Aussie Wife

On the move

2007-10-30T19:58:00.000+11:00

That's right folks, I'm blogging again. Decided to go with a new look, so you can find me over at Sleeping in Sydney. Do drop by if you feel so inclined.

Carnival of the Recipes #100

2006-07-19T20:04:00.000+10:00

The 100th Carnival of the Recipes is up over at the house of Trub. This week people had to submit their favourite recipe from past carnivals. And guess what? The lovely Jeff, who is also the host, put down one of my recipes! What a nice man :)

Time for posting to resume

2006-07-19T19:51:00.000+10:00

Yes, there has not been a post for a while. Reason being, my job has recently been getting all my attention as I have moved to another much bigger account.

Let me backtrack. I don't think I've ever explained what I do. I won't mention names but I work for a large international company. In my day to day job I get escalations on hardware calls (ie, broken equipment, like PCs, scanners, servers etc). I'm pretty much a liaison between the customer (a company), vendors (people who go out and fix the broken equipment) and my superiors (those above me who schmooze with the customer and beat up the vendors). Needless to say it can be a stressful job. Up to now, I've been on multiple small accounts. Now I've moved to just the one account (one company), but it is huge! There are other people on the account, but one is on leave, and the other has had to be offsite.

So this is my first week and I'm getting absolutely hammered with calls and emails. It's going well, in that I can put my hand on my heart and say I am doing the best I can, and doing as much as I can physically do. Can't do more than that.

Next week things should settle down, and I will be able to relax a little bit.

Carnival of the Recipes

2006-07-04T17:36:00.000+10:00

Carnival of the Recipes is up at Caterwauling, lots of yummy recipes to try out!

On the move

2006-06-30T19:56:00.000+10:00

Well folks, it looks like this little 'ol blog may be packing up and moving to new digs. The excellent Harvey has kindly nominated me to be a Munuvian and the ever wonderful Caltechgirl has given me a YAY!

For those of you going huh? It means that I will be moving to a new site, to a better and fancier place, and will have a new address. I'll let you know when I know what it is.

Oh, and just for kicks (and because I am so sick of the current title), I will be changing the name of my blog from "Aussie Wife" to "Sleeping in Sydney".

Like warm apple pie

2006-06-30T19:18:00.000+10:00

So this week's Carnival of the Recipes is for Independance Day. Not being American I pondered what to submit. Then I thought "What's that expression? As American as apple pie?"
So here is my apple pie recipe which I have made twice now, both times very successful. I got the recipe from a friend who got it from a Donna Hay book, not sure which one.

Apple Pie

Ingredients

1 quantity sweet shortcut pastry (see recipe below)
1 egg, lightly beaten
sugar for sprinkling (optional)
8 green apples (1.2kg/2lb 7oz), peeled and chopped
1 tbsp water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp almond meal

Method

Preheat the oven to 190 deg C (375 deg F). To make the filling, place the apples and water in a deep frying pan over medium heat. Cover and simmer, shaking the pan occasionally, for 5 minutes or until just tender. Drain and cool completely. Stir in the sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon.
Divide the pastry into two-thirds and one-third. Roll out the two-thirds portion on a lightly floured surface until 3mm (1/8 in) thick and place in a shallow 24cm (9 1/2 in) pie tin. Sprinkle over the almond meal and pack the apples tightly into the pastry shell.
Roll out the remaining pastry to fit over the top of the pie. Brush the rim with water, press the edges together and trim. Cut several slits in the top of the pastry, brush with the egg and sprinkle with sugar (I tend not to do the sugar, depends how sweet a tooth you have). Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden and crisp.

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

Ingredients

2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
3 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
150g (5 oz) cold butter, chopped
2-3 tbsp iced water

Method

Process the flour, sugar and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. While the motor is running, add enough iced water to form a smooth dough and process until just combined. Knead the dough lightly, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Can I help you?

2006-06-30T11:48:00.000+10:00

We were talking at work about how politeness seems to be fading away in society, you don't hear as many please and thank yous as you used to. And the thank you wave when you let someone in when driving is less common too.

Reminded me of an incident that happened to me when I was about 15 or 16. My first job was at McDonalds. Crappy job, but it certainly taught me to work hard. The first manager I had there was a real wanker, by the name of Bruce. He was middle aged, gay, and mean. Many was the time he made some of the girls who worked there cry.

Anyway, one day I was working away at the register, and the place was absolutely packed. I greeted the next customer , "Hi, can I help you?". Bruce the bastard took issue with this. He looked at me and scathingly said "Hi, can I help you please!" He then turned to the customer and said in condescending tones, "Well, you can tell the difference between someone who has been brought up and someone who has been dragged up!" I was totally mortified, I could not believe he said that. There was quite the stunned silence from the crowd in front of me. One of the customers, after the bastard had wandered off, told me not to worry about him. Good advice, but hard to take when you are young and in your first job. Funny thing is, the way he wanted me to say it isn't even grammatically correct.

No more Eddie

2006-06-29T12:40:00.000+10:00

Moose, the dog that played Eddie in the TV show Frasier, has died, aged 16. I quite like the show, and thought that Eddie was a classic, always made me laugh.

2006-06-26T19:49:00.000+10:00

Had the day off work sick today. Started feeling unwell yesterday, basically a head cold, sore throat, blocked up, sneezing, light headed, the works. Fun!

Spent the day in a state of lethargy, not super sick, but just not well. Read for a bit, attempted to do some work remotely, gave that up as a lost cause. Played a bit of World of Warcraft, but even for that found it hard to summon up enthusiasm.

Went downstairs and watched 9/11, the documentary by the French brothers Gédéon and Jules Naudet. We've had the DVD for a while, but this is only the 2nd time I've watched it. I remember the first time I saw it, I was just shocked and horrified, especially by the sounds of the bodies hitting the ground. And I was shocked and horrified again this time around, but not to the same extent. I think that was because I knew that the fireman that we'd been following with the brothers, the ones from the firehouse, I knew would be ok.

Hard to comprehend that such evil exists in the world, I can not in any way see how someone could ever think that was a good thing to do, to fly a plane into a building.

And I wonder, is it just a matter of time before something like that happens here in Sydney? We prepare as best we can, but I guess that you can't guard against everything, that sometimes evil gets through.

But there is also love and light in the world. As I type, my husband is driving home from work. We will have dinner, drink some wine, and be together. Our own little team. Team Cole, win!

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!

2006-06-23T07:05:00.000+10:00

Australia 2 - Croatia 2

Australia are through to the next round in the World Cup for soccer! Hooray!

I don't normally watch soccer, but Brian and I got up at 5am this morning to watch Australia take on Croatia. Australia just needed to draw to go through to the next round.

And, man, what an exciting match. We were on tenterhooks done to the last second. And I have to say, Harry Kewell, what a legend. He scored the equalising goal in fine style.

As we don't watch it much, didn't know quite what to expect. What we found interesting is how much a role penalties have in the match, people diving to the ground feigning injuries everywhere.

Great game though, I don't regret getting up to watch it.

For sustenance during the game, my wonderful husband cooked us up a big breakfast, bacon, eggs, toast, sausage, tomato. Plus freshly brewed coffee. Quite a treat on a workday morning. Usually we cook our breakfast out on the BBQ, but as it was still dark Brian cooked in the kitchen. What we didn't allow for was how smoky it can get cooking sausages and bacon. Our smoke alarm went off at least three times, which meant I was on tea towel duty. Tea towel duty = Amanda standing on third stair madly waving tea towel at smoke alarm to get the smoke away from it. Hoping the penetratingly loud sound didn't wake the neighbours! :)

Anyways, off to the physio now (back still recovering from going too hard at my first yoga class), then off to work.

Go Channel Ten!

2006-06-22T10:18:00.000+10:00

Was watching House last night with hubby, and in an ad break, we got a news update. It went something like this:

"Headlining tonight's news, Naomi Watts has arrived in Sydney to attend Nicole Kidman's hen's party"

Wow, we're really hitting the important news first guys! Push all those stories of wars and natural disasters aside, Nicole's friend has arrived! Now that's news.

2nd story in the news update, "Get a sneak peak at the church where Nicole is going to get married".

Seriously, are these the most important things that are happening right now?

Are those crop circles??

2006-06-16T09:32:00.000+10:00

So it turns out I hurt my back doing yoga last week. It didn't hurt during the class, but the next day I found it twinged when I twisted or bent over. I didn't think much of it, figured I'd just worked the muscles hard. A week and a half later though, it has not improved. At all. Now, we aren't talking massive pain here, but still, no improvement I thought warranted getting checked out.

So yesterday I decided to go to the physio. My normal physio, who looked after my knee, had the temerity to get married and move away. I mean, really, priorities people!! And the guy who has replaced him was booked up until next week sometime. So I decided to try the physio place that Mum has used in the past. And I have to say, not impressed. My old physio would explain what he was doing and why, and what was wrong etc. This lady, I practically had to pump her for information, and even then I didn't really understand what she was talking about. I had to have a heat pack on for ten minutes before she could start working on me as my muscles were "standing up on edge", something I figured was not a good thing. I figure she meant the muscles around my spine were knotted up or something to protect my back ... I don't know.

Anyway, she then proceeded to work on my back. My goodness, I had forgotten how much physio can hurt! It felt like my spine was going to be broken in two, ouchies. And at the end, she put these suction cup thingys on my back to induce pins and needles, which apparently can provide pain relief. Did not work, my back is now heaps sorer than before I went.

Oh, and as an extra benefit, I have four bright red circles on my back from where the suction cups went. I swear they look like crop circles. So, if anyone needs a map showing a way to some aliens, let me know and I'll take a picture for you! :)

Pass the tissues please ..

2006-06-13T16:43:00.000+10:00

Now I have to say I'm a big sook at the best of times. While I never cry at TV commercials, I tend to lose it easily for both TV shows and especially movies. I always make sure I have some tissues with me, just in case it turns out to be a sad movie.

My top ten movies where I've absolutely lost it (in other words, the ones I can think of off the top of my head), in no particular order:

The Notebook
Ghost
Beaches
Braveheart
Serenity
Where the Heart is
Love Actually
Saving Private Ryan
Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen (the movie length finale to M*A*S*H)
City of Angels (such a stupid ending to that movie!)

What day is it?

2006-06-13T16:36:00.000+10:00

Back to work today after a long weekend (Queen's birthday). Long weekends never fails to throw my sense of what day it is, yesterday just felt like another Sunday, today feels like Monday, except we get to watch Survivor tonight (yes, we are behind the US showing this, don't get me started ... and please don't tell me who ends up winning!)

At the moment there are four left, Terry, Cirie, Aras and Danielle. It was priceless to see Shane's face last week when he got voted off, he sure didn't see that coming! I love how everyone is all "I've got your back, it'll just be us in the final two", while meanwhile conniving and planning sneakily at the same time.

It will be a bit sad when it ends though, Amazing Race finished for us last week, night time viewing is getting a bit slim. We still have House going, so that's good. And hopefully they'll put The Apprentice back on at some stage ...

The Best Pumpkin Soup in the World!

2006-06-10T13:41:00.000+10:00

Yes, big claim, but hey, it's true! Been a while since I've contributed to the ol' Carnival of the Recipes, so thought I should climb out of the woodwork and say hi.

Now, this recipe came from a girl/lady at work (I'm never sure what age to call which ... anyways that's off topic). She said I could share it as long as I made sure to call it "Belinda's Pumpkin Soup recipe", thereby immortalising her forever in soup lore.

