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!

A request

A new group is starting up in north Queensland which I am very excited to be a part of—Animal Rights Townsville (ART). We are still in the very early stages of formation, and we’ve only got a few members. But we have a google group, so the few of us have been sending lots of brainstorming emails back and forth to one another. We’ve got big plans, which I’ll tell you more about as things progress.

But the very first project we’ve set ourselves is to design a display. It may be put up in one of Townsville’s libraries (which have display cases and areas), or we might just bring it to markets and shopping centres, along with vegan treats. The information we’d like to convey will show four ‘pillars’ of animal rights: veg*nism/welfare, health, the environment, and human rights/economics. I’ve taken on the task of gathering information for the economic and human rights facet.

I have a few things in mind, especially a comparison of costs for tofu, beans, grains, etc. and animal products. That will cover the individual side of the economic argument. In terms of more global aspects, I’m asking you all, dear intelligent blog readers, for some assistance.

I’m wary of making claims that veganism will solve world hunger. Although there is a lot of food that goes into animal agriculture, and that food could be distributed to the needy, capitalism means that is not likely to happen. There is already enough food to go around in the world; the problem is with distribution (and the need for profits). But, sources for concrete statistics about just how much food goes into raising food animals, where companies like McDonald’s source their meat from, and any other economic arguments to veganism would really help me. Sure, I could do a google search myself, but it takes time to find quality sources. So if you know of any off the top of your head, please send them my way!

And if you’re reading this and you live in Townsville, you should join our group! Send me an email, and I’ll send you the info.

To say thanks in advance for any help I receive, I will leave you with a series of Nacho photos, taken a few minutes apart from each other while she was lounging on her cattree.

Try everything twice.

In addition to being a song lyric from a cool band, I think it's a good philosophy to have in life.

When trying new foods, I like to give second (or third) chances to food items that don’t immediately strike my fancy. This way I can make sure that I didn’t just have a bad version of something, and it gives my tastebuds a chance to adapt to the new sensation. If it weren’t for second chances, I would have a hole in my life where vegemite currently resides.

Last week when I tried Brussels sprouts for the first time since childhood, I wasn’t sold. I didn’t hate them, but they were too hard and the flavour just wasn’t that special. But on Thursday I was offered a free bag of them (a big bag). I have a hard time turning down free things, so of course I took them (free vegetables!).

So I tried them again, trimming the ends a bit better and cooking them in a hotter oven (210) for a touch longer (about 20 minutes). And they were good! Roasting them this way really brought out their flavour and made them a little crispy on the outside but oh so tender for the most part.

That was only half the free bag, though. I wanted to try them another way. I pulled out the Sunset Vegetable Cook Book from 1983, which I picked up from a book fair for 50 cents. There were two Brussels sprouts recipes in the book, but both had ham or bacon. I didn’t feel like veganising, and anyways, the recipes didn’t sound that great anyways. But at the beginning, in the book’s description of individual vegetables, the suggested seasonings for Brussels sprouts include butter, basil, chives, dill weed, minced parsley, rosemary, and thyme. I cooked my sprouts in a skillet with a bit of water until they were tender and the water was evaporated. Then I mixed through some butter, chopped fresh basil, and dried parsley. They were really good this way, too.

I’ve come around to Brussels sprouts.

It just goes to show—everything deserves a second chance.

Happy belated earth day

Until I read a bunch of earth day themed blog posts, I sort of forgot that it was earth day at all. In my defence, it wasn’t earth day in Australia. Australians focused more on earth hour, which was started last year by Sydney. But reading everyone’s earth day posts got me thinking about the environment, consumption, and those sorts of things. And I know I’m preaching to the converted since most of my blog readers are already very eco-conscious, but hopefully I’ll mention one thing that you haven’t yet thought of. Plus, considering some of the random google searches that lead people to my blog, someone may have no idea about these issues (hard to believe, but…).

From the sounds of things, the US is similar to Australia in the push to ‘buy green’. The focus is on recycling and reusing, with little attention paid to actually reducing what we consume. I think they’re all important and I try to think creatively about all three Rs, but I think the possibilities for real change lie in that last R.

