Thursday, December 13, 2012

No translation required - I can pig (and babelfish) it...

As you know, I receive spam. A lot. In fact, I have a folder of blog fodder called "spamalot" and one day I will use it.

Last night , I received a peach. I don't understand it, but as it is spam, that doesn't matter. I think it is bits of someone's thesis they have used to pad out their links (and if it is your thesis, I am so sorry the bad guys have sullied it).

Do they actually think ANYONE clicks on their links amidst unrelated sentences. Strike that.  Do they actually THINK?

Anyhow, I figure I will do some translation of it to try and make sense - as I don't speak French, this could be interesting. Buckle in?
Aussi, un MiLu est a&f. Printanière. Au consommateur, jeffrey, des jeunes de qualité, émanation de mentalité. Impériale des états-Unis classique de tissus en coton, ShouGan élasticité très confortable aération. La lettre est positive, attirer LOGO broderie khan, également désignés, un mode novateur en tout les sentiments naturels. Par limited inc. et de vêtements en 1992 en tant que sociétés par chlamydia délabrés et étudiants d’importants itinéraires de style.
I think it says - "Aussie, one Mother-in-Law is a spring.  If you consume Jeffrey, exude quality and can think, then you need cotton tissue and possibly elasticised well aerated underpants.  A positive letter, dressed with a lacy pakistani logo, its new head and natural sentiments.  With the clothing of 1992, the society had chlamydia and itineraries of style".

So really, spam in French makes a much sense as in English.

I saved myself the hassle of trying out my one year of French (coincidentally in 1992) on the rest of the letter, and put Babelfish to the test.  (BTW - do you know where the term "Babelfish" comes from?)
Bien que des dissertations sur les vêtements et sa fonctionnalité sont trouvés à partir du 19ème siècle que les pays colonisateurs traités avec de nouveaux environnements,  la recherche scientifique concertée sur les fonctions. 
hollister france psycho-sociaux, physiologiques et d'autres vêtements (emblem in the first place normal exemple de keeping, de bewitch) s'est produite dans la première moitié de du 20ème siècle, avec des publications telles que la psychologie Flugel de vêtements en 1930,  et de physiologie séminal Newburgh, du règlement de chaleur et La Expertise de vêtements en 1949.  En 1968, le domaine de la physiologie de l'environnement avait avancé et élargi de manière significative, mais la branch of appreciation de vêtements 
Babelfish:
Although dissertations on clothing and its functionality are found from the 19th century that the colonizing countries treated with new environments, scientific research on the function.

Hollister france psychosocial, physiological and d' other clothing (emblem in the first place normal example of keeping of bewitch) brother ' is produced in the first half of the 20th century, with publications such as psychology Flügel's clothing in 1930, and of seminal Physiology Newburgh, heat regulation and the Expertise of clothing in 1949.  In 1968, the area of the physiology of how ' environment had advanced and expanded significantly, but the branch of appreciation of clothing.

So, in the end, I am none the wiser - foreign spam is just the same as our spam.

(For fun, I then set Babelfish on to my profile - on the top right of this post - and put it through

Spanish: Madre, amante, poeta, procrastinater a tiempo parcial, esposa, hija, hermana, tía, cocinar, limpiador (ha ha ha), programador, escritor. Aspirantes a sobresalir en todo, pero disfrutando de la vida de formación es tirar mi camino

French: Mère, amante, poète, procrastinater à temps partiel, femme, fille, sœur, tante, cuire, nettoyant (a a été), programmeur, écrivain. Aspirant à Excel dans tous les domaines, mais profiter de la vie de

German: Mutter, Geliebte, Dichter, Teilzeit-Procrastinater, Frau, Tochter, Schwester, Tante, Cook, Reiniger (war), Programmierer, Schriftsteller. Anwärter auf Excel in allen Bereichen, sondern das Leben genießen
Italian:  Madre, amante, poeta, Procrastinater part-time, moglie, figlia, sorella, zia, Cook, cleaner (era), programmatore, scrittore. Aspirando a Excel in tutte le zone, ma la vita di un genio

Japanese:  母、恋人、詩人、非常勤 Procrastinater、妻、娘、姉妹、叔母、クック、クリーナー (時代)、プログラマ、ライター。Excel のすべての領域が天才の生活を目指す

Ukranian: Матері, коханець, поет і неповний робочий день Procrastinater, дружина, дочка, сестрою, тіткою, Кука, чистіше (ера), програміст і письменник. Всі райони Excel, спрямованих на життя геніїв

 and back to English: The mother, the lover, the poet and part-time Procrastinater, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, Cook, cleaner (era), a programmer and writer. All areas, aimed at living geniuses.