So here goes ....

Belinda's Pumpkin Soup recipe

Ingredients

1/2 a butternut pumpkin, 1/2 another sort of pumpkin (in other words, lotsa pumpkin)

1 brown onion

1 chillie (or two if you like it extra spicy)

chicken stock, 1 litre + enough water to just cover everything ... not too sure what the measure in the US is for liquid, if it is pints, then it is 1.76 pints, if not let me know and I'll look up the conversion ...
garlic - 2-3 cloves
a knob of ginger (yes, I know, not very precise, but you just put in a good size knob of ginger probably about an inch or so squared)
cumin - a healthy dash (not much is going to be precise from here on in, so just be creative)
ground coriander - 1 heaped tsp
evaporated skim milk - a can (about the same size can as a normal baked beans can)
a sprinkling of nutmeg
a good dollop of honey

Method

- Boil all the above except the milk and honey until it starts to disintegrate, about half an hour, but more doesn't hurt it.
- Whizz/process until smooth.
- Take off heat, Add milk, mix through.
- Add the honey, heat through and serve.

The joys of washing a dog

2006-06-08T10:03:00.000+10:00

Followed a link over at Caltechgirl's place to a post that just cracked me up. The illustrations on how to wash dogs are an absolute classic.

The site is Miss Doxie, who I hadn't come across before, but I am adding her to my blogroll.

Natural selection at work ...

2006-06-06T14:51:00.000+10:00

Apparently in the Ukraine a guy decided it was a smart idea to climb into a lion enclosure at the zoo.
Witnesses say the man wanted to test God, as he believed that God wouldn't let him be hurt by the lions. Which begs the question, if he believed that, why would he be testing God in the first place?

Surely got to be a contender for the Darwin Awards ...

Winter is upon us ...

2006-06-06T09:41:00.000+10:00

So here in Australia winter starts on June 1. This year it certainly hasn't mucked about, getting chilly straight away. The electric blankets went on about a week or so ago, and have been getting a bit of use. As has the fireplace. There is nothing quite so lovely as an open fireplace. Strange that something that is basically a destroying process can be so peaceful to watch.

And finally we've been getting some rain. It's been raining for about 2 days straight which is something of a novelty as we haven't had rain for months. We'll still be on water restrictions though, as the rain is stubbornly refusing to fall in the dams. Good for my vege garden though, and our lawn, which has been hanging on to life with it's fingernails.

I've been going to the gym a lot lately, in an effort to get fit. Going fairly well, it is hard to be motivated sometimes though. Giving yoga a try for the first time tonight, I've heard people rave about it, so it will be interesting to see what it is like.

Good thing about cold weather though is lots of hot, yummy food. Brian cooked a pork roast on the weekend, very nice indeed. Gotta love crackling.

Finally!!

2006-05-05T10:32:00.000+10:00

The original unaltered Star Wars trilogy is going to be released on DVD.

About bloody time!

The additions that were added on were truly horrendous. Greedo shooting at Han first, dodgy looking Jabba the Hut near the Millenium Falcoln, Hayden Christensen superimposed onto Anakin at the end of Jedi.

Only in 2.0 for sound, but will certainly get it, wish George Lucas had done this in the first place .... oh, but that's right, if he had done that, he wouldn't have got another squillion dollars.

Yes, I'm back again

2006-05-05T09:56:00.000+10:00

Yes, I know I've been horribly slack, not writing and everything. I can assure you nothing too exciting has been going on in Aussie wife land, which partly explains why no entries.

Also, being addicted playing World of Warcraft hasn't helped either! :) I can stop anytime I like, honest .... I'll just do one more quest ....

Updates:

I'm back working in the office, no more working from home. They moved the team back to the original location as it wasn't working out for anyone. Huge waste of time and money that was! I'm enjoying having people about to talk to, the dogs at home sure don't converse much.

Hubby had his birthday last weekend, much spoiling went on. Made him lasagne and apple pie for his birthday dinner, must post the pie recipe for this week's carnival.

My birthday this weekend, so expecting spoiling in return! Having a few friends over on Sunday to celebrate so that should be good.

Going to the gym 3 or 4 times a week at the moment, getting fitter and leaner. Keep losing off my chest rather than my waist, which is not my preference, but will keep at it.

Enjoyed watching the finale of "The Biggest Loser", so glad Harry didn't win. Totally stupid that he was allowed to come back into the competition. I had hoped that Kristy would win, but good on Adro, he looked amazing! And I can't believe Wal lost like 66 kilos, that is huge (pun intended!) :)

Anyways guys, will try to post more regularly, if any of you are out there still ...

No TAR while games are on

2006-03-13T16:44:00.000+11:00

Channel 7 has decided not to put on some of the top rating shows while the Commonwealth Games are on. I'm guessing they are figuring that everyone will be watching those instead? Wrong, I couldn't give a crap about the games. And the games aren't even being shown by 7, they are on channel 9, is that throwing in the ratings towel or what??

Bastards!

That means no "The Amazing Race" for two weeks. We're already behind the States on that one due to channel 7 deciding to split the first round over two weeks, now we're going to be further behind.

Pissed off doesn't even come close to how I feel at the moment ...

Not so Dr Evil

2006-03-13T11:59:00.000+11:00

You Are 32% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well.
In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

Thanks to Harvey, who is waaay more evil than me! :)

The Biggest Loser

2006-03-13T10:48:00.000+11:00

Over the last couple of weeks I've found that I've been hooked on watching "The Biggest Loser". I thought it would be lame, watching fat people being tormented. But, it's not like that at all. I mean, yes they do have temptations, but mostly the contestants are not tempted (the smart ones anyway).

And I have to say the personal trainers are very cool. Jillian is an absolute classic, she doesn't take crap from anyone! She basically told her team she would kill anyone who did a temptation and they fully believe her! Definitely a lady you want to keep on the good side of. Bob is cool too, but I get the feeling he is more competitive than Jillian, he really wants his team to win.

The only sad thing I think is that people get voted off. And so far it seems to be people that really needed to stay there (well, except for Jo, she wasn't super huge). It would be a better contest if they all got to stay and the winner was the person who lost the largest percentage of fat.

Some of the lines in it are pretty cheesy, like when it is time to evict someone and AJ says "Ok, it's time to cut the fat". Cracks me up.

No U2

2006-03-09T15:00:00.000+11:00

Unfortunately U2 have postponed their Australian tour, due to illness in the family for one of the band members. We don't know when the concerts are going to be postponed to yet, we're just being told to hang onto our tickets.

Bummer :(

Best picture

2006-03-07T10:20:00.000+11:00

Watched Crash on DVD last night after hearing that it got the Best Picture Oscar. And I have to say I really liked it, I thought it was a very good movie. It was good to see people like Sandra Bullock and Brendan Fraser and Ryan Phillipe in edgier roles than they normally are. Very different role for Brendan in particular I thought, bit different to George in the Jungle! I found the different stories very interesting and I was so happy to see a good movie, as there seems to be so much crap around. Good movies seem to be the exception these days.

The only other nominee I have seen is Brokeback Mountain, which quite frankly, I thought was boring.

Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe I just don't get it. But seriously, what do people see in that movie? I kept waiting for something to happen, and it just seemed to meander along with no real purpose. Usually I quite like Heath Ledger, but in more actiony, comedic roles, like in A Knight's Tale and Ten things. But in this one, I thought his acting was very wooden, and half the time I found it hard to understand what he was saying as he barely opened his mouth! I thought Jake Gyllenhaal did better, but still I found it hard to care what happened to his character, or any of the characters for that matter. I do admit it had good scenery shots, as is usual with Ang Lee, but the story was a disappointment.

So please people, if you liked it, let me know what you liked about it. I'm curious.

Brokeback Squadron

2006-03-03T12:42:00.000+11:00

Another spoof on Brokeback Mountain, this time for Top Gun.

"you can be my wing man anytime..." bahahahahaha

Lileks on Firefly

2006-03-03T10:59:00.000+11:00

Lileks has been giving reviews of Firefly over the last couple of days, todays is a classic.

"Jayne: the shaved wookie. Great character. Loose cog, stupidly brave, loyal except-not-maybe, and pee-in-his-drawers scared of Reivers. Can be drawn using only rectangles."

When watching Firefly I change my mind every two seconds which is my favourite character (hubby will confirm this), but I must say that Jayne is most of the time my fave. Best episode for him is Jaynetown, where he is a hero, complete with song and statue.

Very sad that there won't be a second season, also have to say not such a fan of the movie Serenity as Josh Whedon felt the need to kill off some main characters, wondering if this just cemented the fact into the ground that he couldn't really do another season now even if he wanted to.

Amazing Race 9

2006-03-02T18:42:00.000+11:00

Woo Hoo! The Amazing Race is back on tonight. One of my all time favourite shows.

The last season we had was 7 I believe, the one where Rob and Amber felt hard done by (sob sob ... NOT!). We've skipped the next one which apparently was families traveling only in America and was supposed to be absolute crapsville. Although as I never saw it, who can say.

I'm sure we'll have the obligatory couples that they have each season:

The gay couple (never actually called this, usually referred to as "life long friends")
The seperated couple who for some reason think this game will help them get back together
The mother/child couple (usually outta there by round 2 or 3)
The models
The best friends
The whingy old people who always last longer than you think they will

Oh yes, it will be good. Imagine having Phil's job, flying from place to place, explaining each week what a detour and a road block is, gotta be tough!

Aussie accent

2006-02-24T16:40:00.000+11:00

So Harvey of Bad Example was talking about British and American accents, and why British people can seem to do American but not the other way around. What prompted this is the wonderful Hugh Laurie. I first came across his work in Blackadder, where he was comic fodder for Rowan Atkinson to work with. Hadn't seen him in too much since then, until House came along, quite possibly my fav TV show at the moment. If you hadn't heard of him previously you could be well excused for thinking he was an American, not a Brit. His accent is perfect.

Which led me to thinking and wondering, how come whenever actors try to do an Australian accent, they get it so woefully wrong, so crappy? Harvey's point for the US/British thing was that Britain has so many accents, so it is difficult to get an archetypal one to put on, whereas there is an 'accentless' US accent that is most commonly used in TV and movies. Fair point, makes sense.

But not so much for Australia, we just don't have that big a range of accents. Most of us do not (I repeat, do not) sound like Steve Irwin, it is a more toned down version of that. But when a US actor tries to do our accent it comes out sounding all mangled. I always wondered why they just couldn't cast an Aussie in, there's heaps of aussie actors out of work! :)

Although, that said, what annoys me even more is when they cast an Aussie, but make them change their accent.
Case in point: Emilie de Ravin who plays Claire on Lost. Now she's an Aussie through and through, hasn't lived in the US for that long, but somehow her accent sounds not quite right, almost a Kiwi accent for some reason.

Back to House being wonderful, Jesse Spencer has thankfully been allowed to keep his accent just the way it is. Can almost forgive him for his stint on Neighbours!

Carnival of the Recipes

2006-02-14T07:26:00.000+11:00

Hooray, the carnival is up! Thanks to Physics Geek for putting it together. Go here to find it.

Word Cloud

2006-02-12T09:48:00.000+11:00

Thanks to biglittlesister for this one. Don't think I'll be getting it on a tshirt, but pretty cool all the same. Want one? Go here
I like how it recognises that I have a hot hubby!

