water wastage propoganda

I have a friend who works for the government on our water shortage problem. It turns out that only 8% of water consuption is for domestic use… 92% of our water is consumed by industry. It seems to me that taking shorter showers or drinking recycled waste water isn’t really an answer and just a ploy to get politicians elected and boost ratings for tv news. Water is used in the weirdest ways.

My friend was telling me it takes tens of thousands of litres of water to make a car and coal mining consumes heaps of water. In fact one crisis we face is getting water to our coal mines as the drought takes hold, because without water then coal production stops. Restaurants use heaps of water too… that’s why we have installed new caroma toilets – the basin is on top of the cistern, when you flush, the tap flows allowing you to wash your hands and the waste water drains into the cistern ready for the next flush.

Food Anomalies

Looks like there’s a buyer for everything. The pretzel in the picture above- said to look like the virgin mary holding baby jesus- sold on ebay for $10,600. So while I start working on my ‘religious iconography’ pretzel making machine, check out other food that looks like stuff at hantula’s

museum of food.

buy your tarantino knife block

When I blogged about this cool knife block it was just a prototype… well they’re now in production and we have 5 sets coming this week. They also include the full set of knives that you see in the picture. For safety I’m told that the knives actually have a clear plastic cover over each blade but you can remove that and get that real Quentin Tarantino knife-block look.

At $155, the price is not too bad when you consider that you get a set of knives with this funky knife block. Now available in the Cooking School shop.

Post Secrets

This has nothing to do with food but it is so compelling I just have to share it with you. PostSecret is a community were people mail-in their deepest secrets on home-made postcards. You can see how therapeutic it is for people to get these things off their chest and the artwork and emotions in some of these cards is just incredible… the best of these postcards have been compiled into two books. So grab a coffee and spend some time at PostSecret quite an emotional experience.

Google earth is here.

Flying over brisbane at 3,500 feet…

Murray messaged me last night to tell me that google earth has been released and is free. Here’s what it is and does: it’s a 3d rendering of the planet earth using satelite imagery… that’s photos taken from outer space. You enter a location and then google earth takes you there. But here’s where it gets fun, you can tilt the map and then FLY over landmarks. Last night I went to the pyramids, the statue of liberty, the eiffel tower and flew up the brisbane river. Be prepared to waste some serious time on this… it’s seriously fun and great for the kids. What’s amazing is the clarity of the images and your ability to alter the perspective and literally fly over cities and landmarks. You’re going to need a computer with a good graphics card.

Google Earth – Home

how do you know when things are off?

expiration dates are more of a guide than a countdown to certain doom but things like honey have an indefinite shelf-life. We know that when milk gets chunky it’s probably time to throw it or sell it as yoghurt. If you don’t trust your nose to see if something is ok or not, then the guys at realsimple.com have a list of items in your home and how long they last… even shampoo(???).
Surprising Expiration Dates: “e”

Weird food

If you’re looking for monkey picked tea (yup, that’s tea picked by monkeys), chocolate ants, a whole range of fried insect treats then you need to visit EDIBLE. These guys have some of the most bizarre foods on the planet. Vodka lollies with edible scorpions and coffee that has been passed by weasels(and I don’t mean a weasel has walked by the coffee plant). You just have to love the internet… the long-tail of marketing means that these guys can make a living doing things with ingredients that we would never dream of.

Boyfriend pillow

After living in Asia for a few years I became addicted to those round pillows (bolsters?) that you cuddle up to at night. So what do you do if you’re a lonely Japanese girl who can’t get a boyfriend? Get a boyfriend pillow. I wonder if they’re heated? I think they offer a girlfriend pillow too… can’t wait to get one?
order your Boyfriend Arm Pillow today.

Campbell’s do it yourself soup

If you think opening a can of soup is just too easy, a Japanese company is offering the seeds to grow mini vegetables to make your own Campbell’s soup. The can includes the seeds and dirt to get you started. The word soup has been replaced with ’seed’ on the can and eventually the seedlings will have to be transplanted but already this company has sold 25,000 cans since April. You can order your

Campbell’s soup seed kit direct, but you’ll have to be able to read Japanese.

medieval cookies

Murray sent me this link to an incredible site packed full of medieval recipes. The middle age woodcut images and recipes in old english will have you hooked for hours as you navigate through all the different recipes and links. My favourite part is the recipes and moulds for

‘ye olde cookys’. The moulds are awesome and you can buy them online.

Gode Cookery have done an incredible job bringing you a huge range of Medieval recipes to prepare for your next feast or banquet.