Ballyslapdash Calendar

Bread Pudding

I recently found this recipe for bread pudding while searching based on what I remember of my mother's results and method, and after tweaking to suit, I think I have finally succeeded in creating a near perfect version of my mother's bread pudding. In fact I think it's actually better.

Ingredients

1 x 650g loaf of white bread

375g (1 whole packet) of mixed fruit

125g (half a packet) of butter

60g of raw sugar

1 x teaspoon of cinnamon

1 x teaspoon of mixed spice

2 eggs, beaten

More raw sugar & nutmeg for sprinkling

Method

- Tear the bread in to small pieces, soak in 2 litres of cold water for half an hour

- Strain the bread through a colander and squeeze as much water as possible out of it

- Use the block of butter to grease a loaf tin, then melt it slowly in a saucepan

- Add the butter, fruit, sugar & spices to the bread and stir into a glutinous mass with a wooden spoon

- Add the eggs and stir again

- Pour into the tin and sprinkle liberally with more sugar and nutmeg.

- Place on the bottom rack of the oven at 160 deg C for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until firm and pulled away from the side of the tin.

- Cool in the tin then cut into slices an keep in the fridge in an airtight container. (serve cold)

Newstead Folk Festival

Last Thursday, Sean (fiddle teacher) said "There's a folk festival on this weekend at Newstead. It's small but really good". So I checked out the website . Apparently it's an annual event every Australia Day weekend. It used to be at Chewton but they moved it a few years ago.

So I arranged to have the weekend off, (had to sacrifice easter but it looked like I was going to be working then anyway) booked a motel in Castlemaine (cos I just wasn't in the mood for camping), and we drove down there on Friday evening. It took only an hour and a half to get there, which is a big improvement over Canberra.

Like all folk festivals it's a mixture of genres and you have to just pick-and-choose among the bands. I was looking for mainly Celtic (Trouble in the kitchen and a couple of other celtic bands were there, Luke plumb ran a celtic mandolin workshop. and there was a lot of session action at the pub), something different, and hopefully something totally off the wall.

The most important thing being to aviod the singer/songwriter tree hugging neo-hippies with their schmaltzy three chord gum-tree-and-koala songs. This was unfortunately the only area where I didn't totally succeed.

Anyway, it was a good weekend. Sean was right, it's small - only a few hundred people were there. But they have some big names, and the quality is generally good.

Here's some more photos:

Getz

Arrived in Devonport on Sunday and as usual went straight to the Avis counter to pick up the car keys for the week. I didn't take much notice of the kind of car or even the brand. Just grabbed the keys and ticked and initialled all the appropriate boxes. Picked up my luggage and walked to the car park looking for bay 7.

There are two blocks of bays marked Avis and it took me a little while to find it, probably because I was looking for something a bit bigger than 4 wheelie bins stuck together. "Oh shit" I thought, as I noticed that what seemed to be bay 7 contained a tiny little yellow car. Yes it was a Hyundai Getz and it was mine for the week. Words to describe my initial mental images include cramped, noisy, gutless, and the-Fiat-500-that-George-Segal-drove-in-"A touch of class". My first inkling of what was to come was when I noticed that in their quest for economy, the company had for the firtst time given me a car with a manual gearbox!

From the first, it was like stepping back 30 years (in a good way) a bit like (I imagine) having a 23 year old girlfriend when you're in your 40's. It's small has a wheel in each corner, has front wheel drive, and a high revving transverse mounted engine. Sound familiar?

Some history: My first car, when I was 19 was a Morris 850 (a Mini) that my father bought from my sister and was never registed in my name. Like all first cars there is a lot of affection that is transferred to the Marque. Probably more because of the things that were done in and around it rather than the car itself. The first car is usually associated with a lot of other "firsts". It was cute, cheap to run and free. But it was also noisy, unreliable, difficult to work on, and yes gutless. That little 850cc engine and badly spaced four speed gearbox just wasn't up to the task. Even so, it was the Morris 850 that got me hooked on small front wheel drive cars. I just love the way you can throw them around corners.


My second car - the one that, to this day is still my favorite out of all of the cars I've owned, was a Fiat 127. It too was noisy and unreliable, and I paid far too much for it, but it was like a Mini on steroids. It handled well, had well spaced gears, and could rev forever. It had a slightly bigger engine (903cc i think) and more importantly it was designed by people who knew what they were doing. It was bright red, italian and was all mine.

