the top five most essential items for your pantry:

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1. Cheat’s Ingredients
These ingredients are an easy way to add plenty of flavour. Chilli Jam is great for stir-fries, mixed through vegetables, or spread over chicken, fish or pork as an easy marinade. Caramelised onion relish, makes a great base to an onion tart, or a tasty pizza mixed with shaved potato and gorgonzola.

2. Wide Neck Glass Storage Jars
I like the convenience of seeing exactly what and how much of an ingredient is inside. Plus, the large neck opening makes them easy to scoop from - you can get a full size measuring cup and your hand inside.

3. Good Selection of Dried Pasta, Rice and Noodles
They are pantry staples and make a great base for a simple home-made meal. Just throw in a few fresh ingredients and in no time you have a fuss-free lunch or dinner, perfect for the family or unexpected guests.

4. Time Poor, Sweet Solution
This is a self indulgent one, but being as time-poor as I am, I love baking and my friends often expect a home-baked sweet treat when they drop over for a coffee. That’s why I developed my new range of baking mixes including cupcakes, an indulgent chunky brownie and chocolate-filled macaron – they’ll never know they were made from a mix and you don’t have to spend half their visit working in the kitchen.

5. Asian Based Ingredients
My favourite vibrant ingredients: soy, fish sauce, palm sugar, sesame oil, all combine for great sauces and dressings on Asian salads or noodles. Simply mix with fresh flavours such as lime juice, coriander and mint, and you’ll have an Asian feast in no time.

My Personal Commandments

I'm starting to come up with my personal commandments. Here's what I've come up with thus far...

1. Invest in those who invest in you.

2. Don't underestimate the things that make you happy.

3. If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all.

4. It will all make sense in the end...

5. How can we make this more exciting?

6. Chill out and lighten up.

here is my comic

Roman Numerals

Said goodbye to Colin today. He's leaving for two months. The first friend I made here. Something constant in a new place.

We drank wine last night while we burned discs upon discs of music that I've been coveting from his collection. I danced for a moment in the middle of the kitchen. He walked by—more or less used to these outbursts of mine. He said he liked the smell of me: familiar, "a pull on the heart strings." I feel exactly the same way about him.

I told him that he was my home-away-from-home and he said he was honored. I told him I was lucky, but truly, I am blessed.