Board Talk: What have the WSU Directors been doing for YOU?

As the semester winds down, Toko in particular has been very busy organising the WSU Disabilities Day for you. This looks like it will be a great event, with heaps of activities and awesome prizes to be won. As a result, make sure you’re on the Village Green on Wednesday 2^nd June during cultural hour (1-2pm) to make sure that you don’t miss out!

The WSU is also hosting the WSU Tertiary Challenge in August. Dan is the team Manager so if you are interested email him at sport@wsu.org.nz. We also have several other events in the work, including the WSU Snow Bash in Whakapapa, and the End of Semester Party.

Something that Tauranga students should take aware of is the fact that the WSU Board will be having a meeting in Tauranga! The meeting will be held on the 8^th June at the Windermere Campus. You can come find us in BOPP.W.41 from 10am til 12 noon. Email Glen at vp@wsu.org.nz for further details. This the first time in recent that a full WSU Board Meeting has actually been held in Tauranga; so, Tauranga students, please come and meet your WSU Board, and put to them any ideas you have about improving student life in your part of the world.

Board Talk: 20 May

This week Charlie has been busy sorting out the last few things for WSU Noho Marae. By the time you read this you would have missed out on a mean feed of Hangi and an overnight stay in the lovely Tokoroa if you didn’t come; for those of you who did come along, we hope you had a great time!

Toko has been busy organising the WSU Disabilities Day which is coming up on Wednesday 2nd of June. Come down to the Green and experience what it is like for people who have disabilities by participating in some of the events like wheelchair racing and blindfold maze: you can win awesome prizes too.

The WSU is giving you free lunch every Wednesday at 1pm until it runs out. Come and chat and have a free lunch on us. We also have a whole lot of events coming up in the next few months with Mike planning The WSU End of Semester Party. In B Semester look out for The WSU B Semester Fiesta with our famous WSU FREE Bus to and from Town during the 1st week back.

The WSU is also hosting the WSU Tertiary Challenge in August: check out www.uwsport.org.nz/tc. Dan is the Team Manager so if you are interested email him at sport@wsu.org.nz. We also have in the works the WSU Snow Bash, in Whakapapa currently being planned by Kate, Dan and Mike. Kate is planning something to do with Breasts in August and ASKEW is organising Pride Week in September.

Lots of awesome events coming up so if your interested or you think that you may have an event that you might like the WSU to support or do then come and see us in the Student Union Building (opposite the dairy) or on the Green on Wednesday during Cultural Hour (1-2pm).

Board Talk: May 13

The WSU Noho Marae (21^st-22^nd May) is the big WSU Event which is coming up. WSU Directors have been working hard (and in some cases, even ventured to the far realm of Tokoroa) to make this event a success. Although registrations ‘officially’ closed on the 14^th May, we still have some spaces left so if you are keen to experience authentic Māori culture and enjoy delicious Māori food, go to the WSU Reception and register today! The cost is $35 which includes all food, travel costs, accommodation costs and activities.

Disabilities Officer Toko Baker has been working particularly hard to set up the WSU Disabilities Day which will be held on Wednesday 2^nd June. There will be heaps of events down on the Village Green on this day during cultural hour, with the goal of showing students what it is like to overcome a disability. If you are keen to be involved, email Toko on ttpb1@waikato.ac.nz

Luke has been busy setting up and organising Te Kāhui Ruru, which is the new Waikato Māori Students’ Association on campus. This group aims to represent and advocate for Maori students on campus. If you are keen to be involved, email Luke at vpmaori@wsu.org.nz

WSU Board Talk: 21 April 2010

Heaps of events and activities are in the works as we finish off April and start moving into May. The biggest of these is The Vagina Monologues, which are on this week! If you’re in Tauranga, make sure you go down to Baycourt Theatre on Monday 26^th April. If you’re in Hamilton, make sure you’re at the Performing Arts Centre on Wednesday 27^th, Thursday 28^th or Friday 29^th April.

Charlie and Luke are still busy organising the WSU Noho Marae. This is an event for students who are keen to experience authentic Maori culture at a local Marae. Email Charlie at international@wsu.org.nz if you are keen for more info, otherwise, look out for the Noho Marae posters on campus for the full details.

Dan is back from Invercargill after looking after UniGames. There is going to be UniGames Post Party on the 29^th of April: email Dan at sports@wsu.org.nz for more details.

WSU Directors were also busy helping out on Kingitanga Day, which was a great success. Thank you to all of those who came along, as well as to those who participated in the Touch Tournament.

I go away a lot on weekends.  It's not that I don't like staying at home - I love home, home is awesome.  But a number of friends live elsewhere around the country, I have a car and so...  Add to a general inclination to go visiting the fact that I play handball and, from necessity, travel frequently to other centres for training or tournaments, and you have a fairly busy itinerary.  


