random life – Page 30 – helenthura.com

August 15, 2008

West End Markets

For the last few weeks I have made a trip each Saturday morning to the West End Markets and oh how I loved them more than any of the other markets I have been to in Brisbane. A lot cheaper than the Jan Power markets and more general fruit and vege stalls as opposed to speciality olive and dip stalls, a whole lot more stalls than the Nundah markets. Just the perfect mix of everything.

I can get bananas from a banana grower at Crabbes Creek, near where Grandad grew up. I can get apples and pears from this lovely old Italian (?) man from Stanthorpe. Heritage tomatoes from this lovely lady. Fresh local squid from the polystyrene box fish shop. Turkish bread that is at least a meter long from the Highgate Hill bakery and everything else I need for the week.

The other week Mum came with me and I took these photos of her sitting on the soccer field eating some American cherries after our shared Hungarian spinach thing which we had for breakfast.

I probably won’t be going the next two weeks as I have weddings on both Saturdays but generally this is where you will find me on a Saturday morning.

July 27, 2008

Food

One thing I have truly loved about moving out of the family home is how much more I cook. I do the bulk of the cooking now (it means I don’t have to always wash up :D). Sure I dislike our stove with a passion, it is soooo inefficient, the oven does not know at all what even heat means, it likes burning the bottom of baked goods and it on the small side so finding biscuit trays to fit has been a mission. Still as much as I dislike the stove, I still love it as it lets me cook. The bummer is that I am not taking any photos of what I am cooking, I know I should and that I should start playing with my flashes to provide the lighting as when I have finished cooking it is dark, dark, dark outside and the ceiling lights in our flat leave little to be desired.

Whilst some nights I don’t feel like cooking after coming home from work and I end up having a sandwich or a salad for dinner, most nights the thing I want to do most after a day at work is to potter round the kitchen or sit on the kitchen bench stirring the pot with a cup of tea or glass of water beside me whilst listening to the ABC or some Jazz. One of my staples has become a lamb and lentil dhal of sorts as well as of course a good old pasta ragu.

Last night I made mushroom risotto for dinner and well both Andrea and I had seconds. It was good, so good. Looking forward to having the leftovers for lunch at work tomorrow. This morning we had blueberry pancakes for breakfast just because I didn’t feel like having cereal or toast 😀

I have decided that one of the the things I will do when I am flat hunting next time is request a test run of the stove 😀 well at least a thorough inspection of it’s capabilities. 😀

July 26, 2008

Defence Charity Ball

Last Saturday night I got frocked up for a good cause, the third annual Defence Charity Ball in aid of Legacy and Red Kite and oh what a night it was. There was eleven of us from work plus the other assorted people that people knew from working in the Defence arena. The guys were looking swish in their mess kits and us girls were sparkling in our frocks. It was a night of good food, dancing, chatting, drinking and posing in Iroquois and with Military Working Dog Puppies and Jamie Durie. After the formalities of the ball were over, the rest of the table started on their way home but one of the other girls and I kept on going till the early morning, enjoying a night out all frocked up in our finest.

My dress picked me, I walked into a dress shop at Chermside, had a flick through a few racks, then the manager came over and said hello, asked me what I was looking for and pulled out a few dresses. The dress I wore, was the first one I tried on. I cam back a few days later with Mum, tried it on again and walked out with it 😀 The dress however meant that I had to wear heels. For those who know me, I don’t really wear heels, luckily I have a great flat mate who has the same size feet as me and wears heels 😀 I wore high heels every night round the flat with my track pants getting used to wearing high heels, I looked well like a picture but it was going to be the only way I would be able to last a night in heels. There were quite high heels too, a good 2cm high …. I have to give big thanks to Andrea and Brandi, my flatmate and one of her best mates for doing my hair and make-up. Which meant that one of the persons I work with (though he does work in one of regional offices didn’t recognise me). My hair was so cool, the curls managed to stay curly for a few days more which a lot more fun the the straight slightly wavy hair I have naturally.
The evening before the ball, Andrea and I met up in the city to find the brooch to wear on the dress sash, we went to sooo many shops and looked and discarded sooo many brooches (so many were just plain ugly). Then we came across this little costume jewellery shop in the Myer Centre and there she was, the brooch which was in my budget and had enough vintage style to be very me.

This ball was my first and definitely won’t be my last.

You can check out the rest of the photos here.