Pasta with tomato, basil and chevre sauce

2006-02-12T09:24:00.000+11:00

This is one of our staple meals, very easy and quick to prepare, and yummy indeed. For those of you not in the know, chevre is goat's cheese. Last night we had this and substituted the goat's cheese with fetta that had been marinated in rosemary, cracked pepper, and a third ingredient I can't remember, maybe garlic? Anyway, it works very well also.
This recipe comes from an absolutely brilliant book called While the Pasta Cooks.

Ingredients

1 pound pasta, any shape
2 large ripe tomatoes (we tend to use 3 or 4, depends how much you like tomato)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
24 basil leaves, chopped
4 ounces fresh chevre, crumbled
2 cloves garlic, minced (again, we use about double this, love garlic)
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and stir a few times to ensure that the pasta does not stick to itself. Boil vigorously for the time recommended on the pasta package or until the pasta is tender.

While the pasta cooks, remove and discard the stem ends from the tomatoes and chop the tomatoes into small dice. Toss the tomato in a serving bowl with the oil, basil, chevre, garlic, salt, and plenty of pepper.

Drain the pasta and toss it in the bowl with the sauce.

Serves 4

My work place

2006-02-09T12:22:00.000+11:00

Here is a picture of the study where I work:

Yes, I am a messy sod. Not sure if you'll be able to make it out, but yes those are Star Wars figurines on top of my monitor!

It's going to be a hot one today

2006-02-09T11:05:00.000+11:00

It's supposed to get up to 36 degrees C (96.8F) today, ewww.

Only 27 in my study at the moment, debating on whether to put the air con on now to have some sort of hope it will cope when it rises.

Hmmm .... yep, will put on.

I was going to mow the lawn at lunchtime, guessing I won't be doing that now. Pool looks inviting though ...

Working from home

2006-02-08T12:04:00.001+11:00

Since my team was moved to a far off location, I've been working from home. Now, when I was in an office location, working from home seemed to me like it would be a dream situation. Work in your pyjamas all day, nobody hassling you, get up out of bed a minute before starting work.

And it is good for those reasons. But ... I am not liking working from home. I didn't count on how isolated I'd feel, how lonely I'd get.

Plus, I'm not the most motivated person in the world, I am finding it hard to actually sit down and do the work. Every time a car goes past in the street, I'm tempted to look. If someone actually stops, then gosh, I just have to see if they are doing anything interesting. Not to mention the plants that need watering, clothes that need washing ... you get the picture

Today, it is a bit after 12, and I can honestly say I've done almost nothing. Taken a couple of calls, read a couple of emails, that's about it. Mind you, I have caught up on all my blog reading, and now I'm actually writing a blog entry. Ok, not work, but something I've been meaning to do.
Alright, really must knuckle down now and do some work ...

Choccy Carnival of the Recipes

2006-02-06T08:49:00.000+11:00

For all you chocolate fiends out there, you'll love this week's Carnival, it's all about chocolate. Mmmmmm ... chocolate.

Triple-choc cookies

2006-02-04T09:40:00.000+11:00

So the theme is chocolate this week, eh? I think this fits the bill then, as it has three lots of chocolate in it.

I don't make it too often, as it is not exactly your health biscuit (translates as cookie in US speak). But, when I have made them, they certainly go quickly.

Any confusion on the ingredient front, let me know. Always fun, finding out what foods are called by different names in different countries! Ounces conversions are approximate, eg 1.2355 I round down to 1.2

Recipe comes from a book titled wicked sweet indulgences

Ingredients

125g (4.4 ounces) butter
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/4 cups (8.8 ounces) firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup (5.3 ounces) plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/3 cup (1.2 ounces) cocoa powder
1/2 cup (3 ounces) chopped raisins
1/2 cup (3.4 ounces) milk Choc Bits
1/2 cup (2.6 ounces) white chocolate Melts, halved
1/2 cup (2.6 ounces) dark chocolate Melts, halved

Method

Preheat oven to moderate. Lightly grease two oven trays.
Beat butter, essence, sugar and egg in small bowl with electric mixer until smooth; do not overbeat. Stir in sifted dry ingredients, then raisins and all chocolates.
Drop level tbsps of mixture onto prepared trays, allowing 5cm (2 inches) between each cookie; bake in moderate oven about 10 minutes. Stand cookies 5 minutes; transfer to wire rack to cool.

tips:
Choc bits are made of cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, sugar and an emulsifier; these hold their shape in backing.
Chocolate Melts are discs of compounded chocolate ideal for melting and moulding.

Christmas blues

2005-12-27T21:29:00.000+11:00

Ok, so I know Christmas is the time of cheer and goodness.

Does anybody else get stressed on Christmas Day and the holidays, or is that just me?

I'm a stressy person to begin with, but this Christmas time took the cake (not literally as I don't like Christmas Cake, or pudding for that matter!)

I don't even really know what it is that stresses me, but it seems like too much pressure put into one day.

I worry that I don't give enough, I worry that I don't say enough, I worry that I don't enjoy the day the way I'm supposed to.

Today is the first day since I've been off work (which leading up to the break was stressful enough to put my heart into irrhythmia, if that's how it is spelt) that I've been able to relax a bit, maybe I'm just putting too much pressure on myself ...

So to my friends out there, that see me in real life, I'm sorry if I seemed a bit cold when I saw you last, I was happy to see you, but just trying to hold myself together.

And to my friends online, I'm sorry that I haven't written much lately, but know that you are in my thoughts, and that I care about you all. If it was possible to transport myself, I'd give you all a big hug, and bring you some of my triple choc cookies.

Love,

Amanda

You say to-may-to, I say to-mar-to

2005-11-25T14:35:00.000+11:00

Everyday Stranger is one of my favourite blogs. Helen has such a way with words, it makes me feel tongue tied, (or is that finger-tied as I'm typing not talking ...) and awkward.

It had been a little while since I'd been over there, so I had a bit of catching up to do. I came across this post, and it just cracked me up.

It deals with the linguistic differences between America and England.

I don't think I even knew until a few years ago that 'aluminum' and 'alminium' were the same thing, it still doesn't really feel right! I just know though if I was in America I couldn't make myself say aluminum, it just wouldn't come out.

Same with the word semi. I'm not sure if this is just part of America or not, but the pronunciation 'sem-eye' always tickled my funny bone for some reason. Here we pronounce it sort of like 'sem-ee'

A lot of our words in Australia come from England, not surprisingly. Some Americanisms do creep in though.

We have mobile phones (or just mobiles), not cell phones.
We have both flats and apartments, but flat is the more common usage.
We fill the car up with petrol, not gas.
We say nappies, not diapers.
Some people here still say trousers, but mostly it is pants.

One thing Helen wrote was 'The car does not wear clothes, it has no boot or bonnet.' I wonder what they do have? We call the back of the car the boot, and being totally not into cars I have no idea what we call the front bit ...

Comments

2005-11-25T14:16:00.000+11:00

Was bound to happen I guess, over the last week or so I've been getting a fair few spam comments. Only goes through to the Blogger comments part, not Haloscan so far.

So, I've had to turn on comment moderation for Blogger. Shouldn't affect anyone putting a valid comment in, as mostly people use Haloscan, which I prefer anyway.

Hmm... wondering if I turn off comments completely in Blogger whether the Haloscan ones will still work. Might give it a try sometime.

And if that is all gibberish, when I say Haloscan comments, they are what comes under the "Comment" link, and Blogger comments are under the link "Pre Haloscan"

Can't sleep

2005-11-21T03:04:00.000+11:00

Well, it's 3 in the morning and I can't sleep.

Last night for dinner we had fish and chips, and I decided to have a glass of red wine after that. Apparently doesn't agree with me, I feel crap.

Today is the last day of my two week leave, then it's back to work for me.

What to do on my last day, besides hopefully feel better and get some sleep ....

First thing, I have to put my car in to get new brake pads on the front.
I have a physio appointment for my knee (still improving slowly) at 1pm.
I have to go to the RTA at some stage to register my car.

So looks like on my last day, I will be getting my purse out a fair bit! :(

On the upside, Brian has the day off too, so we get to spend the day together. That's nice, he's a great guy and hubby, love spending time with him.

When I can't sleep I get up and read some blogs, go on It's Your Turn, and obsess and worry over things needlessly! What do you do when you can't sleep?

Yummy prawny limey recipe (can be done with chicken)

2005-11-20T13:16:00.000+11:00

Last weekend when we had our friends over we did this dish. Normally we use prawns (shrimps), but this time we decided to use chicken instead. End result? Both are good, both work well. Oh, also, in this recipe it says to skewer the prawns and limes but we can't be bothered with that so just chuck everything onto the barbie and squeeze lime juice over it after.
Once again this recipe comes from Ainsley Harriott's Barbecue Bible, which like I said previously gets a lot of use from us.

Ainsley likes to give his recipes funky names, I'll give the title below, but we tend to just call it the yummy prawny limey recipe (can be done with chicken).

Orla's Bamboo Thai Prawn Satay with Griddled Limes

Ingredients

450g (1 lb) raw, headless tiger prawns
1 stalk of lemongrass
3 limes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
120 ml (4 fl oz) canned coconut milk
6 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp palm or light muscovado suger

8 x 15 cm (6 in) bamboo skewers soaked in cold water for 30 minutes.

Method

Peel the prawns, leaving the last tail segment in place. (I also take the intestinal tract out).
Remove the tough outer leaves from the stalk of lemongrass and finely chop the tender core. Finely grate the zest from one of the limes and squeeze out the juice. Cut the remaining limes into small wedges.
Put the lemongrass, lime zest, lime juice, garlic, coconut milk, soy sauce and sugar into a non-metallic dish. Add the prawns, mix together well and set aside to marinate at room temperature for about 15 minutes or for up to 2 hours in the fridge.
Thread 4 prawns on to each skewer in pairs together with 2 lime wedges. Pierce through the tail of one prawn, add a lime wedge and then skewer the head end of the prawn so that it wraps itself around the lime attractively. Do this once more and repeat for the rest of the skewers.
Barbecue the skewers over a medium hot coals for about 1 minute on each side or until just cooked through. Serve at once, garnished with the remaining lime wedges.

A good drink to serve with this is a Corona with a wedge of lime in it.

Carnival of the Recipes

2005-11-14T19:06:00.000+11:00

Eric from Myopic Zeal has done a great job with this week's Carnival. I didn't realise it was supposed to be a patriotic themed dish, in honour of Veteran's Day (or Remembrance Day as it is called in Australia). So I didn't manage to come up with a red, white or blue dish, but hopefully people like it anyway.

So go take a look, some even have pretty pictures to go with them. Nice!

Pass the butter please?

2005-11-12T09:01:00.000+11:00

Today we have some very good friends coming over for a brunchy lunchy type thing. We're looking forward to it, will be lots of fun. Temperature is not supposed to get too hot, but it will be hot enough for a swim, and we'll be cooking a BBQ. Gotta love a BBQ!

To go with the meal, and to put on the bread, I'm making up a butter that we've had a few times, and is very tasty. It's from Ainsley Harriott's Barbecue Bible, which I can tell you gets a lot of usage from us in the warmer months.

