Gobbledegeek 2.o

A second test defeat was always likely, particularly if you look at the form books but Wales still could have performed better. The All Blacks looked a little unimaginative and may I be so bold as to say hesitant?

In the dying seconds the score sat at a perfectly respectable 22 – 10, a score many Welshmen would have bitten arms off to take prior to kick-off, but a slip from Byrne was gratefully pounced on by Cruden for a late try that was a little hard to swallow.

The effort by the Welsh was considerable but I couldn’t help but feel that there was a little more to come. Like many of my school reports,  ‘Could do better’ summed it up nicely, but surprisingly more so for the home nation.

As to the ref, Caplan, I’ll say no more other than he listened to the crowd way too much and even the Kiwi supporters detest his refereeing style, which went a long way to ruining an otherwise good game of rugby.

The third half result was more even, with the Welsh fans just sneaking a glorious victory by drinking Hamilton dry of Guinness. A great night was had by all and one I hope to repeat next year at the Rugby World Cup  2011, here in New Zealand.

An honourable mention must go the Waikato stadium grounds staff. Despite the constant rain in the run up the the match, the pitch held firm and looked great. The folks responsible for the joke at the Etihad stadium could learn a thing or two.

Great view of the game!

Yes indeedy! I no longer smoke. Following a heavy session last night, I finished the dust that remained in my pack of Golden Virginia and feel quite ill now. No more fags for me!

One of the first things I do every morning is think about what I might prepare for dinner that evening. Today I have been offered a suggestion in the form of a ready disected and roasted pumpkin and a packet of red lentils, strategically displayed where I wouldn’t miss them.

In a scene reminiscent of Ready, Steady, Cook I lean on the counter staring at the two ingredients in an effort to draw inspiration. It wasn’t too difficult to come up with a few ideas but given the frosty morning and the hope of little improvement for the remainder of the day, I opted for an Indian themed soup.

This simple recipe requires no culinary prowess and I am not even going to proffer precise quantities for all ingredients as it’s mostly created by taste and in quantities you desire.

Lentils are bloody marvelous, so versatile and help lower cholestral too. I use them in a multitude of dishes from soups to stews because they are so quick and easy to use. Rinse and chuck them into your favourite stock or plain old H2O. For this dish, I’m using 500gms of red lentils but then I currently have nine mouths to feed! Don’t fret about making too much as it freezes very well.

Firstly, rinse the lentils in cold water. I’m using the Nature’s Selection brand which require no pre-soaking, so follow the instructions you have.

Finely chop a large onion and gently fry in a few tablespoons of vegetable oil. As the onion begins to very lightly brown, add a couple of cloves of minced garlic. After a further minute or so, combine a heaped teaspoon of turmeric, cumin and coriander but you can reduce or increase any combination depending on your own taste. Gently frying at this stage helps to release the flavours and aromas of the spices better than adding to the soup later. Having said that, keep tasting periodically and adding more until the moment you serve.

Add your shiny clean lentils to a suitably sized pot and drown in chicken or vegetable stock. I’m starting with a litre and a half but can easily add more later if required and probably will.

Now scrape the flesh away from the hard pumpkin skin if soft, else cut the skin away and chop roughly.

Throw everything into your pot, bring to the boil and simmer for approximately 45 minutes. If you prefer, you can liquidise the soup for smooth finish but this just adds to the washing up and I consider it excessive faffing about and in any case, I quite like the non-liquidised texture.

If you have any fresh coriander leaves, roughly chop and use as garnish. Serve with a dollop of sour cream or natural yoghurt and accompany with mini pappadums or fresh crusty bread.

Spicy roasted pumpkin & red lentil soup

Bon appétit!
Mwynhewch eich bwyd!

I notice that since and probably not as a result of my protracted rant regarding the crap service from Woolworths Homeshop, they have made an attempt to restructure the categories. They must have been doing this or some other technical tinkering while I was labouring to conclude my shopping yesterday because after a number of hours waiting for pages to load or having to resubmit items to the cart which were mysteriously going AWOL, someone finally had the inspiration to put up a page informing visitors that the site would be temporarily unavailable.

That doesn’t mean to say that I have changed my opinion of their so-called service. Woolworths Homeshop is still quite crap!

Following the produce category reshuffle, several of the items I usually order are no longer available and the choices and variety has been limited beyond what it already was.

Which came first, the chicken or the eggs?

Today at least, the eggs did. The chicken didn’t come, full stop! I can understand aledgedly fresh doughnuts being out of stock, especially given the growing size of Australians these days but a frozen chicken? How in God’s name can you be out of bloody frozen chooks? I mean, it’s not like you have to regularly order limited stock and promote rapid turnover to prevent the produce going fowl (did you see what I did there hmm?). It’s bloody frozen, it’ll keep for months. There really is no excuse to be short of frozen produce in my opinion.

No chickens!

The delivery driver joked something about a shortage in Melbourne when I pointed this out and this begged the question; why on Earth do Woolworths deliver to Bendigo from Melbourne? 

