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Archive for November, 2009

Spending Frenzy

November 30th, 2009 at 09:38 pm

Some will say I have had a spending frenzy as all were wants not needs but its Christmas shopping time. I have budgeted for $300 Christmas presents for me. So far I have found some DVDs to buy that was on my want list if I found them.

1. Masterchef - Masterclass -DVD (RRP $39.95) for $19.92
2. Australia Movie -DVD (RRP $32.95) for $16.10
3. Cook & Chef -boxed set of 4 DVD (RRP $79.98 with cookbook) for $20.00 (I have download all the recipes so I dont need the cookbook.)
4. Agatha Christie Miss Maple -boxed set of 4 DVD (RRP $39.95) for $20.00
5. Gardening Australia -boxed set of 3 DVD (RRP $39.95) for $16.00
6. 2 Cookbooks set by Jamie Oliver - (RRP $99.00 if bought single) for $39.95

RRP $331.78 - Spent by waiting for the right price to come at this time only- $131.97

I still have a $100 worth of vouchers that I need to spend by the end of the year at one shopping center.

It took just a little bit of patience!

November 28th, 2009 at 10:01 am

Just under 2 years ago I requested that our local council put my street on the list for an upgrade in the next budget with all the trucks and building going on around here the last 18 months it was very much in need of upgrade. which is all now finished!

Well I have kerbing all dug up on both side of the street with safety barriers around them just waiting for the new kerbing to be put in early next week. I must have got on the good side of someone as 4 years ago local council water repair truck broke my footpath driveway and with all the heavy trucks and semi s turning into my driveway while they were building the new apartments across the street, it was on the way out. So as part of the job, local council is replacing the broken part of this driveway as the power company replace the other half of it when they put the new power line underground. In all other driveways in the street they are only replacing 12 inches for new kerbing but with mine its 3 feet wide. About five hundred dollars worth if I was paying for it! Its over $90,000 job all up for the whole street for kerbing and resurfacing.

Sometime in the New Year most likely, another council work gang will come and resurface the road as well as it does need doing now! This is first time since it was laid that kerbing has been replaced in my life time and the area was subdivided in the 1870 would have been kerbed after 1930s. From memory I think the road has been resurfaced once since I arrived here over 39 years ago. Its progress!

Old style recipes

November 17th, 2009 at 09:25 pm

I have been looking at making a Tuna Mornay of late.

Does anyone still have Fish Mornay these days, most of my recipes for these kinds of dishes are come from 1970s cookbooks are all charity types ones. So far I have found over 30 recipes using canned tuna. Here we have three sizes of canned tuna, 425g large size, 185g medium size, and 95g small size. So as most of the recipes are in old imperial measurements. I have just note large, medium or small, as time goes on the manufacturer of these cans are reducing the amount in the cans but not reducing the price.

It the same with many other items this has happen too! With some recipes no longer working because you cant use the right amount. Recipes that have been handed-down from generation to the next are no longer just like great grand-aunts made. Take condensed milk for instance it started out at 450g (1lb) per can, then became 425g, 410g, and now 395g and most likely 375g before long. We now have given up on buying it and making our own when we need it.

Recipe for

Text is Sweetened Condensed Milk and Link is http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/sweetenedcondensedmilk.htm
Sweetened Condensed Milk

Tuna Mornay

1 large can Tuna
1 cup soft breadcrumbs
2oz margarine
1 large onion, chopped
3/4 pint milk
2 tbsp plain flour
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
Juice of one lemon
4 tbsp grated cheese (divided into two lots)
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to
Saute onion in hot melted margarine until transparent - do not brown.
Remove from heat and gradually blend in flour, then the milk.
Return to heat and stir till sauce thickens.
Add all the other ingredients, but reserving second half of cheese.
Place in casserole or pie dish, sprinkle with cheese.
Bake in moderately hot oven for 20-30 minutes
Serve 6
NB: 1 tablespoon Aus = 4 teaspoons

Old refrigerator dying

November 12th, 2009 at 10:01 am

I went to check my downstairs fridge & freezer only to find it dying; I will be able keep the fridge going a little longer but empty out the freezer section as only the freezer bottles of water are keeping it cold. I mainly use it for storage with my years worth beans, flours, pastas and my stock of chutney as it vermin proof so will need to look at finding a new home for these.

I will try to do without this fridge as its over 30 years old and cant be fixed as the gas cant be refilled in these old refrigerators as it rusty and has CFC in it.

I had then to find room in my other freezers for the frozen vegetables and cooked beans that I did keep in this fridge. Some of it got trashed as the dates on them were 2005 and looked dead to much ice.

Now I will have a look at how I can use it after I turn off the power and dry it out for a few weeks.

Another new sewing machine

November 9th, 2009 at 06:03 am

Whether it was, Smart shopping I dont know.

My sewing machine broke down in away that I couldnt fix as the cotton stools area broke off all together and then required major overhaul costing around $200 or more and it had never been serviced in the 20 years that I have had it. Service plus all new parts, as the old machine is around 20 years and Janome is the one that my Mother bought just before she died. I looked at some sewing machines at Lincraft and no good deal at the time.

So I checked out a local company in the Mt Gravatt area with easy parking near Spotlight this week online. They sell Janome and had a deal going until September on some Janome sewing machines with a $200 trade in called Cashback on some new machines only. There was one in that range which I was that was interested in, so my friend and I went over to look. I took my old machine in just in case they still had one left. I end up buying it as the RRP $699 then it was reduced to $599 for this sale but with $200 trade in on the sewing machine I ended up paying $399 cash for it. This sewing machine will have to do me, as I dont sew that much but do need a sewing machine for mending and making curtains. I am planning to make nightdresses for summer this year. So thats around 43% off the RRP which is good, knowing that plastics in the old machine were iffy.