The Cost of Care. Really effective graph showing various countries’ health care spending vs. life expectancy. Be sure to click to enlarge the graphic, and pay particular note to the way it uses colour too. (Am I reading that right? Australia has the 3rd highest life expectancy after Japan and Switzerland? Sweet!) Link courtesy of kottke.

Remember when I discovered Australian “chow mein”? The SBS Food site has a blog post speculating on its origins. It really is an Australian classic. (And judging by M-H’s comment on my original post, New Zealand knew about it as well.)

Tom’s Four Generations Baby Quilt. Lovely! Makes me want to quilt again.

Mangomisu!

I knew we had to make this as soon as I saw it on the Delicious cover. It looks so good! (Plus, it fits nicely with my goal of eating as many mangoes this summer as possible.) Snookums made it earlier today. It’s basically a tiramisu but with mango flavouring instead of coffee. Ladyfinger cookies are dipped in Grand Marnier and orange juice, then layered with a thick vanilla cream and mango slices. It turned out pretty spectacular. I forgot to make the accompanying raspberry sauce, so we’ll have that with it tomorrow. 🙂

Merry Christmas, to all of you who celebrate it. Us, not so much. We did tag-team in the kitchen to prepare an awesome dinner last night. The highlight was Seared Beef with Sweet Chilli Caramel Sauce from this month’s Delicious magazine. (That sauce is AMAZING. The recipe also makes about 50 times more than you need for the amount of meat, so we’re trying to figure out what else to do with it.) We also had sauteed Savoy cabbage and roast vegetables. For tipple, I made us a jug of Jamie Oliver’s “Raspberry & Ginger Fizz” (also from Delicious). Basically, you muddle a handful of mint, two handfuls of raspberries, a tablespoon of sugar, and a big piece of ginger in a jug, then top with ice, 8 shots of vodka, and ginger beer. Delicious!

Anyway, after a lovely lie-in this morning we’re both in full-on hermit mode. The Snook is off raiding in Azeroth, while I plan on making some serious progress on St. Brigid. I’ve got Skype on if any of the family feel like saying hello…

My favorite snowman, like, EVER.

Samsung New Year’s Eve Promotion. See? We don’t just do ringtones… 🙂

I love it when knitting and Ravelry-related stories get picked up on MetaFilter…

Martha Stewart Weddings has never featured a gay wedding before… til now. It’s lovely, and as Andrew points out, it’s particularly nice that they did it without a lot of fanfare.

The Snook and I just watched all seven parts of this massive review/commentary on Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The “serial killer” framing device is a little annoying, but the observations about the movie are SPOT ON. I can still remember how I felt driving home after the midnight showing, still dressed up in my ridiculous Amidala outfit, trying to talk myself into believing that it didn’t suck. But it sucked. And this guy explains exactly why. (Spoiler: Jar Jar is hardly even mentioned.)