The Camerata Concert

I am a little bit embarrassed to admit this, but... last night was the first time I went to a Camerata of St John's concert not in the cathedral.  And wow, what a concert! 

It was rather long - and even longer because we had an applauding audience.  But it wasn't one of those 'sit down and listen to a symphony' concerts.  All the works were descriptive but quite varied.  We heard the Ravel Quartet in F Major arranged into a Chamber Symphony by Brisbane violinist Gail Aitken; Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Piazzolla, arranged by Desyatnikov; a Cuban jazz pianist (this was the wild card, and I can't actually remember which jazz standard they performed); the world premiere of Impressions of Erin, by another Brisbane violinist (now composer in Hollywood) Cameron Patrick; and Appalachian Spring Suite by Aaron Copland.  See what I mean?  A huge programme!  And all with the guest soloist/leader Dale Barltrop, another Brisbane-born violinist.

I had a fabulous seat in the Conservatorium Theatre: A1.  Yep.  Even the guy on the door who took my ticket commented I had the premiere seat.  I do generally prefer to be a bit further back, but I think because it's such a small group I didn't feel I was just getting first violin sound, and it was so close you could see them breathing.

As another new thing - I actually bought some of the promotional merchandise during the interval.  I'd had a sneak peak during the week and couldn't resist.

Mixing Tea

Despite the hot weather, I haven't dropped my tea consumption.  Especially today, when 4pm brought a need for a remedial cuppa.  Now, last week I wandered into T2... and bought some Madagascan Vanilla flavoured black tea.  I heard the word 'combination' (or something very similar) and had this in the back of my head.  Today, I did something about it.

I combined this new tea with one I received for my birthday, an Apricot and Mango black tea concoction from the Tea Centre, using approximately equal proportions.  This is so exciting!  New flavours for hot drinks... Yum.  It tasted like I was having apricot and mango with a creamy vanilla overtone (how's that for a wanky flavour word).  Next combination: chai with vanilla. 

Movie #29 - Bulletproof Monk

I've just received a new round of movies from DVD Sam.  He told me they were all fairly serious, except for Bulletproof Monk.  I got the impression it was meant to be a comedy.  I was disappointed.

Not just disappointed in its comedic value, but in the whole movie.  It was so predictable and cliched.  Typical fight movie.  Typical diamond-in-the-rough movie.

Some of the many cliches:
Little kid witnessing fighting at the beginning plays a crucial role 60 years on.
Token female for romantic subplot which they try to turn into something just as important as main plot.
Thief turns out to have a heart of gold.
The unlikely and reluctant hero - the thief, the pickpocket, the loser who doesn't want any greatness is the 'chosen one' who fulfills the prophecies.  He, of course, tries to resist.  His worthiness is also questioned by many.

There are so many other movies which do this sort of story so much better.  If this was my first diamond-in-the-rough movie I would no doubt be super impressed with the message that anyone can be a hero, we shouldn't accept appearances as a mark of the inner worth of a human.  But it's not my first, so I wasn't impressed with the rather unsubtle approach.  So unimpressed, in fact, that I did a blog post and had an sms conversation with someone while watching it.  There were only 2 good quotes.  "Every man's life concerns every other man" (I think if more people remembered this before thinking and acting the world would be a better place), and "Rich manure can fertilise fields which will feed millions" (in response to 'really? I think he's full of shit' - there's so much we ignore, we just take what we want at face value).  But that's it.  So, if you like fight movies, or you're addicted to movies involving unlikely heroes, watch it, but otherwise... 

Dog-Sitting

Warning: lots of cute photos in this one...

I have a confession to make (it's been a while): I grew up totally terrified of dogs.  It was only in the last few years, when my parents got a dog, that I learned how to be not terrified.  (I also read a couple of books, narrated by dogs - sounds weird I know - that helped me understand a bit more).  If I'd received the text I received late on Thursday evening 5 years ago, I would have said no.  But I didn't even give it a second thought.  The text ran along the lines of, I'm going away for a few days, the person who said they would look after the dogs has just bailed, would you help me out?  As I'm on holidays and no longer terrified of dogs, I said yes.  Except for one day, and someone else could manage that day.

Some things I learned:
Even an anxious dog, who doesn't recognise you, will recognise a dog lead.  A bit snarly and yappy turns instantly to tail-wagging.

You can't get a lead on without a collar.  (One dog could only get a whole lot of Ball Time and Out-in-the-yard Time because he'd removed his collar and hidden it well). 

I think this was my first time actually putting on a lead and walking a dog.  Thankfully, this is a really small dog.

Dogs attract.  Every walk we had, at least one person would approach - "Oh what a sweet puppy" "I have one just like him" etc.  The second day, a couple of girls (about 8 and 10) hovered a bit, so I asked if they wanted to say hello... They smothered him in kisses and told me all about their lives and their pets and then gave me a flower.

You can train a dog really quickly.  Feeding time the first day, I did what I have to do with my parents' dog: Dog is told to sit and stay; dog must stay until given the okay.  First dog took about 5 'stay's before showing that maybe he realised he shouldn't try to lick the plate while it was still in my hand.  Second day, I told him to sit, and he sat; I told him to stay, and he stayed; and when I said okay, he had his dinner. 

A well-trained dog will let you know if you're doing something wrong.

Even little dogs can run and make the person on the other end of the lead run too. 

