Swan Valley Cafe

I just had delicious, delicious food at Swan Valley Cafe and Tea Specialists for Dinner. Everything was delicious, but I personally ate the shared entree of amazing dips (cashew and capsicum, spinach, and hummus and carrot) An AMAZING Sheperdess pie, perfect amount of potato to mushroom and other vegetable ratio. And then a really really good summer apple pie that I really wanted to try. The portion sizes are decent (and because I wanted two lots of PIE I have leftovers from both for later noms) I recommend this :D It's GF and Vegan friendly (Go here for awesome food). Also, the prices are reasonable. 1 large dips platter + 4 mains + 2 desserts and 3 fresh juices and 1 bottled juice for $120.

I am so amazingly full. :D

Swan Valley Cafe - 990 Great Northern Hwy, Millendon WA 6056.
08 9296 6320
www.swanvalleycafe.com.au

Also they sell some great tea and plants and other things.

I can see her!

Life has been pretty intense and busy this month. Chinese New Year is going well. I start a new job tomorrow.

If you need a laugh, I recommend this video.



<3

Two weeks

Tomorrow is Australia Day. "What are you doing for Australia Day?" everyone has been asking. At the supermarket, Australian flags abound and in the meat section, that annoying lamb man (I refuse to write his name) has his signs plastered everywhere about how Australian it is to eat Lamb on Australia day.

I love my country, and I appreciate the day of work but I don't agree with Australia Day. This is a day that commemorates the day that Australia was entered by the English who declared it empty, despite the people living here. Because of course, they did not count people of colour as people (the original survey only had flora and fauna).

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So what I am doing tomorrow is cleaning. I'm not having a party; are you kidding? Chinese New Year is next week! We're going shopping for supplies and then I'm tackling my room and my bathroom. I might even fit in a vacuum! Okay, maybe the vacuum will happen this weekend.

Chinese New Year will involve many people coming to our house, having to clean frantically after the ones on CNYE leave (I hope they realise that we're kicking them out at 11pm this year, no repeats of frantically vacuuming and mopping the house at 11:40pm like last year)

It involves special food, beautiful decorations, family, avoiding wearing the colour black. It also involves not cleaning on the first day (technically it's sweeping) as you don't want to sweep away all your good luck. Oranges, love letters, the white biscuits with the red eyes. The loud chatter of the crowd of friends, the music playing in the background.

CNY is a full sensory experience. It has always been one of my favourite holidays. I might not get a public holiday for it (although I usually take the day off work) but it means a lot to me.

Also! I hope to catch at least one Lion Dance. Last year one of my favourite restaurants Tak Chee had two wind their way through the close confines of the shop. So in addition to excellent food, we got entertainment! Yes!

Some Blogs I've Been Reading (When I'm Supposed To Be Writing)

I'm struggling with a post at the moment. Probably I'm going to have to wait a week before I look at it again. Who knows, it might not even get revised before I post it. I have however been reading a number of blogs and tumblrs.

The Hairpin: Awesomeness. A general interest blog with an emphasis on women and feminism. Also, hilarity. I exercised yesterday, followed by about four hours of laughing that gave me sore abs today. Just so you know :P

Reasoning with Vampires: One person's attempt to make the Twilight books more palatable :D Her comments are so funny. So are the comments of the people who wish to be offended by her endeavour.

Hoyden About Town: I spend a lot of time here. It's a good space in order to talk about stuff. The links that get posted every few days are also excellent, as they are often things that I find interesting, but would never find myself.

Muslims Wearing Things: Because some people say all Muslims totally dress the same. Actually no, this tumblr reminds people that not all Muslims dress alike.

And yeah, I blogstalk this woman, for no reason other than she is hilarious. Also, she has a very cute baby.

Oh! And Colour Me Katie which I purely visit for all the pretty Photos. It is the Blog of Katie Sokoler who is very interesting and is a freelance photographer (and actress and very creative person).

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Yesterday I saw a rather racist video from the 1994 Barbie Party where they went to "Australia", and there was an American with a terrible Australian accent wearing what most people probably think of as Steve Irwin clothes and an cork hat, and all the other actors were dancing in bikinis and boardshorts at the "beach". It was awful and painful, and I wish I hadn't watched it. But that was 1994. Supposedly people didn't know much about racism, because Australia (and all other countries that were once racist) lost all their racism years ago, with the abolishment of the very terrible policies. Also, all dancing beach bunnies were fair skinned wiht light hair.

Seeking something

So, on the 26th I took myself off on Holiday. It was fun, I ate lots of food, walked lots of steps and subsequently, bought some amazing shoes! (The shoes I was wearing did not wear out) My Holiday was amazing, I was so relaxed even though we were on the go all day every day for the entire five days.

And then I was home again last Wednesday, at work, nose to the grindstone, and I became aware of something that has been bothering me for a while.

I am not happy.

My Boss growls a lot. I assume this is because he is having money problems, and that me and my coworker nag him about our pays and the fact that we still haven't been paid our super, which is kind of illegal, but I'm playing it close at the moment. I am looking for other stuff. Stuff that makes me happy and is more enjoyable, and is more stable. And is PERMANENT. With Paid Leave. And Superannuation. All those things I used to take for granted in my old jobs.

I need to be happy and to feel safe in my job. I am seeking something that matters.

Jennifer Rardin

Jennifer Rardin, author of the Jaz Parks series, died on September 20. :(. I only just found out when I visited her blog to find out if she'd posted anything recently about the next book. Her blog advises that next book and also the final book in the series were completed before she passed away, and will be released later. She was only 45 :/ My thoughts and prayers to her family, who must be going through a very tough time after she died so suddenly.

I love her books. I discovered them last year, and soon bought the whole series. The books are about Jaz Parks, she is assistant to Vayl, a vampire who was born in 1744 who is now an assassin for the CIA. Jaz is an excellent lead. She gets herself into trouble (and often gets herself out of it), and has a lot of witty snappy dialogue. It's a really gritty urban fantasy novel, and if you're looking for a new series that will suck you in, by all means, try it!! I'm always on the look out for excellent female leads, and this series really did tick all the boxes for me.

Othering at the Northam Meeting.

Just wanted to talk about the coverage re the 1500 people expected to be housed in a centre in Northam.

Watching the ABC, who is reporting on the town meeting.

One guy said "But what about when they jump the fence, steal my car, and rush down to Perth to hide amoung Their Kind"

Their kind? What, people? who are legally in this country - or born in this country? I understand you are upset by not being consulted (although if you were, you would probably have said you didn't want these people because they are queue jumpers and criminals), but you aren't by any chance, showcasing your racism, are you? Using othering and dehumanising terms when saying why you don't want something to happen makes me uncomfortable, because like many others, I am sometimes made to feel "other". I'm half Chinese, I don't look the "same". So when you make broad sweeping statements about asylum seekers, it really frustrates me. I have immigrants in my family tree. Mine came here legally, but when you make comments about "their kind", you kind of lump us all together, people who came through the "correct" channels, and those who had to leave immediately, and not wait for a visa. Many people have immigrants in their family. This is because a lot of people in Australia have at some point, come from another country. Or their parents or grand parents or great grandparents have.

I couldn't help but notice that except for one man hiding behind a sign that looked dark skinned, every person I could see in the shot of the crowd looked white. :( What? There aren't any PoC in Northam? Not even any Aboriginals? Or is it they wouldn't be caught dead at such a function so full of hate?

And I thought the response for the South Australian Institute being built for women and children was unpleasant.

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Some links about the meeting.

Local Anger Will Not Stop Detention Centre

will try to find more links later. Unfortunately, I read lots of stuff, but often forget to save them :/