Wednesday 30 November 2011

Dusty Springfield – did you know?


She was born Mary O’Brien in West Hampstead, London.  She was part of a folk group “The Springfields” with her brother and adopted that surname when she went solo.

By 1966 he was the best selling female pop vocalist in the world.  Her best album is “Dusty in Memphis”, 1969.  Her voice is incredibly distinctive.

Product Details

Like many other artists, she battled alcohol and drug dependency.  She was probably borderline manic depressive.

She was adopted as an icon by the gay community.  She died in 1999 of cancer.  A real loss to music.


Tuesday 29 November 2011

Rita Angus – An Artist’s Life by Jill Trevelyan


If you are looking for a nice Xmas gift for someone who likes art – this book might be just the thing.  It is a beautiful book which was published by Te Papa in 2008 which was also the centenary of her birth.  It is a good biography rather than just an art wonk’s read.  It also gives you a good insight into Rita’s art.  In particular I gained a real appreciation for her portraits for the first time.  They had previously seemed rather grim to me.  I have always admired her landscapes.  The book won the non-fiction section of the Montana Awards in 2009.



Saturday 26 November 2011

Better – by Atul Gawande




This is a must read, important book.  I had never heard of it until a week or so ago when it was given to me by a doctor who lives in our street.  It is stunningly written – very clearly with the least medical jargon possible.  And the subjects it deals with are just so important.
I probably can’t do it justice. But here goes.  He examines how doctors fail and succeed – using some fascinating examples.  He then suggests that major advances in health may be more in the area of diligence and ingenuity than in pure medical research.  Now that all sound pretty blah but it is the issues he tackles that are riveting.

There is a chapter on the really tough issue of making sure health professionals take the time to thoroughly wash their hands between patient contacts.  He makes it clear that most bugs people get in hospital come from the health professionals.  And just how difficult it is when doctors and nurses are rushing to get things done to be sure that they are not spreading infection.  Nailing a solution to this issue would prevent wide scale suffering.

There is a chapter on the crusade to eradicate polio from the world and why it is diligence in the small things that make the difference.

Another chapter deals with war casualties and explains why mortality rates are now so much lower in war.  But also highlights how many people with horrific injuries are now surviving in circumstances where it is not known how to give them any real quality of life going forward.

But the chapter that grabbed me the most was about executions in the US.  Apparently the medical ethics require doctors not to participate in any execution but prison officials nevertheless find doctors and other paramedicals who will get involved.  He talks to a number of doctors and discusses why they do it.  I had never thought about capital punishment from this angle before.  I won’t spoil it for you by saying what his conclusion was.

So all in all, a book that should be of interest to everyone not just those professionally involved with health.  After all we are all affected by these issues.

This is Gawande’s second book, the first one is called Complications.  I am going to find a copy to read soon.





Friday 25 November 2011

Voting


You've got to vote for someone. It's a shame, but it's got to be doneWhoopi Goldberg

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Making jam




In the last couple of years I have taken to making my own jam – and once also some marmalade.  I don’t do it in big quantities or with special preserving methods.  I make 4 to 5 jars at a time (usually using 1 kilo of fruit) and just put it into dishwashed jam jars with little wax paper discs on top and then the original jar top.  The wax paper discs are optional.  I had to get my sister to send them from the UK for me since I couldn’t find any in NZ.

So I have made apricot, strawberry, mixed berry, tamarillo and plum jams.  The only one that didn’t work out that well was the tamarillo one because the seeds turned colourless and tasteless – it was a great coloured jam and I think if I had sieved the seeds out after it was made, it would have been ok.  The marmalade I made was orange and whisky – that was much more fiddly to do but was great tasting.

For the jams I just used the same basic technique.  Put the fruit in the pot with sugar – many recipes say equal quantity of sugar to weight of fruit.  But I prefer a slightly less sweet jam so I use about 800g of sugar to 1 kilo of fruit (weighed after removing any stones).  Let it sit for about half an hour before putting it onto the heat.

