Local sculptures

Al Phemister, resident artist (sculptor) in Yass:

A pear, sculpted out of welding discarded horseshoes together.

"Bronze pear"

A Dandelion made from discarded steel 

"Dandelion on the breeze"

Phemister's "workshop' - includes partly finished birdhouse made from an old copper boiler.

Birdhouse in-situ

Preparing for the annual "Billycart Derby" - Al Phemister 

in multi-coloured aeroplane billycart.

Phemister's Celebration tree

"Teapot"

Types of Football in Australia

We have four types of football we play in Australia. Mostly all games take place during our Winter but begin in Autumn and can run into Spring.

There is the 'round ball type of football, which to myself is one great melee where twenty two players on the pitch move a small round ball around and you need to be Stephen Hawking to work out the "rules".

Next, there is the rugby games and the oldest form of these is a game called Rugby Union. A rough, fast game, played with little player protective equipment but with many interruptions to play and games frequently decided by penalty goal points for player infringements. The idea appear to be that if you cannot score a 'try' (read 'touch down'), then get into your oppositions half and force them into an error whereby your ace goal kicker can kick a penalty goal worth 3 points.

Then there's the so-called 'professional' form of rugby - Rugby League, again, a rough, fast game, played with little player protective equipment but played at a much faster, even frenetic speed.

The latter game has a habit of seeing the players let of some steam - against each other!

Then there is the game played mainly in the southern states of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia - believed to have its origins in Gaelic Football, its played with a modified rugby-type ball on a round oval with four goal posts for differential point scoring at either end. It can be physical but is more known for some of the spectacular leaps ("Marks") players make, often climbing up the back of another player to leap into the air to seize the ball.

Our football season is about to go into "pre-season" games and then the fun really begins. Most games are broadcast with many broadcast live, so that Winter is a Football Feast.

Weight loss No 4

Originally - 116.8kg

Today - 114kg (weigh No.4)

Loss this week - 0.8kg

Total loss since start - 2.8Kg (6.2lbs)

Weekly Words No. 9

"... to piss in someone's pocket ...", phr. [1940s+] (Aus.)   -  to curry favour, to be extremely close to someone, to ingratiate oneself.

If someone tells you to  "Don't piss in my pocket" and intones it in jocular, familiar terms they are indicating that they reckon that you are taking a lend of them, trying to put one over them, trying to 'pull the wool over their eyes', or, even 'taking the Mickey out of them'.

Fair enough?

But what if someone says it to you in an aggro format, with an indication of anger or affront? In this case . It means “don’t take me for a fool, don’t try to deceive me, don’t flatter me with your lies”.

In Australia it is common or vulgar language, often the domain of the working class who are in no way backwards in letting someone know where they stand and what they think of the other person and, frequently, they do this by use of colloquial phrases. 

As they are not raised and educated in an insular fashion, most Australian schoolboys know the phrase, even if they are too genteel to use it in common use. In most practical ways, Australia is an egalitarian society. This does not mean that everyone is the same or that everybody has equal wealth or property. But it does mean that there are no formal or entrenched class distinctions in Australian society, as there are in some other countries.

Australians tend to be gregarious and outgoing. Most are relatively informal, socially and in their relationships with acquaintances and work colleagues, so much so that the use of such phrases comes easily to many tongues in everyday interactions..

Fair enough .... but .... what is the origin of this term?

Michael Quinion, writing in "World Wide Words" , 1996–2012, says:

"It’s a modern Australianism, recorded from the 1960s, but a precursor — pissing down any one’s back — is recorded in the same sense in the 1811 enlarged edition of Francis Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue."
 The reason why it’s obscure is that its only half the expression. Don’t piss in my pocket is a shortened form of don’t piss in my pocket and tell me it’s raining. It means “don’t take me for a fool, don’t try to deceive me, don’t flatter me with your lies”.
 

There is another version which states: "Don’t piss down my leg and tell me it’s raining" and has its origins from the earlier English expression of:  Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining! 

So, If an Australian  says to you  "Don’t come the raw prawn with me - Stop pissing in my pocket!" they are telling you that they don't believe you and you better not try and treat them like a fool or suffer the consequences.

"Don't come the raw prawn with me?" Oh dear!  Another can of worms that will have to wait for another day!

cookie recipes

1. CHOC CHIP AND MIXED NUT COOKIES

INGREDIENTS

¼ cup of cooking choc chips, rolled and crushed into small pieces

Mixed unsalted cooked nuts – halved macadamias, slivered almonds, pine nuts

250 g butter, softened

¾ cup of caster sugar

½ teaspoon of vanilla essence

2 ¼ cups of self raising flour

Milk for glazing

METHOD

Using hands, knead the butter, flour, sugar, choc chips and vanilla essence in a bowl until combined and smooth.

Roll into smooth walnut-sized balls and place on some sprayed baking paper on a tray, leaving plenty of room for the biscuit mixture to expand as it cooks.

Flatten the top of each ball with a fork, criss-crossing it until about half a centimetre thick.

