anyresemblance

Not well at all

I've got some bug and spent the night throwing up. I wish I could stay in bed under the blankets all day.

Back to the future

At dawn the sky was clear but an hour later everything was covered in thick of and it was surprisingly cool. It's so flat, it feels so different to most coastal cities of my experience. Such a dystopian landscape.

Mani

I could probably write a sociological treatise on manicure styles in different countries.  The mani/pedi I had yesterday took 2 hours!  In my local salon, they have you in and out in 45 minutes so they can get on to the next customer.  I can't even work out why it took so long but I can attest to an undying passion for 70s soft rock and ballads in every beauty salon I visit.  Also, arabic women seem to like very long toe nails.  I find that creepy when thinking about putting on closed toes shoes but maybe they never?  Anyway, my nails are smoothed and polished in a fetch essie red shade.

The rest of the day was similarly lazy with a mooch around M&S (I bought knickers and a pair of jeans I will return as a) mum jeans and b) no space for them in the suitcase.)

I'm feeling a bit smug about my packing and even though I saw the slightly larger sister of my suitcase (brics but super $$$ whereas mine was on big discount from peters of kensington) I resisted the urge to allow myself an extra bag.

Sadly, I was so jet lagged I had to go to bed at 9 and have been wide awake since 3.  It has allowed me to clear my email and talk to my daughter but I can see this is going to be a long day fuelled by double shots.   Work day starts Sunday here but I am hoping it is not going to require too much brilliance from me.

 

Varied and traditional

It's a metaphor, see. I'm in Dubai for a few days to work.

Yesterday(?) I flew to Dubai. The airport is still in duty free provider hand over so a bit chaotic. I usually despise those people who fill the lockers with their luggage but there I was with small wheelie bag, rucksack, cross body bag, coat and a cardboard poster tube. I asked if I needed to check the tube and the qantas check in girl just wanted to know what was in it and told me to carry it. Of course, mine was the bag chosen for random searching and my careful packing was rummaged through. I'll be ditching the cardboard tube but with temperatures of less than 10 on Scotland and ranging to a high of 14 and rainy in Dubai I reckoned I had to bring the quilted rain puffy thing.

Glory be I got an upgrade at the gate so was able to stuff all that stuff away with no complaints. It was super nice to have that for 14 hours and I watched Olive Kitteridge. What a difficult, unlikeable, kind and true character. What could be better than a great ending with Frances Mcdormand and Bill Murray. Highly recommend.

I got to the hotel around 2. My driver was playing something haunting and beautiful which he told me was verses from the Koran.

I'm staying at the Crowne Plaza but super sad they've stopped doing the This Works pillow spray and sleep aid. Still they have a pillow menu including an Igusa pillow filled with "Igusa grass that absorbs humidity and heat"

Jet set

Getting ready for two weeks away and different weather zones. With temperatures ranging from 36 to 6, this is baffling.

Remember to breathe, part 897

Stupid people are super stressful.  I woke up last night with rigid tension in my neck and across my breastbone.  Breathing, meditation, shifting pillows did nothing to move it so I had a rubbish night's sleep.  This morning I was snappy with my kid which, as she pointed out, was down to my stress and not her misbehaviour.  I took myself off to the chinese massage lady where a kid (he looked 16) worked wonders on the knots but I know it will be temporary and until I fix the underlying problem I am going to keep tensing my jaw and knotting my shoulders.

I did some stuff to breathe and remove stupid people's stupidness from my orbit and the day turned out not too bad.  

Tonight we had a gin tasting at the dog park.  The dog walker elder has recently moved to a retirement village and I think he is feeling the gap between his mental age and that of his more ageing wife.  He is the stalwart of our group and as an ex-diplomat, very good at engaging and welcoming new people.  We are all very fond of him so happily agreed to his decision to host an impromptu party.  I bought the ice, glasses and some limes.  He supplied Hendricks and Bombay Sapphire and Fever tree tonic.  Someone else brought shaved cucumber and lemons and a bottle of Tanqueray 10.  Our Silo friends brought their bread (who needs anything else).  It was fun and the dogs all behaved like they were children at an adult party and ran around unsupervised.  As the nights draw in the next one will need to be soup and sherry.

