Australians away!

Last Tuesday we were lucky enough to be visited by The Gell-Stennards.... E and I were stoked to see Henry and get a cuddle in. He was a pretty quiet little chap. I'm looking forward to getting to know him as he grows up. He loves standing up.... at 5 months I'm wondering if it is a sign.
I think he might take after his active parents. I expect that he will enjoy camping!

Both Dave and Fiona seemed to be happily enjoying parent-hood. For us it was great to see them, have a chat, be very scientific about children and generally have a laugh. It was great.....



This weekend E and I are heading up to the Lake District. The next post will be more photos and stories from there.

Oh, and I promised to put up the recipe for fresh and hot caramel sauce for ice-cream!

Hot Caramel Sauce (this is kind of bucket chemistry... but it works).

You need:
Butter
Brown Sugar
Milk

Put about 1 small tablespoon of butter into a saucepan and melt over a moderate heat.
Stir in about 5 tablespoons of brown sugar. It should look like a thick brown paste, but still be 'liquidy' not dry and powdery.
Heat the paste up with stirring. Ideally you want to get it to start to boil, but NOT burn.
Only when the temperature is high add about 2-3 tablespoons of milk ONE at a time. Stir vigorously between additions. The only thing that can go wrong here is the milk can curdle. This happens if the milk is added in too large a dose, or the temperature is not hot enough. So, high temp and small volumes gets around this. If it curdles... throw it out and start again!
After the milk is added to the desired runny-ness I keep heating and stirring. It should be boiling/bubbling away like mad. This is important to dissolve all the sugar grains and make the sauce smooth.
At this stage, just prior to pouring over the ice-cream you can also add flavours such as whiskey or Cointreau.

The more butter/milk ratio you add the softer the sauce goes, the more milk/butter ratio the more like toffee the sauce goes.

Another good thing to do is stir the sauce into some vanilla ice-cream that is semi-frozen and re-freeze for the worlds best caramel swirl ice-cream!

Enjoy

Google Earth

I just love it... maybe it's about going to the places I always wanted too but can't.

Check out these addresses for some interesting stuff.

Horse

Pyramid of the Sun

Funny Man

and Words in the Sand

I'm sad that Google Earth has not done Easter Island or Machu Picchu yet.... I keep checking. Fingers crossed.

It's a funny thing this Goggle Earth. When I first logged on my home address was much clearer (you could see two people in my back yard), and it was really cool, since I live near a school which is used for parking for the Cambridge Folk Festival. The photo they used for my house originally had cars parked on the school oval which is unusual. I made me realise that the image was taken when the folk festival was on. You could browse through the folk festival and see individual people and their tents. It was so cool, but they have taken it down now.
: (

I came across a new word today. 'snarf'. 

snarf
  v : make off with belongings of others
and

snarf
  v:  To grab, especially to grab a large document or
file for the purpose of using it with or without the author's
permission.

Wiki has a more interesting report:

snarf
  v : To laugh while drinking, causing liquid to come out one's nose.

Where can you fit 'snarf' into your day? I think the drinking term of snarf is great.
It hasn't been listed in the OED yet. It's Monday.


But if you're tired of looking at my face, I guess I already am
But you've never been a waste of my time
It's never been a drag
So take a deep breath and count back from ten
And maybe you'll be alright

Sad news

Mum and dad called late last night to let me know a family friend had passed away.
http://notices.smh.com.au/death/14470/notice.aspx

So this is for you Judy.....

You are already missed.

A Song of Living - Amelia Burr

Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die
I have sent up my gladness on wings, to be lost in the blue of the sky
I have run and leaped with the rain, I have taken the wind to my breast
My cheek like a drowsy child to the face of the earth I have pressed.
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.

I have kissed young love on the lips, I have heard his song to the end
I have struck my hand like a seal in the loyal hand of a friend
I have known the peace of heaven, the comfort of work done well
I have longed for death in the darkness and risen alive out of hell
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.

I give a share of my soul to the world, when and where my course is run
I know that another shall finish the task I surely must leave undone
I know that no flower, nor flint was in vain on the path I once did travel
But, I sipped nectar and wine when all of life’s mysteries did slowly unravel
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.

Slowly catching up.

It's been busy since the wedding.
Firstly, a weekend of Australians! We managed a sit-down roast for 13 people with dessert. Overall it was great to see everyone. No one had changed a bit. Got to see Goshia and Lukasz's wedding photos. Very nice indeed.

We had a good time wandering around town, checking out the college's and generally catching up on gossip. Here is a pic of us having lunch in 'The Eagle'.



Mid week was a bowling event with E's work.... basically a night of beer and porn star glasses. Matt had a wild night. : )
E tried to break the land-speed record, and, well, I simply tried to improve.

Most recently, this weekend was a weekend of Duggin's!


Little James found the whole thing a bit much.

