Not my normal thread, but I though a timely "Discussion" at these abnormal times would be a general 'How are you coping' thread without the politics, we have plenty of discussion on that topic elsewhere on the forum. With the changes taking place in society all over the world, and right here in our own backyard I just want to catch up with all who regularly, and not so regularly post on OLO, young and old, male and female. Tips and ideas are most welcome.

To start off I'll give it a go;

I'm retired and living in Brisbane, having moved from Sydney about 18 month ago. What's new for us with the coronavirus. At the moment we don't know of any family or friends affected, which is good in itself.

What changed for us, not having the social visits with family and friends as we did just a few weeks ago, the wife is a very sociable person, she misses her contacts, but the phone is still working and so is 'Facebook'while Skype is great to take with her brother and sisters in NZ, and all the whanau around Aussie and NZ as well.

Still able to go out for our morning walks along the waterfront. Home tend to be eating a bit more, not good. I'm doing more gardening, the virus hasn't stopped the grass from growing. Shame the local liberty is closed, but still have plenty of books to read, and DVD's&music to watch/play. Stop off at the shops two or three times a week after our walk for groceries, been no problem.

Been heartened by the generosity of sprite from some people, the local caterer, his business gone, he gave away all of his stored supplies, gee gave us frozen pies and others bags of chicken, some gave him money in return, but he didn't ask for it. The wife"s local church (Anglican) are doing a great job with phone calls, formed a contact group. They are having a virtual service this Sunday at 8am.

I"ll leave it at that for now(350limit), KEEP WELL, KEEP SMILING.

Thanks, Paul, all the best to you and your lovely family too.

Joe

Was going good thinking well if worse comes to worse at least I have a back yard with plenty of rabbits due to the vacant paddock near us.

Wake up this morning and the Mixo is running through them. Not a great fan of rabbits but it is a miserable way to die, and they look anything but appetising now.

It did however give me pause to contemplate that if they knew where their pandemic came from, as in us human, they might well be thinking 'see how it feels ya bastards'.

Hi Joe and Steele,

Joe, I was actually thinking of you a day or two back, not seeing any post. Good if all is ok, not seen Is Mise or ALTRAV lately hope all is well with them.

Steele, we ate many a rabbit as a kid in the bush, back in the day when 40 traps (mini bear traps, shocking things) would yield 30 odd rabbits, 1/- a skin, dried on the paddock fence, the dogs ate well, the uncle drank well from the proceeds, and us kids got a couple of bob only each for a lot of effort. Gee, I got a bit nostalgic for rabbit a while back, local butch had them, but at $42 each I quickly lost that nostalgia, and got nostalgic for snags instead.

Going to give summer vegs a go in the cooler months, fingers crossed, any suggestions for around Brisbane near the warmer Bay region, would beans do ok? Will do some reg veg as well cabbage, caulies. Got a good crop of Roma tomato's, gave some away, but what to do with the rest of em'? Wife wants to do pickles, and jams, short on jars.

Hi runner, a message from the wife, she's believes the way to God/heaven is through Jesus, but she's thinks the back ups Ranginui and the Maori beliefs are of value and not in conflict with Christianity, and are helpful at these times. Her prayer table where she does her "korero" has as a centre piece 'A Prayer Book for Australia', but it has lots of other non-christian things as well. "T" has an interesting set of beliefs when it comes to religion.

I'm OK and well isolated but miss going to town for a yarn at the local library and the Men's Shed.
So far all friends and family are still well, there have been two cases in Inverell and two in Glen Innes.
I hope all OLOeans keep safe and well (Grammarly just corrected 'OLOeans' to 'Orleans'!!).
We've got lots of vegetables and fruit preserved, the chooks are laying and the place has some rabbits and hares and if things get really bad there are more than enough 'roos and the ever-multiplying wood ducks.

Saw this on another site,

Teacher: "Give me a sentence with 'contagious' in it.

Little Johnny: The man next door was painting his house with a 50mm brush and my dad said: "It'll take the contagious".

Paul1405

thanks for your kind sentiments and I sincerely wish and pray the best for everyone. Personally I am spending more time with my wife and grandkids as well as reading Scripture.

