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Inclusive Recruitment - we can do better

As a refugee, Nam Van Ngo faced frequent rejections. Employers said he didn’t have sufficient English skills, he didn’t have local references and they didn’t recognise his overseas experience and qualifications. After repeated knock-backs, Nam accepted infrequent handyman jobs, but they soon dried up and eventually he gave up. The system wore him down. Yet in Vietnam, he worked every day of his adult life, his last job was in the Police service. Sadly, none of that counted to employers in Australia. Nam Van Ngo isn’t just a statistic. He’s my dad. That picture is of us. He arrived in Sydney at a similar age as I am now. Today, I still have a passion for my job and know I have so much more to give. He would have had the same attitude back then. His experience is similar to other refugees according to a newly released paper from Anti-Discrimination NSW. In addition to the barriers above, it also noted limited access to local networks and unfamiliarity with local work culture as other barriers to employment. As in my father’s example, hiring managers can make or break the career opportunities of refugees. The Inclusive Recruitment for Culturally and Racially Marginalised Groups paper identified some common biases: ◾ Affinity bias: recruiters favour candidates similar to themselves ◾ Confirmation bias: preconceived notions about cultural groups ◾ Halo effect: singular traits are used to judge overall competency ◾ Groupthink: pressure to conform to biased views of other panel members The paper identifies strategies that employers should consider that could make recruitment more inclusive: 🔎 Targeted advertising and pro-diversity statements: to attract candidates from diverse backgrounds 👩‍💻 Anonymised application process: removing identity details from applications 🏢 Flexible interviews: structured interviews aims to reduce bias, however, this could favour candidates familiar with certain communication norms. 👩‍🎓 Training to counter bias 👯 Inclusion of diverse staff in recruitment process 🎯 Affirmative recruitment: such as targets to increase underrepresented groups 💻 AI-powered recruitment: the paper notes limited research is available on impact of AI in inclusive recruitment and caution is advised The Inclusive Recruitment for Culturally and Racially Marginalised Groups paper is available here: https://lnkd.in/gdpXGzrj ❓ When applying for a job, have you faced these barriers? ❓ Employers, do you think these tips could help your recruitment process to be more inclusive? Share your thoughts with the community in the comment section.

[thangngo]

Adopt Refugee Atomic Habits for Career Success.

My parents and I arrived in Sydney with just two small suitcases and a few hundred dollars. From language barriers to everyday life navigation, we had to start from scratch. Thankfully we were supported by the kindness of charities and neighbours. We learnt to live within our means; mum cut my hair until I left home for Uni, almost all of our clothes were second-hand.

Today, I've achieved more than I ever imagined, and I'm incredibly thankful for the opportunities and support. 🚀

Refugees and new migrants bring unique insights on how to thrive in new environments and I believe these Refugee Atomic Habits are super powerful career building blocks:

💥Challenge Convention: Break free from the "we've always done it this way" mentality. Embrace a refugee mindset to bring fresh perspectives, innovative ideas and a critical questioning attitude. Don't be confined by existing systems and processes, instead elevate and find solutions from around the globe.

🌈Be a Wide-Eyed Optimist: Imagine the wonder of arriving in a new land. See limitless opportunities instead of problems. Even though we had nothing, we didn’t complain of lack of resources. We saw potential everywhere and used what we had to build a better outcome.

👉😎👈Discard Your Ego: we weren’t too proud to accept help; clothing, food and other acts of kindness. Put pride to one side and listen when colleagues offer suggestions. Listening and accepting help build workplace respect and collaboration that will lead to success for you and your organisation.

For me, being a refugee isn't just a part of my history; it's a source of strength and wisdom. Adopting Refugee Atomic Habits could help you build a rewarding career.

How else can we learn from the experiences of others. Share your thoughts in the comments.

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

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Networking for introverts

80% of jobs are filled through personal or professional connection. 70% of jobs aren’t advertised on job sites.

These are US stats, but it’s a universal truth: candidates with a strong network have a significantly better chance of getting a job or promotion.

😓 My head knows this, but the thought of networking makes me break a sweat.

I’m an introvert. In a crowded room, I choose to melt into the background. When chatting, I speak too quickly because I’m nervous. I have limited hearing which makes conversation difficult in a noisy room.

