Friday, January 29, 2010

Camp cooking with a difference

Friday, January 29, 2010 0
So I've been often asked what kind of meals our scouts can and do cook.
Well - many and there are dozens of good websites giving zillions of recipes for ideas. I shan't pretend to be the best camp cook - nor have all the wisdom, however I shall endeavor to write some of our best experiences up, for camp cooking with a difference. May they taste as good for you as they did for us . . . Bon appetite!!
(having said all of that - a huge junk of it is HOW you sell the very idea of outdoor / camp cooking to the youth. -- See there is the "Russian roadkill stew" (thanks to 'the geezers cookbook' ---> http://www.usscouts.org/macscouter/Cooking/index.asp ) which is basically a Beef Strogonoff - but with a bit of imagination and 'hard sell' you can either totally freak out the youth - or . . . .) See - I prepped my meal - telling stories about this dead animal I found - and skinned and hung it in the garage - for weeks - but made a Beef Strogonoff - that was very tasty - urm - yumm - urm - more on that later. . .

Meanwhile here is a very nice seafood chowder ala NZ
'Hoki Chowder'

6 tablespoons avocado oil
1 medium sized onion - peeled and finely chopped
1 stick of celery - peeled and diced
1 carrot, cleaned and cut into matchstick sized pieces
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon mild curry powder
125 g flour
3 cups of chicken stock - ideally home made (I almost always do)
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of cream
30 Tuatua, shelled (ok - here I cheat - they are a North Island deli only - so I use a nice firm fresh fish - usually Hoki - but hey feel free to use any mild flavored shell fish)
1 medium sized fresh snapper - (again a NZ fish - try some fresh salmon - diced)
2 tablespoon fresh chopped dill
some cracked pepper for seasoning

Heat the avocado oil in a large pot and add the onion. Cook, stirring often until softened, then add the celery and carrot. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes, then add the salt, curry powder and flour, stirring constantly.
This will go lumpy and firm - so be careful not to burn on the bottom of the pan.
Gradually add the chicken stock, stirring all the while, then the milk. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes. The chowder base should be light and creamy - add a little more milk if necessary.
A few minutes before serving stir in the cream, the tuatua and the salmon, heat just enough to cook through, and serve garnished with the dill and black pepper.

If you can manage - toast up some brown bread and thinly spread with some garlic butter and sprinkle some herbs on the bread.
Enjoy

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Acrobatic bears

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 0
I so had to laugh,
someone gave me this link and hello - look at these extremely smart and sassy teddy bears

http://www.nobodyhere.com/justme/tower.here

however - I have yet to work out how to make them bounce on the blog - so for now you will have to click on the link and enjoy from there.
While trying to see if I can make this happen on the blog I came across this one - way cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTDuGaTRiJU

enjoy



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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Two (teddybear) cubs play chess

Sunday, January 24, 2010 0








I nearly fell of the chair the other day. I got home from work and there where my two boys playing a game of chess. Last time that happened was urm - at least a decade ago - if not two. hmmm actually - such are the personalities that it ended up a bit of a slaughter - rather then an even match.
Now it was such a minties moment I just had to take some photos to commemorate the event - only to be told in very certain terms - "don't you dear". Sigh - loving father I am - listen I do.
So I found these - enjoy
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Abraham and God

(God) took (Abraham) outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars-if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."(Genesis 15:5)

God had promised Abraham and Sarah that they would be founders of a great nation and a blessing to the earth. They had kept their part of the bargain and gone where God told them to go. They had trusted and believed. But the years had piled up like sand in the desert and no child had been born to them. True, God had brought them into a new land as promised, but what good was that if there was no one to leave it to?

The story of Sarah and Abraham is a story of barrenness - not only of their inability to have children, but also of a world in which our prayers go unanswered, our deepest hopes remain unborn. As for Abraham, so also for us the time comes when we want action. Abraham, speaking for us all, says to God, in essence, "The land is fine, Lord, but what about the child you promised?"

We who worship the God of Abraham and Sarah and believe that the promised blessing is also for us feel the urgency in his question. We have asked it from the depths of our hearts too. Why am I unable to find a meaningful job? Where is the good health for which I've prayed? Will there ever be someone to love me? How long must we live in fear of terrorism?

As Abraham's question cut through the night air, God gave him a sign. He took him outdoors, beneath a sky powdered with stars, and said again that he and Sarah would have descendants to outnumber the lights of heaven. It was not an explanation but simply a reiteration of the promise. It meant Don't give up! Keep the faith! I'm still around!

Faith is a gift, something we receive rather than achieve. Some receive it in great measure, others less so. But all of us, like Abraham, are called to be observers of signs. When he grew tired of waiting, he saw in the stars something that helped him persevere. Our signs may be more subtle - a kind word, a gentle hand, a beautiful thing that reminds us of the Creator's love. Harvest those signs. Share them. Each one, great or small, helps us in the long and difficult wait for the fulfillment of God's promises.




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Saturday, January 23, 2010

original tech support enquiry

Saturday, January 23, 2010 0
The tech support problem dates back to long before the industrial revolution, when primitive tribesmen beat out a rhythm on drums to communicate:

Tech Support: This Fire Help. Me Groog.
User: Me Lorto. Help. Fire not work.

Tech Support: You have flint and stone?
User: Ugh.

Tech Support: You hit them together?
User: Ugh.

Tech Support: What happen?
User: Fire not work.

Tech Support: *sigh* Make spark?
User: No spark. No fire. Me confused. Fire work yesterday.

Tech Support: *sigh* You change rock?
User: I change nothing.

Tech Support: You sure?
User: Me make one change. Stone hot so me soak in stream so stone not burn Lorto hand. Small change. Shouldn't keep Lorto from make fire.

