Trying New Things: April

I watched Evil Dead Rise

I was actually going to go see something else but then had issues with the online booking system and I MUCH prefer booking online than in cinema so forgot I actually COULD book tickets in the cinema and chose to see this instead.

I am so glad that I did!

Even though it didn't feature the iconic Ash, it still read authentically Evil Dead.  There are plenty of nods to the earlier films both in story and style, and while not as camp as some of the earlier iterations, the mark of Bruce Campbell is all over it.  

Not only that, but I was so excited to see that there were no US imports in this film.  Every single actor featured was either from NZ or Aussie.  Bruce Campbell has often sang the praises of Kiwi film crews in the past and his love is very apparent in this film.  This made me feel irrationally proud to be a Kiwi.

And there were more feels to come!  Not only did it contain strong, complex female leads, but it made a real effort to break horror tropes.  While in the past women perceived as sexually uninhabited are among the first to die, here our main protagonist is single, finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and struggles with the notion of motherhood.  Not only that but the only lead male character is played by a trans-male actor and nothing is made of it either in how the film is promoted or shot.  I only discovered this actor was trans when I checked to see where the cast came from.

Not only was this great horror filled with iconic scenes which showcased Kiwi/Aussie talent, but it was progressive to boot.  Thank you Bruce Campbell!

I read Hortus Curious by Michael Perry

Mum loaned me this thinking I might enjoy it - I absolutely did!  Not only did I learn about plants I didn't know much about before, but it helped me understand which of these I might be able to cultivate at home myself.

While some of the plants I already had a fair amount of knowledge of already, it was still interesting reading more about the history of these plants and their uses - some of which were completely new to me.

It's a very easy read with beautiful illustrations which I recommend to anyone interested in global botanical history.

I planted more chillies and curry trees

I love the internet.  Honestly.  It's brilliant.  It's how I'm communicating with you right now.  One of the things I love most about it is the communities you can form and the connections you can unexpectedly make with people from pretty much anywhere.  I have a few online communities I participate in - some actively, some more stealthily.  One of my favourites is a Facebook group about gardening on a budget in NZ.  This group has a regular plant/seed swap and in April I chose to participate in it.  While I sent red rocoto seeds across the motu I also received a few wonderful plants myself.  A local lady dropped off some curry seedlings - all of which were gifted to friends and whanau.  And I received yellow rocoto seeds from a lady in Wellington which have sprung into healthy little seedlings in my bay window.

I made peanut ANZAC biscuits

ANZAC day is a tricky one for me.  While I think it's important to remember those who gave their lives for our perceived freedoms, I struggle with the notion of war.  So while I don't participate in grand celebrations on this day, I do still make biscuits every year.  It's a way of remembering the huge sacrifices made not just by those men, but also of the families they left at home during unimaginable times.

While I usually stick with my usual tried-and-true recipe, this year I decided to give something new a try and went off-book.  Alongside the traditional ANZAC bickies I made some featuring peanut butter and some chopped roasted and salted nuts.  I forgot to write down exactly what I did but basically I substituted about a third of the butter with peanut butter and added in a quarter of a cup of peanuts.  

I did this mostly for me.  I love peanuts.  I love peanut butter.  I need more of it in my life.  But surprisingly, the kid who doesn't like either peanuts or peanut butter also liked these biscuits.  So it really did feel like a winning recipe.

I adopted

We were never meant to ever be a more than two cat family.  Two cats are plenty.  But when a friend posted that a Mama feral cat she had spent some time trapping would be re-released by the SPCA while her kittens would be fostered it just seemed so unfair.  Why should the Mama be discarded?  I felt compelled to help out.  The intent was never to keep her - I had hoped to take her temporarily while I sourced a suitable foster family for her as I know people who foster for other agencies. 

SPCA are not heartless bastards - it was kitten season which meant that many foster homes were already full.  And while feral kittens are usually fairly easy to domesticate, adult feral cats generally take a lot more time.  And when she arrived at our place Toastie certainly was feral! 

She was unapproachable - she hissed and scratched and spent most of her time hidden in her cat sack.  We kept her crated for more than a month not just to help her adjust but for everyone's safety.

I never expected her to change as much as she has in such a short time.

In less than eight weeks after she arrived, she is a changed animal.  Other than the ear tipping from SPCA you would never guess she had been a feral cat.  She doesn't attack us, nor does she attack our other pets.  I can call her and she'll come.  I can pat her - everyone in our house can pat her.  She's not scared of strangers - she's more social than Huddle.  She even had her first trip to the vets and didn't so much as complain or scratch anyone.  It's crazy.  She's a proper, regular pet cat.