Surely if they filled out the orders with local stock, it would not only save them a small fortune in fuel costs, vehicle upkeep and man-hours but it would help the local economy and the environment.

The mind boggles.

Perhaps I’m too harsh on Woolworths/Safeway so I shall finish on a plus note.

Today, for the very first time ever, suitable items were substituted for produce that must have been out of stock or otherwise absent. I knew it could be done. Woolworths knew it too otherwise they wouldn’t have included the option. Perhaps this weeks  ’packer’ was more a thoughtful staff member and less of a lazy git.

Doesn’t it just frustrate and rile you no end when the only choice you have is a shit choice? It does me but then I suppose I’m getting old and the older I get, the less shit I tend to accept.

Safeways online shopping service that requires me to physically travel to their supermarket to complete my order, is one such shit choice. At least in the Bendigo region. In fact, it’s false advertising.

By and large, my day is spent at home, either at the computer in a futile attempt to earn money or running around the house cleaning up after disgusting children. A long-term forced marriage with clinical depression, coupled with an anxiety disorder, ensure that popping out to the local supermarket is an event of some magnitude when acheived.

Those not affected by such  debillitating, psychological ‘balls and chains,’ could hardly understand the consequences of living with such disorders. I’m certainly not after your sympathy, simply painting the picture.

The idea of shopping online is great for people such as myself and lazy bastards in general. Unfortunately, Australia still has some distance to go before the concept reaches ‘critical mass’. Web developers need to up their skillset, bricks and mortar businesses need to aknowledge and promote this expanding market and ultimately, consumers need to feel confident enough with both the product and the process. But I digress.

Online shopping works if it works, if you follow me. My point is that shopping online and having it delivered to my door, is a useful concept and one I’m sure is vital for many.  Notwithstanding the obvious benefits to those unable to physically visit a supermarket, the very fact that this mundane chore is removed, is brilliant. Cup of tea in one hand, a mouse in the other and not a single jobsworth checking bags on your way out, what’s not to like?

However, if items are missing from your delivery, it kind of defeats the object if you are then forced to go out and get the items yourself. Every week, without exception, several items are missing from my order and last week precisely half the order was absent. It’s not so bad if the item in question is unimportant but should the main course not turn up, you have no choice but to go out and get it. For example, Coq au Vin is simply a plate of hot wine if your chook doesn’t show and have you ever tried eating muesli without milk?

In my case, by the time the order is delivered, and there are several time slots to choose from provided you are in a position to hang around for several hours as requested, there is no time to get to a local store before children return from school or some other such comittment prevents it.

Potatoes and vegetables hardly constitute a complete or nutritionally balanced meal where I come from and anyone who wishes to point out that I should be thankful I do not live in the Sudan or some other third world country where any food constitutes a welcome meal, I am and you may take this opportunity to cease pleasuring yourself and remove your head from your supersized lard-laden backside. Actually, do yourself a favour and **** off!

In an effort to reduce the number of missing items from your delivery, you have the option to select whether or not the packer should substitute them with suitable alternatives. This would surely nessesitate extra work for the packer who, after discovering my toilet tissue was out of stock (alledgedly), would be required to walk an extra 6 paces along the same aisle to locate a suitable substitute. Indeed it must be far above and beyond the call of duty as I have yet to recieve a substitute of any kind even though I select this option to avoid visiting them in person.

On the subject of stock or more accurately lack of, Woolworths/Safeway have been unable to make actual stock figures tally accurately with the online store and all too often you will unwittingly pay for phantom items. This is incredibly frustrating and I have voiced my annoyance on several occasions but it has obviously fallen on deaf ears.

I know that someone in that organisation has listened, or rather read, because in one of the emails I fired off to customer support, I mentioned that their delivery confirmation emails contained a dud link and the problem was corrected imediately.

At the end of the day, I don’t give a toss about amatuerish coding mistakes in emails or even on their site. All I want is my bloody shopping. Is it seriously too much to ask? It seems so but what choice do I have? Yes, electro-shock therapy has shown promising results in some of those with depression and following a lengthy course at my nearest sub-station, I’m sure I will be fully cured and more than eager to drag my five young children, kicking and screaming around the aisles, all the while desperately trying to avoid causing serious injury and death by trolly, to innocent bystanders.

The fact is that there currently is no choice in grocery home shopping services for the Bendigo region. One is forced to make do with what I loosely refer to as the ‘service’ offered by Woolworths/Safeway that is sub-standard and shoddy at best.

Come on Coles. How long before you begin covering this area? If it works, I will love you…..love you long time!

More evidence that ‘the geek shall indeed inherit the Earth’, comes with the news that South Wales Fire & Rescue Service are using big boys toys in their efforts to tackle remote grass fires. With 5,500 emergency calls in one ten day period, the crews can use any help they can get. Assistance comes in the form of an eight-wheeled amphibious vehicle and a mini remote controlled ‘eye in the sky’.

Now, when it comes to rugby, us Welsh are currently the best in the Northern Hemisphere but when it comes to bush fires, the boys here at Bendigo CFA could surely show them a thing or two…

You can read the whole article here.