Archive
4,000 Thank you’s
This week, my little blog surprised me by clocking its 4000th visit, so I thought it a good time to say, thanks for swinging by (and coming back). I hope 2011 treats you well.
Smiles,
T.
Queensland Floods: an Underwater World story
Bob Bonnell evacuating Jean from Chuan Huat Farm, Biloela. Photo, courtesy of Dominique Tan.
Local readers would know that my home state of Queensland is currently experiencing unprecedented flooding – the affected area is bigger than our neighbouring state of New South Wales. For international readers, it exceeds the combined area of Germany and France. The city of Rockhampton is now cut off, with the Fitzroy River still to peak.
While I’m fine and far away, friends in the country aren’t. On NYE, I received a humorous but heart-breaking email from the Tan family of Biloela. Read the email below (reprinted with permission), and you’ll understand what I love about the country (I lived there for >6 years) – it’s the indomitable spirit of the people.
**************
New Year’s Eve, 2010.
Ours is just one disaster story among many. I truly regret the loss of our cars – If only we had shifted them – if only we’d known the large volume of water that would come down from the town (this is not flooding from creeks but storm run-off from the town – our property is below the level of the town). Our downstairs was thigh-high in water and all we’d done was pile things to bed & bench-top height.
Ok – have to go. Have just fielded 5 phone calls – it’s been lovely to hear from friends during a difficult time.
Dominique
Attachment
From: Richard
Sent: Friday, 31 December 2010 7:20 AM
We are fine! (sob, sob)
The place stinks.
The grass is rotting, the earth is oozing.
Dead fish and dead pigeons & chooks everywhere.
We are into day 3 of cleaning up.
So far, we’ve taken 4 Toyota loads of dead stuff to the dump (our own dump on the farm is still under water).
Look at the bright side: I’ll know how to set up the farm to avoid flood damage in future.
Also, the bamboo is the brightest they have looked since coming out of the drought.
I had photos taken whilst the water was rising.
Then, I left the camera in the Lexus.
Overnight, the Lexus got drowned.
Now, I’m waiting to see if the memory card will work, when it dries out.
I just caught my chest freezer as it floated out the back door of the carport.
I hitched it to the stairs by the electrical chord, next to the dinghy.
Good thing I saved the freezer.
The freezer had my entire fishing catch from my November fishing trip.
(SES took fish into town) I bought a new freezer, now in a friend’s carport, up town.
We also retrieved a freezer full of meat (about 150 kg) from another freezer that was in another shed.
We had killed a young bull the week before Xmas.
Our plumber, a good friend, restored fresh water to the house yesterday.
Good to have first shower after 4 days (having ‘bird-baths’ before that).
A retired electrician restored power to one of my bore-pumps.
Our normal electrician was stranded at Byfield (see ByfieldGetaway.com)
This enabled to keep all my Soon Hock fish alive (small mercies).
Also, this supplied drinking water to my pigeons that have survived (about 3,000).
Our two builders (they built sheds, etc) and family members, came to help in the cleanup.
They helped to drain water away, went through cages pulling out dead birds, etc.
It’s amazing how everyone came to help.
The numbers of people ringing up to offer help was incredible.
We are just grateful that we are not as badly off as other towns.
We can survive.
It’ll soon be a memory.
Richard
***********
The full extent of the Queensland floods will be realised when insurance assessors (currently stranded in Rockhampton) come out to affected areas and determine that some people are covered; some partially covered; and some, not at all. Many producers didn’t or couldn’t insure their animals. Furthermore, insurance companies will be particular about who’s covered under flood or storm water run-off.
Many of the people badly affected by these floods put food on Australia’s table and keep the lights on. It’s perversely bad luck to suffer floods after surviving terrible drought.
Keep these communities in your thoughts. Help out, if you can. And let’s hope the state and federal governments get the assistance packages right and in a timely manner. Country folk aren’t prone to asking for outside help (Moura SES has already closed the donation line, citing the immense charity of nearby Biloela residents), but they’re certainly going to be needing it.
Do you have any photos or stories about the floods?
Please add your words of support for flood victims to the comments.
UPDATE: Reader Lee has a great TIP, which might help those with WATERLOGGED ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT (Richard: maybe it’ll help your camera card?). ***Place water-affected electrical equipment into a sealed bag of uncooked rice for 3 days – the dry rice sucks out the moisture. DON’T turn on the camera/DS/phone until 3 days of drying, as you’ll fry the electricals.*** This has worked for a DS dropped into a toilet and a mobile phone that took a bath. Hope this helps.
