Jodie's Pancakes

We had a some wonderful feedback about our pancakes yesterday morning. A family that stayed with us for three days told me that they knew what our next venture would be - a pancake house. While we've had many positive comments about our pancakes, this one has outdone them all.

However... as you may have guessed from the title, it was Jodie's turn in the kitchen that morning. After giving me almost endless grief about me taking over the pancakes, Jodie's first time out for guests resulted in our finest feedback yet.

So, now I can publicly inform you all, that our pancakes are awesome.

I guess I still have my shortbread.

Bwa ha ha ha ha.

70

DING!

So many opportunies for World of Warcraft posts have come and gone. Especially posts about my nephews, Andrew and Cameron joining our guild, Andrew [Zand] getting guild member of the week, and us both getting promoted to officers.

Jodie and I cracked the champagne tonight! Borgthor is level 70!!!! For the uninitiated, that's the highest level obtainable until the new expansion comes out.

Thanks to Jondayla [main of my wife], I was also able to get my flying mount, pictured above... which reminds me, I should give her some change out of the 700 gold she loaned me.

Jondy and Barrath [our best man] are both level 65, and quickly climbing the ranks. Jondy has been pre-occupied with getting a very special epic mount from the wintersaber trainer, which has slowed her progress a little [as well as engaging in the 'social' aspects of the game [she has quite the fan club]].

Now that we each have accounts, we have been playing together a bit, and Jondy has welcomed [somewhat reluctantly, but has humored me] my various money making schemes, and we are having a ball! Transmuting has never been so much fun, profitable, and alchemy skill increasing.

For family and friends that want to join in the fun, we are on the Dath'Remar server. LFM, Tank and Healer for hire!

Now for the rest of my pre-Kara gear...

Haighs

Jodie and I have just finished our wood fired pizza from the Bark Mill Tavern. Mushroom and Volcano as usual. Delicious.

We have just started in on our Haighs truffles from Anthony and Anita! Jodie said as we bit into the first one, "now, you don't pig out on Haighs truffles, they are the real deal!"

Thanks guys, it's a fantastic dessert!

Elections and stats

Another advantage of living in a small town, is there isn't a wait to vote in the Federal election. I'm getting more and more cynical about Australian politics. The outcome was as just as predicted.

Tasmania is a funny state. We turned over a few seats to labour, and Lyons seems like a safe labour seat. I sent our representative an email before the election about the water issues here, and wasn't really impressed with the result.

The senate seats in Tasmania are the funniest thing. The Democrates don't even bother to run in the senate here, since the greens end up with 17% of the vote [second only to the ACT with 21%, but they are [only] a territory, so it didn't win them a seat]. I'm really not sure why any independent / crackpot party bothers to run in Tassie... but they do.

The best part [why I'm writing this post] of the election for me was looking at the ABC website coverage. It's got a google map and plenty of stats. You should definitely check it out here.

Sushi

Jodie and I made sushi tonight for the first time. It was awesome. We had some delicious fresh salmon. Wasabi is green, hot and tasty.

More friends come to stay

On Sunday night we had Anthony and Anita from SA [we used to work with Anthony at the Department of Health] and Sally and Craig from VIC [Jodie used to work with Sally] come to stay.

I made Jodie's three favourite curries: Cauliflower and Potato, Parsee Red Chicken and Lamb Cardamom. I had so much going on the stove, I had to break out the 11L stock pot. The boys both tried Moo Brew for the first time and we had wines from the Barossa and from just up the road [Springvale] which is just how we like it. We also had our first wedding photo slideshow victims! I'm sure there'll be plenty more.

They all left on a perfectly sunny Monday morning. Anthony and Anita were happy to pose in front of the house and imagine it was theirs. You can see the smiles on their faces as they imagine the mortgage... We couldn't get Sally and Craig to stand that still.

Closest Lightning ... ever

Today at about 11am, both Jodie and I saw a huge flash, followed way too quickly by the loudest thunder we had ever heard. The light and sound was so close together, our first thought was bomb rather than lightning.

We quickly checked that each other was OK [if a little freaked out], and the boys too. Then I checked that the power hadn't gone off [it hadn't [and we don't think the house was hit]] and that they computers were fine.