Some days

Some days all you're fit for is lying on the sofa snoozing

Souper

I had a lovely weekend except for one super irritating phone call.  No matter, in keeping with my quest for calm, I told my daughter we would never speak of it again.

On Friday night, we got takeaway from the local turkish.  Its popularity can be seen in the lines below but fortunately, I had phoned ahead and he was yelling my name as we got there.  We are still eating left overs and even the cat had some left over lamb kebab and rice with pine nuts.  We always get the banquet as you get enough for 3 people and a bit of everything.  

On both Saturday and Sunday, Charlie and I did the long walk up Red Hill.  Both mornings were spectacular, clear and cool with a mass of kangaroos grazing or snoozing.  Charlie even got his photo taken by an admirer to send to his wife with a plea to get a dog like that.  I did a 6am call on Saturday for work but only because it was my two favourite people.  One made me laugh talking about a coworker "he didn't so much have a bee in his bonnet as a whole hive".  So true.

I did the Costco run and other supermarket things, filled the car with petrol, cleaned the house and had an enjoyable evening with my daughter.  On Sunday, it was rinse and repeat interspersed with a trip to look at homewares and wish yet again for the opening of Ikea.  (The sign has gone up, it is supposed to open by the end of the year!)

I made the soup again yesterday and it so good I am sharing:

Ribollita with italian pork meatballs, adapted from delicious

• 4 italian style pork and fennel sausages, casings removed (I used pork and veal and added extra chilli and fennel)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large carrot, finely chopped
• 1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 rosemary sprig
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (this is actually quite a lot and I love chilli, I'd do 1/2 to taste)
• 1 tsp ground fennel 
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 1l chicken stock (I rarely have a litre but I usually have a bit of homemade and top with water.  I also don't use a full litre as I like it quite thick)
• 1 bunch cavolo nero (I use silver beet if I can't find and even English spinach, the big leaves, not baby spinach which would go too mushy), shredded
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 400g can cannel ini beans (I confess I have used heinz in a pinch, washed clean of tomato sauce in a sieve)
• juice of a lemon

It sounds like a lot of ingredients but I have all these in my cupboard or garden.  I'd skip the rosemary if none available but I think the chilli and fennel are a must.

1. Roll the sausage meat into about 20 small meatballs.  Heat 1tsp of oil and brown meatballs and set aside.
2. Using same saucepan, add chopped carrot, onion and celery (I whizz these together in my food processor until chopped as I am idle and can't bear big chunks of onion but don't let them get to a puree) and fry in a bit more oil until soft (about 8 mins).
3. Add chilli, bay, fennel, rosemary and stir for one minute
4. Add in tomatoes, stock and about another cup of water.  Put meatballs back in and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Add in cavolo nero, zucchini and beans.  Cook for another ten minutes.
6. Serve with a squeeze of lemon.  Note, no added salt - I find the stock is often quite salty and the lemon seems to remove the need for salt.
7. Sometimes we add grated parmesan as well but it doesn't need it
8. Keeps well for a couple of days but have not tried freezing

Early onset

Not only did I completely forget to blog my Saturday but I woke at 4am remembering I forgot to do a very important bank transfer. And then I could not remember my bank id. A number I type in every other day.

Owly

Last year I read an interview with the artist Leila Jeffreys on the design files.  I had never heard of her before but I was immediately taken with her beautiful portraits of native birds.  I was also struck with her insights as an artist.  How humble she seems and her empathy with wildlife and how she described her son as being "kind and loving animals".  Her insights and gentle demeanour stayed with me.  I started following Penguin the magpie on instagram, I kept looking at the feathers of the birds that visit my garden and I kept thinking about her work.

Yesterday, I had a minor windfall and instead of sensibly applying it to my retirement fund, I decided I was going to buy one of her photographs.  I spoke to a very helpful gallery assistant and very soon Ivy the Barn Owl will be winging her way to me.  This reproduction is woeful - a photo of a screen - but if you take a look at her website you can see the extraordinary clarity of these images.  Super happy about this decision.