The Getz is another step up from the Fiat. It has a 1400cc engine and handles brilliantly. When driving you just have to remember that the engine is small compared to most cars, and increase the revs to compensate. The only annoying feature I've found so far is the nanny-state-gear-switch which won't let you start the car unless the clutch is engaged, even if it's in neutral. I once drove a VW Beetle that wouldn't start with the clutch engaged because the heavy clutch spring put too much load on the battery. It just doesn't seem right starting an engine in any other way than in neutral with your foot off the clutch.

New World Currency

The new measure of world currency is to be the phurphy. Being based on the balance point between the laws of physics and Murphy's law.

For each country the exchange rate is calculated thus:

1 phurphy = the value of 1 square metre of carpet

The particular carpet is selected using the following apparatus.

First take a cat and strap to its back a slice of toast, buttered side up, then drop it to the floor from a height of two metres. The cat will use the laws of physics to land feet first. The toast will use the laws of Murphy to land buttered side down. Obviously the way in which it lands will be determined by the value of the carpet on which it lands. By increasing the value of the carpet used at each attempt, eventually the cat will land on its side. Then the forces of physics and Murphy are seen to be in equilibrium.

This will set the values of the new world currency in each country based on natural laws, rather than the arbitrary market driven mumbo jumbo that the economists would have us all believe is the accepted norm.

The Perfect Night In.

Vegetarian Singapore noodles, Magners, and Stargate SG1 on the telly. It doesn't get any better than this.

The Dark Side of Archery

Some people (particularly some recurve archers) think the dark side of archery is the compound. But not so. The dark side is the evil sport of bowhunting.

I recently (Friday 24/4/09) bought a new bow. Woo Hoo! BTW.
It's a PSE Moneymaker, and it's a purpose built target bow. You can tell this by the deflex riser which means it's designed for precision rather than than power, the relatively long axle to axle measurement: precision rather than portability, and the color (not camo).

But PSE (and I think also most archery equipment suppliers) make most of their money from people who buy the short, reflex, high powered camo bows that they use to kill things with.

So it came with this DVD:

It's basically a collection of kill videos, showing the unsuspecting deer, coyote or bear being stalked by the well hidden fully camouflaged hunter. Then the shot, penetration, distressed animal running away, and pan back to the extremely adrenalin rushed hunter. Then of course the obligatory slow-mo replay, and fast forward to the proud hunter displaying the dead animal that he was responsible for, and describing the kill with all the articulation and coherence of a football player after the match. Like all pornography, it's repellent yet compelling at the same time. A bit like watching a train wreck.

I suppose the difference between a target archer and a bowhunter is their motivation. What to do on the weekend, shoot arrows or kill things?

Rockwiz

Saw rockwiz last night. What a great show. What great (sometimes aria winning) duets at the end of each show. Last night was a replay of the Eddi Reader and Liam O'maonlai episode from back in 2006. Where they did a magical rendition of "Across the Universe". I suppose the show is taking a break after last weeks myer music bowl special.

It reminded me that the best thing I ever saw on that show and possible the best thing ever to air on Australian TV (i'm not joking, it blows me away every time I see it) was the Archie Roach & Sara Storer rendition of "From Little Things Big Things Grow". Here it is on YouTube . To me it's a reminder that around the fringe of this football-meat-pie-moronic-fundamentally-racist culture there exists some things which occasionally restore my ability to endure it.

New tennis hero

The first few rounds of a tennis tournament like the Australian Open are usually pretty boring. Household names pitted against never-heard-of's. The result is predictable the execution is tedious. That's what I thought I was in for last night, so halfway through the first set I switched off the Venus Williams / Carla Suarez Navarro match. Imagine my surprise when about an hour later, I turned the TV on to discover that not only was the match still going, Venus had lost the second set! So I watched the 3rd set score go from 5/2 to 5/7. The unseeded Carla Suarez Navarro had beaten Venus Williams! The great thing about watching a match like that, is that all the way through you don't believe it's going to happen, and are constantly being surprised. She's only 5ft 3in (160cm). She's a clay court baseline rallyer and her best shot is the cross court single handed backhand. When they tried to get her to do one of those wanky post match interviews, she laughed and said thanks very much but I've got nothing to say.

Last.fm and New Sound Card Gizmo

Life is too short to listen to the same music over & over again. But how to listen to streamed music in Hi Fidelity? Enter the Creative XMOD wireless Home audio system now I can listen to LastFM or Itunes or anything else via computer from the comfort of the lounge.

