Stitch 'n Bitch

"Stitch 'n bitch"

When a group of people,

Usually women,

Get together

Eat and drink 

And knit and sew and 

Work on crafty projects

It was lovely to watch

Women working on 

Patchwork quilts

And curtains

And bags

Made from pretty fabrics

How delightful to participate

For one afternoon 

In this world

Of feeding and project making 

The whir and rattle of 

Sewing machines 

The chatter of women

And new mothers

Their three tiny babies

Hanging out in basinets 

Or on blankets on the floor  

The eldest of the three

Six months old

Reveling in her newly acquired skill of 

Rolling Over

You can almost see joy in her face

When gravity, and a little effort,

Changes her view of the world 

Yet understanding with complete clarity 

This is not my world 

I have no desire to be a mother

To cradle

And rock a little one to sleep 

To discuss feeding habits 

Or diaper changes

Or what foods to eat to produce more breast milk  

Or where to seek useful information 

On all of the above 

Colouring a mandala 

And knowing

All of our stories, choices, and worlds

Are different

And that we all contribute to the vast 

Patchwork of life

With our own forms of creation

The end. 

I'm Still Here

I quit Facebook
And people actually panicked
Lu! Where are you going? 
How will we know what's going on?
WHAT'S WRONG?! 

I'm living life
Further away from my computer
As best I can in this digital age
I'm cooking
Running
Exploring London
Seeing friends
Connecting with people
Reading more books

I've made
Raw zucchini pasta
And pumpkin pie
The FLAVOURS!
I've made cauliflower cous cous
(The cauliflower IS the cous cous
It's amazing!
Have you tried it?
Cinnamon and cauliflower and olive oil
Make the most delicious combination!)
I've made beet and apple and carrot salad
And spent an hour
Cracking nuts
And developing an understanding
Of the true meaning of
"A tough nut to crack"

I've been miserable
And happy
And frustrated
And inspired
And as Eckhart Tolle has guided
I've been here
To witness it all
I just have to remember
I'm still here

The end.

The Bake Sale

cake pops 

Today at work
We had a bake sale
To raise money
For charity
They put up bunting
And balloons
And laid out cakes
And "cake pops"

And biscuits

And brownies

And sold them 

For £1 a slice

And it was festive

And fun

And hilarious

To see grown ups

Excited by mounds of 

Permitted sugars 

It bought a welcome change in routine

And bought people together

To share delicious treats 

And that's what life

Should be about 

The end. 

I Can Cook, Too

From DeviantArt

Roasted potatoes
And carrots
And celeriac
And celeriac soup
And rice and lentils
And hummus
And salad with tomatoes and avocado
With a world leader
Talking positive
In the background
Make for a delicious morning

The end.

Tuesday Morning

Sometimes
All you need
Is to sit
With a lovely
Group of women
And meditate
And cut out magazines
And glue pictures
To paper
And share delicious food
And go along your way
Knowing you are
Surrounded by lovely
And are
Not alone
In the Great Struggle
That is London

The end.

A Weekend in anoTHEr Country

In the morning you go out to meet another Aussie-expat and you go to a lovely Australian/New-Zealander cafe called Flat White and enjoy your renewed-found love of coffee. You make a note-to-self to find an alternative to espresso, as even four sugars per tiny cup seems excessive - though it is down from five. You enjoy delicious toast with homemade hummus and fresh avocado. It is the best hummus you have had in ages but you spend the rest of the day paranoid you reek of garlic. Afterwards you walk through beautiful St James's Park to the War Rooms. There are ducks and geese and swans and a woman is hand-feeding them over the fence. You think she is a bit mad, but realize that these birds are probably rather used to people hand-feeding them. 

The Churchill War Rooms are bizzare. They are secret bunkers for the British War Cabinet during The War. Small and slightly claustrophobic and when the war ended the people literally turned off the lights, walked out, closed the door, and didn't come back for decades. Now the rooms and corridors and bunkers are a museum and you can walk through and see exactly how it all was over seventy years ago. Imagine being in the rooms Back Then. The rooms would have been smokey because everybody smoked back then, and above you the world was falling apart and you didn't know if when you left work for the day (or night) if your house or even your street was still going to be there when you did. No one except the government was allowed to know that you worked there because it was Top Secret. If you were a secretary you had a special gas mask that allowed you keep talking on the telephone even during a gas attack. The War Stops For Nobody.  

You walk back to Soho to the Soho Theatre Bar to mingle with other drama students. You are late, but it seems you haven't missed much except a free drink. A casting director is giving a talk. She says things you have mostly heard before, but you're feeling light and inspired and you scribble down some of her points and feel a sense of renewed enthusiasm. Then you wander around the room and meet some of the other actors. They are all graduating this year too, ready to go out into the Big Wide World and try their luck at this acting thing. Will all this time and money and effort be worth it?

