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tasty thai

I just got home from dinner with Walking Rek in Newtown. We went to a restaurant named Doy Tao, on the St Peter’s end of King Street. The food was good, and the portions were massive. There is no way that any normal human could consume a main that size. My tofu+vege stirfry was under ten bucks, good value in anyone’s book. I also now have tomorrow’s lunch.

After dinner, we went back to her place and I was greeted with a surprise: Crazy James has moved in to the spare room! He even painted it beforehand (or, at least, Gus did). Crazy James is a sommelier/wine dude and offered me a glass of a very tasty red that he brought home from work.

It is my birthday this Friday, in two days! A fellow Aquarius, Rek’s birthday is the following Monday. As it is her 30th she has decided to do something special and is going to Melbourne for a week. I will be joining her on Sunday and returning to Sydney on Tuesday night. Both flights are planned for the evening to allow some dissipation of the the anticipated hangovers. Saturday night is my birthday party, but not just my birthday. It is also my housewarming party!

That’s right, I am now the proud resident of a much better house in Cremorne, 600+ metres closer to The Oaks than my last. I live with two girls, Mega and Kat. They are both nice, happy girls and we are getting along well. I love that the house is relatively clean and smells nice, that it is a chick house. I have my own bathroom and my bedroom is very large, 4m x 4.4m. I can easily fit my bed, desk, bookshelves and the tetris. There are builtin wardrobes, 3.4m long. Electricity use is not only permitted, it is encouraged! This was the only house I looked at, I knew it was the one for me. There were ten other applicants and I was the one they chose because they, correctly, found me to be lovely.

Marianna, I hope you are happy that I just mentioned you in my blog.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Written on 06 February 2007 by darryn under personal with 3 Comments
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want want

One of my most favouritest foods is Chinese dumplings, the Jiaozi kind. I buy a few bags every few weeks, and while I have them, I eat nothing else. I cook them in a stock made from wonton soup mix and sesame oil and eat them as a soup. The Knorr factory in HK no longer make this soup, so I had to scour the earth to find it, my persistence paid off because I found a 1kg can.

Inspired by this post at Karate Party, in my next outing to the asian grocer I went in search of a tasty snack to sample. I couldn’t find any pork floss, so I settled on a kind of rice cracker. What followed has changed my life forever.

DSC02374HOT-KID Want Want Rice Crackers (Seaweed and Bonito flavour) are one of the best snacks I have ever eaten, they are up there with Chicken-in-a-Biscuit and nectarines. They are similar to the normal mixed rice crackers that you might serve at a party, but much larger - about the size of a wagon wheel. They are sweet. They are bonitoey. They are seaweedy. They are like light, circular mouth smack. The big bag contains smaller packages, in the wasteful asian snack style, each small package containing two crackers. This is a trick. You take a package from the cupboard and go to your snacking location, be it TV or computer. You eat them. They taste so good, but they weigh practically nothing and take up no space in your stomach. Now your mouth needs more of the flavour, and your stomach agrees. So you go to the cupboard and get another package. The next time, you get two packages. The empty master bag is sitting next to me, on the desk.

The shop opens in seven hours and eleven minutes.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Written on 15 January 2007 by darryn under Uncategorized with 4 Comments
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things that tasted good today

  • the falafel pita that I got from the hebrew pita shop in Rose Bay. Best EVER! Nicest bread, tasty falafel and hommus. Good range of salads. I need to get the name of the shop. I am tempted to remotely stuff up the nearby client’s computer systems so I have an excuse to visit the area. It was sooooooo good.
  • the Laphroaig whisky that I am sipping right now
  • Vitasoy soy milk. Mel got me onto soy milk in London and now I cannot drink cow milk, it tastes horrible. Vitasoy is the only good brand, the others I have tried taste…chalky. Chee-Ho gave me some Chinese soy milk and that was good, but not in a milk-substitute sort of way, you couldn’t put it on your cornflakes.
  • My beloved Coke Zero. I drink so much that it is my “neutral” taste.

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    Written on 28 November 2006 by darryn under Uncategorized with 1 Comment
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    failure

    I completely forgot and ate an oyster. Tasted damn good though.

    Popularity: 2% [?]

