Australia - The Movie

Haunting, beautiful, bitter sweet, Australia, the latest film by Baz Luhrmann, is all of these things and more. I wasn't expecting much when I went in, hoping, maybe, for an entertaining afternoon. Okay, to be honest, I was just hoping to stay awake. What I got was an amazing story, beautifully acted and truly engrossing.

Dark and brooding hero, beautiful, plucky heroine and a couple of dastardly villains all set in the Australian Outback against the backdrop of the early days of World War II. Very simply put, it's the story of an English aristocrat (Kidman) and an Australian cattle driver (or Drover) (Jackman) fighting a cattle baron with a stranglehold on the beef industry and a young boy who belongs no where.

The boy, Nullah, played by young Brandon Walters, is the true shining star of this movie. Nullah, a "half-caste," mixed-race, (white/aboriginal) child and a member of the "Stolen Generations", is the true heart of the movie and Walters is nothing short of enchanting.

I do think one of the villains was a little over-the-top and lacked adequate explanation of his motivation and the origins of his evil.

The movie didn't feel long at all, even though it was and a smattering of applause broke out as the credits rolled. Seriously, go see the movie.

Coddling An Egg

Recently, I made a Caesar's salad from scratch. (I know, I know, woo-hoo you made a salad). I've made salad dressing before, not that big a deal, but never Caesar and I made the croutons. The only thing that was a real challenge was coddling the egg for dressing.


Before I found this recipe for authentic Caesar's salad the only place I'd heard coddled eggs mentioned was in 19th century historical fiction. But it didn't sound too hard. After bringing an extremely fresh egg to room temperature (to prevent cracking) place egg in a mug and pour boiling water over the egg until it is submerged. Let sit for exactly one minute. Well, it's not as easy as it sounds.

Egg # 1 - cracked when the boiling water was introduced
Egg # 2 - cracked when I smashed it in to the faucet (why did I have an egg in my hand when I tried to turn on the faucet? ???)
Egg # 3 - success (I think)
Egg #4 - cracked when the boiling water was introduced
Egg # 5 - success

The recipe did say mayonnaise can be substituted for the egg and recommended reducing "some" of the oil olive. Some??? How much is some? I hate ambiguity, especially in cooking.

One tip - do NOT stick your finger in to the mug of boiling water to check on your egg. Use a spoon.


The end result was not spectacular and it was pretty runny, but when the homemade dressing and the bottled dressing (always have a back up plan) were mixed together something quite tasty emerged.

Update: I googled Caesar dressing and every other recipe I found had a lot more ingredients. So much for my "original classic Caesar's salad" recipe.

I Loved My Dog, But....

I found this little gem (pardon the pun) on AOL's home page.

LIFE GEM, $2,699-$24,999.You can't go wrong with diamonds--unless those diamonds are a byproduct of recently deceased Fluffy's remains. Life Gem cremates departed pets, using the carbon to create a unique gem with a creepy back story.

Now, I loved my dog (a lot) and I will admit to having him cremated, but this??? Words fail me. Ewww! I have enough trouble with the pretty black urn I have on my dresser. (which is why it's partially hidden by the Peace Lily Trix brought me when I lost him. ) I simply can't fathom walking around with a gem on my hand made from dead dog, let alone paying $25,000 for it.

To each his own, I suppose.

Spectacular Failure

Just to clarify, this is not going to be a cooking blog. I have a friend who writes a spectacular cooking blog, but prefers a low-profile, so no links in deference to her wishes. I am also a big fan of Smitten Kitchen.

However, I will share some of my more amusing kitchen escapades, which will most likely be the big flops...like this one.

It looked so simple. Low Fat Pepperoni pizza (SELF magazine) - yum. Polenta crust (I love Polenta), veggies, marinara from a jar, grated mozzarella, easy breezy, right? HA!

I will admit I cheated, I did not use low fat mozzarella, or low fat pepperoni either. (Central market cheese and salami) But, other than those two things, I followed the recipe precisely. The only problem was, even after cooking the pizza three times the length of time recommended , I still did not have crust. I had Polenta soup. Threw the whole mess in the trash and had hot dogs for lunch.

I tried again, just so I could email SELF and tell them they sucked. But, a strange thing happened. Even before I hit the three minute mark on the stove, the polenta as much thicker than yesterday. It didn't pour in to the pan, I had to scrape it in and after the prescribed time it was done. The only thing I did differently was to lower the heat more when I had the polenta on the stove. Wacky, but yummy.

Looking Up - Sort Of

I really wished I'd written this post on time, over the weekend. It would have been a tiny bit more positive. Last week, Week Three of unemployment for those of us keeping track, I was a little more upbeat. I had several encouraging meetings and scored a phone interview for one of the jobs I applied for during Week Two.

To bring everybody up-to-date, I just got a call regarding the phone interview and they're moving forward with other candidates. Not that I was terribly surprised, I didn't get the best vibe during the interview. I did learn some things from the experience and not getting the first job out of the gate probably isn't the worst thing ever. Nothing has really come (yet) from the other meetings, but my fingers are crossed.

I did get a job - seasonal retail. It should be fun and I already like the people. This is another example of great friends, I got this job solely based on a friend's recommendation. I'm going to keep the details sketchy for now. I did go buy some comfy shoes today, since they have a no sneakers rule and none of my work shoes will hold up to standing all day.

