Farmers Markets

There are a lot of farmers markets in Hawaii and wondering through them is my new favourite thing to do. I love all the fresh produce and supporting local farmers -  this is my experience from a few weeks ago when i discovered dragonfruit.

I pass by a sign that reads ‘farmers market’, eager to check out the goods I walked along a skinny path, winding my way through jewelry and trinket stalls. I wander for a good ten minutes with no sign of fresh food or farmers, then, I catch a whiff of fresh pineapple. Carrying a large ripe pineapple, a couple walked past me without a second glance, my mouth started to water as I walked in the direction they had come from.

I turned a corner past another trinket stall and the markets opened up in front of me overflowing with fresh food. A myriad of aromas assaulted my nose, freshly baked bread, fruits, stir fry and other delicious goods. My mouth continues to water. There was a hum of activity, fruit being chopped, snippets of Chinese and Japanese and other foreign languages and accents... (continued after the break)

Om nom nom dragonfruit Image: Wiki

Argh Agar Zombie Brains

With Halloween fast approaching been and gone I thought I'd share a ghoulish way of making edible brains. It can be used to make any shape depending on the molds you have available.


There are plenty of creative ways to make edible brains such as Evil Mad Scientists spooky things in jars and Living Lucurto's Brains in a Jar Cupcakes. But I needed something that was quick and easy for an activity for children and I discovered the beauties of AGAR-AGAR!

Image: Tabsinthe - flickr

More after the break.

Child Wrangling

When I started my new job in early childhood I thought how hard could it be? I’ve worked in education with kids before, I mean sure they were primary school kids but how different could it be? Well my new line of work is a definitely a different kettle of fish. I find myself learning some interesting new skills, most of them related to child wrangling.  

The writing game

Just the simple presence of words arranged in a particular order can convey such meaning and evoke strong feelings. Last night I was plowing through George R.R. Martin’s third instalment in the Song of Fire and Ice trilogy and it made me want to cry. I put the book down at that point and went to sleep expecting the characters, who were now my imaginary family, to fare better on the morrow. Little did I know they were in for more tragedy the next night but I still couldn’t put the book (well Kindle) down. 

I feel nervous and shy when I think about writing something, I focus too much on what other people will think when they read my writing. Did I spell everything correctly? Is my grammar proper? Did my message come across as suave and intelligent as I intended it?

Because of all this I don’t really write unless it is to achieve a purpose, ie at work, for an article etc. After a while I stopped writing for the pleasure of it, it just became a tool in my arsenal of skills for me to whip out for my cv. 

So I’ve had to change my way of thinking, stop being so self-defeating and as they say at Nike - just do it. My blog (which was set up for me as a leaving gift from my old boss) has sat idle for a few months as I hesitated about writing more. I didn’t know what direction I wanted it to take or what the purpose of it was or even if anyone was reading it. But I’ve decided that it’s just good practice for me to hone my skills and it can take any direction I want it to take and I really don’t care if anyone reads it.. as long as I’ve done it I will feel like I’ve accomplished something.

Clearly I procrastinate too much, but amigurumi is soo cute

I’m also going to try write down my inner monologue almost exactly as it is rather than editing and fine tuning it. I have to constantly fine tune things for work and articles and I think that’s what takes some of the fun out of it. So my writing may be raw and rambling but that’s the way I am.

So even if it’s not about science I’m still going to write about it, because I seem to find science in very interesting places, especially when I’m not looking for it.

Sid the Science Kid

I've been in Hawaii for about two and a half weeks now and I managed to catch an awesome show on PBS (which is the American version of the Australian ABC 2 kids channel). The show is called Sid the Science Kid and I'm officially in love with it. It's all about science inquiry skills for pre-schoolers and helping them realise they can be scientists too.

Check out their cute website, if you click on the parent/teacher section there's two really good science communiction blogs there. http://pbskids.org/sid/

Image Credit: PBS

I've been getting some great ideas for experiments and how to talk to kids about certain topics. The show has an overarching topic every week and Sid asks a different question about the topic every day. If you can get your hands on a copy I strongly recommend checking it out.