    Written on 15 September 2006 by darryn under personal with No Comments
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    vegan + dhal = ftw

    I have been a dietary vegan for four days now and, to be honest, it hasn’t really been that difficult. In many ways it has been better than before as I have been eating fresh and healthy food instead of the crap that I normally consume. I have eaten a lot of curries, although last night I went to Green Gourmet in St Leonards for dinner. I don’t particularly recommend it - they use some weird kind of soft tofu that doesn’t taste as good as the proper firm kind that I like.

    Tonight I cooked a dhal. I didn’t have a lot of time so i just used red lentils, which do not need soaking. I haven’t cooked dhal for at least two years and I didn’t use a recipe, and because of this, I am ashamed to say, I used a pre-mixed garam masala. As people who have lived with me know, I am not a massive fan of following recipes. I like to experiment. Apart from the normal garlic, onion, lentils, tomato, garam masala and salt I added sesame seeds and lemon juice, purely because I had them and thought that they would fit. I will use them again. I got Melvin to taste test for me, as he is a gourmand, and he suggested that I toast the sesame seeds next time. I will do that.

    Sonia, who claims to be a vegetarian, ate dinner with me and seemed to thoroughly enjoy her meal. I have left her a lunch pack in the fridge so I will see if she has taken it in the morning.

    I will work on this version a few more times before I post the recipe here.

    Popularity: 3% [?]

    Written on 14 September 2006 by darryn under personal with No Comments
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    unborn chicken voices in my head

    I am addicted to myspace. I can’t help it, it is just so compelling. My flatmate is also addicted, and when we discuss our days it usually ends up being about what happened on myspace, our theories about those we stalk and who to add. Sometimes we go out in real life, and have devolved to the point that when a hot girl walks past we say “I’d add it” rather than “I’d hit it”.

    I had to take action.

    At 1AM on Monday morning I logged off myspace for a self-imposed one week ban. I have so much more time now, I get more done and sleep more. I miss it though, and find myself thinking “I’ll just check…” and luckily catch myself in time. I have forbidden my flatmate from telling me about what is happening with my Top Friends, although she lets things slip from time to time. I get email from myspace telling me I have new messages, new comments. I leave them unread. I am not going to kick, it is just a break. That thought, the promise of return, keeps me sane.

    In 30 hours and 42 minutes I will be allowed back on. So I have decided on my next one-week activity, and it is inspired by myspace. One of my top friends, Melissa, was the first vegetarian I ever met, at a party when I was about fifteen. She is now a vegan and I have been wondering how difficult it would be. She tells me that it is easy but I was a vegetarian when I was with Jai and that presented challenges. Veganism is harder, no dairy or honey or anything animal at all. So, from the moment that I first log in to myspace, I will eat vegan for one week. I won’t be a real vegan, as I wouldn’t be able to wear my leather shoes etc, so it is just a dietary restriction.

    I will be in good company. Thom Yorke, who wrote one of the best songs in the world (Paranoid Android), is a vegan.

    I am looking forward to the food. Because there is not a lot of pre-made / takeaway vegan food available I will be cooking all my meals instead of just two or three dinners a week. I haven’t cooked channa dhal for a long time and I am getting hungry just thinking about it. My dhal rocks, I make the garam masala myself. I will post the recipe when I have re-perfected it.

    What will my mission be for the following week? Let the comments flow with suggestions…

    Popularity: 2% [?]

    Written on 08 September 2006 by darryn under personal with 2 Comments
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    Crystal Clear

    Crystal Clear Appel en AeerI have discovered my new favourite drink. It is Crystal Clear Appel en Peer (Zonder Koolzuur!). It is basically an artificial apple and pear juice, with no calories at all. It tastes like apple and pear juice would taste, if it was souped-up and made to taste more awesome. It has no bubbles, which is a plus, as here in Holland even iced tea has bubbles.

    I was impressed and pleased a few years ago when that awesome tasting peach flavour was invented, and they put it into diet peach Lipton Ice Tea. That was an achievement and all, but the inventor of this pear flavouring should get a Nobel Prize. It is just like eating a pear, without all the unpleasantness. Until I discovered this drink, I didn’t even know that eating a pear had unpleasantness. By comparison, it does.

