My Bloggable Day

Do you wear shoes inside your house?

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Bec

In a bid to tackle the big issues today, I have a shocking confession: I can’t stand taking off my shoes to go inside someone else’s house. I loathe it. Hate it even.

Do I have to?

Obviously when met with a ‘no shoes inside’ ~~dictatorship~~ rule I don’t traipse my Converse up and down their hallways in flagrant disregard for The Man. I dutifully remove my shoes and die a little on the inside.

I suppose this all started when I went on an ill-fated student exchange to Germany, aged 16. My east German family, whilst wishing the Berlin wall was still firmly in tact and lamenting that everything since 1989 had been far too expensive and you know, foreign, had a no shoes inside policy. I get it, it’s Europe, there’s snow and mud and whatever. What really scarred me was that they decided the Roxy slippers I bought from the Rye surf shop for $19.95 the summer before made for inappropriate ‘hausschuhe’ (house shoes) and made me throw them out in favour of a felt green pair they supplied for visitors. Those jerks.

Living back in Australia, where a lot of people have floorboards instead of carpet, it makes no sense to me not to wear shoes indoors. Because:

1 I literally get cold feet

2 A pile of shoes by the front doors is an ugly greeting

3 I’m often wearing mismatched socks or have chipped toenail polish and thus am ill-prepared to bare my feet at a moment’s notice

4 An outfit very much includes shoes

5 It’s just plain awkward (I’m meant to use someone else’s toilet barefoot? Disgusting.)

Don’t blame me, I grew up in a household where shoes were a prerequisite at the breakfast table and footwear by the front door was grounds for a lecture. Also, doesn’t taking off your shoes to go inside make doormats redundant?

Do you wear shoes inside your house? Why not?

{image}

Posted in Misc | Tagged House, Rules, Shoes inside | 2 Comments

The bizarre things I can’t stand to throw away

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Bec

I’ve long been convinced that I could unlock true happiness if only I would downsize to two pairs of shoes, one handbag and an adorable capsule wardrobe. A great theory, but one hard to action. I supposed my deeply flawed attempt to buy nothing new in 2013 was an indication of this confused longing for less.

My housemate Bec and I recently swapped bedrooms. I gave her the master bedroom complete with ginormous three-section wardrobe and ‘study cove’ and I took over two much smaller rooms. In one room I’ve put my bed and a small selection of the clothes I actually wear and into the other I’ve forced the rest of my clothes, shoes, bags, accessories and random crap.

During the process of the move I managed to cull quite a lot of stuff, but there were a few bizarre items that I found it hard to part with. These things made me pause and stupidly consider whether landfill was the right destination for them:

1. Cards and letters

What if the person who wrote ‘Dear Bec, Happy Birthday, Love Friend’ in 2009 tragically dies in a speed boat accident next week and I’ve just callously parted with the last (admittedly, boring) thing they ever wrote me?! I find it very hard to throw out cards, more so when they actually have something sentimental written in them. So to get over this I just threw out all my cards without looking inside them… Sorry Friend…

2. Old business cards

This one is stupid. Why will I ever need a business card that says I’m a journalist at the Kalgoorlie Miner again?! I guess they might be useful if I’m ever part of a covert operation and have to assume another identity… Under the same name? At the place I used to work? GONE. Managed to chuck them all.

3. Nail polishes

I have so many of these and since I’ve been a Shellac convert for over a year now I imagine they are all thick and gloopy and useless. But stiiiiillllll. What if I desperately need to have Moroccan Sunset coloured fingernails again one day? I managed to throw away the cheap nail polishes but have temporarily re-homed the more expensive ones in the bathroom for a few more months. Consider them on death row.

My downscaling plan

The things that were surprisingly easy to part with were shoes. I culled at least half of my footwear, mostly the cheap, crappy synthetic pairs, the ones too uncomfortable to wear and the too worn ones. It felt so liberating.

I get the feeling that I’m going to forget all the clothes in my ‘second wardrobe’ which will make them all the easier to part with in a few months time. I’m determined.

As for all my ‘sentimental’ crap, I need to try to remember that memories are within us, not within our things.

On a similar note, I came across this article (Downscaling to a tiny house to find big happiness) today. How amazing. Obviously I’m never going to get to the point where I can live in a house the size of a parking space but I find this so inspiring. I feel quite bogged down with so much stuff. I’m going to make an effort to throw out more and buy less.

{Image from A Pair and A Spare}

How do you go about throwing things away? Are you a minimalist or a hoarder?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Clutter, Downsizing, Throwing things away | 6 Comments

Nullarbor Muster 2014

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Bec

I am exhausted, everything I own is encrusted with red mud and I’m losing my voice. So all in all it was a successful Muster.

