OK.

I’ll admit it. I have been a very bad llama.

No postings since April? What is this?!

*I like to imagine that someone is actually reading this blog sometimes*

I’ve been busy…Things have been going on….

I’ve finished my BA and have almost finished one semester at COFA UNSW where I’m doing a BA Design.  I know- it’s quite a change from languages, and wasn’t it about time I actually figured out what I was going to do with my life?

All that doesn’t matter because I’m still going to find myself at uni 3 long days a week, learning new things all the time. I’ve made paper helmets, and technical drawings, horror movie posters and clay trees. Though I’m going to say that there’s been far too much origami lately and I’m pretty sure I’m going to end up with no fingers if I have to keep using scalpel knives into the future.

In other news-

There was also a zombie eastern egg hunt (I was a country bumpkin flesh-eater), veggie patch replant (bring on the root vegies and beans!), a now-cancelled trip to America in the works and a lot of weird dreams about having wing-tattoos-which-become-real-wings again (go figure).

As I said- lots going on. But from now on I’ll try (really, I WILL) to keep this up a bit more respectably and regular like.

-C

Many branches of the Sydney foodie tree have been quivering with excitement as people discover the new bars, bistros, restaurants etc that are popping up in some certainly unexpected places. I’ve managed to cover a couple in the past few weeks and I’m more than willing to share!

Kitchen by Mike in Rosebery is pumping out lovely canteen fair from a busy open kitchen & sharing a huge, creative space with an uber-cool design co-op.  Look out for freshly made bread, the various roasted meats and the pumpkin, feta etcetera tartine.

The Dock is entertaining post-work Redfern workers with its cosy nooks, barrels, piano and close-to-the-station-so-I-can-roll-home location. Lovely spot to sidle up to a bar, drink a cider and ‘warm down’ after a hard day’sphotocopying playing the stock market.

Grandma’s continues to draw a nifty, nanna/geek chic crowd with its cocktails, knitting opportunities and occasionally dreadlocked bartenders.

Din Tai Fung fills up every meal time with people who’ve come to try their fantastic handmade dumplings (amongst many other tasty dishes…which I didn’t get to….because I was eating dumplings)

Josh’s Kitchen in Bowral also deserves its local reputation, with friendly and dare I say frisky waiters who WILL perform impromptu serenade with and without requests. Their kofta spiced meat balls, steak, eggplant parcels and char grilled calamari are delicious. Did I mention the fig tart, burnt lemon tart and citrus samosas?

And that’s just for starters-

Stay tuned for some more foodie finds.

C

Ginger, aka zingiber officinale really isn’t the most popular of roots rhizomes; lots of people simply ‘aren’t too keen’ on it, which leads me to think that perhaps they had a traumatic experience with it as a child. Did some ginger beer come out of their noses, singeing just a little sinus? Maybe some crystallised chunks were too overpowering in a batch of otherwise delightful chocolate brownies. Maybe somebody hid some extra hot pickled ginger in a dish and watched you squirm. Ahem. Moving on.

Let’s think of all the good things ginger does-

It helps create the delightful concoction which we call Ginger Beer- a marvellous brown fizz, which, when mixed with rum to make a “Dark n Stormy” will topple the *most seasoned sailor.

It features in many tasty dishes within Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and South Asian cuisine.

It puts the ginger in “ginger nuts”, those most beloved of biscuits. Not to mention Speculaas, Ginger Bread and Ginger Snaps.

As a spice, it’ll give oomph to just about anything bland in the kitchen! Even those dodgy curries your roommates make.

It is often a feature in medicine; used as an old wives remedy for colds & flu or powdered up and mixed into other weird and wonderful herbal potions.

Ginger, contrary to some old superstitions does NOT give you ginger hair, although I wish it did. I secretly (or not so secretly, since I dye my hair) covet the glorious ginger locks of some people; and would eat a mountain of ginger nuts if that were true. Though, truth be told- I’d probably eat the ginger nuts anyway.

WARNING.

Although it is rather wonderful, ginger can be a tad dangerous: An acute overdose of ginger is usually in excess of about 2 grams of ginger per kilogram of body mass,^[29] dependent on level of ginger tolerance, and can result in a state of central nervous system over-stimulation called ginger intoxication or colloquially the “ginger gitters”.

Ginger responsibly people.

*Dad told me. And I always believe what my Dad tells me regarding rum and sailing. And sailors.