As for your wife I certainly wish her all the best Paul. I am certainly no expert on Maori beliefs or anything for that matter. I do have a fair bit of first hand knowledge of the aboriginals (not the urban ones) beliefs. What I am 100% convinced on is that Christ Jesus came to save sinners of whom I am as bad as any. I am also convinced that we are pretty much in the last of the last days. I am also convinced the bible tells the end from the beginning. As Jesus said narrow is the gate that leads to life and broad is the way to hell. I am also convinced that God is patient and not wanting any to perish.

It is obvious to me that unless something changed dramatically we are never going to agree on worldviews. Over the years I have asked myself why I even bother to put my views on olo. It has certainly helped me to question, clarify and even question my own beliefs. At the end of the day I believe Jesus Christ is who He said He was, that His words are 100% true (as hard as many are) and that's where my faith and hope should always be with or without Coronavirus.

Life pretty normal here. The 20 inches of rain in Jan & Feb, more than last year total, is promoting massive grass growth. Costing a fortune to put petrol in the mower, at about 5 liters a mowing session for the house paddock & tracks to the dam & river needed every 4 or 5 days.

We have moved to on line shopping. It is not my favorite way, & our order from Sunday will be delivered tonight between 6 & 10 PM, but it keeps us off the street.

I had my 20Th birthday party a month back, & we were joking I only had to last another 4 years to have a big 21St party. Looks less likely now.

Both daughters are able to work from home, one with increased hours, the other with a loss of one day a week, so good news there for them & their families.

I must admit I am wondering if we have gone over board a bit with closures & handouts, but with so many totally different opinions from "experts" it is impossible for us to have much of an idea ourselves. Like many things, we will probably only know what we should have done long after the event, if ever.

So do keep safe folks, what ever you or your governments chose for you.

Hi Issy, glad you are all well. A lady passed away in Orange Base Hospital, the very institution I was born in. What does hare taste like? I'm assuming rabbit, but I don't know. Just on those wild rabbits, not much on em', what about hairs are they on the thin side? Me thinks rabbit best in a stew. Wild ducks, give me a nice fat Muscovy drake any day over the scrawny wild fellas, but if your hungry all tastes good.

Hi runner, for the Maori 'Kaupapa', best for us to call it genealogy, but its much more than that, its more or less their reason and purpose for existence. As genealogy is so important, in all Maori, so its natural for their gods to have a kaupapa and in tern a "family", starting with the Sky Father/Ranginui and Earth Mother/Papatuanuku, from which all life originates. There is a collection of many gods and deities which stem from Ranginui and Papatuanuku, each with its own sphere of responsibility. For example if one is taking a long journey, asking Tangaroa, the god of the sea, for safe travel is seen by some as a must, the wife included. Want to meet a god in earthly form, a trip into the Waipoua Forest and one meets Tane-mahuta the god of forests. His earthly incarnation is that of a giant kauri tree, possibly up to 2500 years old. I believe Maori belief is as legitimate as any other religious belief.

p/s The wife was visited by a beetle at her prayer table today, a small red coloured beast, rather harmless, she believes that beetles and birds carry messages from another realm. When walking yesterday, she came across a shield beetle in her path, she did say then maybe a message, now this bug today, well who am I to argue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree_of_the_M%C4%81ori_gods

Hi Paul,

I have a lovely niece in Auckland named Papatuanuku, or just Papa. Ngapuhi. And, as it happens, also ancestors, all descended from convicts, from Orange, Mudgee, Gulgong. Small world !

Yes, I think that Aboriginal people here too focus very much - but not necessarily all that consciously, as in the nature of 'deep culture' - on genealogies, families - at least to the level of cousins and maybe second cousins. Much of it is taken for granted, is somebody 'in' or 'out'. Some families tend to - or used to tend to - intermarry, so some families, clans if you like hapu, are much closer to each other than to other families.

I came upon Tane Mahuta many years ago with my wife; we went into the forest looking for him, but came up against what I thought was a great concrete wall; then realised slowly that of course, that was the trunk of Tane-Mahuta, an amazing work of nature and worship, maybe ten metres across. Amazing; awe-inspiring is a feeble word for it.