One thing I love about travelling is also one of the things I dislike - being away from my kitchen.  It means I either can not, or do not need to, cook.  However, as every cloud has a platinum lining (I refuse to settle for silver, so tawdry), this also means one gets the chance to eat out and/or sample the culinary delights of others.  This weekend I've been staying in Auckland with cousins.  Dona and Gav run Northport Events, an Events Management company who's children include The Parent and Child Show and, dum dum dum... The Food Show.   Not surprisingly they are both great cooks who's kitchen is always stocked with tasty, fresh and good quality fare.  Dona makes mean mexican food too (being herself a Southern Californian), which makes me verrrrry happy.  


Over my weekend away I ate dinner with some ex-high school friends, at Ponsonby Thai restaurant Sawadee (there's also a Thai in Ponsonby called 'Thai Me Up', which I think is a fantastic name!!), brunch at the Richmond Rd Café and tasty soft shell tacos a casa.   I shall do my best to guide you on how my fav dishes were made, though if you're in Auckland, seek these places out (except maybe not Dona and Gav's, as randomly turning up in strangers' living rooms is considered highly unusual, if not illegal, by most people).  


Green thai coconut prawn - Sawadee


1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, diced finely
sticks of carrot (size of a hot potato chip, roughly)
bamboo shoots, cut to size of an udon noodle
assorted vegetables - cauliflower and broccoli are good
1 tin coconut milk
500g prawns - deveined, but with tails still on
fresh coriander, chopped
rice

1. Heat oil and cook onion until soft.  Add other vegetable to pan, reduce heat and stir in curry paste.  
2. Add coconut milk, stir to mix well with curry paste, allow to simmer on low heat.  If the taste is not strong enough you can add more curry paste, but beware of adding too much as they tend to be rather salty.  Sometimes a mixture of yellow and green pastes is a good idea.  
3. Cook rice.
4. When rice is ready, add prawns to curry, along with fresh coriander.  They'll cook really quickly, so when pink remove from heat and serve with fluffy rice. 

Buttermilk pancakes served with blueberries and mascarpone - Richmond Rd


2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
1 tsp lemon zest (optional)
1 cup buttermilk (use half/half skim milk and plain yoghurt, if you've no buttermilk in the fridge, which let's be honest, the vast majority of us don't)
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 cup blueberries
dollop mascarpone cheese, one per person

1. Mix all ingredients together, except berries and cheese, in food processor (or in bowl with elbow grease).  Allow to sit for 30 minutes.
2. Spoon ladlefuls into hot pan (greased with a tiny bit of butter).  Flip when bubbles form and cook other side.  Remove from pan and repeat until all batter is used up.
3. Serve with berries and cheese.  Soooooo yum!  You can also serve with maple syrup, bacon etc, it's up to you, really.   

Mexican fiesta 


The cool thing about having meals such as tortillas, tacos, fajitas and so on is that you just put out several bowls, each filled with different requisite foods, and let people DIY their own combinations.  No fiddly serving for the cook and no diner has to eat anything they don't like or can't eat.  If you land the following dishes on your table, you're guaranteed to have smiles beaming back at you - mexican, small corn tortillas (Dona uses, and I would heartily recommend, Tio Pablo - they're really soft and taste great), guacamole, brown rice, salsa (we had La Morena salsa rojo - muy autentico, grated cheese, salad, sour cream.  


The guacamole was similar to that in an earlier posting (Avocado + Argentina = muy gustoso), except instead of mushing the avocado with balsamic, use freshly squeezed lemon juice.  About one lemon per avocado.  It makes for a slightly less sweet guac, which with all the other flavours is better.    


For the vegetarian beans it's really a matter of taste, trial and error.  I wasn't watching like a hawk when this was being created, but fortunately my cousin Gina (Dona's daughter) has paid more attention and blogged about this before.  You need 


2 tbsp olive oil
1 leek
2 carrots
1 red onion
1 chilli (choose one that has enough pep for you, but not too much - there's nought worse than not being able to eat your own cooking)
2 tins pinto beans
1 tin black beans
1 tin tomatoes
mexican seasoning (Tio Pablo is good again!!)
coriander

1. Sauté leek, carrots, onion and chilli until softened.  
2. Add other ingredients and simmer until you're ready to eat (ideally leave it simmering away for a good half-hour or so, to allow the flavours to settle in).  

Stine and I are going to do the Tongariro Crossing on Friday, before heading to Wellington with Sandy for handball training.  I think it's a good idea, if possible, to squeeze a little home baking into the ol' daypack, when doing any kind of hiking, be it a day walk like the Crossing, or something a bit more lengthy, such as the Heaphy or Waikeremoana.  I mean, when you've been slogging your guts out up something like the Devil's Staircase you deserve to have some treat to look forward to.  At times like that a barley sugar just ain't enough.  So, time to get something baked, to take with...

