• Anthony Bourdain’s Guide to Food Television

    Anthony Bourdain’s Guide to Food Television. That is just brilliant. I like that he gives props to Martha Stewart and Alton Brown, and that he basically admits Gordon Ramsay is selling out by becoming a total caricature of himself.


  • The Untold Story of the World’s Biggest Diamond Heist

    The Untold Story of the World’s Biggest Diamond Heist. Fascinating story. I wish Mythbusters would cover it so I could find out if the hair spray and magnetic plate hacks really work.


  • WILLIS Tower?

    Sears Tower to become Willis Tower. SCREW THAT. It’ll always be the Sears Tower to me.


  • Shared today on Twitter

    has just realised that my office chair – which I’ve been using for 2.5 months now – has a strappy thing for lower back support. Niiiice.


    just found out from Venks that I’ve had a black smudge on my nose from the texta on my coffee lid for god knows how long. THANKS, COWORKERS.


    Just completed a 3.81 km run with @runkeeper, check it out http://bit.ly/fHuXt #runkeeper


    said: “I’ll be 32 in 2 days & I’m wearing pigtails.” Snook: “Awesome. I’m counting on you wearing schoolgirl outfits in the nursing home.”



  • Shared today on Facebook

    has just realised that my office chair – which I’ve been using for 2.5 months now – has a strappy thing for lower back support. Niiiice.


    just found out from Venks that I’ve had a black smudge on my nose from the texta on my coffee lid for god knows how long. THANKS, COWORKERS.


    Just completed a 3.81 km run with @runkeeper, check it out http://bit.ly/fHuXt #runkeeper


    said: “I’ll be 32 in 2 days & I’m wearing pigtails.” Snook: “Awesome. I’m counting on you wearing schoolgirl outfits in the nursing home.”



  • Korean Dreams

    I saw a poster this morning for a new exhibit at the Art Gallery of NSW: Korean Dreams: paintings and screens of the Joseon Dynasty. Cool! I’ll have to check it out.


  • Ratatouille

    Ratatouille

    No, I don’t mean the Pixar movie (which I still haven’t seen). I mean the real stuff. Eileen asked for “easy and tasty” recipes, and this is my contribution. You can eat it as a side dish on its own, put it on pasta as a sauce, or even just spoon it over bread. (It tastes even better the next day!) There’s not much to the prep other than chopping, and it freezes pretty well. Also, we had a surplus of eggplants, zucchinis, and tomatoes from our last two veggie boxes so it was a good way to clear the backlog.

    Recipe: This is from the Better Homes & Gardens: New Cook Book, which I absolutely love. I have yet to think of a dish that isn’t in here.

    1/2 cup finely chopped onion (1 medium)
    1 clove garlic, minced
    1 tablespoon olive oil or cooking oil
    2 cups cubed, peeled eggplant
    1 small zucchini or yellow summer squash, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (1 cup)
    1 cup peeled, chopped tomatoes or one 7-1/2-ounce can tomatoes, cut up
    1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper
    2 tablespoons dry white wine or water
    1-1/2 teaspoons snipped fresh basil or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed

    I had enough to do a double recipe, so the quantity you’re seeing here is way more than what the recipe will make. Also, note that even though my pan gets quite full at times, the veggies do “cook down” quite a bit.

    Onions and Garlic

    Step 1: Onions and Garlic
    Chuck your onions and garlic in the olive oil and cook til the onion is tender. You can make this in a frypan/skillet, but I knew I was going to have a lot so I went with a saucepan.

    Eggplant

    Step 2: Everything else
    Seriously, it’s that simple. Here I’ve chopped up the eggplant…

    Eggplant

    …and then I add it to the pot. Note: I’ve turned the temp down to medium-low at this point.

    Tomatoes

    Tomatoes: I had fresh ones, but I’ve used canned before too and it’s fine. And no, I didn’t peel them. That’s just insanity.

    Tomatoes

    Tomatoes are now in the mix.

    Zucchini

    Zucchini is all chopped up…

    Zucchini

    …and added to the pot.

    Basil

    Normally I just use dried basil, but our plants are still going nuts so I used the fresh. I chopped it up and added it to the pot.

    Okay, so at this point you chuck everything else in the pan too: wine, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. (Note: Rodd doesn’t like green pepper/capsicum, so I left it out.) Bring to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, 20 minutes or till tender. Uncover; cook 5 to 10 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.

    Ratatouille

    And that’s it!
    Like I said, you can now put this over pasta for a delicious sauce, or just serve it as a side dish on its own. Put the leftovers in a container in the fridge and it’ll be even more fantastic the next day. Seriously, cold ratatouille on chewy sourdough? BLISS.


  • Shared today on Twitter

    is worn out from 2 boxing classes & 1 run in past 36 hours. Body wants SLEEP NOW, presumably to recover. I have no objections, fortunately.


    @mrs_sockvictim Petey is sleeping beside me on the couch. Sometimes they really are very sweet, aren’t they?



  • Shared today on Facebook

    is worn out from 2 boxing classes & 1 run in past 36 hours. Body wants SLEEP NOW, presumably to recover. I have no objections, fortunately.


    I uploaded some video I shot of Petey last night. Nothing exciting, just a happy and contented little cat purring away on my lap.



  • Petey Purring

    Feeling a little stressed? You need more purring kitten in your life.

    Petey was being very cuddly and affectionate last night, so I grabbed my camera and decided to share. For the record, he really likes having his head rubbed and held. If you have your hand hanging anywhere, he will come up and literally headbutt your knuckles. So that’s why I’m grabbing his head like that.



ABOUT

My name is Kris. I’ve been blogging since the 90’s. I live in Sydney, Australia, and I spent most of my career in the tech industry.

No AI used in writing this blog, ever. 100% human-generated.


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