Italian Pesto Butter

100g (4 oz) slightly salted butter, softened
2 tbsp pesto
2 heaped tbsp chopped fresh basil
2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan
1 clove garlic, crushed
salt and freshly ground black pepper*

Mix the butter with the rest of the ingredients. Spoon on to a sheet of clingfilm (or cling wrap as we call it here) or non-stick baking parchment, shape into a roll and wrap up tightly. Chill until firm or until required.

What I tend to do, instead of shaping into a roll in cling wrap is to put it into the dish that I'm going to serve it in, put cling wrap over the top of that.

* no, I don't know why he says to use only slightly salted butter, then add more salt. You can leave it out if you wish, is very tasty either way.

What day were you born on?

2005-11-12T08:47:00.000+11:00

Got this over at Caltechgirl's place, and couldn't resist putting it here. You can go to this site to find out what day you were born on, nice! Turns out I was born on a Monday. Caltechgirl also had a poem to go with this, although in my case, I'm not too sure it's true. :)

Monday's child is fair of face.
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is full of woe.
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving.
Saturday's child works hard for his living.
The child that is born on the Sabbath day
is bonny, and blithe, and good, and gay

So what day were you born on, and is the poem spot on, or far off the mark?

Phew!

2005-11-09T16:46:00.000+11:00

Ultrasound went well, all is fine. Hooray! What a relief.

I arrived a couple of minutes early, very nervous and a bit shaky. I didn't have to wait long, which was good. When I first walked into the examination room, the lady asked me my age. When I replied 32, she gave me a bit of a funny look. I thought for a sec that I hadn't understood what she said, as she had a bit of an Asian accent. So I repeated it, saying "my age? I'm 32". "Oh", she said, "you look much younger, I thought you were about 18". Have to say I felt pretty chuffed about that, not bad at all if someone thinks you look 14 years younger than you actually are! :)

The actual procedure didn't take long, and it wasn't as embarrassing as I thought it might be, the lady kept up a constant conversation. She was quick to say it was fine, but before I left she got it double checked with a doctor, who confirmed all aok. An hour and a half later I went and picked up the results, on the back it is sealed with a sticker saying it must only be opened by the referring doctor .... hmmm .... will have to see how well sealed it is, maybe I can pry it loose, take a look, then seal shut again :)

Worries, worries

2005-11-09T12:20:00.000+11:00

Two things I have going on at the moment.

The knee. Today marks two weeks since I hurt it. It is still a bit swollen, although improved from what it originally was, and I still have some pain from time to time, especially when I've been sleeping. I think I bump it when I sleep, or try to move it more than it should be moved. It looks like I will be out of action for some time to come. What makes it more interesting is that the GP and physio have different opinions. On Monday I went back for my checkup, and he said it seemed to be healing itself, no problem. Yesterday went back to the physio, he still thinks that there is a deeper problem, a problem with the meniscus, and thinks I should see a knee specialist. He is going to consult with some of his colleagues first, and see what they think. So at the moment, I just have to rest, do the exercises, and put ice on the swollen bits. One good thing, it is hot today (3o degC) so I'll get in the pool later. Walking in water is a good exercise for the knee.

Other thing. On the weekend I felt a lump in my breast. I don't often examine them, so I'm not sure how long it has been there. Instant fear hit me. Brian has been good, calming me down, chances are it is nothing. When I went to the doctor on Monday I told him about it, he took a look (or a feel I should say), and thinks it is all ok. But to be on the safe side he wants me to have an ultrasound. I have that at 2.30 this afternoon. I feel nervous. Everything should be ok, but I can't help but worry. I just wish it was over and done with, the waiting is getting to me a bit.

Will give an update later today to say how things went.

Slowly getting better

2005-11-02T19:20:00.000+11:00

So I went to the physio for trip number two on Monday, and he wasn't super happy with how my knee was going. One of the ligaments was a bit loose he thought, and he wasn't sure if I'd done damage to my knee joint. So, he requested I go to my GP to take a look, and thought I'd probably have to get some scans done, at the least an xray.

I made sure I went and saw my doctor that very afternoon, didn't want to have to wait and worry that I'd done something major to myself. But, good news. The doc thinks I haven't done anything serious. He ruled out mensiscal damage (some discs that form part of the knee joint), by getting me to stand on my bad leg, and do a twisting motion. My knee didn't give way, and it didn't hurt, so that cleared that. Nice. He thinks that I've strained a ligament and that it should heal itself ok. Hooray! I go back in a week for another checkup.

In the meantime I am doing all the exercises that the physio recommeded, and I am starting to see a slight improvement, so I am now cautiously optimistic all will be ok. If all goes well, I should be back on the field running about in around three weeks time.

Thanks for everyone's kind wishes, much appreciated.

And hey, guess what? Tomorrow marks a year since I started this blogging caper! Time really does fly.

Update from the cripple herself

2005-10-28T13:14:00.000+10:00

Hi guys, just writing to let you know how I've been. Not too good would be the sum up.

As Brian was saying, I hurt my knee playing touch footy on Wednesday night. The game had only been going for about 5 minutes, and I had been playing quite well. I gathered up the ball from the play the ball, and started my run down the field at a fair clip. I don't remember if I tried to do a step or what, but I do remember hearing two clicking noises as I felt two places in my knee give way, then it buckled under me, and down I went in a screaming heap. The pain was quite something, I remember that. I was carried off the field, and ice was brought for me. For about 20-25 minutes the pain continued at an intense level, as I fought back tears. I've been trying so hard to get fit lately, and lose some weight, and this just seemed unfair, I hadn't been doing anything risky or stupid. Everyone was very concerned and helpful, which was nice. I did have a bit of a cry while they weren't looking, I was very shaky and I knew I'd done some pretty bad damage.

I called Brian to pick up some painkillers on his way home, then I managed with the help of a friend to hobble to my car and get home. I rang the physio office, but they were closed for the night as I had suspected they would be. I've hurt myself before, so I knew the drill for what to do until I could get to the physio. Leg elevated, ice on for 2o minutes, off for 20 minutes continuously, as well as a compression bandage.

I managed to get an appointment to the physio yesterday afternoon at 2.30. The physio I go to is located in my local gym where I'm a member. I joked with Brian that I'd actually have to use the lift I had scoffed at so many times in the past; I'd thought it was a bit soft doing a workout then using a lift to get back to the carpark instead of the stairs!

Anyway, karma, or something out there had a good laugh, as when I arrived, the lift was out of order! I stared at it in stunned disbelief for a good 30 seconds. Grimly, I looked at the two flights of stairs to go down. I can barely walk, so this was going to be a challenge. I made it, but man was I pissed that that elevator was out of action!

As for the physio, he thinks I'll probably have to see a knee specialist. My knee is quite swollen, and the muscles around it have shut down to some extent to protect it. This made it impossible for him to do some of the tests that would confirm if I've torn or merely strained a ligament. He mentioned that an MRI would probably be needed, or if I was claustrophobic about that they could do keyhole surgery to take a look. What a fab choice! All I know of MRI scans comes from the TV show House (although I notice Brian has put up a link about it, will have to have a read), and without fail in House when someone gets an MRI they start freaking out, or have a seizure that nearly kills them! Not that I think that will happen of course!

Anyway, the physio will see me on Monday again, the swelling should have gone done a bit since then, and hopefully my muscles will relax enough for him to conclusively tell what I've done to my knee. If it's torn, it could mean surgery, or it could mean extensive physio.

So with those ideas ringing in my ears, I'm at home for the next few days, doing all the right stuff with resting, icing etc, and having a stern talk to my knee. "Just you think about healing yourself young lady, or you know the consequences!"

While I don't believe in God or prayers, I know some of you out there do, so I'm hedging my bets! If you could put in a good word for me, that would be much appreciated. :)

update 1

2005-10-28T11:28:00.000+10:00

So the visit to the physio was inconclusive - "wait and see whether it gets better by itself" (and yes, we paid for this advice). If it's still bad on Monday, then Amanda is off for an MRI.

Down, and kinda out

2005-10-27T14:26:00.000+10:00

Amanda managed to hurt her knee playing touch football last night ... jigged when she should have jagged, or weaved when she should have ... done something else. Apparently she was having a great game playing on the wing; I suspect a complicated plot by the other team to take out the star player. My suspicions are confirmed by the fact that the other team ended up winning.

More news, from her visit to the physio, later today. Hopefully she'll be ok to play next week.

What do I need?

2005-10-26T16:34:00.000+10:00

Saw this over at what's new pussycat? and had to give it a go. It's called the Need meme. All you have to do is go to Google and type "[your name] needs" and see what it comes back with.

I got the following:

'Amanda needs operator disk ownership' ... well who doesn't?
'Amanda - needs gnutar' ... ah yes, gnutar, hate it when I don't have any gnutar
'AMANDA needs to be rebuilt' ... apparently so much so that my name is in CAPS!
'Amanda needs a small config change' ... I'm not a loony, I'm not
'Amanda needs a wise friend to tell her that this too shall pass' ... and thus ends my fascination with Google telling me what I need :)

Lolly quiz

2005-10-18T18:26:00.000+10:00

Now, I don't tend to eat candy, or lollies as we call them here, but I saw this quiz over at Boudicca's Voice, and curiosity got the better of me.

Ahem, gotta love the tag line! I don't know about the always part ... :)

Snickers

Nutty and gooey - you always satisfy.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

Cool Firefly site

2005-10-13T13:21:00.000+10:00

Here's a site that has the transcripts from all the episodes of Firefly, including the translations for the Chinese that they speak. Shiny!

Pretty cool, love the show. Will be hoping that a certain DVD will be making it's way into our Christmas stocking ... Shame about the movie, Serenity. I won't post any spoilers, but damn, I was disappointed in parts of it. They didn't even play the theme song, what is with that?

[hat tip to Harvey for the link]

Work update

2005-10-10T19:06:00.000+10:00

Those of you who read regularly may remember that I not long started the job I am currently in. I've been there now for about 4 months, although I have been with the company longer in other positions, about 4 years.

Today we had a team meeting. I'm always a bit antsy about team meetings, as quite often in the past for me it meant that my team no longer had a job due to outsourcing.

Well, today's team meeting, the manager announced that our entire team was being relocated to Frenchs Forest. This has been met with universal dismay. This new location is a long way from our current one. At the moment it takes me about 15 minutes to get to work. The new location would take me over an hour. For those of you who travel a lot this probably doesn't seem like a big deal. But for those of us in our team, quite a few live in the area, and this will extend our travelling time a lot. One of the pluses of where we currently are is that it is close to home. And for others in the team, they are even worse off. Some already travel an hour to work, and this will probably double that. Not good. There is not a single person on the team for who this is a better location. Not one. People are worrying about the money we'll lose to tolls, and petrol. Petrol is very expensive here at the moment.

The manager understands this is a big impact on us, and is willing to let us work from home some of the time. Also, there may be a chance of working the other days at Parramatta (much closer suburb, probably 20 minutes drive). He's telling us not to panic, but the team won't be the same anymore, especially with people working from home.

It doesn't happen for another two months, so we will see what gets sorted out, but I will also be keeping an eye out for a new job, one in a different company.

Boot Camp update

2005-10-10T18:50:00.000+10:00

Today was the start of the second of four weeks for Boot Camp. All in all, it is quite good. They really do push you to work out harder than you'd normally do. I'm about middle of the pack fitness wise, which is fine by me. I've been going ok, except for a *slight* mishap last Wednesday.

