Catching Up + Scone Recipe

I hope everyone had a great holiday break! I go back to work tomorrow, which I am sad about. A few days off is just not enough but oh well, what can you do. I spent Christmas day with my dad and brother. We never make a big deal out of it so it was just like any other day off, except I did lots of cooking and ate so much. I baked scones in the morning (recipe below) and made a roast.

I spent Christmas day catching up on Gossip Girl. I started watching the show back in 2008 and my, how things have changed. The show grew more over the top with each season and I stuck by it out of loyalty even though it sometimes got incredibly tiring, especially all of Blair’s antics. I’m glad I did and I’m glad it has ended. I now need to find a new show. Any recommendations? And no, I don’t want to watch Vampire Diaries, no matter how “good” it’s supposed to be. I just refuse.

House sitting has been going well. I’ve had to come back home a few times so it hasn’t really felt like I’ve been living out of home for two weeks. The cats are lovely; Bear is really warming up to me. He even climbed into bed with me one morning and proceeded to purr like a snotty child. I found a local pub that does trivia on Tuesdays and Sundays so I’m pretty excited about this. The local Savers has proven to be quite fruitful: I found a very 80s floral dress that has been helpfully altered to suit my short legs. I might head back there this week to look for some more things. I need more summer dresses.

Mum had her surgery this morning. She’s had to remove all of her reproductive organs. We skyped for a bit after her surgery, even though she was incredibly tired. My uncle had to hold the ipad horizontally so we could see her. It was a bit freaky: she had all these tubes coming out of her nose and she wasn’t allowed to lie on a pillow. Nonetheless, everything seems to have gone very smoothly. We’ll contact her later tonight. My uncle and aunt are in the hospital to look after her so that’s good. My uncle took a photo of her reproductive organs. They were rolled up into a ball and perched on top of a yellow biohazard bin lid. Her bits looked like a pig’s heart.

It’s been a slightly sombre holiday period but I’m trying to be positive. I’ve been reading a lot this month, thanks to an awesome Christmas gift from Liam. He got me a kindle and he loaded it with Agatha Christie novels and Harry Potter. It’s been great because I’ve noticed I’ve been watching less TV and reading much more. I want to keep this up.

I mentioned earlier I made scones for Christmas. I’ve never properly made scones before. I remember in primary school, we made them at camp and they were hard and gross. In high school, we made pinwheel scones, loaded with tomato paste and cheese. However, I’ve never made the classic scone. I found a recipe online and tweaked it very slightly. It’s very easy so do try it out.

Scones
adapted from Janelle Bloom’s recipe on the Ready Steady Cook Website.
Makes 6 - 8

Ingredients:
2 cups of self-raising flour
200 ml of cream
150 ml of milk
1 dash of lemon juice
Plain flour, for dusting
Whipped cream and jam, to serve

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 200ºC (I use a fan force oven)
2. Stir lemon juice into milk
3. Sift flour into a large bowl and add milk mixture and cream. Use hands to combine mixture. Do not over mix.
4. Spread dough onto floured surface. Make sure the dough is of 4cm thickness
5. Cut out the dough using a cookie cutter and place on a tray lined with baking paper
6. Put the scones in the oven for 12 - 15 minutes
7. Enjoy with whipped cream, jam and a cup of tea

My Notes:

- The scones came out really well. They were very fluffy and perfect.
- My friend, whose grandmother made scones for soldiers in WW2, told me you need to use milk that’s been curdled. Adding a dash of lemon juice to the milk does the trick and they turned out great!
- Don’t over mix the dough. My dough mixture was sticky but not wet. I think that’s a good consistency.

What did you get up to these holidays?

Photo blog: red velvet cupcakes + herb garden

Momo chilling out after a haircut and bath.

Today has been a decent day. I went to yum cha with my mum, had a good chat with her about moving out, my career prospects and traveling. I've told her I'm pretty keen to go traveling for six months and just be a bit more independent. I just need some change and do some really pretentious activities like "work on myself". Places I've been thinking about going to include San Fransisco, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore, but nothing is definite. I'm not sure if I should go alone or go with people.

