Val’s Comments (group member since Aug 28, 2019)

Val’s comments from the Beyond Zon group.

I was brought up with "corned beef" coming in a tin with a key to open it and "silverside" being salted, boiled beef. My first day in Australia, I ordered a corned beef sandwich and was very disappointed to get silverside. Do you refer to it as silverside? or just boiled beef? or pot roast?

24C and sunny here. Going to be a lovely day!

There was a report on our news last night about Britain's vaccination program. It showed medical staff vaccinating in Salisbury Cathedral. The idea was : what can Australia learn from how the Brits are doing it? The reporter said that while the UK's track and trace system had been rather poor, the roll out of the vaccine had been superb. This was because the former was let out to private companies while the latter was supervised by the NHS, with data collected from GPs all over the country. So good to hear a glowing report from the UK!. I don't know how it will be done here because we are not required to register with a single GP. I can go to as many practices as I want (obviously prescriptions are monitored; I can't go script shopping). Because there is no super urgency (case numbers are all confined to returning travellers who are in enforced hotel quarantine for 14 days - plus a few prima donna tennis players), the vaccine has only been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration this week.

I was looking at the Federal Government's roll-out plan which is due to start late February.

Phase 1a – up to 1.4m doses
Quarantine and border workers 70,000
Frontline health care workers 100,000
Aged care and disability care staff 318,000
Aged care and disability care residents 190,000
Total 678,00

Phase 1b – up to 14.8m doses
Elderly adults aged 80 years and over 1,045,000
Elderly adults aged 70-79 years 1,858,000
Other health care workers 953,000
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people > 5,587,000
Younger adults with an underlying medical condition, including those with a disability 2,000,000
Critical and high risk workers including defence, police, fire, emergency services and meat processing 196,000
Total 6,139,000

Then there are another three groups to follow. I think only the first group will get the Pfizer vaccine (which, as I understand it, is the preferred one), everyone else will get the AstraZeneca one. The third vaccine, Novavax, is still undergoing trials.

I made a bit of an effort yesterday - probably because I had time on my hands and it was a bit cooler : grilled barramundi (sea bass), Lyonnaise potatoes (Emeril Lagasse's recipe), slow-cooked peas and creamed red cabbage. Mr H liked it. The left-over potatoes will probably be used up tonight with silverside (corned beef). Mr H is a dab hand at corned beef. I think the secret is to let it cool in the cooking liquid so it stays moist and tender.

P wrote: "One extreme to the other then Val, do you want some snow? ..."

I'm sure if you put it in a postal satchel if will survive the trip, so, yes please P, I'll take you up on your offer.

I'm putting off going to bed. The overnight low is going to be 28 degrees C before going up to 39 tomorrow. Fingers crossed for some rain tomorrow night.

theDuke wrote: "And where on earth would one get a pumpkin here in the UK at this time of the year, too?! Not that i've ever eaten pumpkin...what's it like Val?..."

It's a bit like me when I get a recipe requiring clementines - good luck finding them in our summer! The "pumpkin" I used is what you call (I think) butternut squash - gourd shape, pale yellow skin, yellowy-orange flesh. I would have thought all varieties of pumpkin would be readily available as winter veg but maybe not. The other common pumpkin variety here is Kent, which had a blueish/grey skin. Much harder to cut up than butternut but still worthwhile. I hated pumpkin as a kid (the German nuns used to boil the life out of it - I swear you could have poured it from a jug, the same as they did with spinach) but now I love it - a dab of butter and lots of pepper, it's terrific!

Okay Les, it's curried onion and capsicums for you! But who doesn't like chick peas??

It was warm today - 27C - and getting hotter - 35 tomorrow and 40 Monday. So, of course, I made a curry. Aubergine, pumpkin, onion and capsicum with the usual array of spices, a tin each of tomatoes, chick peas and coconut milk. Served with couscous - very nice! And there's still a huge pot of it left.

I will admit that after 11 months of various lockdowns and changing regulations, it is hard to keep up with what you're allowed to do and when. This isn't helped by Australia having eight State or Territory governments as well as a Federal government. The Federal government is the equivalent of your Conservative Party and the State and Territory governments are three Tory equivalents and five Labour equivalents, so plenty of political in-fighting.

When parts of New South Wales went into lockdown a couple of weeks ago, I was amused that one of the first prohibitions was "No singing or chanting"!

These two comic videos explain some of the odd anomalies that occur:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpWiF...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxX7T...

P wrote: "Had a phone call allegedly from Amazon this morning saying our Prime subscription was due for renewal and to press 1 for details...another scam as when I checked online, not due ‘till September! Pl..."

We get the very same call about three times a day and we've never even had an Amazon Prime account! Now, if I don't recognise the number, I just let all landline calls go to the answering machine (they always hang up as soon it kicks in).

suzysunshine7 wrote: "... gift wrap Slices and then leave them in all of your Neighbour's Porches? ;o>"

Why did I read that as "your Neighbour's Porsches"??

Thought: Duke must live in a posh neighbourhood!

