Monday Movies.

THE DISH.

July 1969 the town of Parkes in western NSW was put on the world map for it's involvement in the relay of the footage of the moonlanding. This is the story of Cliff Buxton (Sam Niell) and his colleagues who work at the radio telescope who and coordinated with NASA including having someone from NASA come and work with them. It tells how the men worked together to overcome the obstacles in their way to keep the world informed.

This is a great little Aussie movie that I recommend that you see. I particularly reccomend it if you get Aussie humour. If you don't get Aussie humour then you should probably give it a miss as it will probably go over your head.

Food on Fridays

MACARONI AND CORN PANCAKES.

Serves 4

2 corn on the cob
4 tbsp butter
115 g red capsicums, deseeded and finely diced
275 g dried short cut macaroni
150 ml double cream
25 g plain flour
4 egg yolks
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
TO SERVE
oyster mushrooms
fried leeks

1. Bring a pan of water to the boil over a medium heat. Add the corn on the cobs and cook for about 8 minutes. Drain thoroughly and refresh under cold running water for 3 minutes. Cut away the kernels onto kitchen paper and leave to dry.

2. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a frying pan over a low heat. Add the capsicum and cook for about 4 minutes. Drain and pat dry on kitchen paper.

3. . Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil over medium heat. Add the macaroni and cook until tender, but still firm to the bite. Drain and lean in cold water until required.

4. Beat the cream with the flour, a pinch of salt and the egg yolks in a bowl until smooth. Add the corn and capsicum. Drain the macaroni, then toss into the corn mixture. Season with pepper to taste.

5. Heat the remaining butter with the oil in the frying pan over a medium heat. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan and press down to form pancakes. Fry until golden on both sides and all the mixture is used up. Serve with mushrooms and leeks.

Thoughts.

So what I was thinking, I have been doing some regular posting, woot. But I haven't done much just about what has been happening for me.

Basically I am still looking for work.

But what I was really thinking was that I was wanting to do a regular quiz like Ben's. However I don't want it to be the same thing exactly, I want it inspired by but not the same as, at one stage I was thinking of calling it Who, What when Where Why? and having a series of questions starting with one of those words possibly on the same theme for each week. I wanted to know what my readers thought of this idea and if they would partake of such a quiz.

I have also been thinking about doing this course. I feel that it may help to to further my career in the future. I would like to do it but I'm not sure. I don't feel that I am the most academically minded person and I don't feel that I am very good at writing essays which the assessments are. However I did quite well in my Diploma of Library/Information Services at TAFE so I have a basic understanding of the concepts.  I have prayed about it and I'm still not sure. I was originally gonna wait until I got a job to maybe apply but getting a job is taking a while so maybe I should just apply for it. I would like to to know the opinions of my readers.

Monday Movies.

THE PELICAN BRIEF.

Based on a John Grisham novel it is the story of Darby Shaw (Julia Roberts) who is a law student and writes a brief about why two supreme court justices have been killed. She then shows the brief to her lecturer who is also her boyfriend. He then shows it to his friend at the FBI. Shaws boyfriend is then killed in a car explosion and she then turns to the friend at the FBI but he also turns up dead. Shaw then teams up Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington), who is a journalist who is also researching about the deaths of the judges. The two of them then expose who is behind the killings.

It was quite an interesting movie although I found it a bit slow in places and I found the ending a bit contrived. However if you enjoy Detective thrillers especially John Grisham novels then I recommend that you watch it.

Food on Fridays.

LASAGNE

Serves 6.

2 Tablespoons oil.
1 clove garlic
1 large onion
500 g minced topside steak
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 x 140 g tomato paste
3 cups water
1 x 240 g packet instant lasagne sheets
1 x 500 g carton cottage cheese
1 x 250 g packet siss or mozzarella cheese

Heat oil in a very large pan over medium heat, chop onion and fry until transparent. Add meat and crushed garlic and fry until brown. Add salt and pepper, tomato paste, water and rosemary. Stir until well mixed. Lower heat and let the sauce simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 180 C. Spoon a thin layer of sauce onto a pan and cover with half the lasagne sheets. Cover lasagne with more sauce and evenly spread all the cottage cheese over the sauce. Add half the cheese slices. Cover with remaining Lasagne sheets and pour on the rest of the sauce. Finish with the remaining cheese slices.

