My Twilight Rant

Everyone knows about the series of "Twilight" and everyone has a different opinion about it so I feel that its my turn to share my thoughts on this topic.
I am a fan of the books and movies but I have spoken to a lot of Christians who are under the impression that its very demonic and leads away from God - which I do agree with.
I'd say I am torn between the two opinions because while I do see that it completly leads away from God and is adding temptation and lust into darker things I also see the love story behind it. So lets talk about both.

Column A is the Christian attitude. We as Christians are designed to glorify God and share the gospel to all. His grace surpasses everything we could ever imagine we deserve.
By His grace, He sent His son to us, to die a hideous death that was unjust and undeserved, all so we could spend eternity with God and not have to go through the torment of never being able to live up to the demands of the law.
We are saved by grace alone and there is NOTHING we could EVER do to earn this. It is a gift and we must treat it as such and not get caught up trying to feel like somehow we deserve it.

So for this amazing grace we are given the positioning to share this gift, in-fact this is what were 'charged' with. Naturally, if something wanted to stop the progression of such a gift it would make the opposite an appealing temptation. The opposite is not a loving and kind option, it is not living your life to glorify the creator of the universe and it does not end in you spending your eternity in a place with no suffering or pain. The opposite of good is evil. God is good, and he wants you to live your life with Him in Heaven. The enemy is evil and he wants you to believe that there is no "eternity" and no repercussions for your sins. He wants you to have "fun" and take the attention away from God.
Twilight, I think, delves into this temptation. In what way, in any place, does it reference God or His morals other than not having sex before marriage - which is still misconstrued because the entire reason they cant have sex is because he would kill her.

Column B - the love story.
Every female desires a man who is strong and loving. Someone who will sweep her off her feet, shower her with love and kindness but be the protective male that God designed him to be.
We want to know we're the only person in their eyes and they would fight for you no matter what happened or who it hurt. We want them to lay their lives down for us as Christ did.
The reality for some people is that this never happens. Sometimes we get the guy who sweeps us off our feet in the beginning but will eventually stop. Sometimes we get a guy who is loving and gentle and everything we ever wanted but they lack the protection side of things and we never feel safe with them. And then some of us even get a man who refuses to fight for us, who says all the right things to make you believe he is fighting for you but in the end, he never has...and never will.
Whatever the man you have or want, this story creates this image of a man who waited 100 years to find her - the woman he has been waiting for. We see this the moment he looks at her and he realises his world is turned upside-down because she is everything he ever wanted...everything he ever NEEDED. Its love at first sight.
He comes at night to watch over her and protect her while she is asleep. He is with her constantly and never fails to shower her with love. He is always willing to give his life for her and proves it on many occasions. He is the strong male in the relationship and he will bear anything to be that. He is the leader and he completely and utterly adores her.
What woman doesn't want that kind of man!
We read these stories and are taken in by the infatuation and the romance but then we stop reading and we realise that this isnt real life. We dont get to be that woman. We have to go back to our jobs and lives and return to being the mum, flatmate, worker and girlfriend/wife and after reading this story we feel dissatisfied with ourselves, our lives and our partners. No one is perfect and even though you search for this perfect person to make your life 'Complete' or 'Whole.' We're given ideas as to how you can make your life 'complete' through tv, ads and of course, books. But theyre not guidelines or DIY kits - they're stories. They will never be real and if you continue to search for the things you find in these sources you will NEVER feel complete or happy.
Its female porn.
What we do get if we step back and look at Column A and Column B, is a chance at looking to God for this relationship. He is the one who was waiting thousands of years for us to get here. He sent His son here to endure what He did so that we could eventually be with Him. He would and did lay down his life for us. He gave up everything for us. He is the strong, protective, loving, gentle and kind man our hearts were designed to fall in love with and search for.

We have to stop looking for a checklist of things to make us feel 'whole' and start looking to God because until we do, we will always be looking for something that isn't there, except in Him.