You meet a girl with Scandinavian/American heritage. She wants to move to New York and live the life of a starving actor. She knows it's a bit weird to want that life, but you understand what she means. It's New York. And then you meet a boy who gives you the feeling that he is on the cusp of something brilliant, but you're not quite sure what it is, but you're sure he is destined for great things. And then you meet another girl who is interested in verbatim theatre and using theatre to make a positive difference to the world. And it is nice to meet someone as excited and passionate as you about the possibility of theatre. 

You head home on the tube. And you get home and you make chickpea patties, which you haven't made in the longest time, and you make a big batch of quinoa and steam some spinach. And you spread a little beetroot dip from yesterday's cooking adventures on the chickpea patties, and you pour out a little sweet chilli sauce. And you sit at your desk to do some work and you breathe and smile and know that you have had a most wonderful day. 

The end.

Don't Judge a Soup

Vegetable soup simmers away in the pot and smells delicious and fills the kitchen with warmth and heartyness on a chilly autumn afternoon where the sky is dark and threatens rain. And the soup is ready and it’s pulverised to make it soupy but the vegetables within include two purple carrots and they make the whole soup turn dark purple and look entirely un-appetising. It looks like schlop. You think of Oliver and his bowlful of gruel. And you take a deep breath and try a little sip of that sickly looking soup, and you are pleasantly delighted to find it is delicious! And you mix in a spoonful of goat’s cheese and it melts into the purple and the whole thing becomes a lighter purple and it looks slightly more appetising. But who cares what it looks like. You are feeding yourself and are accountable to no one. It is fairytale soup. It may look a little ugly. But it’s contents are full of goodness. And by eating it you just may turn into a swan who loves to play in the rain that is surely about to come. The end. 

Indigo Trio

They say there is nothing new under the sun

But change is the only constant

Find new for yourself

Discover a new everyday 

Singing with Indigo Trio was a delight 

To learn new music that no other singer has sung before

To explore new songs

To play with other musicians and discover the new

Make changes

Every morning

Under this sun of ours

That glowing ball of chemistry

Is a new day

Original. New or back to the source from whence it came

All is light

All is song and dance 

To find the new and make it your own

To be unafraid and just go out and do it

To conquer the old sayings 

And make change 

Make bliss

This is delight 

Art and About

Imagine walking to the train station

And along the way you can see the Olgas

And an idyllic beach

And a hundred years of history marching through the tunnel

On the other side of the station an old steam train comes rushing out through green fields peppered with yellow flowers

Outside the fish and chip shop herds of seahorses swim in a blue ocean 

And it is nice that someone took the effort

To paint murals around your suburb

The council made an effort to make it nicer

Prettier

Deter vandalism

Art is everywhere if you look closely enough

I have often walked down this street before

And now it sings in technicolour arrangements 

(murals were painted by Robin Martin and commissioned by Ashfield Council. The Underline Project is also an initiative of Ashfield Council)

New Year's Eve

It’s days like these that will make you happy. Spending time with friends. Popping in to see Matt and Clairie-O, meeting lovely people and playing board games. Catching the train across the Bridge and seeing the myriad of people lining the foreshore. Sydney is made for big events on the harbour. A bright blue sky day. Warm. People of all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life are out on the street. The air is alive. I meet Len at Dawe’s Point. All the “VIP’s” feeling extra special because they have invites. Wrist-tagged and bag searched and inside to where the mood is festive, the music pumping. The view is spectacular. I don‘t recall seeing the fireworks from this side of the bridge before. The Opera House to my right. The sound of the giant bangs. Explosions of sparkle in the sky. 

We walk around to Circular Quay. The kind concierge at the Marriott finds me a safety pin for my holey jumper. Walk up Pitt St and up to the State Library. On the steps of the palace I meet Heath and Lyn and Ben. We walk down to join the queue for the Cahill Expressway. It is orderly and calm and moves quickly. Onto the Expressway and down to the western end. The view is utterly spectacular. The Bridge, the Opera House, the Quay beneath us. People are patiently waiting for midnight. We eat ice cream. Girls in colourful costumes walk past to entertain the crowd. 

