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Archive for April, 2018

ThinOptics

Posted in Cool Things on April 11, 2018| 23 Comments »

I’ve worn glasses since I was eleven years old.

Pete, on the other hand, has always had excellent eyesight, so he’s found his aging vision particularly frustrating. I’m finding it difficult to be sympathetic, but given my truly appalling sense of direction, we needed to figure out a way for him to read GoogleMaps on his phone without constantly having to rummage around for his reading glasses.

After some research, we discovered these brilliant little lenses by ThinOptics in California.

They’re super lightweight and thin without arms, and fold to fit into a compartment on the back of his iPhone.

I’m not sure how they stay on his nose (apparently that’s the patented technology bit), but Pete says they’re comfortable to wear and feel reasonably secure. They won’t stay on if he shakes his head around too much, and if he smiles too broadly, his cheeks can knock them askew, but they’re certainly fit for purpose. He can now read small text on his phone and order from restaurant menus in dim lighting.

We paid A$32 for the custom iPhone case and A$19.88 for the reading glasses. Shipping was free from the US because we spent over A$50.

After purchase, ThinOptics sent us this discount link which we’re allowed to share with friends – if anyone is interested, it should give you 15% off and free shipping. I don’t think we get anything out of it, other than the same 15% discount, but as the glasses come with a lifetime replacement warranty, I’m not sure why we’d ever need to purchase another pair…

And as an added bonus, I think they make Pete look adorable! ♥

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Easter Saturday Baking

Posted in Food & Friends on April 9, 2018| 26 Comments »

A couple of years ago, I attended a fabulous 40th reunion of my year 6 class…

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Somewhat surprisingly for folks who hadn’t seen each other in four decades, we became instant friends all over again and many of us have kept in touch ever since.

One of the best things for me has been reconnecting with my old girlfriends Jenny, Helen, Alison and Anita. Not only do we lunch on a regular basis, but we also cook together! Last Easter we spent a day baking hot cross buns, followed a few months later by a lesson in sourdough, which they all took to like ducks to water. As a result, I recently came home from Southern Cross Supplies with 62.5kg of bakers flour in my boot, having picked up a bag each for the girls…

This Easter Saturday, we got together again for a day in the kitchen.

While the hot cross bun dough was rising, my lovely friend Carol (who was also with us last year) taught everyone how to fold dumplings…

We produced a hundred or so dumplings…

…and then ate them all for lunch (Small Man helped)…

After the buns were shaped and left to rise again, I put my friends to work making dark chocolate eggs. Everyone ended up with one to take home, and Pete and I ate the rejects for dessert that night…

After baking, it was time to glaze…

In the end, we produced eight dozen hot cross buns…not a bad day’s work! Best of all, the whole lot fit into my big Smeg oven in one go. We had the perfect number of people for the space and time available…

I stole a few buns for my boys (but by that stage, I’d already baked eleven dozen, so we were pretty bunned out), and my friends took the rest home. As everyone had brought their own containers, we happily didn’t use a single plastic bag. It looked like a meeting of the CWA…

I think Easter Saturday bake day is set to become a tradition at our house! ♥

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A Korean Food Adventure

Posted in Recipes on April 7, 2018| 12 Comments »

Long time readers might recall that we were introduced to Korean food by Big Boy five years ago.

Since that time, we’ve had a growing fascination with the flavours of this wonderful cuisine, moving on from the widely available barbecue offerings to japchae and spicy stews like jjigae (photo above), which we’ll whip up for dinner on a regular basis. We use a fabulous recipe by Adam Liaw, taken from his Asian After Work cookbook…

Asian After Work: Simple food for every day by [Liaw, Adam]

Earlier this year, we experimented with dolsot bibimbap for our seasonal vegetarian dinner party. This dish is traditionally cooked in a hot stone bowl to create a crispy rice crust and heat through the other ingredients. We didn’t have individual bowls, so we improvised with our Emile Henry Flame pots. It was a huge hit…

Pete and I had so much fun prepping this dish that we decided to explore Korean cuisine further.

The first step (of course) was to acquire the necessary cookware. We decided that traditional dolsot (stone/granite bowls) were too heavy for us to handle, so we settled on the far more economical ceramic ttukbaegi pots, which my darling friend Al and I found at Asiana Grocery (Korean supermarket) in the Lemon Grove Arcade in Chatswood. The folks there were very helpful and answered our questions cheerfully.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m a bit obsessed with clay cookware, so finding such gorgeous new pieces was like uncovering treasure…

Next, we went looking for recipes.

Maangchi to the rescue! Many of you will already know of this prolific Korean blogger and YouTuber, but it was the first time we’d come across any of her recipes. We carefully studied her videos on shopping in a Korean supermarket and then took ourselves off to Komart in North Strathfield. This is what we came home with…

The receipt made me laugh a lot, as I have no idea what most of it meant…

The first dish we tried was Maangchi’s dakjjim (braised chicken with vegetables and starch noodles). Each of her recipes comes with an excellent video. The kids adored this dish – an entire wok full of stew was scraped clean (and yes, that’s cooked cucumber in the photo below)…

Last night we made her kimchi-sundubu-jjigae (spicy soft tofu stew with kimchi and pork belly). It was the perfect excuse to test out our new ttukbaegi pots. I soaked them in cold water before heating on the gas burner…

Again, Maangchi’s instructions and video offered excellent guidance, and we were delighted with how dinner turned out. I ate until I couldn’t bend over and had to lie down to let my stomach settle. But just look at how pretty it was!

There’s a lot more to explore on Maangchi’s website, and I’ve also purchased her cookbook, which is available in Kindle format for just $4…

Cooking Korean Food with Maangchi: Book 1, 2, & 3 by [Maangchi]

So…it looks like 2018 is going to be the year of Korean cuisine in our house. Thankfully our sons (particularly Big Boy) both love the flavours as much as we do. I’ll keep you posted on our adventures!

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