LOL: Sacrifice the weatherman
With the unrelenting weather we’ve been experiencing lately (storms, Storms, STORMS), this little comedy skit strikes a chord. Stay dry & enjoy!
Road Test: Tupperware Turbo Chef
When I’m this impressed with something, I have to share it.
Tupperware Turbo Chef - the latest & greatest
Tupperware has brought out something which exceeds the popular Happy Chopper. People who’ve had both, love the new Turbo Chef the best.
If, like me, you hate having dozens of single-purpose gadgets cluttering your kitchen, you might be wondering whether it’s worthwhile. In short, it is. So impressed am I, that I’m looking at buying another two for gifts this Christmas (just don’t tell Mum & Nanna).
Simple: 3 parts, no electricity or batteries needed
I use it every day to cut up onions, carrots, apples and garlic. It’s also handy for making pesto & chopping nuts. Kids can help, because there is no way they can cut themselves on any moving parts (and an adult would handle the blades) or electrocute themselves. All they do is pull the chord.
Do this quantity in 2 quick batches
No body double or hand model was used ...
After 7 easy pulls of the string
After about 15 spins, a finer chop.
Carrot, just as the chooks like it.
PROS:
* kid-safe & nanna-safe
* fool-proof
* great for everyday use & for camping
* easy to clean
* much quicker than a knife
* much less fuss than an electric appliance
* great size (300ml) for small batch chopping (food processors for big jobs)
* precise (with a food processor, it’s easy to overdo it)
* comes with a good lid that seals (not pictured).
OTHER:
* costs $54.95
* blades not covered by Tupperware’s otherwise awesome lifetime guarantee.
RECOMMENDATION:
Buy it.
If you don’t have a Tupperware rep, try:
Natasha Yannuccelli Mob 0412 527 840 tashtupperware@gmail.com
Carmen Rooke Mob 0403 825 627 carmenstephen@bigpond.com
Or, Tupperware 1800 805 396.
P.S. I have no relationship with Tupperware or any of its sales people and accrue no financial or other benefit in reviewing this product, or any others on this blog.
HAVE YOU USED THE TURBO CHEF YET AND IF YES, WHAT DO YOU USE IT FOR?
UPDATE: The Turbo Chef is dishwasher safe (top shelf) although Tupperware recommends against putting the blade in the dishwasher.
UPDATE: I have 3 x Beauty & The Geek calendars to give away to readers commenting on the blog. They’re hilarious & I can’t possibly keep them to myself. Congratulations to Samantha – you get the first one!
UPDATE: 9:16pm Second calendar accounted for – Reader L came up with an amusing (but unpublishable!) use for the TC.
LOL: The Facebook Song (Are you f*ckin’ kidding me?)
For your pleasure, a little song by Brisbane girl, Kate Miller-Heidke about setting boundaries with Facebook friending. (Warning: language).
Have a fabulous Friday.
(With thanks to Reader Nella).
Comedy in cat food labelling
This week, the Six-Kilo-Cat developed her annual fussy-with-furballs problem, necessitating the administration of twice daily tablets, Cat-Lax paste and a whole new menu.
Scratched-up and emotionally crippled by the ordeal, I took myself to the shops in search of new cat chow – something to hide tablets in, chiefly. To this point, I’d managed to stay within the Kia-to-Corolla range of cat food, but desperation finally brought me to the Rolls Royce of kitty cuisine.
Comedians in cat food labelling...
Well, how funny did I feel, reading the labels:
* pate, marinade, jus, sauce and gravy (nary a jelly at this price point)
* sliced, shredded, whole, or strips
* chicken, turkey, duck, whitemeat, ocean fish (how discriminatory), prawns, beef, chicken hearts and livers, virgin tuna (as opposed to what, exactly?)
* accented with long grain rice, tossed with vegetables
* a delight, affair or banquet?
Readers would know that truth in advertising is something I hold dear, mainly because it happens so rarely. Give me a brand of cat food, something like this:
* Ducks’ guts in goop
* Fish eyes ‘n fins jelly
* Chicken wobblies in sauce
* Beef offal with cereal.
As the kids insightfully point out, the cat can’t read. However, after all the fuss and big-spending on new food, the kids also advise me that the boss only eats what comes out of light pink tins and still spits out the tablets. Go figure.
I’m in love with Caketopia
Today’s must-share experience is all about cake.
Cake is one of my favourite subjects. I majored in cake at law school and it did me heaps good. A dear buddy once made me a birthday cake and couldn’t get the glass out of the middle. We wore silly hats in the uni refectory, which went with the well-meant but equally inedible torte della microwave. Lucky she’s really, really good at law, is all I can say. (M, maybe we’ll order from this site next time?)