So thats the end of my rant.
Let me know what you think and if you think differently.


Raya X

I Love Chocolate

Its been a while since I've blogged hasn't it.

So I went to Castle Towers this afternoon to stop my very best friends Mr Baskin and Mrs Robbins' store to get myself a nice waffle cone with 2 scoops of delicious mango flavoured ice cream only to find that it had a sign on the door that said it was closed till 5 due to an emergency. It made me very sad to think that there was an emergency with someone but my tummy also cried because it wasn't filled with yummy ice cream and waffle.
I contemplated waiting till 5 (thats how bad I was craving it) but decided not to so went home.

On my way home I started thinking about Chocolate and the best chocolate I know of is Haighs. Its amazing! If you haven't had some, you must! In my opinion the Chocolate coated Macadamias are the best but following closely behind are the Choc-Berries.

Thinking about Haighs brought me to thinking about the best truffles Ive ever had and they were in this small chocolate shop in Bad Homburg run by a man named Daniel. I made a bit of a tradition of going most mornings and ordering a hot chocolate (I wasn't quite into coffee yet...) and a few chocolate truffles and once a week I'd buy a bag to take home to eat while I was working on the weekend.

So now I'm craving mango ice cream, chocolate coated macadamias and chocolate truffles with no way of getting any. Boo.


The chocolate store in Bad Homburg. On the front under the windows is a ledge that the owner Daniel puts some mats on and turns them into some lovely seats to sit on with your chocolates and coffee.

This is the view towards my apartment from the chocolate store in Bad Homburg.

Raya X

Roast Chicken With Chorizo Stuffing

Hello fellow internet nerds and bloggers!
As most of you know, I LOVE Chorizo! It is the best sausage in the world and goes with everything! Its amazing in omelette's for breakfast, in lunch and its even better in dinners. Which is why the other day I felt like cooking a roast chicken (because honestly, who doesn't love a good home-cooked roast) but I also felt like some Chorizo. So I was pondering how to combine the two loves and then I thought of a Roast Chicken with Chorizo Stuffing! So I then jumped online to get an idea of how people have made this before and got some ideas for myself...

Ingredients:
1 large chicken (cavity cleaned and preferably organic or free range)
2-3 Spicy Chorizo (you can have a less spicy version but I love a little chilli kick) - found in the deli or fridge section of the supermarket
1 red onion - finely diced
Breadcrumbs - about a handful
1 lemon - juiced
2 pieces of roast capsicum (from deli) - diced
1 egg yolk
Parsley - chopped
Shallots - chopped
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 200/180 if fan-forced. Get chicken ready and set aside. Hopefully its cavity should be cleaned out but just get a paper towel and dab the inside of the cavity to remove excess blood and juice.
Chop the Chorizo up into small but rough pieces and place in a bowl. Add the egg yolk, diced onion, breadcrumbs, capsicum, parsley, shallots and salt and pepper to taste and mix together with hands. Make sure its all mixed well.
Grab the chicken and gently stuff with the mixture, packing it tightly but being very careful not to tear any of the chickens skin or you will end up with a dry chicken.
If you have any skewers then fold over the skin of the chicken around the bum and close with skewers. If not, then with some cooking twine gently fold the skin over to close and pull the two legs together and tie the legs together over the boniest part of the leg which is toward the end. This should keep the cavity closed enough to keep the flavor and juices in.
Place the chicken in a greased baking dish and cover in lemon juice (this makes the skin crunchy) along with salt and pepper and a bit of olive oil too.
Place in the oven for anywhere between 1.5 hours to 2 hours. Test the chicken by piercing the thigh and if the juices come out clear, the chicken is cooked.

With any roast I cook veggies too. Sweet potato, potato, carrots and parsnip were my veggies of choice for this roast and it was perfect. Chop them and place them in the oven at the same time as the chicken with some olive oil to stop them from sticking to the base of the pan.
A good redwine gravy would go perfectly with this too but as I am still to perfect my gravy I wont post one up hahaha.

