Thats a bit rich

The last hmm rant for 2008?The whole world vision tom costello going on about how paris $120 or so a minute spending spree grand total of $5000 could have fed a whole village.. has me cranky. Im no paris wannabe (clearly im no size 0, 6 or whatever size it is that should you eat a cheeseburger, the tabloids instantly think you have a baby bump) and Im no paris fan. I own 0 perfumes and 0 of everything else paris sells or sold out too..
Yes its great when charities get publicity but instantly creating hype, publicity... Charities may be doing it tough as we all are??!! (apparently) but isnt that because some would be richer people have just lost a ton of money (in stocks or currency).. i read that elle macphersons sister declared herself bankrupt with $8 in the bank just the last week.. that and we have big companies closing e.g starbucks closed 50 stores this year ahead of the wall st/big us banks crash.. but then theres local factories like truck makers, car makers... but im getting off track. Yes its horrendous that kids die much 2 often from "preventable" diseases, from bad water & sanitation, from starvation.. much would be easier if certain continents got off their backsides and say outed mugabe (like stage some sort of harrold holt disapearance. no offence 2 holt family) if they could figure out the fianances, if the governements had gr8 people, with gr8 aids & advisers... getting off track. yes poor countries can help their people, yes they need money to do it.. yes people should be given free medicine (why dont they set something up that part of the money the doctor gets for aussie imms goes towards the drug companies immunisating others in poor countries for free?) Why can't all charities globally work together? in some sort of way place by place systematically immunise and give clean water and so forth? Why dont all charities disclose how the money is spent each year? I know compassion does.. but what of other charities say salvos, red cross etc etc..
anyways..
Paris spending money and getting a nice 50% off her clothes (due to working with the designer a few yrs back) is good for our economy.. she would have paid gst even! A dollar spent in australia is a good dollar!

next on my list... lol
the new mayor of melbourne *groans* how i miss the old dude! This new one.. "bogan it up at home" implying that only bad dressed and groomed people get drunk in public places in the city?! Yes i hate hate hate hate drunk people walking my street. In newcastle we lived down the street of a pub.. i also hate drunks on the road, train or nearby....
I know some people think new years is a "piss up"... honestly why would u want the first day of the year to be spent with a hangover? or waking up in a place you dont remember? or being one of those weirdo's who crashed on the beach usually filmed by a news crew?(LOL!) 2 say something like bogan it up at home and then say bogans are welcome? umm??? which foot is he standing on? i for one am glad im not spending NY staying in the formula 1 hotel in the city where the walls are paper thin..... its worse enough when people decide to take phone calls out in the hallway?!!

next...

i was in the carpark at the shopping centre on my way home walking with tia and alyssa in the pram. When this female driver hooned around the corner like being a nutjob.. how much noise and how fast can i go around a 90deg corner?! like should i be impressed of the power steering?! if that wasnt enough.. there was a secruity officer (female) who stoped and talked to the woman (in 30s) driving with a lollipop i may add.. and the driver denied doing anything wrong!! she didnt do anything unsensible.. the secruity officer couldnt believe it and wrote down the number plate.. i dont know what she plans 2 do with that but yeah.. i mean come on.. yes she didnt hurt anyone but still denying it.. gah x.x

the ugly..
the latest in the israel war.. i have 2 admit i had been away from the news to know when they got serious straight up. I support israel, i hate that innocents and civillians have died.. however for many it is a stubborn choice 2 live there in the first place and to have "voted" hamas in (i do understand that leaving after it was locked in would be tough) I do feel for the women and children and the families anyone innocent.. i do believe that a day will come when the USA stops backing israel. I think its numbers 33 i always think of when something palestine vs israel comes to mind..

anyways enough of my rants and israel biggotry(i am flawed)

Everyone have a great new years, a safe, happy, healthy, debt free new year!! :)
(sounds good dont it!)

hugs
tiffany

Kettle

Christmas tree with the lights on (8 AA batteries needed) in the dark..

