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Brisbane.

I’m back from my trip to Brisbane. I spent nearly 6 days in the state capital. The plan was to attend a big rally on Saturday, and then to go to the first few days of a trial on Monday and Tuesday. Some unexpected events came up... but I’ll get to them. First, though, I had a nice day off on Thursday and Friday (not that I needed a day off. I’d just taken a few days off to spend with Andy who had just come home from PNG). Thursday was my travel day, and after getting in to the house I was staying at, I did some grocery shopping and then went into West End for some chocolate cake from The Forest Café.

On Friday I walked to uni, did a little bit of stuff in the library there, and then took the ferry into the city. I strolled around South Bank, the super-landscaped space just across the river from the city centre. This is the place where they held the (much protested) Expo 88. Leftover from that event is this Nepalese Peace Pagoda.

In the background is a BIG ferris wheel. I’m pretty sure that’s not usually there. Maybe it’s to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of Expo 88?

The pagoda is set in a mini rainforest walk with a creek. When I walked through here, I saw ducks and a big lizard. That’s pretty cool, considering how urban it is.

After settling down near the river with a book for a little while, I made my way through a few art galleries, and then slowly headed towards New Farm, via the Brunswick Street Mall which has a very Chinatown feel to it.

In New Farm, I was meeting Amy, Cam, and some other Brisbane vegans for dinner. The plan was for vegan pizza, but the bar was packed so we opted for yummy asian food instead. Good vegan food and good company... what more could you ask for?

That was the good part of my trip.

On Saturday morning I put my red, black and gold shirt on, made myself a sandwich and headed in to the rally nice and early. The rally was in support of Lex Wotton, charged with inciting a riot on Palm Island following a death in custody. He is on trial as we speak (I'll talk about the trial soon). I walked through Musgrave Park, then went for a coffee with some other rally-goers. When we came back to the park just before the start of the rally to find police taping off a crime scene. There had been a murder in the park. And the location of the murder was the same place where I'd passed some people sleeping (at least I thought they were sleeping) earlier that morning. So I ended up completely missing the rally because I spent the afternoon in the police station giving a statement about details that I only vaguely noticed in the first place.

That was the bad part of my trip.

The rest was mostly good, but tiring, and really productive. Monday was the first day of Lex's trial, so there was a fairly large group of outspoken people with banners and signs.

We showed our support for Lex, who seemed to appreciate our presence.

I stayed for the first two days of the trial. We chanted and held placards in the morning and at lunch time, and in between we snuck into the court room to listen to the case. The trial is expected to last 3 weeks (up to 17 witnesses!), and we're all holding our breath and crossing our fingers that all goes well.

So anyways, I'm back now. Still exhausted from the trip, and still digesting everything that happened while I was there! Which is why this post is far less succinct and logical than I would like! But I'm getting my head back together, slowly but surely...

Cherry Ripe Slice

I haven't been blogging much lately because I've been keeping pretty busy. A lot is happening in my neck of the woods. You may remember about a year ago when I was very busy with the Hurley trial--a police officer charged (for the first time ever in Australia) with manslaughter after an Aboriginal man died in police custody. Well, that officer is back in court, trying to appeal the decision that sent him to trial in the first place. It's all a bit ridiculous--less than an hour after his arrest, Mulrunji was dead. And this police officer is refusing to accept any responsibility.

Of course we couldn't let the issue pass with no media attention, much as Hurley would have liked it that way. And what is the best way to get the media's attention? A 10 metre banner is a good place to start. Add in some local Aboriginal elders who have a lot to say, and you have a surefire way to make the news.

(There were more people than this before this photo was taken. All up, there were about 10 or 20 protesters, and an equal amount of journalists, photographers and videographers. This picture was taken after they had all gone into the courthouse.)

I have not been too busy to eat, although I've been eating pretty junky food. Think toast, ice cream, and noodles. One very good thing (though not healthy) I've been eating is Cherry Ripe Slice. I saw the recipe posted by wantingkneading and knew I had to try it. I was going to wait until Andy came home to share with him, but then I decided to make them for an animal rights group meeting. But the meeting was postponed, so I had to share them with others and eat a bunch myself.

