Good night everyone. Sweet dreams. 😘
Cuddling with my warm fuzzy baby. Her bunny soft fur, her warm comforting bulk, her sweet good natured face. I love my cat so much and kiss her little head.
Guys, my newly adult daughter is on an overnight bus with her friend on the way to Adelaide for a few days. I am sad but I’ll be ok.
she’ll be fine, you have raised her well 👍😊
Thank you.
That’s awesome that she’s having adventures!! What’s planned for ADL?? How has your night been?
They’ll be doing touristy things. Staying in a backpackers hostel. My night’s been good, lots of laughs and now a little bit sad. I am happy for her but a little anxious because this is her first trip without a proper adult. Thanks for asking.
I have a very dear older family friend that is in early stage Alzheimer’s. We travelled together about 18 months ago but she is really past it now and we kinda knew that would happen (it was a bit of a last harrah family visit). there’s a family event coming up and she would love to go. I have told her that I can’t manage to find accommodation that will suit us (true) and I also think she is a bit past it (true and said and received with love). But she wants to and is a little bit past reason (keeps saying ‘I will let you know if I can come’) and it breaks my heart. I am gonna zoom her into it (someone in her home can help).
But fuck this getting old business. She was the strongest most capable woman I knew growing up. Always a real rock for me. Aaargghh.
I’m sorry for what’s happening. Dementia related ageing just sucks. 🫂
I’m so sorry. hugs
yay, I went to the beach with my new gum boots. The tide was out and I was adventurous and walked right out across the sand flats to the far rocks that are usually well underwater.
here’s a pic looking back at the shore 😊
That’s so lovely. The sun reflection is beautiful!
I had no idea it was going photograph like that, with reflections, if I knew I would have centred the picture a bit better
Nah, just frame it as rule of thirds. It’s lovely.
That’s a beautiful photo.
Thank you. 🙂 It’s a very photogenic place.
I made hash browns. It just ain’t the same. Maybe brushed potatoes aren’t the best for it.
What was up with them?
I had a look and apparently brushed potatoes are often Sebago which are floury. They would get crispier than a waxy potato but maybe not hold together as well.
There’s also other stuff people do like rinsing the starch off the shreds, squeezing them bone dry with a tea towel or a ricer, and pre-heating the oil before frying.
Using enough oil also makes potatoes crunchier, as well as using a type of fat that can be heated higher. (Not butter, more something like tallow or ghee.)
I’m not an expert and haven’t really made hash browns so there’s no criticism here. Just curious about the science of the process and see people talking about different methods.
Yeah did all that, I used butter and a medium heat setting on cast iron. They really didn’t turn out like I expected. My imagination has got the best of me haha.
They should be ideal. What recipie did you use?
I followed this one to the letter and it really doesn’t work well. It’s also pretty time consuming
Recipie uses russet spuds - which are not common here. Also they recommend Idaho spuds, also not easily found here. Both of these are extreme ‘floury’ spuds and used for french fries and mashing. If your brushed spuds were a bit more waxy, then I can see that this recipie wouldn’t work so well. Brushed spuds are usually a good allrounder variety, mashes and bakes fairly well, but are not extreme floury or waxy though they do tend more towards the floury sort. I also use a salad spinner to remove moisture rather than the towel method, as I’m lazy and it works very well. I usually add a couple of heaped tablespoons of plain flour and an egg to the shreds (well mixed in) before frying as I find this works to hold the shreds together reliably with practically any potato, and gets nicely crispy.
Also, the heat in the pan matters for getting that nice brown crust. A hotter pan and use a mixture of butter and oil so it doesn’t burn as quickly, then let the hb sit on the heat for a good 5 mins to get a nice crust on it before turning. Cast iron is perfect for hbs, as it holds the heat so well. I think the recipie is probably very good indeed for extreme floury spuds, but might be difficult to adjust for less floury spuds unless you add a bit of flour and an egg to bind.
I think I’ll get a big fast SSD for the computer to put Linux on. I might as well find things to claim in the EOFY sales because I’ve been getting tax bills the last couple of years. Might as well spend and claim
Nocturnal friend wants to become a ‘NEET’ which I have learnt stands for Not in Employment, Education or Training. She said she just wants to win the lottery. A girl can dream.
