Rice Balls - try them, you love them! Great for Christmas entertaining!

• 2 cups skim milk
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• Salt
• 1/2 cup arborio rice
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1/2 cup raw whole almonds

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large saucepan, combine milk, sugar, honey, cardamom, and a pinch of salt; bring to a boil over medium-high. Add rice and stir. Partially cover, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender, 30 to 35 minutes.
2. Transfer rice to a bowl and stir in raisins. Cover with plastic, and refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours.
3. Spread coconut and almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and bake, tossing occasionally, until coconut is golden, 4 to 6 minutes; set aside to cool. Grind nuts and coconut in a food processor until very finely ground; set aside.
4. Using level tablespoons, form rice mixture into balls (you should get about 24) and roll in coconut mixture. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or covered, up to 2 days.

 Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much are the three pillars of learning.

There is an old saying in Queensland that when the Jacaranda trees are flowering that it is too late to study for exams. Well they flowered early this year, due to the drought, and my exam is tomorrow. Do I give up now? 
 

I actually did more housework when I had a full time job, than I do now that I am unemployed. I have been home 6 weeks now and have accomplished nothing...except for reorganising the pantry. I can't rest on that laurel for too long though can I?

Maybe tomorrow....

Current Moon Phase : Waxing Gibbous 97% of Full

Beware the full moon cometh

35 confirmed dead in the Victorian fire disaster

Comfort and prayers sent to the victims of the multiple fires in Victoria and the continuing flooding in north Queensland.

I went for a short walk yesterday afternoon and five dogs barked at me and I heard three mothers having "issues" with their young children.

I went for a walk this morning and I heard nothing but bird twitters. I passed one dog lying in its garden and it could barely lift an eyelid to me.

I like the mornings.

I am going to go and dance naked under the moonnight sky and sacrfiice a cucumber to the gods of dawn so that in my next life I can have the option to tick some different boxes...

go bite the other girl for awhile, okay?

Don’t you worry

 

When you feel so lonely, cos

 

Everyone’s lonely

 

They’re all crazy too

 

Like their mothers

 

Like their fathers

 

Everyone’s crazy

                        from Lonely Moon

                        by  Cat Empire/Harry Angus

I am exhausted by the hot humid Queensland weather that makes the perspiration drip off the end of my nose when I bend down to pick up the MANY pairs of shoes that my family leave on the floor of the television room.

I am tired of Oprah working out her own personal issues on television and for assuming we are all as screwed up as her.

I am angry at Martha Stewart for extolling people to consume, consume, consume and making women feel inferior for not being able to do it all.

It annoys me, that because MR FD works full time, the fact that I have lost my job will not be accounted for in any statistic. All those jobless numbers are incorrect because there are thousands of women like me who cannot claim any government help and yet have lost their job. Equality – bah hum bug, it doesn’t exist!

I am happy that people ask me why, at almost the age of 51, I am going to retrain as a teacher. My answer is two fold – I need a job that pays and is secure as  I get older, and two, and this is the one that is coming to mean the most to me, I want to give something back to the community. I think that as we get older we desire more to give something back to the world and this is the way I want to give back – to teach, to help children become the people they want to be.

I want to punch out car salesmen who lie to me and pretend to be my friend while I am considering buying their car. Even if I say “cut the crap” to them, the lying is so enculturated in them that they can’t stop, they have to continue the spin. They insult my intelligence.

I am sorry for people who feel embarrassed because they have lost their job due to the current circumstances. I will not be brought low by this...I am quite forthcoming in telling people “I am one of the GREAT UNEMPLOYED”. Speak out, don’t be invisible, I say.

Can I mention the humid weather twice? I hate the way it makes the salt stick in the salt shaker and clogs the shaker’s holes. I hate the bread going mouldy before we can finish the loaf.

I am being driven mad by ANTS. Ants on the sink, on the kitchen bench, on the floor, in the bathroom, on the windowsill.  DEATH TO ALL ANTS. What is Obama going to do about that one, huh?

I am evil. I wait for the charity caller to finish their appeal and then I tell them I am unemployed and have no money to give. I take perverse pleasure in their small “oh” as they hang up.

My mother depletes me. Always has, always will, but we will always love each other.