June reads

Except ‘Breath’, I obtained all this month’s reads from the discard shelf at the local library. I also tended to choose the books that I knew H would not want to read so that I could wild release them when I had finished.

Candelo by Georgia Blain was a library discard that I obtained for a few cents. The story revolves around a family holiday at Candelo and the events that lead from there to continue to effect the parties involved. The story is narrated by Ursula, the middle sister of the family as she manages her current life situation in relation to that of the past.

Breath by Tim Winton I read almost in two sittings. The pace is such that you have to remember to draw breath yourself. It could be a simplistic coming of age story about two boys, but it is made more interesting by the narrator. The narrator is one of the boys, who now as an adult is reflecting on his boyhood after attending the scene of an attempted suicide as a paramedic.

Girl from the South by Joanna Trollope is a beach novel, but a welcome distraction after completing my literary review for uni. I found the contrast between London and Charleston vivid, particularly between family and their relationships. Sometimes it is difficult to not assume that two English speaking countries are going to be similar. It is a story about four characters who for different reasons are at turning points in their own lives, or because of the lives of others. Little resolution with aplomb, and a lot of life is messy.

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella challenges the corporate world with domesticity. It got me wondering how many people that do not have the life skills to look after themselves without the assistance of other people or organisations. The novel was romp through mistaken identity and domestic faux pas.

Kiss the Girls by James Patterson was not a book that I particularly enjoyed reading. The crimes are horrific but clever, the detective work relies on a break-through, and there is a love interest. Fortunately it was easy to read over two days to get to the end.

Altar Ego by Kathy Lette was published ten years ago, which is about the time I stopped frequent spending my $24.95 on new releases. Instead, I’m pleased I was able to give the library fifty cents to read the book now. I feel that the screed on the back cover makes the novel appear to be more interesting than it is. And while I know that this is the purpose of the back cover, I think it was better written and more interesting than the pages between the covers.

All in all, a bit of pulp fiction for the month.

in control

I’ve been flying solo since my last babystep in the third week of May. But I’ll be decluttering for a while yet as stuff is like sand. The more you dig into it, the more boxes I need to temporarily hold the expanded volume.

Fifteen minutes at a time to ‘put away’, ‘give away’, and ‘throw away’ has only seen the emptying of three archive boxes out of the 20+, and that is only my stuff. I’m hoping that H gets enthused with decluttering and some of his boxes get moved too.

I’m now beginning to update my Control Journal from that developed while doing the FlyLady babysteps. Keeping babysteps in mind, I’ll follow Building Your Own Control Journal on FlyLady.net.

The changes I wish to make include accommodating that we are currently renovating in earnest, which means I cannot always just do the ’swish and swipe’. Also, although I appear to be doing more [1], for example, ironing teatowels [2], I have more free time to include other routines.

After a workshop on Saturday, I have been making sourdough bread. It doesn’t take very much time, but I need to schedule it better to coincide with lunch or dinner when I’m likely to be ramping up the oven to 230 deg C.

[1] The rubber bladed brush is fantastic for removing cat fur from furniture.
[2] I’ve discovered that ironed linen is easier to put away!

Midnight and the MacBook

At least one cat approves of my new computer.

Or is it the dustcover?

The MacBook does not appear to give out much heat, but perhaps it is more discernible to Midnight. But then again, she now has her Snooza Cuddler.

my first pomegranate

I got to eat the first ripe fruit from my very own pomegranate tree.

When I cut it from the tree I noticed that it had the obligatory spider in the end of the fruit. I don’t know why pomegranates have spiders, whether they are a particular species, or just opportunists.

It is one of the few things I don’t have to share, as H can’t be bothered. Also, he spits the pips out!

I scored it so that I could break it apart more easily - as you do.

Interestingly, when I went googling on how to propagate the pomegranate tree, I read on http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/pomegranate.html that:

For enjoying out-of-hand or at the table, the fruit is deeply scored several times vertically and then broken apart; then the clusters of juice sacs can be lifted out of the rind and eaten. Italians and other pomegranate fanciers consider this not a laborious handicap but a social, family or group activity, prolonging the pleasure of dining.

It was ripe enough, although it could have been left to ripen further. It was tasty, and it was mine.

There is a second larger fruit on the tree, and if I get to eat it this then the tree will have already paid for itself based on current greengrocer prices. Bonus.

trussed

Tonight, I got to try out my new food loopy things on Matambre (Rolled stuffed flank steak).

The only hitch is that I didn’t read the recipe properly until I was putting the ingredients out on the bench. The recipe stated that I needed twice the weight of steak that I had already defrosted and marinated.

I halved the stuffing, and we had most of the spinach and carrots on the side. The spinach I dressed with soy and dashi sauce, and bonito flakes.

Matambre is very tasty, inexpensive (as you can eat cold), and made with simple ingredients. Definitely one I will try again. Except, I don’t know about this ‘cut into 6 mm slices’ or ‘cut into thin slices and served cold’. There is no way that we could have carved our Matambre this way.