Science Fiction Blues

Last night, in spite of every review I've read, a gut feeling, and the obvious result of comparing Keanu Reeves with Michael Rennie, I felt compelled to drive to Northland (where the Malteasers cost more than six dollars a pack) to see The Day The Earth Stood Still. It turns out the reviews, gut feeling and especially the comparison were right. This is definitely not a movie for the SF dabbler, or for someone who expects more than B grade from their movie choices; more for the committed addict. Though in spite of its failings, I found some parts of it appealing: clato's metaporphosis was a new twist, the CG was quite good and not over done, the female lead was appealing and attractive. You just have to ignore the annoying kid, the pointless plot twists, the shmaltzy hollywood ending, and Reeves under-acting (like a house plant I read in another review).
The trouble is that good movie SF is almost impossible to come by so there is little choice for us addicts (yes I admit it, I'm a SFaholic, and I think I've traced it back to some early roots) we just have to watch the crap, hoping for a glimmer of brilliance. - A bit like reading Asimov.

Landing

The flight from Melbourne to Devonport takes approximately an hour and a quarter. The Qantas plane is a twin propeller 36 seat "Dash 8" with two rows of double seats and one aisle. I was seated on the 6th row in the aisle seat on the right. Being a Friday the plane was only about three quarters full and the window seat next to me was empty. As usual, as soon as we took off the fight attendants began their safety lecture. And as usual I took a little more notice than most other passengers. A habit I formed after attending helicopter safety training, the idea being that: in the event that anything should happen, it would be possible to snap from dazed and confused to reasonably focused with the prompting of the information recently stored in the back of my mind.

We had lunch - unusually a "Vegetarian Roll" (roast capsicum, rocket, mushrooms etc) which others complained about (no ham I suppose) I refused the coffee because, from previous experience on these flights it tastes like instant coffee. I can tell because I have to add milk to make it drinkable. I think It's likely that they just put several spoon fulls of Nescafe (or worse) in the coffee pot and add boiling water.

Afterwards I read a book; "Short Cuts" by Raymond Carver (thanks Tim), with the air vent turned on full to avoid the smell of the baby being held by its mother in the window seat in front of me.

I was still engrossed in the book when the captain made encouraging noises through the loudspeaker about approaching Devonport and an impending landing. I remember being pleased that the flight had seemed to pass so quickly, thanks to Mr Carver. And then went back to reading. Some time later, in spite of my engrossment, I noticed that an unusually long time had passed since the captain's statement. It must have been then that the plane started making funny noises and the engine changed pitch. The captain's voice once again came over the loudspeaker and said that the landing wheels had retracted by themselves but of course this was nothing to worry about and was due something to do with navigation circuitry which overrode the landing wheels. My initial thoughts were surprise at how candid the captains statement had been, and at how they could design landing wheels that would retract at anything other than a manual command.

As we came out of the clouds and over the water I thought: What if the landing wheels don't come down again. Surely then the safest thing to do would be to land in the sea. We'd all get out safely on liferafts (lifejacket under seat, don't inflate until outside the aircraft) but what about my fiddle, laptop, ereader, ipod & banjo? Maybe the plane would float and they could be retrieved later unharmed. Then I thought: what if on landing, the nose wheel collapsed back into the fuselage? The plane could go careering sideways along the runway and flip over.

That landing felt particularly bumpy, but I felt confident that I was attuned to all the possibilities even though there was nothing I could do about it. Being totally at the mercy of the skill of the pilot also seemed to have a strangely calming effect.

I walked across the tarmac, and as I was about to enter the building, an airport employee said "have you got any fruit or vegies mate?". The lady at the Avis counter had a welcoming smile.

When worlds collide

Last weekend I managed to get away from GV (the oil & gas platform) earlier than expected, so I went to the Guildford Banjo Jamboree. One amazing highlight was Noriko Tadano on the Shamisen (the instrument I didn't see when I was in Japan). They called it a "traditional Japanese 3 string fretless Banjo".

Here's a sample of her playing:



Other Highlights :
Greg Deering from the Deering Banjo Co in the US talks at length about banjos and the construction and adjustment of them:


Street band with guy playing the saw.


All in all, a pretty good weekend, with lots of banjos (and other instruments) being played in the concert hall and in the street.

Sony Reader

While I was in Japan I ordered a Sony Reader from the US (they don't have them in Japan or anywhere else except for the US, Canada and just recently the UK) and it arrived today. And it's great.

