The Sea

Bird by the ocean near Cottesloe Beach.

Recently the Yankee and I went for a Sunday Drive along the coast. One thing I love about living in the city these days is the sheer number of different places to go, without having to drive for hours on end to be somewhere completely different.

From where we live, it's about half an hour to both the hills in the east and the beach on the west coast. I love both, but there's just something about being near the water that's so magical. If we ever leave cities behind for good and make a tree-change - as I suspect we will do someday - it's the ocean that I'll miss the most. Her moods, her many colours, the sounds of waves upon the shore.

Pumpkin and Chickpea Burgers

So, since the Yankee and I ditched eating red meat as of this year, I really have had cravings for one of my absolute favourite foods - that is, a decent burger. I really loved hamburgers. Since going in for the veggie option, I had road tested quite a few with less than impressive results. Mostly the patties have a slightly crisp texture on the outside, but are utterly mush on the inside. I hate that. Bleurgh.

Now, after a bit of trial and error, I think I've finally come up with my new go-to Veggie Burger recipe. They are crisp on the outside, have a lovely firm texture, and hold together both when you're flipping them and eating them. And they're fairly darned healthy. 

Here's the recipe:

Half a butternut pumpkin
Can of chickpeas
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 lightly beaten egg
Breadcrumbs
Flat leaf parsley
Flour (to dust)

Boil pumpkin until soft. Drain and mash.

Drain and rinse chickpeas. Mash and add to pumpkin mixture. Add cumin, paprika, chopped flat leaf parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Add beaten egg to mixture and mix thoroughly.

Add breadcrumbs. The amount needed will depend on both the amount of egg and pumpkin used - the mixture should be firm enough to retain a patty shape, but still quite pliable. About a cup should be sufficient, but add it gradually.

Wrap each burger in clingfilm. Refrigerate for a few hours. Just before cooking, unwrap burger and pat down with flour just prior to frying in a layer of vegetable oil. (This gives the burger a lovely 'crunch'.) Fry burger until lightly browned.

Serve as you would normally serve a burger! These will keep uncooked in the fridge for a day or so, if you'd rather make a batch ahead of time. The recipe above will make four good sized burgers.

Enjoy!

LL

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Branching out into the world of Bloglovin. Anything to lessen the capacity of my poor, overstuffed bookmarks folders.

Happy Birthday to Jojo

One of my best buddies in the world is a rabbit. Jojo Peanut to be precise. And, like me, it's his birthday around this time of the year. Unlike me, he's only three.

When we got Jojo in the winter of 2010, my husband and I had both recently been retrenched from our jobs. Luckily our finances were bouyed by a reasonable tax return that year, which helped see us through until we got back on our feet again. We had a tiny bit of money left over. Enough for a hutch, some toys, and a heap of straw and food.

And that's how we ended up driving home with a tiny baby rabbit in a cardboard box. Neither of us had owned a pet rabbit before. I'd never even held one. We had no idea what to name him. I mentioned that the shade of brown marking his fur was the same colour as peanut butter. But somehow peanut just wasn't right all on it's own. We tossed around names for a while; the only one that ever seemed to spark a response from the baby bun was Jojo.

He was tiny. His binkies were adorable as he slipped and slid on our crappy linoleum floor. He seemed to have the bladder of an elephant and the ability to know exactly when was the worst time to pee. Gradually, with a little coaxing, he learned to use his litter trays. He would get up on our bed and be too afraid to jump down. He snuggled between us on the couch, and he snored, and sometimes he squeaked.

Jojo, happy birthday buddy. You're one of the lights of my life.

Lapin

In The Garden

In the spirit of continuing to be more creative every day, I attached the macro lens to my camera yesterday and headed out into the backyard.

The backyard at our old place had two of the most magnificent fruit trees that I've ever seen, and it was a joy to take photos of them as the seasons were reflected in their physical change. But the rest of the yard did pale in comparison, just being a pad of grass with a clothesline dotted off to the side like a rather skeletal mushroom.