Decorate as desired with slivered almonds, macadamias and pine nuts, pushing those slightly into the surface of the biscuit mix.

Brush the surface of the cookies with milk and then place the try in a pre-heated oven at 180C (Gas mark 4 – 355F) for 15-20 minutes. When the top of the nuts begin to brown the cookies are cooked. Remove tray and set aside to cool. Repeat process until all the biscuit mix is used up.

When tray has cooled, remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool some more and then store in an airtight container.





2. PFEFFERNUSSE (PEPPERNUT COOKIES)

(Image Source 2011 Kitchen Riffs -

 http://www.kitchenriffs.com/2011/11/pfeffernusse-cookies.html)

INGREDIENTS

220 g firmly packed brown sugar
115 g butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Extract
1/2 teaspoon ground Anise (Five Spice powder makes a good substitute)
2 g ground Cinnamon
3 g baking powder
3 g salt
1g Ground Black Pepper
a good pinch of ground Nutmeg
a good pinch of ground Cloves
220 g sifted plain flour
icing sugar

METHOD

Place brown sugar and butter in bowl. Cream until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and extracts. 

Add remaining dry ingredients, except icing sugar, to sifted flour and sift again. 

Gradually add to butter mixture, mixing well. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 180C  (Gas mark 4 – 355F) 

Shape teaspoonfuls of dough into ovals and place 2.5 cm apart on ungreased biscuit trays. Bake 10 minutes. 

Remove from trays and place on wire racks. Sprinkle with icing sugar while biscuits are still warm. When cool, store in airtight containers.

Winter's best roast lamb

This is truly one of the best lamb roasts going and it is so easy and quick to prepare, however, you may need some help from your butcher in preparing your rack of boneless lamb loin.


Boneless lamb loin is the same as rack of lamb chops but with the bone removed from the loin, the latter cut and rolled, pinwheel fashion, and secured to make a compact boneless roast. The muscles include top loin (larger muscle) and tenderloin (smaller muscle).


Ask you butcher to cut you a piece of lamb loin - mine was slightly over 1 kg (about 2lb 4 oz) and have the butcher to leave about 5-7cm of flap on the loin for securing the rolled loin at the end of preparation.

APRICOT AND ROSEMARY ROAST LOIN OF LAMB

Apricot marries beautifully with lamb and of course rosemary is a classic partner for lamb.

                                                                                                                                                

INGREDIENTS

1 kg loin of lamb (increase size of loin according to needs)

3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1 small branch or a few sprigs fresh rosemary

12 dried apricots

METHOD

Place the lamb skin side down on the chopping board and season the meat side well with salt and pepper.

I do not peel my garlic cloves, instead I remove the papery 'skin' then I squash the whole cloves with the back of a broad flat knife and then slice the flattened cloves. Scatter the sliced garlic on top of the lamb muscle and then top with the rosemary. 

Arrange the apricots in a layer down the centre, close the meaty portion of the loin. Roll up and secure the extra flap with toothpicks or skewer. I prefer to 'sew' a long metal skewer up the length of the rolled lamb loin.

Roast at 190 degrees Celsius (375 F) for 1 hour. At this stage the lamb will be cooked to medium, if you would like the lamb well done, cook for a further 15 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and stand 10 minutes before carving (but remember the roasts continues to 'cook' as it stands). Cut about the width of a normal lamb loin chop to serve. Accompany with gravy, or your favourite relish.

This roast is delicious with homemade Indian chili chutney.

Record year for Macca's

We don't know how many burgers they made, but the other numbers are big enough.

McDonald's rang up record sales of $US27 billion ($25.6 billion) in 33,510 restaurants worldwide last year, an increase of 12 per cent, turning a profit of $US5.5 billion from the 68 million customers it serves each day.

Although there is no country breakdown, it seems Australia was a weak contributor, with our stronger dollar biting into earnings and its chief executive, Jim Skinner, noting ''lagging consumer confidence as a result of the economic slowdown''.

Just 34 new stores opened in Australia last year, McDonald's US filings reveal, lifting this country's total to 865. That compared with 177 new stores opened in China.

But Australia again lived up to its track record as a hotbed of new ideas for the fast food giant. Chicken McBites have just been launched in the US after being invented in Australia and launched in 2010. ''That's something we're really proud of,'' said a spokeswoman. ''Lots of innovation in McDonald's starts in Australia, like McCafes.''

In the December quarter, McDonald's reported sales of $US6.8 billion, up 10 per cent on the previous year, and net income of $US1.4 billion, up 11 per cent.

McDonald's does not give a country-by-country breakdown but the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa were the strongest of its geographic regions, with sales up by 11 per cent both for the quarter, after stripping out currency impacts, compared with a year earlier, and for the 2011 full year.

Read more: McFlurry of trade brings record year

Note: I'm not a "Macca's" fan and if faced with the requirement to purchase their product I would sooner throw away the contents and eat the packaging as it is probably more healthy and has more fibre in it!