Saturday, May 3, 2014

Half the People

I was scrolling through my home page on FB catching up with news and saw a post from Mary J Blige  with a title that said "bring back our girls ", in it I saw a picture of 4 African women walking and moved on to other stories.  A day later I get a private message from Marina Mahatir asking me to sign the petition that says "bring back our girls ".  So I did a little reading, where I found out that :

"In Nigeria, over 200 girls were recently abducted from their boarding school by a terrorist group, Boko Haram, that may be selling them as brides for $12 each. This petition calls on the Nigerian government and all enabled international parties to immediately rescue them." 


I was driving along in the car today (where ,lets face it apart from the shower, I do a lot of thinking... go figure) and thought, hang on a minute here, we (the females of the human race) make up HALF of the people on this planet, and no one has gone in and smoked the bad guys out and gotten the girls back?


Lets put it this way, if they had been your  daughter, sister, or cousin, or niece, or granddaughter or even a friends child, would you stand there and do nothing?  If this had happened in a western schooling facility for girls, do you think it would be this quiet? (hah, I would say not on your Nelly) 


Where are the huge headlines?  Where are the women activists making noise and getting on the press band wagon?  Why has there been so little fuss globally about them?   


Is the world trying to put a different value  on human life depending on "WHERE" you come from?  Is anyone aware that 3 of the 200 are dead and "no reports " of how they died have been given, (I'm sure anyone with an iota of intelligence will know that they were obviously badly 'abused',) and WE as women, just stand here and act "HELPLESS"??!!


Through decades of arguing, cajoling, protesting, fighting and chaining ourselves for OUR FREEDOM to be WOMEN with  EQUAL RIGHTS,  to join the Army, to join the Police Force, to become Politicians, to being Astronauts,  in Intel, to being Leaders in all sectors...... and NO ONE has done anything to get these young girls (between 15 and 18) back?  

We say we're emancipated, we say we're empowered, we say we have a voice.... then don't you think it's about time we started acting like the women our Founding Mothers paved the way for?  
Pool your great intelligence together sisters and lets bring them back.
Dx


Thursday, May 1, 2014

Kitch Kitchens

I have always wondered why people like to have white kitchens.... goodness I can feel every one's hackles rising and a massive debate about to start! Well before you start putting your points forward, let me give you a few of mine.

I cook almost everyday, for me it's partly a creative outlet and partly because I feel I am cooking my family a nutritious meal with love.  We try out lots of different recipes and for those  dishes that don't make the grade, well they're tossed out on their ear!  (not really, we just don't bother with them again) My kids are my biggest critiques, and I like their honesty because it helps me tweak the dish to perfection according to our palette.

Now the cooking part is always good, but the cleaning of it is a real pain in the .. bottom.   I've noticed (and here is where I put my case forth on white kitchens)  that during the cooking frenzy , splatters of sauce, chopped onions or other aromatics strewn about, some beetroot or rhubarb juice is spilled (beetroot in potato salad is yum.. uh I'll post recipe at end for the non believers.)  Anyway you can see where I'm going with this mess, cleaning it up on a stainless steel or dark marble surface is so much easier and kinder to the heart, whereas white cupboards or light counter tops become an art from in elbow grease  (you ever tried cleaning saffron stains from a white anything... good luck) Stainless steel seems to be so much more functional, is beautifully streamlined and lasts longer!  Yes white kitchens are brighter and look cleaner but in reality it takes longer to keep clean!

No stains here!  Dx

Beetroot and Potato Salad
1 x fairly large beetroot (peeled and quartered, boil the beetroot, when it's tender remove half the water, then add some vinegar to the water and let it cool)
4 x large potatoes (boiled and cubed)
1 x onion minced (up to you how much you want in , I usually use a medium sized one)
2 x boiled eggs chopped up
olive oil
vinegar
salt & pepper
mustard
mayo

Add the cooled potatoes,  drained beetroot, onion, eggs in a large bowl, add in olive oil (about 3 tbs) vinegar (3tbs as well) salt & pepper , dollop of mayo and a squirt of mustard.   Toss it well .
Chill it in the fridge and you're good to go!