Saturday, 23 May 2009

Nacho's Stack


Description:
Dinner last night....The picture doesn't really do this dish justice, but with flat camera batteries had to resort to a mobile phone pic. If you make Nacho's you basically don't need a recipe, just make your usual Nacho mixture & instead of piling it onto a bunch of corn chips you layer it between burritos or tortilla's. You may wish to try it the way I make it, I think the sour cream/cheese layer makes this dish special.


Ingredients:
The quantities below are for a 3 layered stack. I make my layers quite thick, sometimes I make the stack higher so I just increase the ingredients proportionally.

You will need :-

- A springform cake tin
- 4 burritos or flour tortillas the same size as the base of the cake tin. (trim them down if they are larger)
- 400-500 gms of beef minced
- 225 gm tin of refried beans
- 300 gm jar of chunky tomato salsa (I use a hot one)
- 150-200 gms grated cheddar
- 300 ml sour cream
- 130 gm can sweet corn kernels, drained (optional ; if I'm making this for Lee I don't add this ingredient as he's not a fan)
- 55 gm packet of corn chips


Directions:
Preheat oven to 210 c
Grease springform cake tin

Heat the burritos by either wrapping them in foil & putting them in the oven for 5 mins or in the microwave, as per the instructions on the packet.

Meanwhile brown the mince in a tablespoon of oil in your skillet. Then add the refried beans & salsa and stir through. Simmer gently for approx 10 minutes.

Place the sour cream in a bowl & microwave for approx 30 seconds. Add the corn & stir in the grated cheese, reserving about 50 gms.

Now you can start putting together your stack.
Place a burrito in the base of the cake tin & spread half of the mince/bean mixture evenly.
Top with another burrito.
Spread the sour cream/cheese mixture next. I use 90% of the mixture in this layer, just leaving a small amount for the stack topping.
Top with another burrito.
Spread the rest of the mince/bean mixture to make this layer.
And yes you guessed it, top with another burrito.

Spread the remaining sour cream mixture thinly across the last burrito and then arrange the corn chips on top. Sprinkle the reserved grated cheese over the corn chips. (I usually also add a little grated parmesan)

Cover with foil & bake for approx 15 mins, or until heated through. I like to lightly brown the top of the stack so I throw it under the grill for a few minutes.

Allow the stack to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the cake tin & serve by cutting it into wedges ( a serrated knife works well )

You can garnish it with chopped coriander & serve with an extra dollop of sour cream & salsa. Sometimes I like to team this dish up with my home made guacamole.

Saturday, 28 March 2009

On my Soapbox

The Pope got it wrong when he recently declared that the washing machine was the biggest step towards the emancipation of women in the twentieth century.
I think if he had actually bothered to ask a woman, he would have got quite a different answer. Personally my vote would go towards the type of oven that either self-cleans....or I'd even settle for an easy to clean model.
Obviously mine currently is not! (I'm sure the one I have now is second hand dating back to the time when Mrs Noah was renovating her kitchen on the ark) For starters the elements don't just unplug so you have to try & work around them, without getting the cleaner on them. Anyone who has cleaned an oven can tell you that's an impossible feat in itself. Secondly the inbuilt model we have doesn't have an oven door that you can remove...unless you want to dismantle half of the appliance in the process. The female body (well mine at least) is not designed in such a way that it is easy to reach the inner back wall of the oven with the freaking door open!
I had decided on Thursday that my oven was well overdue for a decent clean so proceeded to pull out all the racks & applied my eco-friendly non toxic stuff as per the directions. Well after wiping it out it seemed that my efforts were wasted, it truly looked no less filthy than when I first started. So Friday I headed for the store with the full intention of buying one of those nasty smelling oven sprays but ended up buying a gel type, which I have to admit has done a pretty good job. But it's now Sunday afternoon and my oven cleaning still isn't quite finished. Have I mentioned that I !@.#.$.%.&. *.  HATE this job!!!

At least I'm not planning on cooking dinner tonight.....in fact I don't think I'll ever use the damn thing again lol


I just want to end this rant with these thoughts.......  I know that oven design has drastically improved, but even the so called self cleaning models do require cleaning. I can't help thinking that like pregnancy, there would be a cure for oven cleaning if men had to suffer through it.