It is fine to use frozen berries if they aren’t in season.

In terms of sugar I like to use half normal sugar and half jam setting sugar. 

I also add the juice of about half a lemon or lime – this also cuts back the sweetness a bit and has the important other effect of increasing the ease of getting the jam to set.  Something to do with pectin, I understand.

Then you just put it onto the heat and bring to the boil.  After boiling it for about 10 to 20 minutes, test to see if the jam looks like it will set.  I do this by spooning some onto a plate I have chilled in the fridge – if after it cools a bit you can pull your finger across it and it stays apart you are good to go.  I normally get quite worried about whether it will set.  But you don’t want to go on boiling it for too long because then it will go really firm and sugary.  So it is best to go under rather than over – the worst that could happen is that it stays too runny after you have put it into the jars – and then all you have to do is put it back onto the boil for a while.

So it is pretty straightforward.  I did get a plastic jam funnel from a kitchen shop.  Not essential but it does help get the hot jam into the jars without spilling it over the sides.

I usually let the jam sit in the pot for 5 minutes or so before putting it into the jars.  You may have to spoon off any foamy stuff off the top first.

The only other tip I have is that if you are doing strawberry jam, you definitely need to let it cool a bit more in the pot first.  Otherwise you get all the strawberries floating to the top of the jars!  It is also a good idea to turn the jars over a few times while it is cooling in the fridge.

If you keep your jam in the fridge it should be fine for 4 to 6 weeks.- maybe even longer but ours never lasts that long.

So, give it a go – you will be glad you did.


You might also be interested in this post on my method of making just hard boiled eggs - if so, click here


If you liked this post, it would be great if you shared it with your readers.  You just have to click on one of the buttons underneath the post.  They make it easy for you to email, blog, tweet, Facebook or Google +1. Thank you so much for reading my post. 

Sunday 20 November 2011

Harry S Truman


 – Harry S Truman

Roger Waters – The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking


Ok ok, this is a bit eccentric.  But a friend who is now a Judge got me into it.  Nothing – well almost nothing – beats the title track played really loud.  I realise I didn’t include it in my earlier list… a mistake.  And the album cover will be appreciated by any red-blooded male. 



It dates from 1984.  Eric Clapton was a guitarist for the album.

Roger Waters of course was part of Pink Floyd.  He is thrice married and divorced and according to Wiki is now engaged again.  An optimist, obviously.




Friday 18 November 2011

Spicy & Crunchy Coleslaw

Spicy & crunchy coleslaw

This is one of the ways I do coleslaw.  The ingredients are:

¼ cabbage – finely shredded
¼ cup or so diced capsicum (called bell pepper in some places)
Thumb of ginger grated finely – I use a microplane
1 teaspoon of chopped green peppercorns or capers
½ fresh red chilli finely sliced
½ corn cob – kernels taken off the cob and cooed
2 gherkins – chopped
2 teaspoons of chilli jam to taste
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise ( I like Heinz Seriously Good)
1 tablespoon of crème fraiche (entirely optional)
Juice of ¼ lemon
Salt and pepper – I prefer white pepper

Just mix all the ingredients together.  Any leftovers will keep fine in the fridge for a day.  You can mix it together well before you need it unlike other salads.

I also sometimes substitute either mustard or horseradish for the chilli jam/relish.  I don’t put in carrot or things like sultanas – don’t suit my palate but I know other people do.






Thursday 17 November 2011

JK Galbraith

Few things are as immutable as the addiction of political groups to the ideas by which they have once won officeJK Galbraith

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Soul Bar


I went again to Soul Bar in the Viaduct Basin recently.  I have always had slightly mixed feelings about it.  On the one hand the setting is spectacular – particularly sitting on the balcony looking out past the floral hanging baskets to the yachts in the Viaduct Basin.  But it is a real ‘trendy’ hangout which isn’t my scene. 