Someone had the gall to ask why I went to the Muster ‘AGAIN’ this year… Because it’s pretty much my most favourite thing ever, that’s why.

What’s not to love about spending your days watching horses, bucking bulls and arm wrestling with a cold beer in hand followed by dancing the nights away in dusty jeans, flannelette shirts and cowboy hats in a tin shed? And then stumbling blindly across rocky and spiky ground back to a tent you’re fairly certain is yours under a huge sky full of stars? Nothing I say.

I wish the Muster was on again next weekend. Well maybe the weekend after, I need more than one week’s recovery time.

Pretty certain this is the most bogan photo of me in existence.

As per usual we were the most under prepared, least equipped group at the Muster. We arrived with a completely flat tire which was patched up by the lovely guys who rescued us after our car accident at the 2012 Muster. On the last night some charming pranksters let down two of the tires on the car and again we were helped out by decent people and their air compressor.

Note our selection of high quality $49 Kmart tents:

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad sunset on the edge of the Nullarbor.

That’s the tin shed.

WA’s finest.

Those outrageously large cowboy head cut outs. Love them.

The Muster takes place 400km inland from Kalgoorlie at a tiny ‘town’ called Rawlinna, population 2 or 3.

If you’re wondering if I looked this average all weekend the answer is yes.

That’s all I can write for now. I am so fatigued. But seriously, it was amazing. There are so many stories I could tell, many of them not really fit for blogging about. But yeah. Good times.

How was your weekend?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Country Living, Kalgoorlie, Muster, Nullarbor Muster, Rodeo | 5 Comments

Hey, YOU!

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Bec

HEY YOU. (I’ve used a filter to cover the heinous bags under my eyes, clever.)

Do you have a blog? Or read a really great blog? If so pleeeease put a link in the comments below, I’m desperate for some new reading material. I like blogs about everything, but not about too much of one thing, if you get what I mean? Nothing too FAHSHUN or food or whatever. A mix, a match, a stew, a gumbo, a jumbalaya if you will. (if no one gets that reference to the Spice Girls movie I might die a little on the inside…).

Speaking of blogs, last weekend I came across GOMI (Get Off My Internets) which is basically a hub for internet trolls to rub their horns together and tear shreds off well known blogs. Never before have I read so much hate filled vitriol. The disdain for The Londoner was out of this world. And so personal. How about just not reading if you’re not picking up what a certain blogger is putting down?! I guess that would be too easy.

On a funnier note I chuckled heartily at this list of 30 Things Journalists Do That Piss Off Other Journalists. YES to most of this. Especially this:

THIS! MADDENING.

And also this:

This makes you look stupid.

Continuing on along the same black and white vein I spent the most part of Wednesday dressed unwittingly as Bob Dylan:

How does it feel? Rather like a rolling stone actually.

My sister said it’s mainly the shoes. Dammit Bob. Those are this season’s* hottest Senso boots. If I wear them and have to look like an ageing rockstar then so be it.

And finally, today I am headed 400km inland to a three day rodeo event on the edge of the Nullarbor, appropriately titled the Nullarbor Muster. I’m going to go skeet shootin’, watch cowboys ride bulls, unofficially judge the ‘best turned out ute’ competition, drink a fair amount and ~~dance~~ boot scoot Saturday night away in a tin shed.

In other words it’s going to be exactly like the previous two years I’ve been except for one vital difference:

YEE. HAW.

THIS YEAR I HAVE A HAT. Finally. Not quite an Akubra, I didn’t fancy forking out over a hundred bucks for something I’ll wear for three days a year, but close enough.

I’ve got my hat, boots and Canadian tuxedo (double denim ensemble) ready to roll, this year I’ll be the one fitting in. Can’t wait!

Have a great weekend! And remember, put links to blogs in the comments section. Muchas Gracias!

(*This is probably untrue)

Posted in Misc | Tagged Misc, Weekend | 27 Comments

An outrageously Australian degustation dinner

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Bec

Last night a delightful team called Fervor hosted the second of two pop-up degustation dinners in Kalgoorlie. They are travelling around regional Western Australia putting on dinners using incredible local produce and so far have been to Albany, Esperance and Kalgoorlie. They head to Mukinbudin next and finish in Exmouth.

As their facebook says: “this unique dining experience will showcase fresh local produce, carefully crafted with skill and technique, each dish served as flavourable and unforgettable as the next”. Unforgettable is definitely the right word.

