Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!

Yesterday I had a full day off, all to myself! I decided to catch up on things around the house, the main one being cooking.

I set myself a budget of $50, which I exceeded but only by about $7. I bought mainly vegetables from the local green grocer, then two lamb shanks, 500gms of lean mince and a bacon bone from the butcher, a loaf of bread and 4 small dinner rolls from the bakery and some coconut milk and lemongrass from the asian supermarket.

On reaching home I immediately turned on the slowcooker and made a lamb shank stew, main ingrediants lamb shanks, onion, lentils, potatoes, pumkin, carrots, beans, red wine, canned tomatoes, assorted herbs and spices.

I then set the largest pot we have up half full with water and put it on the stove over a low heat. I threw in the bacon bone, some pearl barley and dehydrated beans and put the lid on. I got out the second largest pot and only filled it about two inces deep with water, then put in lemongrass, ginger, galangal, lime leaves, garlic and chilli. I put that over a low heat with the lid off and kept an eye on it till it reduced by an inch, at which point I turned off the heat.

I made up a bolognese sauce in a third pot and left it to simmer for about an hour, then let it cool.

I cut into large chunks onion, garlic, potato, pumkin, carrots, zucchini, green beans and red capsicum and threw them in with the bacon bone along with a can of tomatoes and some herbs, then I left it to get on with becoming soup on it's own.

I cut up quite a lot of veggies for a stirfry, then put them all in one of my bigger freezable plastic boxes. I poured the reduced thai herb mix over them and sprinkled fresh coriander over that then put the lot in the freezer. When we defrost it we'll just have to throw it tin the wok with coconut milk and be done!

Once the bolognese was cool I made up two lasagnes like dishes. One was a normal straight lasagne, the other differed in that instead of pasta I put in a layer of eggplant, then of sweet potato, then zucchini with mushrooms scattered through. Both of these went into the freezer.

Lastly I made a veggie curry with whatever veggies were left and some lentils, then waited for that to cool and froze it in one-person sized portions, on it's own it will be a good lunch and with rice it would be substancial enough for dinner.

The above took me about four hours, not a bad way to spend a stormy afternoon.

Once I'd cleaned up the kitchen I headed upstairs and started on the bookshelf in the study. Both Seamus and I had kept all of our uni readers, but we did pretty much the same subjects (just three years apart) so I got rid of the doubles (mine- because I wouldn't throw out seamus' stuff without permission) and voila! We have shelf room! I then did a quick ransack for anything op shoppable. We'd only done that a few months ago so there wasn't much, but I still found a few that missed the last cull. I then gathered everything that I could see that needed to be recycled in a pile on the floor. Once the pile reached my chin I started carrying it downstairs to the recycle bin, swearing at the cats along the way who were hyperactive and trying to trip me on the stairs.

I did not quite finish taking the pile out before having to leave the house, so some of it is still on the floor of the study ([Unknown site tag]? It's the pile on the floor behind the computer chair if you have time).

I headed out into the storm to collect Eva and we had a rollicking good time at Go Go dancing. Dancing definitely improvess my mood and I think it will be incorperated into all future plans to fight winter blues. We swung by Fitzroy to pick up Seamus from work then dropped Eva home and gorged ourselves on lamb shank stew and apple pies.

Today I visited my cousin for tea and cake, then when I came home I finished fiddling with the bookshelf. Most books are now grouped by author and also vaguely by genre, and the pile'o'crap at hand level when sitting at the computer has been obliterated. Also dusted the damn thing and gave myself an asthma attack, but hey, that's what ventilon is for, right?

Now I'm back at work today and tomorrow, and already looking forward to saturday as my next day off!

*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!

I suddenly have Friday off.

Anyone up for dancing?

Friday:

Went to Mr McClelland's Finishing School for cows_might_fly_'s birthday. Had a great time. Discovered that the Melbourne alternative/hippy/arty scene for the 24-35 set is a bit too small for comfort.

Saturday:

Went to Bunnings and bought a water tank. Accompanied mc_shamo into Highpoint proper and helped him choose a shirt in which to wed. Tried to buy bras in Myer but got scared and ran away. Worked in the afternoon/evening/night.

Sunday:

Was presented with a pot of mini growning red roses by mc_shamo for Valentine's day; so much nicer than roses that will die in a week.

Went to breakfast at Brezioz in Williamstown- croissants and pain au chocolat and orange juice and hot chocolate for me, the same for Seamus except coffee instead of hot chocolate.

After Seamus went to work I made my way to the Simone Perele store in Brunswick and confirmed that I have indeed changed bra sizes again, so replaced my still newish 12C bras with 12/14Ds. As much fun as it is buying new lingerie I kind of hope this is it for a while- this growth spurt of my chest region is getting a bit expensive and I've noticed that once one passes the D-cup mark the variety of bra available drops dramatically (also I've had to actually start worrying about the whole support issue, which never bothered me from age 14 to 25 as a comfortable B-cup).

After a nap at home that went a bit longer than intended I drove to Northcote for Anita's triumphant exhibition opening. The Exhibition is called "Dearest Beloved" and is at 235A St Georges Rd. It was very impressive and I'm very proud of her.

I met Seamus at the Asian Kitchen Restaurant on Racecourse rd for an indulgent Thai dinner then we went home and shared the lovely dessert wine cows_might_fly and clappamungus gave us and snacked on Koko Black dark chocolates while watching Kiss Me Kate, a 1948 Cole Porter musical that was a lot of fun.

Next weekend, Sorrento!!

I had the most wonderful time last night. Thanks to everyone who rocked up. Dancing was so much fun, sitting and quietly drinking a beer and watching everyone was wonderful, seeing Erica again after so long was magic, even the rather wet 20 minutes or so before the getting home logistics were worked out (thanks for picking us up, Daniel!) could not put a dampener on my night (hah!)

I am an incredibly, amazingly, astonishingly lucky woman.

This afternoon I finish work at 4:30. I plan to go directly to gym, arriving about 5:15 and work out for an hour or two, roughtly aiming to be home by 7:30pm

I then plan to faff round for a bit then head out to Mr McClellen's Finishing School at Trades Hall, and I was wondering who else was thinking of going?

Mr Andrew McClelland and friends present a night of excellent songs to dance to.

This is an indie/pop night for those who love music – classic indie, modern indie, 60s rock, 60s soul and eclectic pop will be the order of the day. And we guarantee not to turn into a banging electro party at 2am.

From The Smiths to The Who, from Weezer to The Supremes, from Belle & Sebastian to Prince, from Pulp to MGMT. You will dance your arse off.

From 9pm on disparate Fridays; the 24 Oct, 14 Nov, 28 Nov, 12 Dec.
$8 on the door

Grand!

C'mon cows_might_fly_! I know you love dancing! And everone else, don't make me stay home and eat pizza go alone!