Take a look at the Caketopia blogspot and tell me that you’re not in love too.
Two examples…
(With thanks, Reader A.)
E-books & the death of book stores
With the arrival of e-books, people in publishing are deeply worried about:
A. the survival of brick ‘n mortar book stores; and
B. the future of traditional paper publishing.
What the conversation is missing, is the consumer.
What do consumers want?
Do they want paper books to continue as they are?
Do they want physical book stores?
Do they prefer e-books and e-stores?
Can they continue to have both?
Will they mind waiting longer to get Print On Demand books, instead of just taking something off a shelf?
What about the cost of books and e-devices?
In this post, I’ll focus on the effect of pricing and invite your thoughts.
The price of books & the death of book stores
The price of books in Australia is always a contentious issue. They seem expensive and yet, very few authors can live off their writing and book sellers are bleeding. People in all aspects of publishing live modestly. There’s lots of love, but not a lot of money. Why?
Book shops are diversifying more into gift lines and coffee, since book selling is becoming uneconomic due to:
* on-line selling;
* predatory discounting practices of department stores; and
* e-book retailers because (in Australia) brick ‘n mortar stores aren’t able to sell e-books (why?!).
I’ll briefly touch upon the main players in the price wars.
Parallel importation?
Over a year ago, book sellers, led by Dymocks, thought that parallel importation would save them. The New Zealand uptake of that policy proved disastrous. You can’t have eggs without chickens. Killing local publishing to save local book selling is at best, wonky thinking.
Predatory pricing
Big department stores sell books cheaper because they demand around 70 per cent off from the publishers, and they use cheap books to lure more people into the store to spend money on other things (to offset the discount). This dynamic works for consumers until the competition is killed off, then prices go up and choice goes out the door. It’s not competition; it’s a killing field.
GST
In Australia, GST is applied to all stages of a book’s production. No government has been open to dropping it. Economists tell me it’s because book sellers will apply the GST savings to their own bottom line and not pass it on to consumers.
So the choice is: GST revenue to the government to churn and burn, or leave it in the industry so that more businesses can keep their doors open (and possibly, pass on price reductions to consumers in the line of normal competition?). Frankly, I would’ve thought that an “Education Revolution” (to use a Labor Party slogan) might’ve included books.
E-books will be the final blow to Aussie book stores, unless…
E-books are currently retailing around $9.99 on Amazon and according to Michael Hyatt, there’s no likelihood that prices will sustainably drop below that point. E-publishing and e-distribution, perhaps surprisingly, doesn’t deliver big cost savings.
I think that once publishers work out all the other funky things they can do in the e-world, prices will eventually go up because they’ll be producing more on-line content to sell their books. Publishers will rise from the ashes of burned out book stores insofar as they’ll be selling directly to online consumers.
In America, e-books are rapidly gaining popularity. The Aussie uptake has been slow and the publishing industry has been reluctant to respond to the new paradigm. Australia doesn’t have the population to shoulder massive market changes as readily. That being said, we can’t put it off any longer.
Conclusion
So, what will e-books do to the price of books in Australia? Not much, it seems, unless the government removes the GST from the equation and revises competition law. With the GST in place, more people will shop on-line to avoid it and brick ‘n mortar book stores in Australia will continue their rapid decline in the face of anti-competitive practices by bigger players.
People will go to book shops to have coffee, browse inside books and then purchase them (either in paper or electronic format) elsewhere, online. That’s not a sustainable business model. Book sellers had better come up with something new, quickly, to value-add to the experience of loving books.
While $9.99 for an e-book is up to half the price of a traditional book, you have to buy the e-reader as well. And even though they are coming down in price, will you be buying one for your kids this Christmas? They aren’t so forgiving when dropped. And how many e-books do you have to buy to make up the savings as against the cost of the device?
I’m not against e-books. I’m not advocating for them, either. I love what’s inside books and where those books take me. People should have a choice. I just hope that the Australian government and industry get the balance right, before our favourite book shops bleed out.
QUESTION:
What do you wish you could tell the government or publishing industry in Australia? Do you think book shops will survive?
N.B. I encourage all respectful views. Feel free to disagree, without being disagreeable. No-one has all of the answers. Sharing is caring.
Road test: BEERBIRD DIY BBQ Chook
Dear Readers,
Today, I’m introducing a new correspondent (I can’t do all the fun stuff alone) to report to us on new things in the world of beer & barbecues.
Congratulations Lou! Lou is the kind of girl who turns up to a Tupperware party with an esky on wheels, full of beer – it sure made the balloon popping game at the last one fun.