What would you do if you won the lottery?
I just want somewhere safe and stable to live.
That’s a basic human right! It might be a bit naïve of me, but surely there’s a way to achieve this in the not so distant future?
My dream is to have an abode in Melbourne, and also a second abode in a regional place I like that serves as a weekender but I will eventually retire there. I’d love to retire early; I don’t think my body can handle hard physical labour for another 15 years even though I love it. That’s probably it lol. It’s only the lottery: when I was a kid a lottery win would set you up for life. Now I feel like it’ll pay off your house and your kids education and not much more.
Edit: that’s assuming I win something smallish. If I won like 15 million dollars or something that’d be very different.
I just want a home of my own
I think that is definitely a possibility. But in the mean time, I hope where you’re living feels like home. And home isn’t just a place. I also hope you can find home in yourself 💕
This used to be called a LOL - Lady of Leisure. Estimated income level = $200,000 pa MINIMUM. Without working, that’s a shittonne of capital at 2% pa averaged. She can dream, but those dreams are not realistic. I doubt even the lottery would finance that sort of lifestyle.
You mean like a socialite?
Not sure that Low’s friend said what she wants to do, only what she doesn’t want.
buy a nice small house by a beach, set up a nice art work studio, do education and training, work at my art and do part time employment
doing nothing would drive me crazy
That sounds wonderful, and I feel you about the doing nothing thing.
Travel and when I’m not, I’ll be in a nice cabin somewhere and read books all day.
that too sounds like heaven 🙂
There will be a fireplace and a large spa bath. I won’t be slumming it.
My really boring answer to this is go see my financial advisor and get things set up so I can live like I do now but without the work
What are you peasants eating?
… I had tinned spaghetti on toast. It was delicious OKAY.
Glad you’ve celebrated hard though, this looks amazing and you deserve all of it!!
Thanks
Hot bowl of noodles tonight…
It’s too cold!
Tacos!
Ayyyyyyyye!!! 🎂🎂🎂
Suddenly I don’t want my planned dinner, I want that spread.
I’m also having a seafood feast for dinner
(It’s sardines on toast)
A bit of crab meat rolled down my leg so the dog got some too.
Man, I just put all my estimated earnings and tax paid etc into a calculator and I’m depressed once again at the removal of the LMITO. I hate that I’m probably going to have such a 2.5-3k tax bill at the end despite working part time :( I’m so used to having tax returned and July being a bit of a splurge month.
Why the hell is my employer withholding so little tax?! Ugh. I know it’s better to have the money up front and earn interest (which also gets taxed…) but psychologically it effing sucks.
Next time I might start having a separate “tax” account to save the money into, like it’s an annual bill.
Besides getting no sunlight, is it bad to be a nocturnal human? It’s not conducive to working during business hours at least.
I believe it is most productive to work to your body clock preferences, whether you are an early bird or night owl. Societal arrangements generally favour early birds, so some of us are just permanent double shot caffeine addicts in the A.M.
In winter I think it’s bad to be nocturnal, you need Vitamin D exposure. In other seasons, you’ll get enough incidental Vitamin D exposure, so as long as being nocturnal doesn’t reduce your mood.
Studies have shown that night time shift workers ain’t as healthy as day time workers. Don’t ask me for proof.
I’ll take your word for it 🫡
Is anyone else still having to harvest their backyard / balcony chilli plants too frequently at this wrong time of year?
Not chillis but my little tomatoes are still going
As are mine? Strawberries are making a comeback too.
I survived work. Must make tea
I wish I’d taken annual leave tomorrow so I could have a 4 day weekend. Ah well.
Well it’s official.
Hambam is now confidently an off leash walker.
I have waited for this moment for a long time.
Trick was to take him to the same park several times a day so he got over being hyper stimulated / fixated. It worked. Now he doesn’t give two shits about anything… other dogs / kids. So I have upgraded his braincell count to 3, from 2.
Nice. My tip, still keep eyes open for skateboards and electric scooters…took my doggo an extra year after graduating to off lead status before he could see those and not be bothered…
