Creativity: nuturing the spark within

Creativity is something I'm interested in.  I like to create in a lot of different ways.  I like to learn about how to encourage creativity and understand it better.  I have written about it before.

There are some who think that creativity is something that is outside themselves; that it comes from a "muse" or other being.  Others are of the opinion that sufficient practice of creative endeavour results in creative products. I'm not sure where I sit in this spectrum.

In her TEDtalk, Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, pray love) speaks of the experience of the creative muse.  She sees it as something outside of self but that a person needs to apply oneself to the creative process in order for it to be of benefit.  Kind of like harnessing the power of a wild element.



Amy Tan (author of the Joy Luck Club and many others ) in her TEDtalk speaks of life experience and how it informs her.  She also asks a lot of questions of her experience and other's experience.



I read somewhere (possibly in this book) that Einstein would deliberately put a pencil in his hand and try to doze off because the period between awake/asleep was when he had his best ideas.  I have noticed this myself.  Moving from awake consciousness to sleeping I pass through a zone where I'm sufficiently relaxed with an open mind that ideas do occur.   Sometimes those ideas startle me awake again and my mind begins to race so fast I find it difficult to go back to sleep.  I really need to keep a notebook or something beside my bed to jot stuff down in so it isn't lost and also so I can relax again!

I do think there are things that dampen creativity. 

Time is the obvious one.  If you don't have space to let the muse occur or to begin to practise with your creative tools (whatever these are) then nothing productive will happen.

For me, pressure to perform can be a creative killer but other times it can be a motivator.

The environment also contributes something.  I need space to do scrapbooking and my desk is small, my space is cluttered.  It's not helpful. If my workplace environment is oppressive, with lots of "passion killing" attitudes floating around then I find it difficult to be creative at work.

How to kick start creativity?

There are a couple of things that can help me. 

If it is scrapbooking I want to do, I find sitting myself down and picking some photos, coordinating cardstock/paper and a sketch from someplace will help me on my way. 

If it is an idea for teaching or something work related I like to have the space and freedom to brainstorm wild ideas however inconceivable they seem at first.  This can be difficult if somebody thinks I'm actually serious about some of the wild ideas and stomps on them.  Visiting other libraries, reading about what other libraries and librarians are doing via conferences or my PLN is also inspirational.

DH recently entered a competition for landscape photography - he got a bronze award for his entry & was 35th in his category.  I'm so proud of him; he inspires me. (Someone has to toot his horn..um, ok that sounds rude *cough*)

Here are some other things I find inspirational. 

What do you think?  Is creativity from within, without, nature vs nurture vs practice? What inspires you?  What kills your inspiration?

Day 14: Shanachie Tour of New Zealand

This morning I beetled off into town to the Town Hall where the two Shanachie guys were giving a presentation prior to their one week tour of New Zealand. (Why only one week!?  I know we're a small country but...)

Here's to prove I was there. Along with a bunch of other librarians whose faces I have blurred. Thanks Kris for taking the photo!

See... I was breathing the same air as these guys. I never got to say hello personally but it would have probably been too embarrassing for all involved.   *picture me struck dumb with awe*

I think I want to work at DOK.  *Sweeeeetie?  Would you like to move to the Netherlands?*
I love how their focus is the people in their community.  They look for ways to bring the collection to them as well as ways to bring their community's interests into the library.  They actively seek ways to partner with their local community businesses.  Some of the things they have done which I thought very cool were

•  Hosted a LAN party
• Their furniture (you can see some in David Lee King's  Flickr stream here or from Jenny Levine here)
• Collaborate with the supermarket across the square by providing a recipe from the collection. The supermarket supplied the ingredients in a special 'fridge (with the library's logo) and if patrons swipe their library card at the checkout, they got 25% off their bill.
• Invent a gaming flightcase
• Take a specially marked combi van to a summer camp where kids create content during the day to present to their parents at night.
• Solicit stories from their patrons about the community where they are living (Agora: storyboard of your life)
• This brilliant multi touch surface which makes me wish MPOW had some sort of collection we could show off

Multitouch Microsoft Surface: Cultural Heritage Browser from Jaap van de Geer on Vimeo.

Now I need to think about how some of what I saw can be brought into MPOW.

Day 14: Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Sticky Chick in the crockpot, rice, stir fry veg
Tuesday: Pies, peas and chips (terrible I know! but easy for DH to prepare and the kids love pies. So do I).
Wednesday: Pasta Carbonara (going to use fusilli), pear, spinach, blue cheese and walnut salad
Thursday: Sticky Asian Oxtail (going to attempt this in the crockpot), rice, Asian greens
Friday: Vego Hamburgers plus the usual fixings.
Saturday: Pork vindaloo (free range pork was on special at Nosh) and some vege curries including this dal.  Might make some roti or pooris too.
Sunday: some sort of soup - saw a recipe somewhere for a Thai pumpkin one so might try that but will have to make something separate for DS who doesn't like pumpkin.

