Something I've learned in the last week: The only thing a white Australian seems to hate more than being called a racist is seeing a black Australian being told 'sorry'.
It's the same objections that came up before, during and after Kevin Rudd's Apology. All these people rumbling away in the background how it wasn't them, it wasn't their ancestors, why should they have to feel bad?
I think there's some specific white terror that, if we say sorry, then we'll have to give everything back. I think the fear of apology is borne of an implicit knowledge that, boy, did we whites really get away with absolutely everything. And it's so close to the surface, that the merest suggestion that, perhaps, we should all take some responsibility for the current thinking on race in Australia, suddenly everyone's throwing up their hands and wagging their heads and generally behaving as though white privilege does not exist.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Plagiarism green pasta
I stole this recipe from a good friend of Mele's. It's my go-to dinner party recipe for when shitloads of people need to be fed.
Ingredientes:
Basil pesto
Turn blender on. Then pour oil in. Boom. Pesto.
OR
Buy a jar of basil pesto. Your choice.
Cherry tomatoes (chop in half)
Zucchini (sliced in pretty half moon shapes)
Broccoli (chopped up into bit sized bits)
Peas (handful)
GARLIC (crushed into little bits)
Avocado (about half per person, chopped)
Baby spinach
More EV olive oil
Chicken stock powder
Maybe like, white wine or that verjuice stuff
Pasta (whatever you like)
Methode:
1. Cook pasta in a big pot.
2. While it's cooking, throw in the chicken stock.
3. When it's nearly done, or just done, throw in the chopped up broccoli and the peas. If you can't be stuffed with these two, just forget about them.
4. Pasta done. Strain it with the broc. and the peas. Set aside. Keep a splash of that chicken stocky water in the pot if you can. If it all pours away, so what it's just salty water.
5. Put the pot back on the heat. Same pot. Less washing up like that.
6. Put in a big slug of olive oil. Hey, take a bloody shot of olive oil at this point. You're gonna be fine.
7. Put in the crushed garlic. Swirl it around until you can hear it making a little noise.
8. Pesto in.
9. More swirling.
10. Zucchini in. Let that fry up a bit. Basically until it's hot.
11. This is the bit where you can throw in the white wine or verjuice. Just a little bit. For fanciness of flavour. Or, so you can blame me if it doesn't taste right: 'Bloody Franzy! He said to put wine in it!' Seriously though: don't put heaps in. You're just ruining wine you could be drinking. Don't drink the verjuice though. It's not alcoholic.
12. Wine/verjuice steamed off? Pasta back in. Cherry tomatoes in, baby spinach in, avocado in.
13. Stir it up until everything is touching everything else. Give the whole mix some cracked pepper while you're doing this.
14. Serve it up and eat the rest for lunch.
15. Parmesan cheese, of course.
You can pretty much forget everything except for the pasta, the pesto and the tomatoes and it's still going to look great. But you shouldn't. Who doesn't have some cracked pepper and at least one vegetable you can either fry or boil in the pasta water lying around?
Ingredientes:
Basil pesto
- Basil (duh)
- Nuts (almonds, pine nuts, cashews, whatev) - dry fry in a pan and don't burn
- Salt
- Pepper (grind it up or you'll have peppercorns)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil - the stronger the better
Turn blender on. Then pour oil in. Boom. Pesto.
OR
Buy a jar of basil pesto. Your choice.
Cherry tomatoes (chop in half)
Zucchini (sliced in pretty half moon shapes)
Broccoli (chopped up into bit sized bits)
Peas (handful)
GARLIC (crushed into little bits)
Avocado (about half per person, chopped)
Baby spinach
More EV olive oil
Chicken stock powder
Maybe like, white wine or that verjuice stuff
Pasta (whatever you like)
Methode:
1. Cook pasta in a big pot.
2. While it's cooking, throw in the chicken stock.
3. When it's nearly done, or just done, throw in the chopped up broccoli and the peas. If you can't be stuffed with these two, just forget about them.
4. Pasta done. Strain it with the broc. and the peas. Set aside. Keep a splash of that chicken stocky water in the pot if you can. If it all pours away, so what it's just salty water.
5. Put the pot back on the heat. Same pot. Less washing up like that.
6. Put in a big slug of olive oil. Hey, take a bloody shot of olive oil at this point. You're gonna be fine.
7. Put in the crushed garlic. Swirl it around until you can hear it making a little noise.
8. Pesto in.
9. More swirling.
10. Zucchini in. Let that fry up a bit. Basically until it's hot.
11. This is the bit where you can throw in the white wine or verjuice. Just a little bit. For fanciness of flavour. Or, so you can blame me if it doesn't taste right: 'Bloody Franzy! He said to put wine in it!' Seriously though: don't put heaps in. You're just ruining wine you could be drinking. Don't drink the verjuice though. It's not alcoholic.
12. Wine/verjuice steamed off? Pasta back in. Cherry tomatoes in, baby spinach in, avocado in.
13. Stir it up until everything is touching everything else. Give the whole mix some cracked pepper while you're doing this.
14. Serve it up and eat the rest for lunch.
15. Parmesan cheese, of course.
You can pretty much forget everything except for the pasta, the pesto and the tomatoes and it's still going to look great. But you shouldn't. Who doesn't have some cracked pepper and at least one vegetable you can either fry or boil in the pasta water lying around?
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
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An explanation of The Joy Division Litmus Test
Although it may now be lost in the mysts of thyme, the poll below is still relevant to this blog. In the winter of 2008, Mele and I went to live in Queensland. In order to survive, I bluffed my way into a job at a Coffee Club.
It was quite a reasonable place to work: the hours were regular, the staff were quite nice, it wasn't particularly taxing on my brain.
There were a few downsides: In the six weeks or so that I worked there, there was about a 90% staff turnover (contributed to by my leaving). This wasn't seen as a result of the low pay, the laughability of staff prices or the practice of not distributing tips to staff, rather it was blamed on the lack of work ethic among Bribie Island's youth.
However, one of the stranger aspects of the cultural isolation that touched our lives during our time "up there" was the fact that nobody at my work had heard of the band Joy Division.
The full explanation is available here.
But please, interact a little further and vote in my ongoing poll. The results are slowly mounting up, proving one thing: people read this blog are more well-informed about Joy Division than anyone who works at the Coffee Club on Bribie Island.
It was quite a reasonable place to work: the hours were regular, the staff were quite nice, it wasn't particularly taxing on my brain.
There were a few downsides: In the six weeks or so that I worked there, there was about a 90% staff turnover (contributed to by my leaving). This wasn't seen as a result of the low pay, the laughability of staff prices or the practice of not distributing tips to staff, rather it was blamed on the lack of work ethic among Bribie Island's youth.
However, one of the stranger aspects of the cultural isolation that touched our lives during our time "up there" was the fact that nobody at my work had heard of the band Joy Division.
The full explanation is available here.
But please, interact a little further and vote in my ongoing poll. The results are slowly mounting up, proving one thing: people read this blog are more well-informed about Joy Division than anyone who works at the Coffee Club on Bribie Island.