Last time I was there I had a simply spectacular dish – a crayfish ravioli.  This time I wasn’t quite as lucky.  The first entrée I had was one of their classics – a scampi cocktail.  The scampi was done well but the sauce was overly rich in avocado and the very long stemmed glass it was served in made it quite difficult to eat.  The food was at about my eye level.  The second course I picked was a pasta one – basically a twist on macaroni cheese.  It wasn’t a good choice.  It wasn’t a very pleasant sauce – quite harsh and I didn’t eat that much of it.  Hopefully they won’t have it on the menu for long!




Sunday 13 November 2011

On the 13th of November ...

On this day in 1994 Sweden agreed to join the European Union - wonder what they think of that decision now??

Saturday 12 November 2011

Asparagus & Bacon Salad




Asparagus & Bacon Salad

I made this up when I needed to do a quick lunch and it turned out well.

Fry up some bacon – I used about 4 rashers cut into quarters

Boil water ready to cook asparagus – I didn’t salt it because I think the bacon has enough for the whole dish. 

Prepare asparagus by snapping off woody ends and then cutting into 2 pieces.  If you want to be luxurious, you could just use the tips and save the other half for making soup.  Asparagus is in season right now so it is reasonably priced.

Cook asparagus in boiling water for 4 -5 minutes – don’t overcook.

Put a sliced tomato, chopped avocado, a couple of slices of red onion, a roughly chopped spring onion into a salad bowl.  Squeeze over some lemon juice (say 1/3 to ½ of a lemon).  Season with pepper  - I used white but black would be fine.  I also put into about a teaspoon of olive oil – but you could leave that out since the bacon has fat.

When the asparagus is ready, drain it and toss it in the pan with the bacon, then put everything into the salad bowl.  Toss and serve as is - it will be warm but not too warm.

I served some condiments with it - a choice of sweet chilli sauce, chilli relish and mayo.


You might also be interested in my salad with leftover lamb - click here.



If you liked this post, it would be great if you shared it with your readers.  You just have to click on one of the buttons underneath the post.  They make it easy for you to email, blog, tweet, Facebook or Google +1. Thank you so much for reading my post. 


Tuesday 8 November 2011

Statistics


He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts – for support rather than illuminationAndrew Lang

Monday 7 November 2011

Targeting the “loan sharks”

I see National wants to get tough on “loan sharks” – a good idea.


But what beats me is that they are not including credit card companies.  If you were looking for people who are taking middle NZ to the cleaners – look no further. The credit card interest rates from the 4 big banks on purchases range between 19% and 20% (excluding a very limited range of highly conditional low rate cards) and are even higher on cash advances.

And if you thought the people’s bank, Kiwibank, would be much better, think again, their rate is only a couple of points or so less on most of their cards

You can compare rates on this site:


Now when judging the reasonableness of these rates, you have to acknowledge that there is no mortgage or other security.  But on the other side these banks have voluntarily issued these cards to their customers.  Their risk is very small compared to the lenders of last resort who lend to people who can’t get money from banks or any other traditional source because their credit risk is so high.

So I think interest on credit cards should be no more than say 50% above mortgage rates and for lenders of last resort say no more than double.  Those rates might still sound high but they would save people a whole heap compared to now.  It is tricky to start setting caps on interest rates – but I think a limit in proportion to mortgage rates would work.

Sunday 6 November 2011

A Foot in mouth epidemic?