I finished off Miss3's slippers with butterflies (her request), still in the process of doing Mr6's.

Going to see the Shanachie's tomorrow!

Day 13: Travel Meme

 To everyone who responded to my last post - THANK you. I appreciate it more than you can know.  I'm going to see what the school is doing (Thursday) and then I may be talking to some of you in more detail depending on what they say...
But thanks. *lump in throat and tears in eyes*  This is all new territory for me.

1. What country and/or state do you live in? Auckland, New Zealand

2. What was the last country you visited other than your own (or that you want to if you haven’t been out of your country? Australia - for a library conference.

3. What is your favorite kind of trip (i.e. camping, laying on the beach, cruise, etc.)? Not sure.  I like a number of kinds.  Road trips can be fun if not rushed, lying about camping beside the beach is good. But no, not cruising - not my scene.  I like visiting new places and especially National Parks and other nature related places. I also like food related touring. Shopping I can take or leave, mostly because I can't afford it.

4.What is the farthest location south that you have gone? Mossburn (well, we drove through it to get to Te Anau. I got my first speeding ticket coming back the other way nearby. >_<
View Larger Map  One day I will get to Stewart Island.  DH would love to go to the Auckland Islands but the cost of getting there is more than we can consider.

5. What is the farthest location north that you have gone? Findochty in Scotland. It was flippin' cold.
View Larger Map

6. What is our preferred mode of transportation when traveling long distances? In terms of practicality, planes are difficult to beat especially when you live in New Zealand and the rest of the world is too far away to swim. I do like trains though.  If I was in Europe, trains would have a lot of attraction.

7. What kind of vehicle do you own or would like to own? I own a Mitsubishi Lancer. It's old and needs to be replaced. DH wants us to get an SUV of some kind so we can go on holidays easier. I'd be keen on a hybrid version or one that used something other than fossil fuel.

8. What is your ideal destination? I have so many places I'd like to visit. India, Italy and France are the top on my list. Some of the US would be interesting too.  I was saving to go on an OE with my sister when I met DH.  My sister went on the OE and I got married.

9. Who is your favorite travel companion? My family

10. What is the largest city you have visited? It would be a competition between London and Amsterdam.  I started school in London here.

11. What destination would you recommend to a friend? Milford Sound, New Zealand.  It's beautiful. The sandflies are incredible. Stay overnight in the lodge there... so much nicer when the hoardes of tourists leave.

12. If you could live anywhere, where would it be? Here. This is my land, this is where my roots are. Ko Puketapapa te maunga (my mountain is Mt Roskill, the area where I grew up), I identify with the Auckland region particularly West Auckland.  I feel most comfortable here.

Day 12: The Curate's Egg

I was going to write an intelligent post on creativity (an interest of mine), but today has been a bit of a curate's egg day.  According to Phrase Finder the meaning of this term is:

Something bad that is called good out of politeness or timidity.

Origin

The origin of the phrase is the George du Maurier cartoon "True Humility", printed in the British satirical magazine Punch, on 9th November 1895. The cartoon gives fuller insight into its meaning, which relies to some extent on an appreciation of irony.

TRUE HUMILITY.

Right Reverend Host. "I’m afraid you’ve got a bad Egg, Mr. Jones!"
The Curate. "Oh no, my Lord, I assure you! Parts of it are excellect!"

We use this term quite a lot in my family being avid readers of Punch. (Library collections are great are they not?)

I had a rather disappointing Friday at work so I was glad to wake up to a new day, new possibilities.  The kids had a good sleep and swimming lessons went well.

I ventured out to Mt Eden to see a lady who is going to teach me how to felt.  She was displaying her wares at a craft fair - some lovely stuff - and it was exciting to see what we're going to be making.  Parking is an abomination though.  It took me 20 minutes to find one a block away.  Not really what I wanted when I have Mr6 and Miss-I-can't-walk-my-legs-hurt-carry-me 3.  We returned home via Nosh having picked up a few items of a foodie nature for lunch.

So far so good.

