Two very good articles on Maria Emmerich's site about cholesterol
The Cholesterol Myth and Cholesterol Part 2 - What Causes Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), there is a third section coming too.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Monday, September 28, 2009
1 image = 1000 words, or this is why I love my water filter
Left is the water filter I took out to clean, right is the portion I cleaned.
But you can't see the chlorine smell it takes out of the water as well. I love my water filter!
But you can't see the chlorine smell it takes out of the water as well. I love my water filter!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Lorri's having a birthday and bananana!
haha, more on bananas! I made my banana bread the other day, which requires 2/3 cup oil, and in my not-paying-attention, I put 2 CUPS of oil in my bananas... lucky the bananas had been on sale and I was planning on freezing some for future banana bread, I was able to puree an extra 4 cups of bananas to make up for the extra oil! Funny as usually I use apple sauce for this pair of breads I make, but this time I was lazy..... I think I would have tweaked at 2 cups of apple sauce!!!
Goodness... I made two huge banana breads, a banana bread cake and some banana muffins!!! And I'm happy to report our new oven seems to be behaving!
Could be too that I'm used to large quantities of oil, given my recent soapmaking venture!
Onto Lorri, who owns Scrappindipity with her daughter Bec, is having a birthday giveaway... so stroll on down to her blog to see the rules, and spread the love!!!
Lorri's Blog
The post in question
go have a look around, she's pretty darn talented :)
And I promise to draw my winner for the coffee soap in the coming few days ;) I'm feeling a bit chicken, but I have given some people at work some soap and they seem happy with it (either that or they are GOOD liars!)... Ah, let's make it Australia Day Draw!!! ... see you then!!
Goodness... I made two huge banana breads, a banana bread cake and some banana muffins!!! And I'm happy to report our new oven seems to be behaving!
Could be too that I'm used to large quantities of oil, given my recent soapmaking venture!
Onto Lorri, who owns Scrappindipity with her daughter Bec, is having a birthday giveaway... so stroll on down to her blog to see the rules, and spread the love!!!
Lorri's Blog
The post in question
go have a look around, she's pretty darn talented :)
And I promise to draw my winner for the coffee soap in the coming few days ;) I'm feeling a bit chicken, but I have given some people at work some soap and they seem happy with it (either that or they are GOOD liars!)... Ah, let's make it Australia Day Draw!!! ... see you then!!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Ice Cream Bars are on Allrecipes.com.au
Filomena at work gave me this recipe, I wanted to check the ingredients as I wasn't sure if I'd missed anything (I scribbled it on my glove at work!) which led to a conversation with Liz at Allrecipes.com.au, which led to this:
Featured recipe for 20th January 2009
A little while ago, the recipe below (which I sort of insisted Liz put up, but being it was taken from the Allrecipes.com, site it had to be copied from there, but it featured my piccie of my little cupcakes ;)
Here's the link to the cupcake recipe.
now I'm going to go test our new (landlord provided) oven with my Banana Bread recipe... WISH ME LUCK!!
Featured recipe for 20th January 2009
A little while ago, the recipe below (which I sort of insisted Liz put up, but being it was taken from the Allrecipes.com, site it had to be copied from there, but it featured my piccie of my little cupcakes ;)
Here's the link to the cupcake recipe.
now I'm going to go test our new (landlord provided) oven with my Banana Bread recipe... WISH ME LUCK!!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Yes, I should think of a better title than SOAP!
My soap buddy Gabbie has been putting me to shame, she started soaping a week before me and has already made over 30 batches!!!
Ok, since my last lot of pictures, this is what I've been up to...
I did make my tooth soap, and I've even been using it, that soon after making it, and it's just simply wonderful. You have to try to not put your tongue on it too much as it does taste soapy, but I like it so much better than my favourite toothpaste!!!
Then after that I made a great Coconut Oil soap... 100% coconut oil, with a twist... Thanks to my new friend Justine who inspired someone by the name of Irish Lass, who has been singing the praise of Justine's idea!
This is my rendition of it. Yes, I'm still trying that elusive swirl! Oh, and I used a rubber stamp to decorate this bar!!!
I then revisited my first batch, making it a bit different, with no oatmeal (though I do love some oats in my soap!!) - I attempted a 2 colour ultramarine swirl in that one, but something didn't go quite right! Though it looks like it'll be a nice soap if not a pretty one!
And then came the disaster!!!!!!!
It all started with my coconut soap (which I now call Extra Cocolicious)... all went fairly well though I didn't really manage a swirl this time either (the elusive swirl!)... and I thought I'd gotten a really nice gel:
When I unmoulded it, it looked not quite completely cooled down, but still nice enough (and definitely NOT displaying a very nice swirl, but I can live with that)
but when I cut my first slice, oil came oozing out!!! You can see the pool of oil (upper right) above the soap
So I turned to the savvy soapers at The Dish and it turns out I soaped way too hot (it was HOT indeed on Sunday!!!) I forgot to cool my water, my oils were too hot... just one silly little mistake after another which yielded a mistake larger than the sum of its part!!!
So I thought, nothing to lose, let's try a rebatch!!!