On the hour, the half hour, and quarter of the hour before midnight single fireworks explode over the city and over the Opera House. People cheer. And suddenly it is ten seconds to midnight. And the pylons light up with giant numbers, helping the crowds around the foreshore count down. And then it is 2011! And the fireworks erupt. A lone bird flies confused over the bridge through the smoke and glitter. The bridge becomes so covered in smoke you can’t see it any more, and even some of the fireworks are obscured. A giant hand appears on the Bridge. 2011, Make Your Mark. With your hands go out into the world and create. High five the people you meet. Offer your hand in love, in gratitude, in peace. Wave goodbye Sydney. 2011, I’m off to make my mark on the world!

Christmas Stocking

Christmas has passed and it’s now the season for taking stock of the year. Some of this year has been awful. But you breathe into the pain, and you just keep breathing, and suddenly you find that you are surrounded by an absolute plethora of amazing food, music, family, friends, and theatre. And you come to the end of the year with the ability to say that much of it has been utterly wonderful. In no particular order, the beautiful, inspiring, exciting, and lovely things in my life this year have been...

• The Eveleigh Farmer’s Markets with my bestie Len
• Starting dance, singing, and flute lessons again
• Starting Flusical with Flick
• Starting the Movie Musical Project
• Learning to cook pasta, ice cream, polvoron, bread, pastry, and cheese from scratch
• Quitting the security of a full-time job to pursue theatre and it being utterly wonderful 
• Getting paid to watch Jersey Boys several times a week
• Moving to Ashfield with beautiful housies 
• Developing my personal meditation practise, obtaining my Meditation Facilitator’s Certificate, running morning meditations in Glebe
• Performing in The Pajama Game and meeting all the beautiful wonderful people at Strathfield Musical Society
• Singing with the Bling Band
• Running my first City to Surf  
• Discovering MusicalTalk, Seth Rudetsky, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and Superforest 
• Knowing that I am surrounded by the most beautiful, talented, wonderful, supportive friends
• Knowing that I have incredibly beautiful, talented, wonderful, supportive families 
• Working with amazing people 
• Seeing Shoshana Bean, Donna McKechnie, Stephen Schwartz, and Liz Callaway perform in Sydney and Brisbane 
• Being accepted into the London Central School of Speech and Drama Masters of Music Theatre program

Festive Buses

Imagine you're running late. And you're a bit stressed. And you're forgetting to breathe. And you see the bus, but you miss it, and you silently scream because of course you missed the bus, you're running late!! ARG! 

The next bus arrives. You step inside and find yourself in a tinsel forest. The entire bus, every pole and seat is lined with tinsel. There is a Santa statue in front of the ticket machine. The luggage bays are filled with stuffed toys. There is even a Christmas tree. And you find your stress melts away a little bit, because you can't help but smile. And at every stop, more people get on, and they smile too. And it makes you feel nice, and you marvel at the fact that the bus can be a place of such wonder.

And then imagine the girl sitting next to you has a basket full of handmade soft toys. And she looks like a lovely person so you talk to her. And she turns out to be as lovely as she seems. She makes soft toys and is training to be a Kindergarten teacher, and today she is bringing in her craft to share with her class. And you have a conversation all the way to town.

And when you hop off the bus, you feel better. It was worth being late. You got to ride inside a tinsel forest with a friendly fellow human being. If this is the Christmas season, bring it on.

Watching Mould Grow

For the past week I have been dutifully turning 4 lumps of curdled milk in an esky, watching (semi)patiently for signs of mould, and squealing delightedly when I discover a fine furry white layer surrounding two of the lumps. I have not gone mad. I am conducting the most fabulous art/science experiment to come out of north-western France. Cheese-making. Camembert to be precise. These four round discs are the result of a wonderful day standing over a hot stove, stirring 10L of goat’s milk, adding cultures and non-animal rennet, waiting, stirring, waiting some more, more stirring, more waiting, more stirring, a little chopping, some careful pouring, and voila! By Christmas, I will have home-made camembert to devour! And because I did the course with my bestie Len, and my S’mum Meg, I will have not one, but three different camemberts to sample. WIN! 

The course was a fabulous day of cheese-making and learning with Karen Borg, at the North Sydney Community Centre. Karen is the owner and creator of Willowbrae Chevre Cheese, a wonderful goat’s cheese enterprise in Wilberforce (north of Sydney). I have been visiting Karen’s stall at the markets for nearly a year now, and I am utterly addicted to her goat’s curd, and marinated fettas. Oh sweet heaven help me, if there is nothing more delicious than a bit of plain curd on a fresh piece of bread! 

