Even though it's not the end of the month, I thought I'd do a bit of a 101 Things update for June-July.
2. Taste wine the Barossa. Done! By the time this post is out the Barossa post will be a few posts back. Six wineries visited and ten bottles of plonk purchased, mostly fortifieds and sweet things cos that's (generally) how I roll. What a fantastic day!
8. Make a highly-decorated, awesome cake. I think my birthday cake counts, don't you??! It probably wasn't quite what I had in mind initially as my super-duper-awesome cake but for now that'll be the one.
15. Hold a dinner party with a theme every six months. Well I may not have done it every six months but I've decided that "Afternoon tea" is a dinner party theme, especially if said afternoon tea stretches on to dinner time. You can read about it here and here. Sorry about the ugly photos. But that second link has a really yummy cake, which I insisit you bake immediately! Hopefully when things are less hectic I'll get a chance to try out my Mexican cook books and have a proper crack at this dinner party business.
23. Make ice cream. I did it as part of the Annual Ice Cream Cupcake Contest. Vanilla ice cream base, which I then swirled some lemon curd and crushed meringue through. Oh, yes. Also, note to self - must buy ice cream maker. It would give me much better ice cream for much less effort. Oh, and FYI - the ice cream is the stuff oozing out the middle, not the pretty swirl on top. Sorry to get your hopes up!
24. Blog at least twice per month for a year. Well I counted back a year from today and have managed 95 posts in the time that I had committed to writing 24. I think I can consider my game lifted.
48. Participate in a fun run/walk. I did the Run Melbourne 5km race with my BFF Alice and raised $1080 for the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and promptly made it onto their FB page. Go me! I only ran the first and the last bit - the first hill got my heart doing stupid things - but I'm still proud of my achievement. Especially the fundraising part, because it means they're a little bit closer to curing me.
54&55. Visit Africa and Mexico. Well I'm booked in! I'll be doing this tour and this tour, plus spending a bit of time in the USA and the UK. If any of my bloggy friends want to catch up then shout out! I'm also going to Bloggy Boot Camp in Vegas and would love to meet some people going to that before I'm actually there. Drop me a line and say hi so I'm not a total stranger :)
65. Read my unread books. Yep, I've been working on that but have also been far too lazy to review them. You might cop a bunch of those as scheduled posts whilst I'm galivanting around the globe later in the year.
68. Take a language class. Well, I sort of am. I downloaded an app on my iPhone called Mind Snacks. I chose the Spanish one in preparation for my trip to Mexico and I'm doing pretty well so far. I know nothing replaces actually holding a conversation in the language, but at least now I won't feel like I'm drowning. Plus I can now say "great-grandfather" in Spanish. Cos that, like, so important!
Oh, and I changed #37 from not eating processed foods to not eating lollies, chocolate, biscuits or chips for a month. It's all but impossible not to eat processed foods in this tiny little town because food options are quite limited, and I don't have my usual arsenal of pantry items to make up my own sauces and marinades so I'm stuck with bottled stir-fry sauce etc. I do eat a lot of lean meat with steamed vegies but that gets soooo borrrrring, and not eating lollies, chocolate and chips is a much more important to me because it effectively represents not eating in an out-of-control manner. If I'm not eating that stuff then I'm not going to binge, end of story, and at the moment that's quite a challenge for me.
Well, that's me done for another (two) month(s). I just realised I probably won't update this until November or even December because I'll be away for a couple of months, and won't have done much on that list anyway. But I will be able to tick off Africa and Mexico! WHOOHOO!
Hello! Here's an absolutely ace marinade made out of stuff in your cupboard that is pretty delicious. Of course, because I am the type of cook that makes stuff up as I go along, these are approximate measurements. I make this in a 500ml decor plastic container and this will do six chicken tenders nicely.
ReplyDeleteYou will need:
about 200ml Orange Juice
About a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
One crushed clove of garlic
A swirl of olive oil (not much - more than a teaspoon, less than a tablespoon)
Dried chilli (to taste - I think I chuck in a level-ish teaspoon)
Chop up your chicken, chuck it in the marinade and leave it to brew for about an hour (longer is better, at least 20 minutes)
Voila! Simple citrus marinade with all the time ingredients.
Ooh, that sounds quite nice. Citrus and chicken do go quite well together, and I imagine that the acidity would help make the chicken quite tender, too. Thanks for the tip!
DeleteGood luck with the one about unread books! I have a similar ambition but I keep running into a major problem: by the time I've finished one of the books, I've managed to add about six in its place. It will never end!
ReplyDeleteSee, I have forbidden myself from purchasing books until such time as I have finished reading what I have. But this doesn't preclude the possibility for books to be given or loaned to me, which is how I have come to read other books not in my original pile, plus I keep finding more! I'm beginning to wonder if completing this challenge is a mathematical possibility, frankly.
DeleteGreat list!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I derive a great deal of satisfaction in ticking things off lists. Mind you, I keep finding old lists that don't have much ticked off them...!
DeleteWhat great trips you have lined up! I am so impressed with your dedication to crossing things off your list. It is a fantastic idea to give your life some direction (and I might steal it just to get some things done that have been on the "how cool would this be to do" list for too long)
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is a great way of making sure things get done, although early on it almost stressed me out a little because I wanted to do it all NOW. I'm getting really excited about my trips - four weeks to go!!! SQUEEEEE!!!
DeleteWow you certainly pack a lot into two months! Well done! :D
ReplyDeleteWOW! Lots of progress! I can't believe you've done so much! :) Great job! It's quite encouraging and motivating... while I sit here with my cup of coffee... LOL!
ReplyDelete