Now, in our new place, the backyard is a puzzle of green. When we first moved in, the very last part of the yard was filled with old dead branches a neighbor had cheerfully cut off her trees and chucked over the side of the fence (Noice one!). Luckily for us the Green Waste collection was not far off. The slope above the retaining wall was a sea of bright green weeds, which were eventually raked out by The Mister and myself some weeks later.

But the flowers. They were everywhere. And we had a herb garden. And there was just so much potential!

Our pet rabbit Jojo was unequivocally a fan. After fretting that he might not move well, he had adapted within a week. (It took him a little longer to get used to the hardwood floors inside, having always been a carpet-raised bunny.) 

So. Yesterday I tried to capture some of the beauty of the garden on a small scale. As is usual when I use the macro lens, some photos I thought beautifully in focus turned out to be blurry and just off once uploaded to the computer. But some have come out well. 

I can't wait for spring...to start planting....

Lapin

Where There's Coffee....

 

 

Another day... And by gum, I actually woke up this morning feeling like I did in fact want to write a blog post. And maybe take a few photos. And do something creative. 

So the first thing I did is get up and make a coffee, and let my rabbit Jojo out to play in the backyard.

This sort of enthusiasm for me feels quite unusual. And so my first - and probably counter intuitive - instinct is to sit down somewhere quiet to think about it until it goes away. Over thinking I'm sure is the bane of my existence, and what has eventually short-circuited almost all my large scale creative endeavours. 

But as I'm sitting here I'm actually starting to get more ideas, not less, and that's really unusual. Possibly my brain is seeking to find arty and crafty outlets to churn over rather than the other things in my life that are keeping me up at night - balancing the books, divining my career path (which to be honest is more of a suggestion of an overgrown mountain track at this point), figuring out how to claw back the savings we spent moving to our lovely new home.

I'm not sure what circuit in my brain is taking me from looking over bills to making pompoms...but right now I'm sort of glad that it is. Because it's making me happier. I know deep down the bills will always get paid - somehow they always do. (I'm not the type to default, I feel too guilty!) And I realize that's what great about arts and crafts is that they deposit your mind firmly in the 'now'. Making is always a 'now' moment. 

So outside on our back patio, with Jojo hopping blissfully out amongst the clover, I brought up the 'Paper' app on my iPad and started to sketch. I know that the quote goes 'Where there's tea, there's hope' - but in my experience I drink tea when I'm already pretty calm, maybe sitting down for a chat with family. It's coffee I drink when I need to get going and get energized. That's when I need my hope. 

Lapin

Ordinary Days

This is the latest of several blogs I've started, all with good intention. I've never managed to become a really dedicated blogger, despite having a love of writing, drawing and photography; all things that should put me in good stead to become much more creatively prolific than I am.

My husband and I recently relocated from a regional city up to a capital city. Right-o, I thought, being around all that urban creativity will inspire me to be much more creative myself. Well, nope. I spent the first two months in a kind of daze, trying to readjust. Looking for a new job with a bit more security and inner fulfillment than my current casual position (that I was still lucky to be able to continue when I moved). Being successively more and more deflated with the job search in a trying and uninspiring market. (And is there anything more depressing than the rampant fakery and oily enthusiasm that comes with job hunting? Ugh) Starting two short stories that trailed off into nothingness after the first page. Finding a few short courses that commenced a few weeks before we got here.

Wondering what on earth I was going to do with the next year, and with my life.

And as always, when faced with a large, future altering decision...I did nothing.

Well scratch that. I did the dishes. I did the laundry and went for a few walks by the river. But what I was doing wasn't enough. I mean, there's only so many times you can watch re-runs of Medium on the IQ.

So this morning, I brought out my DSLR from its neglected spot under the computer nook. It's such an awesome piece of kit and I love it so much, it really is baffling why I don't use it more. Then I turned it off Auto and put it on Manual.

And I took some astoundingly bad photos.

But I had more fun with it than I've had in ages. And I learned a lot. (The first thing being, I know diddly-squat about how my beloved camera really works.) And I took a few good photos too.

So, I've decided I'm going to update this blog at least a couple of times a week. I've changed the title and hopefully improved the energy behind it too.

Just the ordinary days.

Les jours ordinaires.

Lapin