Banana Yogurt Muffins

Now that bananas in Australia are back to $2.98 a kilo (down from $15.98 a kilo after the cyclones last year), I have started to buy lots of bananas to go in my weetbix cereal. Unfortunately, this hot weather causes the bananas to ripen a bit too quickly and I end up needing to do something with the over ripe bananas besides throwing them out.

Banana bread has gotten a bit old, so I've found this recipe, tweaked it and made some extremely tasty and moist muffins for breakfast/lunch/snacks. These muffins come out super moist thanks to the yogurt and oil, plus are healthy if you use whole wheat flour and low fat yogurt. I also really like that they are not too sweet. Just writing about them makes me want to eat another one!

Banana Yogurt Muffins with Honey and Cinnamon

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups self-raising flour (I used about 1 1/4 cups of whole wheat self-raising flour)

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup natural yogurt (I used fat-free greek yogurt)

1 egg

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 large bananas, mashed

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp honey

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) - Makes 12 muffins

Mash the bananas in a large bowl. Add the egg, yogurt, honey and vegetable oil and combine. Add the dry ingredients gradually and mixed until just combined. Be sure not to over mix. Line muffin trays with paper cups and fill (or you can use the silicon cups on a baking try, which I did).

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes and turn on a wire rack to cool completely.

*NOTE: If you don't have self-raising flour (which I didn't), you can make your own by following these ratios:

1 cup plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Welcoming the New Year with New Resolutions

2011 was a good year. I spent the year living in Melbourne, working at an amazing cultural institution, making great new friends and traveling to several foreign countries. And after almost three years living in Australia, I finally made a trip home to see my family and friends.

Perhaps most notably, I finally got a job in my field as a photographer at the library. I interact daily with some exciting and interesting collections items. Even though the contract lasts only a year, I've been incredibly lucky to spend my days in the studio.

2012 looms ahead of me with uncertainty. I suppose just as every year has. I am not sure what what wait for me in the future, but I will be ready with strength and determination. And not without setting myself some resolutions. There is always something to work for. And though I firmly believe that you do not need a new year to start working towards the things you want to change, it's as good a time as any to try.

2012 Resolutions:

1. To better look after my health and wellness - this year I need to do the things I've been putting off for a long time, such as visiting the doctor and the dentist. I also want to strive to continue to eat well and exercise regularly. I would like to be able to even improve at the gym by doing things like squatting 20kgs regularly and running 10kms occasionally.
2. To work on my spiritually and inner balance - I'd like to take more yoga classes and mediate more often, but I would also like to explore going to church again on Sundays when I am not donating plasma at the Red Cross (which I look forward to continuing to do in 2012).
3. To work on creative endeavours and explore my passions - Now that I have a thermometer for developing film, I would like to get to back into photography and hopefully one day get back into alternative processes. I have started a tumblr for a photo a day project, in hopes to document my life, one photograph at at time--also to get myself into the habit of seeing the world through photography again. I also hope to develop this blog again a documentation of my life in a city. Instead of being about my life in Toronto, this time about my life in Melbourne.
4. Keep in better touch with my family at friends back in the States - I know that it is easy for life to get in the way, but I know I need my family and friends in my life so I need to write more emails and make more phone calls. I don't want to lose those relationships and I want to make sure they can grow even though we might live miles apart.

And there you have it, my new years resolutions. I hope they help me lead better life this year. And at the very least, they give me something to strive towards.

A very recent memory

Friday afternoon. About 3.30pm. I'm alone, music is playing in the studio which is only lit by a few small lights and then my two lights, with large diffusers on them. I look over at my mamiya rz67 and think to myself "this is awesome." I do a little dance around my camera, table and copy stand before I stop and return to my work.

I'm currently do a side project where I am digitising an album from 1888's Centennial Exhibition in Melbourne -- images of men in the Victorian Courts. 544 men with varying degrees of facial hair. The images are rather small albumen prints, so it takes some time to focus properly on them.

