(no subject)

I love going to fetes. I find treasures, they don't cost much, and money goes to a good cause (unless its for the Disgustingly rich parents wanting more money so the children can have a golf course at school). I love the fact that what I consider a treasure, other people recoil from. Cat Sparks wrote a story about a pressie I gave her, here: http://vanderworld.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_vanderworld_archive.html

Scroll down to her bit about her birthday party and you'll see a picture of it. I love going through the books and taking home stuff once precious, now discarded.
I picked up "Modelling, a complete home diploma course" a while back. It introduces itself "Every delightful step of the way through this exciting journey will be bringing you closer to a fascinating new world." There is a self-analysis form you have to fill out. Just in case you don't know which are the undesirable options, they have red boxes to tick. The desirable options have blue boxes. Here are some of the questions.
Nerves: are you calm, pleasant? nice to work with? relaxed? do you figit? play with your hands? jitter? talk too much? feel on edge?
Figure: are you delightfully curvy? fat and bulgy? is your bust firm? flat? saggy?
Posture: Are your shoulders down? tummy in? do you show a bulge at the stomach? have a protruding rear?
Pose: do you carry an umbrella smartly? hold a handbag with chic? hold a cup properly?
The woman who filled this out gave herself 25 blue squares and just 4 red. One wonders why she bothered to do the course at all!
Gosh, I wonder what they'd ask young girls these days! Has anyone done a modelling/finishing/June Dally Watkins course?

One of my other favourite finds is a pile of recipes. I think these came from a bottom drawer; they are smooth and flat, and, when I bought them, in close to chronological order. I think the woman put the first one (which dates around 1958 and is a recipe called "Debbie makes nourishing meals with liver") into her drawer and piled the rest on top over the next 30 years. I think that she died, and her family couldn't bear to throw the recipes out, but didn't want to keep them, either. I sat down and followed this woman's life through the recipes she collected. Next was one for home made hand cream. Then, once she'd caught her man and had scored the wedding pressies, there's recipes for the mix master. SHe becomes more adept at cooking, and by the early 70s, there's evidence she took a Japanese cooking class. in between there's recipes for kids, advice on dealing with kids, some snippets about restaurants, a cartoon or two about how silly men are and the occasional marginalia which gives me clues to her.
I wrote it down in a strange kind of story, just going through and writing down my impressions. I loved it. She's a character I haven't used yet; in a way I feel like she's family and I'm not sure how she'd take it! We've discussed this in some of the comments before now.
Has anyone else found a treasure which inspired them to write? My most recent birthday present was this castle, made by local artist Stephen Harrison:
http://harrison.soxkat.com/html/praguecastle1.htm
This inspired my story in the latest issue of Shadowed Realms:
http://www.shadowedrealms.com.au/main.htm

I'm curious to know if anybody else is inspired by physical things.
Kaaron

Delish

I'm cooking this dish for friends tomorrow, and I wanted to share it with you. It's one of those fabulous recipes that make you look clever, even though it's very easy:

Eggplant and roasted red pepper salad
3 red peppers (about 600g)
1 kg finger eggplants
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup chopped pistachios

Yoghurt dressing:
Mix all this together:
1 cup plain yoghurt
1 clove crushed garlic
1/4 cup chopped coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons honey

Stick the peppers in a hottish oven for 45 mins or so, until the skin blisters. Let them cool a bit, then peel off the skin.
Cut eggplants in half lengthways. Cook it in the oil until browned all over and very soft. I always cook eggplant for about five minutes longer than I should. I like it crispy.
Spread 1/4 of the yoghurt dressing onto serving plate, then layer pepper/eggplant/yoghurt till its all used up. End with the dressing, sprinkle with nuts.

People call me a domestic goddess when I make it, so I make it quite often!
Kaaron