And, best of all our friends had a baby boy called Nathan. And is he cute!
..... stay tuned for some photos.

Finally. Here is the Bonwick Wedding Cake recipe. I'm looking forward to knocking one of these up for next Christmas!

Enjoy

Bonwick's Dark Fruit Cake (makes 40 to 60 thin slices)
-an adaptation of Dark Fruit Cake from The Joy of Cooking
Some say this is best stored for at least 1 month before serving (Jane recommends at least 2 weeks sitting). Have all ingredients at room temperature. Preheat oven to 150°C/300°F. Grease and line the bottom and sides of one 25 cm tube tin with greaseproof paper.
Sift together:
420 g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground mace (hard to get but worth the effort!!)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
In a large bowl, beat until creamy, about 30 seconds:
225 g unsalted butter
Gradually add and beast on high speed until lightened in colour and texture, 3 to 5 minutes:
400 g light or dark brown sugar
Beat in:
125 ml golden syrup
grated zest and juice of 1 orange
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with, in 2 parts:
175 ml brandy (use the best (French?) you can)
beating on low speed or stirring with a rubber spatula just until blending and scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Stir in:
625 ml diced mixed candied fruits (citron, pineapple, cherries, kumquats and/or orange
and lemon peel. Jane uses one third ginger, also add paw paw with lemon and orange candied peel.)
200 g coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
300 g chopped dates
240 g currants
240 g golden raisins
Scrape the batter into the tin and spread evenly. Bake for 3 and 1/2 hours. The cake may appear done at 2 and 1/2 hours; simply ignore this. If the cake is getting too dark on top, tent it loosely with aluminium foil for the last 30 to 60 minutes. Cooking is variable so keep an eye on it….. careful If using a fan forced oven!!!!! Let cool in the tin on a rack for about an hour. Invert the cake and remove the paper liner. Let cool right side up on the rack.
Fruitcake storage: Don’t leave wrapt in aluminium foil because of the nuts. Wrap in plastic/paper or put in container if needed.

Orton in Concert

Last night E and I and Nick and Helen hit the Corn Exchange to see Beth Orton in Concert, with support act 'Clayhill'.

Firstly, it was our first time to the Corn Exchange here in Cambridge. The venue is good, a nice size, not to big, not to small. It is great to have a venue that plays international acts at your front door. From all my days giging in Sydney whereby half the night is spent getting to the event and getting home it was a nice change.

We picked our tickets up at the box office, purchased a pint in a plastic cup and headed into the standing area.

Clayhill were unknowns to us. They seemed to have a reasonable following. We had no expectations.... What a great act! The lead singer was to cool with airy vocals and delicious lyrics, a fantastic double bass player with lots of energy, and a confident lead guitar and a drumer and keyboardist. The tunes were good and we were impressed. First track Figure 8 and Hang on were memorable.

Beth came out after a small wait, but played a full set mixed with lots of old stuff as well as the new album. During the middle of the concert she seemed to flag, but picked up again by the end. Her voice seemed to be suffering a little... maybe over-strained? But, some of her new tracks are great (like Absinthe and A Place Aside), and being the first time I've heard them I think I'll be getting the new album. Her classics like Central Reservation and Stolen Car were also great.

Overall a great night out... 4 star.

Back at Work

Well, this is my second day back at work and things are going ahead at full pace. I'm still a bit sleepy in the afternoons. The lab gave E and I tickets to the Isle of Wright Festival, a big camping rock festival in June which I am very excited about! Thank you guys!!!! My lab in Sydney sent across gift tickets to the Covent Garden Opera.... how awesome is that! And two of our best friends gave us a set of Riedel Whiskey Glasses.... needless to say that they shall be well loved and cherished! We are learning about single malts, and have been doing blind tasting of several whiskies at a time. So far we are not very good at it. E is also planning to start brewing ales with the beer brewing things I got him for Christmas. I'll let you know how it goes.

There has been a lot of talk and discussion between my friends about the recent riots in Denmark, and also about the jailing of the british right-wing historian in Austria. The world is a very strange place. However, my belief in Gnomes is not waivering.... and Sven, our wedding prsent house gnome from my mother is proving to be a top little guy.

Long live the gnome!

We got hitched!

A beautiful sunny day in Sydney,

Saturday the 21st of January

We were very lucky.....













Had some great nights out with friends and family before heading to Lorne in victoria to attend the Lorne 2006 Protein Structure and Function Conference. Generally an excellent meeting, and it is always good to meet up with other Australian Scientists and find out what is going on.



We returned to Sydney then flew out to Perth to spend a week's honeymoon in Western Australia touring the South West and a little bit north of Perth. Overall we had a spectacular time. Went to some great restaurants. If you are ever in Albany, try The Wild Duck, and if you are up near Yallingup or Margaret River try the Other Side of the Moon located at the Quay West Bunker Bay Restort (nice resort by the way).