Friday, 13 March 2009

Accident or Foul Play?

Pandemic Flu Alert: Media Reports Virus Vaccine Contamination

Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
Big Pharma Company “Accidentally”
Contaminates Vaccines with AVIAN FLU VIRUS
Many of you may already be aware of this late-breaking story. It is being widely reported around the world, but the US MMD (media of mass deception) appears to have a blackout placed on it.
World media are reporting that Baxter Pharmaceuticals has admitted that it “accidentally” contaminated various vaccine batches with Avian Flu viruses. These batches were shipped to 18 countries. Clearly, either 1. stupidity and incompetence or 2. intentional contamianation of flu vaccine lots was at work.
Number 1 is easy to understand. Number 2 comes into focus quickly when you realize that there are many competing Avian Flu Vaccines already in production and in the Pharma “pipeline” although Avian Flu has been slow to become pandemic by “jumping the sepecies barrier” to humans in large numbers.
Vaccines are profitable ONLY if used in huge numbers. Competing vaccines, for a disease which has yet to pose any reasonable threat, have a tough economic row to how. But a good, solid cluster of cases, or, better yet, several clusters, would create a hue and cry for those vaccines which is difficult to imagine. Bottom line for Big Pharma? One of the biggest wins in history. Bottom line for Little People? A manipulated disaster of unprecedented magnitude precipitated by unprecedented avarice and greed.
Baxter International Inc. is no stranger to recalls and contamiantions:
January 17, 2008 Recalls 9 lots of heparin sodium injection products due to a higher than usual number of reports of adverse patient reactions after suspending production, Jan. 2008
February 28, 2008 Voluntary recall of all remaining lots and doses of its heparin sodium injection multi-dose, single-dose vials and HEP-LOCK heparin flush products http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/baxter02_08.html
July 30, 2007 Baxter recalls faulty infusion pumps http://www.devicelink.com/mddi/blog/?p=443
February 2, 2006 Urgent recall letter on faulty volumetric pumps classified by FDA as a Class I recall http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/baxter-unit-fda-classifies-customer/story.aspx?guid={FE374F7D-FCE4-40B8-99CF-4E0A0C46F058}
July 24, 2001 Albumin Buminate 5 percent, used to treat burn and shock victims, recalled following revelation that it was tainted with HIV-2 http://www.aegis.org/news/ct/2001/CT010716.html
December 12, 2005 Dialysis machines recalled due to faulty transfusion tubing which kinks http://www.redherring.com/Home/14857
October 21, 2001 Baxter International Inc. recalled some of its blood-cleaning filters pending results of an investigation into the deaths of 23 kidney dialysis patients in Croatia http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-10322069_ITM
So conspiracy or stupidity, either way, a potential pandemic was nearly unleashed on the world.
What happens then? Here is what the US has planned:
1. Immediate demand for mass vaccination without the right to object on religious or other grounds.
2. Compulsory vaccination or detention under Patriot I, Patriot II, BARDA, BioShield I, BioShield II and/or State Emergency Medical Powers Acts.
And here is what the UN has planned:
1. The “North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza” provides that in the case of a pandemic, “U.N. law along with regulations by the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization as supreme over U.S. law during a pandemic” setting the stage for militarizing the management of continental health emergencies (Jerome Corsi, http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/september2007/020907_power_grab.htm)
Baxter mixed a virus which has a hard time infecting people (H5N1 Avian Flu) with one that infects them easily (”Seasonal Flu”) in a medium which can promote mutations of the H5N1 virus into a type which can infect us easily.
Your action is needed now. Click below to send your letter demanding that Congress pass legislation NOW assuring your right to refuse vaccination whether there is a declared Pandemic or not.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26830
If, in the event of a Pandemic, you choose, for example, to take safe and effective Nano Silver - www.nutronix.com/naturalsolutions - rather than dangerous and potentially deadly vaccines, this MUST be your right without being detained or declared a felon, forcibly detained or otherwise moles.
Now that you have this information, please make sure that everyone you know gets this information from you with the request to take action and send this on to their contacts as well.
We will continue to post updates at: www.HealthFreedomUSA.org Health Freedom Blog
We first raised the issue of Weaponized Avian Flu as a real threat to world security last summer. Since then we have revisited the issue as developments warranted. We questioned how many laboratories around the world had pharmaceutical and gov’t funding for weaponized Avian Flu research, and how many such “studies” were needed to guarantee that a virulent version of the virus would escape containment and lead to a pandemic. That question still remains unanswered. However we now see that even the most sophisticated pharmaceutical containment systems are not full-proof. And what was the Avian Flu virus doing “accidentally” in the vicinity of vaccines?
We must be clear: we do not know if this “accident” will lead to a world wide flu pandemic. We pray not. But what we want the most is for you all to be prepared.
You can see our reports this summer about the Weaponized Avian Flu here:
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=755
And here is pandemic preparedness information: Advice on how to protect yourself during a pandemic