Overall the recipe was fantastic, and really quite easy. There are three steps, but each layer is quick to assemble and has very little hands-on time. My only complaint was that there was too much base for my pan-size, so I had to eat a bit of it before it went in the oven (what a shame). Next time I'll chop my cherries more finely, but otherwise this was a real winner! Three cheers for wantingkneading! Mine didn't photograph as nicely as hers, but they were so delicious I didn't really mind.

Smokin'

I mentioned in my last post that I would be gone for a few days on a tour of significant sites and for a smoking ceremony... well, the trip was shorter than I expected, although we'll be going out again for some camping in a few weeks. But even though it was cut short and a bit different from what I expected, it was a really great trip. And, since we came home the same day we left, I was able to head up to the Townsville Correctional Centre to celebrate NAIDOC with some of the prisoners and staff there. Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed in prisons, so I can't share any photos from that day...

Despite the rain on Monday, I piled into a 4WD with my friend Gracelyn, her cousin and flatmate Jim and Grace's ex-husband Joe. Jim and Joe are traditional elders and they are experts at locating culturally significant sites, finding artefacts, etc--they are usually hired by archaeologists because their knowledge is so extensive.

We headed down to Bowen for our first task, a smoking ceremony to kick start the preparations for the upcoming Bowen Fest. We stopped along the way to pick some sandalwood to use in the ceremony, and throughout the trip Jim and Joe pointed out significant areas where we would be stopping on the way back through.

The Bowen Fest kick-off was attended by a small crowd, including the Mayor of Bowen, Mike Brunker. Luckily the rain cleared, and Jim and Joe used the freshly picked sandalwood to clear the area of negative spirits and call on the positive energy to bless the location and the participants.

After some lunch, we were back on the road. Our first stop was Muller’s Lagoon in Bowen, where Joe and Jim showed me a burial site of two repatriated remains. They explained the process of getting those remains back and why they were buried there.

Our next stop was meant to be a rock art site just off the Bruce Highway, for which we had to drive through a cow pasture. We were lucky that the gate was unlocked, but unfortunately all the rain had filled some of the gullies so we couldn’t make it out there.

Instead, we went a bit further along to Guthe Munga, or Cape Upstart. Here, we were greeted by several curious kangaroos and lots of mosquitos. Jim and Joe showed me another burial site, this one containing remains from a nearby massacre site. The pointed out midden sites where piles of shells indicate the importance of the area for food gathering. We drove along the Snake Trail, which is punctuated by traditional fish traps, a stone greenback sea turtle, and lots of wild passionfruit vines.

Along the way back to Ayr, Joe and Jim told me lots of stories about the area, including one about three European sailors who were shipwrecked—two died and are buried on one of the beaches, and the other lived with the Bindal people for nearly 20 years. Once in Ayr, we dropped off Joe and took a tour of the Gudjuda Cultural Centre, which houses stone artefacts and artwork. Outside is another burial site holding remains that date back 500 years ago. Guarding over the remains is a giant Gubulla Munda, or carpet snake.

Our final stop was a quick one, just off the highway for a look at some rock art there.

Jim explained that the art is identical to some found closer to Bowen as well as at several sites further inland. The art itself is significant because these sites are the 'portals' through which the Feather-Feet men or spirit men travel from place to place very quickly.

Although the trip was short, it was significant for several reasons. I’ve lived in this area for two years now and had no idea about what has gone on here in the past, where the cultural sites are or why they are important. More importantly, Jim and Joe were able to give me a glimpse into a very important aspect of contemporary Aboriginal culture that I don’t see in my normal research. Because my work is with activists, it can be a very high-pressure, even confrontational area. But this trip showed me the importance of country and culture to those activists—it was much more peaceful than my normal research.

(More photos on my flickr)

Flat Chat

flat chat

adjective
Definition: busy: extremely busy
e.g. "Sorry, mate, I can't help you - I'm flat chat."

Two weeks left in the semester; a stack of essays to mark; looming paper deadlines; grant applications; interviews; community meetings; animal rights townsville; planning a birthday party; planning rallies and meetings with government; weekly seminars; dinner invitations; Andy's home (!); friends visiting from overseas...

And so I leave you with a week's worth of food in one post.