That's when you take your botched soap (though some people choose to do this with good soap!) and you cut it in slivers:
and you put it in a crock pot (which ended up in the oven as the crock pot temperature wasn't high enough on LOW and I was too scared to put it on HIGH!
and you melt it in the oven until it ressembles goop!!!
You then slop it in a mould, and well, to my surprise, the resulting soap is not bad! A bit grainy, a bit ugly at the top, but I adore the scent I used (Ancient Sedonia and Vanilla Select, from Bramble Berry, which I get via AussieSoapSupplies!)....
But tonight, I think the Soap Goddess is with me as I made a Goat Milk soap -- they are notoriously difficult, from what I read, as milk makes soap overheat but I figured, after the disaster of Sunday, let's jump in with both feet... and so far, so good!!! The soap even looks really nice!!! I scented it mildly with some lavender oil, took my time, and so far, so good, but it's in the fridge to prevent gel!
Photos will have to be shown tomorrow...
and on a completely different note...
now, why is my banana sad?
can you see the face ?
OH!! GIVEAWAY UPDATE!!! well, I tried my coffee soap, and it's slightly exfoliant, and I am waiting for a couple more soaps to come to maturity so the winner (when I draw the name) will have a bit of a choice, as I'm not sure everyone will like soap with scratchy coffee in it :) it's not scratchy really but you can definitely feel it... so if you haven't entered, please do here.
Ok, since my last lot of pictures, this is what I've been up to...
I did make my tooth soap, and I've even been using it, that soon after making it, and it's just simply wonderful. You have to try to not put your tongue on it too much as it does taste soapy, but I like it so much better than my favourite toothpaste!!!
Then after that I made a great Coconut Oil soap... 100% coconut oil, with a twist... Thanks to my new friend Justine who inspired someone by the name of Irish Lass, who has been singing the praise of Justine's idea!
This is my rendition of it. Yes, I'm still trying that elusive swirl! Oh, and I used a rubber stamp to decorate this bar!!!
I then revisited my first batch, making it a bit different, with no oatmeal (though I do love some oats in my soap!!) - I attempted a 2 colour ultramarine swirl in that one, but something didn't go quite right! Though it looks like it'll be a nice soap if not a pretty one!
And then came the disaster!!!!!!!
It all started with my coconut soap (which I now call Extra Cocolicious)... all went fairly well though I didn't really manage a swirl this time either (the elusive swirl!)... and I thought I'd gotten a really nice gel:
When I unmoulded it, it looked not quite completely cooled down, but still nice enough (and definitely NOT displaying a very nice swirl, but I can live with that)
but when I cut my first slice, oil came oozing out!!! You can see the pool of oil (upper right) above the soap
So I turned to the savvy soapers at The Dish and it turns out I soaped way too hot (it was HOT indeed on Sunday!!!) I forgot to cool my water, my oils were too hot... just one silly little mistake after another which yielded a mistake larger than the sum of its part!!!
So I thought, nothing to lose, let's try a rebatch!!!
That's when you take your botched soap (though some people choose to do this with good soap!) and you cut it in slivers:
and you put it in a crock pot (which ended up in the oven as the crock pot temperature wasn't high enough on LOW and I was too scared to put it on HIGH!
and you melt it in the oven until it ressembles goop!!!
You then slop it in a mould, and well, to my surprise, the resulting soap is not bad! A bit grainy, a bit ugly at the top, but I adore the scent I used (Ancient Sedonia and Vanilla Select, from Bramble Berry, which I get via AussieSoapSupplies!)....
But tonight, I think the Soap Goddess is with me as I made a Goat Milk soap -- they are notoriously difficult, from what I read, as milk makes soap overheat but I figured, after the disaster of Sunday, let's jump in with both feet... and so far, so good!!! The soap even looks really nice!!! I scented it mildly with some lavender oil, took my time, and so far, so good, but it's in the fridge to prevent gel!
Photos will have to be shown tomorrow...
and on a completely different note...
now, why is my banana sad?
can you see the face ?
OH!! GIVEAWAY UPDATE!!! well, I tried my coffee soap, and it's slightly exfoliant, and I am waiting for a couple more soaps to come to maturity so the winner (when I draw the name) will have a bit of a choice, as I'm not sure everyone will like soap with scratchy coffee in it :) it's not scratchy really but you can definitely feel it... so if you haven't entered, please do here.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Olivia's Present
Need a present, not sure what to buy? Make one!
I was very excited about making this present for a party to which the girls were invited, it got me to use two of my new hobbies, 1) soap, bath and beauty products, and 2) felting.
I'd never really felted a piece before, but we (the girls and I) planned the design, got cutting and got felting, and I got soaping (while our two girls just played on their computers, they like seeing the end product of somethings but they do not always like to participate!)
So this is what our friend Olivia received:
A tote bag, a little card matching the bag, a watermelon lip balm, watermelon scented soap (with pink, white and green layers), and a watermelon body glittery perfume. I wanted to add a watermelon bath bomb, but didn't have time to make it, and a watermelon candle, but she's too young to play with matches!!