Three weeks on the hunt.....no need to panic yet, right?

Speed Bumps

Do you ever get the feeling the universe if amusing itself at your expense?

That is definitely where I found myself as my second week of unemployment came to an end. I did manage to set up a schedule (sort of), preventing me from sleeping till noon. And, I've been spending a significant amount of time every day focused on the job search (yea me!) (The delusion of control is very important these days.) However, there were a few minor dings that threatened my mind set and allowed panic to creep in around the edges.

I thought getting a part-time, retail job for the holidays would be a good idea, which was going pretty well, but appears to have ground to a halt. (speed bump #1) I'm not sure that's a bad thing, but it wasn't the best thing for my already dented ego. (Hey, laid-off is still asked to leave, which isn't exactly a big confidence booster.)

I found some great opportunities in my quest for new permanent work, which was encouraging. But, as I mentioned earlier, the only responses I received have just been irrelevant "opportunities" and recruiters. I followed a link in one of the recruiter emails to a site offering a skills evaluation, which was interesting, but I did not enjoy their pronouncement that it would take me six to eight months to find a new job. SCARY! (speed bump #2)

Then, on Friday, there was a little bomb waiting in the mail from a certain government agency, notifying me the bank holding my mortgage was in receivership and encouraging me to refinance my loan within the next 60 days. Um, given the situation with the credit markets, my chances of getting a new mortgage before I got laid off weren't fantastic. I'm guessing the lay-off made it a whole lot harder. Attempting not to hyperventilate, I dialed the 800 number. Fortunately, a very nice woman clarified things for me and no refinancing is necessary. (TG!) But, I did teeter on the brink of a complete meltdown for a few minutes. (speed bump #3)

All in all, I survived week two in tact, but I hope the universe finds something else to amuse itself, at least for next week. I need a break.

Spam, Spam and More Spam

I spent a long time yesterday posting my resume on numerous job web sites; monster, career builder, hot jobs...etc. I think my resume is up on at least five sites now. I was very proud of my diligence. When I woke up this morning and saw 16 messages in my inbox I was excited, convinced my hard work had paid off, at least a little. Ha! Silly me.

What I found in my inbox was the result of posting my resume, however, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for, unfortunately. So far, all I have to show for hours of resume tweaking and web site navigating is offers to be an insurance agent, a lawn care sales rep or technicial (they obviously haven't seen my lawn) and numerous franchisee opportunities. Thanks, guys, but you're missing the point. I am looking for a JOB, not a business opportunity and NO WHERE in my resume or profile does it say anything about wanting to go in to outside sales.

It does make me wonder; what kind of success rate of this kind of scatter-shot recruiting yield?

Between the lines, please!

Yes, occasionally, this blog will descend in to venting. I will try to limit the frequency, but sometimes I will be overcome, like today. I wish I had a picture, because it really was ridiculous...four cars taking up seven parking spaces. I'm pretty sure it was a cascade, one person's bad parking job, begets the next person's bad parking job, until finally the car on the end is blithely straddling two parking spaces.

This particular parking lot has normal sized parking spaces and none of these cars were gigantic, so there really isn't a good excuse for the rash of discourteous ineptitude.

Learn to park, people!

Movie Review - The Haunting of Molly Hartley

**********Spoiler Alert**********

If you asked me if I liked the movie at any point up until the last 10-15 minutes, I would have said, "Absolutely". But after the ending, I'm not sure if I liked it or not. For a scary movie, it wasn't terribly scary, although it did startle me several times. By the way, not scaring me to death is a good thing. (To the people whose ear drums I damaged, I am so sorry.)

Overall, the story was good with several twists I didn't see coming and I really enjoyed all of the actors. But, the beginning was confusing, I'm not sure I understand the point of the first sequence, to be honest. Also, I was surprised (and a little disappointed ) by the ending. Definitely didn't see it coming, but I found it anticlimactic. The only thing that makes sense to me is that they are setting up a sequel. If that's the case, I think they were trying too hard. If they're not planning a sequel, I think the end was contrived for the sole purpose of being unexpected. On the whole, though, I'd have to say I did enjoy the ride.

Laid Off

Scary words, at least initially, but the shock wore off and a sense of freedom and opportunity replaced it. But, maybe I'm just crazy. I worked for a great company and as much as I liked my job and loved the people I worked with, I've spend the first week in the land of unemployment feeling better than I have in years.

And, just to get this out there, I cannot afford not to work. So, if I think too much about not finding a job soon or contemplate the state of the economy, panic does set in; but as long as I don't do either one of those things, I'm okay. The key has been to stay busy. I've developed quite a to-do list for myself, some of which is even getting done. It doesn't hurt that trying to create a strong resume after such a long time at one place has been a major undertaking. (Major thank you to my friends who have been a HUGE help.)

Also, it's worth noting that this is the first time I have not had a job since I was twelve if I wasn't moving and I always got one whenever I arrived. So, it's a brave new world for me. But I'm excited about it.

I've been talking about starting a blog forever, so here goes. In addition to sharing the ups and downs of the non-working workaholic, I'll inflict whatever random thoughts cross my mind. Like the header says .... sometimes I'll be serious and sometimes I'll be silly. Hope you enjoy at least some it.