What that has to do with this post, I have no idea ...
Droidy: Hi Mum ... Droidy's Mum: Have you cut your hair? It's longer ... Droidy: ¿ ...
While we're at it with the blonde moments, pit your favourite plastic pop princess Britney against some other great artist, in the quest to answer the question, What is Art? Maybe some Blues will help set the mood ... or something.
IngredientsIndeed? This tasted good... we had it with rice.. and dumplings ... and green stuff... yummy (:Method
- One Steak, purchased from Coles, but feel free to purchase from your steak supplier of choice ...
- Mystery marinade, later deduced to be Worcestershire Sauce and Black Pepper, among other things.
- Soy Sauce
- Vinegar. Rice Vinegar if you have it (we didn't), or else just white vinegar ...
- Oil. Olive, peanut, sunflower, canola ... whatever
- Chillis, either fresh or dried ... we had the dry stuff in a bootle....
- Sugar, or Honey ... your choice..
Get your steak out of the packaging. Before you go and chuck it in the freezer, trim it of excess fat, then put the steak into a medium freezer bag, and into it, add some worcestershire sauce, some black pepper, and a bit of oil ... squish the meat about a bit so all the sauce and stuff get all over the meat ... seal up the bag and chuck it in the freezer for a couple of weeks (it'll be ok ... really!) or until you forget what you marinaded it with...
Take the steak out of the freezer ... Defrost it, and wonder what on earth you used to marinade it with. Meanwhile, mix up some dumpling sauce: 1 part vinegar, 2 parts soy sauce, chopped chilli to taste, and 1 teaspoon of sugar for every shot glass worth of sauce, or to taste. Dissolve the sugar a bit ...
Heat up your wok til it's really hot ... pour a bit of oil into the wok, then gently lay your steak down ... sear this side ... and realise at this point what you marinaded this steak with. Decide that it wants to have a slightly different flavour now, and pour a bit of the dumpling sauce into the wok with the steak. After a while, turn the steak over and cook the other side, to however you like your steak done. I prefer the thing to be well and truly not munching on grass, unless it's a really really really really good piece of steak and I'm in the mood for steak ... doesn't happen often ...
Once your steak is done, transfer it to a chopping board, and cut it into thin strips (about 1-1.5cm in width, ~0.2-0.6 in for the imperial people?), move all this to your serving plate of choice, then drizzle a bit more of the dumpling sauce all over the sliced steak ...
Enjoy!
Hmm... there was a power outage along Warrigal Road at the tennis club we were playing at tonight... no lights means no night tennis ... so I get to be back early so I can get some sleep ... or something. Tired, because of a long weekend helping Decay's parentals move into their new place... If you talk to Decay's mum right now, you'll get the story about the semi-trailer bogging... and Ginger learning to negotiate stairs... and launching herself off ledges ... by Sunday afternoon, most of the really big jobs had been done, and someone needed to get back to Melbourne for Uni the next day ... Hmm ... I'll leave Decay to do the wrapup of the weekend ... but I will say it was wonderful to spend so much time with Decay ... </sappiness>
As a result of this weekend, I'm really quite tired... brain tired, body tired, everything ... I should get some study in tonight, while I'm still awake ... trying to keep the Electromagnetics stuff under control ... and not fall behind in anything else while I'm at it ... I'll have to go book shopping soon ... once the bank account looks a bit healthier ...
Ohhh... mini machine thingies next to mites and other bug-like things... via Milk and Cookies ...
Which Peanuts Character Are You Quiz
While I'm at it... We all know what *other* identities Decay seems to have IRL, how about someone else now? How about some lemmings to kill some time? It's 5k time again ... and some weird ice cream flavours ... trust the Japanese (: The last few links probably courtesy of the usual suspects...
Shuddup, I have my books open !
Hmm.. Wednesday ... I slept in til almost 9am this morning ... and I made the mistake of attempting to have a shower at this time. Because of the very set routine that the grandma of the household has, 9:00am is washing up breakfast dishes time, or something that uses a fair hit of hot water and I get alternately burnt and frozen while I keep trying to adjust the water flow ... which wastes a bit of semi-warm water, which comes back to haunt me after 5 minutes of quite hot water... maybe it's a cheap way to get one of those therapeutic showers or something, but actually, it just leaves me rather dissatisfied with the whole wake up with a shower thing ...