First up, brussels sprouts. Andy's first experience with them, to be exact. I mostly followed the recipe from La Dolce Vegan which came highly recommended, and for good reason. These were damn good.
Indian-ish feast. Roasted cauliflower with four-seed sauce (based on three-seed sauce from VwaV but we had all the wrong seeds)--nigella, fenugreek, coriander and aniseed. Spicy Indian Rice (minus the toasted almonds) from Vegan with a Vengeance. And plain and sweet potatoes tossed with mixed spice and flour and roasted in the oven.
Cold weather lately has been calling for stew. Hence Andy's creation--it started as an amalgamation of three recipes from La Dolce Vegan and turned into something completely unique. It had red lentils, brown lentils, yellow split peas, potato, sweet potato, leftover roast cauliflower, cumin, caraway, nutmeg, tomato soup, veggie stock, and shallots. And perhaps more. Served on leftover spicy rice and alongside some sauteed Wombok.
Cold weather also makes napping on the couch a welcome activity. If only we all had the time!

Pesto scrolls. I woke up early last Saturday to bake these, so that I could bring them to the Animal Rights Townsville meeting. Unfortunately, my morning didn't go as planned, I didn't get to come home before the ART meeting, and I had to eat these all myself. What a shame. Puff pastry, broccoli pesto, and minced olives = perfection!
Another thing I made for the ART meeting but couldn't bring. Red Lentil Dip, based on the recipe from La Dolce Vegan, but with lots of changes. It had massaman curry paste, cinnamon, peanut butter, cumin, onions and garlic, red lentils, and tofu. Yummy, especially with vegan rice crackers.
For Andy's welcome-home, I made the 'Tease Cake' from Ultimate Uncheese. The bulk of this cake is made not from tofu or soy cream cheese, but from millet. It was surprisingly good. Instead of lemon I used orange, with a ginger cookie crust, and a topping of Maya Gold Ganache.

Andy wasn't hungry for dessert after travelling all afternoon, so I left it in the fridge... and when I came home from uni the next day this is what I found:
Another welcome home meal filled with things Andy didn't get much of on the island--spinach, sauteed with garlic, sesame and carrot; mushrooms baked with garlic and olive oil; and cumin lime baked tofu & broccoli.
And finally, I'll leave you with an update on the kangaroo culling in Canberra that I mentioned a few weeks ago. The government had originally agreed to relocate, rather than murder. Recently, they changed their mind and said they were going to massacre the kangaroo population. Unfortunately for them, animal rights activists and Aboriginal traditional owners are not going to take this lying down. Eight people were arrested after climbing the fence, starting a ceremonial fire and reclaiming their land. Read about it here.

Coming soon: Andy's birthday. We're having a fiesta!!

Labor Day long weekend.

As I said on May Day proper, the holiday is celebrated on the fifth of May in Queensland and NT. Townsville has historically been a very Labor-oriented place, and last year the May Day march saw 5,000 people turn up.

Photo from the Townsville Bulletin.

It wasn’t quite this big this year. There were still a buttload of people there, mainly union members. We marched along the beach, from one park to another. The march was fairly organised—each union stayed together, followed by the community groups like Amnesty. The Stolen Wages mob was in that section of the march. We carried placards and banners, we shouted till our throats were sore, and we got a whole lot of media attention. Once we reached the destination, two people from our group were amongst the speakers for the event. Listening to them speak gave me goose bumps; they were really deadly. Later on, the event organisers gave awards to the best represented union and community group—and we won!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. But, there were plenty of photographers there, so I will get some pictures off them to jog my memory when I’m writing. Because I wasn’t preoccupied with taking photos, I was able to fully absorb everything I saw, have really good, in-depth conversations with young and old activists, and just generally have a great time. This was the kind of day that makes me love doing a PhD. I get paid (well, a scholarship) to go to this and have these conversations. Sure, there’s a lot of reading and eventually writing in addition to these days, but it’s totally worth it.

After spending several hours in the sun at May Day, I came home, wrote up pages and pages of notes about the day, and then got stuck into a cookie baking extravaganza.

I made cherry chocolate chip cookies.

And Vegan with a Vengeance ‘sparkled ginger cookies’.