I will be house sitting in December, which I am very excited about. My old tutor from uni is going away for the Christmas holidays so I'll be looking after his house. I'm actually just really excited about looking after his cat. He's such a cutie! He's the same breed as the I Has Cheeseburger cat. This will be a good opportunity to taste test the whole "living alone" thing, albeit a bit more comfortably than most "living alone" situations.

My herbs, photosynthesising. They've been doing really well! I made salad with mint and basil from the garden the other day. It was very exciting. The coriander is still quite "young" so I'm waiting for them to bloom a bit more before I start using it.

 I made a batch of red velvet cupcakes today. They turned out all right, although can I just say icing cupcakes takes some serious skill! I would have liked them to be a little redder. I'm thinking next time I make this, I might actually use beetroot juice instead of milk, or do half milk half beetroot juice. I read on wikipedia red velvet cake was sometimes made using beetroot juice, which enhanced its red colour. My vegan friend says vegan chocolate cake sometimes has beetroot juice, which makes it very moist.

I used the recipe from taste.com.au because it didn't require a mixer. I also halved the frosting mixture and used apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar because I didn't have any vinegar at home.

Rustic icing on cupcakes! I think it might be because I didn't beat the cream cheese frosting enough. On a different note, I'm looking forward to the public holiday on Tuesday! I don't have anything planned yet, but just the thought of sleeping in makes me happy.

What plans do you have this week?

Elipsis

This week feels like a hazy swarm of hospitals and vet clinics. Monday night, my father badly sliced his hand between his thumb and finger with a power tool. It was so deep he needed to see a plastics surgeon to make sure there was no tendon/nerve damage. There weren’t enough beds for him so he stayed overnight in the emergency ward and was transferred to another hospital the next morning as soon as a bed was free. He was meant to have his operation that afternoon but there was no space/doctors were too busy. It was awful.

He finally had his hand surgery on yesterday in the late afternoon. My mum was a terrible, hyper-anxious mess. We were in his ward for ages, waiting and waiting. Mum noticed all these brochures on the wall were about bones and she freaked out because she thought my dad had damaged the bone in his hand. I had to tell her several times that dad was staying in the “bone department” but he had to go to another floor to have his operation. He’s home now, but he needs to keep his arm elevated and dry. I’ll be taking him back to the hospital on Monday so the surgeon can take another look at his hand.

As well as this, my dog Tiffany has been to vet to get her health checked out. She has a grade 4 heart murmur and I got the vets to do a general exam on her, in case there is something else wrong with her. She has mild bronchitis and a UTI. We’re sorting out the UTI problem and when she gets better, she’ll be on medication for bronchitis. That vet bill cost me $852.05. When I told my dad about it at the hospital, he was scolding me for wasting my money on an old dog. My dad grew rather existential and gave me the spiel that old sick pets are like old sick people and that sometimes it’s just not worth spending so much money on their health when they won’t get better.

Anyway, in happier news, I had a great time in Port Fairy. I’ll be posting up some pictures this week. I hope everyone has a good day!

How do you react?

I think I'm going to New York at the end of October. Well, I technically won't be in New York City, but New Jersey, which, in a way, is kind of disappointing. However, the reason I am going to New York is because my grandfather has lung cancer and my dad wants to visit him. I think originally he wanted to go with my mum but I have a feeling he'd rather go with me because my english is better. Mum jokes it's because my grandfather likes me the best. That's probably partially true considering I am his fist grandchild.

All that aside though, I'm pretty OK with everything at the moment. I had my cry. I'm fine. I'm more worried about my dad. He hasn't seen his dad for years and I when I think about him being upset, I end up feeling very upset too. I think my crying has been 30% concerned about my grandfather and 70% concerned about my dad. I wonder if that's the wrong way to feel. I'm concerned about my grandfather - there is no question about that - but I'm closer with my father. I rarely see him vulnerable and I guess, it's alarming when strong people are vulnerable.

Even though the reason for this trip is awful, I can't help but think about all the touristy things I might get to do. For example, visit Harlem and eat at a legit diner like the one that was featured on Masterchef (If you remember what that place was called, please let me know in the comment section). Plus pastrami sandwiches. And general closeness to things like Forever 21, H&M etc.

