Friday's Feast # 14

Sorry, this one's up pretty late!

Appetizer

Say there’s a book written about your life. Who would you want to narrate the audio version?

The only person I can really think of is Christopher Plummer! Nope, I'm not Madeline :) but I did love how his voice just kind of "floated over the top" of the story very nicely. Can't say I've really thought about this question... I don't think my life is quite that significant... yet :P ;)

Soup

Take the letters from your favorite kind of nut and write a sentence. (Example: Perhaps every avenue needs understanding today.)

All Love Must Obligingly Need Dependability :)

Salad

If you could go back in time and spend one week in another decade, which decade would you choose?

Well, this is one question I have certainly thought a lot about before but I don't think I ever made the decision out of two choices: (1) Liverpool in the 1960s when The Beatles were prominent on the music scene - oh yeah! (I was born in the wrong generation!) (2) In the Southern States (U.S.) in the 1930s - love the jazz that came out about that time plus the swing dancing must have been so much fun! But, yes, I realise how harsh that particular time was too, but I have such a sincere admiration for how some people coped with such adversity.

Main Course

Name a song that brings back memories for you.
Where do I begin? Lots of songs bring back memories for me :) What I can say is that in the last two weeks, Sparky and I watched The Jungle Book for the first time since we were both kids (N.B. we didn't know each other until high school) and just listening to "The Bare Necessities" and "I wanna be like you" really did bring memories flooding back. That was a really special movie from my childhood.

Dessert

Do you prefer to wash your hands in cold water or warm water?

To be honest, that's a far too trivial question. We have water restrictions here so by the time the warm water comes on you would have wasted far too much water anyway! I just use cold water and that's fine by me :)

Scattegories for Bloggers

I found this on Linda's blog and thought it sounded like fun. The game is called Scattergories (I wonder if it's the same thing as the board game - I wouldn't know since I haven't played either before) yet it reminds me of a game called Alphabet Race which I play with one of my very good friends :)

Now since Linda used the letter "L", I'll have to use my actual name... *sigh*

Here's the rules:
*Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions.
*They must be real places, names, things ... nothing made up!
*If you can't think of anything, skip it.
* You can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.
*If your name happens to start with the same letter as mine, sorry, but you can't use my answers!

My Name: N*********** (haha, good try)
1. Famous Singer/Band: Nat King Cole
2. 4 letter word: Nice
3. Street: Nectarine Street
4. Colour: Navy blue
5. Gifts/Presents: Nintendo Wii
6. Vehicle: Nissan Tiida
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Native wildlife plush toys
8. Boy Name: Nelson
9. Girl Name: Natalie
10. Movie Title: Never Say Goodbye (Hindi title: Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna).
11. Drink: Non-alcoholic beverage (my kinda drink!)
12. Occupation: Nurse (I came up with "nasologist" initially - LOL)
13. Celebrity: Nicole Kidman
14. Magazine: New Scientist
15. U.S. City: New York
16. Pro Sports Teams: Newcastle Knights
17. Fruit: Nashi
18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Natural circadian rhythm disturbance
(hope that sounds good enough)
19. Something You Throw Away: Nail clippings
20. Things You Shout: *playfully* Nuh Uh! (hehehe)
21. Cartoon Character: Nellie the Elephant

Thanks for sharing this, Linda. I love word-related puzzles and games, and this was indeed very challenging stuff! :) I have to admit, I had the song "Night and Day" (from the movie "De-Lovely") in my head the whole time, which didn't help too much! ;)

Friday's Feast #13

Appetizer
Describe your laundry routine. Do you have a certain day when you do it all, or do you just wash whatever you need for the next day?
Because we have a relatively big family (compared to your average Australian family) we used to have to do the laundry at least twice a week but our "rule of thumb" is that we just do it when the machine is full of clothes. Since only 3 people are living here at the moment, the laundry gets done a lot less.

Soup
In your opinion, what age will you be when you’ll consider yourself to truly be old?
With all my health problems, my aunt says I sound like I'm 40 and sometimes I think that I might feel old when I am, but that's still a long way away. I'm a strong believer that you're really as old as you feel and I am also determined to improve my quality of life for as long as possible.

Salad
What is one of your goals? Is it short-term, long-term, or both?
Just one? Wow, that's hard. Well, in the forefront of my mind at this point is uni-related goals. So I guess I'd have to say that one of those goals (previously long-term but currently short-term) is to be offered to do Honours early next year (you do it concurrently with your undergraduate degree in the allied health sciences at the uni I go to). I've worked really hard with uni and it would be nice to be recognised for my commitment and passion towards becoming a health professional :)

Main Course
Name something unbelievable you’ve seen or read lately.
Lots of things shock me, especially in the news. One thing I can think of off the top of my head (not news-related) is the DVD mum borrowed out recently of the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber performed in The People's Hall in Beijing. I've watched/listened to the concert several times in the last week (or two) but only three days ago we actually watched the "behind the scenes" DVD extra and it was amazing to see how much they organised and prepared in such a little time. Apparently some preparation took place in Australia and then they had four days in Beijing to rehearse. Aside from the fact that they had no dress rehearsals, a parliament meeting was called the day before the opening night!

