Everyday I'm Trufflin'

For any of you who know my husband, Tass, you'll know he's been on a major publicity trail of late. He's been on page 6 of The Courier Mail, taken the inside front cover of Style Magazine, and been interviewed by various radio stations - and all for his illustrious passion, the fresh truffle.

No, I'm not talking about the chocolate thingos... I'm talking about the valuable and highly sought after edible species of underground fungus. Found on the roots of oak and hazel trees, truffles are one of the world's most expensive foods, coming second only to saffron (I know, that's a surprise in itself... I had no idea my regular Indian meal was so prestigious!).

So of course, being the supportive wife, I went along to the free truffle tasting he held at the shop (insert plug here... Superior Fruit, 365 Honour Avenue, Graceville) where on show for one and all to try was a delicious truffle risotto sprinkled with fresh grated truffle.

I had tasted fresh truffle before, but I am continuously amazed at the sheer strength of taste that comes with the tiniest amount. A whole truffle is about the size of a button mushroom (and would equate to about $70 value) but a few small shavings are enough for a dish- so really it works out to about $10 for a generous family meal - not too bad at all.

Of course me being the cheeky taste tester, I had to try a little shaving on its own - and to my surprise it was not as pleasant as I was expecting. Is there anything worse than expecting to get a taste and getting something totally different? (It reminds me of the time I was first convinced to try butter milk, and expecting it to taste sweet and buttery, I discovered it to be more like sour cream.)

Anyway, so the lesson I learnt from this is that with truffle, it really is a case of less is more so if you're ever feeling like you'd like to give cooking with it a shot - remember, you don't need to spend a fortune to try it.

And most importantly, enjoy!! It really is nature's miracle food!

Tass and his beloved truffles

Vanity... Is it really so bad?

As embarrassed as I am to admit it, it wasn't until my recent laser spot removal that I realised how much of a part vanity played in my everyday life.

And before you go judging me for being shallow and talking about 'looks' this way, I dare you to get over 40 burn marks on your face and walk through a heavily crowded public area - you'll soon realise we're all a little vane deep down.

I started out with a soothing voice in my head calming me down: "Relax, no one is looking at you..."

"... Except that person. And that one. OK they're all staring at you as though you belong on the poster of a horror flick, but so what?"

It was at this point I started thinking about vanity. Dictionary.com describes vanity as: "the excessive pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements, etc."

Since when is taking pride in your appearance a negative thing? My mother always taught me to leave the house dressed well and to always look presentable. Doesn't that equate to taking pride in your appearance?  

Then I realised the word in that definition that turned this characteristic into a negative one: "excessive."

I don't consider myself to be excessively concerned with my looks, but then again who's to say what is or is not excessive? What's the standard of measure here? I certainly don't think I look in the mirror more than the average person, but as briefly mentioned before, I wouldn't leave the house in anything dirty, with my hair in a mess or my face unwashed.


So perhaps these things are the difference between vanity and taking pride in your looks. Whatever is considered "the norm" in your society, or perhaps even a little above versus someone who obsesses and takes it up a notch.


Either way, one thing I know is that my little walk of shame certainly made me appreciate the times when I can walk through a crowd without feeling self conscious, maybe even take a little pride in my appearance. And the next time I whinge of a bad hair day or a blemish on an important day, that little voice inside will always remind me: "How quickly you forget that day of horrified looks... so cheer up!"

Embracing the Birthday

I am noticing a pattern developing with my birthdays. I seem to be enjoying them less and less as the years go on. And as you've probably guessed, I don't have anything against birthday cards, or of course being given a bit of extra special treatment - it's actually the age creeping up and up that I'm not too fond of (surprise surprise).

It's something you hear of all the time - men and women, usually over the age of 25, starting to complain about getting older. Then of course, if you have the nerve to whinge about the dwindling supply of your remaining twenties to someone who is older and has fare welled theirs, you can pick every time what they'll come out with: "Oh what are you going on about, you're only 'insert number here.'"

It's like that movie, In Time with Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried where when they turn 25, a clock is activated within them and starts ticking down to their eventual death.

So, imagine my surprise when my thirty-something workmate asked how old I was turning and when I told her 28, her eyes lit up, she gave a huge smile and said: "What a fantastic age, it's such a beautiful time. You get so much more of a self awareness and really start to know what you want. It's fantastic."

What an unusual response. I wasn't complaining, it was refreshing and positive, but this did raise a few questions for me. Are there ages that represent certain milestones, or is it simply based on every person's own journey and experiences?

I certainly believe in events being milestones - births, weddings, anniversaries, even your 18th and 21st - but an age like 28? Or perhaps something really special happened to my friend at this time of her life and that's why she recalls the age being such a pleasant one?

Either way, I know how her response made me feel and I choose to change the way I view birthdays from now on. If anyone younger than me is having a birthday, instead of give the token "you're so lucky you're so young" speech, I'd like to be more like her and remember the fondest memories that come with that age, the lessons I learnt and am glad to have received. Because shouldn't we all enjoy each moment to its fullest, and try and make milestones of every year? After all, now, this moment, right now, is the youngest we'll ever be!

