A bit of everything. (Food!)

I had my first Voice lesson last Sunday. Basically it's a free-for-all debate class and the instructor are supposed to have a topic ready to talk about. Me? A topic? Errr...like, I have to lead a conversation? It's not that I have trouble sustaining a conversation...but don't you all agree I am flaying a dead horse if I gushed about how much I love Ugly Betty and Hiro from Heroes? It doesn't help with the fact that it kind of undermines my credibility as a well schoolled-Jack-of-all-topics Australian (but really Master of none). Err, who won the election??
I was stumped and a bit nervous to say the least. The rest of the dudes tried to help by saying, 'Oh, you're new, just talk about yourself. They'll be interested in where you come from, just like a pack of crows.' Oh. G.r.e.at. Let me repeat. Err, who won the election?? I'm ashamed to say that I really suck as an Australian. I don't care much about cricket or rugby, and I'm really embarrassed to say that I don't know much about Gallipoli either. The other day I was teaching festivals of the world and for an example I said that in Australia we have ANZAC day (I said it was 25th of January...Mistake#1...At least I knew what ANZAC stood for...Patriotic citizen#1) I explained that it was a day to commemorate Aussie and NZ soldiers who died in Gallipoli (Patriotic citizen#2) in Turkey (I guessed Turkey...Lucky shot#1) I thought I'll leave it at that before I rewrote history but unfortunately both of the students were super keen on ANZAC and they kept asking questions:
Which war? (I said WW2...Mistake#2)
What happened? (It was basically a massacre because the bad guys were ready and waiting behind the cliffs and when the ANZACS fobbed off they were basically sitting ducks...Patriotic citizen#3)
Who were the bad guys? (Err...well, we're in WW2 so the bad guys are bad German people (Mistake#3)...because Turkey were neutral (Mistake#4) so the Turks weren't in it (Mistake#5) [I remembered in WW2 Turkey wasn't involved ok!..Or maybe they are!] I was going to say Japanese soliders were involved in Gallipoli (becaused I remembered Japan were not in the Allies category during History in high school) but I thought it might be a bit touchy so I left it out (Avoided big big mistake#6)
So who were the good guys? (Mmmm...Australia, New Zealand, US, some European countries....umm...)

You guys get the idea. In the end I just couldn't bear to continue making things up (feels so sacrilegious!) so I told them I'll look it up for them. Which I did. But yes, I still bow my head in shame because I really should know these things!

As the example the book did an English festival called Bonfire Night. There was a Guy Fawkes involved and of course like children the adult students had questions coming left, right, front and centre.
Who is Guy Fawkes? What's a bonfire? Why a bonfire? Why a penny? Why make a Guy? What's the Guy?
The textbook was kind enough not to explain any background information so in the end the one looking stupid and incompetent was who? :P

Anyway, back to the Voice lesson. It went smoothly :D we were talking about different slangs each country used. ie/ thong/sandal; tometo/tomato etc. I also taught the people in the room that asphalt is called 'bitmap' (I was trying to say bitumen but it came out wrong...just hope they won't remember how it's pronounced) There were four people in the room and what I found to be quite amusing was that most people were pretty vocal (very different from the usual quiet Jap...but I guess if you're paying to talk you have to utilise every single second) Let's go through the 'stereotypes'. There is always a dominant one who tries to monopolise the conversations; the quiet, silent lurker type; and another who has a really thick accent and doesn't speak clearly but talks in long paragraphs and uses big words to try to compensate for something (hello! who talks like that except for Dawson's Creek?) Anyway, my understanding of him is probably at 20% so the other 80% I pretend to be on the same wavelength as him by popping really useful fillers like 'Oh! Really!', 'Hahaha!', and 'Oh!', while smiling like hell. The topic then moved onto Chinese characters in Japanese and how they are simplifying it. So I discussed with them that actual Chinese has two types as well - traditional and simplified. Three of the group were really into the topic (even the lurker) but unfortunately the dominant one doesn't like the topic (because he doesn't know much and therefore unable to dominate - and had told me so too) Ner ner ner. Blah blah blah. Big fruity whoop. Weirdly enough, I was told by one of the participants that I reminded her of a Japanese actress/singer (they are all multi-talented here). I got curious so when I got back home I googled the said star (Wow there's someone who looks like me?! I don't want to share me! But so cool all the same! Wow!)

Huh. Anyway, I think she smoked too much seaweed. Even if I had stockings over my head to blur my features I look nothing like the girl she purportedly said I looked like. It the same as saying that Fat Bastard looks like Angelina Jolie. (Giggle). Food pics time! This is my new found fav! Green tea cookies! And the best thing is that they are not super sweet! I'm finding everything here has loads and loads of sugar added...it gets kind of sickening. Hummm I'm thinking that when I get back I'm going to see if I can make it using the white choc and macadamia cookies recipe...Bec!! Try it and see if it works! Let me know of the result!These are the things I usually have when I have no time or have no food left. I just cook rice (or nuke the leftover rice in the fridge) and reheat a packet and voila! Instant but healthy meal. Of course, I try to cook real food as much as possible but sometimes I get home late and I want to eat NOW. There is no compromise when I am hungry unfortunately. Sometimes I wonder if my central nervous system is really controlled by my stomach instead.
This is another example of improving my mum's recipe! Hehehe! She gave me my fav which is chestnuts and chicken stew but I thought it would be better if I added potatoes and mushrooms and other greens. It was delicious! Especially in the cold weather! This is the recipe:

small chicken fillet diced (I used marinated roasted chicken)
clove of garlic (chopped)
chestnuts in those vaccum packs already peeled and cooked (I used 1/2 a bag)
any other vegetable ingredients you want to add (I recommend potatoes!)
oil
pepper and other seasoning
potato starch/ corn flour (some sort of thickener)

1. Add a bit of oil to your metal thingy and toss in the garlic. (If you have potatoes toss them in too and cover with lid for a few minutes so they soften)
2. Add chicken and try and matchmake them with the garlicky oil for a few minutes (or until semi cooked) then chuck in the chestnuts and fling them about. Season with a dash of soya sauce and pepper and anything else you think might be nice.
3. Pour in 3/4 cup of water with maybe a small tsp of corn flour mixed in, cover with lid and cook on low heat for a few minutes. I like the dish to have a bit of sauce so if it looks like its drying out add more water to the mix.
4. Add other optional greens or mushrooms, stir it about and you're done!

This was a dish I had for a farewell dinner for a co-worker who is leaving Nova to work for another English company. It's avocado with scallop rice. Other than having an issue with its puny size, the taste was divine! I wanted more!
Another mystery meal cooked up with leftover ingredients. Suprisingly it was actually quite good! I can't believe I'm saying this but I don't mind cooking so much. I'm becoming a nan! It kind of helps when you receive positive feedback at work about how good it smells. This was supposed to be an omelette with stuff inside but it didn't work out (How do you make an omelette? Without burning the outside while cooking the inside?) so it turned into a stir fry of eggs with marinated chicken and whatever vegetables I had. The stuff inside kinda was set on fire because it caught onto the oil inside the pot and leaped into it. (Argh!) Scared the shits out of me...well at least my dinner had a nice smoky taste to it. No biggie afterall, but I might be steaming things for a while instead...