As much as I'd love to take credit for all this change, I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that Toastie is a very food driven cat.  We've been able to hand feed her since a week of her arrival.  Her need for treats has always trumped her fear which was definitely the driver for the antisocial behaviours we saw early on.  Whatever it was that snowballed this adjustment to domesticity, I am grateful she is part of our whanau.

I painted

And here she is in painted form.  I was really happy with how this turned out.  I had a lot of fun playing with different textural elements and layering colour.  It's a little more heavy handed than I'd like but honestly, I'm happy.  It's the first painting I've done this year that I've really liked.

and I carved

I haven't finished carved anything in more than ten years, but after seeing 'my own pounamu' on Etta's birthday list I thought it was time I gave it another go.  

This year is Abby's first year of Kapahaka which she has been really excited about.  While she might seem like an outgoing child, she gets very anxious about performances.  I thought if I carved her a taonga to wear during performances it might help her feel braver.

I created a small, simple design which signifies dignity and strength and embedded an orange (her favourite colour) baby oyster shell in its base.  She wasn't super excited about it but she has worn it on days where she needed to feel a little braver.

Etta's taonga is currently a work in progress.  While it's made from humble cow bone rather than pounamu, I'm sure she will still cherish it.

I'm so excited to see what new things the next month brings!

Trying New Things: March

I watched Red, White and Brass

I had no idea that the events inspiring this film had even happened!  Which isn't really surprising given I don't follow any kind of sports - not even the Rugby World Cup.  But even if you don't do sports, this is a really enjoyable Kiwi movie for the whole whanau.  If I didn't have a kid who refuses to watch anything not animated, I would definitely take our kids to see it.  Because it's based around a youth group there are no swears or any especially adult themes.  Also enjoyed seeing Nathaniel Lees upgraded from being a  Minister (in Sione's Wedding) to a Reverend.

It was also the first time in a long time I've been to a cinema that had more than four people in it! 

Basically, if you like heartwarming stories with ridiculous plots - you'll probably like this.   

I read Trafficked by Sophie Hayes

I really didn't enjoy this book.  It wasn't because the topic is pretty awful - reading/watching docos about awful things is definitely my jam - it's was just not well written.  I think if Sophie had had someone ghostwrite it for her I might have appreciated her story a little better.  Because this happened to her, and it was still fairly fresh at the time of writing and she (understandably) has PTSD it was (also understandably) a bit messy.  Her emotions sit at the top of things and while she does her best to explain things (and I do get it, I really do) her reality didn't hit like it should have.  While her story is important because she puts a face on domestic violence and uses it to support others in this situation, this isn't conveyed as well as it could have been. 

I also read The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole Stupid World by Matt Kracht

I am not usually the sort of person who buys books from museum gift shops.  They are generally overpriced and you can often find them cheaper elsewhere.  However, on spotting this I made an exception.  And I'm so glad I did.  This book is pretty funny.  Yes, it's childish and repetitive but I loved it nonetheless.  It's the illustrations that make it.  It was also nice to have an Aotearoan bird featured, even if it was used to make fun of us:

'It [the Great Cormorant] is sometimes called a black shag in New Zealand.  I looked it up, and in local parlance, 'shagging' definitely means having sex.  I'm not saying people from New Zealand like to shag birds; I'm just saying it makes you wonder.'

I recommend this book to people who like birds and have a stupid sense of humour like mine.  But I do not recommend reading it aloud to your kids.  On doing so I realised the author has a very potty mouth and our kids don't need to learn new swears (they are very capable of doing so by themselves).

I made African Peanut Soup

I took this recipe from a Soup Group on Facebook and tweaked it a little and OMG it was amazing.  This is truly the best tasting anything I've put in my mouth this year.  Sweet and creamy but so well balanced with chilli, and umami.  While this version is not vegan I think you could very easily do a vegan version using silken tofu.  I've included my version of the recipe at the bottom of this blog post.  I will definitely be making it again soon!

I planted some greens and chillies

I took this pic a few days ago but this is less than a month after planting the seeds.  Less than a month from seed to table!  These are the kind of greens that you can just harvest as you grow (lettuce, rocket and mustard) and are great for a little salad on the side.  These were a Christmas gift from my Mum which I am glad I finally made time to use!  Well worth the very small effort it took to plant them.