Just a couple of problems (more annoyances really):

• It doesn't strip line breaks from text files, so things can look a little screwed up sometimes. I had to write a little exe file that strips them out. This adds an extra step to the upload process but it looks ok now.
• It came with a program called "ebook library" which is supposed to manage ebooks and upload them to the reader, in an itunes sort of way. Problem is: it's a bit buggy. Strips out and ignores any meta data from the text files and thinks that all word files are still open. So it will copy text files over but leaves out the Author details. Found an XML file on the reader where this information is kept, and have to edit that after uploading with file manager.

Anyway this device is great for anyone with a short attention span. You can read 5 books at once (time multiplexed in 10 minute bites) this seems such a natural thing to do, I bet that once these things become popular enough someone will come up with a special word for it.

A Week in London

Tues

• Met Tim at the gallery
• Monmouth coffee
• Dinner at the wet fishCafe in west Hampstead
• Back to Tim's place

Wed

• British museum
• Tate
• Last.fm (Tim's work) and takeaway Vietnamese
• Coffee

Thu

• Bike tour
• Lots of walking
• The best fish & chips you've ever tasted in your life
• Coffee again
• Jazz cafe

Fri

• Hampstead heath, cheese & bagels
• Saw "Timon of Athens" at the Globe.
• Pizza

Sat

• McBreakfast
• Coffee & lunch at Neil's salad bar
• Covent garden & the Punch & Judy pub
• Theatre
• Hellboy

Sun

• Got up late & made breakfast
• Hyde park speakers corner
  
• Science museum
• Polish restaurant
• Wall-E
  

Lemon - A life

July 2005


On a cold and damp July day, the lemon tree is planted















It grows. Friends come to watch.



















April 2007


The first lemon appears.















July 2008

A moonlit night. That first lemon is now quite big. It has several siblings.














Its fate is sealed.
















The much anticipated ceremonial gin & tonic in whose shadow the lemon has lived.

Incredibow

Bought a new bow from the Incredibow company in Mountain View, Arkansas.


It's curved in the opposite direction to a normal bow. It has synthetic hair. It is very light, and has no screw on the frog so it's always at full tension. Almost as interesting was the packaging: It came in a pvc pipe with tissue paper and gaffa tape at the ends. Was wrapped in a plastic bag and a sheet of black satin tied with gold string. Along with the bow came a red plastic rose (if you look closely you can see the plastic dew drops too)


It's very different to use. The jury is still out as to whether it's better or not than a more conventional bow, but early impressions are good.

Amazing Breakthrough

Wow what a brainwave. I've finally figured out what to do with those annoying little stickers they put on fruit (especially apples). You know - you don't want to eat them, but if you peel them off they get stuck to your fingers and the only way to get them off is to stick them to something else. A couple of dozen of these on the fridge can look quite unsightly. The answer? Simply stick them on the plastic bag that the bread comes in. In a day or two the bread will be eaten and it'll be time to throw the bag out, along with the offending stickers! Another battle won in the war between me and stuff.

Violas for sale

Location: Melbourne Australia

John Van Wirdum Viola - 1987
with bow, shoulder rest, and case


Dimensions
total length: 405 mm (15.95")
nut to bridge: 376 mm (14.80")
width: 240 mm (9.45")


Excellent tone quality

$4,500 ono








_________________________________


Collector's Item Viola
with bow, shoulder rest, and case


Early Australian
William Johnson - 1908
Domain Street, South Yarra, Victoria

Dimensions
total length: 415 mm (16.34")
nut to bridge: 315 mm (12.40")
width: 235 mm (9.25")

If you're interested you can contact me at: psell@mail.com

Transport woes update

Well, I took the 3 month option. This is my current mode of transport:


It makes things difficult, especially in Melbourne's winter. But it's no big deal really. its just not what I'm used to. I don't think you could really categorise having to get to work by: motorised pushbike, public transport, and charitable loved one, a hardship.

I certainly don't feel any remorse or guilt over the incidents that put me in this situation. Travelling slightly faster than an arbitrary speed limit, on roads and in situations that could safely handle a much higher speed, is not what I would call criminal or being a bad citizen. In fact what I would call it is a cynical money making exercise. Or at best, that I was the victim of being caught in a trap designed for somebody else. Sort of collateral damage in the war against hooning.

Anyway it will only last 'till the middle of September. Then beckons springtime in the hills around Melbourne, astride my lovely Ducati.