Dentist

Let me tell you a little story about me and the dentist. So, I've avoided it for a bit but eventually decided to go. My health insurance doesn't cover much for dental so I tried this new dental chain around the corner called Vitaldent. They do free xrays etc. They told me I needed SEVEN fillings. I was traumatized. How could this be so? i thought. I brush twice a day, floss (occassionally) and even use mouth wash, I said to myself. Anyway, they printed me out a payment plan and off I went. Obviously I didnt want to believe this so I asked everyone for recommendations for another dentist. Someone suggested one on my street - I had never even noticed it was there. I went yesterday, had the most painless polish and clean ever and was told I had, you ready for it.... no fillings! crazy right. I told the dentist my story and he said he sees it all the time. I said they need to get some journalism program onto it and he said they could probably justify it, you apparently have a window of whether you need fillings or not. Some dentists are really aggressive. He said to me that he could see three cases where they would say I might need a filling but if it was him, or his mother, he wouldn't fill any of them. Doesn't this make you mad? And the worst part of it is that the place I originally went to targets lower income people with the "free xrays" etc. They are then scared into having expensive and unnecessary work done. Just wrong i say. Just wrong.

Aubergines

Aren't these smaller one's so pretty? I think i might bake them. V. hot here so may have to wait a while

Figs

Can't get enough figs. Keep meaning to do something fancy with them but just end up eating them straight from the bowl.

Tomatoes

Having a lovefest with the wonderful tomatoes we have at the moment. Best of all are the heirloom tomatoes that are mostly from New Jersey. Devine and a meal in itself. Meg says they are in Oz but i don't remember them. Second shot is of the heirlooms. The green stripey ones are called Zebra and the reddy-wine coloured ones are called Brandy-wine's. They are the most popular. Always juicy and delicious.

Crazy Wabbits!

Comments

I see the kiddies post actually got two comments. A record me thinks. I wonder if the popularity of this particular posts means I should slant towards a more kid friendly/dominated blog. We will see. Keep the posts coming - it's the equivalent of a virtual head pat, and who doesn't love one of those. I know my audience hovers around 5 people, but I am still asking myself the big questions for your reading pleasure
natx

Don't try this one at Home

This is for the 'stupid and dangerous' file. And the 'we should all know better' cupboard. Hopefully you are smarter than I am. So, bought some yummy fresh basil from the farmers market yesterday and thought I would make a pesto to drizzle over the delicious tomatoes I had bought. Anyway, I put the ingredients into the blender and I guess it was too dry as it wasn't doing the lovely chopping action I needed. Safely and carefully I stuck a big knife into the blender - "as long as i don't go near the blade it will be ok" - i thought. oh no. it broke the blade of the knife off, it shot past my head with super speed and then nearly hit Nick. How stupid am I? Lesson hear for you all. NEVER, ever EVER, put a object in the blender when it is on.

Strawberries, Mk II

Wendy has a variation on the lemon, cracked pepper I wrote below. I keep reading about this one too. Must try it. We are running out of the strawbs here. but oh, my, the NY/NJ tomatoes are devine. that is all we eat. And i am still not skinny. Maybe it's the mozzerella and avocado that we have with it. What do you think?

A variation:

500g strawbs, hulled, then halved or quartered
1 tab caster sugar
1 tab balsamic vinegar
vanilla ice-cream to serve

Combine first 3 ingredients in bowl, mix well. Cover and leave to chill in fridge for hour. Serve w. icecream.

(The image doesn't really fit with the above but I just wanted something with the two key ingredients in it)

The Kiddies

Thought I would do a posting of the kids. I have been emailed quite a few of late. Fun to post. In order:
1. Phoebe Larter (Wendy's)
2. Penelope Larter (Wendy's)
3. Louis Perry (Caroline's)
4. Hamish & Liam (fka Puchit & Pumin) (Anna/Michelle's)

All cute as pie.
Sorry Paul, I had to cut you out of the Phoebe photo. Kids only in this posting.

Remind You Of Anyone??

I saw this on a website and it directed me to an art gallery in L.A. they were doing limited prints and I knew I just had to get one for Nick. Don't know why. What do you think? Lovely isn't it.

Mandarin Oriental, Chocolate

I still have to post some pictures from my trips to HK and Mexico, but I just found this chocolate sculpture from the delicious cafe at the Mandarin Oriental in HK. Yum

Flight of The Conchords

Guys
some clips. basically, the show is really fun and they jut break into song throughout the program with these ridiculously funny songs. Have a look at these two.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=N7vgY0yEs9Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT5AQIlmM0I&NR=1

Strawberries

So much great fruit at the moment. Eating lots of strawberries and blueberries. I read somewhere that cracked black pepper and lemon juice brings out the sweetness. That's what I do now. Pepper seems odd doesn't it, but it works. The shots are before and after. freshly cut, and then again after they have been sitting in the lemon juice for a while.

Quinoa

Quinoa (pronounced keenwah) is yummy and healthy. you can use it as a substitute for rice. We had this at a friend's place and i got the recipe and made it for dinner the other night. yum.

Makes 4 servings

ACTIVE TIME: 30 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 45 minutes

EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

1 cup quinoa (see Ingredient note)
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped
2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup Moroccan-Spiced Lemon Dressing (recipe follows), divided
1 cup cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes, halved
1 small red onion, chopped
8 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (see Tip)

1. Toast quinoa in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until it becomes aromatic and begins to crackle, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a fine sieve and rinse thoroughly.
2. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, about 1 minute. Add apricots and the quinoa; continue cooking, stirring often, until the quinoa has dried out and turned light golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Add water and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until the quinoa is tender and the liquid is absorbed, 15 to 18 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, make Moroccan-Spiced Lemon Dressing. Transfer the quinoa to a medium bowl and toss with 1/3 cup of the dressing. Let cool for 10 minutes.
4. Just before serving, add tomatoes and onion to the quinoa; toss to coat. Toss spinach with the remaining 1/3 cup dressing in a large bowl. Divide the spinach among 4 plates. Mound the quinoa salad on the spinach and sprinkle with almonds.

Dressing

You can put whatever dressing you like on it, but this was nice. I've never made a yoghurt based dressing. I'll definitely do it again.

1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons nonfat plain yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Whisk lemon juice, yogurt, honey, cumin, cinnamon and ginger in a small bowl until blended. Slowly whisk in oil so that the dressing becomes smooth and emulsified. Season with salt and pepper.

Indian Objects

Everywhere you turn, it looks like a postcard. So pretty. Bored of India yet? still more to come!

Laptop Tip

I'm probably the last person to know this, but I was doing a project yesterday about some new websites and as I was presenting them I needed to do a lot of scrolling up and down the page. I usually click on the scroll tab down the right side of the page and a client showed me that if you put two fingers on the mouse pad instead of one you can go up and down like that. great for blog reading.
nx