Jamie Oliver

Why is it so satisfying watching cooking shows even when we never have any intention of recreating any of the dishes?

Tonight we played the 'Jamie Oliver Game' - simply watch the tv show Olivers Twist, and take a bite of a choccie bar every time there is mention of any of the following words
-garlic
-onion
-chilli (score double points for this one)
-flavoured salt
-lemon
-chopping *stalks* of a herb like parsley and discarding the leaves

The lemon herb chilli salt really did us in!

Dont forget, if you do cook any of his recipes, simply chop them all directly on the worktop just like he does, dont worry about cross contamination of raw meat, veggies and salad, oh no, that will be fine. Oh, and never wash your hands either....

Dino surprise

Dino surprised me last night.

Sat together on the edge of the beach watching the sun go down, Dino announced that he'd quite like to keep Chooks, he likes the stories that Rowie tells of having to hunt for the eggs the Chooks lay in the garden and the tales of the Chooks terrorising the neighbours cat.

This was great news for me as I've always liked having lots of pets.

So all i need now is for him to decide he would like a goat or two and maybe a cow or two, a few Cavies, a couple of ducks, some fish and a couple of horses.

Despite the discredit given to them, I think the sleep tapes have been working!

I now just need to work out where we will keep the menagerie.

{joe}

Toilet training yer cat.

With the future arrival of additions to our household, Dino has been researching such subjects as 'Toilet Training your cat' and 'Teaching your cat to walk on a leash'.

The toilet training your cat is providing a wonderful insight into just what folk do with their pets. One we especially enjoyed started as follows :-

-----





TOILET TRAINING FOR CATS MADE EASY

Do away with filthy cat litter. Civilize your pussy!

If you can teach your cats to sit on the edge of the toilet and do their thing, you can save lots of money.

Rule one: It is easy for you but difficult for the cat.

What you need:

1) Toilet
2) Aluminium cooking trays (pans).
3) Kitty Litter, (flushable litter strongly recommended)
4) At least one cat, preferably with a sense of humour.
5) Patience.

First decide which toilet in your house you intend to use. It is better if you can dedicate the toilet for the cats' use but it is not too inconvenient to share it. (Known as "training by example"!)

-----

Have a look at the remainder of the article here

Another technique is here
.
Though something for the future with our cats, if you have adult cats or indeed chooks maybe? Give it a go and report back. We'd love to learn from your experiences. :)

{joe}

Because of you.....

Have we heard the Kelly Clarkson song 'Because of You'? We have, many many times, since our new neighbours at the apartment have been playing it, over and over for the past few days, screaming along at the top of their shouted-out lungs
-BECAUSE OF YOU!
-I never stray too far from the sidewalk
-BECAUSE OF YOU!
-I learned to play on the safe side

The two girls only moved in 3 days ago, and have already made themselves very welcome, all through the night. The thing is, cos they dont have their power connected yet, they are getting all their electric from the communal hallway with a long extension lead under their front door. And they seemed surprised when it became unplugged leaving them accapella...

Pugs Day

What a great Pugs Day it has been (the traditional all-inclusive day to celebrate the pug dog, born just in time for the Midsumma dog show in Melbourne)

We dont have any family in Australia, but volunteering at JOY radio station allows us to share what could otherwise be a lonely day with lots of other families and singles in Melbourne and around the world - via the internet. Mystery Programmer kicked off the show with the first message of the morning at 9am, and Joe's brother Tony was online too (tho it was still Xmas Eve in the UK). Eric Cartman sang, we got into trouble for playing Led Zeplin and saying it was ACDC, the Voluptuous Harriett read out the story of 'Hurray for Horrible Harriett', Craggles sent us pictures of pugs, we heard from 3 Greeks, we played an emotional Tori Amos song to which Harriett mused "hmm, I could really do with a hot meat pie", Ben asked for Rolf Harris, Rowie provided us with Rolf Harris, altogether we enjoyed every minute, the 4 hours flew by. We then overindulged in food (were we the only ones....?)

Thanks to everyone that messaged / emailed / phoned in to the show to say hi and happy pugs day.
[dino]

House reno week 37

House reno week 37
Originally uploaded by NTRMonjoy.

Almost ready for tiling! Week 37 and the floor is being raised so that glass starts at the top of the tiled floor, frames hidden. As a consequence, the whole house floor is being raised a further 5 cm and then tiled. The slab is going to be so thick!
{joe}

palm tree 1 year on.

palm tree 1 year on.
Originally uploaded by NTRMonjoy.

