For a good cause

This Saturday I'll be volunteering at the Sydney Food and Wine Fair. It's at Hyde Park from noon to 5pm - get there either very early or very late if you do not care to queue and coupon purchases go to the very worthy AIDS Trust of Australia. The restaurants offering up grub are some of the nicest and fanciest in Sydney including Cafe Sydney, Quay and Guillaume at Bennelong. And if you need more incentive, here's a review of the fair in 2006 with scrumptious pictures.

It's obviously genetic

My little brother will this weekend be doing the 2008 MS bike ride from Wollongong to Sydney. It's a 90km ride. I think that sounds like quite a long way. He and his best friend will be doing the ride together treating it as a pedalling pub crawl. There was even talk of next year doing it on a tandem bicycle.

Love it. Wish I'd thought of it first.

New methods of campaigning

The latest American election has seen some new and super innovative ways of candidates communicating with supporters (like Barack on Twitter) and the public showing their support.

My favourite development is Yes We Carve - making Halloween 'Barack O'Lantern's'. Too too good.

Surprising

Apparently the Oporto vegie burger sans mayo is vegan. I am surprised. Also - 3am drunken snacking here I come!

Mixed metaphors in Austria: Jörg's demise

There is clearly something lost in translation in this comment on Jörg Haider's death and the subsequent visits in preparation for the service:

'"We wanted the kids to feel the enormity of the occasion. After all, he is our Lady Di and this is our 9/11,"says Anton Krem, 45.'

Eh?

The truth is apparently also insulting:

'In the Pumpe pub on Benediktiner Platz in Klagenfurt, drinkers sit around whispering about how Haider died. The figure "142" is repeated often. That is the speed (in kilometres an hour) at which he was driving when he crashed his VW Phaeton on Saturday night. The news has by now filtered down that he was drunk at the wheel.

"Some say he was criminal because he was drunk, but that's an insult," says Christa, a 17-year-old who was among the country's new young voters (the voting age is 16), who gave her support to Haider's BZO in elections two weeks ago. "He did so much for everyone."

And therefore couldn't be drunk? Teutonic logic has obviously not extended into Austria.

Also - there seems to be some inevitable rule that the more conservative a politician is the more likely he is to die returning from a gay bar under the influence of drugs or alcohol. I'm just sayin'...

More politics

Judge people by the company they keep?

Goths for Obama FTW!

LOL Summaries of complex political issues

Snowed under with uni and travel packing but still finding time to procrastinate/contemplate the state of politics through LOLs. Its amazing how a well captioned picture can stand in for such complex political moments.

The Joe the plumber saga (nb Joe the 'uncommitted voter' is also a registered member of the Republican party):

On the idea that black people who vote for Obama are voting purely on racial lines:

And those slurs? Well...

Over the shoulder bazoonga holders

As someone with what some refer to as a 'generous pair' my sympathy was captured by the uplift bras project. The programs accepts donations of used or unwanted bras and sends them to Pacific Island countries where a bra might cost as much as a weeks wages and are quite important for women to feel comfortable in Western clothes in work environments or more secure working on farms etc.

I have some spares from the days that I still believed I could squeeze into a D Cup (oh, those were the days) and I'm collecting from my mother and her friends and will send them off in a few weeks. So c'mon ladies and drag queens - pitch in!

Our reward is free license to ogle Gisele Bunchen's rack. For research purposes obviously.

A change in course

I have been engaging in this:

Well, that's not entirely true. I'm not really blogging it but I am experiencing a temporary bout of veganness.

Undoubtably there will be some sniggers from those who have seen me inhale steak tartare before, but nevertheless.

No idea where thisvegan desire has come from but it is a good thing: for the planet, for my health and probably for my lovely le creuset pots who have been getting a little bored of the routine of late. They're ever so surprised to see so many lentils now.

Accurate representations of the VP debates

President Obama

I'm starting to actually believe in an Obama win.
I feel like a political groupie - I'll be taking Election day off work, be down the pub and glued to every vote. And I'm looking forward to election day more than I thought possible for an election in another country.

In the meantime, this is my favourite picture of the campaign. It's getting a lot of use over at Pundit Kitchen but I think it deserves a moment of its own.

Roos shall rue the day

Something of Miranda Devine's last article/incoherent rant about leftist scum reminds me of my childhood. Her ranting about how terribly vile kangaroo meat is and how, no matter what Ross Garnaut says she will not eat it reminds me of my 5 year old self confronted with lambchops and a stern mother. Listen to her pretty much quoting me directly: 'I don't want to eat kangaroo. Ever. It's dark, chewy, gamey and smelly'.

Note also that on past diatribes against the 'anti-meat culture' of greenies Miranda has owned up that she doesn't really like or eat meat at all suggesting her arguments against roo would apply equally to other forms of less Garnaut endorsed flesh.

As for her idea that 'Beef and lamb will be reserved only for the very wealthy in the brave new future [Garnault] envisages' - I think this is currently already the case - meat eaters without exorbitant budgets are eating cheaper meats (turkey and roo) and cheaper cuts of good meats (chuck, blade). Even more sensible meat eaters are realising that consuming huge chunks of flesh is not an everyday necessity but that there are many marvellous meals to be made based on vegetables, grains, nuts, fish, whatever.

For those that do like roo though, this is marvellous:

Rare roo with balsamic

Heat olive oil or butter in a pan until really hot. Place roo fillets (not steak, fillets) in pan and sear for 1 to maximum 2 minutes per side. Salt and pepper. Remove and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing. After roo is out of the pan add in a good sploosh of balsamic vinegar and thinly sliced shallots (white & green), fry for a minute or so and then pour over the meat to serve.

Serve with red wine (shiraz) and a copy of the Communist Manifesto.