I just noticed that I’ve had some hits from the Colony of Gamers Child’s Play Drive 2008 post. Greetings, gamers! I got contacted last month by Dana from the In-Game Chat podcast asking if I’d be willing to knit/craft something for this year’s raffle. All the money raised goes to support Child’s Play, a gamer-supported charity that donates toys, games, books, and cash to children’s hospitals around the world. I agreed, and I’ll be knitting a custom pair of these Space Invaders socks for the winning Aussie ticket. (Special thanks to the designer Aija Goto for giving me her blessing.) So if you’d like to support a great cause and possibly win some super-cool socks, please go PayPal them a few bucks.

Keith Olbermann talks about Proposition 8. He admits that he doesn’t have a horse in this race; he’s not gay, nor is anyone close to him. I thought it was fascinating. He’s such a great speaker. I mean, yeah, it’s fun when he goes off on a righteous rant, but that’s not what this is. For him, it’s all about love.

Last night…
Snook: There’s something going on in the city tonight that you’re going to be mad you missed!
Me: What?!
Him: They closed off the George Street bus stops in front of the cinemas because of a special event…
Me: Ooh, a movie premiere! Is somebody famous in town?
Him: Teenage girls EVERYWHERE.
Me: Oh, man! It can’t be Twilight yet…
Him: Nope. But you’re close.
Me: OH! High School Musical 3??
Him: Zac Efron is here.
Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Letter from a Veteran. Lovely blog post from my old roommate Eileen about her grandfather, who served in WWII. Her aunt recently found a letter that he had written home to his parents and Eileen’s posted it on her site.

Oh neat! I was telling the Snook about that “Craig’s List bank robber guy” the other day and how he’d apparently been caught thanks to some DNA evidence. But what I didn’t know is that the DNA sample they used to match him came from his chewing tobacco spittoon-cup! Gross, yet fascinating.

A Veggie Conundrum
I went to pick up our veggie box last night from Michael at the Sustainable House. He let me swap a few things (I know from experience the two of us can’t get through a whole cos lettuce in a week) and he even gave me an extra jar of this week’s special treat, a hot Sri Lankan eggplant pickle. Anyway, I got the box home and started unpacking… and HOLY CRAP, we have a lot of vegetables! I put a list on the whiteboard so we would be reminded to work our way through them. It reads: red cabbage, pumpkin, zucchini, mushrooms, broccolini, beetroot, fennel, sweet potato, sweet corn, rhubarb, choy sum, capsicum, onions, and potatoes. Note: For most of these items, we just receive a small amount suitable for two people. (Personally I like this, while the Snook feels he’d rather have more of a few things and less variety.) Anyway, here’s the kicker – our oven is broken! Friday night I was pre-heating it for a pizza when it tripped the circuit breaker. We flipped it back on, and nothing. No fan, no heating element. Thank God the stove still works. So we’re ovenless until we can get it repaired, which makes using up all this veg that much harder. Any suggestions?

I used half a dozen potatoes, a quarter of the red cabbage, and a carrot from the fridge in last night’s dinner: Veal Schnitzel with Coleslaw and Rösti.

It was fantastic! That was the first time I’d ever made rosti (using this recipe) and it turned out really great. Who needs Una’s when you can whip this up at home?

They’re back! Iron Chefs Sakai and Chen are cooking up a dinner in Sydney again. We went last year but I somehow doubt we’re going to get another unexpected tax windfall… (Link courtesy of Eva.)