To add to the story, there was watermelon as food at the party, but... there almost wasn't, Olivia's mum was mad at Olivia's dad because of the "packing of the car" for the event, which resulted in the watermelon falling out of the boot of the car and cracking (and maybe even rolling a few feet as there was talk of "bashed and bruised" melon!!!), said melon was eventually cut and served and was quite delicious, but I told the mum that I hoped she wouldn't hate watermelon forever, and to think of me when her DD opened her present! LOL! She did, and she sent me a sms message saying the daughter loved the bag so much that she wanted to go to the beach right away so she could put her towel in the bag. That made our little felting-trio here, very happy!! It's always hit-and-miss with handmade presents, never sure if people will appreciate the thought and work that went into it, and I always feel a bit bad, as a mum of twins, if I don't spend exactly twice the amount I should, since when these people come to OUR party, they sort of are put in a position of having to get TWO presents!!! I am hoping in the end it evens out... I don't know if it does or not.
I'm not sure about you, but I don't know if I'll arrive at Christmas on time!! Too tired to do anything tonight (wrapping, I hope to start tomorrow night!), too tired to think what we'll eat on the day, but I did do some shopping today (my new favourite grocery store was open on Sunday, as was the liquor store!) which is good because now I have two and a half day to remember what I forgot, and that list is already getting long!!! Nothing special on the menu, my salmon mousse, some nutella dip with fruit, some veggies, chips and dips, and veggies and dips, probably some cheese and cold cuts, more fruit, more veggies (I'm optimistic!) and the dreaded plum pudding at the end of the day (usually in place of our dinner)... it's not that I don't like plum pudding, it's that it's heavy, and I do eat it anyway!! *grin* that's why I dread it I think! I didn't buy mince pies, and I will try not to! LOL! as I'm the only one who likes them in this house, so I end up eating ALL of them! YUM! I just LOVE mince pies (hmm, might have to buy some anyway!!! they would go every so well with the chai tea I'm sipping at the moment!)
I was very excited about making this present for a party to which the girls were invited, it got me to use two of my new hobbies, 1) soap, bath and beauty products, and 2) felting.
I'd never really felted a piece before, but we (the girls and I) planned the design, got cutting and got felting, and I got soaping (while our two girls just played on their computers, they like seeing the end product of somethings but they do not always like to participate!)
So this is what our friend Olivia received:
A tote bag, a little card matching the bag, a watermelon lip balm, watermelon scented soap (with pink, white and green layers), and a watermelon body glittery perfume. I wanted to add a watermelon bath bomb, but didn't have time to make it, and a watermelon candle, but she's too young to play with matches!!
To add to the story, there was watermelon as food at the party, but... there almost wasn't, Olivia's mum was mad at Olivia's dad because of the "packing of the car" for the event, which resulted in the watermelon falling out of the boot of the car and cracking (and maybe even rolling a few feet as there was talk of "bashed and bruised" melon!!!), said melon was eventually cut and served and was quite delicious, but I told the mum that I hoped she wouldn't hate watermelon forever, and to think of me when her DD opened her present! LOL! She did, and she sent me a sms message saying the daughter loved the bag so much that she wanted to go to the beach right away so she could put her towel in the bag. That made our little felting-trio here, very happy!! It's always hit-and-miss with handmade presents, never sure if people will appreciate the thought and work that went into it, and I always feel a bit bad, as a mum of twins, if I don't spend exactly twice the amount I should, since when these people come to OUR party, they sort of are put in a position of having to get TWO presents!!! I am hoping in the end it evens out... I don't know if it does or not.
I'm not sure about you, but I don't know if I'll arrive at Christmas on time!! Too tired to do anything tonight (wrapping, I hope to start tomorrow night!), too tired to think what we'll eat on the day, but I did do some shopping today (my new favourite grocery store was open on Sunday, as was the liquor store!) which is good because now I have two and a half day to remember what I forgot, and that list is already getting long!!! Nothing special on the menu, my salmon mousse, some nutella dip with fruit, some veggies, chips and dips, and veggies and dips, probably some cheese and cold cuts, more fruit, more veggies (I'm optimistic!) and the dreaded plum pudding at the end of the day (usually in place of our dinner)... it's not that I don't like plum pudding, it's that it's heavy, and I do eat it anyway!! *grin* that's why I dread it I think! I didn't buy mince pies, and I will try not to! LOL! as I'm the only one who likes them in this house, so I end up eating ALL of them! YUM! I just LOVE mince pies (hmm, might have to buy some anyway!!! they would go every so well with the chai tea I'm sipping at the moment!)
Thursday, October 16, 2008
What am I doing??
Well... Chris's comment here started something (nice to hear from you again Chris (and Pauline too!)...
No, I hadn't seen my picture on the front page of Allrecipes Australia... and I still don't think it was :) I have seen it on the front page of Allrecipes Canada, and in the competition on Allrecipes.com for the picture of the day that day, up against another 89-or-so pictures!!!
But Chris gave me an idea. I had just joined AllrecipesAU and I thought "why not upload my photo", mostly just for the fun of it, and because I was a wee bit proud of our cupcakes!
Well, lo and behold, I get an email from someone at AllrecipesAU asking if I could "translate into Australian" the two recipes I used from Allrecipes.com to make the cupcakes and I quote (without permission but I hope no one will mind - and a couple typos corrected too - and hyperlinked for ease of enjoyment! tee!hee!) "We wanted to compliment you on your beautiful photo of the cupcakes you made for your daughters's 10th birthday!
