a Beer, a Whine and The Spirit

I love magic tricks - the ones that my brother used to do at our big family BBQs used to entertain everyone, and used to leave me wondering how on earth he did it. I always wanted to be his assistant, but he knew that I wouldn't be able to keep the secrets of the tricks to myself so he always politely declined my kind offer :-) One of my favourites was when he would turn a $50 note into 2.... into a $2 note, that is (when $2 notes were still around!!) It used to amaze me! And being the gullible little sister that I am, I was the perfect audience.

I've never really been a huge fan of big stage magic/illusionists though. You know, the Harry Houdinis and the David Copperfields. It always makes me nervous. How will they get out of the water tank! He's hand-cuffed! He's tied up!! It just puts me on edge and I don't enjoy the experience.

Having said all that, Hubs and I had a date night last night and we decided to stay in and watch a movie on our data projector (it's so awesome!!). We chose The Prestige (careful, there are some spoilers on the imdb site) and I was quite excited about the potential of this film. It was a bit hard to get into to start with, and the middle part of the film started to confused me. But I did my best not to be that annoying person who asks "who's that?" and "why is he doing that?" and "ooooooh... but I thought (insert spoiler here) was going to happen." I did my best, but I may not have done well.

The last half an hour was spent with me just going "oooooh! Oh I seeeee" and then the last 10 minutes it was more like "huh???" Of course I had crazy dreams about the movie afterwards, but I've also spent today (after reading the full synopsis on imdb) working it all out. It all makes much more sense to me today, and in a way I'd like to watch it again, knowing all of the "secrets".

I enjoyed this movie on a number of levels - the suspense and excitement, the intruiging storyline, the twists and turns along the way, but I also didn't enjoy it for all the same reasons. I was so nervous the whole time and the ending turned out to be completely unexpected, and as I said, it left me quite confused. I didn't want to appear stupid, so I pretended to Hubs that I understood it all (I DID have 3 glasses of wine throughout the movie which may have impaired me ability to follow the crazy plot) and waited til today to look it all up. It all makes perfect sense to me now!

I'm not sure if I would recommend this movie. It certainly isn't one for a relaxing night in, but if you like a good plot twist, then it might be for you. A word of advice, though, don't drink too much whilst watching it!

Posted by Renae at 11:19 AM Comments

I've written about my Nanny and Grandpa previously, and they have had such an amazing life that I could do a hundred posts about them. Today I would like to tell you about Cooking With Nanny. Nanny has been cooking for a very long time. She learnt to cook a lot of dishes when she was growing up in Ukraine, then some more when she was in Germany during the war, and she has continued to learn since being in Australia.

Of course she has a few staple dishes that we LOVE, and today I'm going to tell you about Cooking Pierogi with Nanny. When we were up for Christmas, Hubs and I stayed at Nanny and Grandpa's place just before Christmas and I wanted to get some photos of us cooking together. Hubs did one better than that, and did some videoing without me knowing! It was such a lovely surprise when I got to watch them later!

First of all, you mix up the ingredients for the dough in an old saucepan that Nanny and Grandpa bought in Germany, around 60 years ago. Nanny doesn't really measure things. It's more like "2 big spoons flour, a few egg, some milk."



And then you knead it like so: (listen to the audio! Classic Nanny!)


Nanny has the most amazing hands - they have been through so much, and I'm sure would have many stories to tell.

After kneading the dough (then letting Nanny knead it properly) you need to do some rolling. I'm pretty good at this part:



Next you cut the dough (it's actually more like pasta) with Nanny's aqua cup. It makes the perfect circle size for the pierogi. (Funny audio again):



And finally, the making of the pierogi. You put a heaped spoon of mince (hand-minced, prepared by Nanny the night before!) Again, listen to the audio. Priceless!



This is what they look like "raw":



Then you boil some water and cook them in boiling water for 12 minutes:



Then put a wad of butter in the fry pan and go to town! This is the step that just makes them soooooooooo goooooooooood!



Oh! And for extra fatty goodness, don't forget to fry up some bacon (til it's super-crispy!) to put on top! Ta daaaaaah!