Playing catch up here!! So bare with me!!
Hubby and i recieved a lovely gift this year of a kettle bbq just before christmas. A great suprise being that well, we had been thinking and planning on getting one... probably would have settled for some cheap one from k-mart had we found one.. But instead we were blessed with a big Weber kettle bbq! It meant christmas cooking would be smooth and the heat outdoors (not that it matter we had a very mild christmas day may have reached 25deg cel?The meat on the test run was a lovely bolar blade from the butchers. The woolworths roasts i found had to little fat on the top than i wanted.. I am learning that my butcher has far superior quality of meats than the supermarket/safeway woolies. And i love my butchers diet mince for $9.95 a kg or 2kgs for $16? It truly is diet mince, none of this stuffing around with star ratings that coles and woolworths offer.. anyways getting off track.
hubby out the back with the kettle.. the meat is inside.. and he is pretty much "are you quite alright taking photos of me?!!" (notice the awful amount of cardboard rubbish we have.. with expansion comes rapid carboard.. my recycling bin is always full.. we have more carboard in the laundry too..)
The end product, was delish!!!!! I requested more! (that is more frequent roasts. Not more on my plate) hhehehehe!!!

Tough holidays

Most christmas movies are filled with that good cheer, joy and coming together thats uplifting. E.g We watched Eloise at christmas? movie last night. It was awesome, i at 26 enjoy her cartoon so i liked the movie too.. (which is rare having such a good match from cartoon to real life) Tia enjoyed the movie also. And lately what the last 10-15years the majority of christmas movies now revolve around comedy, the what else could possibly go wrong now?! theme.. what weird in-law thing will they do next?

And then there's life.... i dont think ive seen a movie and gone yup that's what uncle marty did last christmas (i dont have a uncle marty) i remember the long car trips to visit my grandparents, in the back with my brother and sister "are we there yet?" will come back to haunt me.. lol.. and i can't say anything went wrong.. no missing presents/luggage, hitch hikers, not even a stop to get food.. maybe my parents got lost but i wouldnt know..

I am thankful that my family has stayed safe at christmas. I have no compassion for those caught drink/drugged driving at any time of the year.. and i deeply feel for anyone who as a bumper sticker i see on my walk to tia's kinder and now school says "ive been touched by the road toll" it just makes you stop and think! While everyone is getting upset at burning some food, dropping a bottle of wine or destroying a ornate metre long ceiling light with the champayne cork and having the shards rain down on the table full of christmas lunch (my dad did that, sure ive mentioned it b4. The kids got fed, the adults sat down and well.. christmas lunch was thrown out, vaccummed and mopped up. ) We all have each other and can think and pray for that someone who is spending a christmas without their loved one.

have u seen the andrew o'keefe vid yet? i cannot imagine how mad his wife is!!!! Everyone is busy concerned bout how seven tried to buy it out or something.. yet what about his wife?
another bummer christmas goes to the Johnston & Palin families... Sarah palins daughter (18) is due to give birth in a week and her mother in law has just been charged with 6 counts of producing, distributing narcotics! I dont think any of us saw that coming! imagine if mccain did win what then would happen now?

I suppose you only have to watch the news on any given week to hear that a family will be missing someone for christmas, birthdays and other holidays.
Ive only lost my great gran, 1 cat, 1 dog, 1 bird, 3 fish, 50+ mice, 1 rabbit and i do miss them, i do think back and remember them fondly, the good times, the letters, cards and visits.
Ive been blessed that my children are safe and healthy, that they arent in/out of hospital, on a transplant waiting list.. and that they are still here with us on earth.

This christmas amongst all the sweets im making, the nice food and company i will take time out to pray for those finding christmas difficult & thank God that this christmas all my family have one another (even if they all dont get along)

God bless and have a awesome time with the family you do have close by.

random pics

All the bubs taking a nap on the office floor today. Alyssa just woke up!



My cheap shoes that broke :) Yes happy, have new shoes!!

The naughty kittens caught in the pram.. NOT HAPPY SAM! (sam.. pram.. get it.. ugh..)
If its not the pram its the cot?! If its not those 2 places its the rocker?!

The christmas list

Tia has gone into bratz. We have avoided the barbie/bratz thing for awhile now and now she is old enough that she is influenced heavily by her friends, tv advertising and what she sees in the toy section whether its k-mart or the tiny toy section at safeway/woolworths. Our next door neighbour has bratz everything... and to Tia she is a bratz and every other girl is a bratz and sometimes even her mum is a bratz.. lol! I did want to get her a 6-7 pack of disney princesses (made by mattel?) this year they even had a mulan doll? i missed out last year as target sold out.. and ive probably missed out this year too.. considering b4 they went on special there was just 3 left! They were $45 on special and $59 not on special. I know that she is getting a Yasmin doll today, but considering how every bratz comes in glamour, skii, etc themes... ah well i'll find out soon enough which yasmin it is..

