When Life is but a Blur

Photo: Adriana Glackin

It was a last minute decision that found me at the 52 Suburbs exhibition at the Museum of Sydney late yesterday afternoon.  I was aware of this project thanks to twitter and was following the progress with interest. If I thought the Project365 was a challenge, then surely a challenge such as documenting 52 suburbs in 52 weeks is the ultimate. Phew! My head spins just thinking about it. I'm pleased to say the exhibition didn't disappoint, and even though it was late there were quite a few people enjoying the display.

The exhibition runs until October 2011, and allow yourself plenty of time, as there's another exhibition well worth visiting - The Enemy at Home. Recently discovered photographs taken by a German internee are being exhibited and they show life in the intern camps during WWI. The two exhibitions work well side by side and show just how much Australia has changed within the last century.

Getting back to the 52 Suburbs, there are limited edition prints available for sale as well as the book which showcases the project. For the photographers amongst us, there's also a competition you can enter that encourages you to get to know your suburb!

A brisk walk over to Allens Music to pick up some music supplies, then over to Chinatown for a quick meal before heading home and the whirlwind trip to town was over.  Of course no trip to the city is complete without a photo or two... the photo above was taken with my iPhone using the Slow Shutter App and edited using the Film Noir App.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to cosy up in bed and enjoy my copy of the 52 suburbs book.

Hearty Soul Food

Sometimes I just can’t help it; I have to photograph my food before I eat it. It’s not because my loved ones will have the evidence of what my last meal consisted of, should I be fatally struck down by food poisoning. It’s more about the colours and textures and aromas - they're simply so appealing. (Yes, I know you can’t photograph an aroma...yet) My family and friends are used to this behaviour now and when I have my camera up at my face it’s hard for me to see their eye rolls. So, this was one of my dinners from earlier this week – a simple minestrone soup. I had picked up the recipe card from my local greengrocer and added it to the other recipe cards I seem to have accumulated over the years. With the chill of autumn well and truly here, it was time to rummage through the recipe cards and come up with my own simple minestrone variation.

My ingredients included:

·         Onion

·         Leek

·         2 carrots

·         Celery

·         Cup of peas

·         Handful of beans

·         Cauliflower

·         2 x 425g tinned tomato

·         Tbs tomato paste

·         1 ½ cups of small pasta

·         1 lt of beef stock

·         1 Tbs olive oil

·         Salt and pepper to taste

·         Fresh Parmesan Cheese grated to garnish and flavour

My method:

·        *  Finely chop the onion, leek and carrots, add to the pot with the olive oil and fry until the onion and leek are clear. Stirring and taking care not to burn the onion and leek.

·         * Add the other raw vegetables and stir frequently until they brown a little.

·         * Add the stock and tinned tomatoes and tomato paste. Lower heat, place lid and allow to simmer. Stir occasionally and as the vegetables begin to soften, you can add the small pasta, stir (you may add a little water or stock at this stage), place lid and simmer until cooked.

·         * Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with parmesan cheese upon serving.

Variations:

·         * You could use frozen vegetables in place of raw vegetables.

·        *  The beauty of this simple minestrone is that any vegetables you have in your fridge, freezer or pantry would be suitable to make this hearty soup. You want to end up with a bowl-full of chunky delicious vegetables and not a light and liquidy soup.

·         * If who you’re serving to, has an aversion to a certain food, you could always omit the pasta and blend the vegetables into a fine puree and serve with a dollop of sour cream. I will be cooking this variation next time as MOTH objected to the ‘ridiculous’ amount of peas in his bowl. Tsk.

·        *  Use your favourite spices, perhaps cumin, to give a different flavour to the soup. Or a generous handful of chopped basil would also be a yummy variation.

·         * If you want a meatier variation, add bacon or ham pieces to the onion and olive oil and substitute vegetable stock for the beef stock.

Importantly, once it’s cooked, don’t forget to take a photo of it before you serve it up! Oh, and if you like, post me a link to your photo. Enjoy!

Book Review - For One More Day by Mitch Albom

Photo: Adriana Glackin - (Lensbaby; iso 100; f2)

I’ve been pretty pre-occupied lately and this blog has fallen by the wayside. Never mind, it’s always here when I’m ready to pick up where I left off.