Below, you’ll find an accurate and contemporaneous record of her first attempt at making a chook with the BEERBIRD device. I gave it a few days before posting, to ensure she and her family survived.
Who thinks of these things?
From the backyard of Lou: BBQ & Beer Correspondent
Alright…here goes!!! The fridge is stocked, the BBQ is cleaned, summer is here and one bird is going to cook! Ingredients are ready…chook, beer and spices. Preparation: Ensure adequate stock of favourite beer, open can and quench thirst (repeat as required) (DONE). Set aside spices (DONE). Open another can and take several gulps (about to commence this stage…stay tuned…so far tasks have been extremely difficult…hoping it gets easier)…
…now where was I up to…how many cans is that??? oh yeah…take several gulps (make them small gulps to that the can is still just over two thirds full)-(MOST DIFFICULT STAGE YET – WHEN TO STOP?? Mark says can is only half full…ok…get another can and redo that step…no worries)…rub spice mixture over bird…plunk bird over can…transfer to BEERBIRD grill and place in centre of covered BBQ…once lid to BBQ is closed, crack open another frostie, sit back and wait (HAD THOUGHT HARDEST PART WAS DONE BUT THIS DRINKING BEER AND WAITING IS TOUGH!!).
Beautiful aroma is wafting around the place one and a half hours later. Recipe says to leave in for one and three quarter hours however opened the lid to put the vegies in so will leave for a total of two and a quarter hours maybe…we’ll see how it goes.
Chook out…looks and smells great…fourteen year old son comments…that chook smells good! Vegies not cooked yet so chook on warmer in oven til vegies done…should have put vegies in earlier…anyway…all can’t go perfectly first time round…
Total YUM!
Ok, the verdict is…chook tastes pretty fantastic. Looks great when carving, still juicy and the flavours are just YUM. Can’t recall tasting a better chook in recent times. Asked fourteen year old male how the chook was after finished…”Heaps Hectic”…I think that is good…he went back for two more servings. Now for some finer details; the information in the recipe book was spot on, the beer can still had the same amount of liquid in after cooking as stated and the timing was right. After doing this whole beer process, there was a sentence down the very bottom which says BEERBIRD is also delicious when soft drink substitutes are used such as; cola, carbonated fruit juice and ginger beer. Now if I had known that I wouldn’t have had to drink so much beer to cook a chook…oh well…the things one does. I do think however I will stick with the process I used today as I believe in tried and tested and why change something that is already proven to be perfect.
The only thing we may have added that BEERBIRD doesn’t mention is that we use some Jack Daniels smoking chips in the BBQ as well.
As if it couldn't get any better ... (It's for the BBQ).
We have done a chook on a rotisserie with these chips on the BBQ before and as nice as that chook was, BEERBIRD is easier to do, easier to clean, tasted better and more juicy. There are a few different flavours in the recipe book. We used the BBQ Beer Bird spice recipe for this one but will be keen to try the others in the future. We are thinking of getting another BEERBIRD so we can have two chooks for when we have visitors. Another interesting point on further reading is that if you don’t have a hooded BBQ, this can be done in the oven at 180C but since we have one, we will continue the aussie tradition of outdoor quality BBQ entertaining with a few amber refreshments on a gorgeous summer’s day or night.
Joke taken from the BEERBIRD recipe book – Q: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? A: Neither, The Rooster
FINAL VERDICT: BEERBIRD is heaps hectic. Go get one. Or, two. Beats Christmas turkey!
UPDATE: An email from Barry @ BEERBIRD:
Hi Theresa,
Just read the blog – brilliant, thank you!
Please pass our thanks on to Lou – I’m thrilled that she liked it so much. Please tell her that it also comes in a double version (for cooking two chickens.)
Best regards,
Barry Owen
QUESTION: Have you had any BEERBIRD or other BBQ tips or experiences you’d like to share?
Theresa Lauf
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The Other Column 
Review: “Tangled”, the movie
Disney’s kids’ flick, “Tangled” came out in Aussie cinemas yesterday.
It’s a gorgeous, hilarious re-imagined, Disney interpretation of the classic fairytale, “Rapunzel”. To its credit, the film isn’t called “Rapunzel” (unlike “Gulliver’s Travels” which were nothing of the sort).
Even Rotten Tomatos loves this movie.
I won’t give away the story, but will say that it’s worth taking the kids to. Everyone gets plenty of laughs and the Disney magic sparkles. The tunes were cute, the morals were intact and the pictures sure were pretty.
And, does it make the parentals hide behind Kleenex? Indeed, it does.
Thumbs up. Go see it.
(And, parents of little girls, be ready for the conversation about how long they’re going to grow their hair….)