Red Delicious Apples and Babybel Cheese

Crisp Red Delicious apples and Babybel cheese is the best combination.

This picture shows the little wheels of Babybel cheese that can be bought in a net bag of about six wheels. Don’t buy these the taste isn’t right! Look a bit further in the supermarket or the Deli and find the bigger wheel – about 4 inches in diameter.

Red Delicious apples have made an appearance in my local supermarket. Looking at them in all their red glowing beauty I remembered the combination.

Some taste combinations are to die for. This may not be quite as good as that but to me it is one of the best simple combinations around. You only need the apple and the cheese.

My advice is to keep the apples in the fridge once you have got them home because once they have gone soft they are not nice. They go soft very quickly.

Give this combination a try after dinner one night this week and see if you agree with me.

As I wrote this I wondered what wine would add something to the taste. I haven't experimented with that, yet.

Heat

Last week Melbourne suffered a heat wave. It felt like having a thick wooly blanket covering everything. A temperature of around 38 degrees settled over the city for about a week.

It triggered a number of heat-related memories for me. Mainly memories of holidays I’ve had in Asia and the Pacific although I think any Pacific Island I’ve been on was cooler.

A wonderful part of those days for me was lying in bed with my limbs heavy and the bed supporting them. Pure relaxation. Surprisingly I have slept well and I remember doing so in the past when it has been hot. I have a fan but I haven’t used it at night.

I have been at work during some of the hottest weather. For a couple of days in an old house converted to offices where the cooling was a fan and outside doors left open, in the hope of a passing cool breeze. One of the doors opened to the street and as there was construction going on next door we became part of the noise and dust of redevelopment. I moved to an air conditioned office and left others to cope with this aspect of an over-heated world.

The evenings were wonderful - warm and mellow and only once did it seem too hot to sit outside.

This heat has given me the opportunity to wear a shirt that was once my mothers. It is cut rather like a sports shirt and is made of a sort of aertex fabric. My mother bought it about 15 years ago, liked it but found that where she lived the weather was hardly ever warmer enough to wear it.

She lent it to me when I went to Asia. I have memories of wearing it in Singapore and again on a baking summer’s day in Seoul. It has stayed hidden for the last couple of summers but I discovered it in January and the weather has suited it. When I first put it on a picture comes to me of my mother wearing it as she comes up her drive towards me.

It is strange that I can still wear it. It is tighter than it once was but not too tight. It is surprising that it was ever a size my mother would have worn. I can only suppose that I have forgotten what size she used to be. Now in old age she is tiny and the shirt would float on her.

Thoughts on International Women's Day

I was in a gym class on International Women’s Day. My mind sometimes wanders at the gym especially when I’m doing repetitive exercises. It wandered that day but not very far. It stayed on gyms and exercise.

I have been going to a body combat class at the gym for the last few months. Initially I was a bit doubtful of my ability to tackle something so full on but I was persuaded to try it by one of my favourite instructors.

Of course I didn’t really start this energetic class from scratch because I have been attending a gym in one way or another for the last 10 years. I am reasonably supple and reasonably fit so the constant movement in the body combat class was something I could struggle through.

There’s not a lot of time in the body combat class for reflection because you have to keep your mind on what you’re doing. But as I kicked and punched the air I reflected on how inappropriate this would have been in my youth.

When I was at school young ladies didn’t show this sort of aggression.

We played games such as netball and tennis and we did forward rolls and balanced on a Swedish bench.

Young ladies didn’t punch. We simpered. We didn’t kick. We kept our knees close together.

It’s good to reflect on how women have moved on and how times have changed to allow us to explore and experience as much physical prowess as we desire.

I love being able to kick and punch and have this element of physical control. I’m glad I have had the opportunity to give it a go. Monday gym nights are one of the highlights of my week

Something like this - It's good to have a vision.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - movie review

I went this film expecting to love it. Everyone I mentioned it to said I would and so did the reviewers. I didn’t love it. I found it tiresome and irritating.

There have to be times when you don’t like the film everyone is raving about.

If you read a review of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly you pretty much know the story, so it wasn’t the story I found difficult to take. It was the camera work and the way Jean-Do treated the mother of his children but mostly it was the camera work.

I found it intensely disorientating and in the beginning it gave me a form of sea sickness and I found I was closing my eyes to shut all this movement out and to stop my head swirling.

My problem could have been that I knew nothing of Jean-Dominque Bauby (played by Mathieu Amabric) before the movie came to my notice. Jean-Do, as he is called, was the French Editor of Elle before he suffered a stroke at 43. This caused him to suffer from "Locked-in Syndrome". It is a Syndrome you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. The mind is active but the body is dead. In Jean-Do’s case he was able to blink one eye.

At the start of the movie we saw the world from Jean-Do’s one eye – hence the sea sickness.

It is hard to criticize something that is a true story. And there is no doubt he showed enormous courage and determination particularly in view of the book he wrote. This meant that every word had to be spelt out while Jean-Do blinked when the right letter was pointed to or spoken.

The dedication of the people who worked with him was breathtaking. This included, Celine, the mother of his children, played by Emmanuelle Seiger. The way she stuck by him was inspiring. To me she’s the hero.

I came out of the film a little sea-sick, a little depressed and wanting to know more about what happened to his three children and their mother after he died. They learned to accept him in his new form and to make him part of their lives. The settings in France were beautiful and this emphasized Jean-Do deformed appearance.

I may be the only person who wouldn’t recommend the film. But if you need to see it, my advice is to hire the DVD from your local store.

Australia Day 2008

I wrote this at the end of the Australia Day long weekend and it seemed like a good idea to put my thoughts out there even though we are now about a month on in the year. My thoughts about living here haven't changed.

It is ‘Australia Day’ long weekend with a bank holiday today, Monday. This is the time when Australians ask each other what it is to be an Australian. The news media is helping in this with questions and answers and copious opinions.

We read in the paper and hear on the radio moving descriptions of peoples’ ‘voyages’ to the citizenship ceremonies that were held throughout the country on Friday.

I am not an Australian and at times like this I feel it’s an enormous privilege and an enormous piece of luck to be able to make my home here. The news media tells us, that out there, in the big wide world, hundreds if not thousands of people want to do just what I am doing. They put their lives and often their families’ lives on the line to make Australia their home.

This weekend the weather smiled on us all. It’s been, perfect. The sun has shone and the temperatures have been in the early twenties.

I, too, have had a perfect weekend. On Friday a friend and I spent a couple of hours having a spa and a massage and then lounging in the “Dreaming Room” watching yachts in Port Philip Bay glide past as we sipped on herbal tea. We followed this with a late lunch and a bottle of wine at a table on the edge of St Kilda beach.

During the weekend I have been to the gym, lunched with another friend, wandered around the Albert Park Shops and lazily reclined outside and read the papers.

When I was driving back from the gym my car radio told me how lucky Australians were to be born here considering that a baby is born somewhere in the world every minute.

One of the announcers’ examples of our privileged lifestyle was the way we conduct our parliamentary elections and the smooth transition when a new government is voted into office. A glance around the world and the recent elections that have been held elsewhere and I have to agree. It is just another thing that we take for granted.

It is easy to become complaisant and get used to good fortune.

I needed a wake-up call from the Australian media. I have become used to breakfasting in my courtyard, to having the choice of shows and movies, to having variety and buzz in my life and to able to find work.

I have become used to things that astounded me and left me exhilarated when I first made my home here. I no longer think of them. They are just there.

Every now and again we need a reminder. Australia Day is a good time for that.