The location:

Was at the lookout at the wonderfully scenic Karlkurla Bushland Park. I rarely get to enjoy Karlkurla’s beauty as I’m usually too busy dragging myself around a track, trying to run and breathe and not swear out loud at the same time. Our evening started by watching the sunset and sipping triple distilled Albany gin with tonic and finger lime.

The company:

I went with my friends Lauren and Dave. There were about 30 people all up. Or maybe 40? I’m terrible at counting crowds. We were joined by other friends we didn’t know were coming, which was nice.

Even the smog from the nearby roaster looked pretty:

The first thing we ate was crispy saltbush:

It was the most delicious lightly fried bush twig I’ve ever had the pleasure to consume. Amazingly salty.

While at the lookout we also had pepperberry kangaroo biltong with bush tomato chutney, raw marron with finger lime and sea salt gel, poached Albany oyster with finger lime vinaigrette and fried seaweed crackers with seaweed salt and powdered seaweed. Seaweeeeeed.

When the sun dipped below the trees we took our seats and started the ‘official’ courses.

The food:

We started with raw Esperance scallop, fermented riberries and juice with sea celery oil:

The sea celery oil was amazing. Lauren savoured hers for about 15 minutes:

Chefs prepping the next course:

Which was Yallingup Marron, lemon myrtle emulsion with handmade sea salt on bark:

We were encouraged to ‘drag’ the marron through the lemon myrtle and then the salt. It was ~~delicious~~ ~~amazing~~ ~~tasty~~ scrumptious. I’m going to have to get a thesaurus out soon…

Next came local crab with brown butter emulsion, sea blight (a coastal plant), samphire (another edible coastal plant), lilly pillies (also known as Australian cherries) and toast:

I think this was my favourite of the savoury courses.

Karlkurla (also known as silky pear) with buttermilk and macadamia nut oil:

This was the ‘most Kalgoorlie’ of all the courses. The name ‘Kalgoorlie’ is derived from the word Karlkurla which is the local Indigenous word for silky pear. It is obviously also the name of the park we were eating in. It was tasty, but by no means one of my favourites.

The main course (is there a ‘main course’ in a degustation dinner?!) was kangaroo tail with wild rosella puree, red gum ash, macadamias and crispy salt bush leaves:

Which came with potatos, onion, damper and delicious smoked butter. The damper was so good.

For a palate cleanser before dessert we had eucalyptus ice:

This is coal toasted meringue, preserved quandongs, quangong kernel cream, quandong relish with quandong sherbert. Quandong is a local desert fruit.

A hot coal was pushed into each meringue leaving a delicious crispy top. How did the coal not stick?! Magic.

The meringue was delicious and having just joked about deranged and over-dedicated geologists who like to lick rocks we took it upon ourselves to lick every last skerrick of dessert off our rock ‘plates’. It was worth it.

Lining up the jars for milk and honey with seaweed, wattleseed and sandalwood smoke.

All the ingredients were in the jars and then they injected the smoke and snapped the lids shut to keep it in there.

It was a six hand job:

Upon opening the jar the remaining whisps of smoke sneak out leaving you with a deliciously creamy and smokey flavour. This might have been the most delicious dessert I’ve ever tasted.

We then had some bush tea, which was literally hot water poured onto leaves. Not sure what the leaves were but it was tasty.

Then came cinnamon myrtle truffles and fabulously sour charred desert limes:

And marshmallows to finish off with:

It was in all regards an absolutely incredible evening. The Fervor team did an amazing job and were really friendly and happy to chat about how they were prepping the food (and didn’t mind everyone going crazy taking photos, which I appreciate). They mentioned they might be back again, fingers crossed.

There was a shuttle bus to take everyone back through the park to the entrance but my company insisted we hike through the darkened bush. And so we did, singing Eric Clapton and Fleetwood Mac at the top of our lungs. No doubt to the delight of people in nearby homes.

Thanks Fervor.

Posted in Food | Tagged Degustation Meal, dinner, Fervor Kalgoorlie, Food, Kalgoorlie | 9 Comments

Easter Feaster

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Bec

Good Friday’s dinner party started the same way most do: at 3am the morning of, with me setting the table. Cheers for that insomnia! You’re a real pal. At least it was nice to get up on Friday morning with all that stuff done.

Around lunchtime I began the bake fest, starting with these Cadbury Creme Egg brownies that almost didn’t happen. I went to three supermarkets the day before Good Friday to find creme eggs and eventually found a pack of 6 lurking on a random shelf in Target. Don’t leave buying creme eggs so late before Easter: lesson learnt.

The brownies look pretty damn awful! I realised later in the evening that I completely forgot to put the flour in. It was only 40g of plain flour, but I think it definitely would have helped appearance-wise. They still tasted amazing though.

