topicalhuman.com

When people asked me 10 years ago what my dream job was, I never had to think about it. I wanted to be in a famous rock band. I came close. I was in an infamous rock band. I still play with those guys, and have a ball. But that dream isn’t going to happen.

So now when people ask what my dream job is, I have another immediate answer: I want to be a famous chef (I’m I sounding vain here, obsessed with fame??).

Seriously, I love the idea of doing things I love (cooking, travelling, performing) and getting paid well for it.

I’ve given a fair bit of thought to starting a food/cooking blog, and am still keen. But I don’t have the time right now - perhaps when I’m married and settled in a bit. But I wonder if there is any chance of even creating a successful food/cooking blog, let alone hitting the ‘big-time’. There are heaps of blogs already doing this.

So I figure, an angle is needed to differentiate what I’m doing, and try and make it a little bit unique. I think there are three ways to make a differentiation:

1. Focus on a particular type of cuisine e.g. Eating Asia
2. Focus on a particular type of audience e.g. Junior Kitchen, What the hell does a vegan eat anyway?
3. Use new technology to make the experience more interesting, more interactive, more accessible.

I think the third option isn’t a stand-alone solution anyway - it needs to be part of whatever strategy is adopted.

So, I’m still thinking about this. Any suggestions are welcome.

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Now playing: The Offspring - Self-Esteem
via FoxyTunes

Some quick links:

Mashups of recent chart music I want to check out here and here.

Basic Instructions advises how to prioritise your friends (I can relate to this, battling to get our wedding guest list to a manageable/affordable size). Seriously, I love Basic Instructions!

Informative and useful graphic that explains why high heels are evil.

Do you liked wood smoked meats? I do too! Check this out…

Podcasts of Watchtower and Awake magazines.

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Now playing: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of PA - JW: Awake! (gE M4B) 2008-03
via FoxyTunes

Yes, Pizza & Beer…two of my favourite things. And today I was able to enjoy them both.

I’m not as big a fan of takeaway pizza as I was when I was an ignorant teenager, but I still enjoy it occasionally. Tonight I decided to order my pizza’s online, for the first time, from Pizza Hut. I know this isn’t everyone’s idea of fine food (including me), but if you need to order pizza’s from a takeaway joint, you could do worse than using this service. It was easy to use, gave me the options I wanted, and gave me an accurate timeframe for delivery. It also gave me the option to pay with cash (which I prefer), or using a credit card.

As far as beer goes, I recently discovered on my trip to New Zealand an excellent brewing company called Monteith’s. I sampled two or three of their varieties in New Zealand, and wholly enjoyed each one. Today I picked up a six pack of another variety, the Zesty Radley Bier. This is my favourite of a great bunch of beers. I enjoyed a cold one after working in the sun, and the citrus tang was as refreshing as Monteith’s say it is. Jules also really liked it. Not to hoppy, and a with a slight zesty tang. Yum! If you enjoy a cold beer, check out Monteith’s.

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Now playing: The Cat Empire - Days Like These
via FoxyTunes

Australia’s best basketballer, Lauren Jackson, has won the Defensive Player Of The Year award in the WNBA.

Awesome interview with a bloke who explores urban underground structures, particularly stormwater systems.

Recipe for Hainan Chicken.

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Now playing: The Wailers - Simmer Down
via FoxyTunes

I spent the weekend camping at Woodys Head, near Iluka in northern New South Wales. I haven’t been there before, but it is a really beautiful place. We were about 30 metres from the beach, and we had really good weather most of the time.

It was a bucks weekend for two of my friends, Jeremy and Quinten, who are getting married in the coming weeks (to be clear, not to each other).

Lots of eating and drinking, with some guys taking the opportunity to surf or fish, and others (like me) playing a fair bit of Texas Hold ‘Em. Yesterday, some of us went and had lunch at the Pacific Hotel at Yamba, a town south of Iluka, just over the Clarence River. If you’re ever in Yamba, be sure to have a feed at the Pacific Hotel - the food was awesome! Most of the guys ordered the biggest, tastiest burgers I’ve ever seen, and I ordered a Laksa, that had about 20 local mussels, and lots of yummy prawns. I was so impressed.

These are simple pleasures, I suppose, but times like this are the memories I think I’ll really treasure when I’m an old man. And I get home to find out the Brisbane Bronco’s flogged the Newcastle Knights over the weekend in the NRL finals. Sweet!

Back to work tomorrow, but I feel better for the break. Now for a few big weeks ahead with Uni assignments due, moving house and lots to do at work. No rest for the wicked!

Camping, and especially cooking while camping, is a real pleasure to me. I love getting out into nature, enjoying the beauty and serenity it offers. While camping, I like to eat well, and as I usually have lots of time I enjoy cooking up good food for my friends and I to eat. Often it is fairly simple food, prepared with fairly simple tools, but always prepared with love. Which is why it usually turns out so well, I guess. It probably also explains why I’m impressed with this innovation.