Finding a trustworthy blender
Our blender of one year plus died an unnatural death about two months ago. No, it didn't explode or go up in flames, the jar didn't crack and neither did it fall of the counter in a suicide attempt. It just died, its motor just gave out. Hubby tried to check it out, maybe it just needed a fuse or something but darn! the makers did a good job of making it next to impossible to open it up unless you went at it with a pick axe 
Needless to say, we decided to get another one. Summer was coming and we wanted some smoothies and ice cream! Hubby went on a blender hunt. He scoured the net looking for reviews on various models. We wanted one which could last us for a few years, maybe more and which was trustworthy enough to deliver the goods when needed. Yep, we were looking for Mr/Ms Right Blender.
While checking out reviews, Hubby came across reviews on old blender we had bought earlier and it was NOT GOOD. Should we have read those reviews, we never NEVER would have bought the other blender. But we did and well, it did last us a year compared to some of the reviewers. Some never got beyond the first usage, that's terrible. Anyway, we opted for an Oster seeing as how their products got better reviews and finally decided we were going to get the Osterizer® Contemporary Classic Beehive Blender. We decided that it was better to wait and see if there were offers or discounts for it since it cost about CAD$99 not including tax.
A few days ago or maybe a week, Hubby read a flyer that Canadian Tire would be offering up to $10 off products purchase but valid only for the 27th and 28th. Well, Saturday found us there and there was only one left. We grabbed it and headed for the cash counter. We were not eligible for the offer since we had not brought the coupon. Strange, usually Hubby would be tearing out all the coupons but this time he had not, he wasn't even sure there had been a coupon. The cashier mentioned that we could bring it the next day. So to cut a long story short, hubby looked in all the papers and flyers and he couldn't find it, probably he had thrown it out recently with the batch of papers but we had already decided that we were keeping it regardless, well, unless it proves to be unworthwhile investment.
Today, I decided to try it out on making a cocoa coffee smoothie. In went a cup of milk, some cocoa (maybe 2 tbsp) and instant coffee (a tbsp) and sugar (decided to go with brown sugar). Pulsed it to mix it all up then added the ice cubes. I wasn't too sure if I could just load all the ice cubes in it so I just put in a few cubes. Bad decision for this caused the liquid to splatter so what the heck, I threw in all the ice cubes and it did a fine job blending the ice cubes evenly. I might add some chocolate chips to it the next time. Hubby was very pleased .. bye bye Tim Hortons!
Regardless of what some of the reviews mentioned about it being super loud, we didn't think that it was a big deal as we felt our previous blender was even louder and anyway, it didn't take that long for it to get its job done, just a few second of pulsing here and there and it was done.
I am going to try making ice cream next so Hubby is going to buy some whipping cream on the way back from his gig and I would be adding that to frozen strawberries ... hmmm.
Well, this is not the end as I still have more tasks in store for the Oster. We have yet to decide whether this is the right blender for us.
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Hubby writes:
Gotta mention that the blender is a BLACK & DECKER too! So how many Black and Decker-branded stuff have broken down on us so far? That's TWO to count (the other is the toaster, but I am chalking that one down to age)! Nope, ain't gonna wait for Strike 3. As far as I am concerned, this IS Strike 3!!!
Not only that. There were 4 screws at the bottom of the base unit. 3 of the screws I managed to remove, whereas the last one was a very *special* type of screw. Short of breaking the unit, I couldn't remove that one. Not cool. 
Here's a link to that sorry excuse for a B&D blender on Amazon:
Tortillas made with love
Sometime ago, hubby had a craving for tortillas. He shopped for the tortillas, looked up the recipes for the filling and did them himself. We tried a few brands and types of tortillas. Somehow we weren't totally happy with the tortillas because some were too thick, some too dry and we felt we were sort of eating dry flour. I decided then to make my own tortillas. I googled and came up with a few recipes, opting of course for the simplest, easiest and especially if it had pictures but as usual, not many had pictures, just text. I can't remember where I got the recipe below but it works great!
FLOUR TORTILLAS
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour (I usually use 1 cup flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour, healthier, well, that is what I believe)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup lard or vegetable shortening (Crisco)
2/3 to 1 cup hot water
Method:
- In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.
- Rub in the shortening until the mixture resembles very coarse meal. (Hubby does step 1 and 2. Rub in the shortening using your finger tips. DO NOT KNEAD IT IN!)
- Mix in the hot water until mixture is sticky but can be used to form a ball.
- Set the dough aside for at least 30 mins.
- Form dough balls the size of a small plum and roll in flour. (the size depends on how big you want your tortillas to be)
- Heat a flat pan over medium to medium high heat.
