Food Safari

[Suitcase to suit]

I spent a lot of time thinking about travelling yesterday. My head swum in visions of:

Munching on buttery crumpets in Hampstead Heath.

Ladling curry with Roti Chanai in Kuala Lumpur.

Sinking my teeth into the secret inner sanctum of a Zhong dumpling in China.

Dismantling platters if Palak Paneer in India.

Exhausting my jaws with serves of Sindhi Biryani in Pakistan.

Needless to say, working as an Electoral Official is extremely dull (and hungry) work, but it inspires the most vivid daydreams. However I was grateful when the seventeen hour shift was over.

Fingers crossed

[Fingers crossed]

Fingers crossed things pick up for everyone less fortunate than me - Japan, Libya, Christchurch, Pakistan floods and the list goes on.

I'm participating in Run for Japan- a fantastic idea from the boys behind the Marathon Talk podcast. You basically dedicate a run to Japan and donate some cash after the run.

So this Sunday's 17km training run is for you Japan.

Stand up

The biggest natural disaster of our lifetime happened four weeks ago.

So far twenty million people have been affected by the floods in Pakistan. The waterlogged area stretches hundreds of kilometres and roughly equates to the size of the UK.

The weather bureau predicts that torrential rain will continue to pour down on Pakistan for the next three weeks.

Currently only 60% of the required $490million to kick start the relief effort has been collected. There are a number of reasons blamed for this

- Donation fatigue with a calamity of natural disasters occurring in the last few years [2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti Earthquake]

- The fear of terrorism and the misappropriation of funds

- The lack of mainstream media attention

ABC radio including triple j are doing their bit tomorrow to raise funds and awareness. Tune in. Donate. Make a difference.