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..

Anna & Asha

Tia named the kittens Anna & Asha... I do think Tia meant 'sasha' but i prefer 'asha' ;) I could not decide on names.. did i want to continue the spice theme (previous bunnies were pepper & vanilla) did i want to continue the japanese theme (in memory of Nori)... in the end Tia had names she liked, and well we go past the pet shop on our way to safeway/woolies & she likes to name all the animals... even tho i tell her she can't, we dont own them etc.. i think she misses playing nitendogs!
The above is Asha (pronounced ash-ah) she is the alpha kitten (she attacks lil anna into submission) she growls when eating if she can see u, if she has her pom pom orange ball she growls if u come near... but she is gorgeous! She does look after her sister and grooms her, hubby lol'd when i said "anna u are getting your asslicked so grin & bear it..." seems the downside of being a kitten & having long fur.. stinky bums OH YUCK!!!!! plus side.. ur sister might clean you.. down side.. ever felt the sand paper feel of a cat lick?? now can u imagine it on that sensitive spot? LOL! We think Asha is the one least toilet trained x.x NOT HAPPY!! (just as long as it never happens on the carpet!) She also purs the loudest..

This is Anna! She is pretty but only 2 colours black n white.. she is a guts! (if asha doesnt push her head out of the bowl) she can smell food that she will like from a mile away (seems smaller tho than her sister)! She is a sook, most likely to want a cuddle.. slightly lacking in the grooming department and has had 2 baths were asha hasn't yet had one..So yeah.. found out this afternoon that they or one of them had been peeing on my magazine on the slate floor just out from the fireplace & that someone had done a #2 on the floor in the back corner of the lounge room.. yesterday i caught anna scratching the inside door mat and peeing (on the floor not the mat) so that got moved.. x.x Im gagging with each stink of the #2's!!! *shudders* am looking forward to the kitty litter tray moving from near the front door to the laundry... i think its the reason i have not had a appetite for the past few days!!! no kidding!!!

We were told that they are calico long hair cats.. i made the mistake of calling them tortiseshell but no.. they have patches of colour which is calico apparently..

come on OBAMA!!!!!

LOL!!!!!!! my prediction, it will be close.. no doubt there will be a few recounts, cries of rigging & failed electronic voting. the winner will be obama!

I think americans have seen enough of old war dogs, capitalism, poor getting poorer, education in usa sucking further (who was the beauty queen that said americans kids were dumb because they didnt have maps? lol), deregulation... (note mccain wants to privatize social security... can u imagine if cenrelink was owned by a bank? i mean americans already have to pay tax on welfare and pay back any welfare later..)

besides this 'free country' the country of 'milk n honey' weve all known how BS that is.. next election will we see a native american? or a multilingual hispanic? or even perhaps just one person who doesnt have white hair and a creepy smile (mccain)?? (when will we finally see a aborignal PM or a 4th generation chinese/australian PM? hmm...)

isnt about time intelligence won over war mongering? Hope and change won over fear?

sure the conservatives are all over palin saying she cant control her "teenage daughter" so how can she control the whitehouse? (but this teenager is 18yrs old.. i mean sure in usa u cant drink till ur 21.. but still..)

Wrestling with time management.. etc

well..

wow..

its been awhile since ive sat down and blogged.. for me it feels like its been forever.. *fingers crossed this wont stay a draft..*

Ive been busy... and looking at that sentence.. i almost feel like its a half truth, (while trying to ignore my semi-dictionary mind telling me that is soo cliche) and boring. Seriously how boring would blogs be if all they said was "ive been busy.." or something along the lines of .. ive been absent, forgive me.. read me again.. i promise i'll try to be more interesting, more pictures, more often.. only for your concious telling you.. dont commit.. you can't do it.. nows not the time for a big blog project.. x.x And then for me i feel like i'm stuck.. in between what i want to do, what i want to achieve and what i know i can do.. and what other things take priority.

Which leaves me with time management..
and..
fessing up..
toTRUTH!

What do i spend my time on? Where am i most of the time?
(*insert noise of rusty cogwheels* as tiffany tries to remember what she did last week..)
hmm...
Well i cant recall exactly what i did all last week.. i can recall the weekend.. pfft! that is easy!
Saturday james and I played fable II. Alyssa had a good day but with a annoying trend of snack feeds at 5pm, 6pm, 7pm and 8pm before finally going to sleep.
Sunday james and i played fable II co-op doing the troll (like a very fat treeant), balverines (think werewolf) mission, spire mission (think evil gothic looking cornetto building). Alyssa had her annoying feeds, had a chicken satay stir-fry and the girls had a bath together.. it was hot and yukky..

but generally.. my week days..
i've worked out equal a load of washing every day. (not including towels or sheets)
generally some house work (not always the dishes.. as i loathe it..and put it off) my spring cleans i seem to be doing thru the weekdays end up with more mess as i dont always find a 'home' for something and i get distracted.. and it doesnt go anywhere....
Some relax time which includes lunch, watching the view or playing video games
do revolve around getting tia to and from kinder on those days..
do revolve around alyssa and whether she is happy fed, dry, comfy, entertained, cuddled and close by.. anything noisy waits till she is awake!!!!!!!
my weekends.. no housework gets done, i struggle to cook most of the time, generally do stuff with hubby games, dnd.. usually doesnt feel right either until we have all gone out to the shops together at some point during the weekend (even tho im trying to stop that 'want' as it ends up with blowing the budget and going on the evil (but not as evil as some) credit card!! x.x

lately been doing major spider killing.. and dead/dying spider avoiding.. i am completely paranoid. (i did wake up one morning and looked up to see a daddy long legs quite close to my pillow on the bed head bit.. too close for comfort!!!!) there was one daddy long legs (rather huge) that i never got around to killing as it was always on the move.. never stayed in one spot.. i did a dumb thing and watched it for a bit and then lost where it went.. i feel my spider woes make for a whole blog post in itself!!!!! EEP!!!!!!

What i'd like to get done:
Blog wise- New layout, colours, pictures, update side bits, twitter, visit & read more blogs more often.

Health wise- Manicure & pedicure, Wii fit every day, keep to planned meals, go to bed before 11pm no 11am and 4pm snacking on junk.. eating more salads (with help from growing our own)

House wise- Clean and organise and keep it that way! Kill all spiders, Work on folding & putting away clean clothes and not just have baskets of clothes everywhere.. Kill fleas in the house (where on earth did they come from??!!) start packing away winter clothes, blankets and wash summer stuff

Garden wise- Keep it weed free, grow grass back on nature strip, get my seedlings to grow bigger, get some lettuce & spinach seeds, encourage james to finish his backyard project, dig up a garden patch for veggies, get a lattice thingy for jasmine to climb, kill all red back spiders..

Family wise- have some planned outings, especially since tia is old enough to appreciate a trip to a zoo, movies or aquarim etc, more time with tia working on her sounds, counting etc. Get to church every sunday! Send out thank you notes (still), Stick to budget, take more photos & remember to upload it onto pc. find tia a dance class or activity to do with other kids. exchange details with the parents of tia's friends from kinder so she can play with them over the holidays

Christmas wise- organise & finalise meals/menu, organise sheets etc for guests, think about table piece, where christmas tree will go etc, find & do christmas cards, think about presents & budget, keep buying a few christmas food stuffs each week, Does anyone know a good whisky and brandy to cook with?????

Shopping wise- Stick to budget, buy only whats on the list, get some new shorts and t-shirts for summer, buy another fan for summer

hmm... think i will have to print this out and put it on the fridge!!..