When these animals get out of their normal habitat and get washed into unfamiliar zones, they tend to seek hiding places, which may be in a closet, under a bed, or other spots that could lead to disaster when the unknowing homeowner returns and encounters the frightened animal victim that may then lash out. Spiders do something similar, and Australia certainly has no shortage of poisonous arachnids.
Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter has warned that the flood waters also contained crocodiles.
"There is the risk that we have a number of crocodiles that live in the Fitzroy River," he said. "We do not think they are a risk to public safety if people keep out of the waters but if people do enter the waters, their safety cannot be guaranteed."
The New York Times reports that dozens of snakes have taken over the backyard beer garden of the Fitzroy Hotel Pub in Rockhampton. Owner Tony Higgins said, “I reckon the snakes are using it as a lap pool to get ready for the next stage of their journey."
Yup, you wouldn’t know what’s in the water, you really wouldn’t know. It’s a bad place to be.
January 16, 2011
THE FLOOD EFFECTS PT. 2: PLAGUE OF SNAKES, CROCS, MICE AND EVERYTHING NOT NICE.
As if having your homes submerged isn't enough problem already, the poor residents of affected areas of the flood have been battling more than just water & damages, but also undesirable creatures. Floods in Queensland have also unleashed a 'plague' of pests & dangerous animals like mice, frogs and snakes and worse-crocodiles which have wandered into places & waterways near residential homes and even town areas.
When these animals get out of their normal habitat and get washed into unfamiliar zones, they tend to seek hiding places, which may be in a closet, under a bed, or other spots that could lead to disaster when the unknowing homeowner returns and encounters the frightened animal victim that may then lash out. Spiders do something similar, and Australia certainly has no shortage of poisonous arachnids.
Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter has warned that the flood waters also contained crocodiles.
"There is the risk that we have a number of crocodiles that live in the Fitzroy River," he said. "We do not think they are a risk to public safety if people keep out of the waters but if people do enter the waters, their safety cannot be guaranteed."
The New York Times reports that dozens of snakes have taken over the backyard beer garden of the Fitzroy Hotel Pub in Rockhampton. Owner Tony Higgins said, “I reckon the snakes are using it as a lap pool to get ready for the next stage of their journey."
Yup, you wouldn’t know what’s in the water, you really wouldn’t know. It’s a bad place to be.
When these animals get out of their normal habitat and get washed into unfamiliar zones, they tend to seek hiding places, which may be in a closet, under a bed, or other spots that could lead to disaster when the unknowing homeowner returns and encounters the frightened animal victim that may then lash out. Spiders do something similar, and Australia certainly has no shortage of poisonous arachnids.
Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter has warned that the flood waters also contained crocodiles.
"There is the risk that we have a number of crocodiles that live in the Fitzroy River," he said. "We do not think they are a risk to public safety if people keep out of the waters but if people do enter the waters, their safety cannot be guaranteed."
The New York Times reports that dozens of snakes have taken over the backyard beer garden of the Fitzroy Hotel Pub in Rockhampton. Owner Tony Higgins said, “I reckon the snakes are using it as a lap pool to get ready for the next stage of their journey."
Yup, you wouldn’t know what’s in the water, you really wouldn’t know. It’s a bad place to be.
January 15, 2011
THE FLOOD EFFECTS PT. 1: EMPTY SHELVES
Yesterday, when I went out to get some vege's, this was what I saw, amazing and appalling:
Empty shelves and empty tables at major supermarkets (that kinda reminds me of what the French students sang for Les Miserables- Empty chairs and empty tables)..this is probably the first time in a long, long time, that the shops have this problem due to the floods. Farmer crops have been affected drastically, even meats were not as plentiful. Quite pathetic to see people fingering through a few stalks of veg left on the shelves. Milk was all sold out, including UHT shelves which were typically well-stocked...
So, eventhough GC was unaffected by the flood waters, the inland tsunami that hit Queensland still had its ripple effects much felt here...hopefully, the supplies get back to normal soon.
So, eventhough GC was unaffected by the flood waters, the inland tsunami that hit Queensland still had its ripple effects much felt here...hopefully, the supplies get back to normal soon.
January 13, 2011
THE FLOOD OF 'BIBLICAL' PROPORTIONS
Some call this the worst flood in Queensland since 1974- a disaster of biblical proportions.
Lots of homes, shops, offices, schools awash and inundated in flood water in many districts of Queensland.
Just 2 days ago, Brisbane got hit as well. Here's the clip of just how bad things can get.
Man against nature, this is truly one of the best reminders of the fragility of humanity in modern Australia. My heart goes out to those who lost their homes, loved ones, pets, and belongings.