The other strange thing was that it was the only lightning strike. We weren't in the middle of a thunder storm, and we've only had a drizzle of rain since.

Then it was back to work as usual... rooms to clean. We have been busy with projects for the house too, so more about that later.

Misuse of Science

I know I shouldn't blog when I'm tired... but I had to just get this one down. It's the worst 'use' of 'Science' as a supporting argument I've ever heard. Surprise, surprise, it was Oprah.

Oprah was talking about power. In this case, will power, and its application to eating well, exercising, losing weight, and keeping the weight off. At the core of the argument was the concept that lifestyle changes happen with discipline over time, and you can't rush losing weight and the process still be healthy.

So, to bolster the argument, they decided to take something from physics. Something profound. Here it is: power equals work over time. If you are disciplined [work] for long enough [over time] you have the power to change your lifestyle and your weight. So, the more disciplined you are, and the longer you stick at it - the more power you have.

I've highlighted where the fundamental problem is. Over. Do you know what that means, Oprah? It's division. The formula is power = work divided by time. The shorter the period over which the work is done, the greater the power.

Maybe that's not even the biggest problem. Even if it was the right way around, do you really need to try and use anything but: energy consumed > energy expended = gain weight?

Shakespeare wrote that the devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. Physics just shouldn't be like that.

Cullinary Delights

I usually have a lot to say about food on this blog... but since I haven't posted for a while, I'm going to have to go with a summary of highlights.

First up, we were really happy with the food at the wedding. We had lots of great feedback about the food, and the wedding cake worked out very well too. Gots to love that Guinness gravy!

Jodie and I had a quick [one night] honeymoon in Hobart after getting home. We had a wonderful meal at Maldini's [pictured above] in Salamanca, which was where I proposed. It's our special place, and we highly recommend it if you are looking for a great restaurant in Hobart. We also had our first 'gold class' cinema experience to see Bourne Ultimatum. I managed to have room enough for profiteroles after our wine and cheese.

We have been busy cooking as usual. We have started making our own pasta again from scratch, and we've had some wonderful 'Italian' nights. My favourite has been Jodie's spaghetti and meatballs. Now that's a bold statement, because it beat out a fantastic smoked mushroom lasagne for my favourite.

We finally have a tortilla press, thanks to Jodie's efforts googling. We are now close to completing the ultimate 'Huevos Rancheros', with only the tomato chili sauce to make from scratch. Another favourite new breakfast/brunch is Jodie's Spanish baked eggs. We also got a bottle of 'insanity sauce' which is freakishly hot and has a wonderful flavour. It also appeals to me due to it's economy. I'm up to several hard shakes of a tabasco bottle in my baked beans on toast, but it only requires two fat little droplets of insanity sauce to get me moving in the morning.

I've been busy making curries too. The lamb we are getting from our new butcher has been a real highlight of the dishes. The most recent was a Rogan Josh, and I'm looking forward to left overs tomorrow already. We have some friends coming to visit on the weekend, and are looking forward to preparing a curry feast. Jodie has been particularly persuasive in her requests for particular dishes this time around, so we are basing the curries around her favourite chicken dish - a spicy Red Parsee Chicken.

Finally, I had the best fish and chips I have ever had the other night. Col and Jacqui, our wonderful neighbours brought us some Stripy Trumpeter and Morwong [Sea Pearch] after a day on the boat Stripy hunting. Jodie had me grate our fresh home made bread for breadcrumbs, and fried the fillets with chunky potato wedges as well. It is a real treat to be able to try different types of fish on the day that they are caught, knowing that the flavour and texture are as good as it can possibly be.

I've got some photos of the tortilla making process... so I'll dedicate a future blog just to huevos rancheros.

You asked for it!

20070909 Wedding Sampler

It's been a little while since the last post. Jodie and I have been enjoying wedded bliss, but have been back hard at work. I've finally gotten a pre/post wedding batch of paperwork out the way, so it's time to get back to the blog.

Everyone has been asking about wedding photos, so we've added a web album with some of our favourite shots. There'll be plenty more to follow.

If anyone has any photos from the day that they haven't already sent us, we'd love to see them. Thanks to those that have already sent us emails and CDs with their photos too!

We'll also post more about what we've been up to since the wedding soon. We've been busily preparing for another peak season, and getting to some of those 'after the wedding' projects too.