I scream you scream we all scream for icecream!

 

Ah well, summer is here and it’s ice-cream weather and I’m rather partial to a bit of the cold stuff from time to time. You can buy quite cheap ice-cream, but the good stuff is getting quite expensive, and it all seems to have additives in it, numbers, colours and flavours from chemicals rather than fruit that came from a tree or vine, preservatives, softeners so you can scoop it out, hardeners, so it stays the same consistency, you know what I mean.

For a long time I've looked at ice-cream makers so I could make it at home. There are some quite cheap ones out there, but I have found from experience, that with these cheap things, you get what you pay for, and the day after the 12 month warranty is over the thing throws in the towel and gives up the ghost, thereby needing another trip to the shop, more decisions about what brand to buy, and general frustration.

So I decided to buy an expensive one. I went back to the online shop, Kitchenware Direct, where I bought a pan recently. They have a chat facility where you can talk to someone there. So I did this and asked the lady about ice-cream makers. She has one, a fairly expensive one and says it churns out good ice-cream every time. So I ordered it and I have experimented a few times.

It makes yummy stuff. Not quite as thick as bought ice-cream, but pricewise probably on a par or cheaper than the good ice-cream, it is quick to make, and I know what is in it. Not much. Milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and fruit.

 

Everything is churning away. It only takes about 30 minutes per batch.

This is the machine. So far so good.

 I bought this one…..a Cuisinart. It is a solid machine, has a good warranty, a solid metal body and makes 2 litres at a time. I have used frozen fruit so far, mixed berries and raspberries. I still need to experiment with the juice that the berries make, I think I have put in too much of the juice and it is a tad thinner than I think it should be. You thaw out the berries and add half a cup of sugar to bring the juice out of the fruit. 

I don’t like chocolate ice-cream so won’t make that one. I do want to try hokey pokey ice-cream. Growing up in New Zealand, we had the best ice-cream in the world.

 

I find that even my favorite is full of 'stuff'.  These are the ingredients of hokey pokey ice-cream.

ICE CREAM [CREAM, MILK, LIQUID SUGAR, WATER, GLUCOSE SYRUP (FROM MAIZE), MILK SOLIDS NON FAT, EMULSIFIERS (477, 471), VEGETABLE GUMS (412, 410, 407, 401), NATURAL FLAVOURS, NATURAL COLOUR (160a)], HOKEY POKEY PIECES (6%) [SUGAR, GLUCOSE SYRUP (FROM MAIZE), BUTTER (CREAM, SALT), COCOA BUTTER, MINERAL SALT (500), GELATINE, NATURAL FLAVOUR, SALT].

 

 

 Tip Top is the best ice-cream you will every buy, (If you have never eaten Tip Top Hokey Pokey Ice-cream, you have not lived.) so I don’t expect to equal that, but my homemade stuff is pretty good. Fancy a scoop or two?

Sydney bush fires.

The bush fires around Sydney are a problem. We are having 24 hour coverage on television here and tomorrow seems to be the worrying day. They are expecting high winds maybe up to 100km an hour and very high temperatures.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/bushfires/fears-grow-nsw-blue-mountains-bushfires-will-merge-and-form-a-mega-fire/story-fngw0i02-1226743664238

The newspaper says…….

“TWO major NSW bushfires have flared up again as firefighters brace for worsening conditions and try to halt the formation of a "mega-fire".

The blaze in the Springwood area of the Blue Mountains which last week destroyed 200 homes was this afternoon upgraded to emergency status.

And in the NSW Southern Highlands, a major fire that has been burning for days near Wollondilly was again upgraded and residents in the village of Wilton warned burning embers were blowing their way.

The new emergencies came as hundreds of firefighters resorted to “high-risk” back-burning strategies against the biggest of the bushfires, the State Mine blaze near Lithgow in the Blue Mountains.

The great fear is that at least three major fires in the Blue Mountains will merge and head toward's Sydney's western suburbs amid worsening conditions on Wednesday.”

Here are few pictures. The link will take you to a gallery of pictures. I think the real worry is that if the winds are strong enough it will take the fires right to the edge of Sydney city itself.

This is a great picture, the smoke coming over the city and harbour bridge.

I remember in years gone by when large fires were experienced in Australia the smoke took a few days to come right across to New Zealand. No doubt it will do the same with these fires. They expect them to burn for a long time even once they are under control.

The main problem has been lack of rain over the winter. It has been so dry. And it is the same here where we are house sitting. If a fire was to get out of hand here we would be in the same boat. It would engulf the area around where we are house sitting, and maybe go up Mount Tamborine where it is well populated. Care is needed.

On yer bike!

The Gold Coast has been having a bit of bother with bikies. They have been setting up home and shop in the area and bringing some angst to the local people.  So the Queensland government has brought in some new laws….to be ‘tough’ on them and hope they will go somewhere else.

There are new laws now that if there are three or more bikie looking people riding together they can be stopped and searched. This has not pleased those other folks who like to get on their bike gear and ride round on weekends, generally causing no harm except to give their Harleys a bit of a work out.

The problem seems to be that under the surface of things, and a surface that people like me never get beneath, there is crime, drugs and other nasty stuff. Having this activity is not wanted here by the locals, especially the law enforcement people. How successful this will be of course remains to be seen.

It was reported that the Bandido gang have hung up their colours and gone home.

The local media reports indicated that they couldn’t hack the pace, and gave up without a fight and disbanded the gang. If this is the case, well done to them.  I guess if they were so easily intimidated they weren’t much of a threat anyway. As for the others, well maybe it will be a bit more tricky to get rid of the others, especially if they are involved in criminal activities.

To make it even more scary, the idea is to get them off the streets and into the local jails. And even worse, not only in jail, but to force them to wear pink uniforms in jail, something that will make them feel powerless and girly.

 

 

 I wonder if that will work. Of course, the fact that our prisons are almost chocka anyway adds to the problem.

The Gold Coast is touted as a highly desirable holiday destination, and people come from all over the world to the lovely beaches here, so it’s easy to see why a ‘family friendly’ reputation is important.

We leave this 'family friendly' place in ten days for other climes for a while. Fortunately for us, the location of this house sit is removed from the centre of surfers and we don't come into contact with any of that stuff.  Our main problem here is keeping enough water going for the birds, lizards, bunnies and other wildlife.

A funny thing happened…..

 

Peter read me out a newspaper article. It was about an airline that made overweight people pay for two seats. If they weighed more than about 140kg, then they had to buy and pay for two seats.

Because this man was big, the airline made him pay for two seats. But the two seats were not together. One was in a different row and on the other side of the plane. He paid for two, used one and could not use the other. Here is the article from http://www.news.comhttp://www.news.com.au/travel/

 “BEFORE he boarded the plane, 37-stone Les Price had already been forced to pay for an extra ticket.

The airline's rules for passengers weighing more than 20 stone required him to buy two seats for himself.

But when he got on board, insult was added to injury. For a dismayed Mr Price found his seats for the flight to Ireland were not even next to each other - they were either side of another traveller's seat.

And on his return journey the situation was even more farcical, with his allocated places two rows apart.

Mr Price, 43, had booked his tickets in advance of the flight. But he said the unnamed airline's employees did not seem to understand its policy on heavier passengers.

"When I got to the airport I had to explain to all the staff why I had two tickets," he said yesterday. "They didn't have a clue. When I finally got on the plane one was an aisle seat and the other was by the window - in a three-seat row. On the way back from Ireland one seat was in row 17 and the other in row 19."

It’s a funny old world.