I hope you enjoy!

Raya X

Moustache Madness

I really need to stop eating lollies before bed! The sugar gives me nightmares and the past few nights I've had some hideous ones! But as I was laying there last night at around 3am I thought about some photos I haven't put up yet that I believe I promised I would from 'The Beautiful Temper's gig last week and the shennanigans that followed.

I bought some new necklaces last week that I absolutely fell in love with (Modcloth.com) and

there were so many to choose from like mini monacle's and mini glasses but I decided the Moustache was much more necessary for now, along with a cute black and white bow-tie necklace.

We had so much fun with Mr Moustache so I thought of putting some photos up.

I hope you're all having a great week so far! The rain in Sydney is supposed to ease up today and allow back in the hot summer weather...will you be going to the beach? Pool? Sitting at home/work in lovely air-con?

Beautiful Kimmy with a lovely upper lip

Me, Lucy (whom I love and have so much fun with!) and Sarah (who is my cousin-to-be)

...Just cause he can grow a moustache...

Oh I love love love this woman! She is the bestest!

Jimmy from 'The Beautiful Temper'

Photo courtesy of 'Esjay Creative' who is one talented photographer!

Check her stuff out!

Raya X

Photography Finds

I had such a lovely day today! My friend Lucy and I went to Windsor to take some photos of random things we thought were beautiful and interesting.
We spent a few hours wandering the streets and both having sweet teeth, we eventually found our way to a delicious lolly shop and spent quite a while in there.
One of the places we stopped in on was Vinnies and I stumbled across a few cameras that took my fancy. Unfortunately I have no idea how they work, so if you know or have any information about them then please feel free to post it. There was film in the German camera and in the Servfocus video camera so I hope something cool shows up in them.

The Voigtlander Vito CL camera that came
with these extra bits that I have no idea what do.

The Polavision Land Camera

And the Mini 3 Servofocus camera that has film in it

So if you know anything, let me know!

Raya X

Look What One Ham Hock Can Create!

I went shopping yesterday to peruse up a bargain at the local shop we call 'Woolworths' and I managed to find a Ham Hock for $2.19. So I thought to myself " Raya, this is cheap. You do love ham! You can make something out of this cheap bargain. INFACT, you could make Pea and Ham soup..." So off I went with my Ham Hock, waltzing down the frozen aisle (frozen food - the actual aisle wasn't frozen) in search of some peas. When I had my peas, I cheerfully walked down to the fruit and vegetable section and got some Celery and was on my way.

Because I love this recipe so much I thought I would share it with you as too often have I had someones terrible rendition of Pea and Ham soup (one even included corn pieces and 2 minute noodles) and I feel that I would be depriving you all of this amazing meal. I did originally get this meal out of a 'Delicious' magazine, but as most people do, I varied it so I'm now claiming it as my own.

Remember - Simple is delicious. Don't try and overdo food, when you think too much or play with it too much you run the risk of killing it. Just let it chill and do its thing, get a glass of wine and go with the flow. Here you have some very different flavors and different textures, keep it simple and enjoy the differences. It may look gross but it will taste amazing!

Pea And Ham Soup

1 Smoked Ham Hock (from butchers or the Deli section)
2 large Carrots - halved
3 Celery sticks - chopped into thick pieces
1 Large brown onion - quartered
1 tsp of Black Peppercorns (whole)
A pinch of Chilli flakes
---
1 small brown onion - diced
2-3 Tbs butter
2 Tbs Plain Flour
900g-1kg Frozen Peas


Place Ham hock, Carrots, Celery, Quartered Onion, Peppercorns, Chilli and 2 Liters of water in a pot. Bring to the boil, skimming off any scum as it rises to the surface. Be sure to submerge the Ham Hock in water as you want it to boil out as much hammy goodness into the stock.
Reduce the heat to Medium/Low and allow to simmer for anywhere from 1 hour to 1.5. You want between 4-6 cups of stock leftover depending on how runny you like your soups.
When Stock is ready, remove Ham Hock from stock and set aside. Drain stock into a separate bowl/jug to keep and discard veggies.