Then Mr6 remembered he had an Important Notice in his school bag and brought it out to me.  According to this he is either below or well below the National Standards for reading, writing and maths.  I knew he was struggling with reading and we've been working on that but it looks like everything else is an issue as well.  I find it so disheartening and wonder what I did wrong. Should I have had children earlier? Should I have not gone back to work and put him daycare? Did I drink to much coffee when he was in utero?  The report has things parents can do to help and I am happy to try and do these (already do some) ... but when I have no idea.  My melodramatic streak thinks I should just pack up all my craft stuff and give it up for the next few years since I won't have any time to do it at all.  I half expect I shall have to give up work but having signed a 3 semester contract I don't think that's a possibility. We see the teacher on Thursday.  I hope to find out what the school is doing about it. It doesn't help my attitude when I find spelling mistakes in the report they sent home. I just don't know what to do. Should we send him to a special school? Get him extra lessons?  How is all this supposed to happen when I work 9-5?!

So. Feeling sorry for myself.

I tried to fix my felted slippers and managed to shrink them so much they are now too small! I will either have to give them to someone else or turn them into a pin cushion.  I did have some success in making some for the kids though.

Here is one for Mr6 before it got felted.  Looks like a Yeti foot!

Here it is being felted.

Here are the products I made.

I will need to edge stitch the children's slippers and may decorate them a bit.  As you see I made a scarf/collar as well.  I have every book out of MPOW's library on felting and have been looking at Youtube tutorials too so decided to give a simple scarf a go. This is the series I used as instruction... this particular one has the order of the tutorials in the comments.  The one we're going to do in the class is much more complex using some different fibres, silk - even has a pocket!



I didn't realise how much shrinkage would occur so it could have been a bit longer, but that is all part of the learning process!

Looking forward to my dinner and trying not to stress about things.

Day 11: Identity

I'm posting over at Diligent Room today.

Day 10: Personal or professional blogging

Sue asks on her blog

Those of us participating in this challenge are not necessarily blogging on professional topics. Of those that aren’t – do you feel constrained in anyway not to speak out on professional topics? I am not saying that you should professionally blog- just wondering if perceptions of risk to career colour that choice. Of those that do post on professional topics- have you ever felt it threatened your career? And even when it’s posts about topics of general interest to the larger profession?

This blog began when I went to a course run at work.  I wanted to find out about blogging and podcasting since "podcast" was the word of the year and I had no idea what it meant! So this space began as a place for me.  I did occasionally post stuff about librarianship but mostly, this blog is a personal one.  Where I brag about my crafts, kids and cooking.

When I went on maternity leave, my blog became my connection with a bunch of scrapbookers and as such was a kind of sanity saving community for me.  Since I returned to work it has been a struggle for me to maintain the momentum for a variety of reasons.  I no longer have as much time to do crafts. The scrapbooking community has moved more to Facebook. Blogs in general seem to be winding down in favour of micro-blogging.

So to answer Sue's question, no I'm not constrained about posting on professional topics on this blog but it isn't a topic that many of my previous readers would want to hear about continually.  I've since joined a professional blog The Diligent Room, and that is where I post about professional stuff.  Sometimes.  Which brings me to my next point.

I don't feel constrained when I post on Diligent Room.  When I began there I informed my boss that I'd be doing this and asked him to let me know if there was a problem with this.  I don't blog about the sticky stuff - I'm no good at controversial or pot-stirring type posts. 

So far, my posts there have been about what we're doing at MPOW because I figure if I like to hear about other libraries activities then other librarians will like to hear about it too.  I tend to blog about what I know and what I feel I am qualified to speak on.  In fact I struggle with think posts.  I do think about things, but I tend to observe and keep my thoughts to myself.  I think I'm afraid of being shot down.

For me, Twitter has become a place for interaction with other librarians.  For me, Facebook is more about family and friends.  Different tools for different communities.  At least, that is how it has evolved for me.

Day 9: Meme from day 7

CW's meme from day 6/7 via normblog  

Yeah yeah, I'm slow...

Do you snack while reading? Sometimes.  I like to read while eating my lunch.  Mostly I don't though. Unless I'm having a cuppa as well. Or some chips have made their way into the house.

What is your favourite drink while reading? I don't really have a fav drink - whatever I feel like at the time.

Do you tend to mark your books while you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?*Shudder* can't write in books.  Sacrilege!

How do you keep your place? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book open flat? Bookmark mostly - a bit of paper, shopping list, receipt.  I never dog ear, but confess to laying the book face down and open.

Fiction, non-fiction or both? Both, but definitely more fiction.

Do you tend to read to the end of a chapter or can you stop anywhere? Anywhere.

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you? No. 

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away? No, I get the meaning from context.  Having said that, I haven't come across any words I didn't know in a long time.

What are you currently reading? Tu by Patricia Grace.  It is good.

What is the last book you bought? Walter the farting dog by William Kotzwinkle. (A birthday present for a 5 year old).