The world is an ever-amazing place.

Cheers,

Joe

Dear SteeleRedux,

«It did however give me pause to contemplate that if they knew where their pandemic came from, as in us human, they might well be thinking 'see how it feels ya bastards'.»

Yes, their man-made pandemic is finally over. For the last months we kept our bunny strictly indoors and stockpiled pre-pandemic hay, but now he is allowed out in the backyard (under supervision of course, the last thing he needs is an encounter with the neighbour's cat) while we humans are kept mostly indoors.

We just prepared a small vegetable-garden there and sown carrots, lettuces and cauliflowers for him - should things get worse and we stop going out shopping, or if markets close, he should still have his favourites, especially carrot leaves that are not normally sold along with commercial packs of carrots.

Now that the gardening efforts are over, I should have more time for study, reflection and meditation. I actually wished for a break, so now that my orchestras have closed down, so has the gym and so have all the public religious functions, I feel more in control of my own time. There are also more online religious studies and instead of the gym I started walking up the hill in nature. Really, my personal life is good and I have no complaints.

We ate a lot of rabbit in my younger days too Pasul. A couple of us pre teens used to dig them out of the warrens, around Bathurst, before the mix was introduced. We had them both stewed & baked. I didn't realise it at the time, but my mother was a very good cook.

The skins bought me a new bike & football boots.

We did try hares, but they are much more gamey & tough. They eat lots of woody stuff rather than grass, so taste very different. I'd have to be very hungry to eat hare.

Not something I like either, but if push comes to shove, & you have to eat game, it would be kangaroo because it is easy to get, & venison in preference if in the right district.

WARNING; From my neighbour; A tele-marketing call, wants to sell you "snake oil" one capsule a day, that's all that is required. The operator tells of their product of secret "herbs and spices", not sure what's in it, which "increases your immune system" against all things nasty, including coronavirus, what rubbish! Give your CC details and you will receive your first months supply of "snake oil" pills, within seven days, most likely nothing more than multi vitamins. Took our neighbour some time to get the price, seems $99.95 per months or two lots for $180 , they have the family protection plan as well, all plus p&h. Then monthly "protection" delivered thereafter, probably forever.

THIS IS DANGEROUS, giving people a false sense of protection, when there is no such thing, and not to mention the price rip off as well. Obviously the scientific proof would be from "research" done in Bongostan!

Hi guys, you all sound cheerful. My adult granddaughters put me in lockdown a few weeks ago, due to my age and chronic health conditions. I have 3 grandchildren living with me, a young adult male with Aspergers and two granddaughters aged 9 and 11.
I have had to start home schooling the two girls, which hasn’t been as bad as I thought, due to the high number of educational programs available online.
The adult granddaughters do all my shopping etc and we have a no contact handover in my carport.
I’m lucky to live in a small remote town with beautiful beaches and a community who are obeying the social distancing rules so I can take the girls to the beach without coming into close contact with anyone.
We are all coping well with the situation although I miss being able to give hugs to all my other grandchildren, but in the scheme of things that’s a small price to pay.
Keep well everyone.

Hi Big Nana, glad you are well, keep safe. The wife is also missing the moko's (favourite grandchildren 12 & 13), were at our place nearly every day after school, and on weekends. Seen them once in 2 weeks, and that was only for a quick 5 minute hop out of the car the other night. The wife got a bit emotional afterwards. The video phone calls are getting a good workout.

Bit of disappointment, a cousin died in NZ, not from coronvirus, from cancer aged 61, with a big family like the wife has, that's not uncommon in itself. The family was upset not being able to give the deceased a traditional Maori send off, no Tangi lasting 3 days with 500/1000 mourners at the Marae, but a very limited attendance at a home funeral, as per the law in NZ. The wife with a call to his daughter, as other elders had said, nothing wrong, it had to be done that way, and it had their blessing and was appreciate under the circumstance. That has been the biggest concern for the Maori community, no traditional Tangihanga for the deceased.

Hassy, any tips on summer veg grown in winter around Brisbane, will do the cabbage and collies, but though I'd give beans a go out of season, rather warm at the moment, and beans do freeze well. We are near the Bay, where frost is very unlikely.