100g butter

1. Melt butter in microwave. 
2. Add sugar, vanilla and eggs and mix together.
3. Add remaining ingredients, mix.
4. Pour into microwave-safe dish and cook on high for 5-6 minutes. 

Dancing around on the beach (in Wellington) over the weekend it was decided that I ought to film my prancing, send it to the Austrian authorities and demand automatic citizenship.  I guess I must have been doing a half-decent approximation of a schuhplattler (well, a female version of it).  As a token of respect to my new-found mothercountry, I thought I'd share a recipe which I love, along with the majority of Austrians (unless they've lost their tastebuds).  It was first given to me when I lived in France in 2002, by an Austrian guy who lived in my foyer (hostel-type apartments, not in my entrance hall), and subsequently a variation on the original recipe was given to me by Isi, a lovely German girl who plays handball here in kiwiland.  So, for all Austrians, both actual and honorary, kaiserschmarrn...  

Kaiserschmarrn literally means Emperor Mishmash, it's a messy looking dessert that is basically scrambled pancakes, or pancakes cut up post-cooking and made to look vaguely scrambled.  Yum - pancakes that aren't ruined if they don't look perfect!!  I've given first the standard recipe, followed by Isi's variation.  Enjoy!!

3 eggs, separated
100g flour
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
100g butter
handful raisins (optional
icing sugar

1. Mix egg yolks, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt and milk into a thin dough.
2. Whisk egg whites until stiff, mix through dough.
3. Melt butter in pan and add dough.  Sprinkle with raisins, if using, and fry it over a low heat.
4. Turn pancake over.  Tear into little pieces and fry through (alternatively you can leave in one piece to cook, then cut into strips after removing from pan). 
5. Serve sprinkled with icing sugar.  Traditionally it would be served alongside some fruit compote - apple or plum work well. 

Isi's Fusionschmarrn

3 eggs, separated
2 tbsp sugar (sugar high!!!!)
60g flour
200g sour cream
butter (for frying)
icing sugar
milk (only needed if mixture if too stodgy)

1. Make in exactly the same way as above - just add a little milk, if too thick. 

It looks like a mess, but it tastes amazing.  Nom nom nom.  Vielen Dank Österreich!!!!

In a first for a New Zealand tertiary institution, Waikato University has launched its Waikato Mobile Web - a free open-source mobile framework software that allows anybody with an internet-activated mobile device to access a host of information about Waikato Uni. I had the privilege of trialling the software before it was officially launched on January 5 (to coincide with summer school); and I must say - it's a simple innovation that has tremendous potential! As it stands, Waikato Mobile Web offers a range of basic information that students will find useful such as lecturers' office details, computer availability details, a campus map, a people/phone directory, plus live news and events. As Waikato Mobile Web is developed into a more sophisticated platform, students can expect to see scheduled bus routes included, as well as the possibility of WSU events including a comprehensive breakdown of  O-Week activities. There is also potential for Student Job Search, Nexus and University-based festivals such as Balloons Over Waikato and the NZ Soccer Ethnic Tournament to be included. Finally, the new service also has a feedback link - so if you have any ideas or suggestions, please do send in your feedback to help improve the Waikato Mobile Web. For more information, click on the following link: http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/3209172/Mobile-net-keeps-students-in-the-loop.

2010 will see a number of issues that will be at the forefront of change affecting our students at Waikato University and in particular, the tertiary environment they will be subjugated to, both internally and externally. The University will be undergoing strategic structural changes in an attempt to streamline the organisation to better achieve its strategic objective to establish itself as a world-class tertiary educator with a robust focus on sustainability. Potential tuition-fee increases, a decrease in proportional lecturer-student interaction, and changes to service levies are some issues that we should expect.  Externally, WSU will be working on the national front to ensure our students' voices are continued to be heard by those that represent us in Parliament. The ACT Party-driven VSM (Voluntary Student Membership) Bill is one issue that will be high on our agenda as it has the ability to render student associations nationwide ineffective in their roles as independent providers of relevant student services that are both valuable and utilised in the positive development of our students' progress through their respective courses. Ultimately, change is a constant, and it is up to us as your representatives to respond to these changes in a manner that will be in the best interest of our students. 2010 will be challenging, but I'm positive that we will continue the proud tradition of WSU serving our students.

Roger Douglas successfully got the first reading of his private members Bill through the House last week. Big ups to Labour team Jacinda Arden, Chris Hipkins, Ian Lees-Galloway, Darren Hughes and Moana Mackey who pointed to the failures of voluntary student union membership. Student Unions provide a range of services to students and its likely that given the continuing financial strains on universities then students will have to pay for the same services if they want them to continue. Anyway, when Sir Roger Douglas went to University he didn't even have to pay fees.....