#12. Frame a picture

Status: Complete

I didn't specify that the frame would have glass in it. $10 at Reverse Garbage bought me a lovely wood-with-lacquered-hessian-trim frame, the perfect size for a wrapping paper map of Paris. Found some black cardboard beside the fridge for border and $3 at Bunnings furnished us with hanging wire. Framed and hung.

#17. Build a day bed

I don't know if it's technically "built" , but it is now a collection of neatly stacked and balanced planks, topped by floor cushions when weather permits. For at least a year, it was a very un-neatly stacked pile of planks, gathering slugs in the corner and looking at me intimidatingly. Then there was a photographer arriving in 25 minutes and "voila". Probably some sort of life lesson there.

#4. Visit A-Z

This one's fun. After a Summer of traveling, hopefully I've knocked off a few.
...
And indeed, I've taken a few liberties (cities, countries...) but only 7 left. Any ideas for a town starting with X within a short drive of the Sydney metro area...?

Antigua (Guatemala), Atacoa
Belize, Brisbane
Caye Caulker, Costa Rica Caloundra
DC
El Salvador, 'El Porvenir'
France
Guatemala, Granada
Honduras
Isla de Ometepe
Jaibalito, Juayua, Jiquilillo
K
Lago Atitlan, Liberia, Livingston, Leon
Mexico, Masaya, Moyogalpa
New York City, Nicaragua
O
Playa del Carmen, Paris, Panajachel
Q
Rio Dulce
San Miguel, Santa Cruz, Sonsonate
Tokyo, Tikal, Tulum
U
Volcan Maderas
Washington, D.C.
X
Y
Z

Poor old blogger

A year of neglect and more than half my days gone. Not all is lost though - things have been accomplished!  Updates to follow.

#47. Meet a child

Status: Complete

It turns out that tutoring is quite a convenient part-time job for a friendly med student. I now have 2 x 10 year olds and an 8 year old as students. And amazingly, we're all getting along swimmingly. Must admit to playing favourites already - the one girl I have is a little mini-me perfectionist and we're having a great time with junior algebra and french picture books. The boys have shorter attention spans... Was vaguely worried that I was so out of the loop with small people that it really wouldn't work, but hey, they even seem to find me Cool. Amazing.

Coming up in med is a paediatrics assignment for which I'll have to meet a REALLY little person. More on that soon - can't wait!

#34 and #7 Food

Status: In Progress

You can keep tabs on my progress with 101 recipes here, but I thought a little more detail might be in order. Generally the recipes are doing well - exploring new ingredients, making use of the recipe book cupboard. On the photography front, I'm mixing it up between the iPhone 3GS and a Canon P&S. So, many would argue this doesn't even really rate as 'photography' per se. But hey. The Canon has better macro focus, but the iPhone has cool inbuilt lomo effect through Instagram. Tips welcome!

#34. 11/101 Panna Cotta

#34. 12/101 Jamie Oliver tomato pasta

#81. Create a website

Status: Complete

Deep in the really exciting tasks at the moment, aren't we. And yes, if I'm perfectly honest, my current writing style may be slightly influenced by boredom + O.C. Season 1 + rekindled love for Seth Cohen. Sigh.

I created a website. Other than a blog. For my Dad. It's cool. It has a picture. And a photo. And an address. I'm proud. But not proud enough to embarrass him by linking to it. And I doubt many of you guys are in the market for a Brisbane-based management consultant.

#21. Doormat

Status: Complete

Wow. So now we get to write next to the picture. Fancy. This is my doormat. Exciting, huh? I thought so...

Splashback

Status: Complete

So glossy. So black. So clean-able. Between the generally horrendous builders; finding a replacement glazier; measuring up; finding an electrician; sourcing black plastic powerpoints from 6 suppliers; finding a second electrician; remeasuring; finding a plumber; remeasuring... And then suddenly one Saturday morning, I filled my house with ridiculously efficient tradesmen and wound up sitting, drinking coffee, taking in my completely finished renovation at 10am. I almost teared up, but the tradies were cute and I thought they might judge.

#48. 10.10.10

Status: Complete-ish

I didn't really celebrate per se. But I remembered it was 10.10.10. I looked for cool events and was dismally disappointed. There was a vague eco-friendly scavenger hunt in a nearby park that I walked past, but... really?

I drank a toast to my senior maths teacher, who used to do something cool (cool for a maths nerd) with the date every day and hoped he was appreciating the day somehow. I also remembered thinking as a teenager that one of these 'cool' dates would be a good time to have a baby. Funny those moments, no?

Book #5. Washington Square

How have I not discovered Henry James sooner?

"If the only office of a son-in-law were to dine at the paternal table, I should set a high value upon your brother. He dines capitally."

#34. 101 recipes

Status: underway

To stay on theme, here's another 101 within a 101.