March 3, 2009 - Vaccines as Biological Weapons? Live Avian Flu Virus Placed in Baxter Vaccine Materials Sent to 18 Countries Natural News

March 5, 2009 - ‘Accidental’ Contamination Of Vaccine With Live Avian Flu Virus Virtually Impossible Aotearoa: a wider perspective

Attachment: nap_flu07.pdf

Monday, 26 January 2009

Afghan Biscuits


Description:
Taking advantage of the cooler weather I decided I felt like baking tonight. I had tracked down a favourite recipe a few days ago on the NZ Womans Weekly site.

They are dead easy to make!

Ingredients:
200g butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1¼ cups flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1⅓ cups cornflakes
Chocolate icing, recipe follows
½ cup walnut halves, to decorate

Icing:
2 cups of icing (powdered) sugar
3 heaped tablespoons of cocoa
25 gms butter, melted
boiling water

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 180°C and line two baking trays with nonstick baking paper.

2. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy. Sift flour and cocoa powder over creamed mixture and stir to combine. Lastly, stir in cornflakes.

3. Place tablespoonfuls of mixture on prepared baking trays. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until firm and golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

4. Combine icing ingredients, adding a little boiling water at a time until your mixture is a good consistency to spread, but not too runny. If you do add too much water then just add a little more icing sugar until you correct it. Ice the cold biscuits with chocolate icing and decorate with a walnut half.

Note: To convert ingredients and/or cooking temperatures go to :
http://www.onlineconversion.com/

Tuesday, 20 January 2009

Why I blog? Just my 2¢

I find myself amazed at how the blogging/networking phenomenon has taken the world by storm over the past few years. Every day I seem to find a new one to subscribe to....I'm hanging out for the universal ID idea to work across all the different blogging platforms, it would make my life easier. But that's not really what I wanted to talk about.

Just before christmas I was feeling very disillusioned with the whole deal. I actually pulled up the 'delete your account' page and sat there for a few minutes with an itchy mouse finger. Then I decided that before I did it, I really should check if there was any info I wanted to back up. I got totally distracted reading through a few older posts and before I knew it had changed my mind. Not because I rate myself as a blogger but because the comments were pure gold. I hadn't laughed so hard for ages.

But since then...well I don't know, maybe I'm just ultra sensitive at the moment, but in the last couple of weeks I have had at least half a dozen people comment directly to me to the effect of "you are blogging an awful lot at the moment aren't you?"

So I'm blogging a lot.....In comparison to what?
If I compare it to the number of times a year I wear socks (which is 2 or 3 times.... tops) well yeah I guess I am. But if I was to do the whole blogs versus the number of cups of coffee I consume then I'd have to say No, I don't blog much!

Could be a touch of paranoia on my part. What exactly do they mean? Do I just take that statement at face value? Are they just making general conversation,  is it a  good thing or not? Do they mean I'm blogging too often and I should just pull my head in and ease up on the number of posts?
Feedback is great but be a little more specific would ya? I'm not a mind reader.


It seems to me that unless you restrict your posts to close friends/family only, once a blogger develops an audience (of both supporters and critics) demands begin to be made on the blogger by the audience.