What a day yesterday!  Both Steve Williams (former caddy for Tiger Woods) and David Cunliffe (Finance Spokesman for Labour) made spectacular and silly gaffes!  Of course some of the reaction has been OTT.  It is ironic that someone on the left like David Cunliffe has slipped up on the pc front – if a rightish politician had done it the left would have been howling for blood!  If you want to know what they said – look at Stuff or the NZ Herald site.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5914888/Cunliffe-sends-apology-to-Collins

Saturday 5 November 2011

A neat site - StumbleUpon

A friend just told me about this yesterday.  You sign up for free, register some interests and then it finds random sites you might be interested in.  The first one was a real cracker for me.  Hopefully you will enjoy it too.  This is the link:

Guy Fawkes




Remember, remember the fifth of November
The gunpowder treason and plot


Normally I’m all for letting people have fun.  And I certainly am not in the ban fireworks brigade.  But having experienced a year where our neighbours shot what looked like rockets directly at our shingle roof, I can see the perils of fireworks in the hands of the thoughtless and/or reckless.



The following are guidelines for the safe use of fireworks:

Choose a safe place to let off your fireworks. Check that there is plenty of open  space well away from anything which could catch fire. 

Make sure there is a good supply of water available

Store and carry your fireworks carefully and safely. Keep them out of reach of young children. Keep them in a closed box or bag away from heat and flames and do not carry fireworks in your pockets.

Ensure that fireworks are lit by adults and not children.

Read the instructions carefully on your fireworks, preferably before Guy Fawkes night and read each one again before you light it (remember to use a torch for this purpose).
Stand your fireworks in dirt, sand or on a firm flat surface. Please remember that throwing fireworks can injure people and animals and damage property.

Light your fireworks at arm’s length and then stand well back. Keep well clear of fireworks which have been lit but have not gone off.
Source Kiwi Families website

It is ironic that apparently Guy Fawkes masks are being used by the “Occupy” protesters.  Why they would choose a failed protest as an emblem is anybody’s guess.

And last, but not least, if you are shooting off fireworks, please check the wind direction so you are not putting any wooden shingle roofs at risk!

Friday 4 November 2011

Australian Masterchef Finale

Ok, I admit it, I watched the final of Australian Masterchef last night... sigh .. can feel you all writing me off as hopelessly populist and naff right now.  But there you go.

The Australian version of this programme is so much better than the UK one which I can't be bothered watching.  But my beef with the finale was the ridiculous task set at the end.  The "snowman" made out of carrots was so far to the weird end of things that it made it a bit of a let down for me.

Who won?  Well actually, it doesn't matter.  They were all interesting cooks to watch.  They certainly know how to select telegenic people.

Thursday 3 November 2011

How to make a proper red curry paste

If you want to make your own Thai curries, a good place to start is with a red curry paste.  Once you have made a batch you can freeze any excess in ice cube trays or mini muffin tins and you will always have an easy start to a great stir fry or curry.

The first thing you have to do is find the right ingredients.  You won’t find them in your local supermarket – or at least I couldn’t find everything there.  So head to your nearest Asian supermarket and Asian grocery store and you should find what you need.  One essential is a largish mortar and pestle – I think granite ones are best.  Don’t buy one at a kitchen speciality shop – that will cost double what you will pay at an Asian supermarket where I bought my latest one for about $35.  It is about 6 to 7 inches high and about 20cm in diameter.

Mortar and Pestle

The ingredients for the paste are (credit to Spirit House for this).  This will make approximately 2 cups of paste which is a lot considering you only use 1 or 2 tablespoons of it at a time.  But as I mentioned before it does keep well:

15                dried red chillies soaked in a little hot water for 10 minutes and then chopped– the best chillies are long dried ones.  I have made my own in the oven but it takes a long time and you can find good ones at the Asian supermarket.  If you can't find long ones use a greater quantity of the smaller ones.

2                  small red shallots – chopped.  These are little brown onion type things which have an outer reddish layer under the brown skin.  You could substitute red onions but I did find the proper thing at the Chinese greengrocers.

12                cloves of garlic - chopped

2                  stalks of lemongrass – finely sliced.  Use the bottom half of the lemongrass.  Before you slice it, it is a good idea to give it a bash with your pestle to bruise it and bring out the aromatics.  You can get fresh frozen lemongrass both in stems and chopped form at the Asian greengrocer.  I haven’t tried the bottled sort for this.