So, I avoid events and functions. When I do turn up, I stick to the people I know and look for an excuse to leave early.

It’s baby steps, but I find the following tactics useful:

👍 Embrace the Power of 'Yes': I RSVP to invites before I have the chance to come up with an excuse to pass. My KPI is to say 'yes' more times than 'no' in 2023. Once I accept, that stressful situation is over, allowing me to concentrate on the next steps.

🧘‍♂️ Master the Art of Deep Breathing: I take deliberate, slow, strong breaths. Controlled breathing reduces stress, it allows me to speak more clearly and listen more intently. Breathing helps with good posture, boosts confidence and projects positive body language.

❓ Be Insatiably Curious: Instead of dwelling on my own nervousness, I divert my focus to others. I find something I like about a person and compliment them. It’s an effective ice breaker. When you’re in conversation, be curious about them: what they do, their accomplishments, their stories. When I’m curious, I’m a better listener and a better conversation partner – who doesn’t want someone they can talk to about themselves?

🏋‍♂️ Play to My Strengths. While I work on improving my in-person networking skills, I continue to leverage the channels where introverts often shine: - LinkedIn: publish posts, articles and comment on interesting content - Blog: continue to blog at thangngo.com - Email/Teams meetings: Every interaction, no matter how small, is an opportunity to network. I approach these opportunities with curiosity, a willingness to help, and respect for others.

📅 My next networking event is this Wednesday. I’m going to throw caution to the wind. Wish me luck!

❓ What networking tips have helped you? Please share, I’d love to know.

Useful resources: How to get a job often comes down to one elite personal asset, and many people still don’t realize it, CNBC https://lnkd.in/gtETRzMk

New Survey Reveals 85% of All Jobs are Filled Via Networking, Lou Adler via LinkedIn https://lnkd.in/gMkqRmF3

Why Networking is Important [+ How to Get it Right], Hubspot https://lnkd.in/gtnfEYP4

11 Introvert Networking Tips that Won’t Make You Feel Exhausted, Happier Human, https://lnkd.in/gxDUmyJd

Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash

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My search for a mentor. Join me.

On a wet winter morning in 1977, we came to Sydney with no English and even less knowledge of how things worked in Australia. Once, I walked to the shops in my PJs (it's perfectly acceptable in Vietnam). A shocked neighbour scooped me up in her car to take me home and change. We were always an hour early or late going to places during day light saving time changes.

Through primary and high school, other children had parents who could help them with homework and came to P&C nights. While my parents helped by providing a loving and supportive home environment, they were of limited help with that Shakespear essay or Australian History test.

Looking back, I realised that I had to do everything the hard way, and often on my own.

Now, I'm starting again. I joined the NSW public service in December last year in a communications role, switching from a familiar private sector career in media and advertising.

This time, I don't want to do things the hard way.

The NSW public sector is the largest employer in Australia, with a headcount of over 430,000 people. A mentor would help me naviagate my new work environment, provide advice and open new connections and opportunities.

Come along on my journey

I'm inviting you to join me in my search to learn from my (inevitable) mistakes, help give me advice, celebrate when I find a mentor.

This is a journey, so expect a few more posts in the future. For this post, I'm focussed on identifying mentor(s) to approach.

Everyone is a mentor

Firstly, everyone you come across is a mentor. As long as you are learning something from what they do or how they do it, their actions make them an informal mentor.

This search is for a regular mentor that I can work with, a formal arrangement to ensure I am keeping myself on track.

Finding a mentor - my approach

Know my goals: I'll take time to look at my short and long term career goals and identify the skills, training and attitudes needed.

Know my strengths and weaknesses: how do my current skills and experience stack up to those identified? What key areas need development?

Start in my existing network: Is there someone with demonstrated strengths in the areas which I need to develop? My preference would be someone who is more senior and is outside of my immediate division, potentially even outside of my organisation.

Look outside my network: Is there someone that I admire who I don't yet know or is only a casual acquaintance? Potentially an expert in my field of interest.

Join new networks: Join and attend public service, communications and other professional groups to grow my network.

My aim is to identify three to five potential candidates to approach, with the goal of securing one on-going mentor.

Ok, I've got some work to do!

Once I've identified the candidates (I'll keep them confidential), my next post will be the steps to approach a mentor.

Did you find these tips useful? I'd love your feedback.