Recycle

Andy and I recently bought a worm farm. We haven’t had it long enough to get much more than a feel for it, but judging on first impressions alone I think it’s just great. Since most of our waste is food waste (and all plant-based and therefore compostable), we have seriously cut down on the amount of stuff that goes out to the bin. It doesn’t smell, and it’s quick: I’ve already taken a few scoops of dirt out of it. Plus, each week when we change the water in the fish tank we dump the bucket through the whole system. This has two effects—it keeps the worm farm moist, and it provides us with rich liquid fertiliser for all of our plants. I highly recommend a worm farm to everyone, regardless of whether you have a back yard or not. We’ve got a tiny patio, and it would work on balconies, fire escapes, or even laundry rooms.

Reuse

The majority of my wardrobe is second-hand (thanks especially to the amazing op shops in PNG). Everything except our mattress and Andy’s desk is second-hand, a combination of op shops, freecycle, garage sales, and side of the road finds. We also try to reuse food packaging whenever we can. Empty jars become containers for pressure-cooked beans or veggie stock. Plastic bags full of produce are reused as sandwich bags for lunches. Aside from reducing the amount of waste, and the amount of new stuff that needs to be made, reusing has the added bonus of monetary savings—or at least, it keeps money more local (i.e., garage sales) rather than supporting transnational corporations.

Reduce

As I said before, and as The Little One eloquently summed up on actual earth day, reducing is the most important of the three Rs. There are a number of ways we can reduce…

Energy usage—Andy and I only realised how much energy is wasted in the form of phantom load after visiting the Sustainability Expo in January where we saw a meter plugged into a stereo that was switched off. Since then we’ve been reminding each other to turn things off at the power point. (Australian outlets are greener than their American counterparts because of one simple addition: a switch. Instead of unplugging everything, we just need to flip the switch to cut off the power supply that constantly flows, even to appliances that seem to be turned off.) An added bonus is the semi-naughty jokes we get to make when we forget: “When I woke up this morning, the kettle was blowing its phantom load all over the kitchen.”

Waste—This one is a no-brainer. Buy in bulk as much as you can. Use green bags for groceries and anything else you buy. Reuse whatever you can—turn old sheets into rags for cleaning. Fix things when they break. Learn a bit of sewing so you can patch clothing and furniture. Make things from scratch. Freeze leftovers, bread and tofu to avoid throwing away food. And when you do need to buy something, spend the extra money to buy something of a higher quality—it will last longer and thus cost less in the long-run. The other thing that has cut down considerably on the amount of rubbish we have is a ‘No Junk Mail’ sign. This probably won’t apply for Americans, but in Australia the junk mail doesn’t go through the post. A simple sign that says you only want Australia Post to put anything into your mailbox will cut down on the amount of crap you have to throw away each week. Another benefit of the ‘no junk mail’ sign is that I don’t have to see fliers full of raw meat photos. Plus, I’ve found that looking at junk mail makes me want new things that I don’t need. Which leads me into the next thing we should reduce…

Consumption—When I was preparing to move to Australia two years ago I realised I had to fit a life’s worth of stuff into about 70 pounds of baggage. I really took stock of what was important to me (I really shouldn't have wasted so much space on socks. I never wear them.). Some of it, like shoes, I expected to replenish with Australian goods once I got settled over here. But, the first few months were really very rough financially, and we just couldn’t afford to buy stuff. In that time we spent two months in PNG where the lifestyle is much simpler and at some point, we just adjusted to a life without clutter. And without a television. I highly recommend this option to everyone. No tv means less energy usage, less advertisements enticing you to buy excess stuff, and better conversations and relationships with the people around you. We listen to the ABC tv station on the radio at night, and music during the day, and if we really feel like vegging we put a movie on the laptop. Instead of watching tv, Andy and I talk to each other, play with the cat, watch the fishtank… and when he’s gone I read in place of conversation.

When I do need to buy new stuff, I practice what I’ve come to think of as ‘considered consumption’. That is, I think before I buy. I don’t think I’m hardcore enough to identify as an ecotarian, but I try to choose items that are high quality, come from companies that are local and/or with good labour and social practices, and especially from small-scale operations. For instance, I prefer to buy dried beans from the Asian grocery rather than the big corporate supermarkets. If I do need to buy something from far away, I try to support vegan, anarchist, or small-scale businesses like AK Press, the Cruelty Free Shop, or The Purist Company.

Luckily, the greenest options are the cheapest—a very important consideration for a student surviving on a scholarship. But they require a bit of lifestyle changes; in short, we need to simplify. Because the world simply can’t support the lifestyle of the global north. Obviously we’re not all perfect, but everyone can make changes to reduce their impact on the planet.

