Posts by B Jones
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I discovered last night that my Samsung tv now has an app that connects straight to TVNZ On Demand. I'd managed to jury-rig tv3's on demand service through the TV's browser but it was very cumbersome, and TVNZ was the same except it failed to actually work. So I got to watch First Crossings and One Born Every Minute, without ads, last night when I felt like it. I think that's the end for me and broadcast tv.
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Hard News: U: It's about the combos, in reply to Keir Leslie,
I’d imagine the core audience for timeshifted Freeview is in fact people who don’t own a PVR or a VCR or use TV on demand,
Or have them, can't be bothered setting them up for regular viewing, but would rather watch early evening programmes when the kids have gone to sleep, rather than crime/talent/renovation/cooking shows. I've liked timeshifting since I've had kids and had trouble sitting down for anything interesting before 8pm.
Freeview's still useful for people with awful terrestrial reception who previously had to shell out for Sky. The freeview chips in new TVs are for terrestrial HD only, not satellite, so it's no use to me in my bad reception pocket.
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What I can't tell from the policy reportage is whether this applies to Kiwi non-residents, because I know plenty of long term ex-pats with rental properties here. Don't know if there are any policy problems associated with this other than the fact tenants have to deal with some local representative or other for maintenance issues.
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Which I guess is why when you eat a dish that's otherwise not too hot, you burn your tongue on the tomatoes and other watery bits.
I made flour tortillas last night, and used my old Murray copper-bottomed pan for it - great when you want a hot pan and don't want to trash your teflon. It's probably as old as I am, but doesn't have the slightest warp to it, and you can always get the burn marks off it eventually.
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Hard News: Tooled Up for Food, in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,
I don’t know why (possibly someone will tell me) but it did a far better job of browning onions and generally making things yummy, and was perfect for getting a good crust on sourdough,
I tried to find out, but only got this far. It's probably whatever that physical property is that makes glass feel cooler than plastic and allows people to walk over hot coals providing they move quickly. A surface transferring more heat will generate more caramelisation and Maillard reactions, and more tastiness.
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A thick paste of baking soda and water works ok too.
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Hard News: Tooled Up for Food, in reply to Hebe,
Anything like my orange peeler? I got mine in the kitchenware shop I used to work in about fifteen years ago - you use the triangle bit to gouge a strip of peel to start you off, then the sharpened side of the spoon to slip between the pith and the flesh. Really handy when your small knife is too sharp or serrated.
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My favourite gadget is a Le Creuset thing called a marmitout, very much like this one. The lid doubles as a little non-stick frying pan - fry your onion and garlic in the base, brown your meat in the lid, throw it all together with a few other things and you have your risotto, or paella, or casserole or whatever in the appropriate cooking time. I bought it in the Kirkcaldies sale more than ten years ago, and its only sign of age is a little crazing on the enamel of the lid. It's just the right size for a small family.
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Even if it doesn’t work, it still annoys me that someone’s trying. We’re not about to descend into ethnic separatist civil war, but it still angers me when someone tries to give us a push in that direction. Even if life will mostly continue on peacefully as it has before, there are any number of little ways life could be made more unpleasant for people who aren’t as insulated from social conservatism as I am. At the social welfare office, say. At the adoption office or fertility clinic or family Christmas dinner. It’s not a good thing and has its cost, even if it’s a hopeless cause.