Saw some excellent sunsets into the ocean, and drank some fantastic wines. E went mad over the climbing.... and we saw lots of wildlife including snakes and orchids and sea cucumbers that look like slugs. We eat lobster and also checked out the stromatolites at Lake Thetis near Cervantes. Stromatolites are constructed of colonies of photosynthetic cyanobacteria that deposit calcium salts to form strange bublous formations at the edges of water (in this case a lake).

We really enjoyed the Pinnacles... they are limestone formations that 'pop' out of the sand dunes, again near Cervantes. I visited this place when I was very small and it was certainly worth the second visit.

We also visited the Valley of the Giants – a forest of ancient Kari trees. There is a suspended 'tree-top' walk here which was worth doing. We also saw lots of Blue Wrens there. Very cute!




The Parks people were doing controlled burns which we drove through, really felt like Australia....

Finally for a bit of a thrill we did two tree-climbs – one called the Gloucester tree, and the other called the Bicentennial Tree. I recommend the later one since the climb is much higher and it is also less well known so it is not as busy. Basically the climb consists of a huge Eucalypt tree with iron stakes driven into the trunk every 30 cm that spiral up the tree.


The climber can step from one spoke to the next in a sort of helical ladder. The whole process is very unprotected (if you fall it could be VERY VERY nasty), and the climb goes up to 75 m (for the Bicentennial Tree, 58 m for the Gloucester Tree).

Ant farms in space!

Ever seen one of these Ant Farms made of a mysterious blue gel?

I was interested to know what the gel was made of.... after some educated guesses and some web trawling I've tracked down the main components:

agar (or agarose) which is a sea-weed based material used by microbiologists and molecular biologists to either seperate DNA or grow bacteria. This substance is mixed with a nutrient media (with sucrose and vitamins and minerals) and heated. The agar 'melts' and forms a clear gel which can be poured into a container and allowed to set. Unfortunately the agar is not all that easy for the average person to track down..... I'll work harder at collecting information about the other components. The original space experiment is described here:
http://www.starsacademy.com/sts107/experiments/ants_top.htm#

And the gel was orginally supplied by: Plant Technologies Inc, New Jersey. Apparently it contains an antifungal agent.

Wandering

Got soft
Am lost

Wandering about my head

Can't remember where I'm headed
Can't remember where I've come from

Just keep wandering on.

Just been one of those days.... really things need to look up a bit. Maybe it's seasonal mood disorder!!! Tonight we go ten pin bowling. Now that should be something different. I'm sort of stuck in a rut, and it's hard to focus on anything much for any extended period of time. Sometimes I think I'm losing my mind.... slowly it is leaking out and only a shadow remains.

Trilobite

Cambridge Trilobites..... but big toys and late nights. More X-rays to poke a crystal at but not moment worth the time. It passes and I remember. Why?

The future is now and I'm letting it go.

Happy Birthday J!

Monday bloody Monday

Seems to be a running brain problem of mine, when my head is vacant, the screen is also. Very frustrating after you put all your thoughts onto one page and then Viola! It dissappears into the void. I wish you could capture all those lost bits of data..... I'm sure it would make fascinating reading pouring over other peoples lost ravings.

My little white micro lapdancer is warm with the days activities. I've been running gels and finalising undergraduate practical notes ready for this years onslaught. I'm tired. Completely flat.

It is exactly 4 weeks until we leave. I've been chasing Visas today. And visiting doctors.

Mmm, I'm sure there is more on my list to do.

Thinking about getting ready to go. It's only 7 weeks until we leave the country. So many things to do before then. I've been digitising my life, and backing it up. As if it might be useful one day.....

I want to get this blog up and running, probably because I'm to lazy to keep everyone up on what we are doing when we get there.

Spent the morning collecting email addresses and postal addresses. Everyone seems to keep moving around, I've got up to 6 email addresses for one person, and I can't remember which one is active. Sometimes technology sucks.

Trolled around the web, spying on old and lost friends... Nice to know they are still out there, still being true to themselves. Sometimes I have difficultly in letting them go. Stupid hang up really, if they don't want me what have I lost? I've got an over-load of that melancholy reminiscence of old times. I need to move on.. NOW!

Meanwhile, back at the desk I'm trying to improve my French, and finish a paper that must be submitted before I go. The crossword is more immediately appealing.
Does anyone know a 4 letter word for a small jumper? the best I can do at short notice is 'frog'. Frustrated.
Also waiting on the snail mail. My new USB drive should arrive any day now.

Watched 'Lost in Translation' again last night... I think E and I can almost recite the whole script. I was surprised that in the bonus extra material there was no footage of 'Charlotte'. I wonder why?

This weekend we're going camping, and climbing. We are going to face 'Old Baldy' again at Newnes. I expect that I'll lose my pants again in fear, but at least I'll know I'm alive.

It's 2005. What happened since 1998? I can't clearly remember.....

Do you?