Last Friday was my last day work - and I'm now on leave for 8 whole weeks. How jealous are you?
Hmm ...
Thought so!
I think my brain actually commenced leave a day early. I had a couple of meetings in Werribee on Friday, but when I got there I went to get my bag out of the car - and it weren't there. I'd left all the tools of my trade at home. Of course that sort of thing isn't really going to stress my on my last day.
On the way home I dropped in Chadstone and spent some time Borders (bookstore) and also saw Hancock at the cinema. What a great way to start leave.
I decided to learn calculus while I'm on leave (as well as Kung Fu), so I purchased a caculus book at Borders. I did study some caculus in year 11, but I don't remember much about it, so it's jolly well time I learnt.
Hancock was quite good by the way. It perhaps wasn't my first choice, but I really enjoyed it. There's a bit more to the plot than is given away in the trailer - which is a bit unusual these days.
We won soccer 14-2 this week. Go FOB U!
I've started my Kung Fu training, which firstly invoved standing rather uncomfortably (and preferably in bad fashion) for a long period of time.
So far I can do it for a short period of time.
It is currently Friday afternoon, and we're pretty well packed for our cruise. The plan is that we'll get up early tomorrow morning - say, 4am - and drive to Sydney. We'll stay with friends in Sydney Saturday night, then board the ship Sunday afternoon.
This is third cruise for Suzy and I, but the first with the kids.
And the best thing is, I have a legitimate excuse for letting the blog got stale for two weeks.
Till me return ...
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
SOCCER, STORIES AND SLOW COOKING
Can it already be a week since I last posted? It sure doesn't feel like it, but I guess blogger doesn't lie.
Having just returned from soccer, I can report a 3 goal victory. Yay for us!!! I've even made it onto the goal kicking ladder, which, and those who've seen me in action will know, can only be put down to them having a reeeaaaally loooooong ladder.
This win comes after a two goal loss last week against the top side.
Those who read Lee's blog (and let's face, I don't have any friends of my own) will know of the weekends Puerto Rico fest. Being somewhat anti-social and keen not to risk my unbeaten (1-game) winning streak, I raided the Scott's bookcase and read two books:
I also started reading a book called "Celebration of the senses" by Eric Rolls, which Lee had borrowed from Clinton and Jennifer, and which I have now borrowed to finish reading.
I have also just read "Playing Beattie Bow" by Ruth Park. This is a childrens book, but I bought it second hand because I felt that I'd missed something important in this. I had heard of this book, and it seemed that all the other kids at school knew about it. Now that I'm all growed up, no seems to have heard of it, so perhaps it was just my imagination. Anyway, it's about a girl who accidentally travels back in time, and it's quite readable for an adult - and would be highly recommended for an older child or younger teenager.
I cooked another batch of curry in the slow cooker on Monday, this tim using beef instead of lamb (because that's what we had in the fridge). I also made up the vegetable curry and we cooked them in the slow cooker together.
What? Recipes? Okay then. Here they are.
LAMB CURRY
(from 100 great ways to use slow cookers & crockpots, by Simon & Alison Holst)
2 Tbsp Oil
1 onion (sliced)
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp ginger (grated)
1-1.2kg lamb (cubed)
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 x 5cm cinnamon stick
4 cardamom pods (squashed)
6 cloves (whole)
800g diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp honey
2 bay leaves
Cook the onion, garlic and ginger in 1 Tbsp oil, and add to the slow cooker.
Lightly brown the lamb in 1 Tbsp oil, then add curry powder, cinnamon, cardamoms and cloves - and cook for one minute.
Bang everything in the slow cooker on low for 8-10 hours.
The recipe also calls for 1 tsp fenugreek seeds, which I'm yet to find.
VEGETABLE CURRY
(based on a recipe from www.gourmetindian.info)
Paste:
3 green chillies
1 red chillie
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
1 inch ginger
a sprinkle of granulated garlic
1 tsp cummin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
Crush all this to buggery with a mortar and pestle.