We see that you have referenced a cake and icing recipe that you used from allrecipes.com
If you have the time and inclination, we would love you to upload your version of the recipe to go with the photo. [...] but we thought it was such a great photo that it deserves a recipe!"
Well, wasn't I chuffed (and thankful for Chris's mention of having seen my pic, even though Chris, I'm still wondering where it was as it was not uploaded before I did upload it, but it doesn't matter, does it as it's there now!!!)
So I sent them my version of the recipe, but it was too similar to the original on the US site so I wasn't allowed to upload it, but Allrecipes.AU were, but it's funny, they uploaded all my comments and suggestions too, so you can compare for yourself.
Cake original: Fudge Cake
Cake on Australian site: Chocolate cup cakes (a few corrections were made by the editors, like vanilla essence instead of extract and plain flour instead of all purpose and icing instead of frosting but the text is mine!!! Yay me. I guess?! Oh, and not to mention that in my International Melting Pot of a kitchen I measure butter in cups and spoons, and measure flour in cups too... I don't have a good kitchen scale! So yes, a lot of editing, I guess, on Allrecipes.Au's site but still, a bit of me behind there.....)
Same with the icing
Frosting: Decorator Frosting
Icing: Cheerful Butter Icing (my version edited by them a wee bit.)
I've since uploaded a few more recipes which I consider mine as they have had a few alterations from the original... I think you can see those if you go here, I'll have to try it when I'm not logged in, I hope you can see all of a person's recipes and reviews, as that's one feature I quite like from Allrecipes.com.
===============================================================
Cadbury Schweppes got back to me about my bag of mixed choc chips (see previous post) and I got a gift card... Might save it for Easter :) though, any day is a good day for chocolate!!!
===============================================================
Since I've last posted, and if you read this post you'll be pleased to know that I now have a Western Australia Driver's Licence and that I'm no longer afraid of Roundabouts and almost no longer afraid of "Give Way" signs (though my instructor kept telling me I don't need to completely stop at them!!! *sigh* that's what you get from being a polite nice Canadian!)... and BONUS, no log book, no P plates, even though my Canadian permit (I had my last one, my Ontario one) expired in 2000!!! I was so clever to bring it with me, and my marriage certificate (to explain the change of last name!) etc... it all went very smoothly!!! Yay... but still no car to drive, the computer chip blew up in ours, thus its demise last Saturday...
Yesterday I had the evening from H-E-double-hockey-sticks.....
I'm in a rush to make dinner as my two took too long with showers after school and well, I was still detangling hair, and it was time to make dinner. So I made my fave on such occasions, a Dutch Baby (I'll post the recipe later, another day, it's a great "save me I don't want to cook" type of dinner!)...
So I proceed to put my milk, and add eggs one by one to the blender jug. Then I place the blender jug on top of the blender in order to make room on our small kitchen bench to get the flour out to add to the mixture (yes, a Dutch Baby is made with those ingredients!)... well... someone most likely yours truly left the blender in the ON position (I must've been in a rush last time and just took it of without thinking... it happens sometimes, I just forget to think!)... well, even the split second it took me to put it in the OFF position wasn't enough to prevent a big egg mess all over my kitchen bench, the floor, the toaster, everything else that was on the counter, the floor, AND ME!!! And if you've ever had to clean egg up, it's not easy!!!
*sigh* well, I cleaned the kitchen as quickly as I could before I started hearing some "mummy! i'm hungry!!!" sounds... and tried to guess how many eggs had flown out of the blender, and how much milk I had lost, as I wanted to recuperate what was still inside the blender jug!!!
Well, it turned out to be a beautiful Dutch Baby.
BUT...
My "cool pants", not as in they are so fabulously fantastic that they are "Cool man" but in that they are not hot, and it's been hot here the last two days.... were dirty, they are the only pair of pants which survived last Summer and which I can stand when the thermometer rises above 30... they were eggy, to say the least... so I thought washing them before bed would be a good idea...
I've been going to bed around 10-10:30 lately, just too pooped to burn the midnight oil :) but last night I got a bit sidetracked and at 10:30 I realise I was ready for bed, but I hadn't washed my pants..... so I go for the short cycle, they aren't super dirty, just need a bit of a wash (seriously, I couldn't even see the egg stain anymore -- but I KNEW it was there!!!)...so I check all my pockets, and throw in a black top I like (again, not too hot, and it needed a bit of a pick-me-up as well)... keep myself busy for half an hour while the cycle runs its course... and get ready to hang the pants and shirt so they are ready this morning... what do I see? I can't believe my eyes, those darn cargo pants... so many pockets, I must've missed one... because... it snowed tissues in my washing machine..... millions of specks of tissue everywhere on my pants, and on my shirt!
I can't help but laugh a bit, and go show DH. By that time I'm in my nightgown, I go outside to hang the clothes, and when I come back inside, I realise my nightgown is inside out...
I figure there's only one thing to do: GET TO BED as soon as I can before something else happens.
