Friday, 14 March 2008 @ 3:47pm.
I’m watching a special news program on the show Living Black about substance abuse (not just alcohol, but also petrol and paint sniffing) within the Aboriginal communities, particularly amongst youth. I thought one commentator made a good point, saying that simply criminalizing certain behaviors will not make the problems go away, but rather we need to get at the root causes. The following website provides links to some important services for indigenous communities: http://www.adin.com.au/content.asp?Document_ID=3
On a positive note, the next segment is on Aboriginal artists thriving locally and some going global successfully.
At home, Pluto is sleeping at my feet while I type. It’s hot today, almost 40c despite the fact it’s supposed to be autumn. More than the heat, he is tired from his desexing surgery the other day. I’m happy to report that he still wags his tail, sometimes so hard his whole butt moves side to side, so I take that as a sign he’s still Pluto. Sad, but also funny-looking is the thin plastic cone around his neck and head which prevents him from licking and pulling out his stitches. He’s adjusting to it well enough, but is clearly not a fan of the set-up. We’ll have to return to the vet in about a week to get the stitches removed.
I’m grumpy about my dissertation work. That’s all I can say about that at this point.
As a distraction, I managed to make up a wonderfully simple and addictive non-chocolate no-special-name-yet dessert:
Purchase a ready-made unfilled sponge cake at the grocery store. Cut it in half with a bread knife. Line canned peaches on top of the bottom layer. Add canned whipped cream (be sure to shake the can well beforehand) on top of the peaches. Place the remaining sponge cake on top of the whipped cream, peaches, and bottom layer of cake. Cut a slice and add extra whipped cream and peaches if you like.
A beautiful alternative (actually my first and preferred version) is to take fresh strawberries, slice them into smaller pieces without stems and leaves, sprinkle some white sugar on top, cover, and place in the refrigerator until the sugar dissolves and there’s a bit of a syrup in the bowl. Instead of the peaches, first spread strawberry jam on the sponge cake, then add the strawberries (with or without the sugary juice/syrup) and whipped cream, and follow the rest of process mentioned above.