Wednesday was the second time I'd been to Boot Camp. We'd done our warmups, some running, pushups (they love getting us to do pushups, unfortunately I suck at them!), and then they divided us up into two teams. The aim was for the teams to line up, then the first person would sprint up to a cone, touch the ground and then sprint back, then the next person would do the same.

First sprint I did, hunky dory, even beat the person on the other team. Second sprint (which also became my last), not so good. I was sprinting back for the line, when I started to lose my balance. For a while I did that really uncoordinated attempt to keep running, trying to get balance back, then degenerated into pin wheeling my arms (such a good look), followed shortly thereafter by a splat as I hit the deck. Apparently it was quite a spectacular stack to watch. Unfortunately the splat was my knee connecting with a rock (I believe it was the only rock on the field, and I managed to find it!). OUCH! Not wanting to look like a complete wuss I launched to my feet again and made it back to the line.

Instructors made their way over to me pretty quickly, and I rolled up my tracky dacks to examine the damage, thinking at most there'd be a little graze. To my horror there was a lump sticking about an inch out from my knee. The instructors got me to sit out for ten minutes or so, with a chilled water bottle against my knee. The swelling subsided somewhat, and I continued on for the rest of the class. However, the instructors said I'd better get it checked out, just in case I'd done some serious damage. So off to the physio I went. Luckily I hadn't done any tendon or ligament damage, but the swelling had managed to push my kneecap up a bit. I was forbidden to go to Boot camp for the rest of the week, and had to keep my leg elevated as much as possible, and ice my knee a lot. I had to do that for three days. Interesting at work having to sit side on to the desk, with my pants leg shoved up so I could put ice on. Very professional looking.

Anyways, I now have a nice bruise, but I'm back into Boot Camp, all aok.

Let's hope I manage to get through the rest injury free. To add insult to injury (he he), you pay up front for the whole four weeks of the course, no refund if you miss any.

As long as I get fit and lose weight doing this, it will be worthwhile. That's what I tell myself. And I must admit, it is kinda fun, and nicer exercising outside rather than in the gym.

Carnival of the Recipes

2005-09-27T20:05:00.000+10:00

Carnival of the Recipes is up. This week, Triticale is our host. You can find it here. He has gone with an elemental organisation for the recipes. Go, see, cook!

Boot Camp

2005-09-27T19:52:00.000+10:00

Well, I've finally decided to take my exercise regime up a level. For quite some time I've been unhappy about my weight, and over the last few weeks have increased my exercise, and a more healthy diet. What I've learned ... weight does not come off as fast as you want it to, if at all. Now I know that it is a long term process, but I found something the other day that sounds promising, so I decided to do it.

Boot Camp.

What's boot camp? Well the gym I go to runs group fitness sessions 3 times a week, in the wee early hours of the morning.
Their definition of boot camp?

"You have chosen a serious but FUN program that is designed to challenge you to achieve your own serious results" (emphasis theirs). Serious results people, not just namby pamby, frivolous results.

What sort of things will we be doing?

"The instructors will select activities including running, jumping, carrying and callisthenics that will push you beyond your comfort zone to itensity where you will feel you are achieving true results"

... wondering if this will be like Survivor challenges ... hmmm.. probably harder I'm thinking.

Am I daunted? Plenty. Am I determined, you betcha.

I'm not real sure what to expect, friends tell me I'll be yelled at by the instructors. eg "YOU'VE GOT NOTHING, MOVE IT, MOVE IT."

We'll see.

Two things which made me a tad apprehensive. Personal trainer who I've had a session with before, her take when I said I was doing it: "Ooh, good luck, I don't envy you"

And the signature of the Enlistment Officer for boot camp, which had two little sayings:

"NEVER NEVER GIVE UP" (fair enough, would expect that)
'pain is weakness leaving the body' (WTF??)

So, first day is next Tuesday, if I don't post it will be because I can't lift my arms high enough to tap on the keys ...

There is a season - turn, turn, turn

2005-09-24T06:43:00.000+10:00

Well, I learnt something today, and it is only 6:50 in the morning!

I always knew that America's seasons didn't change on the same date as us, but I'd never got around to looking it up. But, as I was reading Golly Blog Howdy, the first line said "Today at 3:23pm PDT, Autumn arrived." Holy crap, I thought, there is an exact time as well as date for the season to turn?? So, I googled it, as you do, on a Saturday morning when you really should be seeing if you can go back to bed and get more sleep. And I found the following:

Vernal (Spring) Equinox

March 20

1233

Summer Solstice

June 21

06:46

Autumnal Equinox	September 22	22:23
Winter Solstice	December 21	18:35

Times are in Universal Time (I say as if I know what that means ...)

So, there you go, now that is precise.

Here, the seasons turn at the beginning of months, like so:

Spring: September 1st
Summer: December 1st
Autumn: March 1st
Winter:June 1st

I guess I could add in times as well, but is always midnight.

And thus ends the lesson. :)

Caesar Salad

2005-09-22T18:45:00.000+10:00

This is a recipe that I picked up when I did an Italian cooking class over a space of eight weeks at one of the local community colleges. The teacher was very big on telling us this particular recipe is closer to the traditional Italian caesar salad, as the dressing isn't creamy as such, and you don't add chicken. Chicken bad! Up til then I didn't know anyone could be passionate about how to make a caesar salad!

* Note: this recipe contains raw eggs

Ingredients

2 small Cos lettuces (or should that be lettuci)
3 slices of thick bread (pick something with a bit of weight to it, like ciabatta)
6 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp garlic (chopped fine) ... about 1 good thick clove
2 eggs
sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper and salt
8 tbsp olive oil (use 4 at first, then add more if needed)
4 tbsp lemon or lime juice
150-200g (5-7 ounces) parmesan cheese (grated or shaved, up to you)
6-8 anchovy fillets (optional, but I think they really do add to it)

Method

Wash leaves under cold water and dry. Cover and chill (ie. put in fridge! While you are doing that, get a large salad bowl, and chuck that in the fridge too)
Trim bread and cut into large croutons (squares). Cook in hot vegetable oil. Lift and drain (ie take out of pan with spatula thingy and try not to take too much oil with you. Perhaps put them on some paper towelling to soak up any excess oil).
After browning croutons, add garlic to oil for a short time and then put the croutons back in. Mix 'em up a bit, then lift, drain and let cool.
When ready to make salad (and not before! Don't try to do this while you are still in the bath or anything!), plunge eggs into boiling water (off the heat) for 10 seconds. Remove and put to one side.
Take the large chilled salad bowl out of the fridge. Rub inside of bowl with cut garlic. Break lettuce leaves into serving size pieces and scatter in the bottom of the bowl (ie. rip it up, bung 'em in)
Add pepper and salt and olive oil and toss, coating all lettuce.
Break eggs into bowl and toss. Add lemon/lime juice and toss. Ensure all dressing is mixed well with lettuce.
Add cheese and anchovies (if used) and toss lightly.
Scatter croutons on top and serve chilled ('cause it is just going to taste crap if you try to heat it up in the oven!)

The Take Away Resolution

2005-09-20T18:32:00.000+10:00

Despite that fact that Amanda is the Best Cook Ever, and that we have the Oppressively Large Mortgage, we've decided that we should have take-away once a week, or so. Part of the reason is that I usually work late, so I only cook on weekends, and not always very often then (since I can do a reasonable BBQ or roast, but only one person can be the Best Cook Ever). Sounds like it will be pizza tonight, from the local "gourmet pizza" place.

But, now for the bad news - it ought to be Survivor night in Australia (it was for the last season), but they moved it to Friday. Where is the sense of TV tradition? This is bad news because Survivor goes well with pizza - there's nothing like watching the pretty TV people whine about not having enough food, while you get pizza delivered to your door. I can recommend it.

BTW, if you're looking for a nice breakfast or brunch food, I can really recommend the corn things with avocado salsa recipe, from a couple of days ago. I had some leftovers for breakfast the next day - best breakfast ever. Especially when you don't feel like the alternative best breakfast ever - the big breakfast - eggs, bacon, tomatoes, sausages and mushrooms, cooked on the BBQ because they don't make a frying pan big enough to hold it all.

Haloscan question

2005-09-15T20:56:00.000+10:00

Ok, does anyone else find in Haloscan when you go to Manage Comments and click on the Post ID it just shows you the comment, not the post that it is for? It's driving me nuts wondering which of my posts comments have been for, especially if they are older posts ...

just wondering ...

Simple sweetcorn cakes with avocado salsa

2005-09-15T20:28:00.000+10:00

Today at work we had a team lunch where everyone brought in a dish. I was feeling a little pressured in this, as the girl who organised it sees me as some sort of uber chef due to the fact that I make my own pizza dough and grate nutmeg instead of buying a container of the stuff already grated ...
Anyways I decided to cook a Bill Granger recipe that I had made once or twice before with some success. It's from his book called bills open kitchen. Now don't let the fact that they are called cakes fool you. These look more like pikelets (wondering to self now if in the US they are called pikelets ... hmmm). Umm.. if no pikelets, perhaps small hotcakes (pancakes). Perhaps I should have taken a picture.
Anyway, anyway, they turned out fine, even if I did burn a couple. Hubby and I peeled off the burnt bits and ate them, still quite yummy.
So, without further ado, here is the recipe

Sweetcorn cakes

Ingredients

525g (2 2/3 cups) fresh corn kernels, cut from 3 large corn cobs
1 small red onion, chopped
2 eggs
15g (1/2 cup) chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves
125g (1 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
1 tsp baking powder
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
vegetable oil, for frying

to serve
avocado salsa (below)

Method

Preheat the oven to 120 deg C (250 deg F/Gas 1). Place 2 cups of the corn kernels and the onion, eggs, coriander, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in a food processor and process until combined. Place in a large bowl, add the remaining corn and stir to combine.

Heat 1 tbsp of the vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium to high heat. When the oil is hot, drop 2 heaped tablespoons of mixture per sweetcorn cake into the pan and cook in batches of three for 1 minute each side. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in the oven while you are making the rest of the cakes. Serve with the avocado salsa. Makes 12

Avocado salsa

Ingredients

2 ripe avocados, stones removed and diced (the avocado that is, not the stones!)
15g (1/2 cup) coriander (cilantro) leaves
2 tbsp lime or lemon juice
2 tbsp finely chopped spring onions (scallions)
dash Tabasco sauce, optional
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Method

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir very gently to combine.

sister madly waking up the dead ...

2005-09-15T20:07:00.000+10:00

Hubby is out to dinner with a work colleague tonight, leaving little old me at home alone. Alone of course except for the dog-a-logs Benny and Billy, but its hard to count them sometimes as you can't really converse with a snoring Cavalier!

So I'm indulging in a little me time tonight, doing what pleases me. Yes, there is housework to do, especially as we are having friends over on the weekend. To assuage some guilt there, I've stacked the dishwasher, and will turn it on later.

Tonight I've gone through and read through some of my favourite blogs, only commenting on one, as I couldn't think of anything to add to others. I was happy to see that Caltechgirl still likes Survivor, and will be watching the upcoming series. Alas, with the time difference she sees it first, so I have to be careful to look out for spoilers.

After doing that had a soak in a nice hot bath, whilst listening to one of my favourite CDs of all time, Temple of Low Men by Crowded House. The title of this entry is one of their more obscure lines. At the moment the last song is playing, and it is the best on the CD, "Better be home soon". I must have listened to these songs a zillion times. Whenever I hear that last song though, it takes me back to when I worked at the cinemas.

