Do you eat Zebras ?

Thats what my neice wanted to know at dinner last night - " Aunty Amy, do you eat zebras ? ". We'd already gone over the fact that i eat chickens, and cows and pigs and little lambs, now my almost three year old neice was concerned that i might eat zebras.
Me: " Nope, i dont eat anything that has stripes ".
Her : " What about tigers, do you eat tigers ? "
Me: " Do they have stripes ? "
Her: " Ummm..... ( big long pause )...... yes. "
Me: " Then i dont eat them ".

All this stemmed from my dad mentioning that he was going to cook up some kangaroo sausages for his lunch the next day (he wasnt making that up by the way, we do eat kangaroo here in Australia ). My neice, however, thought the whole idea very funny. " Poppy, why are you going to eat a kangaroo ? " was the first question, which progressed onto what we do and dont eat. I felt honesty was the best policy - its important that she knows when we say we're eating chicken, we mean we're eating A chicken. What is also important is that you tell her that we DONT eat worms, dirt or boogers. Because sometimes she does eat boogers and, well, thats just not acceptable.
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Ah, shoes. Every woman worth her salt loves a pair of shoes, especially if they're on sale. I've had a handful of guys ask me about womens fascination with shoes, and i cant really explain it. Its just a sisterhood thing, i suppose - secret womens business to which there is no real answer. So when my mum asked me to take her shopping to find a pair of shoes to wear to my sisters upcoming 18th birthday dinner, i sure wasnt going to turn her down. My reward for this completely selfless act of kindness ? Getting the " second " pair of shoes when my mum waa offered a " buy one, get the second pair half price " special. Yay for me! So i chose me a really cute pair of shoes*- tan, leather, stacked heel, sling backs. They'll be perfect with a pair of jeans and white tank top. Too cute!
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Now, i know that we discussed whether or not i eat zebras, which was a no. What i do eat is Thai food, and my mum and dad decided tonight would be great night to go out for Thai. Bless their hearts for letting me come along for the ride. I am telling you, there is nothing in the world like a good mussaman curry, and the mussaman curry at our local Thai place is to die for! Tender chunks of beef in a smooth, sweet, peanutty sauce, accompanied by bite sized pieces of potato and large helping of rice. Absolute culinary heaven. I have never eaten so well as i did during my three weeks in Asia. I'd always liked your regualr run-of-the-mill Chinese food, but i developed a real love for Asian flavours whilst travelling. Everything was so fresh and light and i never went hungry. The best meal i had ? We had lunch with some Buddhist nuns in a monastery on a hillside in Vietnam and the food was gorgeous. Being nuns of the Buddhist variety they arent allowed to eat meat so everything we had was vegetarian. I was kind of thinking it was going to be quite a boring, stodgy meal but it suprised me - i dont know how they did it, but it was great! You know what else was great ? Tamarind crab. Seriously, i should not get started on how good this crab was....
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So, now, onward to tomorrow. I aske dmy mum if she'd like to go to the movies, so we're going to see " The Duchess ", with Keira Knightley. Umm, i mean she's in the movie, she's not coming with us, although that would be cool. I saw an interview with her on " 60 Minutes " and she seemed really down to earth, the kind of girl i'd be friends with. Keira, if you're reading this, give me a buzz and maybe we could do lunch or something.....


*I couldnt find a picture of them, so you'll just have to imagine them for yourself.