How you can help

Have I missed anything? I'd love it if you could share any other useful tips in finding a mentor.

Come along with me on this journey and be my network of support.

Are you a potential mentor - get in touch and let's chat.

Resources

Some resources I found useful in developing my approach:

The right mentor can change your career. Here's how to find one, NPR.

How Do I Find A Mentor? Forbes.

What’s the Right Way to Find a Mentor? HBR.

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Being Different is Your Superhero Power

Sydney: in the 80s, I was one of three Asian kids at school. I hated being different. I looked different, acted different, didn’t like sports, was introverted, had no money and lived in public housing.

At the time, I thought being different was an economic and social disadvantage.

After high school, I travelled to Asia and started to appreciate the richness of my Asian background.

It was an epiphany - the things that made me different were the things that made me more employable and more interesting.

The old me saw diversity as a deficit. The new me knows that being different can be a distinctive advantage at work.

❌ OLD MINDSET: Migrants/refugees aren’t employable 💪 NEW MINDSET: Migrants have skills that companies need I turned my refugee experience into a successful career in multicultural marketing.

❌ OLD: Migrants don’t know how Australia works 🏋‍♀️ NEW: Migrants succeed because they’re not bound by traditional constraints/thinking In 1999, I was elected to Fairfield council. I didn’t know (or cared) that it was almost impossible to be elected as a first time candidate when you're not with a major party.

❌ OLD: New arrivals don’t know our tastes and what we like 🔥 NEW: Migrants have a global view and can recognise and build trends In 2012, while working at SBS, I came up with the concept for SBS PopAsia, the first Asian pop music program on Australian free-to-air TV. It takes a migrant to recognise the global phenomenon of K-pop.

❌ OLD: Gays aren’t good for a company’s culture 🌈 NEW: Embracing diversity is better for company culture Walter and I have been together for 33 years. Colleagues have told me how it’s changed their perspective of a loving ‘family’ unit.

💯 Diversity is a valuable asset.

What's holding you back? A new migrant, introverted, different sexual orientation, different ability, left-handed, public housing resident, chess addict - take five minutes to change your perspective (and everyone around you) because being different is a blessing.

❓ In what ways have you turned your perceived disadvantage into a distinctive point of difference?

I’d love to learn from you, please share your experience in the comments.

[thangngo]

Creating a better work-life balance

Can't switch off from work? Always checking emails at home? Work intrudes into your dream?

I'm trying to get a better work-life balance, too. I've tailored a system to suit my needs, I call it the "3 R's":

Rhythm

Regions

Reward

It's early days, but so far, my personal 3 R's system seems to be working.

Rhythm Remove distractions, work more efficiently so you have more time to enjoy a life.

Turn off notifications: Outlook, Teams and other work apps' alerts can be distracting. Turn off notifications and message counters on your phone and desktop so you can focus. Checking emails after hours is my biggest source of stress.

Check emails twice a day: once in the morning and once mid afternoon - schedule it into your calendar as recurring events. This will allow you to focus on getting work done and attend to email responses. I set aside 30m for each session.

Set expectations: of colleagues that you're only doing emails twice a day, so they can call if it's urgent.

Regions Keep work and personal lives in separate compartments.

Stick to your work (and personal) hours: unless pre-arranged, I will only respond to work requests between 8am and 6pm, weekdays. Other times are mine. I'm keeping to these hours as much as possible to establish clear boundaries.

Set up a work area when working from home: I'm lucky to have a dedicated room as my home office. When the work day is over, I literally leave work by closing the door. When working from home, I change out of the PJs to signal that I'm 'going' to work.

Reminders of home while at work: we hotdesk, an environment that is generic. I put a picture of Walter on the desk to remind me that I work to live. It's also good for your employer, a Harvard Business Review research found that workers were less likely to engage in unethical behaviour when their workspace included photos of their loved ones.

Inspiring regions: find other interests that you'd love to do if you had more 'me' time. Mine is tennis... if only I had more time.

Reward Review and celebrate the wins.

Review progress: I'll review the process next month to see what's working well and change what's not.

Have more fun: being more productive, setting clear boundaries have allowed me to play more tennis. I'm healthier, happier and think with greater clarity.