James is buying himself a bigger remote controlled helicopter. he has checked them out and says they wont fly around in circles like his mini ones!

Alyssa gets??? well lol, she has been spoilt plently already... but ive bought her a dress for christmas day, and goodness knows maybe she will get the matching mummy dummy set to her current "daddys little girl", "i love my daddy" dummies... however much it makes me wince that the 2 cost $13-$15! (for dummies???!!! that get lost all the time.. lol well not that these ones have!)

I will get??? ummm.... perhaps some new jeans and another pair of shoes??

the end of challenge

:) The No takeaway challenge is complete! Hiccups 3/21 is not bad... one being a anniversary pizza dinner. (hubbys back was thrown out the day b4)
Thank you to Maria for joining on with me! :) That was some great support!
and thank you also to my hubby for reminding me that i was on a challenge when i really wanted something deep fried or home delivered! :)

Christmas is here..

Our christmas tree went up on the 2nd of december.. so ive been meaning to post for awhile now! ^^

We have the tree up and decorated (well there are some more decorations around somewhere along where the stockings are hiding)

Only enough batteries for one string of lights! >< We have i think 3 or 4 strings of LED battery powered lights. I have been tempted to buy some cheap plug in lights, as they have come down in price heaps this year! But no... its bit dangerous with the kids, the kittens and the battery ones mean the tree can be anywhere and not somewhere near a power point!

This christmas i do intend on getting a battery recharger, but finding the right one that is good enough (the come with numbers now 2550, 2650 etc) to recharge batteries for the digital camera & wii remote is a must!

James put the star on top of the tree, he enjoys doing his little contribution..
that portrait photo of us on the wall was taken when we were engaged! We were both so young & skinny back then! hehehe

Oddities, Solids, Poo & biting..

I realized something odd, peculiar today... on the usual walk to pick tia up from kinder, something i do 2 days a week.. and i never thought about this before until today. Its no biggie.. no "scoop".. (so if i talk it down will it then be more interesting?) err.. anyways..
Ive said before that the suburb in which i live has a macdonalds on a main road (just like back in newcastle it too had a jenny craig office next to it for a bit, until they pulled out. Right next to maccas, across the road from korean food, henny penny, subway, dominos and the cheesecake shop! LOL! ) anyways this maccas in my current 'burb, opposite it is ww office and on its other opposite is jenny craig. ww has the better spot as its neighbour is subway and more in the hub (some of us are just to lazy to cross one more set of traffic lights away from the hub?)

and as i was walking.. (no biggie.. like dont be disapointed..) i thought it was odd that right next to a "all you can eat" resturant was a gym! I immediately thought, you know had any of the health junkies thought or dreamed on binge eating and then going back to a spin class? lol.. had anyone looked at their reflection in the tinted windows of the resturant and then hurried over for a gym membership. I also thought, well they have cardio tv... do you feel odd walking or running on the treadmil while watching a hungry jacks commercial? or feel the need for drive thru kfc or red rooster to feed the family?

I hate walking past the gym when theres a spin cycle class on... you can see right in on the 2nd floor.. all these people sweating away and I just swear that their sweaty faces and tired legs just get a sudden burst of energy as they watch all that wobbles on this body of mine as i walk into their view! lol.

When walking past a gym i always try to see if anyone rode a bike... i dont know if that screams louder gym monkey or health freak.. or whether it makes those who drive to and from the gym lazy? Very judgemental i know... something i will have to break. Inconsiderate too, i mean what if their shedules dont allow even watching the news? or what if they live 3 suburbs away.. or what if they spend all their disposable income on gym they can't afford a bike, or what if they have some medical condition? or what if they dont want to risk their lives riding on the same road with bad drivers? There are no airbags on bikes.. no 'safety cage'...