God, am I an awful person to be thinking about these things when my grandfather is very sick? I feel like I shouldn't be thinking about shopping and food. I feel like I should be openly weeping or something, but I can't. I suppose I should just feel what I feel, not what I am supposed to feel. It's like when you don't react to the way society wants you to react, it makes you a bad person. I think that's unfair.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. I hope everyone has a good week. I'll be posting more frequently (hopefully) to practice for the Fringe Festival. The Buzz Cuts workshop was really good. Speakers were Richard Watts, John Bailey and Mel Campbell. They were all great and encouraged us to start and keep writing. I think I'll be writing 2 reviews a week just for practice. Suggestions for things to review are welcomed.

Have a good week.

These boots are made for walking

Well it certainly has been an epically long time since I've written anything on here. I've been devoid of a laptop because my laptop charger had died on me and it took a week to get a replacement. I could have accessed the blog on my parents PC but it is so damn slow.

Not much has been happening, except I've been watching Hot Fuzz practically everyday (awesome), if not then at least some kind of Simon Pegg related thing. I just looked at my google reader account. 73 blog entries I have to read! That's crazy!

My parents are like so going to China in two days. WOO. I hope they bring me back a really good and fluffy bathrobe thing. That's all I want. And no, there will be no parties! I'm not the type to throw parties. I've got dogs. And a brother I have to feed for three weeks. It's not all that awesome. Plus, you know, don't like being a drunken slag in front of people I'm related to. It makes me feel naked.

One thing I do want to share with y'all is these new boots I just bought from asos. My friend from work introduced me to asos and it's literally awesome. I was lusting after a pair of Opening Ceremony clog boots for ages but obviously I can't afford or fathom spending so much money on shoes. I was browsing asos and I found these babies. Sure, they aren't exactly like the Opening Ceremony ones, but they sure are wonderful. They were also $100 cheaper so bonus! Check out my skillful leg work:


Boots by Kurt Geiger, bought from asos.com
Jeans by Cotton On

The only weird thing with these is the show laces. I don't have a photo, but the shoe laces are fucking long. I don't know why. I can't even tie them properly without looking like a clown so I've tucked the laces inside the shoes. That only works for photos though. I wore them out to dinner and the shoe laces started spilling out of the boots.

Regardless, I love them! I bought them a size bigger than what I normally wear since it really is better to have the shoe a bit bigger than a bit smaller when you're buying from the web. And with boots, you can chuck in some insoles and thick socks to balance things out.

Anyway, that's really all I want to say. I might write some more tomorrow. Who knows! In the meantime, have a good night!

Click, click, click

"Hey how do you type in a question mark? When I press the question mark button it just gives me a stroke!"



That's my mum trying to learn how to use Microsoft Word. She's just quit her job and after spending the day going to job interviews and hanging out with her friend, she's decided she doesn't want to be a barista any more (apparently the pay isn't high enough). She has decided she wants to work at a Chinese travel agency. My brother and I have decided that if she's going to embark on such a drastic career change, she'll need to learn how to use a keyboard. She said that the girls at the travel agencies just use a mouse, but we told her they won't hire someone who can't use a keyboard. So now, in order to help our mother achieve her new life goal of working at a travel agency, we've been roped in to teach my mother how to use Word.

This is incredibly frustrating.

My mum doesn't speak much English, let alone write much English. Things like punctuation errors ("the curly green lines") are really difficult to explain to her in Chinese. This was the sentence she typed:

If you want to purchase an item ,click here .

She was wondering why there was a squiggly green line under it. Aside from explaining to her why you don't have a space before a comma and full stop, trying to teach her how to correct it was such a chore. She would hover the cursor over the word she wanted to correct and would proceed to hit 'backspace' without clicking first.

Sometimes when you leave her alone for a few minutes, she calls you in because she can't type anything any more. When you look at Word, she's managed to centre her text and somehow change the font and size. She calls me in, asking me why Word won't let her type anymore. I click on the word document and start typing. She starts to get huffy and tells me the computer is picking on her. She also doesn't understand why there is a squiggly green line under "Note:the price is fixed".

