Carroty dip, ooh yeah

The carrots in my fridge were starting to get belligerent, so it was high time I put them in their place*. This involved roasting them with whole cloves of garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, then blending all that with some more olive oil and fresh coriander then smooshing the lot onto fresh grainy bread. Delish. I highly recommend it for any troublesome root vegetables you encounter.

*their place being my stomach.

Eight Things That Are Concerning Me Today

1. That I've left this blog untended for over two months!
2. That one must never store a wet umbrella (= mouldy umbrella), but to dry it I have to leave it open, IN MY HOUSE. I'm not overly superstitious, it's just that... well, one does try to avoid walking under ladders, doesn't one?
3. My stapler is misbehaving and I can't administrate as efficiently as I would like to.
4. I saw a man suspend a car battery from his pierced nipples last night.
5. I saw a man swallow a lit neon tube last night.
6. I heard people cheering on a man while he staple-gunned fake flowers to his chest. (NB: this bears absolutely no relation to point #3 above.)
7. I possibly shouldn't have wandered into the Fringe Festival Club last night for a post-show drink (the drink was fine, it was the entertainment - see above - that has me concerned).
8. That not enough people will see Scattered Tacks at the Fringe Festival. It's an astonishing show, and I can't say it any better than this reviewer did. Go. It's on for another week or so, at the North Melbourne Town Hall. Tickets $16 here.

{ Scattered Tacks, photo by Alicia Ardern }

Yep, it is. It's a 1973 XB GT Ford Falcon Coupe, with a supercharger and Concorde front end mod, flares and spoilers. AKA an Interceptor (cue dramatic music). From Mad Max. I don't know if it's the Interceptor, and to be honest I don't even know how many Interceptors there are, because I have never seen any of the Mad Max movies. It seems sacrilegious what with the film's status in our national canon and all, but at least I was canny enough to recognise the thing.

It intercepted me (har har) as I came out from work yesterday, and was waiting patiently on the red carpet for the Melbourne International Film Festival's opening night shenanigans to begin. This year, "Ozploitation" is hot (as are zombies and horror films; a notch on the belt for the organisers of the Zombie Shuffle, I'm sure).

It's coming into festival season here in Melbourne, and I'm beginning to feel a little overwhelmed. But in a good way. Let's take a look at the festivals currently on, just announced or coming soon, whose names begin with Melbourne:
Melbourne International Design Festival (17-27 July, I think some events are sticking around)
Melbourne International Film Festival (25 July - 10 August)
Melbourne International Arts Festival (9-25 October, program released last week)
Melbourne Writers' Festival (22-31 August, program released last week)
Melbourne Fringe Festival (24 September-12 October)
... and there's the State of Design Festival too (finishing this weekend), but that doesn't fit the pattern.

Have I missed any? It's going to be a busy few months. If you're going to anything you think I'd like, let me know!

As I've found with the two concurrent design festivals, it's easy to get overwhelmed and develop Festival Fatigue. Symptoms including hiding under your doona, not trying new things, and missing out on things you know you want to see. The only remedy I know is to form a cohesive group of like-minded individuals (or at least find a festival buddy), get recommendations, don't try to see everything but if it looks even slightly interesting, just go.

I bet if I had an Interceptor I could get to all the events.

For more pics and a little bit of history of the Mad Max Interceptor, go here.

1, 2, 3, 4 Monsters walking 'cross the floor

I'm sure this will go 'round the blogosphere before you can count to four (hyuk) - actually, I think it has already - but I couldn't resist.

I've been banging on about Feist for so long now, and here she is, in fine Sesame Street style!

I think the Count will be very happy to have found his soulmate.

Thanks to Mikes for passing it on!

Blue is so hot right now

I foresee a lot of reading, Scrabble, embroidery and DVD-watching this week. I guess rollerskating's out of the question.

Any and all entertainment welcome!

Life, blogs, etc

It's not that I don't love you anymore, dear Pieces of Kate readers, it's just that my other blog has a faster pace and wider audience, and has the major appeal of not just being me rabbiting on about myself.

If anyone out there is thinking of starting a blog*, I highly recommend doing it with a like-minded friend - one with whom you share similar (and compatible) but not identical tastes. It's a great motivator when someone else cares - someone real and talkative and who will inspire you and prod you to work out a name (the hardest part), a theme, a style, and who will motivate you to keep posting even when your stats counter is ticking over at a minimal rate and no-one's commenting. Thankfully, Oh What Larks is now rolling along nicely, but this one's taken a back seat.

If it's any consolation, I haven't been doing much worth blogging about, anyway. A couple of llamas have found their new homes (one here and one to my Mum), I've seen some excellent theatre and some interesting opera, and I'm still listening to a lot of Feist.

A and I ran away for a weekend to Healesville, and rummaged through the op shops there. This was the best thing we found:

It was pretty great.

Other things occupying my mind right now are:

• How freakin' hard it is to choose a new digital camera, even though pretty much anything would be better than the one I have now;
• How much I love roasted fennel;
• How great some raw veges smell (especially parsnips, pumpkin and fennel), but you might never know unless you put your nose up close and really smell them;
• How annoying the bird that imitates my phone's SMS beep is;
• How divided I am between loving public transport and being pissed off with the services at the moment; and
  
• How quickly weekends pass.

There are also a few other minor considerations, like full-time work and the prospect of going back to (part-time, after-work) study next semester, but they're not nearly so interesting.

So, while you're all desperately awaiting a new (and hopefully more cohesive) post (ha), let me know what's rocking your cyber boats (links please), any good books you think I should read or veges I should smell. And go here.

: kate :

*If you are interested in starting a blog, Pip from Meet Me At Mikes has posted a bit of a How To for crafty-themed blogs (but the general advice would be applicable to non-crafty blogs too): How to start a craft blog
How to make your blog look cuter
How to market your craft blog
A rough guide to having nice blog manners

It's llama breeding season again...

Yup, that's right, and it's for Mirabel again!

The lovely folk at Meet Me At Mikes are arranging the Softies for Mirabel 2008 appeal, and this time some of the softies will be auctioned on eBay to raise $$ for the foundation (and some will still go to the kids for Christmas, yay).


This is Lyle, he'll be heading over to Mikes soon and then on to who knows where. I'm going to make a few more llamas soon, but I'm running out of names that start with L and have at least one other L in them. Have you got any suggestions?

So far, I've got:
Llewellyn (the best, naturally)
Lloyd
Lulu
Lionel
Lincoln
Liesl
Lily
and Lyle.

For some reason most of the llamas are boys (as in, they just don't suit the girl names), so if you know any more double-l boys' names pllleeeassse tell me!

Failing that, I'll have to start doubling up. Lots of people survive with having the same name as other people, right? There were at least 3 other Kates in my year level at school, and we managed. (It's a pretty great name, maybe that's why.)

Check the Flickr group for more Softies for Mirabel info, FAQ etc - and for lots of pics of what people are making. (Or click the button over on the left there.)

x k