Thursday, December 01, 2005

thoughts

Isn't it funny how people you've never met can influence you? The other day I bought pumpkin purely because Cesca had been going on about it. I roasted it with capsicum (red pepper), asparagus and fetta and served it on a bed of rocket (arugula) with plum tomatoes. Yum! And Wednesday night saw me photographing my shoes just because Anchored Nomad asked me to.

I arrived in Australia with practically nothing in the way of kitchen stuff - just a coffee plunger, some bowls and a chopping board and knife. I bought the obvious stuff (cutlery, plates, pots, toaster, kettle, coffee grinder, corkscrew) but it's amazing how many little kitchen gadgets there are. "I'll just grate that ginger", I think - oh, no grater. "Now, time to flip the omelette" - oh, no spatula. "Ooh, I'll cook the salmon in tinfoil with a dash of balsamic" - you guessed it, no tinfoil and no balsamic.

I still can't get over how many friends are having babies. I have three overdue baby presents to send this weekend (that's overdue presents, not overdue babies).

I was woken up by an amazing thunderstorm this morning. This town has some spectacular weather.

I'm wondering how much coverage Van Tuong Nguyen's execution is getting in the rest of the world, particularly the US. Have you guys even heard about it? Here it is understandably getting huge coverage (he's Vietnamese-born but lived in Melbourne), with plenty of protests and criticism of both the Singaporean government and the actions of the Australian government to attempt to intervene. Personally, I'm anti-death penalty - it's horrific and barbaric. But the point I want to make here is something I heard a commentator say on the radio, along the following lines. Australia (government, opposition and citizens) have had plenty to say about the death penalty in Singapore recently. But what about other countries where the death penalty is carried out? Would Australia ever challenge Bush or the US on this issue?

C'est tout.

R.