Monday Movies.

THE BLACK BALLOON.

16 year old Thomas Mollison (Rhys Wakefield) has many issues to deal with. His dad (Erik Thompson) is in the army and the family has just moved to a new town; his mum (Toni Collette) is pregnant and his older brother, Charlie (Luke Ford) is austic. Thomas meets and falls for Jackie (Gemma Ward), from school, but because Charlie is embarrasing for him this causes obstacles, paricularly when Jackie drops round to their house, when the three kids go for a walk in the bush and when she comes round for a birthday dinner. Can Thomas enter into the world of teen romances or will having to look after Charlie get in the way of his life?

Wow! I found this a really beautiful and powerful movie. I especially loved that it was another Australian movie. I also loved that it dealt with issues that are in the world but not necessarily in the public eye. I really reccomend that you see this movie.

Monday Movies

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE.

When 7 year old Olive Hoover (Abigail Breslin) gets a chance to be in the Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pagaent. The only way that Olive can participate is for the whole dysfunctional family, including  Olive's mother Sheryl Hoover (Toni Collette) and  her brother, Frank (Steve Carrell) who has been released from a mental asylum, her father, (Alan Arkin), who has been kicked out of his retirement village for drug use, Dwayne (Paul Dano) who has taken a vow of silence and Olive's father who is a failed self help guru, to jump into the families old Volkswagen Kombi. Along the way the family has many adventures like the van breaking down and needing to be pushed to start everytime.

This was quite an enjoyable movie and I do think that it is worth seeing for a laugh. The thing that I enjoyed the most about this movie is that it showed that no matter how badly a family might get along, they can band together so to support each othe no matter what the circumstances.

Food on Friday.

Well I was thinking about the time of year, but I don't have a Hot Cross Bun recipe, so considering that Monday is the 25 April, today's recipe is:

NUTTY ANZAC BISCUITS.

Makes 30-40

1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
2 tbsp golden syrup
125 g butter
1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
3 tbsn boiling water

Mix the flour, oats, sugar, coconut and peanuts together. Melt the syrup and butter over a gentle heat.  Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the boiling water, stir in the syrup mixture, and pour over the dry ingredients, stirring until well mixed.
Put heaped teaspoons of the mixture about 5 cm apart to allow for spreading, on greased oven trays. Bake in a moderately slow oven for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and leave on the trays a few minutes then lift off with a spatula.

Monday Movies

MY SISTERS KEEPER

Eleven-year-old Anna (Abigail Breslin) seeks out successful lawyer Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin) to get medical emancipation from her mother Sara (Cameron Diaz) who wants her to donate her kidney to her sister. Anna explains to the lawyer that she was concieved by in vitro fertilisation to provide donor organs for her sister Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) when she was diagnosed with leukemia. Anna tells the lawyer about the procedures she has been forced to undergo since she was 5 years old to help her sister. Alexander agrees to take on the case pro bono and Sara takes Anna to court to force her to donate to her sister.


This is an amazing movie and very powerful, I would really reccomend this for everyone to see. However keep a box of tissues near you cause it is a real tear jerker.

Food on Fridays.

BEEF WITH CAPSICUMS (PEPPERS)

Serves 4

100 g butter
170 g red capsicums, seeded and chopped
90 g flaked almonds
3 onions peeled and chopped
10 cloves garlic peeled and thinly sliced
grated rind 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper
500 ml buttermilk
4 slices of rumpsteak
3 tbsp oil

Melt the butter in a saucepan and saute the chopped capsicums, almonds two thirds of  the onion and all the garlic and lemon rind. Season with salt and pepper and add the buttermilk. Cook over a low heat until a thick sauce is obtained.
Cut the rump steak into thin strips. Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the beef and remaining onion, stirring constantly for 3 minutes. Add to the sauce and heat through without cooking. Serve with a lettuce or tomato salad and creamed potatoes.

Happy Birthday

So yesterday was my birthday, I had a great day. I had a picnic in a little nearby park to celebrate. Just my siblings and their families came but it was good to see them, especially Ben and Radz, as I don't see them that often. My Brother who is in Chile didn't come, but he did ring me in the morning, so that was good to hear from him too.