The song was in the soundtrack to a movie I doubt did well in the States, but did quite well here, called The Sum of Us. It's a very Australian movie in that it shows a lot of shots of Sydney Harbour for no real discernible reason other than it is very pretty. Russell Crowe plays a gay guy, who lives with his Dad. Who has a stroke. And this is a comedy .... it's better than it sounds truly. Anyways, Better be home soon is on the soundtrack to the movie, and is the last song to play. I remember standing in the back of the theatre, waiting for it to end so I could clean, and being absolutely blown away by the sound quality of the song. In most part this was due to having heard the song before on car cd players or portable cd players. But it is such a beautiful song and to hear it coming out of top class speakers was just amazing. Neil Finn's voice just struck a chord in me, I could have listened to it over and over again. Which as the movie showed a few times a day, I did.

Funny how little things like that stick in your memories ...

Chicken in Peanut Curry Sauce

2005-08-22T20:47:00.000+10:00

This is a mild chicken curry. Note that the peanuts are unsalted, the dish is given a salty enough flavour by the fish sauce. A good tip for making the chicken tender is to cut across the grain.

Ingredients

4 tbsp of peanut oil
2 tbsp of chilli sauce (or 1 tsp chilli powder)
1-2 tbsp of madras curry powder
2 cups of coconut milk
1kg chicken breast fillet(cut into thin strips)
3 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tbsp of brown sugar
4 tbsp of lemon or lime juice
½ tsp of ground cummin
½ tsp of ground coriander
200g of roasted unsalted peanuts
4-5 basil leaves

Method

1. Heat oil in pan or wok. Add curry, ground cummin and coriander † and cook spices until aroma plateaus.
2. Add half a cup of coconut milk and stir into the spices.
3. Add chilli sauce (if chilli powder is used add with other spices in 1) †
4. Add chicken and stir fry (if the mixture is too dry then add a little water)
5. While the chicken is cooking, blend the peanuts with one cup of coconut milk into a smooth paste.
6. Add the balance of the coconut milk to the pan or wok and then stir the sugar, fish sauce and bring to a high simmer(do not boil the coconut milk )
7. Slowly add the peanut paste and stir well into the sauce.
8. Simmer for approx 6-7 minutes
9. When ready to serve add the lemon/lime juice and basil leaves.
10. Serve hot with boiled rice

Blogging will resume shortly

2005-08-22T18:26:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone. Just to let you know that normal blogging should resume shortly, probably on the weekend.

I've been snowed under for the past two months, with the new job, and the online uni subject taking up my time. And when I haven't been doing that, I've been trying to spend time with my hubby and family and friends.

Excuses, excuses, I know, lame-o-rama ...

I'll try to put up a recipe for the Carnival this week too.

seeya soon

Last day

2005-06-03T09:00:00.000+10:00

Well, today is my last day in this job. I feel a bit ill, truth be told. It doesn't seem real, yet it does. I am going to miss my friends here, quite sad. We've had so many laughs, and I just know we won't keep in touch. Work friends are hard to keep in touch with. I'm just glad that some of them will still be working for the same company as me, so hopefully we will catch up from time to time.
My hubby has been such a good support to me through these hard times, he is my rock, my safe place. Just thinking of him at the moment makes me well up a bit, thinking how much he means to me. He sees good and strength in me when I see none. I love you Brian. xxx

Carnival of the Recipes

2005-05-29T11:45:00.000+10:00

Carnival of the Recipes is up, go on over to Fresh as a Daisy and take a look!

Creamy Cauliflower soup

2005-05-27T15:05:00.000+10:00

This recipe is very healthy one, and yet it still tastes absolutely yummy. Even my hubby, who doesn't like cauliflower, likes this one!

A newspaper we have here, The Sun Herald put out four little pamphlets with an alphabetical list of healthy foods and recipes*, titled "Eat for life". This recipe is from one of the pamphlets.
Here's what they have to say about cauliflower:
"Cauliflower encourages antibody and hemoglobin production and protects against allergy, asthma, migraine and depression. It improves the health of the skin and mucous membranes, helps maintain energy levels and regulates blood fat concentration."

So there you go, yummy and good for you. Win win!

Ingredients

1 cauliflower
2 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
1 litre vegetable stock
200ml soya milk
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 bunch of parsley, finely chopped

Method

Cut off the cauliflower florets and steam until tender. Chop up the rest of the cauliflower and stir fry in the oil with the other vegetables. Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. Blend, then add the soya milk and the florets, seasoning and parsley. Heat through and serve.

*The pamphlets were extracted from "Eat for Immunity" by Kirsten Hartvig. 2002

Wise I am, hmmm

2005-05-27T08:44:00.000+10:00

Your Lightsaber is Blue

Blue is often associated with depth and stability.
It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom,
confidence, and truth.

What Colored Lightsaber Would You Have?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thanks to Caltechgirl for the link

Hi everybody

2005-05-27T07:18:00.000+10:00

Hello there, it's me. Yes, I know I've been horribly neglectful of you all, being a bit over a month since my last post.

I'm ok. The last month has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but I can see the end of the ride coming.

As I wrote before, work decided that our team was being made redundant. Having to find another job certainly took me out of my comfort zone, I can tell you. Even though it was all for the best (I hate working on the helpdesk, it really really sucks), it is hard to make a move from something that you feel safe in, where you know all the people, you know how to do your job etc. I won't miss the job, but I will certainly miss the fine people I work with. All of them are great, except for annoying git, that is.

But good news, I have a new job. Still for the same company (which shall not be named, being well known globally), but in a different department. I've gone from being a Helpdesk Consultant to ... drum roll please ... Service Delivery Coordinator. Sounds impressive right? What sort of job is it? Umm.. well I'll coordinate ... delivering service I'm guessing. :) Basically following up with vendors and clients, making sure we're meeting our service agreements, getting the job done on time for various things.

So, I finish up on the Helpdesk end of next week, and start my new job on the following Monday.

In other news, I have signed up for another unit for Open University. I have decided to commence a Bachelor of Arts (Internet Design), subject one starts next week. Open University means basically that I study at home, it's all done online. Which is pretty cool.

So busy times peoples. But I promise, I'll try to post regularly again. It's nice to be back.

Benny dog

2005-04-24T09:40:00.000+10:00

Billy is one of our dogs, the other one is Benny. He is also a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and is a few years older than Billy.
As you can see Benny has a very hard life, has to sleep on lounges inside. Poor dog! In this picture he is looking a bit aprehensive about having his photo taken, reality is though he is wondering why the hell I'm not on the lounge also for him to lie on!

Carnival of the Recipes

2005-04-24T09:24:00.000+10:00

... is up. Another wonderful job done by Be of bebere.com, there are definitely some good ones there to try.

Next week is brought to us by Caltechgirl.

Chilli Beef

2005-04-22T15:54:00.000+10:00

This recipe I learnt to cook at a Community College course on Thai cooking. It is a relatively simple dish, but is quite yummy.

Ingredients

2-3 tbsp oil
4 cloves of garlic (chopped fine)
4-6 red chillies (chopped fine - remove seeds)
700g beef (1.5 pounds) beef (I use top side steak for this, cut thin slices across the grain)
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 cup of chicken stock
4 shallots (also known as scallions, cut white part in rings/green part angle cut)
1/2 capsicum (bell pepper) thin slices
1 tbsp of basil leaves (4 or 5)
1/2 tsp of white pepper

Method

Prepare all the ingredients. This dish should only be started about 30 minutes before you wish to serve. It should not be kept warm or reheated.
Heat oil in wok. Medium to high. Cook garlic to honey brown colour.
Reduce heat slightly and add meat, stir fry until the meat has lost its redness.
Add chillies and stir fry for 2-3 minutes then add the fish and oyster sauces. Stir fry for another 4-5 minutes.
Turn heat to low-medium and sprinkle in the white pepper. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes.
Turn heat up slightly and add chicken stock. Cover and simmer until meat is tender.
Add white part of shallot and stir fry.
Add capsicum and stir fry.
Bring to high simmer.
Add green part of shallot and basil leaves. Toss all together.
Serve hot with plain boiled rice

Star Wars music

2005-04-20T16:15:00.000+10:00

This may well be a sign I've watched the classic Star Wars trilogy (as opposed to the visually impressive but slightly crappy new ones), but here is a game where you can guess what music goes with what scene. Being the Star Wars tragic that I am, it took me about a second for each one. I've always thought that that music was the best soundtrack of a movie ever. Lord of the Rings isn't bad, but can get a bit depressing sometimes.

Link for the game comes from Mellie Helen of Golly Blog Howdy

Silly people, allegedly

2005-04-19T11:53:00.000+10:00

So nine Australians have been detained in Bali, accused of attempting to smuggle heroin out to Australia. If convicted, they could face the firing squad.

The alleged "mastermind" apparently said the following:

"What ever happened to Schapelle Corby happened to me. They are convicting me of something I didn't do"

Hmm ... couple of differences between him and Schapelle. For those of you not up on the case Schapelle has been in jail in Bali since about last October I think, on trial for bringing marijuana into Bali. She claims (and it appears from the evidence I've heard to be true), that the drugs were planted in one of her bags. She also could face the firing squad if convicted, although it is now thought the prosecutors will ask for life in prison.

The heroin mastermind *cough* allegedly had the heroin strapped to his leg. I would think it would be a bit difficult to miss someone trying to plant drugs on you by sticky taping them to your body!

You'd have to be out of your mind to try drug smuggling in Indonesia. Although I feel bad that they might die, I'm just shaking my head that they tried it in the first place. (BTW, the claims are just alleged at the moment, so innocent until proven guilty and all that. Just shaking my head if they did actually do it).

Carnival of the Dogs

2005-04-18T16:46:00.000+10:00

The Carnival of the Dogs is up, if you wanta see a few piccys of cute poochies!

I feel pretty

2005-04-18T16:41:00.000+10:00

Oh so pretty ... lar lar lar

Why the musical number?

Haloscan comments/trackbacks are fully functional and the formatting is sorted too, so they look neat and tidy (pretty!)

Huge mucho thanks to Caltechgirl and Harvey who helped me sort out my mess, I am full to the brim with thankfulness at the generosity of my mates in the blogosphere.

Carnival of the Recipes

2005-04-16T16:45:00.000+10:00

Carnival of the Recipes is up. This week it is hosted by The Countertop Chronicles. Lots of yummy recipes to try out, that's for sure.

Carnival of the Dogs

2005-04-16T08:05:00.000+10:00

Hoorah, I've discovered a Carnival of the Dogs. I'd actually been thinking of putting one together myself, but now I don't have to! It goes up every Sunday.

Here is my inaugural contribution. When one of my friends saw this shot, he thought we'd photoshopped it. Nope. This is normal for our laughing Billy.

Carnival of the Recipes - Chicken chilli burgers

2005-04-14T16:13:00.000+10:00

This is one I've done a couple of times now over the last few weeks, and it has gone onto our must have once a week list. It's from Ainsley Harriott's "low fat meals in minutes", and is quick and easy to make. Another plus is that we can make use of our fresh herbs in the garden, there's always a bit of satisfaction when you can use something you've grown yourself.

Ainsley even includes nutrition notes in this book, I don't tend to get that involved reading them, but on this one at the top it has "really low fat!", so it must be healthy. It certainly doesn't skimp on taste though, sensational!

