Disgraceful

The other night the ABC aired a documentary called "The Cove" highlighting the annual slaughter of Dolphins in the small Japanese town of Taiji.
If you did not get to see this I really recommend you watch it.  Even if you do not want to be subjected to the vision of the dolphins being killed you will be able to watch all but the last 10 minutes, and by this time the message is well and truly imparted.

The documentary is lead by Ric O'Barry the man who trained Flipper, and is well produced and informative. 

Ric O'Barry leads a team of activists and filmmakers infiltrate a heavily-guarded cove in Taiji, Japan. In this remote village they witness and document activities deliberately being hidden from the public: More than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises are being slaughtered each year and their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan, often times labeled as whale meat.

The majority of the world is not aware this is happening. The Taiji cove is blocked off from the public. Cameras are not allowed inside and the media does not cover the story

I will not go into detail as you will be able to see for yourself the unnecessary nature of what goes on and how we need to speak up to end this disgraceful practice.

After watching the documentary head over and sign the petition using the link on my blog and encourage others to do the same.

Liebster Award for blogs I love to read....

I am pretty new to the blogging world both as a reader and a writer and I often wonder is anyone actually listening, do they really want to hear my thoughts as I waffle on into the blogesphere.

Well apparently they do. 

A big thank you to Bruise Mouse from over at living a little greener for this award.  When ever I read her blog I feel part of the action and I am currently enjoying (vicariously) the trials of moving to a new county and cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen with ingredients in a different language.  Plus there is the world tour you get along the way.

This award is given to bloggers with under 200 followers. Here are the rules:

1. Thank the giver and link back to them.  Done.

2. Reveal your 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

Wendy over at Duchess Declutter always has something interesting on the go and at the moment you can pop over and check out her coffee plantation.

Daffodil is living on her Little piece of green and loves to share with us her great op shop finds, ethical butchering and her adventures in the saddle.  She has bee a bit quite of late so I hope all is well and hope she comes back to play soon.

Nellymary inspires me with her great ideas and gives great instructions on how to do a lot of practical things at Just like my nan made I couldn't see her followers so hopefully I have not broken the rules.

Oh no so many great blogs and only 5 awards to give out.... this is not easy.

Well I have to make mention of the great story telling abilities of Veggiegobbler who recently shared with us the story of her faith in mankind.

And finally Hazel who is currently hearing voices and brought tears of laughter to my eyes with posts such as Vera's Vagina.

3. Copy and paste award to your blog.  Done!

4. Have faith that your followers will pass the love to other bloggers. Halleluia I have faith... oh not that kind of faith.  Well I still have it.

5. And most of all, have Bloggity-blog fun.  Yep got that covered.

This was a fun exercise but with so many great blogs out there it was hard too choose.

Bird Seed Bars

I am always looking for tasty and healthy additions to my hubby's lunch box and these are always a winner.

Hubby's work mates are shocked to see him take things like fruit, raw veggies, nuts seeds and dried fruit, home made snacks, salads, big meat and veggie filled sandwich's and left overs all washed down with water, every day of the week. 
They eat pies and chips and sugar filled snack food generally aimed at children all washed down with soft drink and give hubby heaps about his "weird rabbit food" and "bird seed bars" that he "picked up at the pet store".
So Bird Seed Bars is what we call them.

These are great in the lunch box and make a great breakfast on the run.  You can vary the nuts, seeds and fruit to what is cheap seasonal and you have in the pantry.
You will need a 20cm x 30cm shallow tray, lamington or the like ( I use a roasting tin), a large bowl and a medium size sauce pan.

250gm unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed  brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup sultanas
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pepita's
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup of chopped almond (I usually measure a mounded cup of whole almonds and then blitz them in the food processor)

Preheat you oven to 180 and line your baking tray with baking paper allowing about 2 cm extra on each side so you can lift it out, a spray with cooking spray will help keep the baking paper down. 

Measure all of you fruit, seeds, oats, nuts into a large bowl.  Add the flour and stir til combined.

In your sauce pan melt together the butter, sugar and honey until the sugar has dissolved.  Don't let the mix boil it just needs to be melted together with the sugar dissolved.  Pour over the dry ingredients and mix till well combined and there are no traces of flour.  Tip into your lined tin and press down evenly and firmly.  This is best done with the back of a metal spoon and by pressing down really firmly you will ensure the mix stays together when you cut it.

Bake for 30 minutes and let cool in the tin.  Only once it is completely cold lift it out of the tin and cut into bars.  I get 20 bars from each batch but the size is up to you.

Addicted

Like any good drug you can loose yourself and hours of time without even noticing.  Time slips by and then you remember all the things you should have been doing.  Such is the lure of blogging.
I have been absent from my blog for the past week or so in a self imposed ban.  Normally I am restricted in the time I can spend online because of work, but during my time off I had all this time on my hands and after a few day I had to impose a ban on blog reading.
There are just so many good blogs out there and really could spend a lot of time lost in the thoughts of others.
My time off was to get a whole lot of things crossed off a long list of jobs not to be spent on the internet.  Thankfully I reigned myself in and the jobs still got done and now that I am back at work I can get back to blogging.  It seems funny writing that, less time = more blogging.
I am sure I am not the only one this happens too... or maybe I am.
Does anyone else have this issue?
How you you keep track of time?
Do you limit yourself?

Moorish Meatloaf

Now for many people the thought of meatloaf may not conjure up thoughts of a delicious meal but this recipe is extremely tasty, goes a long way and makes great leftovers including sliced as a sandwich filling.

The meatloaf is soft, yet does not crumble and is covered in a sticky sweet glaze.

Moorish Meatloaf

500 gm Beef Mince           500 gm Sausage Meat (I just squeeze out some cheap sausages)

1 Cup of Bread Crumbs    1 finely diced Brown Onion

1 1/2 tsp Curry Powder     2 Tbs Chopped Flat Leaf Parsley

1 Egg                                Salt and Pepper

1/2 Cup Milk                    1/4 Cup of Water

1/2 Red Onion and Bay Leaves to Garnish

Pre heat your oven to 200 degrees.

Oil a large roasting pan and set aside.

In a large bowl  mix all of the first set of ingredients.  This is best done with your hands and once thoroughly mixed shape into a log approx 10 x 25 cm and place in your oiled roasting pan.

Top with the red onion and bay leaves.

Bake for 30 minutes and during this time make your glaze.

Glaze

1 Cup Stock (Beef or Vegetable)   1/4 Cup Tomato Paste

2 Tbs white Vinegar                      2 Tbs Honey or Golden Syrup or Maple Syrup

2 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce          1/2 tsp Mustard Powder

Heat all glaze ingredients together in a saucepan.  Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes then turn off the heat.

When the first 30 minutes of cooking the meatloaf is finished remove from the oven and ladle over about 1/3 of the glaze. Return to the oven and cook for another 30 - 40 minutes.  During this time remove the meatloaf twice more and ladle over the other 2/3 of the glaze.

Serve hot or cold.