Yes i am on a roll with ranting tonight!!!!!! and i thought i was tired? or maybe im overtired and cranky! lol!

to the subject of poo...
(nah this isn't going as down hill as you think....)
Alyssa occasionally has a bottle, altho its once a day.. if that! If i need to be leaving the house in 5mins and she is screaming.. a bottle! If i will be out during her next feed and have no option for privacy then i will take a bottle (not yet, but i think for tia's kinder concert last day party where i will be staying, i guess...) and if ive had enough of biting, tender and fearful that im going to be nibbled on again.. BOTTLE! Ive long had the "if you bite YOU WILL BE WEANED!" thing going on.. Tia bit me a few times around 7 months and that was it! But this time around i wanted to get past the biting, had i known Alyssa would be teething at 3months old!!!!??!!! I might have changed my mind bout that!!!..

Alyssa has also started solids (2 weeks now? off/on 1/2 a little jar at 6pm after a feed. She has moved that screaming down the house time from 8pm to 6pm! Feeding at 10-12, 2-3, 5-6 and cranky wanting out of bed & cuddles by 6.40-7am right when we are trying to get the last minutes of sleep!

Alyssa dislikes rice cereal.. and so the odd thing is she is completely on bought pureed carrot baby food(i dont have a blender). She loves it! Not into apple (like Tia) but carrots and it must have been on special as i have a ton of carrot baby food in the pantry! I think i'll start to add a bit of carrot to rice cereal (is meant to be more digestible) and freeze the rest of the jar in ice cube trays (as it says keep for 48hrs)

Her poo went from a odd smelling baby breast bub yellow poo (which i really like AS its a newborn, young baby thing i suppose.. it only lasts awhile & then its brown and being used as a art tool or in a nappy left on the floor by a bare bum toilet training toddler) to a brown, with occasional runny patches of watery carrot (gee i hope no 1 is eating this.. i mean lol. i hope no 1 is eating while reading this.. lol..) and the last 2 days she has had little hard stools.. so i think she is constipated! x.x Surely she can't have poo with any sort of form/hardness yet?!

Christmas Pudding Trial

Christmas is 23 days away! No longer months, but weeks and days! Im trying to be organized (if you call leaving it to late nov/early dec) before the mad rush of christmas sales, the crowds and being in lovely company of friends & family. Finding table stuff e.g servingware (since i have very little), more wine glasses, placemats, bon bons, probably another dinner set?!, cheese knife) At least this year! Being that we are usually guests and do the mad shopping on christmas eve or the days before as prezzies dont normally fit in suitcases (altho theres always room for a xbox 360 and laptops?!!) This year we will be at home with family visiting! Whoot!

Ive got all the sweets sorted; Pistachio & cherry macaroons but will change to almonds & cherry?, gingerbread men, white christmas version of choc crackles, little choc balls that look like puddings, gingerbread house, shortbread, christmas bark (white choc and smashed candy canes), stained glass effect cookies, rum balls, perhaps a hedgehog slice), the pudding & cake worked out. (might settle for bought custard?! lol!)

I have one smoked salmon on a herb frittata (i dont eat fish but others do) little appetizier recipe(recipes+ dec 08 mag), a jar of semi dried tomatoes, 3 jars red, white, green of cocktail onions (gee i hope someone likes cocktail onions lol!) so im working on a deli meat/cheese/antipasto? platter.

Some sort of roast meat, gravy, potatoes, carrots, green salad.
Some sort of undecided cocktail? Punch, Wine(not in charge of) & soft drink..

BHG Issue Dec2004 The pudding above
(my modified recipe for a 5cup pudding tin)
530g of mixed dried fruits (currants, sultanas, minus the peel)
100g of extra glace cherries chopped
3/4 cup of brandy (not halved like rest of ingredients! if u dont like do orange juice?)
1tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup of brown sugar (meant to be dark brown)
1 tsp of golden syrup (meant to be treacle)
2 eggs
125g soft butter
3/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup self raising flour
bit of cinnamon, mixed spice n nutmeg

grease tin/basin/bowl with butter & line.
Add fruit to bowl (look for sultana stalks) add brandy & let sit for 20mins
add cherries, vanilla, gsyrup & mix.
add sugar, butter, eggs & stir.
Sift flours & spices. Stir well.
Spoon into basin/bowl/tin.
place basin/bowl/tin in a larger pot/pan so the water comes up half way. place in oven 160deg cel for 3hrs.

