Lost Pictures of New York Blizzard

Nice story...

Bills Bills Bills (Warblers performance)

One of my favourite Glee performances:

The King's Speech.... Speechless!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie!!!! It was amazing, and definitely confirmed what a great actor Colin Firth is!  His speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush, and wife played by Helena Bonham Carter (another favourite of mine) were also brilliant!

The King's Speech is, as it was advertised, a historical drama, but it did have some comedic acts throughout... and an especially hilarious scene, which I won't ruin for you now!  I would highly recommend this to everyone!



For those unfamiliar with the story,  King George VI (Colin Firth) is introduced to Lionel Logue, a speech therapist who is known for his unorthodox methods to help patients with their stammer.  The two men build a friendship as Logue helps him overcome his speech impedement, and after his brother abdicates the throne, the King must deliver a radio broadcast at the beginning of World War II.

Photos from movie review site

Stuffed Sweet Peppers (vegetarian)

I made these for dinner the day before yesterday, and served them with plain yoghurt!

Ingredients:
- Sweet bell peppers (any colour)
-Mushrooms
- Rice (I used brown)
- Mixed vegetables (pre-cut or frozen)
- Tomato sauce/Pasta sauce
- Mozarella cheese
- Extra virgin olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 250 deg. C.
2. Cook rice with vegetables (following instructions on packet of rice)
3. While the rice is cooking, clean the bell peppers and cut around the top to make sort of a lid.
4. Slice mushrooms and fry in pan with a small amount of olive oil
5. Hollow out the bell peppers, removing all seeds and place in a baking pan/casserole dish
6. Once the rice has cooked, fill the peppers 3/4 of the way
7. Add mushrooms on top
8. Pour tomato sauce in the peppers, and covering them... and at bottom of pan
9. Cover the peppers with its own 'lid'
10. Place foil over pan, and cook in oven around 25 minutes
11. Take peppers out, remove lid and sprinkle the mozarella cheese on top
12. Stick it back in the oven (without foil) for another 5-10 minutes until all the cheese has melted

If I you have mince meat, you can also make a rice and meat stuffing (fry meat first with salt, pepper & cinnamon -  add meat to uncooked rice and boil until rice is cooked).  The peppers were still a little bit crunchy, so if you like them softer and more well done then leave in the oven for longer.

Satarii Star

I recently found out about a new camera innovation called Satarii, which allows the camera to follow you where ever you go while you're filming/vlogging!  It sounded so interesting, and their campaign video shows you its features (which are still being updated at the moment).  All you need is the base/tripod to mount your camera on and allows it to swivel, following your every move.  In order to do this, you need to be wearing a small marking device which can be placed in your pocket or clipped onto your clothes!  This product isn't on the market yet, but I bet it will be very popular once it comes out.  Here is their campaign video on youtube:

ShayCarl, a youtuber who makes videos on his own channel as well as daily vlogs of his family (the Shaytards -- which I'm subscribed to btw.. they're hilarious!), has been recently appointed as the spokesperson for Satarii.  If you like, you should definitely take a look at his channel.... I look forward to watching his videos everyday!  I wake up every morning and immediately sign into youtube for them ... hahah oonly joking... kind of ... 

Here is the video from his daily vlog channel, Shaytards, where he talks about Satarii and visits with the creators and engineers who built it.  (He starts talking about it at around 10:43)

Youtube wouldn't let me copy the embedding code from the video page, so here's the link to it:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn2gRcrv5sA

Chocolate Pavlova

Source: Nigella.com

Love this dessert! You can make a plain meringue base if you prefer that over the chocolate (just omit the chocolate and cocoa powder)

Ingredients:

• 6 egg whites
• 300g caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder (sieved)
• 1 teaspoon balsamic/red wine vinegar (use apple cider / white wine vinegar for the plain meringue)
• 50g dark chocolate (finely chopped) 

For the topping:

• 500ml double cream (whisked until thick) 
• 500 g raspberries
• 2-3 tablespoons coarsely grated dark chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg. Celcius , and place parchment paper over a baking tray 
2. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks
3. Beat in sugar, a little bit at a time, until meringue is stiff and shiny
4. Add the vinegar, cocoa, and chocolate and gently fold until everything is mixed together
5. Mound onto the baking sheet into a fat circle shape and smooth sides and top (Tip: draw an outline of a plate, roughly 23cm diameter, onto the parchment paper to get shape)
6. Place in oven, and immediately turn down the heat to 150 deg. C
7. Cook for about 1 hour to 1hr 15min
8. When done, it should look crisp around the edges and sides and should be dry on top.  To the touch, it should be a little squidgey (which means it's nice and chewy on the inside! :) )
9. Let meringue cool completely

To serve:

1. Invert onto a flat bottomed plate
2. Pile whisked cream on top of meringue
3. Scatter raspberries (or you can use any kind of berry you like), and grated chocolate on top

(Serves 8-10)

Interesting fact: This australian dessert is named after the famous Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, because she was the first one to try it during her trip to Australia! 

A few more art pieces uploaded

I also added these to the slideshow in the side-bar--->