The self seeded palm tree we decided to try to grow before we had to move out for the house renovation is now one year older, a bit taller and looking more like a little palm tree. Left hand picture is the tree a year ago and the right hand one is the tree this evening.

Tony (the neighbour) has a 40 foot Canary Island Palm in his front garden. This palm tree seedling was one of the many we kept having pop up in the garden. Not sure that any seeds will have survived the turmoil of the renovation but at least so far one 'baby' is still thriving, despite having to live in a pot on the walled balcony.

So far of all the plants we decided to bring with us in pots, only one has given up and turned into feed for the others.

You can also see to the right of the palm in the right hand picture, our Citizenship trees, still producing little yellow flowers and so far doing well.

curses!

Is our new house cursed?

There have been 4 accidents so far during our house build
1. The man delivering the steel frame twisted his ankle on our driveway in July and was taken to hospital
2. The original plasterer had a heart attack (we're now on our 3rd set of plasters, good Greek boys!)
3. Steven the builder injured his knee helping to lift the plaster board and had to go to hossie to have fluid drained from it
4. Today I found out that the tiler's father had a heart attack yesterday

Steven also said his 39-year-old brother had a heart attack 3 months ago as well.
So stay away from our house, its dangerous! Can anyone remove the curse? A cleansing ritual perhaps? Townsville Witches, can you help???

NTRM advertising campaign

'Not The Real McCoy' will be airing on Christmas Eve 9-11pm and Christmas Day 9am - 1pm on JOY 94.9 and Rowie has outdone herself this time tirelessly campaigning a one-woman band to promote the show on Rainbow Cafe Australia in an attempt to get the number of listeners up in the double figures. The ad is much more exciting that the actual product (although isnt that how good marketing really works?)

But wait, you can also catch the very similar-sounding 'Feral old Fart' along with Grumpy Bear also on the 25th, from the astounding 1am-7am! Will they be sane? Will they be in Santa suits? Who will have the red nose? Will Grumpy Bear strip, like last year? Lock up your daughters, and tune in to find out.

where is Dino 171205 ?

whereis171205
Originally uploaded by NTRMonjoy.

Where is Dino this week?

Answers during the radio show, 94.9fm 9-11pm AEDST

For extra points, not only where but why?

tree

tree
Originally uploaded by NTRMonjoy.

Joe did try to get into the spirit of Yule, but the inflatable tree kept deflating on us

frontdoor

frontdoor
Originally uploaded by NTRMonjoy.

the new house gets a front door....... with special security system installed, no expense spared.

Its called 'keepytonyouty'

also note the ventilation system (gap) under the door, wide enough for bars of chocolate to be slid through, yummy

House reno week 34

week 34c
Originally uploaded by NTRMonjoy.

Halfway through week 34 and at last, we have plaster going up. This pic is taken from the link into the new part of the house, looking back towards the front of the house, down the hallway. If you click on the picture you get so see a few more from this week


{joe}

NTRM on NYE

Just found out that we'll be doing Not The Real McCoy on New Years Eve. And Christmas Eve. Probably Christmas Day too. All of JOY 94.9 will be ours soon. All of it I tell you! {wicked laugh echoing and fading away}

Where is Dino this week....05 12 05

Dino's foot 1
Originally uploaded by NTRMonjoy.

Well easy.. he's in the Lounge room with his foot up, just an hour after surgery on the bottom of his right foot. Poor lad, he's already had to have chocolate to make him feel better.

Sympathy more than welcome.. :))

{joe}

Dino's foot 2

Dino's foot 2
Originally uploaded by NTRMonjoy.

And a closeup :)

{joe}

house reno week 33d

house reno week 33d
Originally uploaded by NTRMonjoy.

Just uploaded a few more progress shots of the house reno and extension. Now just passed week 33 of a 24 week build. This is a view of the 'to be' kitchen. Click on the picture to see a few more on Flickr.

{joe}

where is Dino 03-12-05

where is Dino 03-12-05
Originally uploaded by NTRMonjoy.

One for the Show. Where exactly is Dino?

windows pic

windows
Originally uploaded by NTRMonjoy.

as promised, a picture of our new windows. this picture is taken from the dunny (with the edge of the bath-to-be in the bottom corner), looking through the courtyard into the lounge room