Hi to you all...

I don't contribute much to the Forum these days, much to the delight of most herein I suspect! PAUL1405, I just wanted to say, your initial message of goodwill, together with highlighting your own family's efforts to accommodate the restrictions imposed by the presence of this insidious Covid-19 virus, was really heartening, and great to hear I thought. As was everyone else, who've contributed thus far to this Topic. Thanks, Paul, for your foresight in originating the Topic.

I believe these self-imposed isolation conditions, go a long way to exemplify the human spirit of cooperation, in times of stress and peril. For this reason, I'd like to convey, to all those present and past members of the Forum, my sincerest best wishes and I hope you, and your family and loved ones, all remain safe and well - And as happy you can be, under the circumstances. As we're all required to stay in our respective homes. Take care and keep healthy, each and every one of you.

As long as I have The Forum's Old Farts Club members to argue with I will always be in good spirits.

Hi Everyone,

Just dropping in to firstly thank Paul for his concern and for
this thread, and also to wish you and yours - safety, strength,
and positiveness, during these difficult times.

My thoughts are with you all.

Take care.

We have given up pretty much on vegetables Paul, it is just too hard around here down near the boarder.

We do still grow corn, it has few problems other than hairs, tomatoes, under netting, although the mini ones grow every where from bird dropped seed, & don't have much predation, strawberries & dragon fruit, again under netting. A neighbor grows spuds & carrots successfully

To have a vegy patch here you have to have it fully fenced & roofed with chicken wire to keep the wood ducks out. You also have to use a lot of nasty sprays on leaf things like cabbages & cauliflowers.

We did have an orchard with apricots, tropical peaches, apples, mulberries & citrus. The lorikeets discovered the apples & eat them to the core when still green on the tree, even through nets, the stone fruit require too much spray to manage the fruit fly, & the magpies & crows destroy the citrus, pecking all the fruit, looking for a ripe sweet fruit.

We had a huge & great passion fruit, until the white cockatoos found it & destroyed it actually killing the vine, again through netting. We have pulled all bar the mulberries now. We don't get them before the birds either, but they are nice trees.

I guess I should have not encouraged the birds with feeding, but they are nice to have around.

You could beat the pests if you really had to, but only by killing them, so I don't bother.

It might be easier in suburbia, but I wouldn't bet on it. It took 3 years for the pests to build up here, so may work for a while. Good luck.

Dear Foxy and o sung wu,

Really good to hear from you both and to learn you are still upright.

We have some lovely initiatives in our little community to look after the elderly and those who live on their own and our footpaths are being festooned with very colourful chalk drawings done by the local kids. I just had a delivery from an extended family member of the fruits of his greenhouse and orchard so apple pie tonight.

He is an anti-vaxxer and was muttering about Bill Gates peddling his 'poisons' but we lightly brushed over it after I reminded him this is what a disease for which we don't have a vaccine looks like.

The place is all the lesser for the absence of the both of you. Take care.

Foxy and O Sung Wu !

Really great to hear from you both, that you are well enough to put up posts. Things have one to the eogs since your last contributions. We need your respective wisdoms. Keep safe.

Warmest wishes,

Joe

Hi Foxy and o sung wu, glad to hear from you both, and even gladder to hear you are both well. Bit concerned about our friend up the street, called at her house this morning, no answer, usually home, will call again about 5pm Qld time.

The wife has got her 'saxophone' out, me thinks it got a virus, she's great with the uke and guitar, but the sax is another instrument altogether, been learning for 10 years, in another 10 years.... maybe.

Yes Hassy, veggies more or less a hobby, love sweet corn. Have a good F&V market about 400m away up on the main road, cheap compared to the big 2 supermarkets in the shopping centre. Stopped for a coffee (take away) this morning, first time in a few weeks. Ask the owner "Hows business?"...."Shocking", just working on his own.

Roast Chicken for dinner tonight, I do about 90% of the cooking in our house.

A bit off subject but, any of you too unable to log in to MyGov ?

Hey Foxy,
Hope you've been feeling better with a little time away from forum arguments.
Hope you're doing well and are staying safe during the current epidemic.