Do you have a favourite time/place to read? I read a lot in bed or in my armchair by the fire.

Do you prefer series books or stand-alones? No preference. I just need to read.  I read the cereal box at breakfast even.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over? It really depends who is asking.  There is no point me recommending some authors to my MIL for example because I know she wouldn't read them ever.


How do you organize your books (by genre, title, author’s last name, etc.)? I need more bookshelves.  At present the fiction ones are organised by author and size and the non-fiction is mostly by subject but we're limited in shelf size so some bits are higglety-pigglety.

Barbara’s additional question: background noise or silence? I just read.  Though if the conversation is interesting enough I'll stop reading.  I can tune out pretty much anything.

Day 8: Menu Plan Monday on a Tuesday

The trouble with a long weekend is that I think Monday is another Sunday!

Anyway, meal plan for this week.  Last week got a bit mucky towards the end so I ended up doing some things differently hence the revisit of one item on this week's plan.

Monday - spag bog (can't beat it for quick and tasty. Mr6 loves pasta and Miss3 wasn't feeling well so this was okay for her.  DH and I added chilli sauce.)
Tuesday - pot roast in the crockpot for DH to serve up. (My late night at work... so glad not to do this come July and my new position).
Wednesday - Nigella's chicken* & sausage roast, rice, some sort of veges that I think up on the night
Thursday - smoked fish pie (one pot dish)
Friday - chicken jambalaya, spinach salad
Saturday - lamb and pea tagine, cous cous
Sunday - French onion soup with breadand toasted gruyere cheese

*which involves mixing up mustard, worchestershire sauce, lemon juice and olive oil and marinading the chicken pieces in it before mixing with some sausages, onions in wedges and some dried sage. Chuck in the lemon rinds too and roast.  I like good quality pork and fennel sausages with it best.  Inf fact, if you can't get decent sausages, leave them out.  It's still good.

Winter garden

Not much is happening in the garden right now except for weeds.  I have some parsnip seedlings that need to go in, but that means I need to pull out the weeds!

Mac the nut tree has some nuts though.

We have two macadamic nut trees.  They are still small but this older one produces more nuts than we can really cope with.  According to teh interwebs you have to dry them with husk removed and then roast them in their shell for a while and then crack them and roast again.  It's such a drama to do it that we've yet to complete an entire cycle of it.  I have a small nutcracker that works on a screw basis to crack them - you have to do them 1 by 1.  Which isn't really an option for someone like me with little patience.

Actually we wanted to plant a walnut tree until we read they don't really fruit until they are 50 years old. Which seemed a long time to wait. Pity.  I like coffee walnut cake. Instead I order walnuts from Naturally Organic because I can trust them not to be old and rancid. Unlike the ones in the bulk bins at Pak N Save.

My herb garden is currently bursting with chervil.

I use chervil in mushroom soup and also in egg dishes like omlettes. It is also quite nice with carrots.  Chervil is really easy to grow from seed.  In fact, it has self seeded into the lawn around the garden which makes for a nice herby smell when you mow.

In Auckland, the milder winter means citrus is also available in winter. We have a mandarin and a lemon tree.  The mandarin had only a dozen or so fruit on it this year, but they were good sized ones.  It's still a young tree and seems to have on/off years.  My lemon is currently in a pot.  I've not have too much luck with my lemon trees but this one is doing quite well. I use a lot of lemons.

Day 6: Appliance love post

Sally wrote a post about her kitchen appliances and I thought it a cool idea so here is my list of favourite appliances.

1.  My Kitchen Aid.  It's red, it goes fast and has curves... what's not to love?! I got it for my birthday in 2007 - it's arrival was rather amusing.  I think I've used it every week on average.  It has featured in a few posts on this blog.

2. The Espresso machine. We've had an espresso machine for a fair while now.  I can't deny I'm a coffee snob. It is one of my guilty pleasures .

3. The dishwasher.  When we bought the house in 2000 it didn't have a dishwasher.  We'd promised ourselves that our house would have one so we installed one.  I would hate to be without it now.  Some people have said that washing dishes by hand promote fellowship and family bonding.  That has never been my experience.

4. The crockpot. I probably use this every week as well. It means I have to get things ready the night before but it pays the next day because tea is on the table sooner.  Which is great when you are an evil working mother and your daughter falls asleep by the oven if you don't get tea on soon enough.   I actually have 2 crockpots.  A large oval one and my grandmother's one.

5. Fridge/freezer/chest freezer... saves us from getting salmonella, buying food daily ... all that stuff
6. Washing machine. I couldn't cope without it.
7. Sewing machine.  My mum bought me my first machine when I was a teenager and I've had one ever since.  I've made so much stuff on my machine.  Even a bag hide and tent for DH to use for bird photography.  I should get myself an overlocker one of these days.  Mum's one is living at my place at the moment and I really should give it back.

