Whimsical Today and Whimsical Tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 01:29:00 +0000

Hi you will be redirected in a few moments to the new blog.

Should the redirection not work, the new blog url is

http://www.thats-serendipity.com
Please remember to update your bookmarks and links to reflect the
change in address

Cheers
Whims :-)

The Lonely Raspberry MSC Award

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:24:00 +0000

As a follow on from my last blog post Copy ... Paste ... Infringe Copyright ... and Repeat! I decided to create The Lonely Raspberry MSC Award.

A little info about the award:

The Lonely Raspberry MSC (Most Stolen Content) Award is an award for those ‘special’ individuals that seem to excel online and get ahead, regardless of their apparent disregard for the efforts of other people, via consistently flaunting the rules by ignoring and infringing copyrights, usage permissions (and/or just plainly and simply, making a habit out of plagiarizing the works of others).

It's to show public recognition that the recipient's lack of ethics is not going unnoticed in the online world!

Rules for giving the award:
The award must always be given to someone who is TRULY and honestly deserving of the recognition.
It must not ever be given, to simply be nasty towards someone. To do so, detracts from awards 'value'.
It's not one of those online awards that require being passed from one recipient to the next. The recipient need not do anything further with the award. One thing almost for certain though - in giving this award to someone, you'll most likely elicit at least one of a few possible reactions:
The recipient will claim they have every 'right' to copy and use the material without permission, for reasons A, B, C.. (please refer to Bloggers Beware: Debunking Nine Copyright Myths of the Online World by Kathy Biehl, or...
They might go into 'victim' mode, and carry on to all and sundry how they didn't know they were doing the wrong thing and have been targeted in some way (this even seems to occur with serial offenders).
The recipient could get really pissed with you, cause they have been caught out and have found they really don't like their sudden thrust into the limelight.
The recipient may also get really pissed with you, if YOU haven't done your research properly and have given the award to someone who ISN'T truly deserving of it; in which case YOU deserve the recipient's anger, flames and anything else that results from your own actions!
When giving the award, you must purse your lips and blow long and loud raspberries!
To the recipient:
Sit back and bask in the new found attention and 'status', as its a definite acknowledgment of your consistently, outstanding 'efforts' online and your 'expert' skill set. Efforts? Yeah ... um right!

The featured raspberry in the award, is courtesy of stock.xchng - imageid:814095.

Please note that this post is satirical in nature (um....maybe), however I take no responsibility for any events or actions that may result through someone's actual use of the award.

Copy .. .Paste ... Infringe Copyright ... and Repeat!

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:10:00 +0000

Found a couple (of what I thought to be) really interesting and informative reads today online.

The first is a document put out by The Australian Copyright Council called "User-generated content & Web 2.0 websites" published in March '09. It's a definite 'must read' for anyone under AU copyright jurisdiction that has a blog, website, forum or similar that uses content submitted by users/members of their service; whether it be by way of comments, forum posts or other user submitted content. It not only helps to outline what permissions and usage rights a website proprietor has (or doesnt have) to content generated by their website/blog/forum members but also what responsibilities a website proprietor has to ensure people that use their service don't infringe upon the copyright of others too.

Unfortunately A.C.C. doesn't allow direct linking to their documents however it can be found via the main page of their website and is the second last link in the What's New section.

The second thing that I found really informative reading, is an article by Kathy Biehl - Bloggers Beware: Debunking Nine Copyright Myths of the Online World.

This is a top notch article for those individuals that seem to think because they can't find a 'visible' copyright notice on an article, website, image or (insert item of choice here) that they have the right to republish it and use it however they see fit to; or that it's ok to simply copy, paste and republish someone else's work as long as they attribute the work and/or link to it; or they can use someone else's article, image or similar until the copyright owner actually objects to it and tells them to remove it or take it down.. um WRONG!, WRONG! and WRONG AGAIN!

The 9 myths covered by the article, along with clear, easy to understand explanations for each one are:

It's okay to use anything that doesn't have a copyright notice
It's okay to use anything that's online, because if it's online, it's in the public domain and up for grabs
It's okay to use anything as long as I'm not making any money off it.
It's okay for a non-profit organization to use anything.
It's okay to use anything as long as I give credit.
It's okay to use anything as long as I include the creator's copyright notice.
It's okay to use anything as long as I take it down when the copyright holder objects.
It's okay to use something if I can't find the copyright holder.
It's okay to use something if I asked for permission and didn't get a response.