I made Anzac biscuits, too, but they seriously didn’t work. The dough was really runny, but I’ve never made Anzac bikkies before so I tried baking them anyways, with disastrous results. They were thin, hard, and inedible. Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all.

The cookies went into a box along with a few other things to sustain Andy between food barge visits up at Lizard Island. I don’t want to give away any surprises, since he reads my blog from the island, but here’s a peek.

During the cookie baking I managed to eat a lot of cookie dough. Like, seriously, too much. I had a headache from all the sugar I had ingested. To counteract some of the sugary effects, I made a very healthy dinner (which was also ridiculously easy to make). Step one, boil soba noodles and drain. Step two, boil water, add wakame flakes and chopped ginger and garlic. Step three, turn off heat and stir in a scoop of miso. Step four, pour broth over noodles. Ta. Da.

Miso soup. Delicious, and much better for you than cookie dough.

Variety is the spice of life.

To continue on my Andy-less breakfast binge I made muffins, an item that Andy does not like for breakfast. Since I had some carrots that needed using, I made Spicy Carrot Raisin Muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance. Instead of just raisins I used dried mixed fruit.

These muffins were tasty, but there was more carrot than batter—I think because my carrots were slightly larger than the ‘medium’ carrots the recipe called for. I hate that in recipes… I would much rather have measurements that I can choose not to follow than something so broad as ‘one small pumpkin’. Those are arbitrary. Anyways, the spices in the muffins were really good, but my silicon muffin cups mean I’ll never get big crunchy muffin tops.

For dinner that night I had a spicy southwest meal. I cooked up a batch of black eyed peas and turned them into ‘Spicy black eyed peas and rice’ from The Vegan Gourmet. This recipe was such a let down. It was just brown rice, black eyed peas, caramelised onions, and black pepper. It did, however, make a good base for some sautéed veggies smothered with ‘Mexican Chilli Gravy’ from Hot Damn and Hell Yeah.

Just spicy enough to make my nose run without leaving me too sweaty, this chilli is another winner from one of my favourite cookbooks. The Vegan Gourmet, however, has been a bit of a let down—though the appetiser section is really, really good.

Now, onto non-food things. The wonderful Alice (in Veganland) has passed along a blogger excellence award. Thanks, Alice! It's good to be appreciated! Now I get to pass along the award. There are so many excellent blogs out there, but I'm going to give the award to two deserving women...

• The Little One of The Potato Vine blog. Her political posts say exactly what I'm thinking but more, or they give me information I wanted to know. Her training posts are inspiring. And her vignettes about teaching confirm my future plans. No matter how busy I am, I check her blog regularly. Keep it up, The Little One!
• Amy from Iron Chef Vegan. In addition to posting photos of delicious looking food, both savoury and sweet, and in addition to being a lovely person who shared her favourite Chinese place with me, Amy's recent anti- anti-feminist rant was awesome!

And here's an infuriating article... Peta is negotiating with Australian wool farmers. If they phase out mulesing and breed bald-assed sheep in future, Peta will stop convincing people that wool is bad. Peta! Stop being so lame! Negotiating with the cruelty industry is not what we want! People need to stop using animals for our wants and desires (they're definitely not needs anymore!) and let animals exist for their own selves. Fuck.

But on a happier front, a really good new song has been released in Australia. It uses parts of Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations, and a few other big-deal speeches in recent Australian history. It's a remake of a 1992 song by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody, which is also very moving. Both versions give me goosebumps! Watch them, even if you're not Australian. They are good.

Rise up.

Warning: this post contains a whole lot of yeast. And then I’ll talk about May Day. The connection: rising up.

After looking at a post by Katie the other day I got a big craving for Mac & Yeast. But it was early in the week and I wanted to use some veggies while they were still fresh. Plus, I didn’t feel like using a zillion pans and a baking dish. This dinner was a delicious compromise. Spiral pasta and steamed broccoli smothered in ‘All American Cheez Sauce’ from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. This sauce was really yummy and creamy, and it contains a carrot so it’s extra healthy. I wanted to eat the whole pan in one go because it was that good, but I actually had enough for two filling meals.

Of course, I only used half of the yeasty sauce on my pasta, so I’ve been coming up with creative ways to use the rest.

