Recipe book - work in progress

I have decided to tackle another goal, #46 - Organise recipes. I am trying to convert all of my loose recipes into a digital format. I have yet to find a free online tool which will allow me to enter my own recipes, then organise/categorise them according to ingredients, meals, baking etc (any recommendations? Does this actually exist??). Eventually, I'll write them in HTML so I can publish/store/share them in various ways. In the meantime, I'm creating a long Word document (sans formatting) and am copying various bits of paper with the recipes accumulated from numerous sources, and over many years, which have up until now been stored unceremoniously in a large plastic bag. It's shaping up to be quite a mission.

I have begun by hijacking my mother's original recipe book, thinking that it would be good to capture some family recipes from my childhood. There's only one problem; all of her recipes are "in Italian" ... no, not the Italian language, but with no quantities stated and very vague instructions - that's a very Italian way to cook. Hmm, I can see this goal taking longer that I originally thought.

Ice Age 3

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) is the latest 3D movie to hit the school holidays this winter. We braved the families (some of whom had taken our allotted seats, grrr!), donned our 3D glasses, and enjoyed escaping the winter cold for a couple of hours.

The story is simple, the characters are cute, and the 3D effects take this movie to a very happy place. Manny and Ellie are expecting a baby mammoth, Diego the sabre-tooth tiger goes on a soul searching mission, and Sid the sloth decides to adopt three eggs who promptly hatch into dinosaurs, whom their mother naturally decides to retrieve. It's not necessary to have watched either of the first two movies in the series (I haven't seen any of them), but it's easy to switch off your brain for a couple of hours and enjoy some good-hearted fun - not just one for the kids!

Here's the official movie trailer (alas, it's in 2D):

The Sicilian Girl

The Sicilian Girl (2009) is a fact-based drama about a 17-year-old girl, Rita, from a mafia family who broke the code of silence to bring down mafiosi from her village. I was fortunate enough to win tickets to this subtitled movie (yes, the competition junkie strikes again) and went with a friend to one of the opening screenings yesterday.

The Sicilian Girl paints a raw, unglamourous and unglorified portrait of Mafia life quite different to The Godfather (1972) or anything by Martin Scorsese. It is angry and courageous, dark and gritty, and pulls no punches; corruption and betrayal is rife and the mafioso hierarchy rules all. Initially seeking revenge on her father's (and brother's) killers, Rita comes to see that nothing will change unless the whole mafia is brought down and she puts her life on the line to do it.

I vaguely remember parts of the court case hitting the media several years ago; I had no idea that it was a 17-year-old girl who was responsible for these mafiosi's fall from grace. I'm sure that jailing some mafia leaders will not be the end of the story, but it's certainly an historical start.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Edmund Burke

View the trailer here:

Bourne to Rally

My sweetie does motorsport. Thankfully, he's not into watching endless rallies on TV but on many a Sunday I become a "racing widow". Bourne to Rally (2003), the autobiography of New Zealand rally car driver Possum Bourne, is on his bookshelf. It was completed a few days before his untimely death in 2003, when he was killed in a non-competitive car crash. Ironic, really.

Despite my sweetie assuring me how safe motorsport is, much of the book serves as a chronology of crashes, breakdowns, fix-ups, and near misses. Although most of the motoring terms and events went straight over my head, it is still very readable. Told with such enthusiasm, Bourne never gave up, even when the chips were down. Perhaps what appeals to me most is the importance Possum placed on family values; every team member became part of his extended family and that is how they collectively directed their passion towards their next goal or event.

Bourne's message from this book is simple: find something you love and do it.
(I'd better get back to looking.)

Starlight Express

Roller skates. Remember them? Back in the 1980s when they were all the fashion, I was desperate for a pair, just like everyone else in my neighbourhood. The other neighbourhood children all had trendy boot skates, just like the ones you see on tv, but parents could only afford to buy me skates that strapped on around my shoes. It's true that I could still skate (and fall over) just like everyone else, but it wasn't quite the same and I couldn't help wanting what they had.

There is a small cul-de-sac of about ten houses which slopes downhill just opposite my parents' house. The neighbourhood children would skate (slide?) down this street, try to jump up onto the footpath at the bottom of the hill, then stop ourselves by smacking into the fence at the end at high speed. We would then take off our skates, walk back up the hill, and start again. Finally, shoe skates were better; those with boot skates had to walk up the hill barefoot or with their socks on, whereas I still had my shoes. Also, when others grew out of their expensive boot skates, I could still wear mine. Part of me still wanted boot skates, though.

Then along came inline skates and rollerblading. Skates with wheels were definitely not cool; they weren't even retro yet! Apart from a couple of ice skating sessions, I haven't skated since the 80s and am not particularly keen to try. Still, I can reminisce about the days when we would go whizzing up and down our street with both grace and speed, while conveniently overlooking all the scrapes and bruises.

We went to see Starlight Express on Saturday. A rock musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber for his children in 1984, Starlight Express boasts being the only musical performed entirely on roller skates. (Yes, skates, not blades!) Loosely described as a Cinderella-style story about a boy's train set which comes to life. The characters (trains) race to become "the fastest engine in the world", setting up an epic battle between steam, diesel and electricity.

From start to end, Starlight Express is action packed, fast-paced and a dazzling display of lights, costumes, makeup, choreography, and skating action. In 1992, the musical was revised and some songs were added and deleted, with a couple of characters also changed. (I was disappointed to see that the beautiful piece "There's Me" made the cutting room floor; I've played it for years on the piano.) The stunt skating was impressive, as was the set design, lighting and special effects. It would take a lot to get this show on the road!

It's not often that a Lloyd Webber production comes to town. Starlight Express is not so well known in New Zealand, and with ticket prices more expensive than most shows (and a less-than convincing advertising campaign), sales were probably slower than expected. However, with so much to take in, it's easy to forget how naff the plot is and simply get caught up in enjoying the overall show as a sum of all its contributing parts.

The Nanny Diaries

My cousin nannied her way around the globe. She told tales of living with rich families who adored her and would take her on their travels around the United States and Europe. Some had so many airpoints left over from all their travelling that they didn't have time to use themselves and therefore gifted them to her for her own personal travel. At the time, I was in the midst of teacher training and figured that, between teaching and nannying, my big OE would be sorted. It sounded like a good plan.

As it turns out, my OE didn't eventuate and now I'd consider my original plan to be a nightmare; while I'm still keen to travel, doing it that way is not something I'd like to try any time soon. Reading The Nanny Diaries (2002) confirms this: one would have to be mad to kowtow to the kinds of demands exerted by some of these characters, all in the name of having a family yet, in reality, not being interested in their children's lives at all. The novel by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin is a fictitious take on their experiences in the nannying business. Many characters are portrayed as caricatures, probably taking their personalities to extremes. Still, better them than me.

This book is not much for thinking and won't provide any great academic stimulation. Apparently The Nanny Diaries (2007) has been made into a movie starring Scarlett Johanson; I'll happily give that one a miss. However, I'm laid up in bed this weekend with a bad back and this is the right kind of fluff to nibble on in between reading some more serious novels and biographies. Hopefully it will help to keep me sane during the next few days!