Article: Bloggers Beware: Debunking Nine Copyright Myths of the Online World by Kathy Biehl

Homemade Hummous

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 05:01:00 +0000

Finally managed to get my hands on some chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans). Maybe I was looking in the wrong places for them, however I had been having a hard time finding the dried ones (red lentils also seem to be a 'rarity' for some reason). I should have known, that the place I should have looked first, would be Bakaliko Greek American Delicatessen! Can you tell I'm a 'fan' of the shop?? lol

Recipe for Hummous

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans). I like to cook up my own from the dried ones.. however canned ones work just as well.
Juice of 1 or 2 limes. I've used lemon juice in this batch because I had lemons on hand, but I usually prefer to use lime juice.
4-5 Tablespoons tahini
4 cloves of crushed garlic
Olive oil (I generally guestimate the amount of this)
Cumin and paprika (to taste)

Method:

Pop the cooked chickpeas into a blender or food processor.
Add in the lime/lemon juice and give it a few quick pulses to get it broken down a little.
Add the tahini and crushed garlic. Pulse again a few more times
Start slowly drizzling in the oil in small amounts and keep blending until you have a smooth yet not runny mixture.
Sprinkle with cumin and paprika to taste.
You can adjust the amounts of lime juice, garlic, tahini and oil to suit your personal preferences.

Quick note

You can roast the cloves of garlic before putting them into the hummous. This gives a wonderful flavour, yet helps to reduce the dreaded 'garlic breath'.
This is great served with Stuffed Vine Leaves (Dolmades), flat bread and pieces of lamb, along with sticks of celery and carrot or florets of brocolli and similar.

How not to take a photo whilst trying to crush garlic.

Cheers
Whims :-))

Stuffed Vine Leaves (Dolmades)

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:16:00 +0000

I've not made these for ages, not sure why except that we are able to buy huge tins of them from Bakaliko Greek American Delicatessen

Anyhow, I've been using this recipe since the early 90's and whilst the rolling of them is a little fiddly, the rest is easy as and they are certainly delicious.

Recipe for Stuffed Vine Leaves (Dolmades)

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup long grain white or brown rice
1 cinnamon stick
Fresh vine leaves (if available) although I usually use ones that have been puchased and are in brine and just make sure I rinse them really well
Pine nuts
Black currants
Cayenne pepper
I generaly guestimate the amount of currants and pine nuts.. i like the currants so tend to be somewhat heavy handed with them lol

Method:

Boil the rice with the cinnamon stick.
Remove the cinnamon stick and mix the pine nuts and currants into teh rice and allow to cool
Take a vine leaf and place it infront of you, flat on your work surface with the vein side up and the stem towards you.
Place a dessertpoon of the rice filling onto the leaf, near the stem.
Start to roll the leaf up away from you and after one full roll, fold the right and left sides of the leaf into the middle.
Then continue to roll it up, to create a nice, tight, neat parcel.
Place the rolled vine leaves in a flat layer into a greased saucepan with the folded edge on the bottom.
You can stack these on top of each other but layer them evenly.
Once completed cover with a mix of garlic, fresh lemon juice, olive oil and some water and place a heat proof dish or plate ontop of them to weight them down in the pan.
Bring to the boil and simmer for around 15-20mins.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Serve with hommous, flat bread and wedges of lemon.

Cheers
Whims :-))

Clients From Hell and Other Humor For Your Day

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:29:00 +0000

I was having a nosey around the net today, and checking some websites that I hadn't visited for a while and landed at Clients From Hell.

Whilst this site involves examples of clients in relation to site design/coding, multimedia and print projects, if you have ever had to personally deal with clients and their non-payment of fees; constantly add their 2 cents worth of input and 'expertise' on a project they are contracting you to do; or ongoing requests for multiple changes and edits to plans and/or designs that weren't allowed for in the agreed contract, I'm sure you will be able to relate to at least some of content and humor of this site.

A couple of quotes that had me chuckling:

Client: "I want my website to have a forum, and a blog, and e-commerce, and photos, and videos, and podcasts, and a place where people can make their own profile and talk to other people like Twitter."

Me: "Ok, what is your budget for this project?"

Client: "Oh, well, I mean, like $200."

I asked a client if he had any content to populate the site we were developing.

He replied, "No. It just has to look like a populated website so that it can be perceived as one"

Client: "Just make it look like the site I showed you. In fact, why don’t you go into their site and take the images?"

Me:"Because that is illegal."

Go check it out - Clients From Hell; you can also follow Clients From Hell on twitter.

Another site that always gets a giggle out of me too is The Oatmeal with some of the comics: Ten Things You Need to Stop Tweeting About and How to Suck at Facebook just for starters.

Cheers
Whims

Shrimp in Tomato and Feta Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:59:00 +0000

I was spoilt this evening. Hubby said he was going to cook dinner, and whilst his choice of dish didn't particularly enthrall me to begin with (I couldn't for the life of me relate to shrimp being coupled with feta cheese), my thoughts on that rapidly changed as the aroma wafting from the kitchen as it cooked was amazing and once I tasted it, I was definitely hooked. This is now on our list of family favorites!

I don't know where this recipe is from originally however hubby hijacked it from his brother.