- For everyone else -

Whats the best ingredients and method to make a good marinade for steak?
(Yes I'm an idiot, but if you don't ask you don't learn.)
I figure someone in here must have some tips.

An Island Lady cooked the most delicious T-Bone Steak for me many years in a guesthouse & when I asked her what that beautiful flavour was she told she marinated it in Soy Sauce.

"any of you too unable to log in to MyGov ?"

Not a problem Indy. But in times of high demand I assume it could be.

Thank You to Steele, Joe (Loudmouth), Paul, and Armchair Critic,
for your kind words. Our family is managing quite well. The
area in which we live has a wide variety of shops and so far
obtaining necessities has not been a problem. The main shortages
have been in toilet paper and cleaning products. Meat supplies
have also been low - but we do have access to butchers, green
grocers, and other outlets.

My sons are able to work from home. We're in touch regularly.
Our neighbours also are watching out for each other and
providing help as needed. It's very heartening these difficult
times bring out the best in most people.

I've been cooking a great deal, reading, doing puzzles,
watching movies, and talking to my family members both
on the phone and via skype. I miss the contact with my
grandchildren.

I watched bits and pieces of the ABC - documentary -
"Revelation," over the past few weeks, which dealt
with the child sexual abuse of the Catholic Church.
I couldn't watch all of it. It was too distressing.

I have not had a problem accessing "My Gov." But perhaps
as Paul pointed out - it was not a busy time when I
tried.

There are quite a few steak marinade recipes on the web.
From Margaret Fulton, the Australian Women's Weekly to Jamie Oliver. Here's Jamie's:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/features/how-to-make-the-ultimate-steak-marinade/

My son's prefer their steaks with lots of onions and
barbeque-sauce. I hope this helps AC. Soy sauce also sounds
good.

Take care.

Foxy,

"From Margaret Fulton, the Australian Women's Weekly to Jamie Oliver."

In my mind's-eye I've always thought of you as more the Delia Smith type.

"...prefer their steaks with lots of onions and
barbeque-sauce".

How about onion and Guinness? ...http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/collections/twos-company-delias-recipes-serving-2/steak-and-onions-in-guinness

Hi Foxy, glad to see you're still kicking, & cooking. Keep up the good work.

On the marinade thing, my youngest daughter stayed with us for a couple of months after she sold her house. She used some marinade of unknown ingredients on her stake. What ever it was it destroyed the nonstick ability of my best pan, cooking into the surface.

New law in my house, if you must stick "stuff" on your steak, or soak your steak in it, use your own pan to cook it.

If you want to use my cooking gear, cook your food as it came out of the paddock, much healthier that way as well.

Hi all,

myGovID is fine although registering for it was not. Haven't had any experience with myGov.

One of my clients is a tax practitioner and it turned out all female tax agents who were principals of their practice, so needed to register for myGovID at the end of last month, couldn't use their birth certificates as part of their ID package if they had changed from their maiden name. Show just how male oriented the IT world can be.

Hi mhaze,

I prefer Nigella Lawson to Delia Smith.

Hi Hassie,

Personally, I like my steaks in their natural state as well.
Although I have learned to add just a dash of barbeque sauce
on the side. Yum.

I'll be cooking a pork scotch roast for Easter with all the trimmings. We have an excellent butcher nearby.
I'm hoping also to be able to get easter egg dyes from our local
deli, as well as ingredients for my Russian salad.

"I prefer Nigella Lawson to Delia Smith."

Well don't we all. But I was talking about the cooking... :)

Hi mhaze,

I was talking about Nigella Lawson's
cooking as well.

However, Delia Smith's recipe of
the onion and Guinness steaks does
sound delish and worth trying.

It may be of interest to those who are film and movie lovers
that there is a newly released movie now available for
purchase on DVD from JB HI FI stores. The DVD was released
on the 2nd March 2020 under the title " Ashes In The Snow."

This film is based on the New York Best Seller 2011 novel
of Ruta Sepetys " Between Shades of Gray."
Ruta Sepetys, a Lithuanian American writer based her novel
on the true story of Irena Spakauskiene, who as a 16 year old
Lithuanian girl was deported from Lithuania to Siberia during
the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1941, at the height of
WWII.