The cheesecake eggs were also not as pretty as they could have been. They were also a tad tangier than necessary, probably because I used the juice of one particularly large and juicy lemon. Again still tasty though.

^Yet another shot of one of my much loved Woolworth’s bunnies.

People began arriving at 6pm, laden with delicious foods. That’s Claire’s prawn saganaki at the front there, so good. And behind that, Bec’s stuffed capsicums, also delicious. A shout out also to Bros’ famous lamb.

^ Pepper anyone?

You can tell who wouldn’t have been keen on the Easter bonnet parade as a child…

^ About to retrieve my hot cross bun bread and butter pudding from the oven.

^ Said pud.

We ate and drank and eventually cleared away the white tablecloth and danced on the table until the wee hours. And have since been eating the amazing leftovers at every opportunity. In fact I haven’t really felt a hunger pang since before Friday…

One decision I was very grateful for was the one that involved Bec and I and some lovely helpers packing the food away into tupperware and doing the dishes before the tabletop shenanigans began. It made for a much more pleasant morning on Saturday. How very grown up of us.

How was your Easter?

Posted in Food, Misc | Tagged Baking, Easter Feast, Food, Friends | 3 Comments

Setting the table for Easter

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Bec

I think it’s safe to say you’ve turned into your mother when you get excited about setting a table… Well, just call me mum. I bought these bunnies for $6 each from Woolworths and I love them. They are going to sit on the table for our Good Friday ‘Easter Feaster’ tomorrow night. We are going to have a completely obscene amount of food. I can’t wait!

Apart from not seeing my family I’m quite relieved to be staying home this Easter. I’m going to do a whole lot of nothing as well as try to fix the dent 6 months of insomnia has made in my sleep surplus. I might also attend a Medieval Renaissance Faire.

I’m kind of annoyed that the weather is forecast for 29-33 degrees this weekend. To me Easter should be a cold affair. I have fond memories of camping in Victoria at Easter and being so cold I tried to force my dog into my sleeping bag for extra warmth. She did not oblige.

What are you plans for Easter? Going away or staying home?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Easter | 8 Comments

My favourite most boring dinner

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Bec

When I’m not eating Oreo cheesecake, Ottolenghi’s chocolate fudge cake and cupcakes in ice cream cones, I have a tendency to eat in a fairly boring manner. Except for a week recently when I ate eye fillet, lamb AND pork, I’m the kind of person who can eat the same thing over and over again without tiring of it. For example I have a banana and coffee for breakfast every day and for about 2 months I’ve alternated between two kinds of packet soup for lunch. (the truth! the horrible truth). If I’m really branching out I might have yoghurt for breakfast as well. Outrageous.

My favourite go-to dinner is baked chicken breast and sweet potato sprinkled with Cajun spice and salad. It’s just so easy and comforting and feels like being hugged from the inside. I add a huge dollop of minced chilli and an even bigger dollop of Greek yoghurt and dip my sweet potato chips in it. Just typing this is making me salivate. I will have this at least once a week, but this week I’ve already had it twice… And it’s only Wednesday.

How do you decide what to have for dinner? Do you cook different things all the time or go back to the same recipes? I love hearing about what other people eat… It ‘feeds’ the voyeur in me. Also I would appreciate some dinspiration (dinner inspiration), so ‘fess up.

Posted in Food | Tagged dinner | 2 Comments

10 things I’ve learnt about earthquakes since moving to Kalgoorlie

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Bec

Bec and I on a mine site. This has nothing to do with earthquakes.

I live in an earthquake prone area, so far this year we’ve had at least more than 10. The 4.6 magnitude quake in February was the most notable, I walked into the office wondering what on earth I was going to write about that day and then BAM! The partitions started shaking. Athankyou Mother Nature.

Smaller ones since then have mostly been aftershocks, some so tiny they go unnoticed. Last night a 2.7 quake hit at about 9pm, and another tiny one this morning (1.7) at about 9am. Here are some thing I’ve learnt about earthquakes:

1. People LOVE them

Even before the rumbling stops the people of Kalgoorlie take to their Facebook feeds to discuss the second or five when the ground shook. “That was a BIG one!”. “Did anyone else feel that?!”. “Felt it on Hare Street!”. “The dogs went crazy!”. “Insert earthquake status here!”. There’s nothing like the shared experience of living through a minuscule quake to get tongues wagging.

2. If you miss them you will feel inadequate

As a result of 1. if you happen to be driving or doing something else that prevents you from feeling the quake you will have nothing to contribute to the discussion. You may as well delete your Facebook account and head back to bed for the rest of the day until something else happens.