- Roll out the dough into very thin discs (well, I like them thin so it depends on your preference).
- Cook tortillas in pan, turning when it gets slightly brown and bubbles on the surface (it will puff up) - also done by Hubby.
- When both sides are done, place on a dish and cover with a slightly damp dish towel. Then cover with a dry towel. (I don't really do this part. I just allow them to cool down then stack them up.)
Usually, I can get about 12 tortillas so after they cool down, I will stack them up, put them in a ziploc bag and store in the fridge. Just reheat them in the pan when you want to eat them.)
I love doing the tortillas, mostly because it is done with Hubby. I don't like rubbing in the shortening, just feels too oily on my hands but he would do that for me and also the frying while I do the rolling out. We get it done in just a short period of time.
Pineapple Rolls Pix
OK OK, it's up! Took like forever didn't it, dear? Mmm... yummy!
Wifey's Pineapple Rolls
Dried Prawn Sambal
Hubby and I love to eat dried prawn sambal and I have been looking and trying out a few recipes but somehow they didn't come close to what my tastebuds believed it should taste like ... well, that is, until today.
I found a recipe on this website: 32ashburtonroad.com and decided to give it a try. I put in all the optional ingredients and did not exactly follow the measurements. We both love dried prawns so I put that in abundance. It's a bit expensive to get dried chillies over here and I happened to chance upon grounded dried chillies and used that instead in abundance as well 
Basically you just need the following ingredients:
garlic (1 or 2 cloves - the last time I added too much garlic and gave the sambal a weird taste which I thought was because of the dried chillies)
onion
dried chillies
lemon grass
a bit of sugar
don't forget the dried prawns
lime leaves (1 or 2)
oil for frying
My blender kind of died on me the other day so I used the toastmaster chopper instead. If you are the sort who needs the portions, kindly do visit the website given. I tried giving a lot of zing by adding Death Sauce but somehow it got drowned out and was just mildly spicy so I will add a ton more the next time I prepare it. Well, the picture is a bit blurry as I took the picture without my glasses .. hehe
Dried prawn sambal
Note to Hubby: am still waiting for pineapple rolls pix
Nipped in the bud by Renal Bloodscalp
Although I had played Baldur's Gate 2 about 2 years ago, closer to 3, I believe, I couldn't quite recall many of the quests. One of them required the PC to choose either the Shadow Thieves or Bodhi. Some have said that choosing the Shadow Thieves was the good way and Bodhi the evil one. Some argue that there is no good or evil way as both guilds are not exactly good. Well, the PC doesn't know that much about Bodhi but do know the reputation of the Shadow Thieves so it is just a question of the devil you know or the devil you don't. There is also the argument that if you take the Bodhi route, you would take down the Shadow Thieves and eventually further along the storyline, Bodhi's guild as well. One forum gave this advice when asked whom to choose: when a decision is asked of by Bodhi, listen to what the NPCs in your group have to say. Well, I did and they didn't sound too happy about Bodhi so that was it then, Shadow Thieves, here we come!
At the same time when Bodhi's spokeperson, Valen appeared, so did Brus, sent by Gaelan Bayle. Anyway, I met up with Bodhi, turned her down and while traveling to the slums to meet up with Bayle, saved an injured (poisoned?) man who asked to be delivered immediately to a house in the Docks. At the entrance archway, Yoshimo voiced concerns about his well-being should he not pay his respects to Renal Bloodscalp of the Shadow Thieves while waltzing through the Docks. So we paid a visit to this Renal Bloodscalp and did his quests and picked up Edwin along the way and all the while thinking that aha! I managed to wriggle myself out of paying Bayle 15,000 gp by going straight to the Shadow Thieves. So imagine my surprise when I asked him about Irenicus and Imoen and he answered, "Heh, you are a tricky one. Didn't Gaelan already tell you that the Shadow Thieves would be perfectly willing to help you out at the correct price?" Darn!!! He found me out!!! Looks like I have to fork over the money to Gaelan Bayle ... sigh ...
EwWwWw … to Anomen
Yup, he is still in my party. I finally did his knighthood quest yesterday and finished the Cult of the Unseeing Eye with him, Keldorn, Minsc, Jaheira and Yoshimo. Just when we got out of the sewers, he started spouting his love talk. My PC tried tactfully to turn him down, didn't want to choose the harsh responses. It continued to the next love talk when we were about to rest before leaving the Government District. Before this, I was seriously thinking that maybe bringing Anomen along wasn't such a bad idea as his Aerial Servant did do a lot of damage against the gauths (with no help from us ) and well, he did provide healing spells as well. Well, that was where I was heading when his second love talk started which I again tried hard not to pick the first or the last responses and just the in-betweens but somewhere along the line, I thought maybe I should give this romance a try so I picked a halfway response with ended with "Show me your passion."
