'The Great Aussie Bake Off!'

Will and I have just caught up with last years 'Great British Bake Off.'The winner was not the one we wanted but I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it yet.Inspired I decided to use Sunday's left over roast lamb and make pasties!The pastry was 125g of chilled cubed butter, 125g of lard and 500g of plain flour.I had trouble finding lard......While Cecilia and her whale bearing hips were looking after Dulcie I went in search........Woolies was useless but at IGA I found 'Supafry', blended edible animal fat. Would that do?I googled it when I got back....it seems there are a lot of people who have had the same trouble but apparently 'Supafry' is ok. Such a relief.....the pasties were on.While Dulcie was engrossed in the Australian Open I got stuck in to my pastry making.When the butter and lard were blended with the flour I had to mix in 6 tablespoons of cold water to make a firm dough and then chill it for 20 minutes.I did all that and mixed my filling while it the pastry was chilling.....I was a little short of lamb so added a bit of chorizo, some chopped mushrooms, and onion.....and 2 medium potatoes sliced.What is a medium potato? In the end I think I did a big one and a small one......and then I got a bit of mint from the garden and chopped that up and tossed that in too.I had to roll the chilled dough into rounds of about 23 cm across......Crikey, it kept breaking and sticking to the rolling pin and I kept patching it up and then when it came to putting the filling in and lifting the sides to pinch over the top, it all started cracking.....I managed to make 4 ugly pastry covered lumps and had quite a bit of filling left over.They had to be baked for 10 minutes at 220C and then lower the temperature to 180C but I forgot because I was writing this.It was a good job I made some gravy.........they pretty dry and were eaten in silence apart from Dulcie 'Berry' saying"Did you make this pastry Nick?"I reckon I won't get 'Star Baker' and heck, I might even get sent home!

Back to work!

Well, that went quick!.........That's Will's summer holidays over for another year!I never heard him go......he didn't wake me to say goodbye as he knew I had slept badly last night.....it was the hottest Brisbane night for a decade and could I sleep?........could I buffalo! I even had the fan blowing on me......nearly 27 degrees.....I checked the temperature at 2.00 am on my phone......it said it was 26.4 C and the temperature was going up!......How can the temperature go up at 2 o'clock in the morning? It's not normal!Dulcie was up at 8.30.........she has never got up at 8.30 for the last 5 weeks.....she was obviously back to work too.She had a very busy day watching the Australian Open.I kept myself busy by blitzing the kitchen.....wiping the shelves and all the pots and glasses thereon. I tidied the cupboards, cleaned the fridge and washed the floor."Are you ever going to come out of that kitchen?" Asked the busy tennis watcher."Eventually," I said.Watching the Australian Open must have been tiring......or boring....."I could fall asleep," she said." Well, why don't you get up and walk about a bit?" I suggested before her legs she seized up.She frowned....... but she did before going back to work, watching the tennis.My work was not done either.....I hoovered, tidied the linen cupboard and then cleaned the bathroom....I reckon that was quite good for the first day back at work.(Thankfully.....the temperature has dropped and may even dip as low as 21 C tonight......a lovely, cool breeze is finally blowing into the Man-Cave, past the gecko lying in wait on the mesh screen over the window, for bugs that are attracted to the light.......I might actually get some sleep tonight.)

Scorchio!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuSPdsPWit0 (From 'The Fast Show.')I now copy out a small piece from the 'Southern Star', the free local newspaper that gets thrown into the front garden, from a passing car, every Wednesday...."Cold Winters take their tollBRISBANE residents are more likely to die during unseasonably cold winters than Australians  in other major capitals, QUT research has found after analysing data from 1988 t0 2009."When you live here it can get very tough when temperatures drop to.....heck!.........single figures!!!!! Some people even have to wear long pants or are even forced to buy a jumper.I know it has been cold 'Up Over'.....with even some snow!..........sorry, to rub it in but......It has been almost 37 degrees here today....but feels hotter with the humidity. We were up early to go to the markets and it was already almost 30 degrees by the time we got back before 9.00 am.I am wilting in the Man - Cave by an electric fan, forced out of the air conditioning upstairs by 'Sport' (yawn!) on the TV.Basically, we are all Billy Goats Gruff looking over the bridge wishing we were on the other side.

Keeping cool.

