My, my!

Wow. What a ride. The past two years have been all sorts of dreadful. But the good news is than kharma really does come to those who wait (to mix a metaphor and a couple of different dogmas). I've taken a few months off blogging to concentrate on my little business and also work in the UK for a few months.

It's not only me and mine that have been put through the ringer. This poor little blog has copped its share of trauma as well.

So I give you advance warning.

If you don't like it, don't read it. If you think it's about you, I can pretty much guarantee you it's not. Maybe it's time to re-visit my blog "rules". Hmmmm?

I very nearly closed AGITK down, until I realised that no matter how many apologist posts/emails/phone calls I make, there are those who will always make it about them, regardless.

So, I'z back.

AGITK will be heading in a new direction. Previously, it's been all about the food, but now that I'm living back in Papua New Guinea, I find myself becoming more and more political. More and more involved in social justice issues up here.

So if you were, previously, just here for the food, you might want to have a good hard think about whether you REALLY want to be reading the blog of an opinionated, tattoo'd  leftist feminist foodie with hippie tendencies who like to swear (albeit with perfect diction).

At the end of the day, it's up to you.

What's important?

I've got to a point in my life, where I am currently assessing what's important. What matters and what doesn't. Sorting through what's real and what's habitual. What's worth my time and what wastes it.

And this applies as much (perhaps more so) to things as it does to people.

Last week I forgot the anniversary of my Hobbits death. 

I have a myriad of excuses, but the fact remains that for the previous 5 years, the first week of Feb has loomed large and treacherously, from Xmas onwards.

And this year it passed by in a flurry of "other things".

So, in making an active decision to spend more time on the good, and less (if not none) on the bad, and PARTICULARLY, the ugly, I've sorted my life into what's important and what isn't.

And when you are authentically.. I mean REALLY committed to this process, it's quite confronting. From the ring my first real boyfriend gave me, to the very last thing my Hobbit purchased for me, I've gone through my life and discarded what I no longer need.

And in some cases, kept what I thought I didn't.

And, because this is a food blog, and this post is in SERIOUS danger of becoming a self-indulgent, maudlin middle-aged emo sook-fest,I give you a small taste of what, after 45 years on this planet, is important to me.




A wine rack, a coffee plunger, a print of Monet's garden in Giverny, my stick blender, a mirror overlaid with KwanYin, my antique marble slab,my silicone cooking gear (but only because my non-stick ripple pan is my most prized possession!) and my cookbooks. My Aqua Sulis and a bag filled with mezzalunas and my antique butchers knives.

And my PNG panga and my hand-made bilum.

The rest was dross.

AGITK and I will be taking a wee hiatus, because this blog IS one of the things I have decided is important to me, and when we return, in about 2 week, things, my friends, will be very VERY different.

As they say in the classics, "strange things are afoot at the Circle K"

See you all on the flip side.

right chuffed!

Guess who hit 50,000 visitors today?

Yup.

Me.

**blush**

50,000 all over the world have basked in the organic duck-fatty goodness of AGITK.


That's VISITS, people.. not just hits.

People who stopped, read, (hopefully) laughed, and maybe took away a recipe or two. Maybe a personal truth or three. Who knows, maybe even changed the way the shop or eat. Or think about food.

Because without you, my dear readers, there would be no AGITK,

Sometimes, clearly it IS all about you.

I have the latitude and longitude of every single one of you, so watch out for a Thank-you card ;)

I LOVE your blog!!

I have recently been tagged in this meme/award by two different sources. The first was Tammy from Girls Wear Blue Too blog, and more recently by The Awakened Heart over at The Divine Feminine blog.

Firstly MASS apologies to Tammy,.... beat me, whip me, call me trash, because pesky real life got in the way of me responding to your nomination. I grovel and beseech you to forgive me, and you can blame it all on Mater Beige's 70th birthday party, which I hosted this weekend. Hell, I am all for jumping on the patriarchal paradigm of blaming my Mum!!!

And TAH, Namaste and brightest blessings on you for reminding me of this honour. Cos that's what it is. When your peers tell you that you've done well, that you've impressed them, it's the Universe's way of letting you know that the path you're on is the right one.

Which then lead me to thinking... to whom do I pass this honour on to? Do I sycophantishly give it to bloggers that I percieve are "better" than me.. cos guys, it really is about loving you blog.. but the cynic in me probabaly thinks that Pim and Choc and Zucc, and Stone Soup get about 912 of these a week.