In Toowoomba, a district not too far away from here, many people never took flood insurance because they thought they were living in high areas, non-susceptible to flood disasters. So, they were literally caught by surprise and left with virtually nothing. The clip of the cars floating down the river is in Toowomba.
Sad sight .. but then hey, somebody took the opportunity to have some wet 'n' wild fun at the end of the clip!!?? There's the oz spirit for you... ride the waves and the water, dude... coz tomorrow is another day...
January 8, 2011
EPISODE 48: APPRECIATING THE HERE & NOW
Jordie finally had his friends from school over today to visit and play during the holidays. He was so looking forward to them coming. Their mum brought them to our place today. We'd never met before so we chatted for a bit and got to know each other a little. During the conversation, she revealed to us that her husband was dying of cancer and probably only had a few months to live.
I really felt for this woman -yet she looked so strong. She just had to take what she had and go with it, get the income, manage the household, bring up her kids and make sure her husband gets taken care of. She told us she was glad the boys had their own network of friends to play with to take their mind off the family crisis. You may look at your life, think it stinks, think your problems bigger than others till somebody comes along and flashes a bigger bin of problems and then suddenly, yours seem to shrink to mini proportions.
It dawned on me how short life is. I mean, we go thru life with its motions of things, waking up, grooming, cleaning, cooking, eating, minding our business, getting the kids to school, nod off to bed, and then what?? Certainly, there is more to life than this everyday replay. There comes days when people or situations jar you and wake you out of your normal deadpan mode of comfy predictability and scream out to you, make your life count!! It could be an accident, death of someone you knew, a very unusual incident, or even a stranger just coming into your lives with extraordinary situations like in this case. And then you realise you had been selfishly moaning about your poor tired life and all that moaning energy needs to be channelled outwards because elsewhere, someone is always in worse shape than you.
During the day, one of the boys kept telling me in his straight, serious demeanour, "My dad's gonna die, He's gonna die, you know, by this year, it makes him sad and then it makes me double sad because I know he is gonna die and I'm sad because he's sad about it." SIGH! Wish I had a healing wand to go around zapping everyone back to health, but only God can do that.
But the boys had such a lot of fun together today and you know what, there was no sadness in that. I heard their laughter playing in the tiny drizzle outside with some water guns and light sabres. So, I realised, life may be short, but we make the most of it whatever we have and enjoy the here and now, the fun, the sun, (yes we had heaps of rain and even flooding in some areas of Queensland, really bad but today was nice weather to play outdoors) the food, the friendships, family, and then take everyday as it comes.
We told her that if at any time she needed for the boys to be away should she have a difficult time coping, that they were welcome here. Sure, it is inconvenient, privacy intruded, house messed up, but as Jordie puts it, " Its okay, at least we have fun together." So, yes, I thank God for family, for health, for joy, laughter and the blessings we have each day.
December 1, 2010
IN THE YEAR OF COOKING DANGEROUSLY
Have been taking my long absence from blogging for a while... just been too busy, tired, lazy lately to have any inspiration for writing anything. But December is the final month of this year and wow, it's been like so incredibly fast the way this year has shot by.
Everywhere, signs of Christmas mood popping up in houses, neighbourhoods, malls.. this year a little bit more upkey than last, at least in shopping malls. Santas with their elves in every mall and crying babies plonked on their laps for cute pixes by eager parents for that memorable shot to go down their albums for years to come...Maybe they just need to drum up the sales, so need to pound into the heads of customers, it's Christmas coming your way soon.. BUY, BUY, SPEND now, or else it will be too late??!!
This year has also been a year of creative adventures in the kitchen for me, I think at no other time have I been trying out so many different things like this year. Maybe the initial plans to perhaps someday run a restaurant got me into this mood to experiment with different stuff... but let's see... I have tried (this is by no means a brag list, just a reflection and wonder at how brave I have become...), but much of it was to salvage food that might otherwise go bad, so you might say, I cooked to avoid wastage..
PESTO- one day, I found myself with so much basil leaves, so I blended them up with some peanuts, olive oil, salt, onions, garlic and pepper and then used it later for cooking with pasta, ham and mushrooms, pesto pasta is a yummy and nutritious must try...
APPLE MUFFINS- Found myself with lots of apples, and threw them into the muffins with some cinnamon powder and raisins and sometimes chopped walnuts. Sometimes, I even popped in leftover Weetbix cereal crumbs which I saved from Jordie's box for extra crunch.
APPLE JAM- Also, because again, I had too many apples rotting away in the fridge, I took them out, cut out the bad parts
and stewed them up into a jam.