At least uni's back with a vengeance... I only just noticed last night that I have 6pm finishes every night but Tuesday ... I don't have any 8am starts though ... this makes the late finishes more tolerable, but it means I'll have to make myself study during the day ... Have I mentioned how much I really don't like electromagnetics? Can't get textbooks yet, bank account is not healthy, and half the books aren't in yet... I should fully start a library with the amount of textbooks I seem to have collected...
Tennis on Monday night was ok ... we won (yay!), but my brain was dead in the third set so we lost that 6-4 ... I don't get why some of the ladies would take the game so seriously, and attempt to cheat their way into winning ... It's not everyone, just one person every week or so ... at least they're not trying to assume I'm 12 still ... I'm not sure when that perception changed, but given that I'll be turning 23 at the end of the year, it's about bloody time ...
Back to the uni thing, I'm kind of glad semester 2 has started ... I was about to go mad for want of something to do ... trawling the web for useless but interesting crap wasn't holding my interest ... fixing up this page lasted all of 5 minutes before I decided to leave it for the moment ... droidy on auto-pilot does not a happy droidy make... or something ... Ok, I should think about either opening a book, or traipsing into uni to do some random stuff. Maybe a good stiff drink might make things clearer ... Actually, probably not. I had a drink on Saturday night, and all it did was make my brain go fuzzy ... Decay was witness to this (: Damn me and my low tolerance of alcohol!
And by the time I sit through my first lecture (which is now at 10am, I think), I'll be really quite tired. Welcome to the recommencement of University Studies...
Last night, I joined ITC, about half an hour before the AGM commenced ... it was a rather surreal thing to be feeling... new member, but have been to the last few committee meetings purely because I was in the right house at the right time ... it would be really quite funny if I ended up on the committee as well, purely because there didn't seem like there was anyone else who wanted to be ... *sigh*.
Um... right. Tennis also starts tonight, which is going to be an interesting exercise in time management, given that I actually finish at 6pm tonight ? I am quite tempted to turn up to the first lecture, then come back here to freak out, and go back at 4pm for the last 2 hours ... or something. We'll see... finances are probably not going to permit me to eat lunch at uni .. massive cash flow problems at the moment, but what's new, it's the start of semester!
Here's a link, purely because I started laughing when I saw the URL: nerdslut.org. I have no idea what they're going on about in the relationship mapping, but then again I haven't actually read the thing yet. And on that note, we're off to pack to get a parking spot at uni ...
Hmmm... that would be my last week-day sleep-in for a while now ... In other news, they are denying this again ... much yay-itude?
I just found out that I'm not supposed to be able to take these two subjects I haven't met the pre-requisite for, but they're not letting me change my enrolment for some strange reason ... I think I might leave the mess as it is for the moment... my botheredness rating on this issue right now is pretty low...
Decay and I attempted to play Neverwinter Nights multiplayer last night ... it sort of crashed a bit though ... might try again tonight ... meanwhile, my wimpy wizard elf dudette needs to get her some muscles and kewl spells ...
I sort of forgot it was today ... and the way Elspeth the mobile phone's battery is going, receiving SMSes when the battery is a little bit down tends to kill off the rest of the juice... so I idly checked the portal page... hmmm , it's down? Maybe it's Results day today... checked the exam results page... I'm happy! I only failed one! Can you tell I've been stuck in the engineering faculty for too long yet? So now I've been wearing a silly grin on my face all afternoon, while attempting not to get myself killed in stupid ways while wandering around in Neverwinter Nights ... I've managed to get killed a fair few times today... I like it, but it's not quite as braindead point and click killing as Dungeon Siege was ... choosing to be a fairly wussy at the start wizardly type elf who can't hold her liquor, has made things a bit difficult in the "go and kill big monstery things" part of quests ... so I'll take a break from it for now ...