Stalin's Red Army violently invaded and ruthlessly deported
Baltic families from their homes. Marius A. Markevicius,
a Lithuanian based in Los Angeles is the director of the film.

The film is the highest grossing release of all time in
Lithuania according to Film New Europe with more than 265,000
admissions and more than 1.3 million EUR gross.

The US/Lithuanian production outperformed James Cameron's
blockbuster "Avatar."

The film is brutal, and it must have been quite a challenge to
execute this kind of film. However, the history is very much worth
retelling.

It was filmed in Lithuania, and has an international cast.

You can read more about it on the web, and at the following
link:

http://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/ashes-in-the-snow-2018-dvd

Hi All, glad everyone seems to be in good sprites,

"New law in my house, if you must stick "stuff" on your steak, or soak your steak in it, use your own pan to cook it."

"If you want to use my cooking gear, cook your food as it came out of the paddock, much healthier that way as well."

Hassy, could not agree more, A FINE STEAK LIKE A FINE SCOTCH NEEDS NOTHING ADDED!

The secret to a good steak is all in the cooking. Personally I prefer a medium rare job. For me its a fairly hot heavy based pan, or BBQ plate, a little oil, then 4 mins one side, turn over, 3 minutes other side, depending on thickness, allow to rest for 4 or 5 mins on a warm plate. I like a good rump, T-Bone or scotch fillet, not that keen on eye fillet, expensive, and a bit tasteless. If you have a bit of old cow, then its best you beat it, bang it or bash it, but unfortunately its still bloody old cow, and it will have its revenge on you when you go to eat it. My older brother likes his steak still mooing! 6 seconds one side, 6 seconds the other on a very hot grill, I kid you not, what a shocker. Tip; never salt you meat before cooking, never use that meat spice rubbish, if you need salt at all put it on the table, next to the pepper.

Mentioned me old neighbour the other day, not seeing her, well called at her front door, good as gold, just been keeping inside with her little dog 'Misty', a lot of watching TV, been getting her groceries through another friend.

Hi Paul,

The way you cook your steaks sounds great.
Glad to hear that your lady neighbour is fine.
Our youngest son dropped by earlier this afternoon
and left some groceries for us at the front door.
I'd given him a list earlier. We spoke through our
screen door. He did not want to come in. We
managed to come out for a few minutes after he
got into his car to wave to the grand-kids. They
were so excited at seeing us in person. Even from
a distance. It meant a lot to all of us.

Stay safe and stay positive.

I find that limiting
the bad news intake helps me to focus on the
positives. It makes me realise how much we already have
in this beautiful country of ours. I'm so proud of the way
most of us are reacting in this crisis.

Steaks! Scotch! Soy sauce! If you lot are talking like this now then what the hell are you going to be like 12 months from now when the Wuhan flu is still raging outside your door.

Or are you misguided fools who think this pandemic will all be over and forgotten about in a few more weeks?

Q: How long will things be like this?
A: How long will it take to develop the vaccine to fight the Wuhan virus?

Now you know how long you are going to be locked up in your room.

May I suggest you use the time learning a language or completing a masters degree because you will definitely be having plenty of time to yourself while waiting in your room for someone to come up with the vaccine. What are they saying: 12 to 18 months?

Thanks for the steak recipes folks, I do need some.

With the lock down looming I went to a small independent supermarket who have whole cuts of meat quite reasonably priced. Unfortunately the whole scotch fillet & rump I bought must have been from a very old bull. They look nicely marbled but it was a tough beast they came from.

I've done a couple of great stews but was thinking I might braise some, something I have never tried. They are most definitely not up to bar-b-Que. I have a couple cut to roast size, but I'm not sure they will do that well there either.

Our new dog might do well if I can't find a good way of cooking this stuff. He is a large Rhodesian ridge back, you know the African lion dog, from the animal welfare shelter, & was the most miserable there, so needed a home.

So far he he is doing great. He is really happy to have a home, & you know, he is doing his job beautifully. We have not had a single lion around here since we got him.