    I am halfway through my third litre of the night and I bought them less than four hours ago. They were on sale at a local market, two for €1. I bought six bottles, leaving only two on the shelf. This was because my backpack could only hold six. I am a bit scared. What if the low price was to run out the stock? What if the product has been discontinued? What will I do? Nothing could fill the hole in my life created by the loss of Crystal Clear Appel en Peer.

    PS – I said that it was artificial, but I was stretching the truth. According to the label it has 0.01% apple juice and 0.01% pear juice. So it is natural after all.

    * I hate it when I have to use the euro symbol € as I have a non-European computer that has no euro key. Worse, it is a laptop so I cannot use Alt+0128, even with NumLk on. If any of my readers know of some fancy way to give me an instant-gratification euro symbol I would be very happy. I am almost at the point where I will write my own applet.

    Popularity: 3% [?]

    Written on 03 August 2005 by darryn under Uncategorized with 1 Comment
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    Recipe: Seafood Chowder

    Tasty seafood chowderServe this filling soup with some warm crusty bread. This recipe makes enough for six entreés (Americans: appetizers) and is suitable for people who do not eat red meat.

    500g white fish fillets, cut into small (2cm) cubes
    500g other seafood (prawns, scallops, lobster, crab etc).
    1 litre fish stock
    1 leek, chopped finely
    1 carrot, peeled and cubed
    1 stalk celery, cubed
    1 large potato, cubed
    1/3 cup flour
    butter
    300ml cream
    1/3 cup finely chopped parsley
    salt and ground pepper

    Heat some butter in a large saucepan, add the vegetables and cook over low heat for 5 minutes or until they have softened and are slightly golden.

    Add the flour and cook for one minute.

    Add the fish stock, stirring for 5 minutes or until it boils. Simmer, uncovered, over a low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    Add the fish and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.

    Add the rest of the seafood, most of the parsley and the cream. Stir and cook for 5 minutes without boiling. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

    Server immediately, garnished with the rest of the parsley and some crusty white bread.

    Popularity: 3% [?]

    Written on 30 January 2005 by darryn under Uncategorized with 1 Comment
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    Mango bonanza

    We have seven mango trees in our yard, and last summer one of them produced about 40 mangoes, none of the other trees produced fruit. The mangoes were delicious, and as they were ripened on the tree they were sweeter than store-bought mangoes. The bats certainly seemed to like them :)

    It is Spring again and the trees have finished flowering, covering the ground below them with a brown layer of tiny petals. This is the time that the embryonic fruits begin to form, and after investigation today I am pleased to announce that five of the trees are starting to produce fruit. Two of them are covered with literally thousands of 1cm fruitlets each, the others are more sparse. A fact about mango trees: everything smells like mangoes. The leaves, the bark, and of course the teeny mango fruits.

    They should be ripe in March, right about the time that we leave the country. I hope that I can enjoy a few of the mangoes before I leave.

    In March, thousands of mangoes!

    Now playing: 1200 Techniques - Electro Boogie Freaks

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    Written on 23 October 2004 by darryn under personal with No Comments
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    Cheery Cheer

    Cheery Cheer!Since my early teens I have preferred diet soft drinks to the sugar kind. Back in the 80’s this meant that I was drinking Diet Coke, but as time has progressed the range of diet drinks has increased. With the advent of the Atkins diet, and mass sugar avoidance, I have been pleased to see that range explode. Now there is a diet version of pretty much any sugar drink you care to name. In the last year we have seen the release of: diet ginger beer (2 kinds), Diet Fanta (and sunkist), 3 more kinds of Diet Coke, and a favourite: Diet Cottee’s Coola cordial, which everyone knows is the best kind of cordial. Recently I have been very pleased to discover, in Coles only, that Saxby’s, makers of the best Diet Ginger Beer, have expanded their range with 3 new diet flavours which have no sugar analogue. I am talking about Diet Creme Soda (similar to Tarax), Diet Pineapple, and Diet Cheery Cheer.



    I don’t know what Cheery Cheer is, but I like it. The front of the label says that the secret ingredient is fun, but it is not listed in the ingredients list on the side (possibly because it is a secret). Cheery Cheer does not taste like cherries, it is more like children’s medicine. There is something familiar about it, something from my childhood. It is a deep cherry colour. It is sweet. I rate it.


    I am still waiting for diet chinotto.

    Popularity: 3% [?]

    Written on 09 June 2004 by darryn under personal with 2 Comments
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