Nostimini seasoning rub

the package of spice rub and raw chicken wings 

 I got this package of Nostimini spice rub at Harry's Greek outlet on centre road in Clayton. I was told that it was "beautiful" with any kind of meat, and that I didn't have to do anything but sprinkle it on, then barbecue the meat! No chopping onions, no marinading overnight. With chicken, you don't even have to add oil because the chicken skin is full of fat that drips all over the meat anyway.

So, here I've used chicken wings that we got for $3 a kilo. and yes, it was indeed, "beautiful" and absolutely scrumptious. Although it was "barbecued" in our little electric toaster oven at home, the whole kitchen smelled like we were at a barbie, and the flavour was really really good. I can't figure out what's in it, perhaps oregano? and 100 other things. Anyway, I hope we'll be able to find somewhere in Hobart that supplies this coz it's so so good.

We had it with belacan stir fried kangkung [our home grown ones!] and rice. If you were Greek, you'd probably have it with salad and bread. Either way, it was completely delicious.

microwave strawberry jam

 I'm back in Hobart!! and so glad to be as well. melbourne was so hot and humid! but, it's freezing here now. humans are so hard to please. I'd like the temperature to be between 20-24C, no more no less. but, it looks like it's already autumn now.

anyway, it's so good to be home. the hubby bought 600g of strawberries at salamanca on saturday and we couldn't eat them all and some were turning moudly [yuck] so i quickly did a search for jam. I used one from the taste.com.au site, where you microwave the strawberry pulp with sugar and lemon juice. it tastes great, but the mess from the overflow was so hard to clean! I wouldn't recommend using a microwave. i think doing it on the stovetop in a big heavy pot would be better.

here's the hubby and feline, having a nap together. how cozy they look....

potatoes!!

 I finally decided to dig out the potatoes, after waiting since October last year. The foliage had begun to die off, and it's been about 4 weeks since the flowers died.

 It was like digging for buried treasure!

 Some were big, some small...but I was excited to see them all

There's that magical feeling..after watering it for months, watching it grow..but never seeing the actual potatoes under the soil, but having faith that they're there..and then finally, one day, digging them up and seeing what you had faith in to see! I'll be using a few in a curry tomorrow.yum!

it's raining, it's pouring....

 I've been away from home for almost 2 months now, while completing my nursing placements in Melbourne. But, it's good too be home just for a few days to rest and recuperate. The work at the hospitals aren't necessarily difficult,but staying up all night on night shifts have a way of wrecking your digestion, cognition and mood!

Above, our first tomato from our first tomato plant. As you can see it was far from perfect, quite disappointing to find a beautiful tomato...then see a huge hole on its side! sigh...

 This is Socks, our neighbour's cat but it treats our home as its own, meowing to come in every evening and sometimes in the arvo. Also, it uses us as warm blooded furniture.

It's not very often that we can get him to pose for a picture!

Tiger airways has got to be the worst airline ever....

once, gav was scheduled to come visit me but his flight was cancelled, and he was only informed the night before, just 10 hours before the flight! so he ended up having to book another flight, paying $220 for it. so, although we were refunded the $40 for the original flight, we ended up paying more than 5 times more for another flight. This wasn't the first time we were disappointed by tiger. The first time we took it, the flight was delayed 7 times, with us ending up waiting in the departure hall for more than 4 hours. Still, i was so stupid to think that it was just a one off event, and booked them again for a flight to melbourne for my exam, and got charged an unexpected $25 extra for checking in at the counter, when there was no mention at all on the website that i was meant to check in online. So, i've only ever had ONE flight with tiger where everything happened as expected. I felt very cheated, so i'll never take them again no matter how cheap the tickets are because more likely than not, something bad will happen. I'd heard a lot of bad things about them before but was too foolish to heed the warnings, being eager to save a few dollars but ended up having to spend so much more! sigh

it's a miracle!!!

 only last early December, our kangkong stalks looked like this.

and now, it looks like this! yay. Looks like I made the right call of flooding it with water instead of using the usual pots with drainage. This is because they like being flooded.

a Chinese parable

I was having a chat with a friend over some wanton noodles in Box Hill recently when we came to the subject of how to treat "friends" who hurt or betray us. He told me this analogy which he said was "although funny, has a very deep meaning". I sat back to listen.

"If a dog bit you, would you be angry with it?"  Uh..yes of course i would!

"But, would you bite the dog back, in revenge?"

hahhahaa....of course not, was my answer. But he says there are some people who're angry, vengeful and foolish enough to bite back. So that's the whole point of the story. If someone's done you some wrong, and they're character deficient, it's all very well to be upset about it, but don't stoop down to their level and behave in a similar fashion. You'd only be acting like an animal then. Being of a higher "quality" of character, one ought to take the high ground.

Hmm..............but what exactly does that mean in practical terms, I don't know. I suppose I'd avoid that dog at all costs.