The other part of this experience was feeding the chickens.  Once I'd found the jug for the feed (I had absolutely no idea how much grain to feed 5 chickens so was rather thankful for this guide) this was a piece of cake. 

I didn't take my camera the first day, and really regretted it - the light was still good the second day, but not quite as amazing.

Jamie Oliver's Fish Pie

It's been a long time coming, but I finally made Jamie's fish pie.  While it was very easy, there are some alterations I would make for the next time - different vegetables in the mix, and probably a combination of potato and sweet potato for the topping.  While Jamie says this feeds 4 - 6, I had a good 7 or 8 meals from it.

Ingredients:
1 kg potatoes
1 carrot
2 sticks of celery (this was the first time I bought the separate celery sticks instead of a whole or half)
150g good Cheddar cheese
1 lemon
1/2 a fresh red chilli
4 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley (or some generous handfuls from your parsley plant outside - washed carefully thank you ants and grasshoppers)
fish pack of 700-750g assorted fish and shellfish, or
600g assorted fish from your freezer and
125g king prawns (or prawn meat), raw, peeled
olive oil (I bet you thought I'd forgotten this, right?  But it's a Jamie Oliver recipe!)
optional: a good handful of chopped spinach
optional: a couple of ripe tomatoes, quartered
(I didn't use either of the optionals)

To prepare:
Preheat oven to 200C and bring a large pan of salted water to boil.  Peel the potatoes and cut into 2cm chunks.  Once the water is boiling, add potatoes and cook for around 12 minutes, until soft.  Soft, but don't get distracted like I did and burn the bottom of them... Salvaged, thankfully, but still.
Meanwhile, get a deep baking tray or earthenware dish and stand a box grater in it.  Peel the carrot.  Grate the celery (weird, but there you go), carrot and Cheddar on the coarse side of the grater.  Use the fine side of the grater to grate the zest from the lemon.  Finely grate or chop your chilli (and, I guess, add it to the pan).  Finely chop the parsley leaves and stalks and add these to the tray.

To cook:
Cut the fish into bite-size chunks and add to the tray with the prawns.  Squeeze over the juice from the zested lemon, drizzle with olive oil and add a good pinch of salt and pepper.  If you're adding any optionals, do so now.  Mix everything together really well.  By now your potatoes should be cooked (or slightly over-cooked if you haven't been paying attention), drain them in a colander then return them to the pan.  Drizzle with a couple of good lugs of olive oil (yes! he said it!) and add a pinch of salt and pepper.  Mash until nice and smooth, then spread evenly over the top of the fish mix.  (I didn't actually weigh the potatoes, so they didn't quite cover the fish - I put some foil on top instead to keep the seal factor happening).  Place the tray in the oven for around 40 minutes, or until cooked through, crispy and golden on top.  (Mine was cooked through but not as crispy or golden as I imagined it would be).  Serve piping hot with tomato ketchup, baked beans, steamed veg or a lovely green salad.

I apologise for the photos.  By the time this was ready we were really super hungry so photo composition was not a priority.

Instagram

It's finally happened.  Today, I started using Instagram.  One of the deciding factors for me in getting this phone was the camera.  And once I had it, I checked out various photographic apps.  I didn't install any though, fearing a sudden iPhone addiction.  Recently I have been feeling that it's time to do something more with my phone photos, and Instagram was recommended as my 'first'.

My first photo (so far, my only photo), was the angel on top of my Christmas tree.  One of my traditions is to put up the Christmas tree on Advent Sunday - despite the heat.  It took me many attempts to find a suitable username, but eventually I came up with 'missannabananna'.  So if you're on Instagram, do stop by...  Or you can go through this link.  I am loving the different filters!

Banana Lunchbox Bars

A friend posted the link to this recipe (find it here) and I had one of those "I have to make this" moments.  Unfortunately, when she posted it I only had one overripe banana.  Earlier this week I had four black bananas so got all excited.

I had just turned on the oven when my mum called.  As it was my first Monday of the holidays (yay!) I wasn't pressed for time, and turned off the oven.  Later in our phone call, mum asked if I was 'procrastibaking' - snaps to mum for knowing that term!  I explained it was the 'I have 4 black bananas what am I going to do with them' baking.  It seems there has been a lot of that this year.

Naturally, I didn't quite follow the recipe... For unsweetened apple sauce, I used some of the stewed apple I had in the freezer.  I realised it was not quite the 2/3 cup required at about the same time I realised my bananas couldn't really be classified as 'large' - so I used 4 medium bananas instead.  I also didn't really read the instructions properly before I began (really, who does?!) so I added my oats and pecans to the banana mix instead of the other way around.  I figured, it's all getting mushed up together anyway... So I'm not sure if that had any bearing on the result.  Which is rather yummy, if I do say so myself.  Two pieces never seems like it's enough.

Next time (pretty sure there will be a next time) I am considering doing a bit of mini-chopper chopping to make the texture a bit smoother - and also using a smoother apple substance.  I leave the peel on apples when I stew them but that creates slightly chunkier bits.  As always, I was amazed by the 'optional' chocolate on top.  As if you wouldn't.  Oh yeah, unless you're allergic or something... but the chocolate is the best bit.  Aside from all those good vibes of eating something so amazingly good for you (note the abundant health benefits listed in the recipe!).