Other stuff:
3-4 chopped potatoes
a similar volume of chopped pumpkin
a dozen or so beans
some chopped carrot
2 chopped tomatoes
2 chopped onions
1 green capsicum
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Method one:
Brown onion in the oil, then add and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the paste, stir, and cook for another two minutes
Add the vegetables, 2 cups of water, and cook till you've cleaned up the kitchen.
Add the lemon juice and simmer for a bit.
Method two:
Brown onion in the oil, then put the whole shebang in the slow cooker for 8 hours or so, preferably with the lamb curry and you'll have flavours up the yin yang!!!
NAAN BREAD
(based on a recipe from www.gourmetindian.info)
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 egg
1/4 cup butter
3 tsp sugar
3/4 cup water
1 2/3 Tbsp dried yeast
Mix yeast and 1 tsp sugar into 5 Tbsp water and stir well.
If the surface bubbles after 10 minutes, you're right to go. If not, your yeast may have gone to yeast heaven, and you'll need to get yourself to a yeastery to replenish stocks.
Add the rest of the ingredients, sans flour, and stir the bejeezus out of it. Then add the flour and mix it and knead it and stuff till you've got a dough that's just so damned doughy you want to push your face into it.
Warm a bowl, butter it (inside, not out, you idiot) put the dough in it. Cover it with cloth, and keep it somewhere warm for about 40 minutes - by which time it should be considerably more voluminous than you remember.
Make 8 equal balls from the dough, and then flatten them from the centre out so that the edges remain a little thicker than the middle. Grab each one frm the edge between your thumb and forefinger and hang it so that it stretches into a tear drop. Bake it for about 10 mins at 230 degrees.
Don't forget to eat it!
Only two days of work left before I take 8 weeks leave. Woohoo!!!!
Having just returned from soccer, I can report a 3 goal victory. Yay for us!!! I've even made it onto the goal kicking ladder, which, and those who've seen me in action will know, can only be put down to them having a reeeaaaally loooooong ladder.
This win comes after a two goal loss last week against the top side.
Those who read Lee's blog (and let's face, I don't have any friends of my own) will know of the weekends Puerto Rico fest. Being somewhat anti-social and keen not to risk my unbeaten (1-game) winning streak, I raided the Scott's bookcase and read two books:
- Hell Island by Matthew Reilly
- Cracking the DaVinci Code by Simon Cox
I also started reading a book called "Celebration of the senses" by Eric Rolls, which Lee had borrowed from Clinton and Jennifer, and which I have now borrowed to finish reading.
I have also just read "Playing Beattie Bow" by Ruth Park. This is a childrens book, but I bought it second hand because I felt that I'd missed something important in this. I had heard of this book, and it seemed that all the other kids at school knew about it. Now that I'm all growed up, no seems to have heard of it, so perhaps it was just my imagination. Anyway, it's about a girl who accidentally travels back in time, and it's quite readable for an adult - and would be highly recommended for an older child or younger teenager.
I cooked another batch of curry in the slow cooker on Monday, this tim using beef instead of lamb (because that's what we had in the fridge). I also made up the vegetable curry and we cooked them in the slow cooker together.
What? Recipes? Okay then. Here they are.
LAMB CURRY
(from 100 great ways to use slow cookers & crockpots, by Simon & Alison Holst)
2 Tbsp Oil
1 onion (sliced)
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp ginger (grated)
1-1.2kg lamb (cubed)
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 x 5cm cinnamon stick
4 cardamom pods (squashed)
6 cloves (whole)
800g diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp honey
2 bay leaves
Cook the onion, garlic and ginger in 1 Tbsp oil, and add to the slow cooker.
Lightly brown the lamb in 1 Tbsp oil, then add curry powder, cinnamon, cardamoms and cloves - and cook for one minute.
Bang everything in the slow cooker on low for 8-10 hours.