So bring on 29... 30... 31... and the ages that will follow, because now I realise as my age creeps up, so too will my knowledge, experience, and most importantly, my memories.

Happy Birthday to me!

The Escape Artist

For anyone else that has pets, you know how much joy they can bring to your life. So, I suppose taking that statement into account, you could say my life is totally overrun with joy as my husband, Tass, and I are the happy owners of three dogs, two horses and a miniature pig (a whole other story).

I am, and always have been, an animal lover. If I'm having a bad day, I sit and give them cuddles, or take them for a walk, or just watch them playing in the garden and I'll instantly feel better. But there is one particular pet of ours who is, in fact, ruining our lives. Meet Henry.

Of course, he's not actually ruining our lives, just causing us mountains of frustration (though I'll be the first to admit, the situation can be funny sometimes).

Let me explain. Henry escapes. But this isn't your usual "escaping dog" situation. He'll scale great heights, dig trenches oceans deep and even worm his way through holes you'd swear you could barely fit a grape through. And for what you think? Perhaps to go on great adventures, to travel for hours on end digging through rubbish and pigging out on the neighbour's scraps? Nope... 

After his almighty escape, Henry walks around the perimeter of the house, casually strolls to the front door, and patiently waits on the welcome mat until someone comes home - with a look on his face that says: "Oh, someone accidentally locked me out of the house so I'm being ever so good and waiting here until you'd be so kind as to let me back in again."

Unfortunately, we live next to a relatively busy road and it's during his initial perimeter run that we usually receive a phone call from one of the neighbours saying they almost ran him over so we do indeed need to put a stop to it.

Tass and I have spent countless hours... no days... fixing the areas where Henry gets out. And sometimes it even works for a couple of days and we come home to find him safely enclosed with the others (it's at this point it's probably important to mention we have a huge garden so space is not the issue here). But rest assured, it's only a matter of time until he finds some where or some way new to get out again.

It's become a little mission, a challenge for him. And for us. I'll swear when I'm sitting there patching up where he's gotten out, he sits there watching, his expression saying: "Are you serious? You don't think I'll be able to pull that apart? Come on, you can do better than that." 

Today, it's been a straight 24 hours of success for the humans - but we're not lulling ourselves into a fake sense of security yet. No no... that's what he wants us to do. He wants us to feel satisfied that we've fastened the wire on the gate tight enough, that we've nailed the wood palings strong enough, that we've covered the holes well enough. And then when we least expect it, we drive in and there he is. Sitting on the welcome mat. With that expression saying: "You'll never defeat me."

For now all I can do is wait, and hope that the famous Escape Artist has finally met his match. 

...but I'm not holding my breath.

The Girl With Any Face She Wants!

She's been written and talked about all over the world after her YouTube videos went viral, but I personally am still amazed at what amateur make up artist, Tamang Phan can do.

For those of you who haven't heard of her, this is what she looks like without any make up.

And here is what she can create, I stress, with ONLY make up. No camera tricks or photoshop!

Angelina Jolie

Scarlett Johansson

Adriana Lima

To further show her diversity, she even transforms herself into a man!!

Rapper, Drake

Other faces she has replicated include Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson, Disney characters and even the Avatar creatures. 

And the best bit? She does it all on camera so you can pick up a couple of her little tricks and hints for yourself.

The Power of Presence

Working in a relatively small office, I'm sure I am feeling it more than those in a larger team, but it's amazing how much of an impact the presence, or absence, of a single person can make on the dynamics of a group.

In this case, we recently had a long serving member of the sales team leave and speaking to the others, I'm sure they're all feeling the change as much as I am.

It's not so much that he was particularly louder than anyone else, or that he made a big impact on the way things worked within the organisation; it's simply a presence.

It is this turn of events that made me start thinking about the power of presence. Why is it that some people can quietly walk into a room and everyone turns to look at them, where others could scream at the top of their lungs to receive barely a glance in their direction?

Researchers have put it down to many things from appearance to state of mind - in fact I even read an article on how to have a powerful presence using your thoughts. But within all the ideas and theories, they are just that; thoughts and theories.  No proven facts. No firm and concrete evidence.

One theory that seems to dominate is self confidence; that someone who is sure of themselves, firm in their beliefs, strong in their values will have a strong presence. It makes sense. Anyone I've ever met with a strong presence was definitely confident in themselves - sometimes bordering on arrogant actually!

And that then raises the question - is the presence strong in a positive or negative way? I know plenty of people who are self confident and can dominate a room without trying - but for some of them, it's for all the wrong reasons. They hate this, they have a bone to pick with that person, this is wrong, that is bad - the list goes on.  I'd rather not have a strong presence at all, than have one which everyone feels in a negative way. 

So I suppose for now the lesson I can take away from the departure of my friend with his strong presence - which for the record was not a negative one - is that no matter how strong my presence is, I should always keep it positive. Be happy, self confident and grateful for any and every blessing I can count. I can wish for no more powerful presence than that.

Welcome

In today's fast paced world, where pretty much everyone who is anyone has their own online presence in some way or another, I thought it was about time I set up my own blog - seeing as I'm more comfortable writing than speaking anyhow.

So sit back and buckle up - it's going to be a bumpy, but fun, ride!