On the weekend I made bagels. I love bagels, and when I lived in the US I ate a ridiculous amount of them. My parents used to buy me the bakery bagels that were super big and soft and I would have them for breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner. Unfortunately, Australians (or at least North Queenslanders) have no appreciation of a good bagel—there is exactly one pre-packed brand in the shops here, and that one brand is over-priced and under-good. So I have to make my own. I followed the recipe linked by Lori, and did lots of kneading, waiting (for the uprising, of course), shaping, boiling and baking to get 12 medium bagels. To keep them fresh, I stuck them into the freezer after they had cooled.

This morning I took one out for breakfast and spread it with vegemite and some leftover cheez sauce. Baker’s yeast in the bagels, brewer’s yeast in the ‘mite, and nutritional yeast in the sauce—holy yeasty!

Also! Today is May Day!! The international day of worker’s struggle. A lot of riots, demonstrations, and uprisings have happened on this day throughout history, starting with Chicago's Haymarket riot in 1886. To distance Labour Day from this history of radical protest action, the US switched to a September holiday, but there are still May Day marches in major US cities. In Australia, most states have a public holiday on May Day, but QLD and NT have the holiday on 5 May—Monday.

In Townsville, Monday will feature a May Day march which coincides with an indigenous day of action. The issue to focus on in Queensland this year is Stolen Wages. It is a very complex issue, but in a nutshell, here’s the story:

From the late 1800s through the 1970s, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lived under various government acts which often moved them onto reserves and forced them to work. They were involuntarily hired out as stockmen, domestic servants, workers on farms and sugar cane plantations, and the equivalent of today’s council workers (building roads, etc). The entire indigenous population was deemed financially irresponsible, so the government ‘kindly’ took their money and deposited it into a trust fund. Indigenous workers had to apply for pocket money or special purchases, many of which were completely denied. The government used some of this money to cover food and housing expenses, but considering the poor living conditions on reserves, there was a fair chunk left over. And since it was in trust, it was gaining interest. After the dissolution of the controlling acts, the Queensland government just kept the money. Some of it was used to fund hospitals, roads, and other infrastructure around the state. We’re talking tens of millions of dollars.

A few years ago Peter Beattie, the then-premiere of Queensland, offered $58 million as reparation payments to workers who had their wages stolen. The reparation payments were not based on how much money one had actually earned during their years and decades of labour. If you were born before a certain date you were paid $4000, and after that date it was $2000. Of 16,000 to 20,000 eligible people, only 10,000 applied—many thought the offer was insulting. Of those 10,000 applicants, one third were ineligible, often because government records were destroyed during a particularly dark period of QLD government. Because there were so few applicants, there was $35 million dollars left in the reparation fund, so the government started a community consultation process to decide what to do with it. I went to the consultation meeting in Townsville, which had the same result as all the others across the state—give the money back! Loosen up the restrictions so people who deserve the money can get it. There was 100% consensus at the Townsville meeting. That’s a pretty strong message.

But, a few weeks ago the new QLD premiere announced that some of the leftover funds would be paid out to original claimaints, but the remaining $20 million-odd would go to a scholarship fund. Aboriginal elders agree that scholarships and education are vital, but they feel that should be funded by the government anyways. They want their freaking money back! There have been several protests and meetings around the state, but the big statements will be made on Monday.

Sorry, that was a really big nutshell… more like a coconut. Anyways, that’s what I’ll be doing on Monday: joining with other people who care and rising up. We’ll be like a tablespoon of yeast. I’m selling stolen wages tee-shirts. If you’re in Australia and you want one, send me an email and we’ll work something out. They’re $20, and the money goes towards the Townsville Indigenous Human Rights Group and funds things like Monday’s rally.

Happy May Day, everyone!

Food Update

As I said, I’ve been busy lately. But I want to get these photos up now because on Sunday I’m heading off to Brisbane for 9 days. I’ll be stuck in the State archives, the State Library archives, the University of Queensland archives, and the Museum of Brisbane archives. I think by the time I come home I’ll have had my fill of historical documents. I don’t expect to be posting until at least next Tuesday, so I’ll see you all then! Now for the food.