Less stress: I've always been good at stress management. My 3 R's have been helpful to keep it that way. I use my smart watch to measure stress levels after dinner each night. I've been consistently in the average resting range.

What works for you?

Would any of the above tips work for you? What systems do you use to balance work and life?

Share your thoughts in the comments. I'd love to read them.

Read more

Checking emails twice a day (thanks Tim Ferriss) and other email hacks.

Resarch shows benefits of turning off phone notifications.

Why it’s important to keep home and work life separate.

Research shows benefits of displaying photos of loved ones at work.

How smartwatches help manage stress.

[thangngo]

One Golden Rule for a successful career

You'll hear me groaning whenever someone says: There's no "I" in teamwork.

It's so corny, clichéd, passé.

Starting a new job after seven years in a previous one has given me the opportunity to look at everything in a new perspective. I haven't thrown everything out, but the different environment has helped me increased self-awarness and make postive changes.

There's one thing I kept on coming back to... and so far, this work habit has been undeniably effective. I reckon, if you just follow this one practice, you'll succeed, no matter what job you do.

Career Golden Rule

Make everyone around you look good.

It's that easy and, at the same time, that hard.

Of course, I have an ego. I have pride in my work. Who doesn't want to be recognised and rewarded?

What would happen if you make everyone around you look good? That includes, your boss, peers and team members.

Making everyone around you look good is actually good for you.

Don't believe me? Tell me if you disagree with these benefits below.

Why you should make your boss look good

Better working relationship: Making your boss look good shows respect and can help build a positive relationship. This can lead to better communication, increased trust, and a more supportive work environment.

Job satisfaction: When you help your boss succeed, you are likely to feel more fulfilled and satisfied with your job. This can lead to improved job performance and overall satisfaction.

Positive reputation: When you consistently help your boss look good, you build a positive reputation for yourself within the organisation as a team player. This can increase your visibility and lead to greater opportunities for professional growth and success.

Job security: When your boss is successful, it often leads to increased job security and stability within the company. By helping your boss look good, you are helping to secure your own job and future with the company.

Career advancement: When your boss is successful, it often leads to opportunities for growth and advancement within the company. If you're boss is promoted, you might be poached to join them. By helping your boss look good, you increase your own chances for career advancement.

Making your peers look good makes you a better leader

Better collaboration: By not competing you're both rising together, there's trust and a sense of shared goals.

More creativity and innovation: when you help peers look good, it fosters as supportive, high performing environment, encouraging them to be creative and take risks. This can lead to new and innovative ideas that benefit the entire team.

Lift team morale: When you help your peers look good, it boosts their morale and self-esteem. This can lead to increased motivation and productivity in the workplace.

Demonstrate leadership: Leaders recognise and use the skills of people around them.

A network of support: When you help your peers look good, they are more likely to seek your assistance when facing challenges. Similarly, they'll be there when you need help. You have effectively built a network of brains trusts.

Why it's important to make the people you manage look good?

Greater trust: By helping your direct reports look good, you show that you trust and value their contribution. This can lead to increased trust and collaboration between you and your team.

Build a high-performing team: When your team members are successful, they are likely to perform at a higher level and lift the team's performance with them.

Job satisfaction and retention: When your team is successful, members are likely to be more satisfied with their jobs. This can lead to increased motivation, performance and retention.

Demonstrate leadership: By helping your direct reports succeed, you demonstrate your leadership skills and show that you are committed to their professional growth and development.

Attract talent: When you build a high performing, harmonious team, others will want to join you.

Do Good. Make positive changes.

The Make everyone around you look good Golden Rule is the opposite of the Law of attraction, but achieves the same outcome. It sounds contradictory, but if you recognise and celebrate the talent of others, you'll also be attracting success to you.

Think about it, someone who has no ego, who supports and celebrates the success of people around them...

Doesn't everyone want to work with and promote someone like that?

Agree or disagree? Discuss...

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Seven learnings after seven weeks in a new job

Starting a new job can be an exciting yet nerve wracking experience. This was especially true for me because I was at the last one for seven years. Looking back on my first seven weeks, some things have gone well, and I could have handled some situations better. As a new employee, I've learnt seven valuable lessons.

We're people first. Taking the time to get to know my team members. I share (and sometimes, unfortunately overshare) my personal life. I feel it gives context to me, my values and what's important to me. Knowing team members helps me better understand and empathise with them. Broaden it beyond your immediate team to colleagues in other divisions to build your understanding network across the company. I've already established brains trust network that have helped me with amazing advice and support.