Recipe for Shrimp in Tomato and Feta Sauce

Ingredients:

1 Tbspn olive oil
1 large onion chopped
1 clove garlic (minced)
1/4 C fresh finely chopped parsley
1 Tbspn finely chopped fresh dill
2/3 C crumbled feta cheese
3 C chopped tomatos (canned ones worked nicely)
1 pound raw, peeled and deveined medium sized shrimp. You can leave the tails on and if you are using frozen shrimp, thaw them before use.

Method:

Preheat oven to 420F/215C.
Heat the oil in a large oven-proof skillet (affiliate link) over a medium-high heat.
Toss in the onion and cook until it has softened.
Add the garlic and cook for a further 30-60 seconds until it becomes aromatic and fragrant.
Add the tomatoes, bring to the boil and then turn to a low simmer until the sauce reduces and thickens a little (approx 10mins).
Remove the skillet from the heat.
Stir in the feta cheese, herbs, shrimp.
Place the skillet into the oven and bake approx 10-12 mins (until the shrimp are cooked through)
Serve immediately over pasta and/or with crusty Italian bread.

Unfortunately I didn't think to take any photos (affiliate link)of the this during the actual prep and cooking. I try to stay out of the kitchen when hubby is cooking or he seems to get all flustered lol
We ended up having it with some lovely fresh bread that hubby picked up from our fav Greek Delicatessen over at Hicksville

Bumping and Grinding with Martha Stewart!

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:51:00 +0000

Well ok, maybe not quite. However she is pole dancing; take a peek!

For a woman of close to 70 she is looking pretty darn 'hot'. I can only hope that I will look a fraction that good, when I reach her age.

I also love her seeming ability to have a laugh at herself and her willingness to jump in, have a go and embrace life. Does nothing ever phase this woman? Go Martha!

I'm sure there is a lesson here for quite a few of us ;-)

Wickedly Delicious No Added Sugar Rich Chocolate Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:12:00 +0000

Both my brother in-law and mother in-law here in the US are Type II diabetics and my younger sister in Australia is Type I diabetic, along with myself having had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my daughter.

Unfortunately we do all have a sweet tooth and for this reason, I find I am often tweaking or altering recipes for desserts and similar to see how they turn out and if they pass the family 'taste test' as lower sugar or no added sugar versions of the original recipes.

One of my family's favorite chocolate cakes is the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate, Chocolate Cake. It's rich, lush and moist with a texture similar to mud cake but not quite so 'dense'; and it is oh sooooooo laden with sugar!

So, I thought I would set about seeing how this would cook up as a no-added sugar variation and if I could keep it tasting just as wonderfully decadent yet a little more diabetic friendly. The final result passed the BIL and MIL taste test along with my husband also stating 'it tastes great!' (and he is picky with cakes, cookies, desserts and similar).

Recipe for Wickedly Delicious No Added Sugar Rich Chocolate Cake

Cake Ingredients:

2C Splenda
1-3/4C plain flour
3/4C cocoa
1- 1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
2 eggs
1C milk
1/2C vegetable oil
1C boiling water
1/4C sugar free raspberry preserves (for filling)

Frosting Ingredients:

1 sachet Dream Whip
1-1/2C milk
1 package chocolate sugar free instant pudding/pie mix

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease and flour two 9" round cake tins.
Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract.
Bat on medium speed for 2 minutes
Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin/runny).
Pour into pans in roughly equal amounts.
Bake 30-35mins or until skewer comes out clean.
Cool in pans for 10-15mins before turning out onto cooling rack.
When the cake(s) are completely cooled, spread the sugar free preserves onto the top of one of the cakes.
Place the other cake on top of the bottom one, to create a 'sandwich'.
Pour the chilled milk into a medium sized bowl.
Add the sachet of Dream Whip and sachet of sugar free instant pudding/pie mix.
Beat on medium speed until combined.
Then beat on high speed for 4-6 minutes, until soft peaks begin to form from the mixture.
Use this mixture to 'ice' the cake.
Place into the fridge for an hour or so, to chill before serving.

Notes:This cake rises a lot, however it does also often collapse back in on itself a little too as it cools.

I ended up making two seperate cakes, one in a silicon fluted pan, the other in a glass bar dish. With the cake in the glass bar dish, I spread that with just the frosting mix, and served it as a dessert at the dinner table.

I didn't have any on hand at the time, however if you make the cake in a fluted tin, fill the center hole with fresh raspberries prior to serving.

You can evidently make a lower fat variety by omitting the vegetable oil in the cake and adding another sachet of dream whip to the dry ingredients + 2 extra eggs in with the wet ingredients, however I'm not sure how this would affect the texture/taste of the cake or if it even works, as I am yet to try it.

Enjoy!
Whims ;-)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:16:00 +0000

I was honestly starting to despair and feeling somewhat deprived and 'depressed' regarding the lack of any snow so far this winter.