I sit down and my computer, fiddle around the images in Capture One and I stop for a moment. I realise at this very moment how hard I've worked to be back in a photo studio. How hard I have worked to work with collection material. And there I am, sitting in a studio on a Friday afternoon, shooting various collection objects from an amazing cultural institution in Melbourne.

I like this very recent memory, because it makes all the old memories from previous jobs seem like nothing. It makes all the mornings spent emptying dishwashers, getting old men coffee, operating copiers and answering phones seem worth it. Because now I can put photographer after my name. Because now my most important work tool is a camera (a pretty sexy camera) and not a photocopier.

And that...is pretty cool.

23 January 2011: Two Years On....

It was recently my two year anniversary in Australia. It is an anniversary that is met with many mixed feelings. For one, it means I have been with Shannon for two years without any need for months of separation. Two years since we have started our life together.

Also two years since I have been to a place I called home for 24 years and two years since I have seen most of my family and almost all of my friends. Two years of trials and adjustments and life in a grown up world.

It's strange to think the place I once called home and the people I love have gone on living without me (an egocentric thought I know, I have done the same). We have grown apart despite how hard we have tried to hold on to each other. Babies have been born (and turned one!), couples have married and in some cases, divorced, homes were purchased, jobs secured, new friends made and lives lost.

Two years has flown by in the blink of an eye and yet, the time is filled with millions of moments that I have missed or that others have missed. But this is the life I have chosen; distance and time will always separate me somehow.

I will often wish I had more money to pay for the enormous plane fares (I should have married a very wealthy man in order to live this lifestyle; I also probably shouldn't have been a person that didn't have a horrendous fear of flying). I hate to think that because of money I miss out on so many wonderful things. I hate to think I need money to change that.

So two years later, time marches on. And I go on, to whatever future I will find. Wherever I might go.

Hiking Freycinet National Park: Day 6, Wineglass Bay to Car Park to Hobart

It was another beautiful morning to wake up to, even if there was some reluctance about packing up camp.

We decided to get an early start in the hopes to avoid the day walkers by leaving the park by 8am. It was much quieter than the day before and we enjoyed the hike along a nearly empty beach.

The second time we did the climb up to the car park seemed much easier than the first try. Perhaps it was because we knew what we were in for. And when we stopped off at the look out, it was almost empty. At least for a few minutes.

We continued on our way without incident, though the closer to the car park we got, the more people we saw. What I'll never understand about some people is that there is a large sign out front of the entrance saying what to bring and wear, particularly for footwear. And yet, in spite of that there are still several people in thongs and ballet slippers doing the hike.

Watching people enter the park did keep me occupied for the following two hours that I had to wait for the shuttle bus. That, and catching up on Facebook. You can't avoid technology forever. Though it is nice to try sometimes.

And in almost a blink of an eye, I was on the Tassielink (gripping for dear life as the bus doesn't have seat belts) back to Hobart. And I was just in time to see all the 2010 Sydney to Hobart race boats at the harbourfront.
I'd be lying if I told you I had a big, crazy New Years. I fell asleep just before midnight--oops, the bed was soft. But, I did get to celebrate with a bottle of Tasmanian wine at the harbourfront and see some fireworks at the kid's firework display. It was still a nice way to end the year.

Hiking Freycinet National Park: Day 5, Wineglass Bay

We awoke and lightly packed our packs and had a hot breakfast of porridge and honey before heading off down the beach for the car park. We were greeted by the sight of two tall ships, The Young Endeavour and The One and All as they made a port stop in Wineglass Bay.

This also meant that there was already a crowd on the beach in front of us. But, we set off anyways and made for the steep climb to the car park. This was the least favourite of all my trails as it was full of day walkers by the time we reached it at about 10am. Already the other side of the beach was filling up with people who have trekked to the main attraction.

