Today’s Otter Number One was shared on flickr by Zeke Franco (quasarkitten).
And we have a bonus otter! This whiskery chap was shared by Anthony Stone (amsfoto).
Please feel free to use this thread to natter about anything your heart desires. Is there anything great happening in your life? Anything you want to get off your chest? Reading a good book (or a bad one)? Anything in the news that you’d like to discuss? What have you created lately? Commiserations, felicitations, temptations, contemplations, speculations?
Categories: Life
Soggy here, innit? 
In memoriam: Diana Rigg 
Getting out the ‘yes’ 
100 books by women in 2016 
Hoyden About Town 
I’ve been doing a lot more cooking with vegetables lately, because we decided to get a weekly box-o’-veg. This has been interesting and tasty.
Anybody got any favourite family veg recipes to share? We’re ovo-lacto in this house, but we’ve definitely enjoyed having more meat-free meals.
Veg Everyday by Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall is actually quite good and designed for meat eaters looking for good veg recipes. If you are lazy like me and have never gone hunting for them, that is a really good place to start because he has done a lot of the hard work already.
https://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781408812129
I got it quite a bit cheaper than here from the Book Depository. I think I might have mentioned it before?
Currently shaped until Monday at home so can’t load the Twitters or FB. Probably not a bad thing, plenty of housework to do. Doing some thinking about blogging too.
Why the Age thinks Sheila Jefferys is a good person to ask about the experiences of trans children I don’t know. Why they printed her hateful words without even interviewing someone for a counter-opinion is inexcusable.
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I am learning why lots of people prefer to be self-employed. Working with clients can be really really really (really really) frustrating.
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But I found this site! http://whenicameout.com/ Some entries are lovely, and some are heartbreaking.
As for vegie recipes, I’ve been wanting to make spinach and chickpeas for ages.
I made zucchini & carrot slice last night, as we’ve a lovely surfeit of eggs right now. It was tasty tasty tasty. Standard sort of recipe (taste.com.au has a zillion of them), but with more eggs, less flour, and Massel vegan-“chicken” stock powder in place of the salt. I like it because the food processor takes care of the grating of the onion, carrot, zucchini, and cheese, and after that it’s just a matter of mixing it into the egg/milk/flour/seasoning mix and dumping into the baking pan. Very spoon-friendly if you have a food processor (and someone to clean it). And good for lunchboxes.
thestonesoup.com, while not exclusively vegetarian, has lots of quick/simple five-ingredient recipes with an emphasis on vegetables. And a free e-cookbook here: Stone Soup: Minimalist Home Cooking.
Oooh, I second Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Veg Everyday! I got it for myself as a Christmas present, and since then, I’ve been eating meat-free most of the time (though I have no intention of going fully vegetarian, and still eat meat when visiting others/at restaurants/when I have guests).
One of my favourites from the book is up online:
Mexican tomato and black bean soup: http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/mexican-tomato-bean-soup/
Oh my word, Kim, I got halfway through that article and then I got most upset.
So I found an article about eye problems encountered by male astronauts who spend prolonged periods in space. Note male astronauts; the article specifically says that female ones haven’t been affected by this particular problem. The article is all about how this is a prime example of how the health issues of space travel need to be addressed and analysed (in fairness, true) and astronauts protected for the sake of themselves and the missions they undertake (also true).
But it annoys me how certain I am that if this had been a problem specific to female astronauts, the first article I’d seen about it would have been about how its proof that women shouldn’t be astronauts at all. How likely are we to see someone official say that if women have fewer issues from microgravity, then only women should be astronauts. A few of the comments do make that suggestion. Others still manage to find ways to be misogynistic.
In other news, while it’s still a couple of weeks off, March 1st is apparently International Hug a Librarian Day. I imagine that librarians have better things to do than be hugged by random customers, it’d be a nice day to send a thankyou card for running an important service.
Bettina Ardnt strikes again
Men can’t help themselves and the poor dears get so confused when you get angry at being ogled.
One example: I crushed my partner’s confidence by groaning outloud at the beach when a lovely looking woman crossed our path and despite her pleas continued with my oafish behaviour. 5 years on she is still dealing with her self esteem issues [her issues, nothing to do with him] which is a shame because she is stunning. Yeah, shame she didn’t kick you to the curb and find someone who appreciated her.
I’m very sad to hear the news about Whitney Houston: http://theangryblackwoman.com/2012/02/11/whitney-houston-has-died/
I had such a crappy day, OMG. Our toddler bit me at least ten times and he head-butted his father on the chin, resulting in a split lip. He lost a beautiful piece of clothing that meant a lot to me.
Then this evening the carshare car locked us out, and our own car’s battery turns out to be flat. So tomorrow will be spent trying to get hold of Sydney Bus’s lost property (regarding the clothing) and getting someone out to start the car, and driving the car around and around to get a decent amount of charge, rather than, say, the research I really need to get stuck into.
Mary, that’s a real bummer! Do you need a friendly driver? I can give you a few hours.
I have good vibes regarding Sydney Buses and lost property – my boy’s laptop was handed in when he left it on the bus and we got it back in good condition. Fingers crossed for a similar result.
*Proffers hugs and samosas*
(((hugs))) Mary, hopefully that’s all the shitty things out of the way and the rest of the week can be lovely.
I’m so sorry Mary, that sounds awful.
@Mary – Jedi hugs if you want them. What a day of frustrations.
No luck with the list property, the bright side is no need for a driver I guess.
Roadside assistance got the car going again mid today. As predicted chores took about half the day.
I swear Vegemite toast and almost-frozen, flat ginger beer is all that’s keeping me alive. I want my second trimester now, please.
{{{{{{{{{{hugs for orlando}}}}}}}}}}
When your body is ready, I will take you out to an enormous lunch.
Today in Lol Whut?
C’s teacher from last year said she had heard congratulations were in order. I was trying to think what I’d done, no new job, no significant milestones??? ‘Someone told me you were expecting’ she said. Oh, news to me! She was quite embarrassed then C piped up and said ‘no, new cousin’ so we agreed that it was probably that and someone just got confused. Maybe I need a t-shirt that says ‘just fat’. Lets hope it’s not an omen she said. Bloody miracle more like.
Ironic really after going to the Dr about ‘lady issues’ this week when he asked if we were planning any more children because the resolution of the problem will probably mean no more babies ever – unless by surrogate or adoption which we aren’t planning on either – if they don’t just remove the whole shebang. Nothing nasty as far as we know, expect for the specialist bill.
Was looking side eyed at young orthodox jewish man to see if he was disapproving of me and caught him looking side eyed at me to see if I was being disapproving of him. I hope he got a laugh out of it too. That will teach me to jump to conclusions.