On the day of our cheese-making, we learnt the art of camembert and ricotta (you can also sign up for a day of blue cheese or fetta... they are absolutely on the to do list...) Ricotta is ridiculously easy, and utterly delicious when smothered in olive oil and thyme and baked in the oven until golden. While our camembert’s sat transforming from goat’s milk to curds and whey (yes, this is where Little Miss Muffet came from... she was eating curdled milk, and depending on what temperature the milk had been heated to, the beginnings of camembert or ricotta!), we sat on our tuffets feasting on pasta with a light cheesy sauce, rocket salad with pear, marinated fetta balls, and roasted walnuts, sweet potato and broccoli quiche, mini savoury tartlets, and an enormous cheese platter with blue cheese and camembert, and curd and all kinds of wonderful. 

It was divine to be sitting in the beautiful surrounds of the North Sydney Community Centre on a bright blue sky Sydney day, learning the craft of something that most people may not even think about, let alone try. Cheese just comes from the supermarket right?! To attempt the science that is cheese-making, to chat with like-minded people about the origins of our food, to enjoy beautiful food and appreciate where every last morsel of it comes from. It may be slow and full of effort, but that’s why I love it. It’s like watching mould grow. A daily practise that with each day brings new surprises and joys. I can’t wait for Christmas!  

Bits of Lovely

Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a Chicago based American artist, author, and all round inspiring lady. I've been following her blog for the past couple of months, and much like the beautiful Superforest, can always be trusted to inspire beauty, joy, and lightness in the world. Her recent video Train of Thought made me smile this morning. 

Another bit of lovely inspiration is Amy K.R's "7 Things" (listed at the top of this post), shared at an independent TED Talk, TEDxWaterloo.

Podcasting

Last year I started listening to a FABULOUS podcast called MusicalTalk. Every week a group of Brits get together and talk about musicals. Their focus is mainly on London and the UK theatre scene, with occasional dips across the pond to talk about what’s happening on Broadway. They talk with actors, directors, writers, stage managers, audience members, all the plethora of folks involved in making musicals, and have a whole list of very well known industry folk on their interview credits including Stephen Schwartz, Alan Menken, Anthony Rapp, Johnny Depp, and Stephanie J Block to name but just a few.

So a couple of weeks ago, I was listening to MusicalTalk and I thought, I like talking about musicals! Why don’t I do my own podcast? And talk about Australian musicals? And in a rush of excitement I told the girls at dance about it. And they got very excited. And then, last Thursday after Chris had whipped us into shape in Broadway Jazz, Flick and I sat down and attempted our very own podcast. The results are here for your listening pleasure. In this inaugural episode we talk about our first experiences of musical theatre. It was ridiculously fun to sit and talk musicals. It was ridiculously fun to sit and edit the thing (thank you Apple and your wonderful GarageBand invention!). In short I had a total blast. Do what you love. And you will be happy. The end. 

PS. We need a name for the podcast. Suggestions welcome!

Phoebe's Kitchen Rules

I'm not really one for reality television (or television at all for that matter), but my little sister Phoebe (aged 7) recently discovered the program My Kitchen Rules. Having watched a total of one episode, I think the premise is something to the effect of teams of 2 from around Australia take turns each week to cook for each other and 2 judges. The cooking is timed, and each week’s couple has to “plate up” before the time is up. Once the food is served, everybody eats and makes comments about the presentation, choice of dishes, and taste of the food. There is some sort of elimination involved, along with lots of hugs, crying, and close up shots of the couples talking about each other. Anyway, Phoebe, inspired by the program, decided that Saturday night’s dinner was going to be an intense, pre-grand final, episode of My Kitchen Rules. Meg (my step-Mum) and Phoebe, and Mr and Mrs Invisible, were this week’s contestants. Dad and I were the evening’s guest judges. 

The Menu 

Entree - Deconstruction Salad 

greens, spanish onion, beetroot, and organic fetta served with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar 

Main - Cous Cous and Vegetables

cous cous cooked in orange juice and served with a mixed summer vegetable salad, and corn on the cob

Dessert - Chocolate coated strawberries

chocolate coated strawberries served on a bed of crushed meringue and ice cream 

The Verdict

Presenting the salad unmixed, with the ingredients artfully arranged on the plate was an interesting choice. The combination of ingredients was delicious however - light and refreshing and the perfect use of end-of-summer ingredients. The beetroot was cooked to perfection and matched well with the organic Southern Highland’s fetta. 

The cous cous cooked in orange juice and served with cranberries was surprisingly rich, and was a lovely contrast to the light though flavourful mixed summer vegetable salad. The fresh corn on the cob was sensational, however the team lost a point for not promptly serving butter with the corn. Overall, wonderfully fresh and full of flavour. 

Dessert was sweet and rich. The chocolate coated strawberries were indulgent on their own, however the combination with the crushed meringue and strawberry and vanilla ice cream made this a decadent dessert that was indeed a real treat and the perfect finisher for a fabulous meal. 