After a few more minutes, she's finished. She doesn't want to save her work but wants to improver her speed so I'm making her type out Brave New World. I hope that helps.

Thanks, Dad

Yesterday, I finished reading Benjamin Law's book "The Family Law". Yes, I finished a book! I feel proud of myself. The book is like a memoir on Law's childhood and his Chinese background and parents. The book was funny and moving, and to be honest, I felt like I could relate to a lot of it.

For those of you who don't know, I'm Chinese. I was born in China but I came to Australia in 1992 with my mum. My dad came to Australia before I was born (and yes, I went through a period thinking my mum might have had an affair with some other dude, but the dates work out and I actually look like my dad so all is OK). Law talks about how his own father had only met his dad once, and in a weird way, that story is almost similar to mine.

I didn't meet my father until I was 2. I actually don't remember too much about it but I remember the plane ride to Australia fairly vividly. It was the first time I saw a Caucasian person and I was, I have to admit, a bit terrified. He had orange hair with a beard and he was wearing a pale blue suit. I also remember the lights on the plane had suddenly turned off at one stage and that freaked me out. I was probably sobbing, being scared and unable to bury my face in my mum's chest for solace.

When I met my dad I wasn't really sure what was happening. I don't really remember it to be honest. When I think back now, it's like I'm looking back at the memory as an intruder. It's like I'm watching a young Chinese family reunite at the airport. My dad picked me up and must have said hello some how. Mum tells me to call this man my dad and I say it shyly back, probably unaware what "dad" even meant.

My parents have friends who have recently had a cute little boy, and when I watch my dad carry the baby, it chokes me up a bit – my dad had never carried me like that before. I say that to him but he dismissively says, "Yes, I have!". My mum chimes in to my defense saying, "Of course you haven't!" I don't know if I am sad about this. I don't think it bothers me too much. Especially when my dad talks about how he came to Australia to study English and how he's still very good friends with the dude he roomed with during that period.

I think my dad is very similar to Law's father. My dad is impossible to buy gifts for. He works all the time (through almost all the public holidays). When my brother and I ask him what he wants for his birthday, he always says, "I want you to do well in school. Your good marks are my present". It was sweet, but it was kind of awkward for us.

Every year we'd try to buy my dad something other kids bought their dads. I bought him licorice once. I ended up eating it. Another year mum said it would be a good idea to buy him some shaving products. He's never touched it. Two years ago, I bought him single malt whiskey. I was getting better.

I think last year I hit the jackpot though. My friend Karmen once gave me a picture of us in a photo frame for Christmas. I bawled my eyes out, ever so touched by this sentiment. I decided to give my dad a photo of the family in a picture frame. But when I looked through the pictures of the family on my computer, there was this hilarious photo of my dad at one of his birthdays. His face is perched over his birthday cake, mouth open wide, about to devour his cake. I thought I'd put that photo in as a joke, and include other family photos behind it so he can choose which one he wanted in his picture frame.

My dad smiled. That photo frame is on his bedside table. He decided he liked the picture of himself more than the ones of us.

Thanks, Dad.

Two different worlds...

I'm having another one of these lazy days. I don't understand why it's so hard to just... do stuff. I have to find people to be part of this uni project and I feel no inspiration. I feel no desire to write an email to these people because chances are, I am annoying the hell out of them. Besides, I am more than sure they have better things to do than answer my email. It's so stressful. I feel like I am constantly freaked out by many social situations and these emails feel a bit like it too. Blah. This is lame.

On top of this, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to be normal. I don't know if it's my fault, if I don't try hard enough. By "normal" I just mean do normal things. There's nothing wrong with me but I do have a crazy mother. Sometimes I don't know if I love her or just love her because she's my mum (re: susie's blog entry). It's like in King Lear, where Lear expect Regan and that other sister who's not Cordelia (what is her name again?). Goneril! That's right. What an ugly name. Anyway, Lear expects all his daughters to love him and whatever. And it's really just.... well, Regan and Goneril don't have to love Lear (he's a bit demanding) but I guess the problem with it was that they were incredibly nasty towards him.