The 1st time I did it, didn't add brown sugar and 2nd round which is this pix, I did so the it turned out a little brownish, but better tasting and smoother. You also have to add some lemon juice which sorta preserves it longer and sugar. Cinnamon sticks give it a nice flavour and I think I prefer it than cinnamon powder.
Need about 1 hour of constant stirring and simmering.. and it just disintegrates into pulpy jam slowly but surely. ..
.. Jordie loves it with bread and butter.
NASI LEMAK - Have never attempted this Malaysian favourite until we invited some Aussie friends over and decided to treat them to some traditional Malaysian fare. We did the mild version which they liked.Later this year, I decided to slip the spice level a notch up, so sambal was used instead of just sweet chilli. Jordie loved it, esp the fried chicken drumsticks... of course anything fried and crispy for him is a sure winner.. No banana leaves to be found here, so a 'banana leaf' melamine platter was the ambience setter. What to do?
SWEET CHILLI FISH - Deep fried dory or basa fillets, chopped up topped with sweet chilli sauce. Great with capsicum stirred in.. I used some 5 spice powder for fish batter just to zing it up a little. And added in a dollop of (you won't believe this, thousand island dressing) to the sweet chilli sauce topping to give it a more emulsifying texture...
FISH CAKE- 1st attempt was successful, but a teed bit too salty. I mashed up some basa fillet, chopped green beans, onions, garlic, fish sauce and flour, then fried it up with sweet chilli for dip.
BEEF WANTONS- never really attempted this, coz pork was the normal type. Beef is normally cheaper here, so I thought we'd try it out on wantons and what do you know, it tasted pretty good! With garlic, chopped carrots, onions, some spring onions and even celery, most of the beefy smell is dealt with..
ROASTED ALMONDS -decided to try the type coated with egg white and sugar and cinnamon and it really tasted great and not as sticky as the honey roasted type. The ones in the supermarkets cost quite a bomb at bout $10.00 per for packet of less than 500g, I think. Makes nice christmas gifts and holiday snacks.
AVOCADO MILKSHAKE
- inspired by my hubby who used to taste them at Jakarta with some chocolate topping. Really nice with some milk, ice cream and mix of yogurt and ice and texture comes out like some green thick custard but deliciously cold and creamy.
Well, that's just some of the stuff that came out of the year of cooking dangerously, and I thank my hubby, son and willing guests for daring to eat dangerously alongside with me....they're still walking and kicking, I did at least pass the toxic test...
APPLE JAM- Also, because again, I had too many apples rotting away in the fridge, I took them out, cut out the bad parts
and stewed them up into a jam.
The 1st time I did it, didn't add brown sugar and 2nd round which is this pix, I did so the it turned out a little brownish, but better tasting and smoother. You also have to add some lemon juice which sorta preserves it longer and sugar. Cinnamon sticks give it a nice flavour and I think I prefer it than cinnamon powder.
Need about 1 hour of constant stirring and simmering.. and it just disintegrates into pulpy jam slowly but surely. ..
.. Jordie loves it with bread and butter.
NASI LEMAK - Have never attempted this Malaysian favourite until we invited some Aussie friends over and decided to treat them to some traditional Malaysian fare. We did the mild version which they liked.Later this year, I decided to slip the spice level a notch up, so sambal was used instead of just sweet chilli. Jordie loved it, esp the fried chicken drumsticks... of course anything fried and crispy for him is a sure winner.. No banana leaves to be found here, so a 'banana leaf' melamine platter was the ambience setter. What to do?
SWEET CHILLI FISH - Deep fried dory or basa fillets, chopped up topped with sweet chilli sauce. Great with capsicum stirred in.. I used some 5 spice powder for fish batter just to zing it up a little. And added in a dollop of (you won't believe this, thousand island dressing) to the sweet chilli sauce topping to give it a more emulsifying texture...
FISH CAKE- 1st attempt was successful, but a teed bit too salty. I mashed up some basa fillet, chopped green beans, onions, garlic, fish sauce and flour, then fried it up with sweet chilli for dip.
BEEF WANTONS- never really attempted this, coz pork was the normal type. Beef is normally cheaper here, so I thought we'd try it out on wantons and what do you know, it tasted pretty good! With garlic, chopped carrots, onions, some spring onions and even celery, most of the beefy smell is dealt with..
ROASTED ALMONDS -decided to try the type coated with egg white and sugar and cinnamon and it really tasted great and not as sticky as the honey roasted type. The ones in the supermarkets cost quite a bomb at bout $10.00 per for packet of less than 500g, I think. Makes nice christmas gifts and holiday snacks.
AVOCADO MILKSHAKE
- inspired by my hubby who used to taste them at Jakarta with some chocolate topping. Really nice with some milk, ice cream and mix of yogurt and ice and texture comes out like some green thick custard but deliciously cold and creamy.
