throw away (and really will have to get mended soon) and my old dark blue cloak and green velvet dress (if anyone remembers, it is the dress impostinator used to call the "not fair" dress) I plan to offer this dress and cloak to my young cousin, though I'm not sure she is still into fantasy stuff- think she's gone sideways into anime. Would anyone else be interested? The dress is beautiful, and cost about $300 new. It's one of a kind made by someone in NZ from memory. The cloak was made by a crafty ex's mum, it's blue velveteen and has slits near the shoulders so you can wear a backpack with it. Free to good home, I'd like to know they were getting worn again.

Today I cleared out the bathroom. It's amazing how many toiletries and hair products two people can accumulate, not to mention out of date medicine. I managed to fill half a small box with op-shoppable stuff and four garbage bags to be binned. Our garbos won't know what hit them this week. Also, it was disturbing how far from white our shower tiles had got. Ick.

At this point I'd like to thank Agatha Christie, and also the BBC, were it not for a laptop I could drag round the house as well as radio plays and you-tubed television programs based upon the late Dame's work I'm pretty darn sure this household organisation mission would have run out of motivation by now.