Anyway, the results were much better than I hoped for, even with the one fail, it wasn't by that much I reckon if I wasn't feeling so scatterbrained around the time of that exam, I would've had a better stab at it... still, I'm happy (: Don't know what it'll do to the enrolment for the next semester - I have a feeling there are some prerequisites unmet because of this one subject, but it was waived last year... maybe I'll be able to sit the thing anyway? We'll see...
Hmm... some Flash play, and an interesting way to while away some time ... Yep. Uni recommences on Monday and what do I do? Look for more things to distract me! *grin* ...
It felt like so much happened this weekend, but literally speaking, we didn't actually do all that much ... Decay and I went to see Men In Black II on Friday night, Blade II on Saturday afternoon, where it seemed like we were the only people who saw the funny side to seeing Danny John-Jules in it ... I just kept thinking ... "Fish! " ... no cat-like quotes in the movie though ... Saturday night, we went bowling with B and Glenn, Julie, Lara and Greg, and a bunch of other people I think I've met once before but I don't remember ... it was fun ... I spent the first game and a half bowling right-handed and doing lots of gutter balls ... then I decided I'd see how I'd go left handed, and I found some semblance of aim ... Decay threatened to do the first date thing and *show* me how to bowl, but he almost got a bowling ball on his feet, except it flew backwards and ended up two lanes away ... they had no idea where the bowling ball came from ... *oops* ... Sunday? Um... Sunday ended up being lots of not much ... I remember waking up and drifting off to sleep lots ... and generally spending lots of time with Decay... then steam boat dinner with both sets of parentals ... a good way to warm yourself up from the inside out ....
The good of this weekend came not from what we did together, but that we were together for the majority of the time ... it's just so nice just to be, and not have to do anything ...
In other news, I just scrapped another redesign ... didn't like it... I do have another idea though ... not all is lost... I'll give myself a week to play with it, and maybe have something working by Sunday night ... we shall see ... and I'll try to fix my comments... they're not popping up ... but you do get a lovely 404 page...
Update: I fixed the broken comment thing... yay?
I'm finding it a bit difficult to deal with doing nothing at the moment... I'm on my mid-year break, and I'm not working. I've attempted some of a site re-design, but I'm having second thoughts (not enough white), I've had a hair cut, and it's the most boring haircut I've had in a long time ... I played tennis yesterday afternoon, and now my muscles are yelling at me... but I don't feel as if I've *done* anything, or, what little I have done, I haven't achieved much. I started working out a preliminary cost for wedding related things, but have stopped because it'll be the equivalent of a new car if that many people need to be invited. I started looking at wedding dresses again, but the things scare me ... there are some really really horrible looking dresses out there... I still resolve to spend less on the dress and associated attire for the day than the engagement ring ... and just getting married without the whole hassle of a wedding reception is seeming like a damn good idea right now ...
Some Statistics:
| The average Wedding Expenditure in Australia | |||
| Item | Cost | Item | Cost |
| Engagement Ring Wedding Dress Bridesmaid Dress Grooms Suit Hire Reception Stationery Wedding Cars Bouquets Centrepieces | $2,500 $500 to $4000+ $250+ $200 $8,000+ $600 $900 $80+ $60+ | Buttonholes Wedding Cake Music DJ Music Band Photography Videography Bonbonniere Honeymoon | $20+ $380 $650 $2000 $2500 $1500 $5.00+ $6500+ |
| The average cost of each component of the wedding budget | ||
| Item | Percentage | |
| Reception including venue, decorations food, bar Music and entertainment Photography and Video Wedding Attire for bridal party Flowers including bouquets and buttonholes Invitations & Bonbonniere Wedding Cake Miscellaneous | 50% 10% 15% 15% 3% 3% 2% 2% | |
Source
This kind of thing worries me. It seems like way too much money to be spent on one day, which could be put to better use like a deposit on a house... a whole new car... Um... yeah ...
This morning, I tackled the online re-enrolment system the current mental institution has in place for the majority of its students... it involved a lot of juggling about with what subjects I've already completed, what subjects I'm allowed to do (apparently), and how many credit points I need in order to get that little slip of paper at the end of the day ... I think I'll have 198 points... I only needed 192 ... now, as long as they don't go changing their schedule again ... even if they do, I'll go and follow the one most convenient to me anyway ... because I feel like I'm the only person left doing this version of the course ... and then after all that I think I need to see a course advisor ... Much yayness... a traipse into uni is not what I want right now... really. I'm in the middle of a much needed mid-year break ...