So, you can imagine my childlike delight and excitement on Saturday afternoon when flakes of the white stuff started to appear from the sky!

By Saturday evening it had well and truly set in and by Sunday morning it was a winter wonderland!

Recipe for Bread and Butter Pudding

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:49:00 +0000

Whilst bread and butter pudding in itself is a very basic dessert, it's one that is very close to my heart. As a child I often spent part of the school holidays with my grandmother (mom's mom) and would get whisked away to her house for the occasional weekend as a treat. Most of my happiest childhood memories are of spending time with her, swimming at Bronte Beach and learning to cook in her funny little kitchen with it's uneven floor and cupboards, chairs and table all decked out in deep blues and greens. It's the first pudding that I can ever remember her teaching me how to cook.

Gran passed away very recently, which has saddened me a great deal. I cant help but smile though as I think about her, and how very blessed I am to have such wonderful memories of her and for all the time and love she gave to me when I was younger.

Recipe for Bread and Butter Pudding
Ingredients

6 slices of bread
Butter for spreading
2 eggs
1.75 cups milk
0.5 cups raisins
2 Tablespoons sugar
0.5 teaspoons nutmeg
0.5 teaspoons vanila extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C/360°F
Butter the bread and cut each slice into quarters or fingers. You can remove the crusts if you want to however I prefer to leave them on as I like the way they cook up.
In a bowl, beat the milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract together.
Place a layer of the buttered bread into the bottom of an oven proof dish
Sprinke with some of the raisins.
Add another layer of bread and then more raisins
Continue until all the bread and raisins have been used.
Gently pour in the milk mixture.
Sprinkle the top with a little nutmeg
Pop it into the oven for approx 40 minutes
It's ready when the top is golden and the custard has set and a knife comes out clean

I also like to do variations of this pudding as well.

Generously spread each slice of bread with strawberry or raspberry jam and cut the amount of sugar used down to 2 teaspoons.
Spread each slice of bread with marmalade and substitute mixed peel for the raisins, and again reduce the amount of sugar.

Other variations of this pudding that you might also like, that I haven't yet tried but sound pretty yummy are Banana Bread and Butter Pudding, Rich Bread and Butter Pudding, Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding Recipe from:

Photo of Bronte Beach courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/ / CC BY 2.0

Atlantis Marine World, Riverhead NY

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:26:00 +0000

Much as I generally loathe the commercialism of 'tourist attractions', we recently made a trip out to Atlantis Marine World at Riverhead, NY and had an absolute blast!

I cant say it was an inexpensive day out; however, they do have coupons available on their website which cut the admission price down a little and we packed a cooler with our own drinks, a picnic lunch and snacks which we left in the car until we wanted to eat. They do allow passes out too which is great, cause it meant we were able to go and eat lunch and then go back inside to continue with our exploration of the marine life.

It's quite deceiving from the outside of the building, just how large it is inside and the how much stuff they have going on. The only disappointment I had, was that the otters were no where to be found, having said that though, the snow monkeys were great to see and the highlight of our visit was the pool just inside the entry way that had the rays in it. The rays were amazing, we were able to pat them (they felt almost like a velvet they were that soft) and they were so comical with the way they would swim up to the edge of the pool and get all excited whilst vying for attention! I finally worked out some of the settings on the digital camera too (with hubby's help) and managed to get the drive function working on it so I was able to take a few continues shots in rapid succession which helped when the fish were swimming.

Recipe for Quick Easy Vegetable and Lentil Curry

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:45:00 +0000

With the cooler winter months arriving; moms and dads often leave for work before daylight and most families not arriving home from their day until close to or after dark, this is the time of year when people seek out and turn to 'comfort' foods. Foods that tickle the senses with their colors, aromatics and flavors; that warm both the belly and the soul.

If there is one thing I do love on a cold winter's eve, it's curry! I also love lentils! These tasty little gems, packed with nutrition can be added to a variety of dishes from soups to curries to meatloaf.

Recipe for Quick Easy Vegetable Lentil Curry
Ingredients

1.5 Cups red lentils
1 large onion
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 large carrot
1 large potato
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
1 med zuchinni sliced into rounds approx 1/2" thick
1 cup sliced green beans
3 cups vegetable stock
1 400g tin crushed tomatoes
2 teaspoons black mustard seeds (optional)
2 T mild curry paste
1/2 cup coconut milk

Method:

Give the lentils a quick rinse in some cold water.
Saute the onion and garlic until soft.
Add the curry paste and black mustard seeds and continue to cook for one minute.
Add the vegetable stock, crushed tomatoes, lentils, carrot and potato.
Bring to the boil and then simmer for approx 20mins (until the potato and carrot are tender)
Add coconut milk, green beans, zucchini and bell pepper and cook for a further 5-10mins.
Take off the heat and garnish each bowl with a little fresh coriander.
Can be served with fresh lime and pappadams. I often have the pappadams with it but dont worry about the lime. I also often add a some sliced small red chilies if I am only cooking for hubby and myself.