I was also gifted some rocoto chillies by a friend.  Not only have I enjoyed them in delicious meals like the peanut soup I also made in March, but I kept the seeds.  This chilli is large, juicy, sweet, hot and a little smoky - I absolutely love it.  So I was very excited to come home from a family trip to Wellington to find they had sprouted!  These plants can live up to ten years and are very hardy - even resistant to frosts, so if I can get them a little bigger they can live outside with our other happy plants.  

Growing things always feels pretty magical*.

I visited Zealandia

I know this isn't on my list of goals BUT in the spirit of new things I decided to share this here.  When we were planning our trip to Wellington Murray told me I should go on a night tour of Zealandia.  And while I really appreciated this opportunity, after looking at the tours that were available I thought it might be better if we all went on a day tour together as it would be a pretty amazing experience.  While Murray had his misgivings about this** he agreed we would all go.  So we did.  And it was awesome.  The takahē were definitely the highlight for the kids, but seeing tuatara without a plane of glass between us was the bees knees for me.  If you love our native flora and fauna - I cannot recommend visiting here enough.

Derpy takahē

I painted this painting

Again, it's not great - but I still did it.  And it does actually look like Nettie, so I'm pretty happy about that.  I don't know if I want to deviate from painting animals at this stage, but I don't really think it matters.  It's ok to just paint cats.  

What's important is just that I paint.

Soup recipe

* Except for when they die, which happens fairly often.  That's when I remind myself that I'm not really a serious gardener.  It helps to keep the magic alive.

* *Abby is very much NOT an outdoors kid.  She lasted far better on this two hour guided tour than either of us could have imagined.

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.

Trying New Things: January

Trying new things is truly the spice of life, so this year I set some goals with this in mind.  These are the things I will endeavor to do each month:

• Watch one new movie at the cinema
  
• Read one new book
  
• Try one new recipe
• Write one poem
  
• Make one painting
  
• Plant something
  
  

This list looks simple.  I know prolific artists and writers who create something most days - bookworms who read an entire book in one day.  I know film fanatics who binge multiple movies every week.  And while I aspire to be more like these people, this is just not feasible for me right now.  It's been a crazy few years and I'm worn out.  I know it's not just me - there's a real sense of collective tiredness in the world right now.  We're exhausted from simply co-existing with a pandemic during an environmental crisis.  Setting small, achievable goals is good.

I'm the kind of person who needs some form of external motivation.  Putting this out there, and documenting these goals helps me feel a need to continue doing and documenting.  So as a start, here are some new things I did in January*.

I watched Babylon

I mostly decided to watch this after discovering it homed a beautiful queer character based on Anna May Wong.  As someone who has read a lot about 'Old Hollywood' I was excited about the aesthetic, but also a little excited to see how they would capture this turning point in film history.

It did ok.  But it was long.  Far longer than necessary.  And I'm not just saying that because I find it hard to sit through most movies longer than three hours, but because in this case it was gratuitous.  The entire last ten minutes of the film were completely unnecessary.  I had to go to the bathroom at the halfway point, and when I came back, the same scene (about them trying to shoot a scene on a new soundstage) was still playing.  They showed all seven takes.  They could have saved that money - and everyone's time - and just not done that. And if they didn't - someone should have left it on the cutting room floor.

It wasn't just me.  People walked out of the cinema and did not return.  Young people.  And this was a very sexy movie.  Young people avoided potentially seeing very sexy sex.  That's how bad it was.

I however, stayed.  I wish I'd left before those last ten minutes, but the rest was pretty enough to hold my attention.  Li Jun Li was amazing.  Brad Pitt's acting was believable.  Margot Robbie was Margot Robbie and the sets and costumes were perfection.  It captured the excess of 'Old Hollywood' and the hubris.  Had the production team managed their own hubris it could potentially have been a great film.

Li Jun Li as Lady Fay Zhu was absolutely brilliant

I also watched M3GAN

M3GAN was a better film than Babylon.  It was a much more palatable length, and I loved spotting the Kiwis among the cast.  These factors may lead you to think me slightly biased.  But Rotten Tomatoes agrees.  With a 94% critic score it in considered much more highly than Babylon which registered a mere 56% on the Tomatometer.

It's hard to explain why it was so good.  The acting was average.  The script was average.  The Kiwi actors American accents were only vaguely believable.  The CGI was good, but nothing to write home about.  But it was one of the best modern sci-fi horror films I've seen recently.  The storyline was believable.  The tech and its failings - very believable.  It was very well paced, did not overinvest in jump scares, and unlike Babylon, every second on screen counted.  Every line was considered.  Whoever edited this needs to school Babylon's editors.  They had 15% of Babylon's budget, but they made every cent count.