The recipe also calls for 1 tsp fenugreek seeds, which I'm yet to find.
VEGETABLE CURRY
(based on a recipe from www.gourmetindian.info)
Paste:
3 green chillies
1 red chillie
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
1 inch ginger
a sprinkle of granulated garlic
1 tsp cummin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
Crush all this to buggery with a mortar and pestle.
Other stuff:
3-4 chopped potatoes
a similar volume of chopped pumpkin
a dozen or so beans
some chopped carrot
2 chopped tomatoes
2 chopped onions
1 green capsicum
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Method one:
Brown onion in the oil, then add and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the paste, stir, and cook for another two minutes
Add the vegetables, 2 cups of water, and cook till you've cleaned up the kitchen.
Add the lemon juice and simmer for a bit.
Method two:
Brown onion in the oil, then put the whole shebang in the slow cooker for 8 hours or so, preferably with the lamb curry and you'll have flavours up the yin yang!!!
NAAN BREAD
(based on a recipe from www.gourmetindian.info)
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 egg
1/4 cup butter
3 tsp sugar
3/4 cup water
1 2/3 Tbsp dried yeast
Mix yeast and 1 tsp sugar into 5 Tbsp water and stir well.
If the surface bubbles after 10 minutes, you're right to go. If not, your yeast may have gone to yeast heaven, and you'll need to get yourself to a yeastery to replenish stocks.
Add the rest of the ingredients, sans flour, and stir the bejeezus out of it. Then add the flour and mix it and knead it and stuff till you've got a dough that's just so damned doughy you want to push your face into it.
Warm a bowl, butter it (inside, not out, you idiot) put the dough in it. Cover it with cloth, and keep it somewhere warm for about 40 minutes - by which time it should be considerably more voluminous than you remember.
Make 8 equal balls from the dough, and then flatten them from the centre out so that the edges remain a little thicker than the middle. Grab each one frm the edge between your thumb and forefinger and hang it so that it stretches into a tear drop. Bake it for about 10 mins at 230 degrees.
Don't forget to eat it!
Only two days of work left before I take 8 weeks leave. Woohoo!!!!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Blogging is HARD WORK!!!
I just realised that it's soccer night again - and I haven't blogged since some-time prior to last weeks game - which incidentally we lost. This means, of course, that I've done nothing worth writing about - which won't stop me writing about it anyway.
MOVIES
2 movies to report.
The Incredible Hulk.
I took Connick to see this. It's okay - but not great. I still say Iron Man is the best of the Marvel superhero movies. I actually preferred the first Hulk - because it was more "cartoony".
Kung Fu Panda.
I took both the kids to see this on Sunday night. I hadn't been all that keen based on the previews - but Danny assured me it was LOL funny, if not ROFLPIP funny!
I wouldn't go that far - but I did enjoy it. It's VERY Jack Black.
It's also ironic that I saw this film, as I have recently developed something of an obsession with Kung Fu. Well, ironic in an Alanis Morissette sort of way.
Connick went to his first Karate lesson recently - and I decided I might like to take lessons as well. Which then led me to researching Martial Arts, and deciding that I'd really like to study Kung Fu. Unfortunately there's no one local providing Kung Fu training, so I ordered some books from Amazon.
I can definitely feel a new hobby coming on!!!
BOOKS
Midwich Cuckoos - John Wyndham
I loved this one - definitely one of his best. It's King-esque, but far more streamlined.
Dirt Music - Tim Winton
I've been meaning to read Tim Winton for some time - and finally borrowed this one from Many and Dave .... the Trumpets.
This is an excellent book. I know this to be true because the cover has stickers telling me about the various awards it won. I also know this to be true because I read it.
It's a style of book that I've not read much of - in fact the most similar author I can recall reading is the mysterious H.M.Brown - who you may remember from such memorable blog posts as ... well ... some of my earlier ones.
It's a book primarily about people, rather than happenings.
Literary folk would probably call it a "character study".
Movie folk would probably call it "a terrible investment".