**Adapted slightly from the original recipe from the 2007 University of Wollongong's Student Tucker

Samousádes

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:33:00 +0000

We haven't indulged in any Greek desserts for a while. Usually we buy them from Bakaliko, our fav Greek grocery store. Bakaliko really is an amazing shop and their desserts are impossible to resist cause they are just to die for! I could spend days in there browsing at all their goodies. Hubby was in heaven when he found they stock Greek Mountain Tea. Greek Mountain Tea is his oreo cookie, his 'comfort' food. It stirs fond childhood memories of his father, who would often brew it and add a dash of honey just before serving it to the family.

I've strayed from our norm this time around and after rummaging through the kitchen cupboards and finding that I had everything I needed on hand (except for the cinnamon sticks), I decided to try my hand at making Samousádes.

My photography skills leave a lot to be desired and these delicious morsels finished up looking rather um rustic in appearance (I keep telling myself that rustic is a 'good' description!) lol; however, both hubby and daughter have given them a huge thumbs up after the family taste testing!

Recipe for Samousádes (makes approx 1 dozen pieces)
Ingredients
Pastry

2.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup warmed vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
warm water
1/4 cup olive oil

Filling

1 pound chopped walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Syrup

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup honey
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Method:

Place the flour into a large bowl and pour the warmed vegetable oil into it.
Using your fingertips, rub the oil into the flour until it resemebles fresh breadcrumbs.

Add the salt and small amounts of water whilst kneading it, until you end up with a fairly soft dough.
Cover the dough in the bowl with some plastic wrap and place it aside to sit for 1-2 hours.

In a seperate bowl mix all the filling ingredients together and then place them aside.
Place all the syrup ingredients into a saucepan and boil for approx 15-20mins. It will turn a lovely deep amber colour. Take it off the heat and allow the syrup to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350F
When the dough is ready, halve it and place one half onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out into a thin rectangular sheet no more than approx 2mm in thickness (I unfortunately didnt roll mine quite thin enough but it still cooked up fine and tasted delicious).
Brush it with some of the olive oil.
Evenly sprinkle a layer of half the filling over the top of the dough.
Then from the edge that is closest to you, begin to roll the sheet of dough with the filling, similar to making a jelly/jam roll.
Once its all rolled up, slice across the roll to form pieces of approx 2" in length.
Repeat the above steps with the second piece of dough and the remaining filling.
Pop these into a baking tray and into the oven for approx 45mins or until a lovely golden colourWhen you take it out of the oven, spoon over the cooled syrup.

These can be eaten warm however I prefer them once they have been chilled and had time for some of the syrup to soak into them.
Enjoy!

Whims

Blue Claw Crab from the Great South Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:28:00 +0000

If I've said it once, I'll say it again a thousand times! A few of the many things I love about Long Island are the beaches, the Great South Bay and the amazing fresh seafood!

The above photo, is the stunning view I am greeted with daily from the local pier (less than a 10min walk from our front door)!

As a family we regularly have a blast there of an evening, as we set up folding chairs to sit and relax for a couple of hours and toss in the crab pots or roam up and down with a bright light and net.

Happy excitement from our daughter as she pulls up a trap to find it crawling with crabs, or as she watches the crabs swimming up to our light on the surface of the water and she hurriedly scoops them up with the net.

Seafood this fresh should be 'bastardized' as little as possible; more is NOT always better when it comes to cooking!

How to steam fresh blue claw crab

Place it in a pot.
Keep it simple; steam it with nothing more than some slices of fresh lemon or a little fresh basil and oregano to 'season' the steam.
It's cooked once the shells and legs turn a vivid red
Break open the legs and shell; dip the meat in a little melted butter, seasoned with coarsely ground, black pepper
Prepare for Nirvana, as the firm, succulent, sweet flesh joins with and caresses your tastebuds!

Also, incase you have missed the annoucement, I have a giveaway happening atm, to go in the draw you can find the details here: Christmas Card Giveaway

Free Printable Christmas Gift Certificates

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:38:00 +0000

Download the Free Printable Christmas Gift Certs and have fun with them!

Christmas is coming up next month, and it's been a while since I have offered a new printable for downloading, so I thought some printable Christmas gift certificates might be a nice idea. They are in pdf format and have been left blank, with space to insert a recipient's name, what the certificate is for and the name of the sender. To see a larger view of the certificates, please click the image at the beginning of this post and a larger image should open up for you to have a look at.