*Very nice pudding. Hubby says its very sugary, i think thats due to all the sultannas/fruit etc! As i dont remember even adding the sugar?! I somewhat wanted more 'pudding' and less fruit in this! The pudding is lovely and soft when warmed!(not rubbery or crumbly) Obviously the pudding would have been darker if i used the dark brown sugar and treacle (both i didnt have) Also if you add the cherries in with the alcohol and leave to soak the colour will bleed out, which doesnt effect the end result at all.. just weird seeing red coloured brandy!

The thing is i dont want the cake & pudding to be basically the same e.g both dark or both light. I am a fan of store bought light fruitcake over the dark... perhaps coz its not so strong and i can eat more of it?! lol! (oh thats sad!)

My kitchen was in such a mess with ingrediants everywhere on this day.. or night rather these pics were taken at 11pm. (with one downlight working in the kitchen!)

I dont think it needed the greaseproof paper. And if your a dill like me and try to up-end it on a plate after spending hours in the fridge.. let it come to room temperature as the 'greasing' kinda chills it into place! ROFL!

Fast Food challenge week 1 complete

I did it!!!!!!!!
I went to macdonalds on day 1 or 3 (cant remember) but we only had iced coffee's, tia had a pink donut (i didn't even taste a single pink delicious sprinkle).
Tia and I went out around 11.30am, bad time to go out! We came home at 3pm and had lunch!
I did not go late night shopping til hubby is on his way home/meeting me out and then eating kfc on thursday, friday night!
Tia and i sat down at a milk bar/corner shop/hot food shop for 40mins while we waited for 3.15pm to walk back near kinder to the school & then buying school uniform. Could have easily asked for a burger with the lot (like everyone else) but relaxed in the air con, with flav water & magnum expresso ice cream x.x
Went out shopping on saturday, did not have lunch out!
(Alyssa was cranky on/off from 5am til 7am, when she decided she was fully awake) on sunday was/is uber tired... did not feel like going shopping for milk.. did not feel like cooking.. thought seriously bout pizza.. how easy it would be.. then wondered if hubby would cook *sigh* ended up going out shopping to woolies, grabbing stuff coming home and cooking dinner!
Mula saved= $60-90!!!!

Excited about school..

Tia is growing fast. Her speech is getting better, her vocabulary is getting bigger.. All good to hear! Yesterday after dropping tia off at kinder, i stayed and did "kinder duty" which is staying to help for a hour and a bit while they do several craft things. My table was making cards. Basically sticking a recycled christmas card front picture onto a piece of red carboard decorating with sparkles, sequins and little christmas tree & star sprinkles with the glue in pots and then using a glue stick to stick a little piece of paper that said "To my family, Merry christmas Love" on the inside.

I had one little boy (not going to prep next year) with the best manners stubbornly decline any decoration! I had one little girl who wanted the card to be horizontal and open that way. I had another girl who would only use the glue stick. I had a little boy who decided that using 10% of all decorations on offer should be put on his card. It looked so blinged! The teacher told him that was a bit silly as they would not all stick.. And then someone up-ended one of the sequin containers onto the floor and i was down after that picking them all up! lol!

Alyssa was pretty good.. up till the end. I had her in the bassinette pram thing (basket with canopy(think like a convertible), held in pram by 3 clips) and then on the floor towards the end so she could roll around and see more than just the ceiling..

The other 'stations' were making angels (painting and using glitter) and making christmas trees (threading and glitter) This all comes home on the last day which is also the concert/party day... i think i might stay and do kinder duty again that day. as the note says drop off the kids with morning tea as usual @9.15am and come back at 11am with plate of party food. It takes me half hour to walk there or back home.. which means i'd spend less than a hour? at home b4 walking back.. I'll just take a bottle that day, i think. (Yes Alyssa is having on average 1 bottle. Basically for when i'm inconvenienced(trying to run out door), think im empty (only been 2hrs) or know she will bite me (so impatient!)..

Dieting sucks

(note ive eaten mud cake today and baking further yummy stuff.. so im not 'dieting', i am not eating fast food & i do plan on eating much better very very soon..lol )

NO TAKEAWAY/FAST FOOD Challenge 3wks!!!

Starting Monday 24th Nov.
Ending Monday 15th Dec.

If you'd like to join in on the challenge, leave a comment and then drop in once in awhile as i'd love to hear how your doing!