Heat deep pan to a medium heat and gently saute butter and diced onions until translucent. Add flour and stir for around 1 minute. Do not let it brown or burn! Flour and Butter creates a paste type consistency which, when soup is fully created, will create a softer texture and helps to bind the liquid part of the soup to the thicker parts. Once the onions, butter and flour are all mixed together, gradually add the stock a bit at a time - otherwise the flour mixture can curdle and will go lumpy. Once all stock is added bring to the boil. Feel free to reduce this mix a bit if you feel there is too much liquid - just keep it gently boiling and the lighter liquid will evaporate slowly leaving the heavier, denser liquid which is where the flavor is. Add peas and boil for a few minutes until they are tender - not mushy. Take pan off heat and leave to cool for a bit.
While the pea mix is cooling, grab the Ham Hock and take the meat off the bone. Separate the meat from the fat and discard the fat and bone. Chop up ham and set aside.
Blend the pea mixture (with a stick blender or in small batches in the blender) return to pan and return heat to medium/low stirring the mixture together. Throw in the Ham pieces and mix. Season with salt and Pepper - Salt and Pepper will take away alot of the sweetness of the peas and you want to keep that sweet taste, but remember you can go overboard very quickly with seasoning and your ham has already had pepper boiled with it. So add little by little and taste as you go. Also, sea salt flakes are always best when seasoning as they are a stronger flavor and tend to compliment food alot better when cooking with it rather than table salt being mixed in later. So if you can afford to buy some, its definatly worthwhile.

The stock simmering away

The finished product in the pan
I know it doesn't look appetizing, but trust me, its awesome!

So thats it from me. I hope you all enjoy and let me know if you try it!

Have a great night friends,

Raya X

The Last 30 Hours

Well, the last few days have been interesting indeed. I have been feeling a bit 'off color' for about a week now and on Friday night I came down with some random fever and nausea. The fever left but the nausea didn't. I slept away most of the weekend so I went to the Dr yesterday to have it checked out and as he did a routine check of my tummy I almost beat him up from the pain of having it touched. oops. So he sent me straight to the emergency ward at Westmead Hospital to check for appendicitis before he could do any further tests.

So about an hour and a half into my waiting time I hear this clinking noise and as I look up I see that there is a man walking in with handcuffs and ankle shackles with blood streaming down his face and multiple cops guarding him and the waiting room. Needless to say, everyone in the room tensed up - even more so when a bunch of kids walked through and all the cops hands moved to their belts in a 'readying' position. Eventually he was taken through to a private room and all the room relaxed again.

But the fun didn't stop there. It was about an hour later that a giant beef-cake of a man walked in (you know, the kind that has a tiny head because his body is so massive from steroid usage) and the whole room went silent and uncomfortable once again because down his arm was tattooed "Al Qaeda" and "Smith Killer" which I was told that apparently "Smith" is the name that people call Caucasians. So naturally when I found this out I realized what he meant. But he eventually left and once again, the room relaxed.

I was taken into the the next room and the Dr's finally saw me a few hours later. Then they kept me there for a few more hours before discharging me with nothing more than a few referral letters at 1am! Bah!

So off to the Dr today I went again, and was sent straight to get some Ultrasounds and Xrays of my tummy. I get the results back tomorrow so here's hoping that something turns up.
I'm rather excited though because I went to the supermarket to pick up some stuff on the way home and grabbed some bacon and cheese to make something that my mum used to make me when I was sick or sad - Cheese and Bacon Muffins ...mmmmmmm...

So I'm off, but I hope you're all doing well.

Raya X