between the devil and the deep blue sea

here they are, lisa. your directions! i'll expect you in... oh, say, 54 days and 13 hours.


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click on "View Larger Map" to view the driving (or should I say kayaking?) directions. sorry about all the toll roads in japan. and there are those parts where you have to "kayak across pacific ocean". but, hey - easy as pie, right? see you soon!

wowsers!

remember that?




anyway, that's not what i'm talkin' about. it's hot. always. it's always hot down here, which is driving me a bit crazy... i know, i know - back to back summers, who am i to complain while you shovel your car out from under ten feet of snow and slip on the ice that your neighbour neglected to salt. i am an asshole. but it's so damned hot all the time! it brings out my asshole tendencies. i sit at my desk (which is a rarity in itself) at work and sweat dribbles down from inside my elbows and knees. this is not comfortable. 45 degree workplaces are not good. sorry. it's my day off and i'm probably already sunburnt from sitting near the window.

in less annoyingly complaining news: we found a house to rent! too bad it's $2250/month. that's the downside (and that does not include electricity, water, phone, internet, tv or gas), but the upsides are here:

http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=5961669 (sorry, you'll have to copy and paste since it's archived and that's because i rented it!)

it's got a backyard! bub can have a wade in a blow-up pool while we eat barbecued things. awesome. we had to sign a three year lease to get this place. three years?? who the hell signs a three year lease? us, that's who. and the reason is that the rental market in this city is not good for renters. it makes me very sad to be paying rent again after owning our house in vancouver, but if the rent is that high here, you can imagine housing prices.

other extremely noteworthy occurrences:
- my eyes are tired (it's too hot!)
- i always say to myself "remember that you put that pizza (cake, muffins, chicken, whatever) in the oven and then run over way later when i smell burning. i'm too young for that kind of thing, aren't i? AREN'T I???
- i can't find a yoga dvd to save my life (and my weight) here. what's up with that, fat, unbendy australia??
- i love you. googoogajoob.

mrs. beeton's very good seed cake

This is from Mrs. Beeton's Cookbook of Household Management, as requested by lovely Lisa. Nice one, Mrs. Beeton!

INGREDIENTS - 1 lb. of butter, 6 eggs, 3/4 lb. of sifted sugar, pounded mace and grated
nutmeg to taste, 1 lb. of flour, 3/4 oz. of caraway seeds, 1 wineglassful of brandy.

Mode - Beat the butter to a cream; dredge in the flour; add the sugar, mace, nutmeg, and caraway
seeds, and mix these ingredients well together. Whisk the eggs, stir to them the brandy, and beat
the cake again for 10 minutes. Put it into a tin lined with buttered paper, and bake it from 1-1/2
to 2 hours. This cake would be equally nice made with currants, and omitting the caraway seeds.

Time - 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
Average cost, 2s. 6d.
Seasonable at any time.

MODERN INSTRUCTIONS!
1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3 and grease and line a
7" (18cm) to 8" (20cm) round cake tin.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar and then sift in the flour.
3. Add the mace, nutmeg and caraway seeds and mix together well.
(Add the chopped candied peel if using at this stage as well).
4. Stir in the whisked eggs and the brandy.
5. Beat the cake again for 2 to 3 minutes, until very smooth and with
no lumps.
6. Pour the mixture into a tin lined with buttered paper.
7. Bake it for 1½ to 2 hours, until a skewer comes out clean when
tested, and the cake is well risen, firm and golden brown.

mama's little baby loves shortenin' bread

i was inspired by lisa to make a cake in the shape of a "keep it fluffy". i thought her lush-ous photo was of a moon cake, even though i've worked at lush for almost ten years and it's not mid-autumn. my mind is melding with the monotony of routine rhythm and real estate and dinner-making-dishes-doing-grocery-shopping-laundry-washing-daycare-dropping everyday life and that's my excuse. IT'S MY EXCUSE. LISA!!!

anyhow, this here's a very good seed cake. mrs. beeton's very good seed cake, to be exact. it calls for 6 eggs and a pound of butter and it claims to be good for digestion due to the addition of 2 tablespoons of caraway seeds. heart attack with seeds. delicious.

nova

the bunhead's mum is beautiful. now. and then. i found this photo stuck in one of the albums at their house over christmas. she's sitting at a christmas party. she says she wasn't bored. she is 26 and hasn't met the bun's dad yet. i wonder what she was thinking about.

this photo makes me wish my mom was here, too. i would drink tea and look at old photos with her.

i got my smile!

35 degrees on new year's day.
a pine-lime popsicle for bub. a slurpee for me and bun. a walk to the park and a play in the sand.
first song i listened to in 2009:

so cool. and you, my loves? what did you do? whatcha doin'?