This one's pretty ambitious - I'm a creature of habit - I like to cook the things I like... But I do have some nice cookbooks, and I think this might make me a better cook.

1. Vietnamese pork - A win up front - a cup of sugar and big slosh of fish sauce had me dubious, but it's awesome and will be repeated.
2. Mum's caramel slice - Burned the base first time round, but second batch was great. Scored big brownie points in the office.
3. Orange soy beef casserole - Fail. Super super salty and the orange soy combo just didn't really fly.
4. Beet salad - Win. Took me back to favourite NY cafes. And used garden-grown rocket.
5. Creamy mushroom fettucine - Win. Replaced the cream with evaporated milk. Ate a little too much of it, but that's ok.
6. Egg and Bacon mini frittatas - Win. Made on Sunday night, makes for a quick weekday breakfast. 
7. Coriander dip - Win. Risk overdosing soon. Coriander, ginger, garlic, soy, lime juice, brown sugar, cream cheese.
8. Roast chicken and veggies - Win. Ok, I think technically I made this once before. But it was a really long time ago and I don't think there were veggies involved.
9. Jamie Oliver curry - Meh. I used half the suggested water and thought it tasted watery. But the recipe was in French, so points for effort, right?
10. Beef with Pak Choy and Oyster sauce - Not entirely new, but had never really explored Asian greens before. Success. Less soy next time.
11. Panna Cotta w vanilla beans - More new ingredients - vanilla beans and gelatin. Delicious. Wanted to try the first time with everything by the book. Next time reduced fat cream or evap milk... Vanilla beans were fascinating - tiny and moist - still have 2/3 left.
12. Jamie Oliver tomato pasta - Excellent. Think is more prime Jamie territory. Home grown basil, tomato, garlic, a quarter the recommended olive oil and that much made my eyes bulge. But very good...
13. Sweet potato, beet, fetta salad - An attempt to mimic a cafe salad. The dressing's not quite right and it could probably use some chicken. And maybe less beetroot. But not bad.
14. Thai vermicelli salad - Pretty good. Maybe a few tweaks to the dressing, but good. Chicken mince, vermicelli noodles, mint, coriander, ginger, snow peas, soy/fish sauce/lemon/sugar/garlic dressing. Maybe cashews and/or sesame seeds on top...
15. Gnocchi - big win. May be beginners' luck but seemed pretty straight-forward.
16. Pea pesto - not sure. Too much garlic for my liking.

Gallery visits

Status: Underway

As for 101 Books, I'll track this goal in a post. Again, I've increased the target from the last 101 in 1001. Last time I just scraped to 50, but it was a half-time goal, so only had ~500 days. That said, a lot of that time was spent in Manhattan or travelling, so.... Anyway, I'm all for being a tourist at home, so I'll give 101 gallery visits a go in this next 1001 days. Most of which is likely to be spent in Sydney.

1. Art&About - Hyde Park display of Sydney photographs
2. MCA - Primavera exhibition
3. Surry Hills Library Street Scenes
4. ACP - Walkley Awards
5. Sculpture by the Sea
6. Philip Bacon Gallery 
7. GOMA - Valentino Retrospective. Absolutely amazing.
8. National Art School - Reportage exhibition
9. Sculpture by the Sea take 2
10. Crown St gallery 1
11. Crown St gallery 2
12. Glenmore Rd gallery 1
13. Glenmore Rd gallery 2
14. Anatomy museum - Royal North Shore

Project 365

Status: Underway

I've been 'practising' this one for a week or two now, trying to get back into the habit of a photo a day. Last night I took this one and I think I like it enough that I don't want it to miss out on the project, so I'm calling it - Day 1 (2 now) of Project365 2.0. (I'll tire of the 2.0 thing soon. Patience)

101 Books

I hereby begin my second list of books. Slightly more ambitious than in the List 1.0. Then I targeted 50 and achieved 84. This time around I'm a regular person, not a banker, so 101 sounds like a good number.

1 down, 100 to go. I'll use this post to keep track.

1. Tender is the Night
2. The Witches of Eastwick
3. Madame Bovary
4. Lolita
5. Washington Square
6. Minding Frankie
7. The Twenty-Seventh City (wip)
8. And It Is True
9. 36 Arguments for the Existence of God - a work of fiction (wip)
10. How it Feels
11. Brooklyn
12. Room
13. Freedom
14. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
15. The Beautiful and the Damned (wip)

Day Zero

It's Day Zero (almost) of my second attempt at 101 goals in 1001 days. I've kicked it off a little sooner than planned: Discovering that I was 1001 days from turning 30, I couldn't ignore the tidiness of the timing.

The List is about halfway there. Finishing it will be the first item ticked off. It's taking a little while, because along with finding tasks that are stretching, achievable, measurable and things I want to do, I also want most of them to be interesting to blog about. Polishing all my polishable shoes just doesn't pull the readership these days.

More soon.