Clear communication and setting expectiations. Have open and honest conversations with your manager and team members about goals and responsibilities. It helps to keep you on track, understand priorities and make sure you're meeting their expectations. Looking back, I could have been more proactive in seeking out feedback on my performance and addressing any issues that may have arisen.

Be proactive and positive. With a clean sheet and clear head, I've identified projects which have been strategically important to the division. I put my hand up to do it. No surprise, my manager has been very supportive. Take the initiatve and you'll gain new skills and show your employer that you're eager to contribute to the success of the team and organisation.

Patience is a virtue. I have learnt the importance of patience and understanding that learning takes time. I sometimes charge ahead. In hindsight, as a newbie, it's always better to first understand my role, my colleagues and the company's priorities and processes.

New job, new organised you. An empty email inbox is a amazing sight. A new job is your best chance to keep it that way. Creating work folders in Outlook and to do, follow up and reference folders helps keeps emails sorted and my inbox to a minimum (there's 5 emails my inbox at the moment, the joy!). When I'm super busy, I only check emails twice a day to minimise disruptions.

Be kind to yourself. I have learned the importance of taking care of my physical and mental health and, to acknowledge I'm not perfect, but that I'm trying to be better. I try to take short breaks when I need to, eat well, and exercise regularly. I also make sure to take time for myself to relax and unwind after work. I could be a lot better on the exercise and eating better bit.

Reflection leads to betterment. Starting a new job is the perfect environment for self reflection and growth. Updating my seven-year old resume, writing the application letter, preparing for the interview - they are all opportunities to understand yourself. Through that process I've identified areas of improvement. One of them is listening skills. I've read books on it and given myself daily tasks to keep that learning top-of-mind. I've shared the learnings with my my brains trust network and asked them to help me apply those learnings.

Like everything in life, you could see something as a problem or an opportunity for personal and professional growth. Like that Wham song, let's Choose Life!

The key learning for me is to keep an open mind and be positive and willing to learn and grow, while also recognising areas where I could have done better. And doing something about it.

Starting a new job can be challenging, I found that approaching it with a positive attitude have helped me enjoy the journey and to look forward to what lies ahead.

Please share. I'm listening...

How does that compare with your experience? If you've recently started a new job, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[thangngo]

The Year of the Missing Cat

In 2023, the Lunar New Year starts on Sunday, 22 January 2023.

While the Chinese and Vietnamese zodiac animals are the same for most years, the fourth animal of their zodiacs are different - it's Rabbit for Chinese and Cat for Vietnamese. There are 12 animals in a cycle.

2023 is one of those years when the animals are different.

With Australia's increasing diversity, Lunar New Year is a big celebration these days.

Brands and local governmnents are helping to celebrate and promote diversity by running their own festivals and promotions. But most are either ignorant of the Year of the Cat or they just don't care about the Vietnamese-Australian community (there's over 320,000 of us).

Brands like The Star, who run free buses to Cabramatta and Bankstown for gamblers, are promoting 2023 as the Year of the Rabbit. No acknowledgement of the Cat for the Vietnamese punters that line their cofffers. In case you're interested, The Star Express bus from Cabramatta to the Casino is free and leaves Cabramatta as late as 10.40pm.

The City of Sydney who eventually caved in the community pressure and remaned their festival from "Chinese New Year" to using the inclusive "Lunar New Year", are sticking to Rabbit for 2023. As you can see in the image below, lots of lions, rabbits and other icons, but apparently Lunar New Year isn't inclusive when it comes to Vietnamese cats.

UPDATE: a story ran on ABC about the issue on Friday, 13 January.

Since then, the City of Sydney removed references to Year of the Rabbit on their website. They provided the following response to me:

"…we work to include aspects of different cultures in our Sydney Lunar Festival celebrations. The festival features events celebrating Vietnamese culture including Lunar Spectacular show performances, lion dances, and a hand-painted Vietnamese Lunar Gateway in Haymarket. In preparing for the festival and associated artwork, we consulted extensively on its designs with several community groups, including members from Sydney’s Vietnamese community. Thanks, City of Sydney".