June 10, 2008

bit of a wrap up

Yesterday was the Queen’s birthday public holiday and I spent most of it at my parents sewing, I have finally finished the top of my 21st birthday quilt. I turn 23 in September…… IT looks so good and I can’t wait to see it on my bed.

Today is Tuesday and I flexed the day off to give me a four day weekend 🙂 What a day I had, I started off with a long list of jobs to do this morning and now at 21:40 I can cross most of those jobs off. I have changed the address on my drivers licence, bank account, organised insurance (I’ve only been here a month and a dew days…..), re-arranged my wardrobe, did some shopping, took a bunch of cracked lids back to Tupperware for replacing. The only thing I haven’t done is my ironing which I am about to do and to process the photos from the two most recent gigs I have gone along to.

Tonight for dinner I made a delightful salad. It was fennel, salad leaves, beans, carrot, dried cherry tomatoes, some lightly fried capsicum and toasted walnuts with a lemon and Shiraz vinaigrette and a rasher of bacon. It looked good and tasted good, the only thing I might have added was some apple for a bit of sweetness. Since moving out I have experimented a lot more with my cooking as if is a flop it is only a flop for one person or maybe two if Andrea is eating with me. The pork/ginger rissoles were not the best but the dhal I made last week was soooo good. Andrea commented tonight that I am so good always making dinner and as I said to Andrea, it is just because I am too cheap to buy takeout. Friday night I made a tasty apple and walnut loaf which I will make again in the coming days and tweak the recipe a bit before posting it here.

I am very slowly getting used to having the internet again. It is not weird I just don’t have the desire to check out all the sites that I was checking out before I moved out.

Oh I also should probably mention I got my hair cut two Wednesdays ago, I had about 3″ taken off it, about half my hair or more thinned out and I have a bit of a side fringe. It is so weird, my pony tail is sooo skinny compared to how fat it used to be. I like it just not used to having so much lightness with this sort of length.

May 31, 2008

a mish mosh life

My life is in a bit of a weird place at the moment. The internet is still not connected at our flat yet so to use my computer/the net I have to come home and when I do come home I don’t really like using the computer – sort of feels like I am in a Net Cafe with my 30mins of allocated time ticking away. To check my emails – which I can do via the web but I just don’t have the time at work to do so that often, Mum reads me the senders out over the phone. So funny, what an interesting way to check emails. Then I know what is waiting for me to find time to check at work or come home and read.

Last night Andrea and I (and later on a friend of Andrea’s) went down to one of “our (new) locals”, to grab a Pub meal and to enjoy a night of fReTfEST featuring amongst others Rob Longstaff (his website seems to be down at the moment) and Georgia Potter, a post with pictures is coming shortly.

Mum and I went to Chermie this morning and I managed to find not only a cardigan which I was looking for but a jacket and a new work shirt as well. I have been very lacking in the cooler weather gear department of items which have more office style than Polartecs. The jacket and the cardigan are both Australian Merino which is pretty nice. I also picked up a recipe book, to start copying recipes from Mum’s handwritten recipe book to my own.

The 2nd Mountain Goats session is finally up on Daytrotter and oh sigh what a fantastic collection of four recordings it is. San Bernardino is such a delicate recording compared to the version on Heretic Pride. I had forgotten how much I loved There Will Be No Divorce and 02-75, what a sweet song that is and well Raja Vocative is Raja Vocative.

Tonight I am going on a boat cruise of the lovely Brisbane River with a large collection of people from work. Thankfully the sky has cleared and the wind has eased a bit! Yesterday, not many of us was looking forward to today!

And because we always need photos here some photos from the last week or so.

May 11, 2008

Toto, I don’t think we are in Kedron any more

Toto, I think this looks like Wooloowin.

Toto, this is Wooloowin!

As some as you know, I moved out of home yesterday to a block of flats at Wooloowin – a whole transport zone closer to the city 🙂 Yesterday was spent packing, unpacking, sorting, rearranging etc etc. I have moved out with Andrea, who is well Andrea, we went to uni together and well is my partner in not so criminal crimes. Here is a little peak of the flat. Still lots of boxes all over the place and mmm where should we put this and mmm we need something to go there and mmmm where did I put that?

I am currently computerless though at Wooloowin as I am been really kind to my dear mother and leaving my computer in my old room for the time been 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 no computer, Helen doesn’t know what to do! Means I have to come home as well 🙂