This morning I wake up and feel a bit "not quite there", I manage to get the girls ready for school, and DH drives us to school/work in our cheapy car rental (can't expect much for $16 a day), and I'm grateful to not be walking or bussing this morning because it starts to sprinkle when I get to work. I'm tired, I don't feel too cheerful, and I have to go to the other office (sort of next door, actually,r eally next door) to finish a little dust job I was doing, and I have to unlock, and I manage to get the key completely and utterly stuck in the door. I think to myself, this is silly, this can't be... so I go back and ask J(one of the guys there) if he can help, and lucky for me, and I think he actually made my day, he told me that it's the lock that's hard to open - Yay! it wasn't my fault... my day went a wee bit better from there.... and I think, maybe, my stroke of bad luck is over.... I HOPE!
===============================================================
Did anyone watch the first episode of Season 9 of CSI? (the Original Las Vegas one?)... goodness, soppy... I cried. (Oh Crap! Julie K!!! Oh no... you'll know exactly what that means, concerns Miami CD which is still HERE and not on its way to you! I am such not a good friend!!!)
===============================================================
I feel guilty leaving you without any graphics, pictures, or any cool stuff...
but I can leave you with a cool tip. I found some really well priced Essential oils on eBay from Sally who is from Western Australia too... I love essential oils. Just wish I knew more about what to do with them... other than smell them!
That's it for now, enough already!! Hope I made you smile, as that's an important thing to keep doing!!!
Be well, be good, be nice.
France
No, I hadn't seen my picture on the front page of Allrecipes Australia... and I still don't think it was :) I have seen it on the front page of Allrecipes Canada, and in the competition on Allrecipes.com for the picture of the day that day, up against another 89-or-so pictures!!!
But Chris gave me an idea. I had just joined AllrecipesAU and I thought "why not upload my photo", mostly just for the fun of it, and because I was a wee bit proud of our cupcakes!
Well, lo and behold, I get an email from someone at AllrecipesAU asking if I could "translate into Australian" the two recipes I used from Allrecipes.com to make the cupcakes and I quote (without permission but I hope no one will mind - and a couple typos corrected too - and hyperlinked for ease of enjoyment! tee!hee!) "We wanted to compliment you on your beautiful photo of the cupcakes you made for your daughters's 10th birthday!
We see that you have referenced a cake and icing recipe that you used from allrecipes.com
If you have the time and inclination, we would love you to upload your version of the recipe to go with the photo. [...] but we thought it was such a great photo that it deserves a recipe!"
Well, wasn't I chuffed (and thankful for Chris's mention of having seen my pic, even though Chris, I'm still wondering where it was as it was not uploaded before I did upload it, but it doesn't matter, does it as it's there now!!!)
So I sent them my version of the recipe, but it was too similar to the original on the US site so I wasn't allowed to upload it, but Allrecipes.AU were, but it's funny, they uploaded all my comments and suggestions too, so you can compare for yourself.
Cake original: Fudge Cake
Cake on Australian site: Chocolate cup cakes (a few corrections were made by the editors, like vanilla essence instead of extract and plain flour instead of all purpose and icing instead of frosting but the text is mine!!! Yay me. I guess?! Oh, and not to mention that in my International Melting Pot of a kitchen I measure butter in cups and spoons, and measure flour in cups too... I don't have a good kitchen scale! So yes, a lot of editing, I guess, on Allrecipes.Au's site but still, a bit of me behind there.....)
Same with the icing
Frosting: Decorator Frosting
Icing: Cheerful Butter Icing (my version edited by them a wee bit.)
I've since uploaded a few more recipes which I consider mine as they have had a few alterations from the original... I think you can see those if you go here, I'll have to try it when I'm not logged in, I hope you can see all of a person's recipes and reviews, as that's one feature I quite like from Allrecipes.com.
===============================================================
Cadbury Schweppes got back to me about my bag of mixed choc chips (see previous post) and I got a gift card... Might save it for Easter :) though, any day is a good day for chocolate!!!
===============================================================
Since I've last posted, and if you read this post you'll be pleased to know that I now have a Western Australia Driver's Licence and that I'm no longer afraid of Roundabouts and almost no longer afraid of "Give Way" signs (though my instructor kept telling me I don't need to completely stop at them!!! *sigh* that's what you get from being a polite nice Canadian!)... and BONUS, no log book, no P plates, even though my Canadian permit (I had my last one, my Ontario one) expired in 2000!!! I was so clever to bring it with me, and my marriage certificate (to explain the change of last name!) etc... it all went very smoothly!!! Yay... but still no car to drive, the computer chip blew up in ours, thus its demise last Saturday...
Yesterday I had the evening from H-E-double-hockey-sticks.....
I'm in a rush to make dinner as my two took too long with showers after school and well, I was still detangling hair, and it was time to make dinner. So I made my fave on such occasions, a Dutch Baby (I'll post the recipe later, another day, it's a great "save me I don't want to cook" type of dinner!)...
So I proceed to put my milk, and add eggs one by one to the blender jug. Then I place the blender jug on top of the blender in order to make room on our small kitchen bench to get the flour out to add to the mixture (yes, a Dutch Baby is made with those ingredients!)... well... someone most likely yours truly left the blender in the ON position (I must've been in a rush last time and just took it of without thinking... it happens sometimes, I just forget to think!)... well, even the split second it took me to put it in the OFF position wasn't enough to prevent a big egg mess all over my kitchen bench, the floor, the toaster, everything else that was on the counter, the floor, AND ME!!! And if you've ever had to clean egg up, it's not easy!!!