Well, that's just some of the stuff that came out of the year of cooking dangerously, and I thank my hubby, son and willing guests for daring to eat dangerously alongside with me....they're still walking and kicking, I did at least pass the toxic test...
October 14, 2010
DAM GOOD NEWS
THOUSANDS of litres are gushing from the Hinze Dam, Gold Coast's largest and main dam, after the spill gates were opened yesterday morning. Blessed with lots of rain this October, the new spill gates were finally put to good use.
The gates were opened at 7.30am on October 13 yesterday after the dam reached 100 percent capacity.
Now, that's dam good news -no water shortage for quite a long while.
October 5, 2010
EPISODE 47: TURNING 9
Jordie turned 9 yesterday. He was so excited about it as it was his 'treat' day. We took him to AMF for a morning bowling session and he had a blast. Totally. The bigger blast was of course, that his dad scored lower than him. For some reason, daddy could not aim straight and the ball kept rolling into the side gulley. But Jordie had help too. The junior alley had support fences to 'nudge' the ball back onto course. Most of Jordie's throws ended up skidding on the floor before the ball started rolling but hey, still got the strikes nonetheless. .
AMF had a very good discount for school holidays and for a game of about $6.90 each, one could play roughly about 45 minutes, depending on how good you are. I don't know much about bowling and was just a spectator. Looks like fun but was contented to just watch for now.
Then, we stopped by the Cheesecake shop and he got to choose his fave cheesecake flavour, strawberry glazed from the stack.
Jordie said this was one of his best birthdays ever and we were glad we decided to do something different for a change. For previous years, we held parties for him and invited neighbourhood kids over. But he has now discovered... the art of personal enjoyment..ahh.. the pleasure of not needing to entertain, and just get to do the stuff you like with people you love.
Again, this might be just a phase..oh well, we'll enjoy it while it lasts, maybe in a few years' time, he won't even want us around for his birthdays..
He loves his new tommy toy gun too.
We enjoy pampering him, because he's been such a good boy. Makes his bed every morning, keeps his room tidy, did well for his piano and studies, helps around when asked. He's never complained about us not bringing him anywhere for this term break, or any of the previous breaks, so, he really deserves his treat on his special day....we love you Jordie... muacks!
September 26, 2010
MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB
Recently, a friend invited our family to a Marriage Supper of the Lamb event organised by Heart of David Ministries. It was held in Nerang Bicentennial Culture Centre and was a Jewish celebration which was held to depict a future point in holy history when the saints will pass through the gates of splendor to enter the mansions of glory. There they will be ushered into a love feast and a glorious consummation of marriage of Christ and His bride.
When we arrived, we heard some familiar either Singaporean or Malaysian accent English being spoken by one of the chinese couples who were in charge of reception.
They had lovely tabletop centrepieces and we saw some booths also selling stuff like books and Jewish souvenirs. Food was great. We had lamb (of course), roast beef, chicken stew, salad, baked potatoes, rice and some salad. We also had a cake-cutting session, with words written "Shalom Jerusalem".
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is based on scriptures which indicate that this climactic banquet of the ages will come at the end of this present evil age at the second coming of Christ. At that time we shall see Jesus/Yeshua face to face on the occasion of His return to this earth. This time He will come not as the Suffering Servant but as the returning conquering King of Kings. Revelation chapter 19 (below) gives the context of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
They made a wedding tent under which traditional jewish weddings were held and danced under it.
It was lovely to watch people just being free to dance unto the Lord in this fashion, and meaningful as it was symbolic of the relationship we had with Christ, when He comes back for His bride, the church. More importantly, it reminded us how much God loves us and the type of intimate relationship He was looking for in His people.
They had lovely tabletop centrepieces and we saw some booths also selling stuff like books and Jewish souvenirs. Food was great. We had lamb (of course), roast beef, chicken stew, salad, baked potatoes, rice and some salad. We also had a cake-cutting session, with words written "Shalom Jerusalem".
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is based on scriptures which indicate that this climactic banquet of the ages will come at the end of this present evil age at the second coming of Christ. At that time we shall see Jesus/Yeshua face to face on the occasion of His return to this earth. This time He will come not as the Suffering Servant but as the returning conquering King of Kings. Revelation chapter 19 (below) gives the context of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
They made a wedding tent under which traditional jewish weddings were held and danced under it.
It was lovely to watch people just being free to dance unto the Lord in this fashion, and meaningful as it was symbolic of the relationship we had with Christ, when He comes back for His bride, the church. More importantly, it reminded us how much God loves us and the type of intimate relationship He was looking for in His people.
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