Fancy a nibble of my...

City Skyline by Night

Tonight we went into Brisbane to see 'Gravity' with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. It was a great film if you have not yet seen it! On the way home we stopped at Hampstead Park, Highgate Hill to look at the view across the city.

Dulcie's Famous Anzac Biscuits.

(“So easy! Why buy biscuits again?”)Ingredients:1 cup of sugar1 cup of oats1 cup of plain flour1 cup of desiccated coconut125 g butter1 tablespoon of golden syrup½ tsp of baking powder2/3 tablespoons of boiling water*(Makes approx 24 biscuits)Method:Put the oven on at 160 degrees centigrade.Add the dry ingredients; sugar, oats, flour, coconut, to a mixing bowl and mix them together thoroughly.Melt the butter gently in a pan with the tablespoon of golden syrup, stirring until combined.Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the melted butter and syrup.In a cup put ½ tsp of baking powder and add 2/3 tablespoons of boiling water*, mix and tip immediately into the well of melted butter and syrup. (It should froth up.)*(I like the biscuits chewy so I add 3 tablespoons of water and sometimes a little more. If you like your biscuits crunchy add only 2 tablespoons of water.)Mix all the ingredients together with the old worn spoon your mother gave you.Cover two flat trays with baking paper cut to size.Take some of the mixture and roll/squash it in the palm of your hand to make a circular disc slightly bigger than a 50p/50c piece and place on the baking paper on the tray. It should make about 24 biscuits, 12 to each tray.Place in the oven for 15 /20 minutes. Keep an eye on them and remove when you think they look ready.If you don’t have a fan oven the biscuits on the upper tray will bake quicker and may need to be removed before the lower tray. Half way through you could swap the upper and lower trays over.When cool, place the biscuits that you haven’t already eaten in an airtight container hide them in a place where no one else can find them except you.Enjoy at your leisure!

Racing fever!

We have had a lazy day. The only thing we did was water the plants and that was because we couldn't do it yesterday. Watering plants is not allowed on Mondays?!!! Crikey! It's a good job we are allowed to flush toilets!It may be Bonfire Night at home but down here everything has stopped for the Melbourne Cup! It is always held on the first Tuesday in November. I don't know why they chose a Tuesday, surely a Saturday would have been better. It is known as 'the Race that stops a nation,' so surely productivity must take a dip. They are very proud of it here and obviously reckon it is the greatest horse race in the World. It is certainly one of the richest with the prize money this year topping $6,200,000! (More than 3 and a half million pounds!)This year it is sponsored by Emirates and their tall leggy air hostesses are very noticeable, everywhere, towering over the tiny, squeaky voiced jockeys. There are 24 runners in this flat race...only 6 of the horses are Australian this year. The rest are from the Northern hemisphere. They all paraded through the city of Melbourne yesterday.It's the only time Dulcie has a bet and she has chosen horse number 5 ( her lucky number) Brown Panther. It is owned by ex - England football player Michael Owen. The favourite is horse number 6, Fiorente.Someone I had never heard of from Australian Musical Theatre sang the national Anthem 'Advance Australia Fair'. I guess I am going to have to learn the words for that!The horses race over 3,200 meters.Brown panther took an early lead and Dulcie was not pleased. She didn't want him to lead too early.'He needs to reign him in' she said.As if he could hear her the jockey did and he slipped back to third for much of the race.The race took just over 3 minutes and was won by the favourite Fiorente, an Australian horse trained by Gai Waterhouse. She becomes the first female Australian trainer to win the Melbourne Cup.Of the prize money, the owner(s) get 85%, Gai gets 10% and the jockey 5%...no wonder they are tiny, I bet they can hardly afford food!( We found out later one horse, Verema, broke it's leg at the 2000m mark and had to be destroyed. Shame!)Dulcie won nothing, Brown Panther came 8th, but Australia is delighted a home grown horse was triumphant.I couldn't give two hoots!

Breaking News!

Our Telly has survived Somali pirates and has just left Colombo in Sri Lanka. It is now heading for Singapore!