Wendi came today about 11.30 and said she would stay until Blue Care respite began at 2.00 which meant we could stay out until 4.00 pm.We had originally thought we would drive up to Bribie Island and go for a swim in the sea but realised that most  of our four hours would have been taken up by driving so we went to the pool at Southbank instead.The World and his wife were there too. It was packed!As I stood up to my neck in the warm water the optimist in me surmised that probably 50% of the liquid was urine. I never once put my head under!It could have done with being a bit cooler......Heck, I walked straight in up to my neck without so much as a gasp as the water reached my equator.It did me good though......not only was it helping me to keep cool on a very hot day.....but looking around, I also felt quite slim.We wandered off to find some lunch and enjoyed some battered flat head, calamari and chips at Kapsali, the Mediterranean restaurant with Indonesian owners. I wondered if they had ever been to the Mediterranean, or knew where it was.We wandered back to stand up to our necks in the pool at Streets Beach. I almost stood on some lad lying in the shallows trying to take arty 'selfies' with his new 'Gopro and selfie stick.'.....Damn, I should have stood on him!A very muscular man was standing waist deep throwing a rugby ball to his weedier mate. I couldn't see the point. It was pure posing.He had six chinese symbols tattooed down his back......from where I stood it looked like 'W, A, N, ?, E, R'.....I couldn't make one out......but I made a very good guess.We left and having some time remaining parked at Dutton Park and walked over the Eleanor Schonell Bridge to the University of Queensland. The University grounds are lovely.It was so hot and humid and it was nice to get back to Dulcie and the air conditioning."Wendi came for lunch," she said."We know," said Will, "we were here when she arrived.""Oh, well, I'm old......I forget," she chuckled."It's not that hot is it?" She said from her lounger."That's because you've got the Air -con on!" Said Will."Oh." She laughed again.

The 'Wang' answer.

So.....I was back at the Surgery this morning for my results.Bored Stacey was finishing off a sausage roll behind the Reception desk when I checked in....there were crumbs all over her paperwork, top lip and belly.She wasn't the best advertisement for healthy living."Aren't you having a blood test as well?" She said."I am.""Just take a number and take a seat," she said."Do you think I will have time before I see the doctor?" I asked.She had another mouth full of sausage roll so she just nodded vigorously. A few pastry flakes snowed down onto her chest.I took the number 5 and sat down....the waiting room was quite full.Almost immediately a large man close to me started to say something loudly which was unintelligible.'Oh no!' I thought, 'I have sat near 'the nutter!'.....but he wasn't 'the nutter.' It turned out he was telling me I could just go straight in for my blood test because there was nobody in front of me.I walked down the corridor to Pathology.The Indian lady was there again......Sanjita......"take a seat," she said."Have you fasted?""I have,' I said....in fact I remembered that not even my blood pressure tablet had passed my lips. I started to worry that my blood was going to spurt out and knock Sanjita over.She fussed about with my left arm, tapping it.....I decided not to look and just go with the flow......I think I should have looked......not looking is worse.....it hurt.....I think I mouthed a swear word.....but did not actually speak it.She wasn't knocked over but she filled two vials quite quickly.She popped a swab of cotton wool over my puncture and strapped it on with tape and thanked me and I went back to the waiting room.I learned nothing new from 'TonicTV' that I didn't already know. While I had been in Pathology an old bloke had arrived and he was talking loudly to another old couple......"Tony Abbott......lying bastard!........'Scuse my French."He did go onto say he had found a good mechanic though.....I made a note of the mechanic's address.....it is so hard to find a good mechanic.....so many are 'Tony Abbotts.'"Nicholas?".....it was Dr Wang. I followed him into his Surgery. My time had finally come 45 minutes after my original appointment time."How are you?""Oh, much better. I wondered what the result of my ultrasound was?""We have no report yet," he said."But, I brought an envelope in and left it behind the desk," I said. Crikey! It was probably buried under sausage roll crumbs."No, that was the film, we don't look at that. You did not do your blood test yet?""I have. I've just done it now.....what about the urine test results?""Oh, that was ok. Maybe you come back next we and we have the report then."I had been in his room less than a minute."Oh, ok then......er.....right" and the Brit in me added......"Sorry, for wasting your time.""Oh, that's ok."............it was the 'Wang' answer!He should have said....."Oh, it's not your fault!"