Phoebe (and Meg), scored a resounding 11 out of 10 from the evening’s judges, however Phoebe insisted that scores had to be out of 10, and she would rather an 8, so an 8 was awarded. Mr and Mrs. Invisible were awarded 2 points. 1 point for trying, and 1 point for having the guts to serve thin air. Phoebe also mentioned that they had burnt their main course, and failed to dish up on time. A disappointing effort from Mr and Mrs. Invisible, but a wonderful (and delicious) effort from Phoebe and Meg. If this is what reality tv inspires, then bring it on. The best part about it? There were no ads, the food tasted sensational, and the television was NOT the centre piece of the evening. Now that's my kind of kitchen rules! 

Baking Bread

The hip, not-so-new thing amongst organic food lovers and locavores (people who try to source all their food from within a 100 mile radius of where they live) is cooking with sprouted grains. You take whole grains, sprout them by rinsing them in water twice a day for a few days, grind them into a paste and bake. Apparently sprouting grains helps one absorb more minerals, increases the vitamin content of the grain, and is more easily digested. Woohoo. Plus, it is meant to taste fabulous. Inspired by an article in my 2010 Permaculture Diary, I decided to have a go at baking “Essene bread” (the Essene’s, my diary tells me, were “peace loving, mostly celibate, vegetarian folk who lived communally with collective ownership” around the time just before and after Jesus. They have since, not so surprisingly, died out).

I took four cups of whole dry wheat grain, and watched with amazement as the little brown grains grew longer and longer white and green tails over the space of a couple of days. When the sprouts were long enough (approximately the same size as the grain), I threw them in a food processor with a bit of water, and churned out a gooey paste. I discovered I’d used a little too much water, and the paste was a little too gooey. But I persevered. I beamed positive vibes at the round goo as I placed it in the oven and let it bake for over 2 hours.

The result? The edges, which had caramelised, were as delicious as the article had promised. Like a rich dark brown sourdough with bursts of juicy flavour. The insides however were just sloppy goo... But, hurrah! I have baked with sprouted grains! And I know for next time not to use so much water, to set the oven at a slightly lower temperature, and to let it all bake for longer. I’ll be back Essene bread... even if your inventors never will be! 

Gourmet Dinner for Two

Coming home on the train last night I was imagining what I was going to cook for dinner. I decided on roast tomatoes and cous cous. I could taste the light and fluffy yellow cous cous, prepared in vegetable stock, mixed in with peas, carrots, capsicum, and creamy fetta. Once home I sliced two tomatoes, drizzled them in the dark balsamic and light olive oil, and liberally sprinkled the juicy red half-moons with salt and pepper. Next step, to the cupboard to claim the cous cous. But when I got there, the cupboard was bare. Well, not quite bare, but bare of cous cous. The sadness! 


Luckily for me, my wistful taste buds and I have spent the last week reading Frances Mayes' mouthwatering memoir “Under the Tuscan Sun.” Oh how I wish we could all jet off to Tuscany every summer to restore an ancient farm house and fill it with ingredients picked up from the local town or back(vine)yard! Even as a vegetarian, Maye’s descriptions of chickens roasted with 40 cloves of garlic (40!!!!) and endless variations of bruschette, and hazelnut ice cream have made me a salivating wreck on Sydney’s buses and trains after work. 


So, with Frances Mayse and her Tuscan kitchen on my mind, I turned to the classic staple, pasta. I roasted the tomatoes, along with some diced potatoes, garlic, and onion until they were all sweet and soft. Along with a generous helping of kalamata olives, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkling of oregano, I tossed them through a batch of pasta. Mmm hmm! And there’s still enough left to take for lunch this week. Ah, heaven. Thank you Frances Mayes!   

Superforest Humanifesto

Hello! This blog is being born for the following reasons. 

1. The inspiration to just write
2. Inspiration from the lovely folk over at Superforest.org. Superforest states that to be happy one should do three things: 1. Read the Humanifesto 2.Make things 3.Start a blog. I couldn't agree more. And here we are. 
3. Inspiration (and support) from my friends and family who have requested/suggested I keep writing. This is as much for you as it is for me. 

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word "inspire" comes from the Latin in + spirare: "to breathe". Which happily ties in with one of my favourite movies of all time, "Ever After" and the BIG moment when Danielle arrives at the ball to tell Prince Henry the truth. As she stands at the entrance, she tells herself "breathe, just breathe". Good advice for life's big (and small) moments. 


So this blog shall be about things that inspire, excite, and are beautiful. 


I hope you enjoy.

Much love,

Luisa