OzLady’s Ramblings

You have to watch those pesky washing machines. They might get up to mischief!!!

Comments (0) Mar 14 2010

Since moving house and getting a new Thermomix, I have been cooking up a storm. I have rediscovered in myself the love that I used to have for cooking, and I think because of all the flavours that I have been exposed to over the last 10 years, I am becoming more adventurous.

I’ve become an advocate for Thermomix cooking, because I can now make a whole lot of things from scratch, and not have to wonder what is in the food. I now keep more simple foods in my cupboard, and make a whole lot of things from scratch, or use those ingredients for alternative recipes or mixes.

For example, last night I had a dinner party, and decided to bake fish with basil pesto. Easy! Pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, parmeson cheese and basil. Spread pesto on fish, top with tomatoes and asparagus, throw in to some foil and put in the oven for half an hour (175 deg C). No preservatives, no wondering what is in my food. Plus I can experiment. My husband complained that the taste was a little bland (he is Singaporean and used to more chili), so next time my pesto will probably be basil and chili pesto!

I am equally delighted to have Jen as a friend – she is from Vietnam and loves to cook. I was amazed by the simplicity of a fruit salad she put together last night. Three ingredients – watermelon (cubed), passionfruit, and honey. Stir in a bowl and serve. How much of each? Depends on number of people, and how strong you like the tastes. We love passionfruit, so for eight people it was half a watermelon, 6 passionfruit, and two huge dollops of honey. The passionfruit was lovely and tart! Yum!

Baked Basil Pesto Fish, with tomato and asparagus

Jen also assembled Vietnamese spring rolls for us all. The ones in the rice paper – served cold with a fish-sauce mixture that she put together – another recipe I need to get off her.

It’s a fair trade – I’m going to help her to learn to bake bread!

Next I will be learning to cook more regional flavours from Singapore and Malaysia. The Health Promotion Board in Singapore has a number of healthy versions to recipes for local foods that I think I will start with. Happy Days!

Comments (0) Mar 13 2010

My first batch of Hot Cross Buns [Thermomix Cooking], originally uploaded by ozlady.

I recently bought a Thermomix, but with family in town I really haven’t had a chance to experiment and put it through its paces.

Yesterday while discussing this with my MIL, I recalled that there was a recipe for hot cross buns in the cook book that came with the machine. I pledged some to her, which was probably quite foolish considering I haven’t cooked that much with it.

At any rate, I tried the recipe, and here is my first batch! DH was happy with the results, and I’m taking them over to my MIL’s today.

I’ve never been a huge baker, but looking at these results, I’m really looking forward to making breads and other items.

Comments (2) Feb 28 2010

I just purchased Windows XP for a laptop that I had been using Linux on (Ubuntu). Was really enjoying Linux, but needed some of the functions and software that you can only (at this stage) get with Windows.

Unfortunately when you buy XP and install, it doesn’t come with a lot of the software that comes standard when you buy the laptop with pre-installed software. As a result I didn’t have any software that could burn a CD from an ISO image.

Thankfully I found CDBurnerXP, which handled the ISO burning perfectly, first time.

It was easy and intuitive to use.

Download it for free, and donate to the software to aid in future developement – http://cdburnerxp.se/

Comments (0) Feb 01 2010

We’ve moved house, and as part of that, good, cheap and convenient take-away is no longer 20m from my doorstep.

I’ve just discovered a very cool tool from BBC – their Recipe Planner.

I love that you can browse the recipes, add them to the calendar, ask to save it all and you get a downloadable PDF file with the meal plan, a shopping list, and all the recipes for 7 days.

Way cool!

Comments (0) Jan 23 2010

Freakonomics - a good read for non-economists

Having heard two sides to many stories, and learning that people are often more willing to believe the most malicious and “juicy” versions, I think Freakonomics is a must-read for all those that listen and spread malicious gossip, although I know that it will probably be a waste of time and effort.

Why the cynical start? Because this book looks into the economics of many things, including the topics which made it famous – why drug dealers live at home with their parents, and why some teachers (not students) cheat in the US (and how it’s similar to sumo wrestling). But it also highlights that conventional wisdom from the ever-so-wise “THEY” ain’t exactly so wise.

This book is written in an entertaining fashion, and explores the conclusions that can be drawn from statistics on a number of areas that relate to the average man, and has nothing to do with the GDP of nations, and other “traditional” economic measures that we are used to reading the in financial press.

Likes – that it debunked traditional sheep-style thinking and the following of “them,” used real data to back up statements and was written in an entertaining fashion.

Dislikes – not much… occasionally it seemed to wander in a circle to get around how to two topics might be related. But it was done in a sufficiently entertaining fashion that I didn’t entirely mind.

Comments (0) Jan 11 2010

Be kind to your neighbours – put pads on the bottom of your furniture, originally uploaded by ozlady.

I have lived in apartments for the past 15 years. The first two were good in that we had no upstairs neighbours (we were on the top floor), however our current and previous apartments have upstairs neighbours, and we are occasionally disturbed by the sound of furniture scraping along the floor.

I don’t know about you, but I hate the noise of chairs dragging along the floor. Recently we purchased some chairs, and they are very, very heavy. Fortunately dearest invested in some felt pads (IKEA sells them in packs of 20, I think, for a few dollars). So now I can drag to my heart’s content without disturbing the neighbours downstairs.

I might buy a new year’s gift for our upstairs neighbours.

Comments (0) Dec 31 2009

Tiga loves to stretch up to be patted, originally uploaded by ozlady.

I love this puss-cat. She loves to run around the house, helter skelter, with her paws slipping out from underneath her as she bolts for one place or another. She’ll come skidding around the corner, feet flying, and step up my leg ever so gently. She pulls in her claws, or doesn’t press them, being ever so gentle to ensure that I don’t shoo her away from a head scratch.

Who knew that this rascal would make such an impact on our household?

Comments (0) Dec 30 2009

India: She’s little, but she’s fierce [Chennai, Dec, 2009], originally uploaded by ozlady.

There was a little old lady selling combs and other small items outside the shop we were looking at, and some of the local vendors were making fun of her. She went and grabbed a handful of wallets off one of their tables (see in her left hand), and when the vendor tried to grab them back, she threatened him with a stick of sugar cane. It was all done in jest, and was probably to relieve the boredom of the day. They clearly saw her as some sort of grand-mother figure and they looked out for her.

Comments (0) Dec 24 2009

Sugar cane juice is a refreshing, tasty juice that can be very satisfying on a hot day. I have included instructions on how to make this wonderful beverage below.

Step 1: The sugar cane stalks are delivered and left in the street. People walk over them, garbage is thrown on them, people step on them, the dirt/sludge mixture that lines the street is flicked on to them.This helps to add flavour and ensure that you have the most juice in the sugar cane.

Step 2: The juice seller comes out and strips the outer ‘bark’ off the stalk with a sharp knife, and straightens out any stalks that were crushed into the street. This ensures that customers are aware of how fresh and succulent the stalks are – we want them to know that they are getting the best. It is also a good idea to do this out in the middle of the street where potential customers can see the attention you pay to these sorts of details. This will ensure that your reputation is sustained.

Step 3: Have your partner juice seller comes out and, without warning, start pummelling a bag of ice with some sort of cudgel, half scaring the crap out of as many people as possible, and ensuring that he barely misses hitting people. This will ensure that you capture the attention of those who had not noticed your previous efforts. Additionally, ensure that you are hygienic and put a hessian sack under the ice to ensure the sludge from the road does not directly contact the ice, but rather soaks into the sack.

Juice, anyone??

Comments (1) Dec 23 2009