*sigh* well, I cleaned the kitchen as quickly as I could before I started hearing some "mummy! i'm hungry!!!" sounds... and tried to guess how many eggs had flown out of the blender, and how much milk I had lost, as I wanted to recuperate what was still inside the blender jug!!!
Well, it turned out to be a beautiful Dutch Baby.
BUT...
My "cool pants", not as in they are so fabulously fantastic that they are "Cool man" but in that they are not hot, and it's been hot here the last two days.... were dirty, they are the only pair of pants which survived last Summer and which I can stand when the thermometer rises above 30... they were eggy, to say the least... so I thought washing them before bed would be a good idea...
I've been going to bed around 10-10:30 lately, just too pooped to burn the midnight oil :) but last night I got a bit sidetracked and at 10:30 I realise I was ready for bed, but I hadn't washed my pants..... so I go for the short cycle, they aren't super dirty, just need a bit of a wash (seriously, I couldn't even see the egg stain anymore -- but I KNEW it was there!!!)...so I check all my pockets, and throw in a black top I like (again, not too hot, and it needed a bit of a pick-me-up as well)... keep myself busy for half an hour while the cycle runs its course... and get ready to hang the pants and shirt so they are ready this morning... what do I see? I can't believe my eyes, those darn cargo pants... so many pockets, I must've missed one... because... it snowed tissues in my washing machine..... millions of specks of tissue everywhere on my pants, and on my shirt!
I can't help but laugh a bit, and go show DH. By that time I'm in my nightgown, I go outside to hang the clothes, and when I come back inside, I realise my nightgown is inside out...
I figure there's only one thing to do: GET TO BED as soon as I can before something else happens.
This morning I wake up and feel a bit "not quite there", I manage to get the girls ready for school, and DH drives us to school/work in our cheapy car rental (can't expect much for $16 a day), and I'm grateful to not be walking or bussing this morning because it starts to sprinkle when I get to work. I'm tired, I don't feel too cheerful, and I have to go to the other office (sort of next door, actually,r eally next door) to finish a little dust job I was doing, and I have to unlock, and I manage to get the key completely and utterly stuck in the door. I think to myself, this is silly, this can't be... so I go back and ask J(one of the guys there) if he can help, and lucky for me, and I think he actually made my day, he told me that it's the lock that's hard to open - Yay! it wasn't my fault... my day went a wee bit better from there.... and I think, maybe, my stroke of bad luck is over.... I HOPE!
===============================================================
Did anyone watch the first episode of Season 9 of CSI? (the Original Las Vegas one?)... goodness, soppy... I cried. (Oh Crap! Julie K!!! Oh no... you'll know exactly what that means, concerns Miami CD which is still HERE and not on its way to you! I am such not a good friend!!!)
===============================================================
I feel guilty leaving you without any graphics, pictures, or any cool stuff...
but I can leave you with a cool tip. I found some really well priced Essential oils on eBay from Sally who is from Western Australia too... I love essential oils. Just wish I knew more about what to do with them... other than smell them!
That's it for now, enough already!! Hope I made you smile, as that's an important thing to keep doing!!!
Be well, be good, be nice.
France
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Choc chip & oat slice
Photography by Chris Court
Loved this recipe, great treat to add to lunchboxes for a special treat. I didn't want to lose it so I am posting it here. Just click on the image to get to the recipe.
I've been busy lately making samples for Krafty Lady just click on that link and look for my name there, you'll see what I've made. There's more to come shortly because I haven't had time to put them up yet. And look at everyone else's work, it's all pretty nice!!!
Work, cold/flu, sleep, and taking care of my little family.... that's what my days are made of, but I squeeze a bit of TV in there, and some craft, lucky I "watch" tv on my computer, and craft at my computer desk, so I'm double-tasking. Loved the last House, love that I found a source for Hotel Babylon Season 3, and that I found a friend to swap CSI Miamis with!!!
So there you go Julie K :) that's about it (thought I will email you soon!)
:)
have a good week!!!
Friday, October 21, 2005
J'en ai marre-melade
Hello!
The title of this post is a French pun, so unless you speak French, I'm afraid I can't translate, as they say in the world of subtitles "untranslatable French pun"
Well... I've been busy washing, juicing, slicing, boiling and simmering lemons lately for our bi-yearly school fete! It's this weekend! Usually my mum makes the marmalade around this time of the year, when she visits us, but she's not coming this year, so I took over :) 12 little jars, which means about 4 or 5 batches, I lost count, not to mention the one I messed up as my lemon peel to water/sugar ratio was a bit on the low side, oh well, more for us :) I go nuts about Lemons here... They are gorgeous, in Canada, you don't have a lemon tree in your backyard, and you don't have friends who generously give you bags of lemons when your tree is not producing enough, we do it with apples... Although my family did it with zucchini, my parents grew the largest zucchini I ever saw! They were actually in my brother's section of the garden, but I digress.
I thought I should show off my Lemon Peel Delight (didn't know if it would pass as marmalade, so I called it "Delight" a nice lovely word that covers a range of consistencies, which is EXACTLY what I made!!!). I learned a few tricks making this, how to sterilise your bottles and caps, and that it is a very sticky process! It was fun though.