We did take a detour at the look out, but it was packed full of other tourists, each of them trying to get their photo taken. Needless to say after days without crowds, I was finding them a bit tiresome. All the de-stressing and communing with nature I had done over the past few days was being quickly forgotten.

With our water bottles full and lunch in our belly, we rushed from the car park and back to Wineglass Bay. I had felt some sadness and anxiety at the car park--it felt as though the trip had already ended. Reaching our campsite again, however, restored me with a sense of calm. We were still camping.

With a warm dinner in our belly, we clutched our terrible instant coffee and watched our last sunset at the park. I felt a sense of accomplishment that I had survived my first camping trip, excitement about tomorrow afternoon's shower and sadness over leaving. I suppose that makes it a success.

Hiking Freycinet National Park: Day 4, Cooks Beach to Wineglass Bay

The morning had come. We left the campsite by 7am after a quick morning of dressing and packing. Whether I was ready or not, we would be climbing up Mt Freycinet and Mt Graham and hiking over the saddle to Wineglass Bay-- the feature of Freycinet National Park and our final campsite.

After crossing the beach, we stopped for a quick breakfast of muesli bars and stripped off our extra layers because we new the steep climb through the forest would be a lot warmer than the trek across a windy beach first thing in the morning. And once we had no more reasons to stall anymore, we set started our ascent.

After a few hours of hiking through the eucalyptus forest, we can to the rock cairn that marked the separate climb to Mt Freycinet. We'd been planning for this side hike and we started down the path, finding a good spot to hide our packs while we continued on scrambling up rocks to the summit. The path up Mt Freycinet was not well marked, though several rock cairns had been put up in place of the occasional orange arrow.

As we continued to climb, we got a few glimpses of the view we were about to have.

But it wasn't until after we scrambled up the last few granite rocks and popped out the trees did we really get an amazing 360 degree view. It was worth the climb.

We sat there for some time, soaking in the view of the beaches and trees far below. We could see back to the tip of the peninsula and to Schouten Island.

But eventually we started to feel hungry and decided to head back down to pick up our packs and have a quick lunch before continuing on. We met a few women on the way down and said hello before scrambling down the rest of the rocks.

After a relaxing lunch, Shannon and I set off for Mt Graham feeling optimistic. That was quickly destroyed as the hike up Mt Graham felt steeper and more difficult with a pack on. Every time I climbed up another granite rock, I felt I had to struggle to stand up again with an extra 15 kgs weighing down on me. Partway up we were stopped by a man asking if we had seen his son. This question shocked us as we had seen no one. And the thought of losing someone in a National Park sounded terrifying. I could only imagine the thoughts going through his head as he asked us before continuing on.

As it turned out, a father, mother and two sons had hiked up from Wineglass Bay for a day hike. The older son (who turned out was about 14) had gone ahead of the group and once the family reached the summit of Mt Graham lost all sight of him. For about two hours the father searched around the trails for his son as the mother and younger son traveled back to the camp. As it turned out, the son had run on ahead and as there was the side trail for Mt Freycinet, the father and son kept missing each other.

I take it as a lesson about why it's very important to stick with the group out in the wilderness. While that kid was tall and reasonably smart (I say reasonably smart because he did run off from him family and leave them panicking about his safety for several hours), he still could have slipped and hit his head. The path was not well marked around Mt Graham and the granite rocks were large and some of them were wet and slippery.

Thinking of the family made the walk along the saddle a quiet one. By the time we started our long and winding descend to Wineglass, we were feeling a bit tired.

Aching, sore, hungry and tired, we finally saw the rot-a-loo, signifying we had reached the campsite. I was about ready to collapse and had already managed to suck my hydration bladder dry. It didn't help that it had been the warmest day of the trip so far that we chose to hike those 14kms.

Both Shannon and I were a bit cranky and it took three tries of setting up the tent and taking down the tent at three different locations before we found one that we both liked and that was secluded enough so that we didn't have to see other campers. This was by far the busiest campsite and the least nice.