**Update: Rocket is also known as Arugula. Arugula is an aromatic salad green. It is also known as rocket, roquette, rugula and rucola, and is popular in Italian cuisine. Sheesh! Another ingredient known by many different names.

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g (1lb 2oz) lean minced chicken
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped (don't forget to wear the gloves, ouchies otherwise!)
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley or coriander (cilantro). I like both these so I tend to use 1 tbsp parsley, 1 tbsp coriander.
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
olive oil, for brushing
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve
burger buns
rocket and tomato slices

Method

1. Mix together the minced chicken, garlic, chilli, herbs, Worcestershire sauce and plenty of salt and pepper.

2. Shape the mixture into 4 even-sized burgers, then brush lightly with the oil. Pre heat the grill to medium (I tend to do these in a fry pan on the stove, still medium temp)

3. Grill for 5 minutes on each side until well browned and cooked through. Actual time is variable, depends how flat you make them before cooking. Serve in burger buns with rocket and juicy sliced tomatoes.

For those interested in the nutrition notes per serving, here they are:

calories 149
protein 28g
carbohydrate 1g
fat 3g
saturated fat 1g
fibre none (bit surprised at that, buns would have fibre, I'm guessing this is just for the pattie)
added sugar none
salt 0.58g

Trackbacks

2005-04-14T16:12:00.000+10:00

Hoorah, Trackbacks work. Thank you to Jeff, who tested it out.

Guest map

2005-04-13T19:26:00.000+10:00

As you can see from my sidebar I've added a nifty little Guest map. So go on, be a sport, stick a pin in the world, so I can see where you are from!

Nnngghhh

2005-04-12T19:07:00.000+10:00

The title alludes to the frustration I am experiencing getting haloscan comments and trackbacks up and running.

I got some brilliant code from VW of One Happy Dog Speaks, for which I am much appreciative. But being the coding newb that I am, I must be missing something, 'cause although the pre Haloscan comments are displaying beautifully, for the new comments and trackbacks it is just displaying two dots. They seem to link through to the right places, will try commenting myself in a sec, but not displaying the words next to the dots!

Any help would be majorly gratefully received.

Work news

2005-04-12T16:53:00.000+10:00

Well, work was certainly different in a crappy way today.

We found out that our team and a couple of other teams are being transitioned (consolidated is the word they used) to another location in a different state.

So basically, within the next couple of months, I have to find myself a new job. I've been in this one since Oct 2001, so it has come as quite a shock. I mean, sure the signs were on the wall in a way, no people getting replaced lately after they left, but to be told about it, and see it in black and white in a presentation really winded me. At one point I could feel tears coming, and I fiercely told myself "Keep it together, you are a grown adult for goodness sake, just keep it together!"

Apparently they are going to try to redeploy us, but we are fixed term hires, which means that if there are jobs going, the permanents will get first preference. Which is all fine and understandable from the business perspective, but I don't really know what likelihood there is of there being a job for me.

They did say I could move to this country town in this other state it is going to, (sorry to be vague or circumspect, I can't really give details away) and be given a permanent job, and they went on about how things are cheaper there, some people have even bought houses *gasp*!

Seeing as I have no desire to move from the house we have just spent the last couple of years organising and building, and also would not want to move away from friends and family, I won't be taking them up on the offer.

Time for a drink, I think.

Skype

2005-04-11T18:52:00.000+10:00

My brother and I chat a fair bit on msn, especially since his baby boy arrived. It's good, 'cause I never know when to phone them, I don't want to wake anyone up.

Yesterday my bro told me about skype, which you can use to actually call each other over the internet. Very cool, indeed!

It's free software, and you can use it to call people all over the world! For free! (I'm a fan of things being free .. hehe)

We just tried it out, and it was pretty damn cool hearing my brother's voice coming out of my speakers. It was very good quality, no delay or anything. (Although I've heard if you are talking to people overseas sometime there can be a little delay.)

Which gave me an idea. *bing*

Perhaps we could have a bloggers conference call, that would be something! If any of you regulars would like to give it a go, leave me a comment or drop me an email (amanda(at)gmail(dot)com), and we'll see what we can organise. And if you don't wanna do a conference thing, and just want to chat one on one, that's cool too!
I'd love to hear those wacky American accents (and I'm always partial to an Aussie accent!)

Not nuts about peanut butter?

2005-04-11T17:25:00.000+10:00

So, Thursday night last week, the hubby and I were watching Lost. They are up to Episode 8, and all in all we are enjoying the show.

Puzzling thing happened in this episode though. The puzzling thing this time was not a plot point as such, no mysterious allusion to a past history of one of the characters. It was with a line in the script that the character Claire came out with. Charlie is quizzing her about what cravings she has, being pregnant and all, saying she must have at least one, and her reply was this:

"Peanut butter. I'm the only Australian who loves peanut butter."

Huh?

Since when? Who says? Hubby and I looked at each other and couldn't believe it. I mean, who does the research for this show? I have never heard that we don't as a country like peanut butter. The actor who plays Claire is actually Australian, I would have thought she'd give them a heads up.

Growing up I practically lived on the stuff, had it on my sandwiches every day at school.

And just to prove the fact that peanut butter is not some poor outcast of a spread here, I sneaked a photo of the rows of it on sale at our local supermarket.

Am I *nuts* for going this far to prove a point? Probably.
Is it a biggy in the grand scheme of things? Of course not, I just thought it was an odd thing for them to make up.

I'm wondering what other misconceptions about Aussies are out there now. I'll have to keep watching Lost to find out! :)

Belated Happy Anniversary wishes

2005-04-11T10:27:00.000+10:00

Under the better late than never category, I'd just like to wish Harvey and TNT a very Happy 6th Wedding Anniversary for the 9th April.

From the piccy below, it is easy to see how she keeps Mr Bad Example in line! Look at that bicep, I wouldn't mess with her :)

Ecosystem

2005-04-11T08:07:00.000+10:00

Wow, I'm now a flappy bird in the TTLB Ecosystem, I better see if I can figure out how to use these wings!

This instalanche might have had something to do with it! :)

Carnival of the Recipes #34

2005-04-09T06:11:00.000+10:00

Well here it is, Carnival of the Recipes #34. And can I just say wow, take a look at all these recipes! It has been such an honour to host this, and to take a look at some fine recipes and blogs.

"If music be the food of love, play on" - Shakespeare

Appetizers

Apparently, what's Inside Allan's Mind is a nice recipe for Mushroom-Onion Focaccia. It goes well either as an appetizer or an accompaniment.

Salads/sides

A summertime (you lucky people!) saute of corn and zucchini) from Shawn of Everything and Nothing looks like a sure fired winner, and it's healthy to boot!

From bothenook of A Geezer's Corner) is a broccoli salad that is a real crowd pleaser, I will definitely be adding this one to my salad repertoire.

Oddybobo at Bobo Blogger presents Sesame Green Beans. I'm also a fan of sesame seeds, but don't have many recipes that use it. Thanks Oddybobo!

We get two sides from the chef at booklore. First a Spinach Salad and with the leftover ingredients you can make Tasty Rice. Both look delish and easy to make, always good.

Bread/Dough

Kevin of Technogypsy gives us his Basic Bread recipe. Apparently his oldest kid made about 30 loaves of this for a science project!

A dough with a difference is David's recipe for Dead Dough. Apparently it is best as a decorative material for baked craft items, although you could eat it if you wanted. Hmm... I need to get out more, I haven't heard of baked craft items :)

Main

VW of One Happy Dog Speaks brings us the always yummy lasagna, not only the favourite of Garfield, but also very popular in my household. There's even a piccy (of the lasagna that is, not my household!)

Recipe Carnival debutante Mr Bingley has a scrumptious looking chicken dish, which apparently is "Something to Eat with a Nice Zinfandel". However I'm a bit scared of the size of the chickens over there if parts of their body can be called Pamelas!

From Karen of the Let's Play Restaurant! blog we have Oven-Fried Whole Wheat Chicken. Looks good, and it comes from a book I think I'll have to get, called "365 Ways to Cook Chicken". Chicken ... mmmmmmm!

Chicken seems to be a popular meat this week. The first of two recipes Christina of Feisty Repartee submitted is a Chicken Riesling dish. Two of the ingredients it contains are amongst my very favourite, garlic and coriander. Thanks Christina!

Elisson at Blog d'Elisson presents "See No Weevil" Chili. You have to see the back story to get the title, my lord, these people must love their chili! I'm putting this recipe on my to do list. Mind you, I'm probably putting all these recipes there ... hehe

Brian B of Memento Moron writes a very entertaining piece on Oregon, it's origins and it's food. He presents us with Home (State) Cooking. This is the first I've read Brian B's blog, and I know I will be going back.

This next one you'll need to put a bib on before reading ... seriously. Ready? Punctilious of Like News but Tasty puts forward a mouth watering steak by the name of Uncle Jack's Fire Steak. Just take a look at the piccy of the steak ... drooool! He wouldn't normally put butter with steak, but it was a lean piece of meat, and only a little butter. Sounds good to me!

Also, from Punctilious comes a recreation of Trader Joe's Chicken Kabobs. Here's a little advice from the chef: "Don't leave the
chicken in contact with the fresh pineapple for too long. The
enzymes will soften the chicken too much. Also, you can skip the
baking step but you have to make sure you grill the chicken to a safe
degree of doneness."

Caltechgirl of Not exactly Rocket Science has put up a recipe on her brand spanking new site. Love the new look, Caltechgirl! Anyways, the recipe is for Rotini and Sweet Pepper Primavera. Looks good and quick to make, a perfect dinner for during the week.

Two offerings from BJ of Quite Early One Morning. First up is a fresh look at an old favourite, Straight Up Baccala.

The second recipe, Quick Spicy Asian Chicken Soup w/ Pot Stickers looks sure to cure any cold. I'm a firm believer in chicken soup as a comfort food, when you are feeling a bit under the weather.

Dave of "the glittering eye" fame shares similar foody tastes with the hubby and I. This week he submits a recipe for Basque baked beans from Louis's Basque. I'm not normally a bean fan, but this one looks great, and it comes with an interesting story too, which I'm always a fan of. He reckons it could be a substantial side or a great main course, but taking a look at it, I think it belongs in the main category.

If you like your food hot and spicy, then Triticale's recipe for "The Devil's Spaghetti" is for you. Sounds devilishly good.

Jeff from Trub (apparently pronounced troob)has an attempt at convincing us that quiche is not only for girly men with his recipe titled " Paul's Crab Quiche". Hmmm ... I don't know about the girly bit, but as a woman I can say that this quiche looks sensational!

Laughing Wolf (I love that name!)delivers a splendid rendition of Roast Lamb this week. Lamb, garlic and rosemary is a match made in heaven.

Desserts/Cakes

The second recipe Christina of Feisty Repartee submitted is a Fresh Strawberry Pie. It's not hard to see why this is one of her favourite desserts.

Michele from Meanderings has a bread pudding which is an old family recipe. Anything with cinnamon has gotta be good!

Tinker from The Secret Life of Shoes has a very topical submission with her Pope Cake recipe. Apparently he was fond of chocolate and almonds, and who wouldn't be!

Biscuits/Cookies (In Aus, as some of you know, the two words are interchangeable)

The Thomas from Food for The Thomas has given us his Grandma Hop's recipe for Raisin Cookies. The recipe dates back to 1951, so looks like it's a keeper.