That is me - aimed at living geniuses...

Friday, December 07, 2012

A Short Post with Shortbread Recipe (and stuff)

    
I discovered Mummy's Undeserved Blessings some time ago through Digital Parents, and she does a Weekend Cookbook (every week - I am just not quite switched on enough to blog on such a regular basis) - so today, I shall share a bit of what is going through my kitchen.

Photobucket

On Wednesday, I had social engagements (I know, knock down with tailfeather and all of that, but it is Christmas and even the grinch gets out occasionally).

I have been in a bit of a focaccia mood of late, and although I discovered this awesome focaccia recipe, I don't have that secret power in going back in time by a day to start a recipe - so bookmarked it for later.  
I did make a quick focaccia recipe that I found (I think it might need a second rise before going into the oven for future reference) and served half of it toasted with a tomato and basil side-dish for topping, the other half I spread with home-made pesto, grilled zucchini, grilled capsicum and cheese.  I also used up some leftover chicken and tortillas making "pizza bites" for kids to enjoy - the good news is the taste tests I gave to my kids went down well, the other news is that they went so quickly at the party that that was the only taste that my kids had of them!!

Wednesday evening later had come so I began the awesome focaccia - of course, I did not do the photography required - but this is the finished product about lunchtime yesterday.
We had our neighbours come to visit for afternoon tea, so I served this with an eggplant dip, another tomato/basil salad, some grilled zucchini and capsicum, varieties of ham, cheese and pickles and watermelon and chips - guess who didn't have dinner last night!!  Our neighbour is Italian (he has only been here since 1960) but his "girl" is Australian - and they both pronounced this very good, so fairly high praise for my third ever focaccia attempt.

I am about to cook cooking just cooked (while V takes the kids to the beach) my new favourite chocolate cake 
 
(but as mini-cupcakes to save hassles) and probably another batch of these shortbread as the last piece was eaten last night.
The Shortbread Recipe can be found on the side of the McKenzies Rice Flour packet, but in case you have thrown your packaging away (or live in an inferior part of the world where there is no McKenzies Rice Flour), here is the most easy and fantastic shortbread recipe in the world.

Traditional Shortbread (courtesy of the Rice Flour packet)
225g/8oz plain flour
115g/4oz rice flour
115g/4oz caster sugar
225g/8oz butter
pinch salt
(for those numerically minded, this is - 1 part each rice flour and caster sugar, 2 parts plain flour and butter - and a pinch of salt - no more wondering if your scales are accurate!!!)
Sift the dry stuff, rub in the butter, knead until smooth (don't overwork - it will hold if slightly crumby).  Roll gently on a floured bench and cut shapes.  Prick all over with a fork (and sprinkle with raw sugar if desired).

Cook in a  slow oven (I set mine at 150 C/300 F) for 3/4 - 1 hour until pale brown.
 
Our neighbour on the other side shared with us the sad news of her husband's passing during the week - I will give you the story of the amazing Jean (and her Ron) one day, but this afternoon I will take her a goodies pack to help her cater for the relatives who are set to invade.

Monday, December 03, 2012

A post in which my artistic side gets a look

and fails miserably.


I have a sister who is a photographer.  I have a sister-in-law who is a photographer.  I have an aunt who is a photographer.  My mother can paint.  My brother can carve.


I can rhyme or unrhyme, I can cook and I can compute.  But that whole visual artistic malarkey - FAIL.

Tonight I cooked shortbread.  It smells divine.  Going by last year's batches, I can do shortbread.  Just not prettily.


Ah well. V gave it the thumbs up.

