Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Grass

Chopping up herbs isn't a particularly onerous task, but the fact that something's easy shouldn't stop you from throwing some gadgetry into the mix!

So, here are some clever herb snips I found over at Cool Hunting. They're only $US13, which seems pretty reasonable to me.

What's more, you could even grab a second pair to use as a cheap personal shredder for your home office!

Gorgeous Teapot

Thanks to Gizmodo for pointing out this wonderful teapot.

I'm feeling thirsty; be back in a minute ...

A Nice Pakistani Restaurant

My friends Gavin, Linda and I went to a Pakistani restaurant called Desi Hut, in Haldon St Lakemba, this evening.

A number of items we wanted to order were unavailable, and we received some kind of coconut naan instead of a garlic one, but everything we ate was excellent and it's definitely somewhere we'll all be happy to go back to.

I've made a mental note to check out some of the other restaurants in Haldon St. In fact, Linda said one of her friends reckons there is a good Thai there, which is one of my favourite cuisines.

Oh, and the food wasn't quite as hot as the accompanying image might suggest... I just thought it was a cute picture :-).

Hot & Cold Running Goodness

Colo-Pop is a cup that contains separate compartments for hot food and a cold drink.

It's not going to cure cancer, but it will free up one of your hands to allow you to scoop up some of that gorgeous, hot, fast food goodness :-).

Slow Food

For those in the know, that title is probably a bit misleading. I'm not talking about the slow food concept. I'm talking about "non-fast food".

Thanks to Spluch for pointing out Cheeseburger In A Can!


This is one of the most bizarre products I've ever seen. Rather than going to a fast food outlet and getting a burger in a couple of minutes, you buy a can, take it home, open it, stick it in your microwave and wait the same couple of minutes.

Mind you, maybe the quality of the ingredients is superior ... and perhaps you'd end up with a burger that actually looks like its photo!

Yummo!

To celebrate my birthday yesterday, I met Matt and Gavin at the Belgian Beer Cafe down in The Rocks for a couple of scrumptious ... and somewhat potent ... beers.

We then grabbed a cab and met Susan and Linda at the Pink Peppercorn Laotian restaurant on Oxford St in Darlinghurst.

As expected, the food was excellent and the company was great. It just doesn't get any better than that.

I was slightly amused this morning to discover that, on the way home, I had popped into the supermarket at Strathfield and bought enough groceries to last me until my next birthday :-).

Ah, the demon alcohol ... mind you, there were no naughty impulse purchases, just the stuff I normally buy, so I guess it worked out just fine.

Mmmm ... Pizza

In recent times, I've been trying to cut down on the amount of junk food I shove into my gob.

However, I figure if I had one of these stove-top pizza ovens, I could at least choose some vaguely healthy toppings for my creations.

Oli's Bon Voyage Yum Cha

We had a farewell Yum Cha lunch for Oli today (he's moving to Canberra).

The food was more than acceptable and good value for money, as Yum Cha generally is ... so long as you don't over order, of course :-).

I took three photos, but one was too dark, because I had the flash turned off!

Anyway, here are the "good" ones ...



You have to love shots like these, that catch people mid-motion ... it looks like Dave's gone into a trance, Oli is trying to pull his tongue out with those chopsticks and Kirsten's just remembered she left the iron on :-).



Then there's this one, where Lorne is doing his best Hannibal "I don't blink" Lecter impersonation, Socs seems quite impressed by it, and Mark's playing the Silence of the Lambs theme on his teacup flute :-).

This is why I always try to make sure I'm the one with the camera!

Edible Bowls

What a fantastic idea! This is a bowl made from bread.

You eat the contents, then eat the bowl.

So, there's no need to do any washing up ... well, so long as you also have a bread saucepan to cook the food in, of course :-).

Thanks to Spluch for this one.

Food Tube

Now, here's an excellent use of technology ... Food Tube is a site that allows you to find videos of people preparing various recipes.

Sadly, my search for a good Thai Jungle Curry failed miserably (not that I need any help with that one, having cooked it many, many times), but at least I was able to find one for Green Curry Chicken.

As an aside, I still remember cooking a Green Curry of Crocodile for my then flatmate, Martin, and I the day after we'd had a "New Year's Eve in July" with a number of friends.

I made it so spicy that, in his somewhat fragile condition, Martin found it almost totally inedible ... all the more for me :-).

Mash-Ups

I love mashed potatoes. Given that fact, strangely, I almost never seem to make them!

Well, the septics are about to celebrate Thanksgiving and the New York Times food and wine writer published an interesting article, describing her research into making perfect mashed potatoes.

In the process, she mashed 32 pounds of potatoes, during three days of cooking, using various recipes and mashing implements.

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to pop out and buy myself a big bag of potatoes. I'm sure I'll be sick of mash by the end of next week :-).