Day 5: Saturday swimming

Saturday means swimming lessons round here.  I've enrolled the kids for this term and will probably re-enrol for next term too.  It cuts into my "free" time but it is important to us that our children gain water confidence and respect.  There are too many drowning accidents in New Zealand.  Some of those accidents could have been prevented by basic respect for water and some swimming skills.  (Of course, swimming skills are not always going to be helpful in bad situations but still ... YKWIM).

This one used to be terrified of the water.  His first swimming lesson when he was 3 1/2 was a disaster.  He clung to the teacher the whole time and screamed nonstop "I want my mummy" in her ear.  The poor girl!  Before his second lesson I took him to the local pool and swam around with him, played floating games and after that he was happy to get into the water with the teacher and actually learn some skills.  These days he seems to spend a lot of time under the water when he isn't being supervised to do some activity. His skills are slowly improving.  He still pokes his bum in the air when trying to stroke freestyle!

This little monkey has a blast!  She has a very experienced, gentle teacher called Matt who does a great job with the littlies, some of whom are very afraid. They play cool games like Jungle River and pretend to be crocodiles.  They have rides on a floating device (Tommy the Turtle) to practice kicking.  They fetch rings from under the water to practice putting their faces underneath.  She has had a small falling-over-under-the-water accident since and although it gave her a fright I am glad because she now has a bit more respect for the water environment than before.

It's worth missing out my sleep in for.

Day 4: Incredible sulk

Miss 3 sulking because I told her to change her clothes prior to going out. Apparently if you can't wear a dress with cherries on it your life is not worth living.

10 Reasons I love my library

1. It has a pirate stapler.

2. It lets you have lots of holds... for FREE. When the supercity happens I will highly peeved if we inherit charges for holds from Un-named City. Bah! Bah I tell you! edited to add: not every library in NZ charges for holds, but one of the major Auckland ones does.  Which I think stinks.

3. It hosts fun events like New Zealand Music Month.  Including bagpipes.

4. The staff get to have paper aeroplane fights at their Christmas party. (Note plane crash landed in halo).

5. It has the entire Beatles collection on CD and it lets you borrow them.

6. You can sign up to get library notices via txt.

7. It has cool spaces for different needs.

8. It keeps your reading history for you.  This is great for remembering what you read for monthly reading round ups! edited to add: this is an opt in option. You don't have to choose it if you are concerned about privacy.

9. It promotes the use of eco-bags to carry your books in.

10. The boss sends me to cool conferences like National Digital Forum and VALA.

Meal Plan for this week

Ha! Menu planing. Now this one should give me at least one post per week for June. *rubs hands and cackles*

Not sure what it is about this time of year, but I find my interest in cooking peaks in winter time, especially when it comes to puddings.  I think it is the side of me that wants to solve everyone's problems by giving them food.

I accidentally ordered the large vege box this week instead of my normal medium family box.  This means we have a lot of veges and fruit to eat!  Including 2 cauliflowers, 2 broccolis and 2 cabbages.  Brassica bounty! 

The box itself provides entertainment too.

Boo!

Monday - sausages/vension rissoles, oven fries, broccoli (I know, so balanced and gourmet but it's a weeknight)
Tuesday - Burritos with the usual fixin's (easy for DH to prepare since it is my late night at work)
Wednesday - Thai beef salad
Thursday - Morrocan style chicken tomato curry with Israeli couscous, wilted spinach
Friday - lamb steaks with lemon, mustard and feta, roasted beetroot, sauteed silverbeet, carrots
Saturday - vege soup, apple pie
Sunday - a roast dinner (beef, taters etc), some sort of pudding... maybe involving poached pears if I can get to the booze shop for some wine

Baking: I want to make Nigel Slater's Coffee and Walnut cake or his marmalade cake. 

The thing about menu planning is that it makes me peruse my cookbooks more.  This week uses ideas and recipes from these books.

Pity my cooking inspiration doesn't extend to making lunches. *sigh*

I think I might treat this daily blogging as fodder for a photo/scrapbooking essay.  Will see how it goes.  It might give me the kick in the pants to scrapbook.  In any case, it will document some everyday things which are sometimes forgotten.

Blogging every day of June | May reading round up

June is bustin' out all over and I've foolishly bravely joined a bunch of Twittering friends on a challenge to blog every day this month!  This blog has been so quiet that I'm hoping the practice will rejuvenate it a bit.