The sand was like dirty ash and got everywhere for starters. It was the smallest campsite, but had the most amount of people and many of them large and talkative groups. And to finish it off the rot-a-loo was the most used and therefore the worst smelling of all of them. It also didn't help that there was a huge spider in one of the stalls. Not that I close the doors on the rot-a-loo to use them, I'm afraid I'd die of asphyxiation in there.

But after a nap out of the hot, late afternoon sun and a snack overlooking the beach, things didn't seem so bad anymore. Except for the fact that we had less than one litre of water left and another full day in the park. Instead of spending a day playing in the water (it was too cold anyways) and relaxing on the beach, we had to make the decision to hike out to the carpark a day early to get more water and hike back. There was no water to treat at Wineglass Bay and so hiking out was our only option.

So, after enjoying a hot dinner and a sunset on the beach, we turned in early for another day of hiking.

Hiking Freycinet National Park: Day 3, Bryans Beach

Waking up to blue skies, white sand and turquoise water (no matter how cold it might be) is paradise, plain and simple. Even if you haven't showered in three days and the wind is a bit cold, it's still paradise. We weren't ready to take Mt Freycinet today, so we'd planned for a side trip down to Bryans Beach for a few hours.

After a pancake feast, we left the tent and took our packs down to Bryans Beach on the Southern end of the peninsula, across from Shouten Island.

The path looked somewhat overgrown and quite obviously less traveled, but the climbing around and over fall trees and branches was worth it and we were left with a near empty white sand beach. Bryans Beach didn't have many visitors on foot, but it certainly had several boats anchored around.

It was a perfect, lazy, sunny afternoon to dip your feet in the cool water and walk along the warm sand. I also did a fair bit of climbing around the sand dunes to find Bryans Lagoon, which was marked on the map.

After a lunch trail mix and mountain bread dipped in peanut butter, Shannon and I made the hike back to Cooks Beach. The good thing about hiking in December is that the days are the longest and the weather is usually still quite cool. We were fortunate with sunlight by 6am and it lasted until after 9pm. We actually got very little use out of the lanterns we brought with us--except to read The Hobbit aloud at night.

By the time we returned to our tent, there were already about eight other tents set up for the night, but since they were set up far away, we almost didn't know any of them were there. After a hearty dinner and a cup of the last hot chocolate, we turned in after watching some of the sunset. Tomorrow, we were going to find out what hiking is really like.

Hiking Freycinet National Park: Day 2, Hazards Beach to Cooks Beach

After a night of rain and dropping temperatures as we slept cramped in our two man tent (we will later come to realise that of all the campers in Freycinet, we may have the smallest--and likely lightest--tent around), we awoke to a brisk, windy and clear day 2 of our adventure. After dressing, we hiked over to the Rot-a-loos (a foul smelling invention, but this was the cleanest of the three, Wineglass Bay not only smelled the worst, it was inhabited by a spider larger than my palm). As the hike to Cooks Beach only took about two hours, we took our time packing up camp and making a warm breakfast, including mochas.

The view at Hazards Beach was beautiful, despite the freezing winds--so much for summer in Tasmania.

Just before midday, we set out for Cooks Beach, taking our time to enjoy the woods. Not too much time, for as I was leading the way, I spotted some a few metres on that was not a stick. Rather, it was one of the three snakes native to Tasmania--and all of them poisonous.

Fortunately, I kept my distance and live to tell the tale of my first Australian poisonous snake sighting. Outside of the zoo or museum of course. I made Shannon lead the rest of the hike to Cooks Beach (boy, my investment in gaiters paid off). Through the trees, Cooks Beach came into view--yet another white sand beach with turquoise water. We walked across to the opposite side of the beach to the campsite. This time we were not the only campers; a couple had set up camp after kayaking in. However, we managed to find a site with a view and set up camp for the next two nights.

Of the three campsites in Freycinet, this was the best. That view definitely has something to do with it.