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about 3 years after the idea of cocktail d&d was first conceived and almost 18 years after i first wanted to play dungeons and dragons but was denied because i was a girl, we finally got around to starting a game.

it took ages. but was fun. and now i can say that i have killed a giant carniverous gecko with a dagger. awesome.

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Recipe Ingredients

200ml golden syrup (or molasses)
200 gr sugar
200 gr butter
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground clove
1 tbs dried ground orange peel (i dried some orange peel in a low oven and then mortar and pestled it for a while – it really makes everything taste and smell amazing)
2 eggs
3 tsp baking soda
approx. 500 gr flour

Place syrup, sugar, butter and spices in a saucepan and bring to boil. Set aside to cool.

Once the mixture has cooled (over an hour) add the eggs, one at a time.

Mix baking soda with flour and add to the mixture. Make sure the mixture is a firm dough – you may need to add more flour than listed in the ingredients. Wrap dough in cling film and store in the refrigerator overnight.

Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface, until as thin as possible (approximately 3mm thick). Cut the dough into the desired shapes by using special gingerbread biscuit cutters. Remove excess dough and roll it out again for the next batch of biscuits.

Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 5 – 8 minutes, until the biscuits begin to brown slightly around the edges. (Leave small spaces between the biscuits, as the dough will spread a bit in the oven).

Note: Watch the biscuits while baking, as they burn very quickly!

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It’s hard to believe that in less than a month I’ll be hanging out with my lovely friends on the other side of the world.

Of course, time spent with those friends and the opportunities to meet new people, means being distanced from all the people I care about on this side of the world. Even though I’m planning on being away for only about 2 months, I know that during that time relationships will shift around, friends will move away and loyalties will be questioned.

When I got back to Adelaide at the start of 2007 not only had my own relationship status changed drastically, but the social structure that I had left behind all safe and sound was altered. Suddenly I was having to consider which people could be invited where, and who had to be notified of other people’s presence. The changes, once placed in context were understandable, but without having seen them take place, I was in shock. This wasn’t the way I remembered my life!

As a traveller I know that I will change, but it’s always a challenge to unselfishly consider that life goes on for everyone else while I’m away.

I am prepared for some the changes I’ll notice when I get back. A couple of people who I’ve grown very close to this year will be going overseas while I’m away and I am going to miss them so much. Another dear friend will be changing their Facebook status from “in a relationship” to “celibate and riding bikes” as a result of his girlfriend leaving. And then there’s the rumoured departure of some of Adelaide’s finest to Sydney and Melbourne.

Of course, there are amazing new friendships that have come in the last year and I’m so grateful for the positive changes that are yet to come, but it is overwhelming to consider that everything will be different in three months time.

So that I don’t feel that I’ve wasted the year away when the beginning of 2009 comes around, to date (06/01/08) I have already :

Hosted and said goodbye to my lovely friend Toph while he visited Adelaide before returning to Montreal (via Perth) before he moves to Helsinki.

Eaten a lot of ratatouille.

Made a skirt out of cool vintage fabric, for which I actually went to the bother of drafting a pattern, making a hem facing, top stitching and properly placing the zip with instructions from this .

Been to the beach twice and eaten delicious deep-fried food such as hot chips.

Continued the sewing thing by making up a purse.

Realised that I’d lost my Australian passport thus putting me in a situation which while not preventing me leaving the country (dual citizenship!), does present considerable difficulties about me legally returning to reside in my country unless I fork out a bunch of cash.

Tried to charge camera batteries so I could return to recording my life in a visual manner but realised that the batteries were past saving and the above projects were left undocumented so far.

Returned to The Artist’s Way and have written my Morning Pages every day and have already become clearer in my head about certain things.

Deleted my RSS subscriptions and MySpace account.

Cried about the fear of everyone leaving Adelaide and things being horribly different when I get back from overseas at the end of March.

Washed my face.

And wore my heart on my sleeve.

Oh, and I worked at my lovely job and decided that Tigelada is my current favourite sweet thing to eat.