Reading Round Up for May

A taint in the blood / Dana Stabenow.
Hired by Charlotte Mauravieff, who wants to clear her mother's name of the arson fire that killed one of her brothers, private investigator Kate Shugak finds the case complicated by someone who wants the truth to stay hidden.~from the blurb.
This one was recommended to me and I quite enjoyed it.  It is set in Alaska and is an entertaining crime/mystery with a strong female character.  I was a little bit uncomfortable with attitude towards men but anyway, a good story.

Delicious / Nicky Pellegrino.
At Caffe Angeli the pastries are rich and creamy, the coffee strong and the tables always overflowing with friends, neighbours and - who knows - maybe a suitable husband for one of the pretty Carrozza girls. At least, that's what Pepina hopes for her two eldest daughters. The trouble is the girls have plans of their own.The drama that ensues has repercussions that continue from the 1960s to the present day and travel from a quiet village in southern Italy to a seaside town in England and beyond. In this sumptuous story of food and love, dreams are fulfilled, but never quite as planned.~from the blurb


The Italian wedding / Nicky Pellegrino.
Two feuding families, two love stories and a feast of delicious Italian food. As Pieta stiches and beads her sister's wedding gown, she uncovers the secrets that make her family what it is and stands between her and happiness. ~from the blurb

A New Zealand author who is probably best known for her co-writing of Angela D'Audney's biography, turns her hand to writing stories.  I liked these books for a relaxing undemanding read.  Good family drama.  The ending is a little rushed in Delicious.  Both have lots of coverage of Italian food which is always a hit with me! :P

I'm perfect, you're doomed : tales from a Jehovah's witness upbringing / Kyria Abrahams.
"I'm Perfect, You're Doomed is the story of Kyria Abrahams's coming-of-age as a Jehovah's Witness-- a doorbell-ringing Pioneer of the Lord. Her childhood was haunted by the knowledge that her neighbors and schoolmates were doomed to die in an imminent fiery apocalypse; that Smurfs were evil; that just about anything you could buy at a yard sale was infested by demons; and that Ouija boards-- even if they were manufactured by Parker Brothers-- were portals to hell. Never mind how popular you are when you hand out the Watchtower instead of candy at Halloween. When Abrahams turned eighteen, things got even stranger. That's when she found herself married to a man she didn't love, with adultery her only way out. Disfellowshipped and exiled from the only world she'd ever known, Abrahams realized that the only people who could save her were the very sinners she had prayed would be smitten by God's wrath. Raucously funny, deeply unsettling, and written with scorching wit and deep compassion, I'm Perfect, You're Doomed explores the ironic absurdity of growing up believing that nothing matters because everything's about to be destroyed"--Publisher's description.
This was funny but also very sad.  The writing was amusing.  The sadness came from two sources. Firstly, the strange doctrines that were promoted by the church and secondly, the way the author ended up dealing with it.   Kind of disappointing.

Julie and Julia : 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen : how one girl risked her marriage, her job, and her sanity to master the art of living / Julie Powell.
Powell became an Internet celebrity with her 2004 blog chronicling her yearlong odyssey of cooking every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. A frustrated secretary in New York City, Powell embarked on "the Julie/Julia project" to find a sense of direction, and both the cooking and the writing quickly became all-consuming. Some passages in the book are taken verbatim from the blog, but Powell expands on her experience and gives generous background about her personal life: her doting husband, wacky friends, evil co-workers. Powell never met Julia Child, but the venerable chef's spirit is present throughout, and Powell imaginatively reconstructs episodes from Child's life in the 1940s.~from the blurb
A celebrated book (with associated movie) so I had high hopes for this one despite others suggesting it did not live up to the hype, but in the end my feelings were mixed about it. I found the book to have too much of the My-life-sucks-so-I'm-going-to-do-something-dramatic-to-make-it-worthwhile-and-tell-everybody-about-it theme.  Is this style of book something that is being promoted as best sellers by publishers?  Or is the apparent consumer desire for reality-TV style of writing more common? Either way, I'm not sure I'm on the band wagon.  Anyway, I liked hearing about the food related adventures I guess. I was almost tempted to turn my blog into Penny Cooks Everything In xCookbook as a fun sort of exercise... just wasn't able to choose one of my many books!  Plus I don't do offal.

We two : Victoria and Albert: rulers, partners, rivals / Gillian Gill.
Gillian Gill offers a revolutionary portrait of a queen and her prince, revealing at once both an intimate but far-from-idyllic relationship that succeeded against all odds as the strong, feisty queen and the brilliant, fragile prince worked together to build a family based on support, trust, and fidelity.~from the blurb
Found this book to be interesting and easy to read.  I didn't do much Victorian history at school so I like to learn new stuff about different periods.  This one was fresh.