Apart from all this scribbling stuff and trying to figure out what's left (besides the old "I'll do subjects until there's none left to do"), it's been an action packed week or so since exams finished ... Went to Daimaru the weekend after exams to have a look around ... Decay thought it was a pity that the best stuff left there (the display cabinets) wasn't for sale ... went to Paul Bocuse to pick up one of their yummy citrus tarts for my parentals, walked around Melbourne Central a bit, went to Sanity there to see if Decay could find something to buy to reduce the astronomical parking fee, so he bought the Tenacious D album ... last Thursday was spent hunting cars for Decay at Car Sales, Autobytel, Autoweb, and anywhere else I could find listings for cars... the cars we put in enquiries on didn't end up being the car Decay picked ... We'd already been to Geoff Brady Motors, Garry and Warren Smith Mazda, and Penfold Mazda in the morning ... even test-drove a few ... but the car ended up being at the used car bit of Garry and Warren Smith Holden ... Anyway... what happened at these vehicular establishments?
- Geoff Brady Holden: We actually popped in on Thursday evening to have a quick look at a car we spotted online, except it had been raining so pretty much everything was shiny ... a green '99 Holden Vectra ... looked good, was the right price, and was the benchmark we judged the rest of the morning's cars by ... We must've been lucky... we got a nice salesperson ...
- Garry and Warren Smith Mazda: We actually only popped into this one because it was on the way to somewhere ... had a quick look around ... Decay had a look at a couple of Mazda 323 Astinas of appropriate age, but no test-driving ... wow, two nice sales people ...
- Penfold Mazda:This was the other place we had a specific car we wanted to look at - a Green Mazda Astina with a 6 stacker CD player ... we timed how long it took for a salesperson to swoop on us... but this was actually the place where it took the longest for someone to come out to talk to us... perhaps we should've left before they did? Here, we took a Daewoo Leganza for a bit of a test drive... on paper, this looked like a bargain - leather trim everywhere, CD player, electric mirrors, electric seats, pretty much all the extras for this car ... On the road, however ... it was a wuss! Much whiny noise-making any time you went near the accelerate pedal, and not much um... go. Which translates to: It had enormous difficulty dragging off a little old lady driving a Ford Festiva up not much of a hil ... yuck. The salesperson didn't really take a shine to our assessment of the car, and he was the only one to pull the *somone else has been interested in this car* routine on us (good for them... they can have it), so after that, he tried even harder to sell us a car we weren't even interested in ... no Mondeos please... and DEFINITELY not in BRIGHT RED. Somehow we eventually escaped ... by our cunning and devious plans ... *giggle*
- Garry and Warren Smith Holden: This one? Um... it was on the way to the next one, near where Decay's Dad works ... at first glance, there weren't very many decent cars in the right price range, but there were some cars without information sheets in them ... sales dude came over and we asked him for suitable cars in the price range... A Holden Vectra Wagon looked good... until we saw the odometer reading ... damn ... then ... Midget V2.0 to be popped up ... no price at first, but Decay was thinking it'd be too much for him to afford ... sales dude came back, and Decay was taken ... less than he thought... so ... we took the car for a spin, liked it lots, but I didn't want to commit to a buy without looking elsewhere first... it wasn't a car I'd seen prices for in the searches I did, so I had no idea on what price was reasonable ... they did some figures, came to some sort of price, but I wanted the ability to walk out, and come back in again to accept the deal ... they really didn't want us to leave without making a firm decision ... they even gave us internet access to look up some prices for comparable vehicles... (wow, I'm sold... they gave me internet access!) ... a few calls to various parental units, loan people, and assorteds later, and Decay signed for his new car... yay!
Soon, we'll be waving a teary-eyed farewell to Midget V1, and saying hi to Midget V2... continuing the tradition of blue cars ...