Some suggestions for gift ideas for the certificates are:

a dinner cooked by me
a movie night with the video of your choice
breakfast in bed cooked by me
a super duper long cuddle from me
keeping my room tidy for a month without being nagged (great if kids are giving the certificates to their parents)

I'm going to be announcing something special on Fri Oct 20

, so you may want to subscribe to my rss feed or for email updates so you don't miss out on the details. If you aren't sure how to subscribe, at the top right of my blog is an rss icon and a box to submit your email address. The following image should help you.

Cheers
Whims

These Christmas gift certificates are for personal non-commercial use and are for fun purposes only, they have no monetary value and can not be redeemed for cash or goods

Time to grab the kayaks!

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:22:00 +0000

As I mentioned in my previous post, most of our suburb has been underwater in varying degrees. The stink has finally abated, however last night the smell was worse than 1000 dirty nappies (give or take a few)!!! Unfortunately these pics are somewhat misleading/deceptive in that they don't really give a clear indication as to just how deep the water is in some parts. Most of the houses are not at street level and their yards and driveways etc are raised up somewhat to begin with, so the water is quite a bit deeper in spots than what it seems to be in the photos. The third pic down of the boat, normally, the top of the boats windshield (? i'm not a boating person lol) would be about level with the top of the wooden pylons that are next to it; this area is usually a canal with a footpath and boats docked along the canal in the water and its a good step down into one of the boats especially at low tide

If you want to see larger versions of the pics, you can click on any one of them and then scroll thru the set of larger images by mousing over the left or right edge of each image which will display a 'next' or 'prev' photo link.

Beware of the Killer Thanksgiving Turkey!

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:12:00 +0000

We have Thanksgiving fast screaming up on us, with Christmas closely following on it's heels! I love turkey and whilst i also love roast or mashed sweet potato, I find the whole concept of them with maple syrup just a little disturbing and strange.

I was checking out turkey's in one of our local supermarkets yesterday, looking at the prices and sizes (I'm still a thanksgiving 'novice' having only experienced my first Thanksgiving last year) and much to my horror, the so called 'frozen' turkey's ... weren't! Sure they were in the freezer section, but it had been so overstocked and packed so high, all the top layer of turkeys were above the 'safe' freezer fill line and were in varying stages of being semi to fully defrosted. Is that a salmonella outbreak waiting to happen or what?! Hubby promptly went and sought out one of the floor staff to bring it to the store's attention, to which the staff's response was basically it wasn't his problem to sort it out as he didn't belong to the meat dept. We did finally manage to track down the store supervisor, who the help desk staff were reluctant to call to the front desk. He seemed pretty disinterested in the situation too but he did assure us that the turkey's would be removed.

We qualified for a free turkey from this supermarket last year and we will again this year too. I'm going to assume the store supervisor did the right thing and got rid of the risky birds, I have no reason to think he would have done otherwise, however even with having said that both hubby and myself have kind of since decided to go without a free turkey this year and we'll be purchasing one - elsewhere.

Do you have any Thanksgiving horror or disaster stories that involve food and/or cooking? What has been your worst ever Thanksgiving meal experience? Drop me a comment and tell me all about it!

Quick Tips For Having A Safe Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:13:00 +0000

Goodness, feels like life times since I last made a post. Apologies for the unscheduled absence however I've been quite sick with a pretty noxious upper respiratory tract infection (which I still haven't recovered from 100%) along with also having had my daughter in hospital briefly.

We have Halloween coming up on Saturday. Being from Australia and given that we don't celebrate it over there, I LOVE this time of year here in the US. I think it's delightful seeing all the littlies out in their costumes going from house to house, they all look too cute! Having said that, I also pity parents the day after (and the days following) with the kids being all sugared up and the post candy mood crashes.

Quick Tips For Having A Safe Halloween

Whilst homemade goodies that might be offered can look so temptingly nice (and in most cases they would be quite ok) a good general rule of thumb is if they are offered by people that you don't know, don't allow your kids to accept them. Only allow pre-packaged treats. Accepting homemade treats and candies from strangers leaves too much at risk where food allergies and intolerances are concerned, along with the possibility of food not being fresh or having been prepared, stored and handled in a unhygienic manner.
Another rule at our house, is that ALL candy gets checked over before it is eaten. Anything not in it's wrappers properly, without wrappers or that looks dubious in general gets put into the trash bin. Some people might think this is being overly cautious, however I'm happier erring on the side of caution as there have been incidents in the past where candy has been tampered with and things like pins or similar have been found inside it.
We always prefer to start Trick or Treating earlier in the evening, before it gets dark. There's less chance of running into problematic and/or rowdy people that are in party mode.
Don't ever allow your little ones to go out Trick or Treating on their own. If you and/or your partner aren't able to take them, make sure they go with another trusted adult. Our daughter is 13 and I still won't allow her to go without some kind of adult supervision. It doesn't mean we breath down her neck the whole time but we do follow along (at a safe respectable distance) so as to keep an eye on her.
If you are planning on being out for a while, take the car. It's easy enough to park it whilst yourself and the kids then go from house to house for a couple of blocks. You can then jump back in the car and drive to another area, park and do the same. Little kids can tire out very quickly, especially if they have been all hyped up with excitement earlier in the evening. You don't want to be having to struggle any distance on foot, whilst trying to juggle candy and a half asleep child in your arms too. If you have the car close by you can make a quick 'escape' if need be.
Take along a pillow case or one of those eco friendly reusable cloth shopping bags for collecting candy in. If you have to resort to plastic shopping bags, make sure you double the bags up one inside another. With the amount of treats and candy that kids can end up with, a single plastic shopping bag is not likely to last the night as the weight of the filled bag will cause the handles to stretch and snap. The same applies to the hollow, rigid plastic pumpkins, skulls and similar with the handles, they aren't particularly robust and as a parent, I'd rather avoid the shrieks and cries of despair when the candy stash ends up all over the foot path due to a broken bag.