Hi Hassie,

Jamie Oliver has a great recipe on how to cook the perfect
steak:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/features/how-to-cook-the-perfect-steak/

Lovely to hear about your new dog. I grew up with all sorts
of pets - from chooks, ducks, cats, horses, and I even had access
to a dairy and a riding school. Ah memories (sigh).

My eldest son has just sent me some emails along with photos
of what the grand-kids have been up to at home. Making play dough,
cooking pizzas - they look very occupied and having fun.

cont'd ...

I'm a bit slow off the mark this morning.

Hassie, I just got your lion joke.
Good one!

Hassy, don't there suppose to be some kind of "lion" like cat living in the mountains somewhere in the rugged Great Dividing Range? The grandfather told stories of seeing large big wild cats in the mountains east of where we lived.

Todays recipe I have in my 'slow cooker' you'll love this one Foxy. Its "OX HEART", I can hear the swoons of envious jealousy from vegans everywhere.

Beef Heart (cheap as chips $4) over 1/2 kg. Clean, and I mean clean, outside fat, sinew, ventricle vains, got to get the VV's out, etc, all gone, just part of the joyful experience, chop chop into cubes. Into slow cooker with fresh herbs like oregano, sage, thyme, parsley, lots of parsley, bay leaves, black pepper, a bit of salt if you need it. If you ain't got all that stuff then mixed herbs will do. To appease the vegans, chop up a brown onion, a couple of carrots and a large spud. Add a couple of stock cubes, and my secret ingredient, a spoon of Vegemite. Cover with water and cook for 4 hours (true) on high!
Make gravy when cooked. ENJOY!

"T" is trying to outdo me! She has 2 Snapper heads boiling on top of the stove. She always demands the eyes for herself, likes snapper eyes because they are so big! Doesn't everyone? Says I can have the brain, me thinks fish don't have a brain. The disgusting things that woman eats.

Anybody got the recipe for Wuhan Bat Soup? The COVID-19 free version of course.

Hi Paul,

People eat all kinds of interesting items don't they?
I remember my gran making the most delicious meat in aspic
as part of special festivities and celebrations. The meat-jello
not only looked amazing but tasted amazing as well.
I remember it took many hours to make and a great deal of effort.
But was well worth it in the end.

It was years later that I learned pork trotters were part of the
ingredients used (as well as celery stalks, onion, carrot,
garlic, cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns dill, et cetera).

Unfortunately she never left me the recipe. I'm still
searching for a good one.

Hi Foxy, its like making a brawn, or lambs tongue, one of "T" favourites is kina, (sea urchin). A little while back I mentioned 'pigs trotters' to my sons partner over the phone, she didn't know what I was talk about. Thought eating pigs feet was disgusting. When I told her about the joy of eating 'sweet breads' she was even more disgusted..."How can you!" she said.

Mr O, a variation on the Galah joke;

Put the BAT in a boiler with a BRICK, cover with water and boil until the BRICK is soft........Then throwaway the BAT, and eat the BRICK! Yum!

Mr O, who in their right mind would eat bat, when there is lovely rat on the table, certainly not me! Scorpions are on special this week at the Wuhan Wet Market, 'Fongs 1Kg Fronzen Scorpions' half price at 50 yuan a pack! get em' before they all run out! Due to hording Scorpions are limited to 1 pack per customer, but you can buy as much Aussie toilet paper as you like, there is an over supply in China, where did it all come from, I wonder.

Dear Paul1405,

Please, we are trying to have a serious discussion here on Steaks, Scotch, and Soy Sauce, and all you can do is make fun at the Chinese penchant for eating filthy disgusting things that cause plagues and pandemics.

All you will end up doing is upsetting The Forum's Old Farts Club members who are starting to think it may not be a bad idea to try a bit of Wuhan bat soup for themselves. They do have a lot of bats up in Qld and Hasbeen and mhaze being engineers have probably already worked out exactly how many bowls of bat soup they can get out of the local park.

Yes I know how to handle bats Mr O. Just as they did in Townsville in 1946.

A huge colony of bats with their stink, noise & viruses moved into the mangroves in Ross creek, at the western end of the city center. Fortunately the best part of a division of the army, just back from Borneo was in town, with lots of experience of the perfect weapon to fix the problem.