Tech Support: *Grabs club and goes to Lorto's cave*





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Thursday, January 21, 2010

A small staffing matter

Thursday, January 21, 2010 0
THE BUSINESS GUIDE TO THE 7 DWARFS
By Jim Gum

Every month we get a Human Resources report on terminations. When they are asked to put a reason why they were terminated, the reasons vary from resigned, got a better job, getting married, moving, sexual misconduct, etc. What I've found is that there isn't a standard list. So, I decided to come up with one based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

In order to standardize our Human Resources forms we now use just 7 reasons for termination:

~ Happy: Had trouble putting nose to the grindstone. Too much time spent telling jokes at the water cooler.
~ Doc: Left to pursue further schooling, in particular, Ph.D. work.
~ Sleepy: Chronically late for work. Caused many project delays.
~ Grumpy: Poor attitude toward work. Not a team player. Trouble with early mornings.
~ Dopey: Made several critical errors at work costing the company money, e.g., misappropriated company funds.
~ Sneezy: Recurrent, chronic illness has made it difficult for the employee to complete work in a timely fashion.
~ Bashful: Lack of initiative. Not willing to make cold calls. Too often let workplace disagreements simmer.

OTHERS
~ Jealous Queen: Heavy involvement in the occult not congruent with organizational policies.
~ Snow White: Sexual misconduct, e.g., kissing strange men while under some kind of trance.
~ Huntsman: Couldn't stand to be cooped up in the office all day. Pursuing work with the National Forest Service.

Copyright 2000 Jim Gum. Permission is granted to send this to others, but not for commercial purposes.




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Monday, January 11, 2010

Reading Teddybear

Monday, January 11, 2010 1
Reading Teddybearuhu - *me rubs bleary eyes*
I must be on holiday - I know 'cause I have time to read.

I have so far read 5504 pages of Tom Clancy (6) books since 24 Dec and another 3932 to go - EXCEPT my slow reading son is now holding up the works!! Yikes.

Somehow I don't think I am going to get them all finished before I head back to work. 2 more holidays left . . . . . . .
especially if I can't gang press my own book of my son - he's sorta stuck on page 200 something. . . .


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Thursday, January 7, 2010

Akaroa Tour guide

Thursday, January 7, 2010 0
One of the pleasures in life - or should that be in scouting?? is that one does meet a lot of new people. So picture this -
Last joti somehow a guy from Austria made a connection to me (in NZ) during Joti (IRC-mailing list) - which he then passed on to a German young lady via a german pfadi chat room - who contacted me via email, while she was working in Nelson, spanning via the entire globe. Confused??? Anyhow to cut a long story short - we met and I was able to play the Akaroa Tour guide - eg - I took her and Micky out for the day.
It was a rather hot day - im sure temps were above 30 C - still we had fun walking around the original French Village and eventually boarded - urm - yeah ok walked on the Canterbury Cat - a boat that takes you out and around the Harbour - which is about 17 km long and never deeper then 15 meters - and has a somewhat silty water - perfect for the local wild life - one of which is the Hectors Dolphin - a NZ Dolphin and sadly a protected species, as there are not many left of them!! If you willing to pay mega bucks one can even have a guided swim with the dolphins, and yeah cause of the water condition you wont have to worry about sharks. anyhow - pics below - enjoy

IN AkaroaFlowers border the wall









The New Zeeland Christmas tree  - the PohutakawaAkaroa Light house - the original









The Marae in Akaroa with one of the very earliest Angllican ChurchesHectors Dolphin - Akaroa









Hectors Dolphin in Akaroa A little Penguin





swimming with the Hectors Dolphin


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Sunday, January 3, 2010

My new Harley Davidson

Sunday, January 3, 2010 0
Recently we drove up for the day to Hanmer and ended up walking up the little hill (after the rather filling luncheon we had in a lovely picnic place!!) and also did the traditional soak in the Thermal pools

------> http://www.hanmersprings.co.nz/thermal/about/

- with another 5000 folks or so I might add. it sure gets crowded during the summer holidays!!
While cruizing towards the pools I saw my new Bike in a shop and of course just HAD to get this brand spanking new Harley Davidson!! A little 25th Wedding anniversary for Mamabear I think. Just need a helmet and a license and vroooooom vroooooom - away we go.

my new Harley DavidsonMy new harely davidson









Ahhhhhh schucks - its a little ONE-seater sporster!!! Now we have to do paper/scissor/rocks every time in order to work out who gets to ride it . . . . . . . . .

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Friday, January 1, 2010

Sylvester / New Years celebrations 2009

Friday, January 1, 2010 0
Christmas Santa Claus Bear








You have to have some humor. Some of our traditions are that we always watch 'dinner for one'. Then at midnight there is the "Bummerl" from Vienna, followed by the Traditional "Blue Danube" Waltz - from one of the Strauss Composers. - of course having lived on the other side of the world one does not get to hear that to often - and last year we were in good old Austria and had some huge fun stomping round in the cold and seeing the fireworks and crackers and rockets and - yeah dinner for one! pity = cause we where in town (in Salzburg) we did not get to waltz in the snow ( we should have been in Vienna - or take a ghetto blaster with us).
This year - well - Mamabear managed to find 'dinner for one' on google and yeah!!
Good old Telecom stuffed our Broadband data allowance up and gave us a double quantity as a make up present (hehehe 20 gig's of data) - so naturally one has to make use of that and listen to live stream of ORF3 (and Bayern3!!)!! Wohoooooooo
anyhow below is a the clip!! - Enjoy and don't wet yourself laughing!! It is a longtime classic and we loved favorite of ours - and yeah the TV in Austria plays it EVERY year since EVER!!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One <--------- for more info :D
 
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