Anyway, point is, it's sometimes hard to justify why you love someone when they can sometimes be antagonistic towards you because "you're still a child" and that somehow translates you being unable to do certain things. They condition you to fear them or else how the hell are you going to obey them and do what they want you to do? But then they complain that you seem so young and you have no real sense of responsibility. Your "situation" is used to benefit them when they are chatising you for wanting to move out to having a really messy room.

I just don't know what to do. I'm too scared to do anything because I don't want to be made to feel like that I want to kill myself because my mum said mean things to me. But then it makes me wonder, I can do anything. I have that ability to do anything, in a sense. I can move out, I can do it right now. It just means that I have to not care that I will be more than poor. I can do anything I want as long as I can deal with any consequence that comes along. No one can take away my rights. No one can make me do things I don't want to do.

Sigh. I wish people weren't psycho.

What are mums for?

Essere:

Mums make your stomach feel better when it hurts

Mums give you an extra $20 because she feels sorry for you

Mums buy you a pink sack of warmness because the hot water bottle uses up too much water

Mums help you chop veggies when you make dinner because you chop too slowly and dad is hungry

Mums write your Chinese essays for you so your teachers think you're cool/easier to do than teach

Mums let you do art and literature because you failed chemistry and physics

Mums are extra nice to you when friends come over

Mums used to brush your hair in the morning because your hair was too long and it hurt your arms

Mums are extra sympathetic when you are sick

Mums give you her bowl of wonton soup because you like the soup and you are hungry

Mums make your cup of hot chocolate extra chocolate-y because you share blood

Mums let you sleep with them because you're scared of lightning and you start prep tomorrow

Mums let you wear whatever you want because she doesn't think you have the guts to be skanky

Mums make you tea in a thermos when you have work at 9:30 in the morning

Mums soak your feet in hot water because they hurt

Mums buy you two boxes of your favourite Chinese biscuit

Mums want to show off your awesomenss


Dovere:

Mums should take you driving so you can finally get your license

Mums should not mock you the day after you drunkenly stumble into the car

Mums should not make you go to school seven days a week and do an evening essay writing class, where you missed an episode of Charmed

Mums should not have fallen asleep during the Pokemon movie

Mums should wholly support your shoe fetish with cash

Mums should not complain that you don't eat pork

Mums should make your little brother do more chores

Mums should not compare you to her friend's daughter who looks like a model

Mums should let you copy their hair style

Mums should buy you more build-a-bears

Mums should treat you like her friend, not just her daughter

Mums should not find 23-year old babes and call them her adopted daughter

Mums should make the effort to understand you

Mums shouldn't call you fat

Mums should let you love whoever you want

No. Just no.

My mother is a bizarre character. I still don't know how to figure her out. Her friend, let's call him James, is over at our joint, trying to get our printer working via the wireless network. He's a cool guy, and he used to date mum's friend, Ada. Mum was first friends with Ada when I was about 16, so that means they've known each other for about roughly 5 years, or more. James and Ada broke up a few years ago, and both parties have moved on. Ada is presently in China, probably married as she's also MIA. James is engaged. OK, the story starts now.

So James is over, trying to get my printer going, when mum decides it is absolutely appropriate to bring up Ada into conversations. And look, that's not really a bad thing, depending on the break up. I think their break up was fairly mutual so I guess it's not too bad. But mum didn't ask James stuff like, "have you spoken to Ada recently?" No. She dives into gossip by saying, "your current fiancé looks so much like Ada".

*Face palm*

James was shocked, and said, "Really?? She's so different to Ada." Mum then proceeded to emphasise that they merely look very similar. So more chit chat ensues, questions about what the new fiancé does for a living, etc.

Sidebar. Mum, Ada and James have another mutual friend called... Amy. She used to go out with some fellow called... Henry. Anyway, Amy is now with a different fellow, who is about 3-4 years younger. Amy is 26.