May Book Circle Book

Bad science / Ben Goldacre. London : Fourth Estate, 2008.
ISBN: 9780007240197
When Dr Ben Goldacre saw someone on daytime TV dipping her feet in an ′Aqua Detox′ footbath‚ releasing her toxins into the water‚ turning it brown‚ he thought he′d try the same at home. Using his girlfriend′s Barbie doll‚ he gently passed an electrical current through the warm salt water. It turned brown. In his words: ′before my very eyes‚ the world′s first Detox Barbie was sat‚ with her feet in a pool of brown sludge‚ purged of a weekend′s immorality.′ This book is concerned with the ′bad science′ we are constantly bombarded with in the media and in advertising. At a time when science is used to prove everything and nothing‚ everyone has their own ′bad science′ moments - from the useless pie-chart on the back of cereal packets to the use of the word ′visibly′ in cosmetics ads. This book will help people to quantify their instincts - that a lot of the so-called ′science′ which appears in the media and in advertising is just wrong or misleading.~from the blurb

This one has had mixed reviews from the bookcircle folks.  Personally I found it rather funny in a *face palm* sort of way.  I have a science background so some of the things he writes about I agreed whole heartedly with, particularly the abuse by the media of statistics and scientific literature which I find verges on the unethical.  The whole nutrition band wagon thing really annoys me so it was gratifying to see some of my own feelings on it were backed up.  The history behind the vaccination/autism scare was enlightening.  I also found the information on the placebo effect highly interesting because of the connection between mind/body.  As Goldacre points out, this is something that has great potential for research and exploitation but on the whole is overlooked by those who are doing the research.

I'll stick my neck out and say everyone should read this book. So there.

Quiet but busy and thankful

It's been quiet on this blog.  Life has been busy though. 


Most of you know (from my Facebook) that I'm starting a new job in July - as eLearning librarian over on the Main Campus.  It will be a move up for me though the position is only for 3 semesters.  It will be a secondment position and I'll return to my information librarian job after the 3 semesters.  I will miss the environment I'm currently working in but the job itself is going to be a lot more interesting for me in many ways and I'm excited to start.  In fact, I really need to be there now because things are moving quite quickly so I'm having to travel back and forth between roles and the two campuses which is a bit wearying.  I'm thankful for opportunities to extend my professional skills.

In amongst the applying, interviewing and associated angst that goes with that, DH had a job offer as well.  It wasn't a bad offer but would have meant some major changes for him.  The salary didn't quite compensate for those changes so he turned them down.  His current employers have since acknowledged his dilemma by giving him a bit of a rise so we're grateful for that, especially given the fiscal constraints we're all operating under.  I'm very thankful both of us have employment and employers who do what they can.

The whole family has been struggling with seasonal colds and coughs.  DD ended up with ear infections and I got sinusitus so with the help of antibiotics we are now on the mend.  Unfortunately the sinus problems have put me behind with my running efforts because it hurt my teeth to run! Hoping for better in the coming weeks.  I'm thankful we have reasonable health most of the time.

We've been working with DS on his reading as he is a little challenged by it.  He's getting some help at school, and we're using a kit to help strengthen his eyes.  We think it is helping.  I'm thankful for our local school which noticed he needed help and is trying to give him help even though they have little funding.

Both children are having swimming lessons on Saturdays which reduces my free time but they love it and it is such a necessary life skill in New Zealand.

I've been doing some sewing. These little kimonos are from this book and are for little Samuel Clarke. They aren't perfect (my home sewing rarely is) but hopefully will be nice and light.

Yesterday we ventured down to the Tron to make felted slippers with a scrapbooking friend V.  We had a bit of adventure trying to get them to work but I'm pretty pleased with mine even though they look a bit scabby since I patched a few holes with the inside colour.  I'm going to do a few things to improve them, like bind the edges.  DD is keen for me to make her some - she has asked several times already when we're going to get her wool and I am to make some with butterflies on apparently.  Also they have to be "pearple", her favourite colour.  I'm wondering if there is a better place to get wool from other than Spotlight - if you know, tell me in the comments.  Online is fine.  I'm thankful for friends and for a measure of time and funds to do crafting projects.

V and some of the other girls requested this recipe.