Dessert
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how happy are you today?
At this very moment I'm a 5. I'm happy to be home today since I don't usually get Fridays off from uni but because of the Exhibition Show Holiday earlier this week, physiology lectures and practicals were cancelled all week as well! So I would have answered 9 but then I'd have to minus a 5 because of I'm kind of still annoyed about what happened yesterday: we were meant to do an assessment yesterday at uni but the client didn't show up, which implicates us in terms of the fact that we've had to postpone the assessment indefinitely (and then we need to ensure that the new date and time doesn't clash with uni classes, other assessment and work commitments...) as well as the fact that our report due date is also postponed.
Nevertheless, I know that later this afternoon I'll probably be a 9 when Sparky comes over :)

Sausage Pie Recipe

Due to popular demand, I have decided to upload the recipe to the Sausage Pie that I mentioned in my last Friday's Feast entry. I'll admit that I've made variations of it (and still continue to do so) but essentially I've found that it rarely reaches "leftover" status and it upheld its reputation when Sparky and I made it on Sunday night.

My serving suggestion: serve with vegetables

Serves 6

Ingredients
6 sausages
boiling water
375g puff pastry (I just use 4 puff pastry sheets) - this will depend on your dish size
4 eggs
sprinkle of salt and pepper

Method
1. Preheat oven at 190°C (375°F)
2. Place sausages in a pot and pour boiling water over. Leave until cool.
3. Once sausages have cooled, carefully peel off their skins.
4. Line the bottom of the baking dish with puff pastry
(I use two sheets to line the bottom but you can alternatively cut the pastry and roll it out).
5. Slice up sausages and arrange evenly in the baking dish.
6. Beat eggs, salt and pepper. Then gently pour over sausages, distributing throughout the dish.
7. Cover the dish with the remaining puff pastry
(again, I use two sheets but this depends on the size of your baking dish)
8. Seal the edges well. Prick top with a fork a few times.
9. Put baking dish in the oven for approximately 45 minutes.
10. Serve either hot or cold. Enjoy!

The finished product -we left it in the oven a little too long after it was "golden" but it still tasted great!!!

Friday's Feast #12

Appetizer
What is your favourite kind of pie?
I don't know if I have a favourite. I reckon that I make a good sausage pie but Sparky's mum (she's American) really makes a fantastic Lemon Meringue Pie :)

Soup
Name something that made you smile this week.
Yesterday, as a bus passenger on my way home from uni, a policeman on a motorbike stopped next to us at the traffic lights and appeared to use the opportunity to just relax. I smiled, thinking about the recent advertisements by the shadow government that portray the policeforce as underfunded, yet doing their job to protect society. All of a sudden, the policeman scootered through some cars (the light was still red), turned left and switched on his lights. As the bus turned in the opposite direction, I saw him pull over some unsuspecting car (that must have gone through a red light or been speeding). I smiled and chuckled to myself because it was good to know that that policeman was 'on the ball' even when it didn't seem like it for a few seconds.

Today, my sister got a phone call soon after I got back from uni. When she hung up she said "guess what?" For some absolutely strange reason (my sister and I have this informal but very uncanny connection) I seemed to know. To my amazement, she said I was right. We spent the last hour and a half just jumping around in excitement, thinking, calculating, reasoning, making quite a few phone calls and getting teary-eyed.

Salad
What do you do to cool off when the weather is hot and humid?
Take quick (20 second?) cold water showers (we have water restrictions here) and after drying a little with the towel and putting on some summer clothes, sit under a fan on full-blast!!! :)

Main Course
You receive $1,000 in the mail with a letter that says you can only use the money to redecorate one room in your home. Which room do you pick, and what do you buy to spruce it up?
This question is difficult, seeing as though I wouldn't spend $1000 on redecorating at this point in my life, but for the sake of this question I'll go with my dad's office. In terms of paper, it's undoubtedly worse than my room! I'd spend the money on more filing cabinets, an inkjet printer (always wanted one of those) and some nice frames to put his photos in.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: My _________ says __________, but I __________.
My sister says that she's scared, but I know she'll be a great Therapist no matter what she chooses to do.

Sparky's Birthday!

To mark the special occasion of my Special Someone, I have created a playlist in his honour compiled of songs with him in mind :)

My Safe Excursion

For those of you readers, particularly some of the Friday's Feasters, who wondered about my Friday's Feast salad last week. To refresh your memory, my ideal spot to be in at the time was simply "anywhere safe with my boyfriend". The reason I emphasised that particular word was because I could go anywhere in the world - even to some dream destination like my lifetime desire to take a pilgrimage to Uganda, where my mother was born and raised - but with all the horrible realities that exist today (virulent infections, nuclear missiles, wars or just plain guns) it becomes difficult to enjoy the experience of a holdiay or just simply relaxation.

It was to my good fortune that my desire was fulfilled last Saturday and it was even relatively "close to home". We drove down to Toowoomba (about 1.5hrs away) for the day where we explored, lunched in the car (it was really windy!), surprised some friends and visited a few tourist attractions where we especially went a little camera-crazy. Unfortunately, we were running out of time since we were in a regional town on a Saturday with most places closing by 4pm. We did however manage to stop at Wivenhoe Dam along the way there and although the dam there appeared to be still quite expansive, you could still see worn-away "rings" in some spots of where there used to be water, upon close inspection. Quite scary, but it makes you feel grateful that there is water there at all.

I love to travel, even if it's just a hop, skip and a jump away from home. The most important thing is to really enjoy the experience, be with loved ones and have fun, no matter your age. And it needs to be said, although it's no revelation, that I always feel safe when I'm with people I love and trust.

August Updates to Virtual Musotopianoforte

In honour of a special day, I have updated my profile, webpage description and even finally added the playlist that I created months ago (this is my last webpage that I've added music to).

My new webpage description (Music is my forte :) ... well, my mezzoforte :$) is a reflection of the person I am and was something made up back in high school. At the time I naively thought that I was the first person to think up "Music is my forte" but of course I doubt I was. Nevertheless I would like to declare ownership over the entire phrase that includes "mezzoforte" :D

Finally, I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday two weeks ago :)