On the other end of the scale, if you happen to be underground in a mine during the shake, you automatically become earthquake royalty. Because DANGER. But you will only hear a miner’s experience by word of mouth, because mining companies have social media blackout policies akin to the People’s Republic of China. Which makes them even cooler.

3. People will always ask if it was a blast or a quake

Regardless of what time the quake hits. Mining companies like to use explosives to break up the ground, but have pretty strict guidelines as to when they are allowed to do so. Ergo, they can’t blast at 2am and wake up the entire town. The main mine in town blasts most afternoons at approximately 3:46pm and it feels like a soft rumble. I’m pretty sure there is a rule about not blasting after 4pm, but I can’t confirm this.

In any case, as soon as an earthquake hits people will take to facebook and ask “WAS IT A BLAST?!” at 11:30pm. No idiots. Check your watch. It was not.

Super informative blasting times sign.

4. They have to be really big (and really close) to do any damage

Not since the magnitude 5 quake in 2010 has an earthquake done significant damage to the area. So footage of crumbling buildings, groceries flying off shelves and photos of dramatic cracks snaking their way up main street are really hard to come by. Which is really hard to explain to your Perth based editor if they happen to be demanding earthquake photos or vision. Hypothetically.

Also, the magnitude scale is logarithmic, as an earthquake goes up by one magnitude it is considered 30 times larger. So a 4.6 magnitude quake (like the one we had in Feb) is about 10 times smaller than a magnitude 5 (like the one in 2010). Deceptive!

5. Mining doesn’t cause them

Some people will disagree with me here. But I spoke to a seismologist who explained that it’s actually the opposite way around; the areas we tend to mine in are along fault lines that have rich mineral deposits caused by earthquakes thousands of years ago.

6. They don’t go for very long

The ground in Kalgoorlie is really hard, so our earthquakes tend to be big short bangs rather than long wobbling episodes like you see in cities or areas closer to water on softer ground. So it’s barely enough time to dive under a desk or hold onto a doorway (like the cannon scene in Mary Poppins), which is kind of disappointing.

7. They are quite loud

Again because of the hard ground, earthquakes here are generally accompanied by a loud bang. Last night I actually thought someone had banged really hard on the front door, before my Newsfeed exploded with quake updates of course.

8. They are a great way to meet people

After a quake in the middle of the night a year or so back I took to Twitter to see who else had been woken and ended up chatting to Jo, who then became my friend. United by the quake, how beautiful.

9. There is such thing as earthquake insurance

And it’s not generally included in home and contents insurance. I know that because my friend Lauren was telling me today about how she needs it. Random.

10. I kind of like them

Obviously, we’re talking about small quakes that don’t maim or injure people or things. I’m not going to pretend they don’t give me a small thrill! It’s kind of fun to be reminded of how you live at the mercy of nature and whatever it decides to do.

Do you have any experience with earthquakes? Or other natural disasters?

Posted in Misc | Tagged Earthquakes, Kalgoorlie, Mining | 2 Comments

6 things that made me smile last week

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Bec

1. The purchase of this mug

And the consumption of tea from it.

2. The receipt of this email from Park Run

Proof that I just scraped through and ran 5km in under 30 minutes. Quite an achievement for me as running is my Everest.

3. The arrival of this postcard

Balwyn is the otherwise nondescript suburb in which my dad and stepmum reside. Why anyone would feel the need to produce postcards from this locale is both baffling and hilarious. Dad picked this up at the postoffice and knew I would appreciate its lameness.

4. The existence of these two blondes

With whom I can have wildly inappropriate conversations in public, sit with in silence as we devour hot chips and then take a much needed afternoon nap with. Which all happened at the races on Saturday (except for the napping, that was done at home).

5. This humble entry into the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder Flower Show

Have you ever seen anything more adorably mediocre?

6. The absolutely BANANAS print on Claire’s dress

For obvious reasons. And because bananas are an oddly important fixture in my life; I have one for breakfast everyday and my housemate and I are named after Australia’s most famous Bananas, B1 and B2.

Obviously there were countless other reasons I smiled including but not limited to; a certain cake I baked, a certain bearded man I like, a breakfast to which pancakes were central and a choreographed living room dance routine I performed with friends.

And a few reasons I didn’t smile include a run-in my iPhone had with a wet beverage, a run-in I had at the gym and the news that a dear loved one hasn’t been very well. Get well soon. But that’s not the point of this post.

I hope this week brings you many reasons to smile.

Posted in Misc | Tagged Best and Worst of the Week, Reasons I smiled | 8 Comments