Sloppy Joes, based on the recipe in Hot Damn and Hell Yeah. These had tvp chunks (cut up a bit after rehydration), mushrooms, corn, and capsicum in a sweetish tomato sauce. We served them over garlic toast, which was a bit lost under all the sloppiness. These were good, but not great.

We ate the sloppy joes before heading off to the Townsville Cinema Group’s showing of the film September. The film is about two families, one white and one Aboriginal, living on a wheat farm in Western Australia in 1968. I think it’s definitely worth watching, because it shows the complexities of life for Aboriginal and white people alike in that era. It doesn’t paint all white people as evil or racist (though some are, like the shop keeper), but it shows the incredibly unfair treatment of an entire race of people. If you ever get the chance, watch September and let me know what you think.

One night I came home from a meeting to this dinner. It is based on the recipe for “Vegetable mountain with gravy” from Hot Damn and Hell Yeah, with a few changes. Instead of the gravy from HDaHY, though, Andy whipped up some “Easy Cheezy Gravy” from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. On the side, some chickpea cutlets. The mountain was fantastic, though far too big for me. It made a good lunch the next day, too. And the cutlets were, as usual, great.

We also had our usual pasta, which features a veggie-full sauce. All these things…

Went into a pot and became this:

At the market last Sunday we saw a woman selling persimmons. They were $5 a kilo, which is a bit dear, but not too much to try them out. She let us have a taste before we bought them, and we liked it, so we got two. One looks like a butt.

When I was feeling a bit sick at uni last week, all I could think about was vegetable soup. This turned into a bit of a clean-out-the-fridge soup, perfect for the end of the week. It has onions, garlic, potato, carrot, zucchini, tomato and spinach, which were all blended up. After blending it, I put in fresh corn and a whole lot of fresh dill. The result was a creamy, hearty and green soup which was probably really good for us.

Another night I was helping Andy to revise a lit review he’s getting published in a major journal soon, so he cooked. ‘Vegetable Mountain with Gravy’ came back out because we had lots of potatoes and it was easy and yummy. This time, the gravy was ‘Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy’ from Vegan with a Vengeance, which I *love* but haven’t had in 2 years or so.

And finally, last night we had Kumudha’s Indian Chickpea Omelette, but changed a bit. On the side, a salad smothered with avocado dressing, and orange-plum-cinnamon glazed beetroot.Have a good week, everyone!

Armchair activism

I haven't been cooking much or eating lovely meals lately, so no food photos today. I haven't had a spare minute to think up an interesting argument about an issue that grinds my gears, so no rant today. Quite frankly, I have a headache and the sniffles, and I don't even want to be here. But I have to go to a meeting and a seminar, so here I am, misery and all. I won't bore you with my whinging, but expect some better posts in the (relatively) near future.

For now, I will leave you with three links. All are ways you can take a little bit of action without leaving the comfort of your computer chair.

First, you've all heard about what's going on in Tibet? (No? Click here or here.) Well, Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia, is off to visit our largest trading partner in Beijing. K-rudd speaks fluent mandarin, so Get Up! is urging people to sign a petition asking Kevin to ask China to lay off a bit. Not Australian? That's okay. I think it makes a bold statement when international signatures are on petitions like that. "The whole world is watching, Kev, what're you gonna do?"

Second, another Get Up! campaign which is near and dear to my heart--Close the Gap. You may have heard that Indigenous Australians have a life expectancy which is nearly 20 years lower than white Australians. There is another petition, and again, international signatures are very powerful. But let's not forget about Oxfam's petition, which has been going for ages. Why not sign both?

Finally, animal export is a big problem in this country. Tens of thousands of animals die every year en route to the Middle East, and the ones who survive are slaughtered in incredibly inhumane ways. Several groups have been fighting to change the laws for ages, and finally the leading export company has been brought to trial. The case was thrown out on a technicality, but it was in appeal this year because a lawyer found that technicality was wrong. Well. Enter a WA politician who has decided to cancel the case. Read more about it at the Animals Australia site, and then sign their petition.

I hope everyone has a lovely long weekend, and if you've got the energy, leave the computer desks and do something fun! I'm predicting a day at the beach in my future....

Random.

I’ve been tagged by Lori over at Pleasantly Plump Vegan to give five random facts about myself. I’ve tried to make them as random as possible, and things that most people don’t know about me.