James receives a phonecall and when he hangs up, mum asks if James was talking to some guy she knew through Amy called... Kevin. Kevin made a comment to my mum once, calling her "god mother" or something. Anyway, it's been 5 years and mum is still utterly amused that he called her that. I don't know why she brought it up. I suspect mum likes reliving the past. See, Ada, James, Amy and another friend of hers called Sophia were THE gang she hung out with. They were all significantly younger than her, and they doted on my mum the way I never did. So she LOVED it. I think they're closer to my mum than I am to her, probably because they don't live with her, and have their own freedom ie. my mum treated them as an adult, rather than a child. Oh, how mightily bitter I sound.

Anyway, so a few months ago, we went to a buffet with Amy and Sophia. Amy showed off her new beau. He seemed nice. He was young and studying mechanics at Tafe; just your average dude, really. Turns out, Sophia has advised Amy to ditch this new guy because he was supposedly useless, ie. not good enough for Amy.

Then mum talks about Amy's break up with Henry. Apparently Henry was all like, "You will regret breaking up with me", being a massive a-hole. And mum commented, saying, "even though he said that, I still like Henry more than her new boyfriend."

Now, this is where I felt super outraged and had to vent on twitter.

First of all, mum has only met Amy's new boyfriend once, and she's decided that she doesn't like him already. Second, the fact that Henry was all "you will regret dumping me" is enough to signal he is a gigantic prick, hence not at all good enough for Amy (or anyone, for that matter). Third, I'm pretty sure Amy has broken up with Henry before because he's been a douche to her. Fourth, I KNOW mum doesn't like Amy's boyfriend because he's younger and studying at Tafe instead of uni. And five, IT'S NONE OF HER BUSINESS.

Argh. I suppose this annoys me because she's doing the same thing to me. Except, I can't escape her judgement. I just want to point it all out to her. She's so stuck in 2006. Get out of there. It's 2010. Oh and now she's asking James if he was bothered that Ada was 2 years older. IS THAT YOUR BUSINESS? NO.

Leave people alone.

Seriously.

Anyway, here's something to lighten the mood:

you never get caught in the rain

I've got a film shoot tomorrow until Friday. I feel like the biggest loser ever because I live so far away and I can't drive nor can I stay over at people's places because apparently girls don't do that (hey mum, is it 1921 or something?). Anyway, my point is, I feel like a massive drag because the production manager is picking me up and in total, it's going to take close to 2 hours just to reach the set on time. Lame, I know. Plus, from their point of view, it's probably not worth it because I'm just there on work placement. I feel so lame! I'm such a fucking drag. What to do, what to do...?

a fish out of water...

I woke up to the strangest of situations. First of all it was so hot. Second of all, the dogs were barking really loudly. I sort of ignored it because I thought my parents were in the kitchen and the dogs have been let out of their room. They were barking so loudly that it sounded like they were in the lounge room. I assumed they were barking at someone walking past our house because they do that a lot.

The weird thing was, when I listened closely, it was mostly my shih tzu Momo that was barking:



Momo rarely barks. It's always Tiffany that barks, because, well, she's a psycho:



But a lovable psycho.

Anyway, so because Momo was barking too, I knew something was wrong.

It turns out that our dining room floor was covered in...



... eels.

There were three of them on the ground, unable to move because they were out of water. My dogs were going crazy in their room, thinking they were snakes. It was quite a freaky sight. I called my parents and they expected me to put the eels back in their tanks. What?

I went upstairs to wake my brother up and as he was getting up, another eel was crawling out of the tank and onto the floor. It was scary as because it was having snakes slithering around the room, except the were jarred in their movement, due to them being fish.

I managed to get my brother to put the eels back in the tank. He put on some laundry gloves and scooped them into these big plastic bowls that we was vegies in and tipped the eels back into the tank.

I was very glad when all of that was over. Eels are creepy.

flipping

I'm going to pop into my uni to sort out my air flight to Singapore. I need someone to help me book a flight. Plus, I don't think I have enough money so I need to sort this out. It's so frustrating because I've left everything too late and now all the flights cost over a grand. Then there's this issue with my mum. As far as I know, my mum is the only one I've told. My father still doesn't know but I just assume that my mum will tell him that I'm going overseas. But she's not very happy with how long I'm going away for but I am not going to change things just because she isn't happy.

Just like those immortal words sung by Leslie Gore, "You Don't Own Me".