Sweet Corn Chowder *

3 oz butter

2 large onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

4 cups stock (vegetable or chicken)

2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 cup canned creamed-style corn

2 cups fresh corn kernels (frozen is fine)

3 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

salt and pepper

3 Tablespoons cream (optional)

2 Tablespoons fresh chives to garnish

Heat butter in large heavy based pan. Add onions and cook over medium heat for 5 mins or until golden. Add garlic and cumin seeds, cook 1 min stirring constantly. Add stock and bring to boil. Add potatoes and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes. Add creamed corn, corn kernels and parsley. Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes. Stir through cheese, salt and pepper, and cream. Heat gently so the cheese melts. Serve sprinkle with chives. Serves 8. 
* This is a vegetarian soup, but I like to throw in some bacon bones or a bacon hock into the stock as I feel it gives it more flavour depth.

and also this one which is from the magazine Dish, 11, Feb 2007-May 2007, pg 90

Hazelnut, Chocolate & Polenta Cake

325g butter at room temperature
325g caster sugar
1 teasp vanilla
300g hazelnuts, roasted, skinned and finely ground
35g good quality cocoa, sifted
4 eggs
160g fine, quick cook polenta
1 1/2 teasp baking powder
1/4 teasp salt

Raspberry Sauce
500g frozen raspberries, thawed
icing sugar
1 lime

Perheat oven to 160 C. Grease base and sde of 26cm cake tin with melted butter or canola spray and line both with baking paper.
Beat butter, sugar and vanilla together until pale and creamy. Mix through the ground hazels and cocoa.
Beat in eggs one at a time.
Combine the polenta, baking powder and salt and fold into the batter.
Spoon into the prepared tin and smooth the top.  Bake for about 50 mins or until skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. The top will have formed a good crust.
Transfer to rack and leave to cool.

Raspberry Sauce
Place the thawed raspberries in a food processor with 2 Tablesp of icing sugar and blend until smooth.  Taste and add more icing sugar if needed.  Then add a good squeeze of the lime juice.  Blend again and strain the sauce through a fine sieve, pushing the sauce through with the back of a spoon.  Discard the seeds. Pour sauce into serving jug.

To serve: Dust top of the cake with icing sugar and serve in slices with raspberry sauce and creme fraiche or yoghurt.  The cake will keep in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Serves 10-12.

I'm thankful for cake. ;-P

Speaking of recipes - I rescued this gem from Mum & Dad's last year.  It's one of those fund raising cookbooks that were popular (and may be still are).  This one is from the 80's.

It includes such gourmet delights as:

Check out the sponsor on this page - Rainbow Chinese Restaurant Finest Chinese cuisine.  While I was growing up the only "ethnic" cuisine available was Chinese food.  Indian food we made at home and as for Italian, Turkish or other international foods... well, you were out of luck unless you could cook them yourselves as well.  The Rainbow was popular with us kids.  We got to go there for our birthdays and for a treat.  I'm pretty sure they had the standard fare available in the 80's for such an establishment but we thought it was special particularly when we got to have deep fried ice cream and deep friend banana for dessert!

Then there is this dish - I know you'll be after making it for sure!

Sorry, but possum is unlikely to be on my menu.  It would all be given to the cat.

Oh, remember what I said about international food?  Here's the 80s Kiwi version of pizza.

That's right.  Spaghetti on scones =  pizza.  Actually it's not too bad but lets be honest - it is NOT pizza.  It's scones with spaghetti on top.

It's not all bad this little book.  There are some good old fashioned baking items that I like in it.  The scouting advice is amusing too.  I'm thankful for a family who is adventurous in their eating habits.

The sun is shining so I'm going to hang out some washing!

Creating... in a chef sort of way

No scrapbooking this weekend - but I did make these.

Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli

First make your pasta, but don't put it through the fettucine/spaghetti cutter, just leave the flat bit to dry a bit.  I cheated and kneaded the pasta in the Kitchen Aid because I was in a bit of a hurry.

You will notice that I have the same helper with the pasta machine as I did in my post back in October 2006!

Finely chop half a shallot.

Grate a little fresh nutmeg into the bowl with the onion. (Or use child labour).

Wash a few leaves of spinach and then wilt with some boiling water.

Squeeze out the spinach and finely chop.  Add to the bowl with the nutmeg and onion.  Grab your ricotta and add that.  (I used just under half of this 250g pot).

Mix it all up and season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Take your flattened pasta and make the ravioli.  I don't have one of those special tins to make them so I use my smallest cookie cutter to cut out some shapes.  But you could just cut the pasta with a knife and make squares or triangles. 

Wet the edges of the shapes and stick the topper pieces on them pressing firmly to make them stick.  Mine end up looking like flying saucers :-)


Boil up a big pan of water, salting to taste.  Place the ravioli into the boiling water and cook until al dente.  You may have to do it in batches.

While that is happening you could make this Blue Cheese sauce or this Walnut and Garlic one.  We had it with blue cheese.  I was going to take a photo of the finished product but I was too slow!  They were gobbled down too quick.