Speaking of bi-yearly, like the Fete at the school... well... did you know that the English language makes no sense sometimes? Of course you knew that... there's no ham in hamburgers, and the like. Well... did you know that bi-weekly can mean twice in one week, OR also mean every two weeks? Here in Australia we/they use the word fortnight to mean every two weeks, it's a lovely clear word, IMO. Comes from "fourteen nights". Bi-monthly, does that mean twice a month, or every two months? It means BOTH ladies and gents! Yes, same with bi-yearly! Now this is one concept that made me and my hubby shake our heads in disbelief!!!!! You can pick up any dictionary and have a peek, and I bet you they will say I'm right. Well, in either case, they can't say I'm entirely wrong, can they? It's one, or the other, or both! :)
Food for thought, though I prefer marmalade!
The title of this post is a French pun, so unless you speak French, I'm afraid I can't translate, as they say in the world of subtitles "untranslatable French pun"
Well... I've been busy washing, juicing, slicing, boiling and simmering lemons lately for our bi-yearly school fete! It's this weekend! Usually my mum makes the marmalade around this time of the year, when she visits us, but she's not coming this year, so I took over :) 12 little jars, which means about 4 or 5 batches, I lost count, not to mention the one I messed up as my lemon peel to water/sugar ratio was a bit on the low side, oh well, more for us :) I go nuts about Lemons here... They are gorgeous, in Canada, you don't have a lemon tree in your backyard, and you don't have friends who generously give you bags of lemons when your tree is not producing enough, we do it with apples... Although my family did it with zucchini, my parents grew the largest zucchini I ever saw! They were actually in my brother's section of the garden, but I digress.
I thought I should show off my Lemon Peel Delight (didn't know if it would pass as marmalade, so I called it "Delight" a nice lovely word that covers a range of consistencies, which is EXACTLY what I made!!!). I learned a few tricks making this, how to sterilise your bottles and caps, and that it is a very sticky process! It was fun though.
Speaking of bi-yearly, like the Fete at the school... well... did you know that the English language makes no sense sometimes? Of course you knew that... there's no ham in hamburgers, and the like. Well... did you know that bi-weekly can mean twice in one week, OR also mean every two weeks? Here in Australia we/they use the word fortnight to mean every two weeks, it's a lovely clear word, IMO. Comes from "fourteen nights". Bi-monthly, does that mean twice a month, or every two months? It means BOTH ladies and gents! Yes, same with bi-yearly! Now this is one concept that made me and my hubby shake our heads in disbelief!!!!! You can pick up any dictionary and have a peek, and I bet you they will say I'm right. Well, in either case, they can't say I'm entirely wrong, can they? It's one, or the other, or both! :)
Food for thought, though I prefer marmalade!
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Soup anyone?
Hi again... well, what I thought would happen did, hence you're finding me here again. I go on cooking sprees, make yummy food, and then forget what I made and what we liked.... Once I can remember the recipe it's not so bad as I always write comments in my recipe books (in pencil!) as to when I first made the recipe and if we liked it or not... and any other details.
Well, in hopes to inspire others, and to jog my memory, here are the soups we like:
(reminds me of the Kids In The Hall song "These are the Daves I know")
Beetroot (beet) Soup: from my aunty's recipe
Black Bean Soup: there was one I used to make, which I can't find, so now we like the one from Sundays at the Moosewood, in the North African section.
Succotash Chowder: this one is from the Moosewood Cookbook and is just delicious it's made with Lupinis (Ah! now I remember what those lupinis in the freezer are for! I always try to cook more legumes than I need and freeze some! Yay!)... ok, so the soup is made with Lupinis and potatoes, celery, great herbal seasonings and corn!
Fennel Bulb soup great when fennels are cheap and in season, they are also quite nice braised.
Gingered Carrot Soup also from Moosewood
This is all for now, the rest will have to wait until later. eventually, one day! As for now, that's all I remember. I might even come and edit this post if I ever get motivated enough *Ü*
Well, in hopes to inspire others, and to jog my memory, here are the soups we like:
(reminds me of the Kids In The Hall song "These are the Daves I know")
Beetroot (beet) Soup: from my aunty's recipe
Black Bean Soup: there was one I used to make, which I can't find, so now we like the one from Sundays at the Moosewood, in the North African section.
Succotash Chowder: this one is from the Moosewood Cookbook and is just delicious it's made with Lupinis (Ah! now I remember what those lupinis in the freezer are for! I always try to cook more legumes than I need and freeze some! Yay!)... ok, so the soup is made with Lupinis and potatoes, celery, great herbal seasonings and corn!
Fennel Bulb soup great when fennels are cheap and in season, they are also quite nice braised.
Gingered Carrot Soup also from Moosewood
This is all for now, the rest will have to wait until later. eventually, one day! As for now, that's all I remember. I might even come and edit this post if I ever get motivated enough *Ü*
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Pizza Pizza Pie Olé!
Well, not really pizzas, but definitely pies, and soups, and yes, NOODLES!!