They took their flame throwers down to the creek & cooked the lot of them. Pity you weren't there, you could have eaten your fill. It was years before they appeared in numbers around Townsville again.

I did that braised steak for dinner tonight. Just for me, the lady is off for a while minding the 3 year old grand daughter, so daughter can work from home less disturbed. Lots of union & carrots, & a baked spud done at the same time. Not a patch on my mothers, I think she used to thicken the gravy with corn flower but good enough that I won't have to eat again for a day or two.

I'll have to go shopping tomorrow, no bread available in the order delivered today. I'm thinking of going to Woodenbong for it. Only 94 kilometers away, through the wilds of the boarder ranges. Shouldn't be much virus way out there, & I'm sure a 188 kilometer run, top down in the old sports car will do me more good than being cooped up inside, or driving the shopping trolley into the big smoke for it.

Honestly officer, I'm just going for the bread!

Hasbeen,

I'd think twice about your trip to Woodenbong. You're not allowed to cross the Qld/NSW border because of the Wuhan virus. That plus we just don't want you Wuhan bat soup munchers in NSW anyway.

Thanks for that Mr O, I'd forgotten about the boarder shut down.
Guess it will have to be Killarney. Not as small or isolated as Woodenbong, but should be still free of the problem.

One good move by the Govt to prevent unnecessary stress during isolation would be to get the wind up all the TV stations to do smarter programming with more intelligent content !
Ease off those hyper-frequent commercials & show more sensible documentaries that can put the viewers into a more relaxed mood, thus preventing domestic conflict !
As we're told continually, we're all in this together. That must include TV programmers !

Anybody got the recipe for Wuhan Bat Soup?
Mr Opinion,
Still preferable to the camel urine showers of the sand pit dwellers !

A nice Moreton Bay muddie on the table tonight, thanks to the efforts of the grandson last night. Seems the tide and the Moon were just right. BTW a "Pink" Moon tonight. Mud crab, an hour in the freezer to calm his sensibilities, rip off those things that pass for arms and legs, drop him in boiling salty water for seven minutes, after 4 minutes drop in the arms and legs. Chill for a few hours. Yum!

The wife tells me she perfected the cooking method preparing "missionaries" back in the day, same recipe. Her eating method sees only the shell and the dead mans fingers left at the end. She loves the "custard"! Don't we all!

Hey Thanks everyone for the marinade tips.

I think 'm going to use a stainless steel electric frypan instead of a normal frypan to make sure I don't ruin any non-stick coatings.
Either that or it might be time to clean the BBQ.
I wish we had a good old trusty griller, that'd work too.

Hope you're all doing well and finding something to do on this strange stay-at-home family-free Easter.

No trouble finding something to do here Armchair Critic. I had a tree almost destroy an old shed in a gale in January. The insurance company could not guarantee repairing it in less than 6 months, with lots of fire claims, followed by a big batch from the gale, so they paid me out.

With that & a bit from the nest egg, I'm having a new 12 x 6 meter shed built in about 3 weeks. With luck the kids who use the old one will probably patch it up, if they are ever allowed out of their home detention stuff. With 3 roller doors along one side it will park my cars, & other gear. We need to hurry as my TriumphTR7, & the sons TR8 are still in the shed, propped up by a lash up support of 4x2s & some gum tree saplings we cut down.

I have to relocate 17 meters of 2" underground water main, [from the dam pump to the irrigation tank near the house], as it is where the shed has to go. With the kids not allowed to come over & help, I am finding 17 meters of 250mm deep trench to bury the main in it's new location a bit of hard work. I'm managing only a couple of meters a day. Can't understand it, when I put that one in 28 years ago I did 50 meters in a day.

When that is finished, there is 50 meters of fence & a gate to remove & a new road entrance established to allow cement trucks easy access to the site.

Yep, no trouble finding something to do around here. I could find something for a few friends & family to do too, if only they were allowed to come over.

I'm alright just as long as keep saying HAPPY CRUCIFIXION DAY over and over to myself. I would never have discovered Happy Crucifixion Day if Australia had not become a multifunctional society.