Now for my earth day resolutions: to reduce our household water consumption (we take a lot of long showers), and to further lessen my reliance on plastic bags.

Vacillating

This past week I’ve gone back and forth between cooking semi-elaborate meals and really having no energy for that sort of thing.

With the rest of the boiled seitan I made on the weekend, I made the ‘Belgian-style seitan stew with dark beer’ from Vegan Planet. I used a bottle of homebrew that we made on St Patrick’s Day, a Dublin Pilsener. We weren’t sure that beer was going to turn out well, because it fermented wrong—I think it was too hot out. But, I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it up to find a perfectly fizzy, deeply flavoured beer. The seitan stew was really good, but a bit on the sweet side.

The next night I had a meeting and didn’t get home until dinner time, and I seriously considered eating a bowl of cereal. But instead, I remembered a ripe avocado in the fridge so I made a lazy guacamole. The avocado was just the right ripeness so it mashed to a creamy consistency, and then I just added some lime, salt & pepper, fresh coriander and diced tomato. Some crackers and toast were the perfect accompaniment.

The one downfall of eating such simple meals is the lack of leftovers to have for lunch the next day. So last night I put in a bit more effort, used up a few things that needed using, and made enough for two meals. Ready-made falafels, which Andy picked up on markdown before he went diving; Moroccan-spiced fava beans and rice with tomato-tahini sauce; spicy olive hummus; stale tortilla wedges; and a pickle. This meal left my quite full but without a heavy feeling, plus, I have beans and rice and falafels left for lunch.

That meal almost left me too full for dessert. Almost.

A few days ago I saw a photo of banana bread made by Textual Bulldog and I realised I love banana bread, but I literally cannot remember the last time I had it—probably upwards of three years. I had two ripe bananas in the freezer, and one in the fridge, so I made the ‘Banana Bread’ from Alternative Vegan. The only change I made was to use tahini instead of peanut butter. For the chopped nuts, I used macadamia pieces. Sweet mother of all that is good in the world, this banana bread was amazing. The outside was crunchy in a good way, and the inside was delicately sweet. I only wish I had cream cheese to have on top.

I’m looking forward to the upcoming three-day weekend, which conveniently rolls into a week long lecture-recess. No teaching means more time for blogging (and, well, research and stuff) so I hope to post about more than my hum-drum single gal meals.

Have a good Anzac day, everyone!

Aha moments

I've always had the idea in the back of my mind that when I'm riding my bike between uni and home, I'll have lots of time and head-space to think. I envision myself clarifying thoughts, coming up with great ideas, and otherwise developing my genius as I ride.

The reality, however, has been much different. I've been riding off and on for over a year. Throughout that time I've had bursts of riding regularly and bursts of riding only once a week. Regardless of how often I ride, though, I never have deep thoughts. Instead, my mind is focused on the road or path, on not falling off my bike, and on singing songs to myself as I pedal along the river (yes, I really do this).

But yesterday something was different. As I was riding, a thought came out of nowhere about my methodology chapter. In my head I worded a sentence just perfectly. I had to keep repeating it to myself so I didn't forget it, and the first thing I did when I got home was to write it down.

The 'aha' moment may have stemmed from my immediate pre-ride activity: a Social Justice Research support group. The conversations there must have really got my mind working. Or perhaps it was the glass of wine that said conversations occurred over. Regardless, I hope I have more of those moments, because that sentence was really, really good.

Weekend grub

Remember my lament about living with a breakfast grinch? Well, since I’m home alone I’m taking advantage of my weekend mornings and having breakfast foods galore. I started the brunch extravaganza this weekend with Fronch Toast, from Vegan with a Vengeance (with the addition of some cinnamon to the batter, because that’s how I roll). This really brought back memories of my pregan days; it really is good. I used a big bakery hot dog roll, which I left in the fridge overnight to dry it out. I realised after soaking the bread slices in the batter that I should have sliced it before drying it out—the outside was nice and crusty but the inside got a little soggy.

I spent my Saturday writing a grant application, which, if you’ve had any experience with, you will know it totally sucks. For instance, I’m expected to provide a brief methodology of the research, an abstract of my two planned conference papers, and justify 9 separate budget items, all in 10 lines of text. And those ten lines are weighted at 25% of the total application. To keep me nourished for all that fun, I made a nice big lunch.