We're in the midst of Winter Holidays here in Western Australia, and I've been cooking a bit. It's pretty cold so I've been making soups. A whole bunch of different ones, and we eat half, and the other half goes in the freezer for when school starts or when neither of us feels like cooking (well, DH and I are doing the soup eating, the girls aren't big on those yet). The girls helped me and we made homemade noodles yesterday, it was great. I currently have a pasta maker on loan to play with polymer clay, but it's never been used with polymer, so I used it for pasta. Not sure it'll see polymer while I'm in possession of it!! The whole family ate the noodles!!
Anyway, I also made a pie and I burned the crust. The pie was nice enough but here are some links to check before I burn more pie!
http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/food/pietrouble.html
http://www.baking911.com/pies_tarts/101_page3.htm (wear sunnies if you look at that site!)
http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/food/pietrouble.html
but really, I think we need a better oven :)
more later... if/when I get 'roundtoit Google Search Result
Monday, June 20, 2005
Fennel Soup
I've been cooking a bit lately, I really like this soup: http://www.jfc.org.uk/recipes/fennel_soup.html
There's a couple other recipes I like but they are from magazines, and you can see more of my recipes (though this hasn't been updated in quite some time) here:
http://france.topcities.com/kitchenette/kitchen/ when it's not down :)
if you go only to http://france.topcities.com/kitchenette/ that's my Baby and Toddler recipes, that hasn't been updated recently either but the girls still like the meatballs, meat loaf and the banana bread... well, we're getting our carpets cleaned today, and lucky us, it's SUNNY! it's been raining almost non-stop here, for about two weeks.... while it's great for everything which needs water, it's a bit tiring after a while. I NEED my Vitamin D :)
bye for now.
There's a couple other recipes I like but they are from magazines, and you can see more of my recipes (though this hasn't been updated in quite some time) here:
http://france.topcities.com/kitchenette/kitchen/ when it's not down :)
if you go only to http://france.topcities.com/kitchenette/ that's my Baby and Toddler recipes, that hasn't been updated recently either but the girls still like the meatballs, meat loaf and the banana bread... well, we're getting our carpets cleaned today, and lucky us, it's SUNNY! it's been raining almost non-stop here, for about two weeks.... while it's great for everything which needs water, it's a bit tiring after a while. I NEED my Vitamin D :)
bye for now.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Sushi!
(edited 15 March to add Pickled Ginger to list of ingredients!)
I find it fairly easy to do. For the rice, I got the SunRice Sushi Rice the first time. Now I get the rice from a little chinese supermarket in Fremantle. You cook it as per the directions presented here except you use 3 cups water, not two (must make note to email them about this as the instructions on their packages does say 1.5 water for 1 rice).
I use an electrical fan to cool my rice, and turn it a bit more frequently than they say.
Then I vaguely used the instructions here to make my rolls.
Shopping list:
Bamboo mat (can use glad bake too apparently) to help roll your Nori.
Short grain rice
Nori sheets
Rice Vinegar
White Sugar (for Sushi Vinegar)
Salt (for Sushi Vinegar)
Mayonnaise
Soy sauce (I use Lee Kum Kee Salt Reduced Soy Sauce)
Wasabi
Pickled ginger
Fish (I use those frozen fish pieces or rolls, not brave enough to venture in the world of raw fish, specially not after having seen the series "Body Snatchers" on the ABC. You can use prawns/shrimp, tuna, chicken, egg...
Cucumber or Avocado (yum! but higher in fat, though they are good fats) or Carrots if you're out of everything else (DH didn't like the carrots very much, I didn't mind them one bit)
There's more recipes at Sunrice to inspire you, or do a search on Google for sushi recipes.
I have now taken the habit of looking at the display of the sushi take-out place near one of the bus stops in Freo, it helps with inspiration!
I think that's all, if you want more info, I'll be happy to add some :)
I find it fairly easy to do. For the rice, I got the SunRice Sushi Rice the first time. Now I get the rice from a little chinese supermarket in Fremantle. You cook it as per the directions presented here except you use 3 cups water, not two (must make note to email them about this as the instructions on their packages does say 1.5 water for 1 rice).
I use an electrical fan to cool my rice, and turn it a bit more frequently than they say.
Then I vaguely used the instructions here to make my rolls.
Shopping list:
Bamboo mat (can use glad bake too apparently) to help roll your Nori.
Short grain rice
Nori sheets
Rice Vinegar
White Sugar (for Sushi Vinegar)
Salt (for Sushi Vinegar)
Mayonnaise
Soy sauce (I use Lee Kum Kee Salt Reduced Soy Sauce)
Wasabi
Pickled ginger
Fish (I use those frozen fish pieces or rolls, not brave enough to venture in the world of raw fish, specially not after having seen the series "Body Snatchers" on the ABC. You can use prawns/shrimp, tuna, chicken, egg...
Cucumber or Avocado (yum! but higher in fat, though they are good fats) or Carrots if you're out of everything else (DH didn't like the carrots very much, I didn't mind them one bit)
There's more recipes at Sunrice to inspire you, or do a search on Google for sushi recipes.
I have now taken the habit of looking at the display of the sushi take-out place near one of the bus stops in Freo, it helps with inspiration!
I think that's all, if you want more info, I'll be happy to add some :)
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