Appealing to the youth of today?

I'm in a dill of a pickle of a cucumber.

VicRoads has launched a new range of ads online aimed at getting young people to behave in a more sensible fashion and have a greater chance of not crashing and dying and killing us all with them. I haven't seen them all, but I just watched one here (hopefully that will take you to the one with the lovely young Asian man speaking). And I really don't think it's appropriate.

I did, however, find it p**s-funny. Particular moments are at 1:00 and 1:16.

Which is what leads me to the dill-pickle-cucumber situation: on the one hand I think this ad really is not appropriate, mainly because of the swearing (and yes, I swear, but I believe there's a correct - or less incorrect - time and place, and an advertisement is neither), yet on the other hand that ad made me laugh out loud, and obviously it had an effect on me as I'm now blogging about it.

But on the OTHER hand (yes, I have three hands. I borrowed one) perhaps this is what will appeal to young drivers and maybe, just maybe, it'll make them think twice before using their phone while they drive. I mean, let's face it, the ad isn't aimed at children, it's aimed at people old enough to be driving on our roads, so there's very little chance they'll hear anything in it that they don't say themselves. In fact, they quite probably use far worse words in their every day life.

Unfortunately I'm not so sold or amused by some of the other VicRoads ads... "Emo" and "Red Head Gets It's Wings" I think are going too far (as well as the grammatical error in the Red Hed title just bugging me... my grammar is by no means spectacular, but come on people, this is an organisation advertising to young people - TRY to get it right) and I didn't enjoy them. Probably because they're poking fun at very specific sets of people, but not in the light-hearted way of the video I linked to. "Poleaxed" I thought was being a bit too flippant about a speed-related crash where the car flipped five times, knocking out a "No Stopping" sign but thankfully not killing anyone... The "Turn off Facebook" and "Turn off Twitter" ads were mildly smile-inducing for a second or two. And the "Using Your Mobile While Driving" air traffic control and surgery ads make a very good point.

I'm curious if other people have checked out the ads and how they'll be received generally. They're getting publicity in the newspapers with some pretty interesting feedback.

I guess, if nothing else, it's all drawing attention to the issue of safety on the roads.

"I-Love-Weekends" French Toast

I luuuurrrrv weekends. Not sure if you know, but for a while there I was working 2 jobs, which meant 7 days a week I had to get up and get moving (and let's not dwell on the time, in my late-teens and early 20s, when I was holding down 3-4). When I quit about a year ago I found that I'd completely forgotten what I used to do on the weekends.

Didn't take me long to remember, though.

There's one thing in particular that I love about weekends, and that's the fact that I don't have to drag my ass out of bed when some alarm goes off, before the sun is even up, and race off to work. Yep, I wake up whenever the hell I want (well, some weekends), and I have time for a proper breakfast. Like today.


It might not look like much but this was fabulous, if I say so myself. And I do. It was SO worth the effort. And yet so simple.

6 strawberries, hulled, sliced in half, and thrown into a small bowl with a slick of good balsamic and a bit of icing sugar, then mixed all around to coat the strawberries (with an occasional stir while the rest is being prepared). An egg, a splodge of milk and a little vanilla in another bowl and beaten. Bread (in my case, wholemeal, which ain't the most picturesque of breads) thoroughly soaked in the egg mix, then thrown into a hot pan to cook and get yummified. Repeat with a second piece of bread (note to self - use smaller bread next time, or make extra egg mixture). Throw on a plate, top with strawberries, some of the sweetened balsamic, and a twirl of golden syrup. Dish it up with a lovely cup of coffee.

Welcome to Saturday morning.

Delicious.

Check Out These Girls

I can't even remember how I found out about these girls now... but I likem.

Garfunkel & Oates are actually Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci. And I like their humour. So much of their stuff gets me giggling.

Check 'em out. They've got a few videos here

Golden Dragon Palace

363 Manningham Road, Lower Templestowe VIC
P: 03 9852 4086

I was reading an article recently that was all about yum cha (I think it might have been in Epicure... or it could have been the extra food guide in the Sun... such a shame I now can't find it online). Anyway, it rated GDP as a top over-all place for yum cha. I figured I'd give it a go for dinner one night. Not yum cha, but a chance to sample their food all the same.


