Trying New Things: February

I watched Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

This month it was actually difficult to find a new movie I really wanted to see as there wasn't much out I wanted to see.  After umming and ahhing I decided to go with the film which had the best audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes which just so happened to be this*.  

Because the kids had already seen it I saw it by myself (which is no different to usual).  And I must concur with all the other reviewers - this is a brilliant movie.  Like The Incredibles it's themed around a mid-life crisis so appeals to a more adult audience.  But it still maintains enough silliness that kids love it too.

Glad I chose this over that new British rom com.  I haven't seen it, but I guarantee this is better.

I read Good Indian Daughter by Ruhi Lee

Before the end of the school holidays we went on a family outing to scour local op-shops.  And in the Hospice shop we found book gold.  Not only did we find a huge collection of Ripley's Believe It Or Not! which are basically Etta's favourite book series ever, but also this book.  On reading the back I realised it was an autobiography written by a Melbournian recent Mum - so likely something I'd find at least slightly relatable.  And it was only $2.  So not a huge loss if I didn't.

But it was worth well more than what I spent.

Beautifully and thoughtfully written - which is not easy given the subject matter - I had assumed it was just about fitting into the culture of your family amidst a backdrop of a different culture.  It was much more than that.  This was a book about family violence, sexism and culture and finding ways to set boundaries to 

I also read Weird, Wild Animals by Tim Flannery

You might think this looks like a kids book.  And you'd be right!  But it's an epic kids non-fiction book which is more than 250 pages long full of awesome facts and illustrations about all kinds of animals.  Mum got it out of the library for the kids as Etta is usually into books like this, but Abby was the one who really loved it.  After a few bedtime reads of this story to her I realised I needed to read the whole book myself.  And I have no regrets - it was absolutely worth reading.  It was shortlisted for two non-fiction books awards in 2020 and like the other book I read in February, also written by an Aussie.  I especially liked the small excerpts about the authors personal encounters with animals.  After finishing it I immediately looked him up to see if he had any grown up books I might like - and it turns out there are a great deal - but they all look kinda boring.  However, he has also has two other kids books in a similar vein which I are definitely on my reading list.

I made mushroom stroganoff

I have made a similar stroganoff before, but not in a long time.  This recipe was a lot soupier than the one I've made before, but it was really delicious and made a lot.  I actually omitted one cup of stock as it was already obvious it would be a very wet mix.  But it was delicious!  I think if I made it again I'd either add some tomatoes or use sour cream instead of yoghurt to up the level of sourness and would probably use a little more thyme than I did in this recipe.

I planted some tomatoes and bought a curry tree

While my first lot of tomatoes were late to ripen, the rain meant they were fairly prolific. Given how moderate the temperatures have been, I decided to try a second planting this season and see how it goes.  Fingers crossed I get a few more tomatoes from these little sprouts.

When I discovered that not only was it possible to grow curry leaves in New Zealand but it was pretty easy to buy a curry tree, I went out and bought one pretty much straight away.  Curry trees do not grow very large, so you can keep them in pots indoors if you don't have much space - which is where mine is at the moment.  So far, it's doing very well in the bay window.  I've taken some cuttings in an attempt to grow some more little curry trees to gift to friends who also love cooking with fresh curry leaves.

I did this painting

I know it's not a great painting.  But I did it and now it exists.  If I keep this up, by the end of the year I'll have twelve paintings and hopefully my painting will have improved. One thing I know is that like most things, painting improves with practice.  I'm not trying to be Da Vinci or anything here, I just want to remember how to put my mind and hands together again.  This is a start.



I did write a poem...
But I'm not going to post it here.  I'll probably compile them all somewhere at the end of the year.  But I did it, and I'm going to keep on doing it so that this year I'll have written at least twelve poems - which is not many but certainly better than none.


* It also came with high praise from a friend who said that it was the best film from Dreamworks since Shrek so I figured it must be good.