Drooooool

I am so doing this.......................the sooner the better.

Chocolate Filled Strawberries

www.lilyshop.com

  Ingredients

15-20 strawberries (the larger the better)

1 bag of Milk Chocolate chips

Directions

1. Cut the stems off your clean strawberries and carefully scoop out the top of the berry. The deeper you scoop the more chocolate it will hold. I used large strawberries so I scooped about an inch down.

2. Pour the entire bag of chocolate chips in a glass bowl and heat in the microwave for 30 second intervals. Make sure to take your bowl out every 30 seconds to stir the chips. Continue until all chips are melted.

3. Place your strawberries in an egg carton so they sit straight up. You could also use little Dixie cups. Now you can either spoon your melted chocolate into the berries or use a funnel or piping bag. I used a little baby spoon and it worked fine. Your choice.

4. Place in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes until they harden a bit. Enjoy!

Note: As someone noted there is a small chance that salmonella could be found in an empty egg carton so if this concerns you it is safer to use an ice cube tray or mini muffin tin to hold the berries while the chocolate hardens.

 

Callate!

I had an urge to consume Mexican food this weekend, it had been in my thoughts all week as I pushed through a draining work week.Finally it was Saturday night, lets go eat. Thoughts were of chimichangas, enchiladas, nachos, tacos, tortillas...........This diminished within two minutes of our arrival at the restaurant. It was packed, good sign it must be a popular restaurant.
However the customers were many, many groups of women out for a good meal and a catchup, we were about the only couple. The big thumbs down for me was the NOISE. Now I can have a chat with the best of them but the level of competing voices in this place was off the Richter scale. These ladies weren't chatting they were screaming. All necessary in order to be heard over the volcano of noise erupting at the next table and the next one and the one over there. It became a painful rather than a relaxing meal time.
We ate. We tried talking but after the tenth time of "What did you say?" we kind of gave up. The food was so so. Incredibly there was a baby capsule on the floor next to us with a tiny little baby in there somewhere. I'm not sure if it ever cried or was just as overwhelmed as me and just endured. The most amazing thing was that at a table near the doorway a group, consisting of a few teenagers and some parents, had an equally puzzling reaction as mine. The one whom I supposed was the mother of some of the teenagers at one point screamed, pushed her chair over and fled the restaurant! Her husband ran out after her leaving the teenagers just sitting there. He then arrived back and the whole group then left.
All in all a complete opposite of what I had been pining for all week. I suppose as well as a "dining" experience we got to witness "true-life' drama. So we eventually left bellies full and ears ringing. I suppose then it came as no surprise that as we walked to our car my partner slipped on some wet leaves and landed on the concrete pavement with a slice to his hand. Tonight on the dinner menu I am serving up nachos without a side dressing of mayhem and madness.

The picture to accompany this story is a wall hanging on the wall that I faced during dinner, her expression and the finger says it best.

Jaded in June

I'm feeling that mid year moodiness. The weathers grey, there's a gazillion things I should be doing and the thing I'm best at is avoiding the whole lot of it. I wonder if people who live in a sunny-all-year round climate feel this weather induced weariness? Or what's it like to live in a perpetual gloomy, foggy, soggy city? Feeling a bit like a barometer and in need of some sunshine...but do I have to wait until September? I need some mood lifting inspiration....anyone have a dose they could send my way?

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http://media-cache-ec8.pinterest.com/upload/173247916885510241_GtVAP3YS_b.jpg

Living with....

I live in Australia and many of you do as well....round about 21 million others....this is what we are living with

Cancer in Australia

• An estimated 114,000 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in Australia in 2010.
• 1 in 2 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer by the age of 85.
• Cancer is a leading cause of death in Australia – more than 43,000 people are estimated to have died from cancer in 2010.
• Nearly 15,000 more people die each year from cancer than 30 years ago, this is due mainly to population growth and aging.  However, the death rate (number of deaths per 100,000 people ) has fallen by 16%.
• More than 60% of cancer patients will survive more than five years after diagnosis.
• The survival rate for many common cancers has increased by 30 per cent in the past two decades.
• The most common cancers in Australia (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) are prostate, colorectal (bowel), breast, melanoma and lung cancer.
• Around 434,000 people are treated for one or more non-melanoma skin cancers, with 448 people dying in 2007.
• Cancer costs more than $3.8 billion in direct health system costs (7.2%).
• $378 million was spent on cancer research in 2000-01, 22% of all health research expenditure in Australia.       

This week I sat with two friends both living with cancer. One has breast cancer. The other friend had such a rare, aggressive cancer that the surgeons  had to remove her eye. I lost my younger brother to cancer as well as my grandfather. There is probably not one family in Australia that hasn't been affected in some way.
Let's support cancer research and hope for hope.

The Blame Game

Is it not important as an adult to admit to making an error? Or is it easier to find someone to "blame". How hard is it to say "I made a mistake". Some people should just try it....it may be good for their soul. And seriously I am not sweeping this one under the carpet.