1. I own exactly five pairs of shoes. One pair, hot pink, strappy high heels, hasn’t been worn in about two years. Two others, pregan clog-style Earth Shoes and hard plastic flat sandals I got for free from a clothing donation box, are worn very rarely. I have a pair of sneaker-like Payless shoes that I wear for biking. But, 40% of the time, I wear flip flops, and 50% of the time I’m barefoot.
2. I have spent 160 hours under the sea (not counting snorkelling or swimming). I became scuba certified just before heading over to PNG for two months or hard-core diving, so I had to catch on quickly. I also learned to identify corals to genus level (some to species level). I haven’t been diving in over a year, since that trip.
3. I have two tattoos. One is on my front right side, just on the inside of my hip. It is the symbol for my astrological sign, Scorpio. I got that one in December 2005, and it took about 20 minutes of pain. The other is a jasmine flower, on my upper left thigh. I got that one in January 2006, and it took nearly three hours. I gave the tattoo artist creative licence on that one, and it came out really, really great. I want more, but probably won’t get them any time soon.
4. As cute as they are, I really hate green tree frogs. They make the most annoying noises when its damp out, and for some reason they love to croak just outside the bedroom window at about 5 am.
5. I usually sleep on my side or my stomach. But every morning, between 5 and 7, Nacho stands on my pillow and stares at me with her purr on in a big way. She stays there until I roll on my back, and then she lays on my stomach for a pat. I usually like it, unless she kneads and uses claws. She usually only stays for 5 or 10 minutes, but sometimes she falls asleep there until the sun gets really bright.

Since I’m posting random things, I thought I would put up some random food photos.

Here is some tofu dill salad, from Vegan with a Vengeance. I thought this was really tasty on sandwiches and wraps, but it was quite dry. Unfortunately, I used the last of my tofu mayo when I mixed it up, so I couldn’t add any to the mix. I think it was so dry because I used frozen tofu and it sucked up liquid like a sponge.

And here is a fancy pasta dish, which I invented by combining two recipes from Vegan Planet. Fettucini is tossed with sautéed strips of capsicum and zucchini, and then covered in a cannellini-balsamic sauce. This was really easy to put together, and really very tasty.

A few weeks ago, we got a pressure cooker. I’m still playing with the timing for perfectly-cooked beans, but it comes in handy. Except for last time I cooked kidney beans. I think the pot was a bit too full, and I must have let the pressure off a bit too quickly, because I ended up with red liquid squirting out of the lid. Lovely. Still, it’s quick and relatively easy, so I like it.

Pressure cooker tips from experts would be much appreciated, though.

Now for some random links. Well, not really random.

I posted about this last week, but I think it's worth mentioning again. 400 kangaroos are set to be culled (read: murdered) by the Australian government. In protest, Aboriginal Australians are teaming up with animal rights activists and making a pretty big statement, even offering to take the lethal injection on behalf of the kangaroos. Said one Aboriginal member of the Tent Embassy, "If you could see the kangaroos through our eyes, you would see how important this is to me," he said. "This cull is genocide, because these kangaroos are my brothers, they're my sisters, they're my aunties, my uncles and my babies." Peter Garrett has said this is necessary--what a freakin' sellout. This article also quotes an AR activist: "I've heard the Government saying the cull is for conservation, but it's not, it's about development." That's the key, I think, it's all about development.

In addition to being bad for kangaroos, the Australian government isn't so good for sheep, either. After selectively breeding sheep with lots and lots of skin, sheep farmers have found that the excessive skin around a sheep's bum is a breeding ground for blowflies. They lay eggs in the moist wool and the maggots then burrow into the sheep's body and slowly kill it. It's pretty gruesome, so to avoid that fate the sheep farmers simply slice off the excess bum skin. It's called mulesing, and they do it without any pain relief or bandaging up afterwards. Peta has been pushing for a while to get this practice changed, and now a few European countries are banning Australian wool until the practice is made more humane. I think the focus should be less on making it more humane, and more on getting people to stop using wool. Ending one bad practice will make people think they've solved all sheeps' problems, but really, the methods of dipping and shearing don't look very nice from a sheep's perspective. Anyways, sheep are an introduced species which are really not so good for the Australian environment.