LuckySploit New Online Banking Trojan Discovered

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 05:16:00 +0000

I was reading about this new online banking trojan that has been discovered, and according to the article it is pretty nasty stuff! It's using a hole in IE6/7/8, Firefox and Opera, on computers running Windows. It's quite an interesting read as to how this horrid little blighter works.

"Potential victims get their computers infected either by opening an e-mail and clicking on a link to a Web site created to distribute malware or by visiting a site that has been compromised and malware hidden on it.

In this case the malware, a toolkit called LuckySploit, exploits a known security hole in the browser, and installs the Trojan on the computer. When the Trojan notices the computer user visiting the site of a targeted bank it springs into action.

While the computer user goes about his or her business on the site, the Trojan looks at the available balance and figures out how much money to steal. The Trojan is given a minimum and a maximum range that is below the amount that triggers antifraud systems and to leave a certain percentage in the account, Ben-Itzhak said.

After performing the calculation, the Trojan then makes the transaction, communicating with the bank site through the browser without the computer user knowing.

"The Trojan is sending requests to the bank and getting replies that your browser doesn't display," Ben-Itzhak said. "You are looking at your account and you don't see any of it."
the Trojan hides the theft by erasing it from the report of account activity displayed to the computer user and shows a fake balance--what the amount would be if not for the theft. The victim will not notice something is wrong until a different, uncompromised computer is used to access the account, an ATM is used, or a transaction is denied because of insufficient funds ...

... The Trojan also keeps a log of the victim's bank account log in credentials, takes screenshots, and snoops on the user's other Web accounts, such as PayPal, Facebook, and Gmail, according to the Finjan report."

Full article can be found here: Banking Trojan steals money from under your nose | InSecurity Complex - CNET News

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Easy Homemade Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:59:00 +0000

Australian supermarket bought bread tastes completely different to US supermarket bread. I find even after living here in the US for over a year, there are a lot of breads I simply cannot eat. To me, they often taste un-natural and overly sweet, unless its something like the lovely Jewish rye breads or fresh Ciabatta.

This led to me wanting to make my own bread however I've never owned a bread maker and I've never had much luck in the past in this area of baking. I seem to have been doomed to failure when it comes to any and all recipes that require yeast. That was, until I discovered Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg MD and Zoe Francois.

I was rather skeptical when initially trying this recipe and method, given my past bread making (mis)adventures. Having said that, if I can do this anyone can, regardless of how tragic the results may have been from any past attempts. This has helped me regain a lot of lost confidence and enjoyment in this area of baking, together with reigniting my interest in creating a variety of home made breads, both for my immediate family and for special occasions that we share with our extended family throughout the year.

I've 'tweaked' the original basic recipe just a touch and the resulting bread was absolutely scrumptious.

Recipe for Quick Easy Bread
(this made two round loaves each the approx size of bread and butter plates)
Ingredients

1.5 cups warm water
3.5 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons instant yeast

Method:

Place the flour, salt, instant yeast into a bowl and stir to combine.
Add the warm water and mix with a spoon. I found it's easier to finish mixing the dough by hand once I'd done the initial mixing by spoon. Don't handle the dough too much, just make sure it's all mixed well, so you don't end up with dry pockets of flour through the dough.
Place it into a container and leave it at room temperature for 4hrs. You will notice when you check it, that it has risen. My dough had pretty much doubled in size.
Cover the container with a lid and place into the fridge overnight before use.
When you are wanting to bake, simply pull off a piece of dough. Shape it and allow it to rest for 1-2hrs.
Bake in oven at 380F for approx 40mins.

Notes

The 'convenience' of using the instant yeast, is that it gets put straight into the dry ingredients, there's no need to 'activate' it in warm water prior to use.
This dough keeps well in the fridge for up to two weeks.
I found the bread had a much nicer texture after I allowed the dough to stay in the fridge for a week before baking my second loaf (rather than just overnight as I did with the first loaf that I made).