I was pretty successful in the times ive done it.. i remember some 2 years back when i went months without any bad fast food! And while sticking to any "plan" has not been planned or implemented successfully over the past 4months (with the aid of being tired, breastfeeding, busy many excuses)

For me I will be passing up the usual fast food (kfc, pizza, macdonalds, chips.. pretty much all that we have thats on offer a 5minute walk or ph/net order away)..
I will instead be having salad sandwiches, veggie subs, ham n salad subs, (not the meat n cheese subs) steamed dim sims or home-made (no i dont own a deep fryer).

I'm wondering whether i should include cake, donuts, thick shakes also??!!.. baby steps i think for the first week? We shall see how it all goes!

So my first steps for a successful week will be:
1) Meal planning (including new recipes to avoid eating out due to 'boring' meals)
2) Buying ingredients for the planned meals.
3) Eat brekkie/lunch/dinner b4 going out.
4) If out walk towards the short line of subway not the huge line up of kfc/maccas.
5) Throw out pizza coupons & forget about the online sites of pizza vouchers.
6) Include perhaps a tray of oven fries (no extra added oil) or home made pizza planned for the weekend.
7) Have some fuss free meals (stag chili in a can & cc's, canned soup, dim sims) available in case i'm tired.
8) Blogging about the week challenge wise next sunday!

my visual dna..

Saw this on maria's blog! thought i'd have a go at it!

Picnic Cob & dinner pic

As usual i changed it a bit..
the recipe called for zuchini, eggplant, sweet potato, basil leaves, bocconcini.. none of which i have and in the case of the zuchini & egglplant both i dislike! I was going to get some bocconcini to try out.. but i forgot!
I substituted the bocconcini for some pepato cheese (pretty waxy, hard but crumbly) & some normal cheddar. I substitued the chunky red chili dip for pizza paste sauce, the semi dried tomatoes for fresh tomato and the veggies for triple smoked ham, mild italian salami & pepperoni... and i forgot about adding any salad greens to it.. thinking about it now wouldn't have done well anyways (considering in the recipe, which i didnt read to the end) they cook it.. i put 1 quarter in the oven, was yummy and the other quarter for 1min in the microwave and it was just as yummy, if not more melted and hot..
the next morning while clearing the bench i realised i left out the leftover salami & pepperoni! whoops!!!! Worked it out to be roughly the same cost as the veggie version, i found that the deli was cheaper than buying 100g packs from the over-packaged fridge deli section.. but then thats probably normal.. however the over packaged deli meats probably last longer in the fridge unopened..

finish up with a dinner pic, veal chop or cutlet.. with some salad.. i did add some addictive whole egg mayo to this..

Pnotes & portable HDs cool applications

P-notes is a very handy application!!! Hubby and I both have portable or personal hardrives.. the kind that are external to the pc. Recently he came across all these programs for portable/pocket hardrives.. like msn (imagine having the same version of msn where ever u go at work, home, from pc to ur laptop or friends pc.. u get the idea?) while some portable hardrives have insane storage e.g 1TB or 700GB.. these portable apps are quite small.. im guessing for ease of use for ur little 1G USB drives! lol!!!! :) But thats still good news for big or small stroage devices!!
Portable applications cane be found here
theres thunderbird (email), Firefox (browser), bible study tools, Pnotes...

what is Pnotes? hehehehe

Post it notes for the PC! How cool is that!!! Relatively environmentally friendly (assuming u turn your pc off every once & awhile..) No desk clutter (like ur guests care or even see your terrible desktop clutter on ur pc/laptop lol!) its also pretty Hard to loose them...

Pnotes can be found here

Ive been playing around with the skin editor.. but havent been able to make a successful one.. (must be something i am not doing right..) theres a few cute already made skins by other people to choose from that u can download optionally like the 'bunny notes' by Deepthi (shown in screenie) or the 'apple' & 'clasic pink' by Andrey Gruber (shown in my screenie, click for better view?!!)... *note my pnotes are transparent due to a option, u can have them as transparent or as none transparent as u prefer..
*note you do not need a portable HD or usb stick to use this program, its just handy if u regularly access more than one pc or are paranoid about loosing data...
*note pnotes is freeware

Disclaimer***I AM NOT PAID TO POST ANYTHING (never have or will). THIS IS NOT A ADD. THIS IS A UNPAID SERVICE I LIKE P-NOTES SO MUCH THAT I WANT 2 SHARE IT WITH YOU! ;) ***

Love handles increase death risk: study

November 14, 2008, 3:18 am

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A thick waist almost doubles the risk of premature death, a major European study has found, showing there's nothing lovely about love handles.