I really want to try making them myself down here in Melbourne. That really should be a New Year's resolution!! Watch this space!

Posted by Renae at 12:37 PM Comments

I'm going to show you the photo first, so you can marvel at the coolest, biggest, most impressive bruise I've ever seen:



The funny thing is, we don't know how Hubs got this bruise!! We assume it's from the Parkour we've been doing but Hubs can't remember actually injuring himself. Well, no more than usual! It's been over a week and it's still going strong! What a worry!

Posted by Renae at 7:59 PM Comments

Hubs standing next to the biggest pineapple growing out of the ground at Newman College. Can't wait for it to ripen!

Posted by Renae at 9:52 AM Comments

Mnaaaaaaaaarm narm narm narm.........


Now I know that Hubs isn't actually holding a cookie, but the expression on his face, the madness in his eyes, and the crazy teeth just screams COOKIE MONSTER to me!

We attended a Christening on Sunday and were invited to the champagne and nibblies afterwards where there were not only miniature people running around (aka kids - and LOTS of them) but they also had these miniature chocolate crackles. They were the cutest sweetie I've EVER seen!!!! And Hubs got so excited by this tiny treat that I just HAD to take a photo! It went down a treat!

See the resemblance?

Posted by Renae at 2:38 PM Comments

I blogged last September about the fact that the AFL Grand Final was coming up, but I never followed up on that piece of information! The final was between Hawthorn and Geelong. Hawthorn had had a solid season, but Geelong were the hot favourites to win back-to-back premierships.

Hubs and I ended up going over to our friend's place for lunch, beers and footy - what a great combo! It was a beautiful Melbourne Spring day - about 28 degrees (I was wearing a summer dress!!) and we were excited!! We had decided to back the underdogs because that's a lot of fun, and plus we were also watching the game in Hawthorn. It was a really close game and heaps of fun to watch! Here's a snap from the day (of course!):


Me, Hubs, Cal & Nathan.

Although we really enjoyed backing a winning team (St Kilda are unlikely to deliver the goods for us) the real winner on the day was the company! Thanks guys for a great afternoon!! (Aw shucks!)

Posted by Renae at 9:52 AM Comments

I know I kind of joked about how hot it was a couple of weeks ago, and how everyone was complaining. Well, we don't have much to complain about compared to these people. A lot of you may have seen the coverage on the news. It's just horrific. Saturday's temps got up to about 46 degrees and we pretty much had to grin and bear it, but as bad as it was in town, nothing could compare to the destruction that was going on less than 100km away.

Spare a thought and a prayer for these people. I pray that all the fires are controlled soon and nobody else loses their life. Good luck Victoria. xxx

Posted by Renae at 7:45 PM Comments

This is a karaoke fail:
(Background: We were promised karaoke by a friend who was in town, and karaoke to me means an awesome night at a pub singing your lungs out. Instead, we rocked up to karaoke booths, waited half an hour for our own booth, paid by the hour, paid $7 per beer, couldn't find any good songs, and found this sign outside our room...)



Nasty, nasty, nasty...

Posted by Renae at 9:26 PM Comments

I like to think of myself as a fairly cool, calm and collected person. But in reality, I'm not. Well, not really. I especially think this is true in a crisis. After watching this footage, I wondered how I would have reacted if I were on the plane. Answer? Probably not great. I imagine I would have been one of those hysterical people they would have had to knock out and drag out, just to keep everything moving.

To be honest, I've never really been involved in a major crisis, and judging by the way I've reacted to small crises, that's probably a good thing. I'm just so sensitive! I mean, I cried at a Nutri Grain commercial the other night for goodness sake!! Sheesh.

Hubs on the other hand, well, he would have been one of those people trying to keep us hysterics calm and in control. I don't know how he does it! How he keeps a clear head and cool exterior when chaos is all around him. (Chaos, usually being Wifey).

I like to think I'll be better at this once I "grow up", but I'm still waiting for that to happen. I'll keep you posted!

Posted by Renae at 10:30 AM Comments