1 tablsp        galangal – chopped.  I could only get this frozen.  You could substitute ginger

2 tablsp         coriander root – chopped.  Please note this is the root – so you need to get this from the Asian greengrocer because they leave the root on.  Don’t use the living herbs because their roots are hopeless.

1 tablsp         lime zest

2 tablsp         white peppercorns.  Important to use white rather than black.  I could only find whole ones in the Asian supermarket

2 teasp         coriander seeds, roasted – what they mean by roasted is dry fried in a non stick pan until aromatic – say 2 minutes

1 teasp          cumin seeds, roasted

½ teasp         mace, roasted – now I couldn’t find mace anywhere – even in ground form so I substituted with nutmeg – because nutmeg is stronger in flavour I used a little less

2 teasp          salt

2 teasp         shrimp paste, roasted.  It smells awful but is an essential ingredient. You get it in little cans.  This is roasted differently.  You put it into foil and fold it over a few times so it is a little packet.  Then just put it directly onto the gas flame or other heat source for a minute or so until you can smell the change in the aroma.


To make the paste

Do have everything pretty finely chopped first before you pound it in the mortar and pestle you will get a much smoother paste.

In mortar and pestle, grind the coriander, cumin and white peppercorns.  Remember to roast the coriander and cumin first.  Don’t roast the peppercorns – they would go bitter.

Add the remaining ingredients – from dry to wet and pound away until you have got a smooth paste.  Let the pestle do the work for you.

With some luck you will end up with a paste like this

Red curry paste


You might also be interested in my post on my take on Sichuan chicken - click here to go to it.

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Birth Sampler Update

I have now completed the sampler except for putting in my niece's name and birth year which will be in blue.  Working on linen rather than aida was certainly a lot more tricky but I think it has come out well - and would have looked nicer in the photo if I had ironed it.


Birth sampler - only name and date to be added


What is a politician?


A politician is an animal who can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the groundHL Mencken

The great monument hunt at Boreen Point

On a recent trip to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, we set out on a day trip from our lovely holiday apartment on Sunshine Beach (La Mer) and went to the North of Noosa for a bit of an explore.  I noticed something on the map called the Eliza Fraser Monument at Boreen Point.  So off we went.  Well finding this monument was not easy even though Boreen Point is a tiny place.  But my better half was determined that it wouldn’t get the better of him.  After casting around for over half an hour we finally found it.  I won’t give away the secret since that might spoil someone else’s fun.  Here is the monument we finally found.  It is ironic that the monument is to the person saved rather than to the convict who saved her!

The Eliza Fraser Monument 

Close up of the inscription


Tuesday 1 November 2011

Goodreads book recommendations

I am probably one of the last people to discover the Goodreads site - it lets you rate books you have read and then comes up with recommendations.  It seems to work pretty well.  It was easy to sign up via clicking the Facebook link.  Just in case there is another poor soul out there who hasn't found this site yet, the link is http://www.goodreads.com/

The Weight of E-books

I was amused by this post in Beatties Book blog.  Apparently each ebook you load onto your Kindle weighs something - just about the weight of a DNA molecure - who knew?  And how odd is it that someone took the trouble to measure it.

http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/e-readers-get-heavier-with-each-book.html

Leonard Cohen Live in London



Ok, I admit it, I was never a fan of Leonard Cohen when I was younger.  More an ABBA girl actually I have to admit.  But a colleague recommended this DVD which I watched and thought fantastic.  I then was given the CD and now find myself playing it more often than any other I keep in my car.  So put aside any previous prejudices and give it a go.  In my view he has aged into his voice.  He has a great backing group and is refreshing fulsome in acknowledging them.

Putting to one side the huge iconic tracks like Hallelujah,  other tracks I have become inordinately fond of include Bird on the Wire, Boogie Street and Democracy.