I'd call it " a really good about about people".
The World Set Free - H.G. Wells
This is interesting, as it traces the events following the harnessing of atomic power, and the developmnent and aerial deployment of atomic bombs. Why is this interesting? Because the book was published in 1914, and Ernest Rutherford did not "split" an atom for the first time until 1919, and the Manhattan Project which developed the first atomic weapons did not commence until 1941.
Nontheless, intersting though it may be in its foresight, it's just not a great book. It's okay, but if you, as I, have more books to read than lifetime left in which to read them, you can probably pass this one over.
I only finished this one last night, so I haven't started another one yet.
ADVENTURES IN SLOW COOKING
Suzy bought a slow cooker recently, so last Saturday I slow cooked a lamb curry (and somewhat less slowly cooked a vegetable curry). Curry was followed by Puerto Rico with the Scotts and Roddas. Not for me though - I had to slip off to bed to nip an emerging migraine in the bud.
I can see the slow cooker opening up a new world in culinary delights. And it's already got me thinking about my next great investion ... the even slower cooker!!!!
That will have to do for now - but I shall endeavour in future to be both less tardy and more interesting.
MOVIES
2 movies to report.
The Incredible Hulk.
I took Connick to see this. It's okay - but not great. I still say Iron Man is the best of the Marvel superhero movies. I actually preferred the first Hulk - because it was more "cartoony".
Kung Fu Panda.
I took both the kids to see this on Sunday night. I hadn't been all that keen based on the previews - but Danny assured me it was LOL funny, if not ROFLPIP funny!
I wouldn't go that far - but I did enjoy it. It's VERY Jack Black.
It's also ironic that I saw this film, as I have recently developed something of an obsession with Kung Fu. Well, ironic in an Alanis Morissette sort of way.
Connick went to his first Karate lesson recently - and I decided I might like to take lessons as well. Which then led me to researching Martial Arts, and deciding that I'd really like to study Kung Fu. Unfortunately there's no one local providing Kung Fu training, so I ordered some books from Amazon.
I can definitely feel a new hobby coming on!!!
BOOKS
Midwich Cuckoos - John Wyndham
I loved this one - definitely one of his best. It's King-esque, but far more streamlined.
Dirt Music - Tim Winton
I've been meaning to read Tim Winton for some time - and finally borrowed this one from Many and Dave .... the Trumpets.
This is an excellent book. I know this to be true because the cover has stickers telling me about the various awards it won. I also know this to be true because I read it.
It's a style of book that I've not read much of - in fact the most similar author I can recall reading is the mysterious H.M.Brown - who you may remember from such memorable blog posts as ... well ... some of my earlier ones.
It's a book primarily about people, rather than happenings.
Literary folk would probably call it a "character study".
Movie folk would probably call it "a terrible investment".
I'd call it " a really good about about people".
The World Set Free - H.G. Wells
This is interesting, as it traces the events following the harnessing of atomic power, and the developmnent and aerial deployment of atomic bombs. Why is this interesting? Because the book was published in 1914, and Ernest Rutherford did not "split" an atom for the first time until 1919, and the Manhattan Project which developed the first atomic weapons did not commence until 1941.
Nontheless, intersting though it may be in its foresight, it's just not a great book. It's okay, but if you, as I, have more books to read than lifetime left in which to read them, you can probably pass this one over.
I only finished this one last night, so I haven't started another one yet.
ADVENTURES IN SLOW COOKING
Suzy bought a slow cooker recently, so last Saturday I slow cooked a lamb curry (and somewhat less slowly cooked a vegetable curry). Curry was followed by Puerto Rico with the Scotts and Roddas. Not for me though - I had to slip off to bed to nip an emerging migraine in the bud.
I can see the slow cooker opening up a new world in culinary delights. And it's already got me thinking about my next great investion ... the even slower cooker!!!!
That will have to do for now - but I shall endeavour in future to be both less tardy and more interesting.
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