There were some funny things that happened, like Jon was cooking some rissoles on the barbie, and he broke the slide thing, and he blamed Tim (who is in Chile), when Amy, Jon's wife came he told her that Tim had done it, and she took about half an hour to realise that he couldn't possibly have done it.

Monday Movies

CORALINE.

An animated movie in which, Coraline (Dakota Fanning) and her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) move to an old house. Coraline feels neglected by her parents and finds a hidden door which she goes through. The door leads to another world where she finds parents who care for her and all her dreams come true, however everyone in the new world has button eyes. The Other Mother offers Coraline the chance to stay in the other world for ever, but she refuses and discovers that the other world is a trap to lure her away.

I actually found this movie a little scary. That doesn't mean that you will but I would not recommend that you watch it, especially if you are like me.

Food on Friday

TRADITIONAL SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 heaped tablespoon finely chopped fresch rosemary
3 or 4 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped (optional)
6 mushrooms finely chopped
5 skinned chicken giblets finely chopped (optional)
1/2 skinned cacciatore salami , finely choppped (optional)
500 gm rump, round or topside steak finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
400 g can diced tomatoes
pinch mixed spice
salt and pepper to taste

Heat most of the oil or butter (reserve 2 teaspoons) in a frying pan - preferably not a nonstick pan because you won't get a good browning on the bottom of the pan. Add the onion, garlic, rosemary and basil. Cook on low until the onion is soft and clear abd the bottom of the pan is slightly brown, but take care not to burn.

Meanwhile, soften the mushrooms in the the reserved oil in a seperate frying pan, then set aside.

Add the chicken giblets and salami (if using) and cook until brown. Add the steak, cook until brown. Stir in the tomato paste, tomatoes, spices and mushrooms.

Add just enough boiling water to cover the mixture (about 2 cups/500ml), then partially cover the frying pan. Cook on low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until nearly all the water is evaporated.

Serve over spaghetti cooked al dente, with a good sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Heaven

So I read this post and it made me think of the following song by Tobymac. I know the sentiments are completely different but it got me thinking. We do not think about heaven as much as we should and it will be good to find people they we have lost contact with in heaven, but we also need to think about what kind of example we are setting to our friends who don't know God and the state of their spiritual life.

"In The Air"

I had a dream last night about the other side
And I must confess that it was quite the ride
I had a dream last night and the fact that you weren't there
Gave me quite the scare
People were afloat all around me
Yet their weightless state never seemed to astound me
Everything was grand till I noticed one thing
That you, my friend, weren't on the scene

There in the air

I've been workin' all morning trying to spin my dream
Cause I just can't believe you weren't in my dream
Remember you and I said we would paint the sky
And the leaves on the trees and the stars at night
We made beats and we even wrote rhymes
And played golf, I think, a million times
Now we never got around to spiritual matters
But we sure made time for our mindless chatter

[CHORUS]

I wanna see you there
In the the air
One day we'll be singin' (Hallelujah)
I wanna see you there
In the the air
One day we'll be singin' (Hallelujah)

Hello, wassup (wassup), how ya doin' (just fine)
I was sorta wonderin', could we make the time
(Just kick it) why not (at our usual spot)
Latte's in May, mine cold, yours hot
(So where we goin') much deeper than our usual chat
(Like who's beats is weak and who's beats is phat)
Nah, my man, this some next level junk
(Like when we discussed if Tiger Woods could dunk)
Just meet me there, seven o'clock, rain or shine
With a fat cup of bean and a wide open mind

Monday Movies.

THE YOUNG VICTORIA.

Victoria's (Emily Blunt) mother and her consort, Conroy have tried to dominate her life since childhood, however as a teenager she refuses to let them act as her regent in the last days of her uncle William IV's rule. Her German cousin Albert (Ruper Friend) is encouraged to court her for political reasons, but after her succession to the throne, at age 18, he finds himself falling for her, but does not approve of her reliance on premier Melbourne (Paul Bettany). Victoria is impressed by Albert's philanthropy as she wants to help her subjects. But her loyalty to Melbourne who is a self-seeker, almost causes a crisis of the constitution. Albert is the one who the helps Victoria get back her self-conficence. Victoria proposes to Albert and they marry. He proves that he is not only a devoted husband, who even takes a bullet for his wife, but also an agent of reform.

I really enjoyed this movie, and I would reccomend it to everyone, especially people interested in the History of  the UK and the Royal Family.