**The original basic bread recipe can be found on the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes Blog

Oceanic Citrus Body Scrub

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:24:00 +0000

If I had my way, I'd have at least one day every two weeks set aside to spend at a local day spa. In a perfect world! Unfortunately our household budget simply doesn't allow for it, so I often make my own pamper products. Now that my daughter is FINALLY showing some glimmer of interest in 'girlie' stuff, making pamper products with her is not only an enjoyable activity in itself, but it's also fun to have some mum and daughter time together having our own spa days to spoil ourselves with our own homemade treats.

Recipe for Oceanic Citrus Body Scrub

Ingredients

2 Tbsp kelp powder

4 Tbsp oatmeal

3 Tbsp grated orange rind

1.5 Tbsp sea salt

3 Tbsp ground sunflower seeds

3 drops grapefruit essential oil

Sweet almond oil (or another oil of choice) as required

Method:

Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl.

Add the grapefruit essential oil, stirring it through the mixture.

Place in an airtight bottle or container until ready for use.

Immediately prior to use, mix a small amount with some sweet almond oil to a consistency of your own preference.

Gentle massage the scrub onto damp skin for a few minutes, then rinse.

*This is suitable as a body scrub only, not suitable for the face.

*Please read all warning labels before using essential oils. Some oils are not suitable for use during pregnancy or if suffering from certain medical conditions or allergies. If unsure, please check with your health provider before use.

Scrumptious Tangerine Shower Gel

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:20:00 +0000

I absolutely love citrus scented bath and shower products. I find them so deliciously invigorating and refreshing. For a quick and simple treat, make yourself some Tangerine shower gel!

Recipe for Tangerine Shower Gel

Ingredients

7 drops Coriander Essential Oil

10 drops Grapefruit Essential Oil

7 drops Lavender Essential Oil

40 drops Tangerine Essential Oil

4oz Unscented Bath and Shower Gel Base

Method:

Simply mix all ingredients together and pour into a pump soap dispenser.

Yummy!

*Please read all warning labels before using essential oils. Some oils are not suitable for use during pregnancy or if suffering from certain medical conditions or allergies. If unsure, please check with your health provider before use.

THE BEST! Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:59:00 +0000

Do you like crunchy or chewy cookies? For myself, something like macadamia and white chocolate, definitely has to be chewy. Chocolate chip though I won't even consider eating unless they are crunchy. Hubby likes all cookies to have crunch and the child ... well, she just likes any cookies!

So, having said that, I've been promising hubby for the past week or so, that I would make some crunchy cookies, just for him. As you can see from the above photo, they definitely came out of the oven looking yummy, and both Hubby and daughter have now declared the following recipe their favorite, for crunchy chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe for Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies (makes approx 24)
Ingredients

1 stick of butter (melted)
1/3 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup of dark brown sugar (firmly packed)
3 Tbspn water
1/2 tspn vanilla extract
1 Cup all purpose flour
3/4 tspn baking powder
3/4 Cup semi-sweet choc chips

Method:

Preheat the oven to 300F
Lightly grease your cookie sheet (I use a silicon sheet so I omit the step of greasing it)
In a bowl, blend the melted butter and sugars until well combined.
As you continue to blend, slowly add the water and vanilla extract.
Add the flour and baking powder and continue to mix.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Place tablespoonfuls of the mixture onto your cookie sheet, approx 2 inches apart to allow for spreading.
Flatten each dollop of dough a little bit with the back of a spoon to assist the cookies spreading as they cook.
Bake for approx 20-25mins until golden.
Remove from oven and allow the cookies to rest on the tray and cool slightly before removing to a cooling rack.

**These will harden up and go crunchy as they cool

How to Use Adobe Reader "Read Out Loud" Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Whimsical) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:42:00 +0000

Something I was unaware of 'til yesterday, is that Adobe Acrobat Reader, has a built in feature that can be turned on or off, to read a PDF document aloud. This is wonderful for people that are sight impaired; or even a busy parent trying to study, if they have notes they need to read up on for classes whilst also trying to complete other tasks

Please click thumbnail
to view a larger screenshot

To turn this feature on in Acrobat Reader, in the upper menu bar, click on View then scroll down the list to the bottom and click on Read Out Loud and select Activate Read out Loud in the flyout menu; alternatively the shortcut is Shift+Ctrl+Y.

Once you open a PDF document, you then have two choices available - either read the current document page only, or read the entire document to the end (shorcuts - Shift+Ctrl+V or Shift+Ctrl+B respectively)

Please click thumbnail
to view a larger screenshot

During reading of the document, you have the options to pause or stop the reading. This can be done from the selections available in the same menu, or via the shortcut keys, Shift+Ctrl+C to Pause or Shift+Ctrl+E to stop.

Please click thumbnail
to view a larger screenshot

I hope you or someone you know will find this feature useful, I know I certainly will!

Cheers
Whims