Yus queen!  Walk that runway.  You left Babylon in your DUST!

I read The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

I don't read a lot of fiction.  It's not because I don't love fiction - it's because I hate bad fiction - and there's a lot of bad fiction out there.  And sometimes I don't even like the 'good' fiction - I'm extremely fussy with my fiction.  I need it to read like eloquently written poetry.  Or straight to the point death metal.  Basically, it needs good flow.

And The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida has all the flow.  Not only is it beautifully written but it is extremely dark.  That works for me.  I like dark.  At the same time, it's very, very funny.  It's socially heavy, dark and funny which is totally my jam.  The characters are believable.  I can hear the dialogue in my head even though I don't speak Sinhala nor Tamil which feature frequently.

I hadn't read anything by or about Shehan Karunatilaka until I read this book.  I bought it because I had a book voucher, I liked the cover and figured if it won a recent Booker Prize it was probably not awful.  A chapter in I had to find out more about the author and on learning he had done his tertiary study here in NZ a few things twigged. Even though this book is set on the backdrop of the Sri Lankan civil war, it has a Kiwi tang.  It's like seeing films directed or written by Taika Waititi - there's a particular sense of humour and cadence of conversation.  Reading it feels like being home.

I am so grateful I chose this book based on its cover.  I now have a new favorite author.

I Created A Recipe

I actually created this in December but I love it so much I want to share it anyway.  And I did make it again in January.  As I will this month.  It's delicious.

Like your Grandma, Nona, Nai Nai or Dadi I don't have a specific recipe - it's more of a food idea.  There are no measurements - make as much as you want to eat.  Unlike some recipes, this one is not fussy - there's no special spice blend - it is a very flexible dish.  I call it:

Hannah's Medi Vege Pockets.

First you choose some good, Mediterranean style veges to grill.  I use courgette, eggplant, capsicum and red onion and sometimes mushrooms.  The one vege I think is integral to the texture/flavour is the eggplant** - but if you don't like it - don't use it.  Grill these veges.  Peel the capsicum skin.  Rough chop the veges and set aside.

Make a basic tomato sauce.  I use garlic, some fresh (or tinned) tomatoes, a little finely chopped white onion or shallots, fresh basil, pepper and use salt and brown sugar to balance the sauce.  Cook until good and saucy.

Mix your grilled veges through your tomato sauce.  Then get some taco pockets***.  Heat slightly so they are more malleable (I just use the microwave for about 10 seconds so they don't crack when you open them).  You need these three cheeses - mozzarella, feta and parmesan.  Change it if you want, but these are best.  Put the tomato sauce/vege mix in the pockets along with however much of the cheese you like (I think it's good to put some cheese in right down the bottom before you add the veg so it's like a happy surprise at the end).  When full, add a little mozarella to the top then pop under the grill until the cheese melts.

There you go!  Delicious pocket of bliss for you and your whanau to eat.  No cutlery necessary.  If you have made more sauce/veg than you can eat/fit in pockets, save it for later and toss some pasta through it.  Also delicious!

I sprouted something magical

I take a weird sense of pride in picking up random plant life wherever I go.  I never know what will come of it. 

I visited Scandrett Regional Park on one of my alone time holidays and was beyond surprised to find a cherimoya tree in an historic garden over 100 years old - let alone an actual cherimoya!  An orchard where I grew up had one and I have fond memories of eating this unusual, South American fruit.  The fruit I found on the ground was small and likely too old to be good to eat, but me being me I popped it in my pocket nonetheless.

Once home, I extracted the seeds and left them to dry on the kitchen windowsill.  Many, many months later I found them when cleaning up for Christmas and decided to plant them.  I did not look up how to germinate the seed - I just put them in some dirt and hoped for the best.

And low and beyond that ancient cherimoya tree is still procreating!  After a month(ish) of watering this pot of dirt and hoping something would come of it, something did.  Three baby cherimoya trees have sprouted!  I have no idea where I will put them when they are big enough to leave the pot - I certainly don't have room for them.  Right now I'm just excited about the idea that there will be more of these delicious fruit trees in this world.

*                    *                    *                    *                    *                    *                    *

I'm super excited to see what new things February will bring!

* Not the whole list obviously - I just set the list now and it's February.

** I do salt, leave then drain mine to remove bitterness before grilling with the other veges.

*** If you don't already know, taco pockets are freaking amazing.  Put whatever you like in them.  It'll taste good.