BAD BAD BAAAD MISTAKE! That was cue to take off armour and lay down together! Ewwwwww! The thought of it made my skin crawl. Hubby says it is ONLY A GAME but it's an RPG game which you immerse yourself in and I definitely DO NOT want my PC to be laying down with him! Ewwwwwww! Yes, it is just a game but my reaction to those few sentences definitely defines how I feel about the NPC. Ewwwwwwww!
Yummy Pineapple Rolls, Juicy Chicken Wings and all that jazz…
Yummy... wifey made some pineapple rolls today. 
Each one exquisitely and meticulously crafted. Not one piece is the same. In fact, I have been so taken in with each piece I started giving them funky names depending on my mood - energy rolls, happy rolls, lucky rolls, sexy rolls, blah blah blah. Wifey thinks I am being ridiculous. Bah! Well, methinks better "ridiculous" than just referring to them by their OBVIOUS name - pineapple roll. *sigh* Aren't you suppose to enjoy your food?!?!?!
See that juicy image on the box? I can swear the wings, once we had 'em roasted in the oven, looked almost exactly like that!
And no, I have yet to forget about them tasty, delicious, *JUICY* BBQ Chicken Wings 2 days back! Two 700g boxes on promotional offer from Save-On sometime back. Olymel, oh Olymel... where hast thou been all these years?!?!?! Wifey put them in the conventional oven and had 'em roasted, and boy did they come out juicy and tasty. Yummm... (Sorry P90X, I couldn't resist!). We have tried chicken wings from Western Family and Schneiders over the years, and let me tell ya... NOT EVEN CLOSE!!! Looks like we have a pretty serious contender out there, so look out Western Family and Schneiders. You have been warned!
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Wifey writes:
Where's the picture of the rolls you took??? Did you eat it up as well??!!
Leading the Fight
"Anyone can lead the fight the day after it's done. It's leading the fight DURING the fight that's marking yer worth." - Bruenor Battlehammer (pg. 761 - The Hunter's Blades Trilogy)
Baldur’s Gate Shadows of Amn revisited
I played Baldur's Gate 1 for the second time sometime back and recently started playing BG2. Strangely enough, BG1 was sort of a breeze. The ending was not as difficult as I remembered. My group hardly sustained any loss of hp. When I played it for the first time, I wasn't much of a strategist (still am not much of one ) and would charge headlong into any situation. Besides that, I didn't have much use for potions (except for healing potions and antidotes) and wands but for my replay of BG1, I actually used the wands of summoning and wands of frost a lot, not to mention wands of lightning for corridors (my heroine, Dynaheir). So I guess these made life simpler.
Before starting BG2, I was planning who I wanted in my party. Minsc and Edwin was a definite must, so was Yoshimo (later filled by Imoen). I wasn't too sure about who was going to fill in the last two slots. I had to have a healer so it was either Jaheira, Anomen, Aerie or Viconia. I already had Viconia in the first playthrough so I didn't if possible want her along. I found Aerie too whiny, who didn't care about other npc's feelings except her own. Yeah, I needed a mage in the beginning but no way was I bringing her. I managed to get through the Temple Ruins and get rid of the Shade Lord without a mage. Then, I picked up Anomen. Yeah, I remember I couldn't stand him that much the first time and as we wandered here and there, I was thinking, well, he wasn't so bad as I thought and entertained the possibility of him filling in a slot. Until ... until ... he opened his big mouth. WHAT WAS I THINKING?????!! No way am I taking this pompous, self-absorbed, self-centered, ass of a man. Now, I am just waiting to get his quest over and done with!
Sometimes, one wonders what the heck the developers were thinking when they chose that kind of character to be the female interest. Hubby says that the male love interests weren't like so fantastic either; you've got Jaheira who is sort of bitchy, Aerie (who is like the female version of Anomen or Annoying Man -- read this in a post somewhere) and Viconia who is facing culture shock and sort of bitchy too. But hey, you've got at least 3 to pick from, we women have only 1. I never did the romance in the first playthrough and don't intend to this time, either.
Depth, NOT Length
"It is not how much you know but how well you have mastered what you've learnt. When making an assessment of one's martial arts training one should measure the depth rather than the length".
- Master Dave Lacey of Buk Sing Choy Lay Fut Kung Fu