Sunday, December 02, 2012

2 - day of the Christmas approach

Don't you just hate it when you get all inspired and such about making new resolutions and then, kerplunk, the next day comes and just muddies all your inspiration juices and leaves footprints on your resolve?
Nah?  Good think I am here then, so that I can reflect that experience without you having to search for such to occur.

I was going to do my whole reverse advent thing for you, and had the perfect scenario planned, as it had been decreed that I should be on the volunteer roster at my daughter's school for the markets this morning.

But - there is one problem with being "on the volunteer roster" and that is the actual market participation is zip, because I instead got to spend several hours with lovely people serving many other market attendees food and drinks, and completely failed to do the whole sashay through the markets and admire (and report) for people...

I did get tomatoes at $1 a kilo though - and Australian garlic for $1 a head*.
'Salina got an iPad **.  Paris got some lollies ***.  V and I cleaned the fridge and freezers.  Not at all adventish.  Necessary, but not festive.

Still - we now have an upright tree!!



* Please note - large rant regarding local garlic and imported garlic and the whole global conspiracy to the detriment of local industry was contemplated, instigated and expunged, because I don't do economic political rants without getting a little red in the face and exasperated in the mind.

** Part of her "inheritance" from the Croatian grandfather was land, and with the Croatian family micro-economy she got a small amount of cashola which I was advised she could "spend however she wanted".  This is what she wanted.

***  At a jewellery stall lucky dip.  Go figure.  Cue tantrums - from V for that stroke of luck, from Paris because the pink star one didn't work out the way she planned.

Saturday, December 01, 2012

On the first day of Christmas...

Okay, so technically it isn't the first day of Christmas - but in this house, it is the first day all of the elves get to make merry with carols, get tizzy with tinsel and generally anticipate the birthday party of Jesus (the birthday party of Paris has been anticipated heavily for about a month already, and although Christ's birthday is only a few days later we have decided that we can anticipate both simultaneously - yeah, go us!!)

I put a shout out on my facebook page (yeah - I have a facebook page for the blog now - how very 2012ish of me, I know - you can even go directly to it and like it right here folks! *) asking what the first of December represented in the lead up to Christmas.

People FAR MORE ORGANISED than I (they do exist in abundance) advised me of boiling plum puddings and advent calendars (the excuse I used for that oversight was "I always forget them and so we get them (slightly cheaper) about a week later - chocolate high from catch up day and then the rest of the time explaining why you can't eat in advance..") and transgressions on the "no tree until 1/12" rule.

As I am incredibly crafty (but have an organisational gene mutation which means I plan much better in hindsight) I have decided that we are going to do a REVERSE ADVENT calendar here this year.

That is right - we are going to try and share/find/explore/discover something out there in the big bad world - real world or internetty - every single day...

The first thing that we found this morning was this:
Not hard to find when you live in  Paradise, and the good news is Paris can now walk all the way there by herself!  In fact, she can now walk there all by herself WITHOUT whinging!!
(I also learned that if you decide to walk with phone and water bottle only, you are missing something that is vital to swimming enjoyment without care - and that is the whole something to put  your phone and water bottle in while engaging in the whole swimming enjoyment malarkey.  Luckily, 'Salina and Paris have had me as a mother for a while now and can entertain themselves gainfully while waiting for Super V to come to the rescue...)
As we are set to do tree decorations today, it was apt that we also discovered upon our return from said beach (and amidst threat of Parisian meltdown) that there is an online advent calendar - fair enough, sans chocolate but with entertainment potential.  I figure if you are going to be annoyed by the shenanigans of this porcine entertainer snort, then you might as well let her entertain away from the idiot box for free.  The 2012 Peppa Pig Advent Calendar Courtesy of ABC for Kids 
Part of the whole "we are going to do tree decorations today" entails a meal plan - and tonight we are having burgers from the  local butcher on these Foccacia Hamburger Buns from Sarah Cucina Bella - a blog I just discovered courtesy of Google.

I also found (at a blog I have known for many a moon) some great crafty decorating ideas should I ever get my ducks lined up in a row: Ten Christmas Decorations from Picklebums

So - what are your rituals for Christmas, and are they triggered by a certain date? 
 

* Disclaimer - for all of the spambots who think they might want to be my friend there as well as here, I will still delete your sorry butts and use you as fodder - capiche?