So, I have this pile of unread books by my bedside table. Some new, some old, some trashy, some classics. I enjoy being able to choose a book to suit my taste at the time, and my taste in books, like music and art, is eclectic so it’s always an adventure working out what to read next. 

A couple of days ago I started a little adventure in picking up Mitch Albom’s “For One More Day”. It’s been sitting there for quite a while and always overlooked until now. It’s a short read and this style of book is best devoured while you’re sitting on your cosy lounge, under a hand-knitted blanket, with a warm and luxurious shawl wrapped snuggly around you and pure sheepskin slippers on. An autumn wind and rain howling outside, the slow cooker is quietly simmering away tantalising you every so often with it's delicious aroma and no other distractions will take your attention away from the story. Of course a box of tissues tucked in beside you will also come in handy. But if all this is not possible, then the next best thing, is to sneak back in bed once everyone has left for school and work and devour the rest of the book then! Which is exactly what I did this morning. Thank goodness MOTH and The Teens weren’t home to see me blubbering like a big baby upon finishing the book and hopelessly willing for more words to magically appear. (Hmmm, that seems to be a bit of a theme when I finish a book – please sir, can I have some more...)

What did I love about it? He uses a minimal amount of words; he uses them so effectively, that every sentence is heavy with meaning. He uses words in such a combination that all the emotion contained in the words is squeezed out and laid bare on the pages for you to drink in. Of course I’m not going to divulge the plot; you can probably guess what it’s about by the title and you know you’ll need tissues handy. Whether you can relate to this tale or not, if you’re left unmoved by this narrative, then you’re not really alive, are you...

Do yourself a favour and grab a copy from your favourite second hand bookstore and snuggle under a blanket and read this tale. A good cry never did anyone any harm. Enjoy!

Scanography

Wow! Who knew you could even do this? Scanography has been called the poor man's large format style of photography. All it basically is, you "photograph" your object by placing it on a flatbed scanner and activate the scan via your editing program. Wow! I'm still excited at what you can achieve. Of course, my first subject is flowers... These are my first attempts at scanography. I really must read up a bit more on this. What I'm wondering though, is just what other unusual forms of photography are out there that I don't know about...

Book Review - "The Distant Hours" by Kate Morton

Photo: Adriana Glackin

It was with a little apprehension that I opened this book. This is the third novel by Kate Morton, a Brisbane based author. Her other two novels are “The Shifting Fog” and “The Forgotten Garden” and I thoroughly enjoyed reading both. So why the apprehension? Well it seems that authors tends to have a formula, a signature , to their writing and sometimes it can be so overpowering that it overtakes the story; so that all you see is the formula that’s been followed rather than the story or even the characters. Think of John Grisham and you’ll know what I’m talking about. I didn’t want to feel the disappointment I did when I read the third, almost identical Grisham novel.

Kate Morton’s style is to weave more than one story within the pages; she also has this wonderful knack of being able to take you back into the past, back to the present and then back to the present again over and over, the whole time weaving the stories and characters together. She does this so effortlessly, that although it’s been that way for all 3 of her novels the actual narratives and characters more than hold their own. This latest of hers, is another clever narrative, and my only regret is that I raced through it far too quickly – I simply needed to know what was going to happen next!

It was also with some disappointment that I closed the book for one last time. At 497 pages, the book seems long enough – and heavy enough when it falls on your nose when you’re up late in bed reading when you should be sleeping... But I feel a sense of sadness that I won’t hear any more of the tales of Saffy and Percy, two of the characters from the novel. There simply wasn’t the room in the book to squeeze anymore in, for that I’m certain and I think it is more a testament of the writing skills of the author that she is able to leave you with this feeling. Or, it might just be me being greedy and wanting to know more.

If you’ve read her previous two novels, then you’ll definitely enjoy The Distant Hours. If you haven’t read any of her novels and you enjoy your chick-lit with the modern day mixed with the early 20th century, full-bodied characters and clever twists, then give them a go. I know I haven't given anything away here - that would be spoiling it, now wouldn't it...

Kate, if you happen across this blog post, it would be really, really good if you could write a spin-off novella about Saffy and Percy. Such sweet dears, I would have loved to hear more of their stories.