I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about, you would have found them on your own blog, if you have one. Demands like : Post more often, stop flooding my inbox with your posts, sick of/love the drama,  post more personal blogs, I want to see pictures, make a video, your jokes are lame, if you post another fcking music video I will hunt you down and kill you and your cat...

I could go on and on but I think you get the point.  And it makes me wonder, at what point do we decide our blogs are in fact no longer our own and modify our behaviour to adjust to the audience demand? Do we do this unconsciously anyway.... how many times have you blogged on a topic and been disappointed or surprised at  the response? Has the audience reaction made you want blog more/or less about that topic? Do you blog on demand?

Some people see their blogs as a publication, perhaps to showcase their artistic or photography skills, others as having a specific agenda (e.g buy my stuff), some are wholly personal and up to the whims of the person blogging. Blogs are interesting to me when there is a full personality there, writing about topics that appeal precisely because of the context of an individual’s perspective. Sometimes I’m interested in how to roast great coffee, sometimes I want to share with others their sorrows and joys as well as my own, sometimes it’s all about learning a new CSS technique.

I don’t think there’s any one way to blog, nor is there a right way. I think that reading blogs is a bit like T.V. in that if you don’t find what you want on someone’s blog, chances are pretty good you can change the virtual channel and find something that suits you better.

I chose to blog about certain things for a reason, and if zero, ten, or ten thousand people read or stopped reading, it wouldn’t matter. I’d blog to an empty house or a full one. For me, blogging is an outlet, my personal  cathartic as you will. My desire to please people suggests, at times, that maybe I should let my audience drive my content. And sure I will occasionally blog on a certain topic because I know it's of interest to a contact or I want to push some buttons, but at the end of the day my instinct demands that I stay true to what and who I am, not what others want.

So I'm turning the soapbox over to you....
Why do you blog or not blog?

Monday, 19 January 2009

Drink your rum, retire your parrot, your Pirate days are numbered....

 Over the years I have watched with interest the Music Industry attempts to curb people stealing music via the internet. I read an article in December wherein it stated they were going to drop their legal assault and search for more effective ways to combat music piracy.





Well it's taken me a couple of weeks but I think I have hit on the perfect solution to their dilemma. Ok there are still a few minor details I haven't quite figured out, like what to call my invention or how much I should sell my idea for, so I need a little input....


I figure that the fashion industry is able to recycle styles every so often so why couldn't that formula be applied to other industries? It may be a bit revolutionary for their tastes but I truly believe the new recording format will help win the war on illegal file sharing which is thought to be costing the industry millions of dollars in lost revenue.

 The new, yet unanmed, format takes the form of a black, vinyl disc measuring 12 inches in diameter, which must be played on a specially designed 'turntable.



"I can state with absolute certainty that no computer in the world can access the data on this disc."  " I am also totally confident that no-one is going to be able to produce pirate copies in this format without going to a hell of a lot of trouble."

Before I submit my idea to those in the biz, I plan to implement a rigorous testing process, by giving some discs ( that I found at the back of a cupboard),  to a group of teenage computer experts who regularly use file swapping software such as Limewire, Utorrent etc and who admit to pirating music CDs.

I'm sure after several days of trying, none of them will be able to hack into the disc's code or access any of the music files contained within it.


Under my new format, raw audio data in the form of music will be encoded by physically etching grooves onto the vinyl disc. The sound is thus translated into variations on the disc's surface in a process that I'm sure you will agree is 'completely revolutionary' and 'stunningly clever.'

To decode the data stored on the disc, the listener must use a special player which contains a 'needle' that runs along the grooves on the record surface, reading the indentations and transforming the movements back into audio that can be fed through loudspeakers.

So what do you think of my idea? Do you think it will fly?

And does anyone know how I can get Shawn Fanning (the inventor of Napster) to return my calls? lol





Friday, 16 January 2009

I'm bored...where the "france" is everyone???

Got time for a chat? What's on your mind? What do you have planned for the weekend?

Entertain me...or I might just have to do something drastic like chores...and that would suck.
Truly!!