Importantly, the risk is similar even when body mass index (BMI) fell within normal range, according to the authors of the study of 359,000 people aged 51.9 on average, including 65.4 percent women, appearing in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The research found that excess fat stored around the middle of the body was a major health risk even when people are not considered obese or even overweight by statistical BMI standards.

In fact, each five centimetre increase in waist size increased the risk of death by 17 percent in men and 13 percent in women.

"The most important result of our study is the finding that not just being overweight, but also the distribution of body fat, affects the risk of premature death of each individual," said Tobias Pischon, the lead author of the paper from the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbrücke.

The data should encourage physicians to routinely measure patients' waists as well as their BMI on routine office visits, according to the study carried out by the Imperial College London (GB), German Institute for Human Nutrition and other European participants.

"The good news is that you don't need to take an expensive test and wait ages for the result to assess this aspect of your health - it costs virtually nothing to measure your waist and hip size," said Elio Riboli, the European coordinator of the EPIC study from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Imperial College London.

"If you have a large waist, you probably need to increase the amount of exercise you do every day, avoid excessive alcohol consumption and improve your diet. This could make a huge difference in reducing your risk of an early death."

Amaretto mud cake

I made a interesting mud cake for Jamie's 31st Birthday!!! :)
Here is the caramel mud cake recipe that i tweaked:
Caramel Mud cake
From AWW Cook

Prep time: 30 mins (plus cooling time) Cooking time: 2 hrs 10 mins Serves: 12

This cake is so moist and dense that it can be difficult to determine if it is cooked. The baking times given are your best guide, and when cooked, the cake should have a thick, sugary crust. If you like, cut the crust off the cake, although the frosting will soften it.

250g unsalted butter, chopped
200g white eating chocolate, chopped coarsely
2¼ C (495g) firmly packed brown sugar
1½ C (375ml) water
2 C (300g) plain flour
2/3 C (100g) self-raising flour
1 tspn vanilla extract
3 eggs, beaten lightly

1. Preheat oven to slow (150°C/130°C fan-forced). Grease deep 22cm round cake pan; line base and side with baking paper, extending paper 5cm above edge of pan.
2. Stir butter, chocolate, sugar, and the water in medium saucepan over low heat until mixture is smooth. Transfer mixture to large bowl; cool 15minutes. Whisk in sifted flours, then extract and eggs.
3. Pour mixture into pan. Bake, uncovered, about 2 hours. Stand cake 10 minutes then turn onto wire rack to cool.
4. Make caramel frosting. Place cake, top-side up, on serving plate, spread with frosting.

Caramel frosting
125g butter, chopped
1 C (220g) firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 C (80ml) milk
1½ C (240g) icing sugar

or
MY caramel glaze
(doesnt keep for longer than 3 days or in high heat)
2C icing mixture
1/2C brown sugar
dash of amaretto & water to right consistency

Melt butter in small saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and milk; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 3 minutes, cool 10 minutes. Gradually stir in sifted icing sugar until frosting is of a spreadable consistency.


I had just only came back from shoping before i made the cake, so i wasnt about to go out again. i had just about 100g of white chocolate... for some reason i thought some cream would make up for the difference.. the cake was moist, dense.. very dense.. very sweet..
I used 1/3cup of amaretto tasted the mixture.. and tasted some more.. lol needed more amaretto and tested some more.. yummm .. lol do u see a pattern?
the recipe makes alot of cake batter! I baked mine in a large loaf tin that i have.. i wasnt keen on putting it in a round cake tin or 2 slice trays.. i measured out my loaf tin and my round tin and found my loaf tin was larger in capacity and its a good thing it did too! Either because the recipe uses mainly plain flour or because its so rich with sugar.. it does not rise much at all.. nevermind that it cooks for 2hrs! The most expensive part was no doubt the amaretto! In the end i made a $15 mud cake.. lol.. just with the alcohol!

i also added some thickened cream & some extra flour to get the consistency right. (mine was too runny thanks to the cream & amaretto) I also brushed some extra amaretto on top of the cake, to soften the crust and add more flavour..

It was a great cake, terrible served cold from the fridge... but great at room temperature! Very easy to make in very little time. * i used choc thins in a lazy attempt to decorate the cake..