Woolworths is using Rabbit, even in the Vietnamese community hubs of Cabramatta and Fairfield.

There are brands and local governments that are trying to be inclusive.

SBS shows that the Cat and Rabbit can exist harmoniously...

Fairfield City Council was able to scrape together enough funds to illustrate both Cat and Rabbit.

Canterbury-Bankstown City Council manged it too, they even included the Vietnamese word for Cat and Chinese character for Rabbit!

You can't be what you can't see. That's why there is a push for greater cultural reprsentation across the board, in senior jobs, media, advertising etc.

The ignorance of The Star and City of Sydney shows that there's still a lot of work to be done.

"All animals are equal but some are more equal than others" George Orwell.

To me, as far as they're concerned, the Vietnamese community doesn't exist.

WHO'S DOING WHAT?

Here's a list of what animals brands and councils are recognising this Lunar New Year. If you spot other Australian-based examples, please let me know...

Rabbit and Cat

SBS Fairfield City Council Canterbury Bankstown Council Museums Victoria

Rabbit

City of Sydney The Star

Royal Australian Mint

Parramatta City Council

Stay tuned... I'll be scanning what other brands are doing this Lunar New Year and will be updating this post to reflect their stance.

Burwood City Council

Strathfield City Council

Bayside City Council

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2023, The Year of the Cat

Lunar New Year is no longer a fringe celebration, thanks to the large Asian population in Australia.

In 2023, the Lunar New Year starts on Sunday, 22nd January.

We all seem to know what animal we're born in these days, too. Generally the Chinese Zodiac is the same as the Vietnamese one - with two exceptions:

Chinese & Korean rabbit vs Vietnamese cat

Chinese & Korean ox vs Vietnamese buffalo

2023 will be one of these exception years - rabbit for Chinese and Koreans and cat for Vietnamese.

I grew up loving Al Stewart's 1976 hit, Year of the Cat.

What I didn't know until recently is that song was inspired by a Vietnamese astrology book Al's girlfriend was reading at the time and Casablanca, a Bergman and Bogart classic.

On a morning from a Bogart movie...

In a country where they turn back time...

The Vietnam War ended in 1975. It was the Year of the Cat.

48 years and 4 zodiac cycles later, we're celebrating the Cat year again.

Watch and listen...

The lyrics have additional meaning for me now.

The Year of the Cat Lyrics Alistair Ian Stewart / Peter John Wood

On a morning from a Bogart movie In a country where they turn back time You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre Contemplating a crime She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running Like a watercolor in the rain Don't bother asking for explanations She'll just tell you that she came In the year of the cat She doesn't give you time for questions As she locks up your arm in hers And you follow 'till your sense of which direction Completely disappears By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls There's a hidden door she leads you to These days, she says, I feel my life Just like a river running through The year of the cat While she looks at you so cooly And her eyes shine like the moon in the sea She comes in incense and patchouli So you take her, to find what's waiting inside The year of the cat Well morning comes and you're still with her And the bus and the tourists are gone And you've thrown away your choice you've lost your ticket So you have to stay on But the drum-beat strains of the night remain In the rhythm of the newborn day You know sometime you're bound to leave her But for now you're going to stay In the year of the cat Year of the cat

Source: LyricFind

The song was originally and ode to English comedian, Tony Hancock. The whole fascinating background to the song can be read here.

[thangngo]

by KangHee Kim (tinycactus)

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Three Sisters, Katoomba, Blue Mountains

Before COVID, this Katoomba icon was crawling with excited tourists. These days, it's much more civilised. At 10am on a sunny Sunday in March, there was plenty of parking and no crowds.

Before the crowds come back, this is a perfect time to enjoy Australia's natural beauty. It's true, there is a blue hue about the Blue Mountains, some say because of the eucalyptus trees.

I mean just look at the rugged beauty of the Australian bush, copper coloured crevices, gnarling roots and branches.

Right now, the gum trees are shedding, which makes for a jawdropping sight.

Majestic and breathtakingly beautiful. It was such a priveledge to see these trees change.

The bush walk isn't too challenging. The track to close by lookouts is pretty comfortable. It does get a little more challenging if you want to head to the magnificent Three Sisters Honeymoon Bridge or go further.

Three Sisters Katoomba, Blue Mountains.