Don't agree P. He is an Australian citizen and whether you agree with him or not, he is Australia's responsibility and the Federal government should be doing more to shoulder that responsibility. Instead they are nowhere to be seen. They fought hard to free Kylie Moore-Gilbert after two years of imprisonment in Iran (charged with espionage). She was exchanged for three Iranians detained elsewhere in the world. They also gave consular support and legal aid to David Hicks who was captured in Afghanistan and served about six years in Guantanamo Bay. You're either a citizen or you're not in my view. It should be the same for all citizens. Our government is too much in the thrall of the Americans. He faces a sentence of 170 years if extradited. You may not like him and I don't really know what the charges against him are, other than publishing classified US information, but "civis Romanus sum" should still apply. Chelsea Manning, who leaked the classified information to Assange, served four years in an American jail. You don't deserve 170 years for being a prat or a brat. My opinion.

We enjoy a lot of European crime/dramas. Watched "Amsterdam Vice" which was set in the 80s. Good acting but lots of plot holes e.g. following a major robbery, the police find a Kalashnikov hidden in a flower bed and are so impressed by it that they hand it round everyone in the station before a new recruit says "You have dusted it for fingerprints?" I doubt the Dutch police were that amateurish in the 80s. Just finished "The Investigation" (Denmark) which was a dramatisation of a true crime in 2017. No histrionics, just quiet, dogged police work. Very well made, with some familiar faces from "Borgen". We are now watching "Departure" (Canada) with Archie Panjabi, Christopher Plummer and Dougray Scott about a British passenger plane that goes missing over the Atlantic.

We're also making our way through Canadian comedy "Letterkenny" - currently on Season 4 (5 and 6 still to go). Not to everyone's taste, but I find the characters quite endearing. We are also catching up with "The West Wing" which somehow eluded us 20 years ago. Two seasons down - only five to go!

It's officially 2021 here so I'd like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. I know it's hard when everything seems to be going to pot but I do hope the weather doesn't make things worse, that supplies of the vaccine get to where they're most needed and to those most deserving, that Brexit and the deal work out for the best, that the supermarkets get their act together in maintaining supply and deliveries and that case numbers start to ease off. Surely 2021 has to be better than 2020. Take care everyone.

Great news P! Perseverance has paid off for him. Onwards and upwards!

suzysunshine7 wrote: "Oooh what a wonderful wander of a day you have got planned, Val ;o>

I'm thinking I might just tag along and join you, if you don't mind? ;o>

Will there be just enough time for me to stop off for ..."

Well you were with us in spirit Suzy! The day went well. The bus ride is only 30 minutes. Unfortunately we had a real cowboy driver so you would have been hanging on to the seat for dear life and would have missed all the beautiful flowering trees - jacarandas, oleanders, magnolia grandifloras - and the blue and white agapanthus that are everywhere at the moment, and, oh, the roses - the alternating rain and sun this spring and summer have them blooming their heads off. It was a much cooler day than earlier in the week, but while the skies remained overcast all day, it was a pleasant 21 degrees - perfect for wandering about in.

St Kilda is always interesting. It is a mecca for tourists (except we don't have any at the moment), full of backpacker hostels (except we don't have any backpackers at the moment) and home to communities of elderly Russians, Jews, musicians, druggies, Aboriginals, artists, skateboarders, hipsters, hippies, sex workers and a lot of people who have fallen on hard times and rely on the Sacred Heart Mission. We had a lovely walk along the Esplanade and down the pier (the penguin colony is currently off limits during Covid) then back along Ackland St for coffee and cake. It was strange to find this usually bustling area so quiet. We enjoyed having the place much to ourselves but hopefully things will pick up next week when the long summer school holidays begin and many people will finish up work for much of January. We got to the Linden Gallery for our 2.00pm booking (where there were maybe 6 other people) and loved looking at all the tiny pictures. I managed to part with a wad of money on three paintings. I'll keep one for myself but will probably gift the other two to one of the grand-daughters. They accept and display every submission so there is a great variety in subject matter and media and quality. Many of the ones I liked were already sold. You can look at all the works here

https://lindenpostcardshow.com.au/gal...

but I'm glad I didn't buy any online as the two I had taken a fancy to online didn't appeal nearly as much when viewed. I have put up some photos to give you your own virtual day-out. Wish I were a better photographer.

Thankfully a cool change came through late afternoon today. It's now a pleasant 17 degrees. It was 23 when I left for my morning walk at 7.30 and 26 when I got back just before 9.00am, and by 10 it was 33 degrees. Tomorrow's supposed to be humid but Mr H and I are going to treat ourselves to a day out. We're going to leave the car at home and take a leisurely bus ride (we get free travel) down to St Kilda and wander along the beach. And there's an annual art show I want to go to (Linden Art Gallery's postcard show - all submissions must be postcard size). Because of Covid restrictions, we've had to book in to either the morning or afternoon session (we're booked for 2.00 - 3.45). I've bought art works there before at a reasonable price so I'll have my eyes open to see if anything takes my fancy.

suzysunshine7 wrote: "There is a funny little story to that Clip, Val ;o>

Apparently freshly-baked Cupcakes being left out to rest and cool were often going missing and the Son was heartily sick of being questioned and..."

Nice work by the son!

You're probably right Suzy, but we were a bit literal when it came to something labelled "roast". It never occurred to us to slice it and put it in a stir fry. In fact, now that it's just the two of us most of the time, we rarely have a stir fry. We used to have them all the time when the kids were young. It's possibly to do with the fact that a stir fry leftovers are never as good as the newly made meal. We often get two meals out of a casserole, stew, roast, etc. Also Mr H has assumed the role of chief cook (I have to almost make an appointment if I want to cook something!) and he's not into fiddly things like finely chopping loads of different vegies for a stir fry.