Mary Beth has an incredibly easy looking recipe for Chess Bars. I have it on good authority no actual chess pieces were harmed in the making of this recipe.

And now for something completely different. Helen has sent in a slideshow all about sugar, and here is what she has to say on the subject:

"I hope you like. As we are almost exactly opposite on the Earth, we are coming into our Spring, but it is much, much colder here. This is a special time of year when the maple trees "run" with sap, and the Old Timers go to their groves to make sugar. My slideshow is not exactly a recipe, but it's foody enough and weird enough to be fun. It's an ancient custom, but so far as I know, nobody has ever bothered to photograph the entire process with a traditional evaporator. I took the pix on Easter Day, so they are fresh!"

Thanks Helen, cool piccys!

Hooray, it's a Carnival

2005-04-06T12:59:00.000+10:00

Well, not yet, but later in the week I'll be hosting the Carnival of the Recipes. I've received four yummy recipes so far, keep 'em coming!

For those of you who haven't submitted before, and have a favourite recipe you'd like to share with the world, drop an email with a link to recipe(dot)carnival(at)gmail(dot)com.

**Update - If you don't have a blog you can still submit a recipe. Just email the recipe to the above address, and I'll include it in the carnival.

Stranger in a strange land

2005-04-06T10:14:00.000+10:00

Let me just say from the outset, I have never been a girly girl. Growing up, I liked to climb trees, ride my skateboard (one of those old skinny numbers with dodgy wheels!), and play street cricket. I did own a couple of dolls, but I was never particularly sure what I was supposed to do with them.

Anyways, I've just been invited to a baby shower. This is the second one I've been to this year. GAAAAHH!! Now, I'm all about supporting my friends/family, and wild horses couldn't make me not go. But geez, this is definitely a strange place to be in. The first thing you notice is the noise. 15 women in one room can get loud enought to burst eardrums, it is no wonder the guys clear out.

Also, I am at prime child bearing age, so you just know most of the women in the room either have babies already, or are pregnant. There are many tales of birth, babies, references to all things pink (or blue if it is a boy). Not that there is anything wrong with that at all. It is just I start to feel like a stranger in a strange land.

Anyway, I offered to help out, thinking I could bring some food or something (my forte), but I got an email back asking me if I knew any good games that weren't too weird. Ermmm... the games all tend to be a bit on the weird side at these things, so I am totally clueless.

If anyone can provide any suggestions, I am all ears.

Also, this is for a baby that has already been born, and we've done the whole pressy thing. The invite says not to bring anything, but I am thinking people will bring stuff anyway. What is the etiquette here, buy another pressy? Maybe flowers? ...hmmm I like the flowers idea, maybe I'll go with that.

How to start a fire (given a fireplace, etc)

2005-04-05T08:44:00.000+10:00

My first post, hooray! Sorry it took a while ...

Down here, we're coming into winter, which can be particularly severe (for our US friends, 4.5 C = 40 F. Brrr!). And so, to see us through, we have an open fire. Now, our first fire of the season was going to be last weekend, but unfortunately the temperature got over 30 C (which becomes 86 F when you go to the US), so it's been postponed to this weekend. In anticipation, I'm remembering the rules of fire starting:

Cheat. Use some fire starters, especially for the first few fires.
Start small, with newspaper and twigs. Wait until that's burning nicely, and then put on larger pieces. Slowly progress up to the large logs. I'm always tempted to build an elaborate structure, carefully layered with the correct materials, like some reverse archeological dig. What should happen is that a small flame, deftly applied to a particular point, will grow into a blazing fire while I sit and watch. What actually happens is that the flame is smothered, and I have to start again. Putting logs on too early will also smother it, and I'm usually a bit impatient for the first few fires. This is why we have Step 1. Eventually, the large logs are burning nicely. This usually takes 30 minutes - this is an open fire, remember. And I have to give Amanda enough time to cook dinner :-).
Now, step 3 is to tend the fire while it is still burning ok - don't wait until it starts to die! This is a little paradoxical; I've often got up to tend the fire, and "someone" has said "what are you doing? don't mess with it when it's looking so good!". But, of course, that's when you have to "mess with it", because when it stops being good, it's too late, and you're back to step 2.
Enjoy. And if it's been more than 10 minutes since your partner has said how good the fire looks, say it yourself.

No doubt there are clever analogies that can be made each of these (eg. the I Ching : "The development must be allowed to take its proper course. Hasty action would not be wise. This is also true, finally, of any effort to exert influence on others"). But a nice fire is it's own reward. And no one appreciates Surviver being interrupted, so wait until the ad break for any long-winded philosophical insights (I could have made this Step 5). All being well, I'll post a photo next week.

little ouch

2005-04-04T16:45:00.000+10:00

I just sent the dogs outside (they have a dog door, but have to be convinced to go out to the toilet when it has been raining), and noticed that they seemed very interested in something in the back corner.

I go down there and when I tried to move Benny out of the way to see what he was so interested in, he growled at me. No, this can't be good. I ba'd him *see explanation below, and he then ran to the top of the yard. I chased him and realised he had something in his mouth. By now Billy was super interested 'cause it must be something tasty if Ben's got it, so he's chasing him too. So now Benny is growling at Billy and they run around the house and in through the dog door. I caught him, and found that he had what looked like a lamb bone in his mouth, one of those little circular ones you get in lamb chops.

I tried to get him to drop it, but no dice, he doesn't do drop, only Billy knows how. So, here I am a grown woman, trying to pry a lamb bone out of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. These are not big dogs, he probably comes up to about the middle of my shinbone, and weighs about 10 kilos.

So, I pick him up and put him on a chair, figuring, one, he's trapped, two, he is more at my level so it should be easier to pry out the bone.

Well I finally got it out, him hanging on for grim death, imitating a steel trap with his jaw. I came out of it with a couple of nice indents on my fingers from his teeth.
So little ouch, no biggy there.

What is annoying, though, is that this is the second time I've found my dogs with a bone like this, the other time it was Billy, and he gave it up more easily. What we can't figure out is how they are getting them. Both times it was near the fence of our neighbour, but they have their own dog, and I don't see them giving our dogs bones, or rather just one small knuckle of a bone. The only thing we can figure is that a bird is picking it up somewhere and dropping it in our yard as the spot is directly beneath a gum tree.

Either way, sucks to be ripping bones out of dogs mouths.

* We got bark busters out when Benny was younger as he was barking a fair bit when we moved one time. They taught us we have to show him who is boss. So, in essence we have to act like we are the alpha dogs of the pack. This means making a deep growling noise saying the word ba, which apparently simulates alpha dogs telling off lower dogs.
Do we feel ridiculous? Yes, especially if we have company over.

Carnival of the Recipes #33

2005-04-01T18:16:00.000+10:00

In a Sci Fi themed addition to the Carnival, the 33rd Carnival of the Recipes is up now at TexasBestGrok. Thanks John.

Which means folks, that this time next week, yours truly will be the Host of this wonderful Carnival ... *gulp* ... I'm sure I'll be fine, really!

Carnival of the Recipes #33 - Thai style chicken soup

2005-03-31T15:18:00.000+10:00

This week, I've gone with a soup to submit for the Carnival. It is a bit spicy, a lot yummy. Hubby and I tend to have it when the weather gets a bit cooler, or if we have a cold. You know, the whole chicken soup if you are sick deal.

Any questions about ingredients, feel free to leave a comment

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil
1 leek, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
500g(17 ounces) chicken thigh fillets, thinly sliced
1 litre (4 cups) water
3 chicken stock cubes, crumbled
1 stem lemon grass, halved
400ml (14 fl oz) can coconut milk
2 tsp sambal oelek
1 tsp fish sauce
1 small red capsicum (pepper), sliced
4 green shallots, chopped
juice of one lime
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

Method

Heat oil in pan, add leek and garlic, cook, stirring, until leek is soft. Stir in curry powder, cumin, and ground coriander, cook, stirring until fragrant (this is not long probably about a minute). Add chicken, cook, stirring, until chicken is lightly browned.

Stir in water, stock cubes, lemon grass, coconut milk and sambal oelek. Bring to boil, simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes. Add fish sauce and bring to boil again.

Remove and discard lemon grass. Stir capsicum, shallots, lime juice and fresh coriander into soup.

-------------
This tends to give 2 meals for two people. Hubby and I tend to have it for dinner one night, then take in the leftovers for lunch the next day.
Can be served just by itself, or if you want, with toast to dip into it. Either way, enjoy!

Bit quiet here

2005-03-31T08:55:00.000+10:00

I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front this week, I know.

No real reason, just a bit creatively dry at the moment.

Things that have made me sad this week:

Paul Hester
Terri Schiavo
Michael Jackson (I know innocent until proven guilty, but he certainly seems to have a history of people accusing him of this stuff!)
Mellie Helen going on hiatus, for reasons unknown (hope she is ok)

Things that have made me happy this week:

As always, my hubby (hello, my love)
My vege garden is going great, lebanese cucumbers are going nuts, as are the baby capsicums.
Spending time with friends on a picnic on the weekend.
Friend's little daughter holding my hand as we walked down a path at the picnic
Read a good book, "Across the Nightingale floor", by Lian Hearn

How very sad

2005-03-29T08:33:00.000+10:00

Paul Hester, drummer of Crowded House, killed himself on the weekend. Apparently he hung himself from a tree at a park near his home.

Crowded House were so popular here, so well loved. Paul always seemed happy and was very entertaining.

Apparently he suffered from depression and had recently broken up with his girlfriend. I have no idea of the scale of suffering he must have had to do this to himself, considering that he has two daughters.

I am sad for him, but I am even more sad for his daughters. What a loss.

Relaxy day

2005-03-25T17:00:00.000+11:00

Today has been a very relaxy sort of day (yes, I know relaxy is not really a word). For the first time in a very long time, Brian and I got to sleep in past 9 o'clock. Well, not strictly true. I got up about 8 to check my emails, but then I went back to bed and slept for a couple of hours. For me, that is sheer luxury.

During the working week I am normally the first up, and make sure I put the kettle on to make us a cup of tea. On the weekend, Brian is normally the one to make the tea, which I very much love him for. After tea, Brian then cooked us brunch on the barbie, consisting of bacon, eggs, sausage, and toast, very yummy indeed.

The rest of the day has been spent in pure relaxation, consisting of Brian playing Starcraft, while I put our footy tips in (no, I didn't choose his tips, just put in what he wanted), followed by lolling about on the lounge, chatting, having a few drinks, reading, and generally marvelling at how funny our dogs are. Benny, for instance is channeling the spirit of a cat, and has taken to lying along the windowsill in the sun on top of our lounge.

Billy, our other dog, has been snoring, and twitching ... "you chase those rabbits buddy!"
Tonight, we may order in pizza, or cook toasted sandwiches, nothing too swish. Then, I predict we will watch a DVD, I'm leaning towards 'While You Were Sleeping'.

Just a perfect day really.

New contributor

2005-03-24T17:09:00.000+11:00

Now you may or may not have noticed, but now on the left hand side, it lists not only me as a contributor, but Brian.

What's that aboot?, you say (in a really bad Canadian accent!)*

Well, my hubby Brian is contemplating joining the Aussie Wife team, so I signed him up as a member.

Make him feel welcome peoples, or I'll track you down, and make you eat brussel sprouts! *shudder*

* no, neither of us are Canadian, we just think it is a funny line from Kate and Leopold.