So here's what I am going to do. Now that the stress of the past few months is beginning to wane, and Mum's birthday is over, SOLE Mama's is up and running and I actually have more time, I am going to spend this week lurking around NEW blogs.. looking up NEW people, broadening my horizons and will pass the award on to new and exciting blogs that catch my eye.

Cos we're sprunging into Spring, and the time for the new is here.

Thanks again guys, and thanks for reminding me that even though this blog sometimes feels like an albatross, it's where I need to be headed. Thanks for reminding me that The Cycle has turned and the Dark of Winter is behind me. As surely as Demeter hears Persephone return, Winter will fall away and once more ideas and rants and tirades and silliness will bloom!

Onwards and upwards!

ED: Ok, My first award goes to Zoe at Progressive Dinner Party. Fun, sassy, irreverent, smart.. what's not to like. But she gets the first of these award for including the following line, in a recipe about Marinara:

That night I dreamt of a man who sacrificed his two unicorns and his soul to Bill Clinton, but I guess there are better ways to advertise that I have a loose concept of reality.

pg and sticky are proud to announce....

SOLE Mama's blog and forums!

Or click the cute little widget to the right!!

It's a little project we've been working on for a while now, but we've finished BETA testing and now we're ready to unveil our little baby!

The list of suppliers is kinda specifically for Victoria, but we have included plenty of links and forum rooms for other Aussies.. and even overseas SOLE sistas and bruffers... SOLE Mama doesn't care where you live... advice on growing or sourcing the good stuff and cooking it is universal!

AND, IT'S EVEN GOT A CHAT ROOM FEATURE!!!

We'll be adding links and other information as we grow!

There's lots of stuff to read and enjoy, so get over to SOLE Mama's, join up (it's free and takes about 1 minute!)

Feel free to share the links with other SOLE-minded folks, or anyone who just wants to drop by for a cuppa!

It's not about defining SOLE, it's a place to share whatever SOLE means to you!

Drop by and help SOLE Mama and the gang get to the Heart of SOLE!

Oh, and if you'd like to help out be getting the cute little widget you see in the side bar to the right, just let me know and I'll send you the code!

Vale Gobbler's blog.

Your wit and irreverence will be sorely missed.

I hope it is onwards and upwards for you, my friend.

Happy First Birthday to me!

Today at 14.44 this day, one year ago, I pressed "publish" on my first blog post. Weirdly, the very first word, I ever typed as a blogger was "Furry"! It was originally designed to document the building on My Big Fat Greek Oven, as there was nothing like it that I had been able to find on the 'Net.

Since then, I've posted 165 times, documented my soul-mates tranformation from bogan boi to kitchen whizz, given my entire family of origin (highly unsatisfactory!) "internet names", changed the layout of this place three times, attended a Bloggers Banquet, hosted a Bloggers banquet, been part on an Internet meme, promoted causes that are dear to me and met some of the most amazing, opiniated, loud, funny, brilliant food obsessed people in Australia.

I've written about sex with vegetables, reviewed restaurants, and been interviewed by manistram media twice.

I've become an advocate of SOLE in the suburbs, and discovered obscure Chilean bakeries.

I've made $30 from Google and had 31,487 page views.

Personally I'd like to shout out to Sticky and Grocer, my two SOLE sistas, Possumchops for her help with vegetable sex, Vida for becoming my on-line mother, Gobbler for his inspirational writing style, Cindy and Michael for overcoming Furry's revulsion of tofu, Thanh for the laughs, Ed for NOT publishing my quote about the Mull-O-Matic, Duncan for the single most memorable food experience of my life, and far too many other people to mention.

All as a result of this funny little corner of cyber space.

Thank you dear reader, for keeping me going.. for commenting and finding me funny/annoying/inspirational/an idiot.

The next year will bring who knows what, but I promise more irreverance, more bad typos, more suburban SOLE, more than $30 on Google clicks(hopefully), more frivolity.

Basically just more P.G!

Thanks for dropping by!

Random pics that I'll never blog about.

Sigh.. that's the thing with blogging.. particularly about food.. you end up with more ideas that you could ever hope to blog about. I knew I was a food obsessive when Furry went from complaining that I took photos of food, to pausing and waiting before tucking in, so I could get "that" shot.

So, on cleaning out my camera, in preparation for this Sunday's SOLE/localvore luncheon, I realised that I have 197 photos on my camera, and only 2 of them contain a human face.. and then, only unexpectedly!! OH.. and one was of a spider web for the never-written "Sunday arvo on the balcony in the tree house" post.

So, dear reader.... sigh with the possibility of all that might have been, and make up your own stories.