May reads

Three of the books I read this month I obtained from the local library. However, they were library discards or books that people had donated in order for the library to do some fundraising. So it has being costing me money to go to the library

• The Falls by Ian Rankin is a DI Rebus and DC Clarke investigation of a missing student. In additiion to the usual plodding, the story includes an online game with the Quizmaster, except the clues are cryptic and in real life.
• This Reader’s Digest Select Editions included The King of Torts by John Grisham, A Week in Winter by Marcia Willett, and The Last Detective by Robert Crais, and Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray. All are authors that I don’t usually seek out, but I enjoyed the medley of this digest. The King of Torts was predictable in part, and The Last Detective a little pedestrian. I enjoyed most A Week in Winter and Eat Cake. Both could be described as women’s fiction, but the characters were developed and their relationships formed the story. The two cake recipes at the end of Eat Cake: Almond Apricot Pound Cake with Amaretto and Sweet Potato Bundt Cake with a Spiked Sugar Glaze sound glorious. I think I will copy them before wild releasing this book.
• Tom, Dick and Debbie Harry by Jessica Adams was definitely cringe material. The story is centred around a wedding in a rural town in Tasmania, Australia. It is described as ‘a hilarious romp’, and it certainly is a light read, funny in parts, but not hilarious.
• The Ghost Writer by John Harwood I picked up at The Coop Bookshop sale because it was set in Australia and the UK. It is a story within a story within a story. Parts of a manuscript are set in different type and form part of and become the story. A good creepy read.

I’m looking forward to some wild releasing once I have finished my literature review for uni.

April reads

Reviewing my reading for April, I think I was really demonstrating my eclectic taste or desperation for reading - anything.

Between reading scholarly papers for my studies, fiction was often a welcome reprieve.

Timeline by Michael Crichton was obtained from Nigel at Pizza With Attitude with the intention of bookcrossing at the newly established BookCrossing Zone. Unfortunately, Pizza With Attitude is no more I found Timeline fascinating, and if you have any interest at all in medieval history, archaeological digs, or quantum technology - then this book has something for you.

The Zhukov Briefing by Antony Trew is an old old espionage novel involving a submarine aground off the Norwegian coast. The intricacies of world intelligence services dealing with the captain and commissar of the Soviet submarine sometimes reads like a Laurel and Hardy script, and at other times breathtakingly ruthless.

Whirlwind by James Clavell is 1343 pages of high adventure and sub-plots of a helicopter company during the times happening in Iran during February 1979. While reading about the CIA, KGB and MI6 was somewhat intriguing, the relationships and journeys of the helicopter pilots, crew, family, and friends was much more interesting.

Fast, Loose Beginnings: A Memoir of Intoxications by John Kinsella describes the benders and poetry of himself and others that Kinsella meets along the way early in his life as a poet and critic. Having not read his poetry before, I particularly like that which refers to the Western Australian bush.

March reads

Read four of Mam’s beach novels and The Turning which I got in time for the play (adaption), but only cursorily looked at prior to the performance.

I tried to finish the beach novels before they were required for second-hand bookshops somewhere between Perth and Naxos. The were all quick reads, some more memorable than others.

• Death in Holy Orders by PD James is a Commander Adam Dalgliesh tale set in an theological college on the East Anglian coast. A student is murdered and the ongoing investigation is helped and heeded by the isolated close-knit community.
• Not in the Flesh by Ruth Rendell was an intriguing story about the investigation led by Chief Inspector Wexford when a body is found wrapped in a purple cotton sheet. I thought the novel was going to be a straight forward whodunit, but there was bit more to it than that.
• Piece of My Heart by Peter Robinson was a little more plodding, but the scene of the crime - a rock festival, made it a little more interesting. The threads connecting the present day to aging rock stars is a little tenous though.
• Exit Music by Ian Rankin is DI John Rebus’s last case in the force. A bit of winding up occurs, as Rebus attempts to pass on/fob off his unsolved cases and business to colleague DS Siobhan Clarke. Some of the jobs are not resolved as one would like.
• The Turning by Tim Winton I got from The Book Depository which seems all wrong since Winton is a Western Australian author. But it was just too easy and the price was right. I don’t know why books have to cost so much in Australia in comparison to the UK or USA. Anyway, The Turning read and on the bookshelf means that I have all Tim Winton’s books, so far. Having finished it, I wish I had more to read. The book follows three generations of a family, and each chapter/short story is sort of complete, but sort of keeps you hanging. A certain amount of cringe material and rawness as the place and some periods felt familiar to me.

I thought that uni would slow up my reading, which it did in a way but only from a time point of view. I was just too tired at the end of the day from reading scholarly papers to read some more for entertainment. However, I did find that non-fiction was good for a few hours escape.

you put your right paw out

Curled up in her new Snooza Cuddler, Midnight looked like a liquorice allsort.

By the time I grabbed the camera, a bit of stretching went on and a paw came out.

I visited the manufacturer’s website to see about a larger Cuddler for Shelby, and I like that Snooza collects beds that pets no longer need.

divine

I have been growing marjoram for over a year. It is used instead of oregano when we feel like a change in our Greek Salads.

Recently I harvested marjoram to use in a dish titled Oysters Bercy in Rosemary Hemphill’s Cooking with Herbs and Spices.

To some it may appear back to front to choose two teaspoons of flavouring, over the main ingredient of three dozen fresh oysters. But I think you have to have fresh from the garden herbs as well as fresh oysters for this dish as the flavours are so subtle.

Bruno at South Perth Seafoods provided us with two dozen beautiful oysters. I almost felt that it was a waste to coat them in a creamy sauce. A bit like a good malt not needing anything but a glass to drink from.

However, I’m pleased that I tried the Oysters Bercy recipe. It is DIVINE.

Note: The recipe does not indicate the number of servings. I could not quite stretch myself to purchase three dozen oysters, and two dozen appears to do well as a main meal. Recently I prepared this dish for four as an entree, and two dozen oysters seemed right for that too.