But wait, there's more! Games day was on Saturday, with various people bringing their computers over to Decay's place for a friendly day of shooting the living daylights out of each other... I left to attend an aromatherapy party in the early afternoon, and came back to see them still shooting themselves silly... The result of all this? Um... a really really lazy Sunday, spent napping in the afternoon with Decay by my side... (: Naps are good...
I finished Dungeon Siege the other night ... after having zipped through the second "half" of the game in one day... by the end I was going ... just die, silly monster thingies... there wasn't as much to explore in the second half as there was in the first half, but still it was ok ... It was all a bit anti-climatic at the end after killing the end dude ... what are you supposed to do when you finish a game? I wouldn't know... this is the first game I've finished... Decay reckons I'll like Neverwinter Nights, I haven't started playing yet... he also reckons I might like Warcraft III ... which I'm not so sure about ... Yes. He's trying to turn me into a gamer geek girl or something ... If all else fails I can just play Dungeon Siege multiplayer...
Yesterday, someone went to HMV and picked up a CD, and a DVD. Muse went and released some live footage from a concert they played in Paris, and so someone went and bought both the CD and DVD versions of Hullabaloo ... it's good listening... makes me want to go see them again ... they're playing bigger audiences than they were last time they were out here ...
Some time wastage is in order... Find a job description ... see how far your mouse moves ... Um... yes.
first cook some rice and leave it over night
in the fridge
then chop up ingredients
ie char siu, peas, egg...
don't chop the eggs...
beat them
and if the peas are frozen defrost them
first cook the char siu
then take it out and leave it in a bowl close by
then cook the egg making a thin omlette
when the omelette is cooked chop it up and take it out
then chuck the peas in
with some salt and a bit of oil
when the peas start looking cooked ... chuck in the rice
when it's all in
squash the rice down and then separate it again so that the rice is looser
keep stiring and squashing
and add some soy when you're ready
mix it all around so that the soy gets into all the rice
and its a nice looking colour
then chuck in the eggs and the char siu
and stir it all together
ok?
So there you have it... we did fried rice last night, courtesy of the lovely instructions provided by the Stirfry Ninja ... and it turned out rather yummy (: We also had pan-fried dumpling thingies (War-Tip ... for the cantonese speakers), and green stuff (gai laan). No, Decay and I aren't going to starve when we live together. We haven't killed each other with our culinary efforts (:
<snip>
[10:07:13] [D-K]@[WORK]: or are you being typical demographic?
[10:07:22] Girl Android: maybe I am ?
[10:07:37] [D-K]@[WORK]: anything but typical.... you can stand going out with me
[10:07:56] Girl Android: yeah but you're wonderful (:
[10:08:30] [D-K]@[WORK]: but you're my own personal god
[10:08:33] [D-K]@[WORK]: q:
[10:08:37] Girl Android: !
[10:09:24] [D-K]@[WORK]: why can't you be my god....
[10:09:30] [D-K]@[WORK]: I'll worship you with hugs
[10:10:46] [D-K]@[WORK]: I love you..... I always will..
[10:10:56] Girl Android: (:
[10:10:58] [D-K]@[WORK]: I'm willing to sacrifice anything for you
[10:11:04] [D-K]@[WORK]: sounds godlike to me
[10:11:13] Girl Android: *giggle*
[10:11:30] Girl Android: offering oranges to the balding happy bloke on the altar?
[10:12:48] [D-K]@[WORK]: I shall forever walk around with one hand in the air and the other hand carrying a sign that says "droidy is god!"
[10:13:00] Girl Android: no, that's getting cult-like
[10:13:25] [D-K]@[WORK]: I'll be dressed as a small white cat?
[10:13:38] Girl Android: um... whatever floats your boat?
[10:14:19] [D-K]@[WORK]: oh no... the boats will have layers of dried seaweed, wasabi peas and white rabbits and will majestically sail onto the seas of life...
[10:14:22] [D-K]@[WORK]: or something
[10:14:44] Girl Android: Erm.... did you feed the cat this morning?
[10:14:54] [D-K]@[WORK]: lol
[10:15:20] Girl Android: and which cat was it? if it was leo, you fed the wrong cat
</snip>