First up, an order of san choi bow. This was delicious, but a little overly generous as we had to eat half of it before we could even wrap the lettuce leaf around it!


These little babies are spring onion puffs. Sooo yummy. In fact, we ordered them again the second time we went, as well. Delicately light flaky pastry, lovely fresh flavours inside.


I didn't see XLBs on the menu, but I am terribly useless at seeing something when I'm looking for it. In any case, when I asked our waitress she assured us that yes, we could get a serving of these. And these specimens were quite yummy... but not a patch on Hu Tong. Also, I like my dumplings served with some dark vinegar, maybe with some gratings of ginger dipped in it too. The little dish of pale red vinegar you can see to the side here wasn't quite to my taste. Even so, I enjoyed these.


Entrees were rounded out with a serving of grilled Shanghai dumplings. Mmmmmm, I LOVE pan-fried dumpling wrapper. Oh yes, the fillings were nice too. I'd have these again in an instant.


We shared the mains. First up, the stir-fried green stuff. Not much I can really report on this... they were green, they were tasty.


But here. Right here. This here dish above. Order it. Taste it. Drool at its memory. I'm not kidding. This dish was the stand-out highlight of the meal. It's called Mandarin Shredded Beef Fillet. It's sweet, sour, spicy... a right hook of flavours straight to the taste buds. The beef is so very tender, and coated in a thin crispy.... well, coating. The slightly sticky sauce that clings to it is just amazing. Brilliant flavours, great textures. We also ordered this the next time we ate at GDP, and it was just as good. Oh my.

The only down side to the meal so far had been the fried rice... very ordinary. But after some great entrees, and that fabulous main, the desserts really kept things going. The list isn't all that extensive, but there's enough there to have a decent choice.


First up, a pineapple fritter with ice cream. I have no idea where they get their ice cream from, but this stuff was so creamy, and so nice, that J, a confirmed ice cream non-eater, cleaned it all up. The fritter was also well done, with no "old oil" taste to it at all.


And this. I have a long-standing love of "pudding". And there was also black sesame ice cream. So when I asked our waitress if maybe I could have a scoop of the ice cream with my mango pudding I was delighted when she said it would be no problem at all. And it was goooooood. I really need to learn how to make these babies (the mango pudding, I mean).

So yeah, I'd agree with what I read - Golden Dragon Palace is a good place to eat. The food we've had on each occasion there has been great, the service efficient and helpful, and the bill quite reasonable. Can't ask for much more than than, eh?

Mmmm Fresh Pasta

I've wanted one for years. And this christmas, my mum got me one.

Oh yeah. A pasta machine. Mega-happiness.

So, mum and I got together and decided to make us some fresh pasta! It was a great experience, but I'm still not sure how on earth I'll operate this thing with only two hands... but I'll figure it out :)

I'm a bit late with this post, we did it some time either between Christmas and New Year, or very soon thereafter... I'm so slack.


We went with a 100:10:1 ratio of dough, if that makes sense (or if it's even how it's described): for every 100g of flour, we added 10g of oil and 1 egg. Or, in this case, 300g flour, 30g oil, and 3 eggs. Then the hard yakka started - kneading the damn dough. I had to pass this on to mum as I still had no strength in my right wrist, and I think she did a damn fine job of it.

After allowing the dough to rest for half an hour, we quartered it and started the fun.


We had no idea how thin we were meant to roll the stuff, and I've learned now that it does need to be a mite thinner. Either way, we soon worked out a system for rolling: one person turn the handle and thread the dough through, the other support it and hold it coming out. Then came time to send it through to make fettuccine.


We were quite proud of ourselves by this time. We'd not only worked out how to make the dough, but also how to roll it and cut it, and we had a pretty impressive production line going.


And this was the finished product. We cooked it up and served it with a tomato sauce of tinned tomatoes, passata, onion, and leftover christmas ham.

As I said, next time I'll roll the pasta thinner. But hey, for a first attempt, we did pretty good!!