august 21, 2005
imaginary plants
pipstar @ 02:23 PM | link | Comments: *
august 21, 2005
jasmine tea
pipstar @ 02:17 PM | link | Comments:
august 21, 2005
r.i.p. red and green vinyl bag
r.i.p. red and green vinyl bag
pipstar @ 02:13 PM | link | Comments:
august 19, 2005
"Drawing Curtains" from the new Buck 65 album Secret House Against The World has to be one of the sexiest pieces of music ever.
pipstar @ 01:27 PM | link | Comments:
august 17, 2005
spoon!
While this post could be about the forthcoming Spoon show at Fowlers Live on September 10, or a rallying cry for fans of The Tick, it is about neither of these things.
It's about the package I received in the mail from Ianto "War if you chop off the 'e'" Ware - zinester extraordinaire. Not only am I super excited about the copy of Westside Angst #10 and the letter and Blythe badge which came with mechanical pencil refills, but I'm over the moon that the package came all the way from Japan!
And that means that Ianto is still alive and that he wasn't killed by molemen or drivers of sports utility vehicles! And there's a message from Ellie which means that she hasn't died from overconsumption of tofu or peanut butter!
For all of you mad keen zine officianados or spoon collectors you should note that this is a particularly beautiful edition of Westside Angst and there is a collectable wooden spoon on the cover.
If you just came to this entry looking for information on The Tick here's a picture of him holding a spoon.
I think that if you squint hard enough, you can see an uncanny resemblance between The Tick and Ianto. Perhaps Iantick is thinking "Spoon! What an amazing zine gimmick!"
pipstar @ 07:30 PM | link | Comments: *
august 13, 2005
heartened
You know how sometimes a word finally begins to make sense to you in ways somehow outside of language? I've had that this weekend - heartened describes with perfect clarity the way I was feeling on my bike ride home from the market. Everything seems to be working out in the most simple and lovely ways and it truly felt like my heart was almost swelling with cheerfulness.
There's something almost daggy about the word cheerful - probably it's been permanently tainted by its associations with cheerleading. However, I'm thinking about reclaiming words like cheer and joy as they are such beautiful concepts which are often overridden by the simplistic "happy".
So, this weekend's joy was brought to you by food, the film look both ways, the season spring and the colour yellow.
food
When I was locking my bike up on Saturday at the market, I saw a guy who I briefly went out with a year ago. I have to admit that until recently we hadn't spoken, because I had been very immature and never called him back. Though, I challenge you to tell someone that despite everything good about them, they have mannerisms so similar to someone from your past that you feel ill being reminded of that person. Anyway, in the past couple of weeks we've started talking again and on Saturday morning he offered me a piece of what he described as the most orgasmic chocolate in the world.
Damn, it was really good.
At the market I also bought some luscious organic prunes from Wilson’s, organic bread flour, dukkah, Chinese greens, mushrooms and leeks. Which have now been turned into a loaf of homemade bread, some rolls, garlic pizza and risotto.
I loved baking the bread; I set it to prove before I went to play soccer with the boys this afternoon. When I got back home I was so happy to find that the bread had risen over the top of the bowl!
look both ways
My dear friend Stubby took me along with him to see a new Australian film called Look Both Ways on Saturday. I’d heard good reviews of the film, but I really wasn’t prepared for how good and moving and beautiful it was going to be.
I think that it’s now my favourite film.
spring
We're past the winter solstice, so inevitably, like the force of gravity, the seasons have begun to change.
There are flowers beginning to reveal themselves and tiny leaves are preparing to unfurl. Even though it's now light again when I finish work, the weather, particularly at night, seems to be bitterly cold. Sadly, it's still not cold enough to produce snow like there's been in Victoria. But really, when one is celebrating the upcoming return of spring, it feels a little bit stupid to bemoan the fact that the weather isn't freezing.
Because Spring is coming, there's been heaps of rain lately. Last week while I was riding to work I arrived with my pants saturated and my hair stencilled with the pattern of my bike helmet. And tonight there's a proper gale blowing outside. I really wish that I was by the ocean or up in the hills taking a walk to a destination guaranteed to be stocked with tea and towels and heaters.
yellow
I've got a feeling that yellow is going to be a really strong colour trend in the next year or so. At least I hope so, because that will meant that there are more yellow things for me to look at and to feel heartened by.
Yellow things such as:
- wattle
- bus stop signs and the front of Adelaide Metro buses
- the yellow lines on the road
- daffodils
- a ceramic cat
- a feature wall at work
- jasmine tea tins
- the yellow bits in my hair
- lemons
- poppies (i like the orange and white ones too)
- daisies
- some new bowls
- a decorative lantern
- the cute plastic table in my living room
- post it notes
- my yellow bike riding jacket
What makes you feel heartened?
pipstar @ 01:21 PM | link | Comments: **
august 09, 2005
the blah blah blah of blah
After all my grand talk about baking cakes and assorted goodies every weekend, and promises of impromptu dinner parties I baked absolutely nothing this weekend. But I did start to read Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery, an epic work (over 600 pages) which covers everything from the specifics of flour to the different shapes of bread.
When I stopped off in Singapore on my way home from Vietnam at the start of this year I met a lovely group of Irish folk. One of the boys tried to convince me that in his town, there was baked a special type of bread called the blah. Allegedly, the blah was meant to be a cross between a floury bap and ciabatta. Well, baps are listed in this book of bread - but the blah isn't, so I can presume that I've been had for the last 7 months.
Not only have I found out that the blah is a myth, but I've also found out about the history of milling. Early grain was ground on a stone device called a quern.
You'll have to trust me on this, but I'm finding this book fascinating. And just when you thought that the internet couldn't get any more exciting, you'll be overwhelmed to discover that I'm blogging alongside my housemates and the house cat over at The Cat in The Dollhouse.
pipstar @ 12:22 AM | link | Comments:
august 05, 2005
salt and wind
I'm so glad to have my bike, Salt, back in my life. I was a bit worried that I'd freak out about having to ride home through traffic last Friday, but as soon as I got onto Salt and started pedalling, everything felt good again.
I was so surprised to find out how much I missed riding. The weather's got a crisp edge to it at the moment and there's something elemental about feeling the wind bite at my face as I move along. It feels like something I've been neglecting.
:::...
On Saturday I rode to have yum cha and to do some shopping at the market. Once I got home again I wanted to do some more riding so I rode up to check my postbox, which was sadly, empty. Then, when I was home from that excursion I wanted to go riding again so I rode over to my grandmother's house to pick up some cake tins and other stuff I needed.
I needed to pick up cake tins from my grandma's house because I'm in a veritable baking frenzy at the moment. My current plan is to bake a cake or some biscuits a week, as well as make some type of bread or pasta.
Over the past two weeks I've already made a yoghurt cake, damp lemon and almond cake, and zucchini cake with creamcheese frosting and lime curd. And on Sunday, in between bike rides, car headlight repairs and playing soccer with friends, I also made pizza dough so that I could have a potato and rosemary pizza and a garlic pizza. It would be well worth your while to ring me up on a weekend to invite yourself over for dinner as there is bound to be something cooking.
© 2002 - 2007 Pippa Buchanan