I made a chickpea, corn and tomato salad. Instead of combining it all with mayo, I used a mixture of avocado, apple cider vinegar, tahini and rehydrated wakame. I put the salad into a tortilla, and it was interesting and tasty.

The salad kept me going through the tedious process, and some wine helped to ease my frustrations. In the afternoon I tried my hand at boiled seitan for the first time. Despite the long boiling time, there is really very little hands-on time. But texture-wise, I think I prefer baked seitan.

A late afternoon bike ride worked up my hunger for dinner, so I turned some of the boiled seitan into ‘Jerk Seitan’ from Vegan with a Vengeance, and served it with a side of coconut rice and veggies sautéed in the jerk sauce. Even though it’s getting a bit chilly here, this dinner tasted like the tropics.

On Sunday morning I rode to the markets and stocked up on produce for the coming week. While I was there, I saw some fresh-looking Brussels sprouts, so I grabbed them. I’ve tried them once before, when I was very young, and they were frozen and boiled and not very nice. But I’d noticed a recipe in VwaV that intrigued me, so I gave it a try for dinner. Since I had the oven on, I baked some sweet potato rounds with just a touch of sea salt. Leftover rice rounded the meal of quite nicely. The Brussels sprouts verdict? I liked them okay, but I didn’t think they were fantastic.

After a day of reading, transcribing, gardening and cleaning house, at about 8:30 Sunday night I remembered that I signed up to bring food to the postgraduate morning tea this morning, so I quickly threw together some ginger biscuits. Two didn't fit in the container, so I had to eat them...

I thought weekends were supposed to be relaxing?

Cooking for one: the first two days.

I’ve spent occasional weeks by myself since moving back to Australia, but they were only a week at a time—so I usually either ate like crap for a week, or tried to be uber-healthy. But this time is different for two reasons: one, it’s for a month rather than a week; and two, it’s the first of many months like this over the course of the next three years. So I’m trying to eat normally, even though I’m on my own.

So, Wednesday I woke up before the sun to see Andy off, then laid in bed for a little while before getting up to a bowl of muesli. I biked in to uni, where I had some pumpkin and hummus wraps for lunch. After biking home, I was pretty hungry even though it was early, so I decided to have a two course meal. First, the soup course. I made a lot, and am planning on having leftovers for the next week or so.

For this soup, I just boiled one potato and one carrot in 3 cups of veggie stock, with a bit of wakame thrown in. This was all blended up, the heat was turned off and I threw in the kernels from half an ear of corn. In my bowl, I mixed in a little scoop of miso (I’ve heard it doesn’t reheat well, so I only added the miso to a single serve). Creamy, flavourful, and healthy!

Then, my second course was quick. I simply sautéed some sliced zucchini and some sliced portabella mushrooms. After they were cooked I mixed in some balsamic, and sprinkled on salt and pepper. Notice the small plate? I eat much less when Andy’s not around.

Thursday was not a good day. I woke up, did a bit of interview transcribing (tedious would be an understatement), and then went to pump up my bike tires to head to a feminist group meeting—but my back tire was 100% flat. So I walked instead. Later on at uni, I had the leftover sautéed veggies, combined with half an avocado.

I came home a bit early so I could get my tire fixed. I don’t know the first thing about fixing bike tires, so I decided I would just take off my back wheel and walk up to the bike shop. Unfortunately, removing the back wheel was not as easy as I thought it would be. Some greasy fingers and a few f-words later, I made it to the bike shop to find out I had a big chunk of glass in my tire. The guy patched the tire, changed the tube, and sent me on my way after warning me to keep an eye on it, since it will need replacing soon. When I got home, I realised getting the stupid wheel off the bike was the easy part—getting it back on, now that’s where the f-word was really needed. I eventually got it, but then screwed up the gears somehow. I was riding around the driveway, swearing and changing gears, then comparing my bike to Andy’s to see where I’d gone wrong. I still don’t know what I did, but it’s fixed, anyways. I felt a little proud of the grease all up my arms and the fixed bike.

Whinging aside, I definitely worked up my appetite for some comfort food. So I pulled out my well-used copy of Hot Damn and Hell Yeah and made his recipe for Taco and Burrito Filling. A base of TVP mince makes it really meaty, and I added portabellas for extra flavour. I turned the other have of the avocado into a quick guac, and opened some corn chips and had a really yummy, filling, and comforting dinner.

I think I can handle this cooking for one business. And I (semi) successfully fixed my bike without any help. I rock!