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Gram Japanese soufle pancakes 🥞

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My local creek

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Foldable phones - innovation or novelty? I’m about to find out.

I’m always on the phone. Not to talk, but to check work emails and personal social feeds.

I had a Samsung Note 10 Plus because it had the biggest screen. I prioritised that to the sometimes cumbersomely bulk. Still, I got used to it after a while.

But a foldable phone, on paper could be the perfect compromise. Last month, I upgraded to a Samsung Z Fold3.

The screen is narrow when the phone is closed. But when opened, it’s a revelation. Your screen becomes a small tablet. Made to multitask, you can split it and use a few apps at once. 

It’s way too early, but so far I’m loving it. Everything is so much larger. When folded, it’s easy to hold in one hand. The side finger print scanner is located in an intuitive place and is super fast.

It’s thick though, double the size of a normal phone. And I’m always worried about dropping it. Things will get better on the fragile front when my pre-order bonus of phone cover, S pen and wireless charger arrives in a couple of weeks.

It’s bulky, but I still have no problems with it in my front pant pocket.

[thangngo]

Bread maker

Never too late for home baked bread.

Lockdown will be over in a week and I’ve only just discovered the joy of home made bread... well, with a machine.

It’s fool-proof, I promise you. 

I just bought a Laucke Crusty White mix from the supermarket and it turned out perfectly. They even provided yeast in the 4 pack (2.4kg).  Here’s my first attempt, crusty on the outside, pillowy tender inside. It’s extraordinary how good fresh baked bread tastes.

I’ve made five loaves so far and they’ve turned out the same each time.

Then I got adventurous and started using the recipe from the bread maker. This time it’s the raisin loaf. Toasts perfectly. I’d add extra sugar and more spices next time. Baking was a breeze. It’s literally add the ingredients in the order listed, select the setting and forget.

This morning I made the Laucke German Grain mix. Also turned out beautifully. Love the rustic look and you can see the grains.

The main appliance brands offer bread makers, Breville, Sunbeam etc. Though I was surprised that Panasonic are the world’s largest and offers the biggest range.

 Snapped up this Panasonic Bread Maker SD-R2530WST on special for $263. It’s over $300 normally, so this Myer special tipped me into action. White might give it the appearance of a smaller foot print. Not true, it’s not deep, but stands pretty tall, so you probably need some room on the kitchen bench.

Some machines can be noisy. But not this one, you can hear it humming along, but it’s far from being intrusive.

There’s a menu for baking bread or dough to bake. It also does gluten free. To bake from a bread mix, the only thing you have to do is select option 5 and then the type of crust; light, medium or dark and press start. Then, 2.5 hours later, bread is made.

Some have raved about saving money with a bread maker. You probably save more if you buy the separate ingredients like bread flour, yeast etc. 

I keep things simple with a bread mix, but I guess you pay more.I don’t mind paying more for the convenience. The main benefit is all about warm, fragrant, fluffy freshly baked bread.

[thangngo]

Garden 2021

Garden rebooted, thanks lockdown.

Well, 2020 was a total write off. With the looming freedom from current Sydney lockdown thanks to NSW’s high vaccination rates, I’m feeling optimistic.

Seems like we’re on the down hill stretch and things are looking up. Even my strawberry plant is fruiting. My partner’s father suggested the cardbox trick. Not sure why, but heck, he knows a lot more about gardening then I do.

Time to think about the garden again. Got some seedings from a local garden supplier, $1 per seedling - can’t really go wrong with those prices.

Transferred them to pots: lettuce, chilli, coriander, cucumber and tomato plants. Growing them is easy enough, but I’m a little worried about tomato and cucumber and having to rig up climbing structures. 

Emboldened that things seem to be going well so far, today I tried to sow some seedings of my own!

From left to right..

1 Petunia 2 German Chamomile 3 Marigold, French - Bonita Mix 4 Aster - Giant Rady Mix 5 Aster - Powerpuffs Mix 6 Aster - Single Rainbow Mix 7 Brachycome - Mixed Splendour 8 Cosmos - Bright Lights Mix 9 Cosmos - Sensation Dazzler 10 Dahlia - Pompon Double Flowered Mix 11 Evening Primrose 12 Petunia - Snowball

I’ve had these seeds for a few years, so let’s see how they go.  I’ll try to regularly update.